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Electric Meter Technician Electric meter technicians perform a variety of duties regarding the installation, repair, maintenance and testing of electric power meters. Meter technicians must be able to troubleshoot meters for problems and make modifications to ensure proper and accurate functioning of meters. Technicians disassemble, clean, rebuild and calibrate meters and metering systems. Electric meter technicians must have a working knowledge of general electrical and electronic repair work including knowledge of electric circuits and wiring. Meter technicians must be skilled in the use of general tools and specialized tools used in electric work. They use various types of equipment and devices to perform quality testing of meters both in the field and in production facilities. Using their technical knowledge and skills, meter technicians perform skilled technical work in addition to writing reports and maintaining records. Meter technicians should be comfortable with using computers. Most technicians use computers or computer-operated equipment for meter programming, meter diagnostics and data collection. Electric meter technicians also need to be able to read and interpret electrical schematics, drawings, diagrams and specifications. Electric meter technicians spend most of their time working in outdoor environments in which they may be exposed to electrical hazards. Due to the dangerous nature of working with electricity, technicians should be well-trained in occupational safety and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements, and fully adhere to health and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. In addition to general occupational safety knowledge, meter technicians should also be knowledgeable of national, state, and local electric codes. Electric meter technicians must be able to work independently under limited direct supervision. It is also important for meter technicians to have good interpersonal skills as they frequently interact with the general public. Utility companies, private contractors, federal, state and local organizations. Typically the minimum requirements for this job include a high school diploma supplemented by technical course completion and experience in the field. Many electric meter technicians receive training through apprenticeship programs. Other technicians may choose to attain an associate degree in electronics or electrical engineering.

These days we all want to make our homes and interiors as eco-aware as possible, and use materials that are sustainable and hard-wearing, without making any compromise on style or durability. But… Is it possible to undertake re-flooring your home with eco-friendly principles in mind, and on a tight budget? Why Go Green With Your Flooring? As consumers get savvier, so do the businesses that make and sell flooring. Many companies these days are taking great steps to ensure that their eco-credentials are first-rate, by changing how they source their materials and finding more sustainable methods of producing and manufacturing them. There are now more varied designs and styles on the market than ever, which means that many of us can now make better choices for our homes, for less money. Here are five of the best types of eco-friendly flooring for homes that are budget conscious and durable: Recycled Glass Tiles Probably not one of the first options that spring to mind, but very worth considering if you’d like something on the quirky side that is durable and can come in a variety of colors. Recycled glass tiles for floors are often made from glass waste like empty bottles, glasses and even broken windows. They can be turned into pretty mosaic tiles that make for an inexpensive flooring option that otherwise would have ended up in landfill and unable to biodegrade. Traditionalists will want to look to hardwood flooring as recommended by the experts at woodfloors-farnham.co.uk which is made from a constantly renewable resource. Wood is, by nature, completely biodegradable and easily recyclable at the end of its natural life for use as fuel, or even for other flooring or furniture purposes. Natural Stone Flooring Another natural product of the earth, stone is always being renewed and recreated by tectonic processes. Collecting it for use as brand new flooring does not harm the environment and often old stone floors from old homes can be recycled into new flooring projects too, giving a new life to old materials for many more decades to come. Recycled Hardwood Floors While a new hardwood floor made from sustainable materials is one option, another is to look at recycled hardwood floors. Wood that has been previously used in other building applications, or as flooring. Opting for a recycled hardwood floor can often be more cost-effective, it cuts down on waste and breathes new life into materials that otherwise might have been thrown away. One word of caution when looking for a recycled hardwood floor is to make sure that the wood hasn’t previously been treated with harsh or toxic chemicals if it has been repurposed from other building projects that weren’t specifically flooring. Recycled Metal Tiles Again, metal tiles might not be a type of flooring that springs to mind when thinking about eco-friendly flooring, but often they’re made from scrap pieces of aluminum, brass or even copper. Everyone is being encouraged to recycle old metal where possible so it makes sense to turn scraps of metal that would otherwise have gone to a landfill into a new feature.

Originally a Hoechst AG trademark for a line of bright, transparent red synthetic organic pigments. Hansa reds, also called toluidine reds, are based on the reaction of beta-naphthol with 2-nitro-4-toluidine. Toluidine red was first synthesized in 1905. In general, toluidine reds have fair lightfastness and weather resistance, and they have a tendency to bleed. They are used in industrial coatings for air-dried and baked enamels and auto finishes. Toluidine reds are also used in wax crayons, pastels and watercolors.

The trouble with fragrance ingredients Fragrance formulas used in personal care and cleaning products often consist of dozens of chemical ingredients to create a specific scent or to sometimes to mask potentially unpleasant odours. Current laws in Canada and the U.S. allow companies to withhold the disclosure fragrance ingredients, so consumers can’t rely on product labels to know what toxic chemicals may lurk inside the products that they buy. Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, a U.S. based NGO, in participation with Environmental Defence and other U.S. groups tested 25 personal care products and 7 cleaning products, most of which are commonly sold in major Canadian retailers, to identify undisclosed fragrance ingredients that are exempted from labelling rules. The lack of federally mandated cleaning product ingredient disclosure and fragrance ingredient disclosure in beauty and personal care products (in both Canada and the U.S.) has meant that we have not been able to capture a full picture of the chemicals of concern in these products. What the study found Top 10 most toxic products in terms of highest number of harmful chemicals: - Just for Me Shampoo: A children’s shampoo, from a hair-relaxing kit marketed to kids of colour by Strength of Nature – 24 hazardous chemicals. - JLo Glow Perfume: A fine fragrance made by Coty and endorsed by music, television and film icon Jennifer Lopez – 18 hazardous chemicals. - Kaboom with OxiClean Shower Tub & Tile Cleaner: Marketed as a “great cleaner that is safe and friendly to use,” made by Church & Dwight Co. – 15 hazardous chemicals. - Olay Luminous Tone Body Lotion: Made by Procter & Gamble and marketed for its anti-aging qualities – 15 hazardous chemicals. - Axe Phoenix Body Spray: A body spray made by Unilever and marketed to young men through an overtly sexual ad campaign – 13 hazardous chemicals. - Marc Jacobs Daisy Perfume: Another Coty fragrance that carries the famous designer’s name and uses beatific, radiant young girls in its marketing campaigns – 14 hazardous chemicals. - Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Perfume: A Revlon fine fragrance endorsed by the beloved pop country singer Taylor Swift – 14 hazardous chemicals. - Organix (OGX) Shampoo: A Johnson & Johnson product marketed as part of a green/sustainable” line of products to young women – 14 hazardous chemicals. - Formulation 64-RP: An industrial cleaner/disinfectant used by custodians, firefighters and others – 10 hazardous chemicals. - White Linen Perfume: Created by Estee Lauder in 1978, marketed as “a beautiful perfume” for women young and old – 10 hazardous chemicals. Types of hazardous chemicals detected: - Chemicals linked to breast cancer including benzene and 1,4-dioxane, which have been linked to mammary tumors in laboratory studies. - Hormone-disrupting compounds with links to breast cancer: oxybenzone, propyl paraben, and two phthalates (DEHP and DEP). - Respiratory toxicants and chemicals linked to asthma. - Developmental toxicants and other chemicals linked to skin irritation and neurotoxicity. Total number of ingredients and hazardous chemicals found in the products tested: - 46 to 229 unique chemicals were found per product. - A total of 338 fragrance chemicals were used in the 25 personal care products tested. - 99 of those chemicals had links to at least one health concern, and several were linked to multiple health effects. - In fact, the vast majority of the chemicals that were detected in the products and are associated with health effects were fragrance chemicals. - 3 out of 4 of the chemicals linked to chronic health effects in the products tested were fragrance chemicals. The lack of fragrance industry regulation Globally, the fragrance market was nearly $70 billion in 2017, and by 2024, it is estimated to be worth about $92 billion. In 2016, personal care and fine fragrances made up 75 per cent of fragrance sector sales, with the other 25 per cent going to household goods. The fragrance industry is entirely self-regulated by the International Fragrance Association (IFRA), which represents the collective interests of the fragrance industry and is estimated to represent 90 per cent of the fragrance supplier. There are no federal guidelines regulating the disclosure of fragrance ingredients from fragrance suppliers to manufacturers, or from manufacturers to regulatory agencies or consumers. Federal government commitments to reform Canada’s toxics law Canada’s chemical law, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) was recently reviewed by a House of Commons committee that made 87 recommendations for reforming the law. The law has not been updated since it was enacted in 1999. These recommendations included better regulation of hazardous chemicals of concern and labelling of consumer products containing toxics. In June 2018, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada announced commitments to introduce reforms to CEPA in as early as 2020 and that the government will take steps in the meantime to explore updating labelling rules for consumer products. How can Canadians limit their exposure to harmful fragrances? Until there is full disclosure of fragrance ingredients, here are some ways Canadians can protect their health: - Avoid purchasing products that only list fragrance or parfum as an ingredient, and not the actual fragrance ingredients. - When purchasing scented products, make sure that the product uses no harmful ingredients by consulting the company’s policy or online guides. - Unscented products may contain a hidden fragrance formula. Always consult the label to ensure it discloses all ingredients.

Prevent these things from causing your skin to erupt while pregnant. Pregnancy acne is very common in many women. All those surging hormones change your body chemistry making you more prone to break outs. Some of the things you do while you’re pregnant also have a negative effect on your skin. By identifying these habits and switching them out for healthier ones, you’ll immediately notice a difference in how your skin looks and feels. You’ll be wiser on how to protect your body from irritation and inflammation, too. Breakouts, Blemishes, Rashes, and Inflammation, Oh My! Some of the things that make pregnancy break outs worse include:• Stress. An overproduction of cortisol, the body’s stress hormone can wreak havoc on your nervous system as well as suppress some of the body’s normal functions. It contributes to pregnancy acne and makes it noticeably worse. Also, when you’re stressed, you tend to do things that aren’t exactly healthy for your skin such as sleep in your make-up or eat something fatty, fried or sugary. • Processed Foods. The wrong foods take a toll on your body and your mind. They produce the perfect conditions for acne to appear. Rather than lean on your favorite ‘comfort foods’ while pregnant, aim to increase your intake of water-packed fruits and vegetables and leafy greens. Your body will appreciate the boost it gets of vitamins and nutrients and reward you accordingly with clear, healthy skin. Working with your primary care physician to come up with a list of foods that promote better skin is ideal. You can also meet with a nutritionist to learn which vitamins are best for clearing up acne so you can eat a diet that helps not hurts you. • The Wrong Skincare Products. Putting the wrong substances on your skin while it is vulnerable could cause your problem to worsen. Some ingredients are highly toxic for pregnant women, too, so it’s important to research them and avoid products that contain them at all costs. That way, you don’t pass dangerous substances on to your baby. When your skin absorbs toxic materials, it try its best to protect you from them. That’s why you may notice places where inflammation is present. It’s the body’s defense mechanism to keep you safe. An overproduction of sebum is typically what causes your face to erupt in anger. Pregnant women have oilier skin because of the increase in hormones in their bodies. By finding positive ways to deal with stress, eating more whole foods, and avoiding skincare products with harsh ingredients that are difficult to pronounce, you’re able to significantly improve the condition of your skin. Allow Your Skin to Have a Chance to Breathe Give your skin a breather. Take a break from the things that make pregnancy break outs worse. You can treat them all you want but unless you discover the cause of your issue, you’ll never be able to get rid of pimples, blemishes, rashes, and dry skin. Using Pretty Mommies skincare products helps you look and feel like the radiant pregnant woman that you are!

Urban planning, housing, transportation, the privatization of public space and the criminalization of people of color and poor people. Over the past few decades, governments at all levels in the United States have been in a perpetual state of deficit. Taxes are way down from their post–World War II levels, and except for a brief period during the tech boom, there is rarely enough money for even basic social services “It’s been a strategy since the 1970s to ‘starve the beast,’ as Grover Norquist calls it,” says Robert Haaland, an organizer with Service Employees International Union Local 1021. Despite Katrina causing the worst affordable housing crisis since the Civil War, the federal Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) is spending $762 million in taxpayer funds to tear down over 4600 public housing apartments and replace them with 744 similarly subsidized units—an 82 percent reduction. HUD took over the local housing authority years ago and all decisions are made in Washington D.C. HUD plans to build an additional 1000 market rate and tax credit units, which will still result in a net loss of 2700 apartments to New Orleans. The new apartments will cost an average of over $400,000 each. Affordable housing is at a critical point along the Gulf Coast. Over 50,000 families still living in tiny FEMA trailers are being systematically forced out. Over 90,000 homeowners in Louisiana are still waiting to receive federal recovery funds from the so-called “Road Home” reconstruction fund. In New Orleans, hundreds of the estimated 12,000 homeless have taken up residence in small tents across the street from City Hall and under the I-10. In January 2007, 30 organizations from seven cities got together in Los Angeles and adopted a framework to “urbanize” human rights. The goal is to ground human rights in the real lives and struggles of communities of color in United States cities and to utilize the human rights framework to unite and elevate our organizing. The “Right to the City” Alliance is informed by a power analysis of what we’re up against in urban spaces, recognizing the role of United States cities in the global economy. Our analysis sees working class communities as central to the fight for human rights in the city while embracing a vision of life and democracy for all city dwellers. Imagine cities as places where working people can afford to live and raise their families, where there is concern for clean air, water, and land. Imagine vital exchanges across generations and beautiful places where people gather. Urban life is at its most vibrant when people from various parts of the world bring together their music, food, cultural systems, and religious expressions. All of these make for cities that manifest the strength and brilliance of the human garden. Moving the Environmental Movement For the better part of the last century, the conservation movement and its offspring, the environmental movement, have had a negative view of cities. It started with John Muir’s celebration of nature in reaction to the ugliness of industrial development, urban pollution, congestion, and noise. But this bias against cities is changing. Environmental groups now acknowledge that the way we live in cities is at the nexus of many environmental challenges.

(Business in Cameroon) - April the 1st, 2013 will mark the date when all cocoa beans and other products exported to the European Union (EU) with more than 2 micrograms of cadmium (heavy metal) per kilogram will simply be sent back to their point of origin. Brussels, the main base of operations of EU institutions imposed a maximum content of cadmium in cocoa sold. This decision follows the publication in 2009 of a scientific study from the European Food Safety Authority, which recommended the monitoring of the quantity of heavy metal in cocoa that may cause health problems. The presence of cadmium in the human body causes kidney failure, broken bones, infertility, problems with the immune system and cancer among others. This new EU measure applies to countries whose production areas are located on ancient volcanic areas and where soils are naturally acidic, because of their high capacity of heavy metals. According to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), “the highest levels of cadmium are found in Latin America and in Africa, Cameroon.” Strict control measures are therefore necessary in Cameroon, the fifth largest producer of cocoa, but also in all countries concerned, including Côte d’Ivoire, world’s largest producer. Also, research has shown that the second source of cadmium contamination consists of fertilizers and other chemical fertilizers. Until the five-year moratorium sought by Cocoa producing countries is accepted by the EU which consumes 60% of world cocoa, all countries involved must put in place effective monitoring system to continue export to this market. “Since the beginning of this year, the Government of Cameroon and some actors in the cocoa sector have increased awareness campaigns, with replacement of tarps and repair of furnaces in large production basins, to eradicate the phenomenon of drying cocoa beans on the bitumen and thus export good quality beans,” said the Cameroon Tribune. Between late August 2012 and late January 2013, Cameroon exported 172,135 tons of cocoa beans, against 149,793 tons in the same period in 2011/2012. And, there has been a decline in the number of exporters from December the 31st, 2012 to the 27th of January 2013.

Muay Thai Equipment and its Interesting History Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand. It is a combat sporting activity that is commonly described by experts as the “Art of 8 Limbs,” as its activities make use of kicks, punches, and knee as well as joint strikes, thus making use of all eight points of call. This makes it a sporting activity that is both difficult and also one-of-a-kind, and the best specialists utilize the best gear and also tools, such as a high-quality Muay Thai Punching Bag. The gear and tools for the sporting activity boasts a history as fascinating as the activity itself. The adhering to are some fascinating realities around early Muay Thai equipment as well as equipment. The Tiger King A Thailand leader called the Tiger King had considerable influence on Mixed Martial Arts battling styles, in addition to the safety equipment worn by competitors in the 1700s. His influence in numerous aspects of the sport is still seen today. Throughout the Tiger King’s power, those that took part in the sporting activity bound their forearms as well as hands with strips of horsehair for the function of shielding the competitor as well as inflicting more damages on his opponent. Later on, hemp ropes changed the equine hair, but were at some point ceased as well as changed by the standard boxing handwear covers seen today. Until the 1930s, competitors were likewise needed to use groin guards, as groin kicks were a legal move within the sport up until 1932. During the regime of the Tiger King, such guards were made from tree bark that was held in area with fabric. In some areas of the country, groin guards were also made from certain types of seashells. Particularly designed kicking pads are typically worn during session. In past centuries such padding was made from basically anything that was available, but in today’s modern world MMA pads are specially produced for this tough battle sporting activity. Headwear is also made use of, which shields competitors from head injuries and also contusions to the face. Interestingly sufficient, this sort of security was practically overlooked throughout the earlier centuries, as boxers were not keen on using any kind of sort of equipment that can possibly interfere with their vision. Modern innovation addressed this problem by making safety equipment that in no way detracts from the participant’s understanding and also coordination. Not remarkably, handwear covers are a fundamental part of the sport’s equipment in which practically every participant have to invest. There are several sorts of gloves, consisting of those that are made with shot foam or C3 foam technology. Top notch gloves must always be made use of in order to lessen the effect on hands as well as to shield boxers from wrist sprain. Numerous MMA participants additionally use additional safety gear, such as shin guards or body armor guards. Although each competitor’s purpose when looking for such gear will certainly vary, one’s emphasis ought to constantly get on top quality when making a selection. Muay Thai as well as Mixed Martial Arts Exercise Equipment Kicking or Punching Bags are an important item for participants, as well as help to maintain boxers in optimal physical condition. Throughout background, such bags were filled with dust, sand, rubber-like plant issue or perhaps wet towel in order to simulate the resistance one would certainly experience when coming across an additional competitor. Nonetheless, today’s modern-day Mixed Martial Arts enthusiasts seek bags that don’t include sand, as sand can cause hollow spots or inconsistent appearance that is not for a quality exercise regimen. Certain firms also supply to create a customized Muay Thai Punching Bag based on the participant’s specs. Medicine balls, heavy dive ropes as well as wrist weights are likewise used by those that are serious about the sport, as these products assist to keep fighters in leading condition for competitions. As innovations in contemporary innovation are made, the perfecting of Mixed Martial Arts equipment will certainly proceed, adding to the currently lengthy as well as intriguing history of the sporting activity and also the devices with which it is associated. Crucial Realities About Training Muay Thai is a blended fighting styles (MMA) sport in which both standard boxing actions as well as stand-up striking strategies are used. The sporting activity’s appeal has actually boosted over the past several years and also has ended up being a favorite of lots of MMA lovers. Educating strategies, consisting of the appropriate use of tools such as a Muay Thai Punching Bag, are vital to the success of those that are serious about the sport. What Professionals Expect of Participants Although the majority of people would probably concur that every sport, whether Mixed Martial Arts or various other types, calls for a certain degree of commitment and also technique, this is particularly true when it comes to Muay Thai. Before practicing or examining the sporting activity, many institutions and also individual fitness instructors require that individuals have a complete understanding of conventional Muay Thai morals and concepts. Professionals mention that those who take part in the sporting activity needs to just do so as a affordable task or to secure oneself from harm. Utilizing such abilities to inflict harm on one more individual or to draw attention to one’s talent in a self-indulgent manner is taken into consideration by Muay Thai experts and also fitness instructors to be exploitations of the sporting activity. Muay Thai principles require that participants be respectful, truthful, patient, considerate of the law, and valuable to others at all times. Furthermore, taking unreasonable advantage of an challenger is purely restricted if one dreams to be valued worldwide of competitive Muay Thai. Kicking and also Punching Methods Suitable kicking and punching strategies are vital to anyone that wishes to progress in the sport. After wearing the proper Muay Thai gear, a quality workout ought to be finished in between 3 and five times per week. This usually begins with technique strikes, which can be completed with a companion or exercised on a heavy bag. Punch methods are normally divided right into the complying with classifications: uppercut, jab, hook, straight strike and also elbow strike. One should commit equal time to the technique of each strike, as Muay Thai is an 8 factor battle sporting activity. Kicks are categorized as the following: clinching kicks, press kicks, low kicks or roundhouse kicks. All kicking strategies can be experimented a companion or with a Muay Thai Punching Bag. Nonetheless, securing kicks are much easier to perfect when they are exercised with another private rather than with a stationary bag. Fighters should also find out guarding methods in order to successfully secure themselves from strikes. Such techniques concentrate on safeguarding one’s upper body as well as head. For this reason, fighters usually keep the side of their body dealing with the challenger since it supplies a smaller target, contrasted to the competitor that stands in a standard in person position. On top of that, a side stance better secures one’s vital organs from strikes. The fighter’s non-dominant hand is normally put at brow level, with his or her various other hand in a ready placement and prepared to strike. Activity strategies likewise include stabilizing one’s weight on the balls of one’s feet, as this allows the boxer to finish motions quicker as well as simpler than if one’s weight is dispersed similarly between the round and also heel. Perfecting the methods noted above is the primary step in preparing oneself for competitors, and provides a basis for seeking more advanced strategies. It is wise to purchase a top quality Muay Thai Punching Bag and various other vital tools when training, as substandard devices will certainly reduce the high quality of a individual’s exercise and also the effectiveness of his/her technique. Those that buy high-grade Muay Thai gear and that have high levels of excitement as well as self-control will certainly take pleasure in discovering the sporting activity’s strategies, whether as a leisure activity or a specialist goal. Muay Thai has a lengthy and interesting history as a armed forces combating ability, and as a competitive sporting activity. For countless years Thailand citizens have actually learnt as well as practiced the sport, despite their social or financial standing. Until the start of the 1900s, it was an important part of the general public institution educational program in Thailand. Nonetheless, because of a high injury rate amongst pupils, it was abandoned as a compulsory class. However, the majority of youngsters remained to discover Muay Thai relocations as well as its appeal never reduced. As a Mixed Martial Arts sporting activity, its appeal in the western world has raised substantially over the past several years. Before coming to be an reliable Muay Thai competitor, one should learn a number of standard strategies. The adhering to activities are seen in a lot of Muay Thai mixes as well as must be exercised in different orders with a objective of making one’s motions uncertain throughout a competition.

When testing your water, understanding water filter jargon can make a difference. Understanding Filter Jargon Which model works best? First and foremost, have your water tested and determine what specifically needs to be filtered. Despite advertising claims, no filter can remove all water contaminants – and some remove too many beneficial minerals. No nonelectric filter can remove live bacteria. These must be eliminated by boiling or in a separate, prefiltration chlorine-treatment stage. Some filters contain a single (ceramic or carbon/ion-exchange) element; others offer multistage filtration combining two to five of the following Mechanical particulate filter elements of fine-grained, porous ceramic that strain out dirt, sediment (turbidity) and other particles, including asbestos, parasitic flukes and their egg cysts, and some large bacteria. The government pure-water filtering standard is .05u (half a micron), but some filters will eliminate particles as small as .01u – small, but larger than most bacteria. Many portable hiker’s ceramic filters can be renewed by simply scraping off the outer surface on the rough leg of your jeans. Activated carbon filters contain beads of bone charcoal (elemental carbon) that are superheated/dried to become ionized, so they naturally attract metallic elements and many stray organic molecules. They capture lead, mercury, chlorine, sulfur, VOCs (volatile organic chemicals such as the pesticide Lindane) and biological sources of bad taste and odor. Carbon filters can be partly restored by washing and superdrying. Reverse osmosis filters force water through a semipermeable membrane that removes salt, heavy metals, most chemicals and many other microscopic impurities, including VOCs and nitrates. They do not reliably filter out bacteria. Ion-exchange filters, as used in single-cartridge, faucet-mount filters and in large water softeners, expose water to plastic beads coated with ionized salts that capture nitrates, many minerals, including lead and mercury, and the iron, magnesium and calcium that can give water an off-color or off-taste. Some can be recharged — and contaminants washed away — in a disposable bath of strong brine, so they can be used for years. WARNING: One of our editors sees a dentist who warns against too-soft, overdemineralized water (such as steam-distilled “pure spring water”), as it deprives us of minerals that are essential to lifelong strong teeth and UV generators, included in some top-of-the-line, multistage home countertop, undercounter and central filters, expose water to natural ultraviolet (sunburn) light radiation that kills living parasites and bacteria, but not all cysts and eggs (these must be filtered out in another stage). Save instruction sheets and be sure to clean, renew or replace filter or purification elements as indicated — some after a given number of months, others after a number of

Controlling your dog’s weight There is compelling evidence that weight gain increases osteoarticular disorders, including osteoarthritis in dogs, and that weight loss can reduce pain and lameness. Excess weight not only increases the stress that “weighs” on the joints, but excess body fat also has an effect on joint inflammation. Weight loss can be achieved by changing your pet’s diet as well as the amounts you feed him. These must be adapted to your pet’s size, physiological stage and physical activity. It is best to ask your veterinarian for advice on how to achieve weight loss without the risk of starving or deficiency. You can also read our article on how to put your dog on a diet. He will give you the main principles to follow to help your dog lose weight while preserving his health and well-being. Conventional and/or natural anti-inflammatory drugs Anti-inflammatory medications for dogs, known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), are frequently used to relieve osteoarthritis in dogs. They can improve mobility and quality of life in dogs with osteoarthritis. There are many medications that your veterinarian can prescribe for your dog to help relieve osteoarthritis. These medications, if used properly, are generally well tolerated by dogs. However, sometimes side effects do occur. They require closer monitoring of the dog by its owner and regular follow-up by a veterinarian. Always use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with the advice of your veterinarian, and never administer human-formulated drugs to your dog without the advice of your veterinarian: they can cause life-threatening poisoning for your dog. Herbal bud therapy, or gemmotherapy, is a natural alternative to conventional anti-inflammatory drugs and may also offer good results in the relief of osteoarthritis in dogs. The combination of buds: of blackcurrant, pine and pubescent birch is useful in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the hip, of blackcurrant, pine, vine and ash is indicated for osteoarthritis of the knee, of blackcurrant, vine and Virginia creeper with selective action on small joints. The bud mâcérâts contain alcohol, which is toxic for our pets. Only concentrated bud mâcérâts (containing 10 times less alcohol than macerates) are suitable for veterinary use. In any case, always seek advice from a specialist veterinarian before using them on your pet. There are also other herbs with anti-inflammatory properties that can help relieve arthrosic pain in dogs, such as turmeric, harpagophytum, scrofularia nodosa and boswellia. Always seek the advice of a specialist veterinarian before using them on your dog. Food and dietary supplements Dog foods designed to support joint metabolism in osteoarthritis are now commonplace and switching your dog’s regular diet to this type of food may provide your pet with a little extra comfort. As part of the diet food range, the composition of these kibbles varies depending on the manufacturer. But, overall, they are food: Rather rich in proteins (and in particular in “good” animal proteins) useful to preserve the muscular mass of the dog, Rather low in calories for better weight control, which incorporate in their composition various ingredients or food supplements useful in the management of osteoarthritis. In addition to these therapeutic foods, there are a large number of dietary supplements that are known to have a beneficial effect on osteoarthritis. These food supplements include, but are not limited to ： Omega-3 fatty acids Omega-3s are essential fatty acids that have an “anti-inflammatory” action, unlike omega-6s, which are pro-inflammatory. The higher the omega-3 content in a dog’s diet, the less omega-6 available to create more inflammation in and around the joints. Omega-3s thus help slow the progression of osteoarthritis, preserve joint mobility and reduce pain. More specifically, long-chain omega-3s have been shown to be effective in this role, including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which come from marine sources. You can supplement your dog with these omega-3s by giving him capsules of cold sea fish oil. Therapeutic kibbles designed for feeding dogs with arthritis usually already contain it. Green Mussel Extract The extract of the green mussel contains both glycosaminoglycans, structural elements of the cartilage, and omega-3. There is some evidence that it has a mild to moderate positive effect on mobility and pain in dogs with osteoarthritis, but the number of studies is still quite limited and its mode of production is critical to its efficacy. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate Glucosamine is a dietary supplement for both humans and animals. It has been shown to help repair joints because it is a building block of joint cartilage made by the body from glucose and an amino acid. However, the question of which concentration is actually effective in relieving osteoarthritis is still debated in the scientific community. Chondroitin sulphate, often combined with glucosamine in dietary supplements, is extracted from mammalian cartilage and is believed to provide structural components to help repair joint cartilage damaged by osteoarthritis. However, there is currently little evidence of its effectiveness in improving the clinical status of osteoarthritis in dogs. However, these food supplements remain safe and have no contraindications. It takes several months before there is an effect (if any). Adjusting the dog’s lifestyle The adaptation of its environment Adapting the dog’s living environment by making simple adjustments to your home can help him improve his living comfort and reduce his risk of falling. A few simple measures can make life easier for your dog suffering from osteoarthritis such as : Controlled access to steps and stairs Going up and down stairs can be physically very difficult and dangerous for a dog suffering from osteoarthritis. It is therefore essential to minimize access to your dog and to assist him every time he goes up or down the stairs. To prevent your dog from using the stairs alone, you can place a protective barrier at the entrance. The stairs can be covered with a non-slip ramp to help your dog climb them more easily. An orthopedic basket An orthopaedic dog bed will give your dog better support for his back and relieve pressure on his joints. Non-slip surfaces for floors A slippery floor, be it wood or tile, is very dangerous for a dog with arthritis. Repeated slips and falls can greatly aggravate your pet’s pain. To prevent this, consider covering your floors with mats, pieces of carpet, or foamy yoga or children’s mats. Pay particular attention to doorways, bay windows or French windows and make sure that the floor is covered with a non-slip surface on both sides of the passage. Regulation of physical exercise It is imperative that a dog suffering from osteoarthritis continue to engage in physical activity in order to preserve muscle mass and slow the progression of the disease. But, of course, physical activity must be reasoned and adapted to his abilities. Thus, it is recommended to offer your dog suffering from osteoarthritis short and regular walks on slightly uneven ground, rather than long walks. Observe your dog on his walks and turn back if he shows difficulty in moving around, if he tends to drag behind you or stumble frequently. Also, avoid all high-impact physical activities and games such as ball games that involve your dog running or jumping. Replace these activities with more mentally stimulating ones, such as tracking games. Physiotherapy, physical therapy and hydrotherapy are also low-impact ways to strengthen muscles and maintain joint movement and are considered particularly beneficial. The use of complementary therapies Complementary therapies can often be used in conjunction with conventional treatment to relieve a dog with osteoarthritis. They include, but are not limited to: acupuncture useful in the management of chronic pain and practiced by a growing number of veterinarians specially trained in this ancestral Chinese medicine,laser therapy,osteopathy, the Tellington TTouch method. Other veterinary care In addition to the prescription of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, conventional veterinary medicine has a whole therapeutic arsenal to relieve animals suffering from osteoarthritis. Depending on your dog’s condition, your veterinarian can offer you the following: Intra-articular treatments that consist of injecting anti-inflammatory drugs or hyaluronic acid (to lubricate the joint) directly into the affected joints, other medications, often derived from opiates, to relieve your pet’s pain, surgical procedures such as joint arthroplasty, excision arthroplasty or arthrodesis. There are also promising new therapies for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Stem cell therapy is one of them, although it is still in its infancy in the veterinary field.

In Tate Modern Level 3: A Year in Art: Australia 1992 - Vernon Ah Kee born 1967 - Video, 4 projections, colour and sound (stereo) - Duration: 11min, 7sec - Tate and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, with support from the Qantas Foundation 2015, purchased 2016 tall man 2010 is a four-channel video installation with sound, originally exhibited at Milani Gallery, Brisbane as part of the artist’s exhibition tall man in 2011. It is eleven minutes and eleven seconds long and can be shown on a loop. It exists in an edition of three, of which this copy is number three. The work is concerned with the Palm Island riots of 2004. Palm Island is an Aboriginal community located on the tropical Great Palm Island, near northern Queensland, Australia. In November 2004 a young Aboriginal man, Mulrunji Doomadgee (also known as Cameron Doomadgee), died in in custody one hour after being detained by police. A week later, on 26 November 2004 at the public reading of the results of his autopsy, a riot ensued in which the police station, local courthouse and police barracks were burnt down and police officers and staff were forced to barricade themselves into the local hospital. It was later found, in 2006, that Doomadgee had died as a result of punches to the stomach; however, the Senior Sergeant was found not guilty of manslaughter in 2007. In 2008 two-time local Palm Island Councillor Lex Wotton was convicted and tried of inciting the riots. He served twenty months of a seven-year sentence. There continues to be widespread opposition to his sentence and the recent ‘gag order’ issued by the High Court of Australia. Ah Kee’s exhibition and the video installation tall man are an homage to Lex Wotton, specifically to the ongoing repercussions and events that unfolded on 26 November 2004. With footage sourced from mobile phones, handheld cameras and television news reels, the work shows the events that took place on that day. The video begins with each of the four screens showing different gatherings of the community. A woman speaks of Doomadgee’s death: ‘our young fella who died tragically… It is a mystery to all of us. There was an accident around the cell. There was a fall and an oppressive force on his body. Four ribs were broken. A huge blood loss occurred.’ Following this, Les Wotton enters the screen shouting ‘That’s not an accident … C’mon people we all wanted this. We wanted to know. Will we accept this as an accident?’ The different screens of the video installation show the police station on fire and aerial views of Palm Island. The work incorporates the perspective of the police officers by showing them preparing for the riot and being forced to leave the police station and move to the barracks. Each screen includes the date and time ticking over in real time. Ah Kee uses the television test pattern, otherwise known as the SMPTE colour bars, to fragment the continuity of the footage and thus heighten the visual and emotional impact of the sequencing between screens. The test pattern is accompanied by the sound of a high-pitched video signal. tall man is characteristic of Ah Kee’s artistic approach in its investigation into race relations in Australia. The artist has written: While tall man is an idea of Lex Wotton’s involvement in the riot, it is also about the people of Palm Island and the circumstances in which they live their lives. It is about the lives of Aboriginal people and the way we see ourselves in times of this kind of trouble. As a people, the Aborigine in Australia exists in a world where our place is always prescribed for us and we are always in jeopardy. It is a context that we are continually having to survive. It is a context upon which we are continually having to build and re-build.

Nearly one in four women have suffered a fall in their income in the past 12 months, a survey has found. These women, 23% of those surveyed, may have lost on average as much as £5,500 of their annual salary, or around a quarter of their income, according to the calculations. The findings were released by Fidelity International, ahead of International Women’s Day on Monday. Income falls are affecting the ability to save and invest. Nearly three in 10 (28%) women said the amount they have saved in the past 12 months has reduced, 17% of women have invested less, and one in eight (13%) have decreased their pension contributions. Women have been - and continue to be - disproportionately affected by the pandemicMaike Currie, Fidelity International However, a fifth (20%) of women reported their ability to save and invest had increased during the coronavirus pandemic, largely due to social restrictions meaning fewer outgoings and more disposable income to put away for the future. Women in their 40s are particularly feeling the financial squeeze, with nearly a fifth (18%) decreasing their pension savings over the past 12 months. The income shortfalls could exacerbate gender pay, pension and investment gaps that existed before the coronavirus pandemic. More than half (51%) of women said their career, mental health or physical wellbeing have suffered in the past year. Two-fifths (40%) of women who have experienced a fall in their income have been forced to dip into their savings to cover daily outgoings, while more than one in 10 have borrowed on a credit card to make ends meet. Maike Currie, investment director at Fidelity International said: “The last 12 months have undoubtedly challenged all of us. However, women have been – and continue to be – disproportionately affected by the pandemic.” She continued: “Female-centric industries have borne the brunt of job losses, furlough and income reductions, and women continue to balance this with more unpaid work like childcare and elderly care. “Financially, the impact is significant. Reduced earnings and the already significant financial gender gaps when it comes to income and long-term savings, makes this particularly concerning. While the end of lockdown restrictions may now be in sight, the repercussions of women’s experiences over the last 12 months may reverberate long into their futures.” Ms Currie added: “When we started our women and money campaign back in 2018, our aim was to get more women engaged with investing and preparing financially for the future. While circumstances have changed in the pandemic, encouraging more women to invest just small amounts will be important to ensure that this doesn’t result in a permanent step back.” More than 1,000 women were surveyed across the UK. Women often make better investment decisions and will make more sensible financial decisions, but they are often held back by a lack of confidenceJane Goodland, Quilter Jane Goodland, corporate affairs director at Quilter said the Government should encourage firms to consider “what more can be done to ensure the workplace is one in which female talent can thrive”. She continued: “The gender pay gap reporting regulations have been a good first step, but more now needs to be done to get women into senior level positions and ensure they are better protected when the next crisis comes around. “Increasing financial confidence through education and engagement will go a long way to ensure women participate more in the personal finances of the nation. “Data has shown women often make better investment decisions and will make more sensible financial decisions, but they are often held back by a lack of confidence. “As we rebuild, we should have an even greater focus on making policy decisions that are better informed by the challenges and barriers that exist for half the population – we must learn the lessons from this crisis and find a way to build back to a more equal society.” A Government Equality Hub spokesman said: “The contribution that women make to the economy is crucial. Which is why we’ve set out an unprecedented offer of support which includes help for the sectors they are more likely to be employed in, protection for female led start-ups and new childcare support. ‘We understand it’s been a very difficult time for parents with childcare responsibilities and that is why we have introduced flexible furlough agreements and have extended the furlough scheme through to September, supporting employees who are struggling to work due to childcare. “We also recognise that it is vital that children can return to school to lift some of the weight off parents across the country, which is why we have prioritised opening schools as soon as it is safe to do so. “As we seek to build back better following the pandemic everyone will play a crucial part and we will reflect that in our policy development.”

Panorpa vulgaris copula A somewhat older image showing a copula with the following details: - the female (on the right) is chewing away a dead insect provided to her as a "nuptial gift" - meantime the male (on the left) is producing a blob of salival mass to give to her when she is done eating the initial nuptial gift, so the copula may be continued. The image below shows another tactic of the male: Clamping the wing of the female with his notal organ so she can't get away: Sara Lewis & Adam South (2012) The Evolution of Animal Nuptial Gifts Lewis, Sara & South, Adam & Burns, Robert & Al-Wathiqui, Nooria. (2011). Nuptial gifts. Current biology : CB. 21. R644-5. Panorpa vulgaris is a very common species of Scorpionfly in Northwest Europe. For a long time it was taken to be a synonym of Panorpa communis, but in the 70's of the last century it was demonstrated that the two are reproductivly isolated. Panorpa vulgaris is the most thermophile of the northern European Scorpionsflies and can more readily be found in open sunny meadows whereas the others prefer more shaded environments.

In Mark Zuckerberg’s annual “year in review” video, one quote stood out to me: “Even when we seemed at our most divided, we were still connected.” There’s a dynamic presented here between connectivity and divisiveness. As our society is quickly adopting ultra-connectivity, are we losing our ability to be unified? As we continue down this path of increasing technological proximity, we have a responsibility to work toward more unity. The advent of the new year is a lot like going to the barber for a long overdue haircut. We need to reflect on what made 2016 a year of widespread disunity in order to get a fresh 2017 cut. Perhaps our issues with unity lie in our obsession with labels. Last month, Tomi Lahren embodied my issues with labeling during an interview with Trevor Noah. Noah asked Lahren if she was a conservative, to which she responded: “I do … I mean I’m a millennial so I really don’t like labels.” The sheer irony involved in Lahren dropping one label for another aside, the picking of one’s own labels hints at a greater issue: group attribution. For example, I’m a Muslim, but that doesn’t mean that all of my opinions are the opinions of Islam or that my actions represent the whole faith. While I would like to think my actions reflect Islam, they don’t. They simply reflect the perception I have of Islam. However, the very nature of labels convinces us that the label holder is a representative, an ambassador of sorts. Why does this matter? Critiques lodged at groups, whether racial, religious or political, often stem from the actions of a few of the group’s members. As recent graduate Areeba Jibril was quoted in a flyer for the University of Michigan’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program, “Diversity is speaking for myself without being seen as the spokesperson for all individuals who share my identities.” It’s not that labels aren’t necessary in society. In many cases, they benefit individuals, especially those who are a part of marginalized groups, like with increased efforts to admit non-white students into higher education programs. But most of the time, labeling’s negative side effects, like group attribution and blame redirection, are just plainly counterproductive. Take ISIS as a prime example. Instead of focusing on the political roots of the terrorist group or on the poverty many of its supporters face in Iraq and Syria, many falsely believe the group represents Islam. Even by continuing to be labeled as the “Islamic State,” their status as representatives of the religion is further validated. The same goes for the debate about calling radical extremism Islamic extremism. As President Barack Obama said, “We must never accept the premise that they put forward because it is a lie. Nor should we grant these terrorists the religious legitimacy that they seek.” As a result, we have not yet learned about their origins in a way that will affect future foreign policy. Labeling, in a sense, is a cop out. It allows us to say, “Well, they’re a part of that group, and that group has some intrinsic problems which we can’t do anything about.” We saw this right after the 2016 election as well. Many supporters of Hillary Clinton described the entire red portion of the electoral map as racist, sexist or bigoted. Labeling all Donald Trump voters as illogical and narrow-minded does nothing but ignore the real issues at hand. A common sentiment among those who voted for the president-elect was a feeling of exclusion from the political climate for the eight years since President Obama took office. The problems they see with the United States, like job-access and untrustworthiness of government, should concern all Americans, but when Democrats stop listening before Republicans open their mouths, then the country stands to suffer. When we label, we’re automatically categorizing based on these surface level characteristics. But when we dig deeper, we see that people share a lot of the same fundamental morals, goals and struggles. If we stay on this path of letting labels be the end of the conversation, then we won’t be able to solve our problems. Labeling is counterproductive, keeping the two sides of the aisle far from each other and strengthening the disunified forces at large. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a nation devoid of this disuniting labeling, where we are judged by the content of our character rather than the color of our skin. And we, as a society, need to unify now more than ever. A recent Washington Post article explains this Congress is more polarized than it has been in over 100 years. When we’re polarized, we find fewer reasons to listen to each other and fail to progress as a result. So as we walk in with our messy haircuts to the barber shop this new year, let’s consider our options. We can vaguely hope for a good outcome and squirm in our chair as the barber botches the hairdo, or we can confidently set limits and guidelines for our hairstylist and leave looking fresh for 2017. Let’s come together in 2017 and limit our divisive labeling while opening our ears to further discourse and conversation.

Let’s take a trip back to the late 1800s. Whilst Coca Cola was sold in bottles for the first time in 1894, we still hadn’t made that much progress with animal testing. Marie De Manaceine was fascinated with sleep deprivation. She had established that mental disturbance resulted from partial insomnia, but she wanted to know more. So, in her Lab, she recruited puppies. 10 to be specific; aged 2, 3 or 4 months old. Whilst they continued to be fed by their mother, she kept them in constant activity. In short, she deprived them totally of sleep. After 96-120 hours, the puppies were irreparably lost. What is interesting (despite it being macabre), is that when puppies were starved, they could be saved after 20-25 days. This wasn’t possible when they were sleep deprived. Sleep is an essential part of your puppy’s life. Returning to Marie’s study, she found that sleep deprivation significantly affected the puppy’s brains. When they were starved, the brain was left almost spared. But, in the absence of sleep, fat degeneration, blood vessel abnormalities and haemorrhaging occurred. In short, when the rest of the body is negatively affected by malnutrition, to an extent it can be saved. However, when the brain is affected, it is fatal. The brain is the command centre for the nervous system. It is divided into three main sections; the brain stem which controls basic life functions, the cerebrum, which is responsible for decision making and the cerebellum which controls movement. Sleep is essential to many vital functions. It plays a part in energy conservation, brain waste clearance, immune system modulation, cognition, performance, disease and psychological state. Many studies since Marie’s, have demonstrated that sleep loss (not deprivation) during development can result in reduced brain mass, neuronal death and subsequent behavioural problems. Impaired sleep is also a contributing factor in cases of cancer and diabetes. It can also affect how an animal responds to infection and heals wounds. The long and the short of it, sleep is essential to life. Without it, it massively affects the control centre that is your brain and can cause a range of knock on health problems further down the line. This is even more vital for puppies. It is clear that puppies undergo much more rapid development than the equivalent human child/baby; for example, the average 7-week old puppy would be as developed as a 9-month old human baby. Dogs are also said to be fully matured anywhere between 1-2 years of age (depending on breed). Human brain maturation doesn’t occur until around 25 years of age. Dogs have a lot more developing to do in a shorter period of time than us humans. For us to reach full maturation, as with dogs; we undergo cognitive changes, emotional challenges and physical transformations. Sleep is necessary for all of the above. Puppies need to consolidate what they have learnt that day. Whether it is a new trick or simply to avoid chewing the legs of the chair. Puppies need their bones to grow and their muscles to recover from that mad dash around the garden. Puppies eat most things they can get their muzzles around. Some of it may not be particularly nutritional, but they need their immune system strong to fight off any bacteria they accidentally pick up in the park when licking the bench! Puppies need to store memories. That lorry at the end of the street isn’t as scary as it seems and the vacuum is perfectly safe, just a little noisy. Sleep helps them do this. This is why puppies spend a most of their first months, asleep. It’s purely down to the colossal amount of developing they need to do in such a short period of time. Adult dogs, in a laboratory setting, when left, will sleep on average for around 13 hours per day. They are diurnal, which means they are active during daylight hours. Rest occurs during dark periods with activity increasing the two hours before light. Dogs have a natural rest period around noon and then reduced activity during the afternoon. Puppies can sleep anywhere between 18-20 hours per day. Again, you will notice higher activity in the morning and then rest, with reduced activity around noon and into the afternoon. Puppies will sleep generally after they have been playing or learning new skills; if they have just been out for a walk or have just eaten. The important thing is to follow your puppies lead. And, leave a sleeping puppy, sleep. Interestingly, the experiences that your puppy has can affect the type and quality of sleep they experience though. Studies have found that after a negative experience, dogs will fall asleep more quickly. It is thought that this is a protective sleep in response to stress. This should be in the forefront of your mind throughout your puppy’s development. It’s all too easy to attribute an “exhausted” dog to the busyness of the day. Be mindful, their sleeping habits could be more indicative of their experience. Many owners see official sleep time as that experienced during the night. This is more appropriate for adult dogs because puppies need the same consideration throughout the day too. Where you want your dog to sleep is entirely personal preference. Some owners would rather crate train, some would rather not. Some owners are happy having their dog sleep in bed with them, some are not. Just be mindful, if you intend on crate training and you work; that is a huge part of the day that your dog will be spending in a crate. Crates are great for keeping your puppy safe when you are unable to supervise, but once they have matured, it’s often a good idea to move away from spending so much time in a crate. It can then be used if needed in recovery situations etc. It can be beneficial setting up a safe space for your puppy, with a crate and barriers/partitions. You can keep your puppy out of trouble if you are unable to supervise when you take the bins out, but he also learns to associate the space with sleep and calm. During the day, when you are home, the partitions/barriers can be left open so he can choose to take himself off for a nap when he needs it. Many puppies are quite good at self-regulating their naps especially if you are thoroughly unexciting and boring. The important thing: if your puppy is due a nap and he’s wild, offer him a calming task and be totally quiet and calm. He’ll soon flake out! As we’ve mentioned, most puppies will sleep on average 18-20 hours per day. What this means, is that for a large part of your puppy’s life, they will only be awake for 4-6 hours a day. Keep this in mind when planning their training and socialising. Sessions should be short. It’s important to not overwhelm them as we know negative experiences can impact their development (and their quality of sleep, which in turn affects a whole host of body functions). The issue with sleeping through the night is little to do with sleeping time, it’s more to do with bladder control. Dogs and puppies are diurnal, so they are instinctively more likely to be awake during light hours and resting during dark hours. Puppies are more likely to be able to hold their bladder when inactive, but there is a rule of thumb when house-training. On average, most puppies can hold their bladder for one hour every month of age. So, when you bring your 8-week-old puppy home, letting them go more than 2 hours without a toilet break is guaranteed to end up with an accident. This is why, when you are toilet training, it’s a good idea to set your alarm during the night to let them out to the toilet. Slowly the alarm can get later and later as they grow. As we mentioned, when your puppy is active, he won’t hold it as well, so if he’s been chasing his toy for 10 minutes, he’ll probably need a toilet break. Remember, let him out after play, food and sleep! Your puppy undergoes a colossal amount of development in a short period of time. His brain needs to mature, his bones need to grow, his muscles need to strengthen, and he needs to consolidate learning and memories. Sleep is an essential factor in all of these processes. Your puppy is doing the development equivalent of an 18-25-year-old human in around 2 years. So, it makes a lot of sense why they sleep so much. In humans, lack of sleep is a major stressor. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to suggest similarly for our canine companions. Below average sleep quotas are linked with anxiety, aggression, decreased response to reward, lower frustration tolerance and low resilience. Sleep disturbances affect hormone levels; specifically stress hormone levels. Rats experiencing sleep disturbance demonstrated less grooming behaviour and opt for fewer enrichment activities. In short, if you want your puppy and subsequent adult dog to be an emotional stable and well-rounded pooch, who happily engages in enrichment and grooms themselves, they need enough sleep. Whilst there are some medical issues that can cause sleep disturbances, it makes more sense to break down the statement that your puppy won’t sleep at night. Is your puppy not going to sleep? Are they crying or whining? Is your puppy going to sleep, but then waking and not going back to sleep? Or is your puppy just waking up earlier than you? We’ll explore each of these in a little more detail now. If your puppy is struggling to go to sleep, it is likely associated with his emotional state. Consider when he was born. He was in a litter of his siblings and his Mom. Suddenly, he’s brought to a new home and is expected to sleep with no company? This is a huge adjustment. For some puppies, having another resident dog already in the home can help them settle, but if they are an only pup, then you may want to start their nights with you. Some owners would rather sleep on the sofa with their pup, so they are close, some owners are happy to start crate training in their bedroom. The point is your pup knows you are close. Cortisol, the stress hormone, can significantly affect growth. It can modify the timing of development and have a lasting effect on gene expression. The point is to limit stressful stimuli for your developing pup. So don’t let them get to the stage where they are crying in fear or anxiety. There is no evidence to suggest that being close to your puppy causes later separation anxiety. Quite the opposite; when your pup is content, he is more likely to be emotionally stable. If your puppy is waking in the night, he could need the toilet, or again, he could have just suddenly realised he’s alone. Let him out to the toilet, but don’t engage in play. Stay calm and praise/reward him when he toilets. Bring him back in and calmly put him back to bed. If he is frequently waking in the night and toilet breaks don’t seem to settle, it could be worth retracing some steps where you are closer to him again. This is no different in dogs. So, you must consider the experiences of your pup before you even brought him home and how this could have potentially affected his emotional state. The final common question around puppies and their sleep, is how early they wake. As we’ve mentioned, dogs are diurnal. They wake during light time hours, and rest during dark periods. Like us. It’s normal for them to wake as soon as the sun comes up. It’s the basic mechanism of the circadian rhythm. Ask any puppy owner and they will tell you that their sleep cycle adjusted massively when they first had a puppy – puppy may be getting plenty, but not Mum or Dad. If your pup is waking with the sun, then consider moving their sleeping space to a room with blackout blinds or curtains. If you live somewhere with seasons, then Winter naturally has shorter light periods so it’s generally easier to fall into a routine. Summer can be difficult as the days are long. But then, you have the bonus of not standing outside in the snow to toilet train during the summer! Some seasoned owners will opt to get a puppy at certain times of year, so it could be worth considering if you think you’ll struggle with early mornings but don’t mind getting drenched to toilet train! Just as we would as humans, good sleep hygiene is crucial in helping your puppy’s sleep habits. Routine is essential. Feed times are a good staple. Try to stick to regular mealtimes, but don’t worry too much about walks and play at the exact same time every day. Some dogs can develop routine related anxiety – that is, if something doesn’t happen when they expect it to, they can start demonstrating stress behaviours, like pacing, panting and whining. The other part of your routine is to ensure quiet time before bed. So, after their evening meal, you may do some calm obedience training if you want to, but for the 1-2 hours before bed, they would be chilling just as you do. Sleep is an essential part to all our lives. This is no different for puppies. When young, they will spend the majority of their day asleep. Anywhere between 18-20 hours. As shown by Marie De Manaceine, quite simply, lack of sleep can be fatal. Whilst we have moved on from the macabre testing (somewhat), newer studies show time and time again how sleep deprivation negatively affects cognition, development, behaviour and emotional stability. If we want a fully matured, healthy and emotionally stable pooch, we need to let sleeping dogs sleep. Consider how you plan training and socialising for your pup as it’s super easy to overwhelm them in those few hours they are awake. If you have kids, teach them the importance of letting the pup sleep. Set up a safe space for pup, that he knows is calm and quiet and he can retreat when the world gets a little too exhausting. Raising a puppy is so rewarding, but it does have its own challenges. If you would like any support with your puppy’s health or nutrition, check out our services to see how we can help.

07/11/2019 - Health expenditure will outpace GDP growth over the next 15 years in almost every OECD country, according to new OECD forecasts. Health spending per capita will grow at an average annual rate of 2.7% across the OECD and will reach 10.2% of GDP by 2030, up from 8.8% in 2018, according to a new OECD report. Health at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators says that the United States spent the most on health care in 2018, equivalent to 16.9% of GDP, above Switzerland, the next highest spending country, at 12.2%. Germany, France, Sweden and Japan all spent close to 11% of GDP, while a few countries spent less than 6% of their GDP on health care, including Mexico, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Turkey at 4.2%. Health at a Glance outlines areas where spending could be more effective: Health at a Glance 2019 highlights some worrying patterns in health outcomes and unhealthy lifestyles. A person born today can expect to live almost 81 years on average in OECD countries. But life expectancy gains have slowed recently in most OECD countries, especially in the United States, France and the Netherlands. 2015 was a particularly bad year, with life expectancy falling in 19 countries. The causes include rising levels of obesity and diabetes that have made it difficult to maintain previous progress in cutting deaths from heart disease and stroke. Respiratory diseases such as influenza and pneumonia have also claimed more lives in recent years, notably amongst older people. Opioid-related deaths have increased by about 20% across OECD countries since 2011, and have claimed about 400,000 lives in the United States alone. Opioid-related deaths are also relatively high in Canada, Estonia and Sweden. Smoking, drinking and obesity continue to cause people to die prematurely and worsen quality of life: The report argues that more attention should be placed on patient-reported outcomes and experiences. Preliminary results from OECD’s new initiative on Patient Reported Indicator Surveys show that hip replacements improve an individual’s quality of life – mobility, activity, pain – by around 20%. “Health systems can and must do better to improve the health of our populations. Measuring how health systems change people’s lives for the better is essential if we are to put resources where they can have most effect,” said Stefano Scarpetta, OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs.

Our vision is that some day, all our fellow human beings, especially those made vulnerable by natural and manmade disaster, conflict, disease and poverty will live in a world of health, dignity, community sustainability and environmental balance. We believe this is possible through our mission—music and music making creating transformative social impact through strong partnerships. WHAT WE DO A series of major international concerts at Carnegie Hall and other initiatives around the world to raise awareness and support to create a broad spectrum of impact for humanitarian crises Education and Ideas In addition to Ubuntu-Shruti, our innovative professional training orchestra and community program, MFLI has become a growing presence at international forums, conferences, universities, etc. presenting our models of social impact through music Creating innovative change and reform in ensemble behavior, hierarchy, and governance across the classical music spectrum from orchestras, choirs, and chamber ensembles, to non-western ensembles and beyond A decade and a half ago, in the wake of the catastrophic Kashmir Earthquake of October 2005, a small group of friends banded together in New York City inspired by the notion that classical music could be a vehicle to create humanitarian action and bring attention to millions of people affected by a natural disaster in places far away. Scores of distinguished artists from the world's greatest orchestras and ensembles came together at Carnegie Hall and gave their precious art in service of those in need. Our first concert Beethoven's Ninth for South Asia, in January 2006, raised more than $90,000 for the work of Doctors Without Borders for the survivors and their families. Global media carried the story of the concert around the world. That first effort grew into Music For Life International, which takes its name from Leonard Bernstein's legendary MUSIC FOR LIFE concert for AIDS at Carnegie Hall in November 1987. In the course of developing and presenting similar concerts over the following years, we discovered that we had created something new – an orchestral paradigm, which itself modeled and disseminated positive and generative behaviors which could effect broad change throughout society: profound listening, individual and communal accountability, mutual empowerment, collaborative leadership, and conflict resolution. Since that first concert in 2006, there have been seven more global humanitarian concerts, involving almost a thousand musicians in all. Our message of transformative action through music has been broadcast via radio, television and the internet to millions of people in every part of the world. Our most recent humanitarian effort, BEETHOVEN FOR THE ROHINGYA, culminated with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at Carnegie Hall on January 28, 2019. The future we see is spectacular – continuing our humanitarian activity and partnerships expanding beyond Carnegie Hall and beyond the United States. Our professional training orchestra Ubuntu-Shruti opened new frontiers in orchestral education integrating the lessons of social entrepreneurship into the classical music world. Our approach brings the ideas bursting from music making to inform leadership and collaborative models in business, philanthropy, diplomacy, and social enterprise. We are planting an urgent, young idea which will transform the future for our children and their children through our mission, Transformation Through Music. Music for Life International Founder and Artistic Director, Singaporean-born Indian conductor George Mathew, has emerged as one of the leading forces in the classical music world bringing symphonic music to focus on global humanitarian issues and crises at the beginning of the 21st Century.

Definition of Oral Leukoplakia: Oral Leukoplakia is a white lesion (abnormal tissue) found on the oral mucosa (skin lining in our mouth).It has no known causing agents. For example, a thrush lesion in the mouth is also white , but it is not an Oral Leukoplakia lesion because it is proven to be caused by the candida fungus. Sign and symptoms of Oral Leukoplakia: - Leukoplakia size can vary from a small ,well rounded plaque (broad, raised area on the skin) to a large and extensive mucosa lesion(any abnormal tissue found on or in an organism) - Leukoplakia color may be white, whitish-yellow or grey . - Homogeneous Leukoplakia has an even distributed surface which is smooth, wrinkled or criss-crossed by small cracks or fissures. - Non-Homogeneous Leukoplakia has an uneven surface which is usually reddish and ulcerated or warty. - Speckled Leukoplakia or erythroluekoplakia (leukoplakia with reddish spots) usually develops from a uniform white lesion and progresses to become red and ulcerated. This change in features usually indicates a cancerous Oral Leukoplakia. Treatment of Oral Leukoplakia: Treatment of Oral Leukoplakia is very subjective: If the white lesion is found to be non–cancerous, then the best treatment would be to remove or try to eliminate the above predisposing factors. Then, leave the white lesion alone and continue close observation by the dentist. If however the white lesion is found to be cancerous , the best treatment would be to surgically remove the white lesion, undergo radio and chemotherapy to control the spread and malignancy. Causes of Oral Leukoplakia: There are no known definite causes; however these are the possible predisposing factors: - Smoking or chewing tobacco. The irritation from the chemicals in the tobacco is considered to be the number one contributing factor. White lesions here are usually seen on the cheeks, lips or tongue. - Sunlight or UV light exposure. - Chronic irritation from foreign materials or objects in the mouth. - Predominantly seen in chronic drinkers. - Human papilloma viruses (HPV) are commonly detected in Oral Leukoplakia. Note that HPV virus’s type 16 and 18 are high risk types due to their association with cancer of the cervix. “Hairy Leukoplakia” is sometimes seen in immune compromised patients, but are not categorized under Oral Leukoplakia due to the fact that it has a known cause which is the Ebstein-Bar virus. - Oral epithelial atrophy (wasting away). Conditions which predispose to atrophy are iron deficiency, tertiary syphilis, oral sub mucosa fibrosis. - Mutation of p53 a tumor suppressor gene can result in uncontrolled cell divisions leading to abnormal oral mucosa growth of Oral Leukoplakia. Test and Diagnosis of Oral Leukoplakia: The Diagnosis of Oral Leukoplakia can only be accomplished by eliminating the possibilities of other diseases.Therefore, the diagnosis is not based mainly on a specific cellular arrangement seen under the microscope, but a diagnosis is made based on what the clinician sees at chair side. However, if the diagnosis does point to Oral Leukoplakia, the next step is to obtain a tissue sample from the white lesion. The tissue sample is than sent to a lab to study the amount of dysplasia (abnormal growth of cells) seen in the tissue sample. The amount of dysplasia can usually tell us if the lesion is a cancerous Oral Leukoplakia. Prognosis of Oral Leukoplakia: What is the prognosis of Oral Leukoplakia ? The only real concern here is whether a not this lesion is cancerous. Studies has shown that about 5%-14% of Oral Leukoplakia cases become cancerous. Not all Oral Leukoplakia are cancerous, some are just benign. Malignancy of Oral Leukoplakia are usually influence by many combining factors, such as smoking, nutritional habits, condition of living, genes and many more. No single factor is responsible. The area where the white lesion occurs at also plays an important factor. Lesions found on the floor of the mouth or below the tongue are mostly cancerous. White Lesions which changes in appearance drastically are also an indication of a cancerous lesion. For example, in the case of speckled leukoplakia. Complications of Oral Leukoplakia: For non-cancerous lesions, the only complication would be that it is aesthetically displeasing. In cases of cancerous Oral Luekoplakia, the most obvious complication is late detection and spread of the cancerous lesion to other parts of the body. Once the cancerous lesion spreads, it can be fatal. When to contact a doctor: You should immediately see a dentist if : - Any white lesions appears in the mouth and is a persistent condition after 2-3 weeks even after oral aid medication. - The white lesion suddenly changes in appearance and looks worse. - White lesion is initally painless and progresses to becomes painful. - White lesion starts to spread.

Neighbors Unite to Make City a Greener Place Alt Headline: Neighborhood Greening Efforts Take Root Gift of Street Trees Part of Effort to Improve Quality of Life in Lancaster City’s NE Lancaster, PA – On Saturday, October 17th, neighbors in Lancaster City’s NE will clean up the community and plant 28 street trees as part of an effort to improve their quality of life. Thanks to the support of UGI, TreeVitalize, the Lancaster Rotary and the Lancaster County Conservancy Urban Greening, these trees will be planted free of charge to residents. This is the first phase of a project that hopes to introduce 160 beautiful street trees to the neighborhood over the next three years. There are over 160 locations in our neighborhood that would benefit from a tree. Did you know that a single tree can prevent 3440 gallons of water from entering our city's combined sewer system each year? In addition, trees provide shade, reduce heating and cooling costs, improve air quality, reduce noise and increase property values. Imagine what 160 trees could do! For nearly a year, Neighbors United has worked with Kristen Thomas, a local resident, Pennsylvania Master Naturalist trainee and member of LCC Urban Greening, and others who are interested in making NE Lancaster City a greener place. Her team took an inventory of vacant locations in our neighborhood that at one time had a tree (you can see the stumps or holes) and areas where there was no shade at all. Working with the Lancaster City Arborist, they researched trees that were a good fit for the neighborhood, making recommendations based on proximity to power lines and personal preference. With help from the Lancaster City Alliance, they also discovered funding and secured sponsors for the project. Finally, they went door-to-door informing residents when there were good locations in front of their homes. Alongside Kristen's efforts, Fritz Schroeder, Director of Urban Greening at the Lancaster County Conservancy, held an informative seminar last spring to educate the community on the benefits of greening the neighborhood to reduce storm water runoff. Northeast Lancaster City - Street Tree Planting Sponsoring organization is the Lancaster County Conservancy working with Pennsylvania Master Naturalists Stewardship Project and Neighbors United When: Saturday, October 17 Location: Ross Street United Methodist Church, 312 East Ross Street, Lancaster City Time: 8:30 am start / 1:00 pm (approximate finish) Goal: Plant 28 Street Trees Tasks: The city will have already removed the concrete and done an initial planting site preparation. The volunteers will be digging out soil, placing the tree, watering, adding mulch and staking the tree. Additional Volunteers will be needed to pick up litter, weed and mulch existing tree wells.

The sun supplies the earth with heat and light, among other things, and emits radiation. Since the beginning of humanity, the sun has therefore been seen as one of the most important factors in our lives. The Mayans and Aztecs had been around for about 2,000 years. Christ fascinated by the sun and observed it carefully. In the time of the Greeks, for the first time the usefulness of the sun was recognized as an energy-providing source by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. He thought about how best to use solar heat by adapting the house building to it. In the third century BC, the Romans took over this knowledge of the Greeks. She used magnifying glasses to use the solar energy to light flares, at the time mainly for religious purposes. The history of solar energy In 1767 the first solar panels were installed in Switzerland. The Swiss scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure discovered by generating solar energy and way to cook with a kind of solar panel. His technique was later used in around 1830 by the scientist John Herschel, among others, who invented an instrument with which the heat power of generated solar energy could be measured. Not much later, around 1839, a real breakthrough took place. Then the French physicist Antoine César Becquerel discovered the so-called ‘photovoltaic’ effect. He first experienced how sunlight could be converted into electricity. He discovered that by exposing an arrangement of electrodes placed in an electrolyte to the sunlight, electrons were released which can move in the desired direction. As a result, the amount of electricity produced increases and power is generated. A breakthrough, because not much later the so-called photoconductivity was invented on the basis of this new knowledge. In 1876, for example, the first selenium solar energy was converted into electricity. The new insights laid the foundations for a few years later. Around the beginning of the 20th century, the first solar cell was produced. Today, it still serves as the basis for the solar panels as we know them today. Solar energy in rapids Since the 2000s, solar technology has really accelerated. Due to new technological advances, the production costs of solar panels decreased. Moreover, rising energy costs also play a role, for both consumers and companies solar energy became increasingly interesting and also more profitable to purchase. Moreover, since the climate crisis was declared, solar energy has been seen as an essential part of the energy transition. Solar energy is good for the climate because it requires less fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) and therefore reduces CO2 emissions during production. How does solar work? Solar energy comes entirely from the heat and light of the sun. This energy is converted into electricity, because the energy is absorbed by, for example, solar panels, a solar water heater or a solar carport. When the sun shines on a solar panel, an electric current is created between the positive charge on top of the cell and the negative charge below it. That’s because solar panels are made up of solar cells. These cells are made of material that can only conduct current when the light falls on them. Because the sun shines, an electric current is created between the positive charge on top of the cell and the negative charge below it. This is also called DIRECT current. During this process, an inverter then converts the power to ALTERNATING current. This is actually the same kind of power that comes out of your socket. The inverter then sends the power to the mains. The inverter also records the total yield of the solar panels. For example, a home or a company can be supplied with green electricity that has arisen from solar energy. The future of solar energy The theory that the heat and the sun lies can be converted into energy has been around for hundreds of years. As there is increasing talk of an energy shortage and new technologies, this form of energy generation has become increasingly accessible to individuals and businesses. In recent years, increasingly innovative solar cells and solar panels have been developed. These can also yield more returns. As a result, they can now be recouped in a shorter time by households and companies that, for example, have solar panels installed on their roofs. A few examples of new developments are, for example, thin film solar panels, plastic solar panels, harmonica solar panels or 3D solar panels. Moreover, there is still plenty of research being done on the further development of profitable solar panels. More and more people are now choosing to provide their home or company with solar panels. This is essential for companies, because by 2023 business premises must have a minimum energy label C. From 2030, at least label A will be the requirement. For this reason, the switch to green energy has become increasingly attractive, whether necessary or not. A good example of this is having a solar parking space installed. This is actually a solar carport that provides a covered parking space with solar panels. This collects green electricity for companies, but also, for example, for the electric cars parked there. The solar carport supplies the charging stations with solar energy. An innovation that combines functionality and sustainability and helps entrepreneurs on their way to cleaner entrepreneurship.

Does Emotional Intelligence affect in creating and having a successful life, career or business? Yes, A LOT! Nowadays, successful businesses and corporations have included Emotional Intelligence in their employment, promotion, leadership and employee development processes. The increase of emotional intelligence will help you to focus your energies into measurable results and is a core element for developing and having other important skills such as self discovery and management, in the improvement of communication skills and in developing your social intelligence. Emotional intelligence affects in almost everything that you think, feel, communicate, in the decisions you take as a consequence of desired results or not… The one day training on Emotional Intelligence focuses on: - Explanation of Emotional Intelligence - Program Presentation • Report between IQ and EI • Knowing, understanding and processing information - Why is Emotional Intelligence important and which are today’s tendencies in corporations and businesses? - How to increase Emotional Intelligence by: - Increasing the level of self awareness • Self management • Increasing the level of social awareness • Management of relationships with others The training program is structured in such a way to offer all participants the right tools and strategies in order to achieve success in their personal life, career and business.

There are tons of people worldwide who have to deal with the pain from rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. While living with arthritis can be very overwhelming, the information provided in this article will help you better manage the disease so you can live a better life. Keep a daily journal if you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. This written record will help you see what in your flare ups. It can also let you to understand what helps. This is also valuable information that your doctor can devise a successful treatment plan. A daily diary can be a beneficial tool to help learning about and managing your rheumatoid arthritis. Acupuncture can be a good treatment option for sufferers of chronic arthritis. Acupuncture can help the pain that many arthritis suffers experience. If this is something you are going to do, make sure that it is an on-going process because one time is not much of a help. You may experience a depletion of your energy than before. Ignoring your body’s signals will cause you to experience more pain. Concentrate your energy on those things that mean the most important. It is not necessary for you to take care of everyone all the time. Use assistance as much as possible when you do strenuous activity. If you are planning an activity that involves lifting or reaching or even if you have a lot of writing to do which causes pain in your hands, be proactive in anything that will help protect skeletal joints from any extra pressures that might cause further damage. Make sure you wear sun block to protect yourself from UV rays. People with arthritis are especially susceptible to complications from sun exposure. You should be especially careful about protecting yourself from the sun if you go outside to prevent exacerbating or causing illnesses. Tell people you have arthritis!Tell them how you are affected by it! Arthritis can wreak havoc on your emotions; therefore, and others may misinterpret your mood.Help them to understand the cause so that you can get support to relieve some stress! Watch for new medical treatments. Doctors often reluctant to try a new treatment on a patient unless what they’re already doing is completely failing.If you come across a treatment that seems like it would work better than your current one, ask your doctor about possibly switching to a newer plan. Research has shown that people with arthritis can drink alcohol in moderation and be just fine. Some studies have shown that arthritis sometimes have reduced symptoms when drinking alcohol moderately. Cognitive behavioral therapy could be a good solution if your arthritis sufferers. This sort of therapy helps people change negative behaviors by changing the way they think about the things in their life. Therapy can improve life and reduce stress. Your doctor should be able to advise you figure out what sort of anti-inflammatory diet to fight inflammation. This will help reduce the inflammation and make the pain go away. Arthritis affects all different kinds of people, both young and old. Learning more about arthritis and its symptoms will make it easier for you to be able to manage it. Implement the ideas here into your day, and you’ll be headed towards finding relief from arthritis pain.

The blockchain is undoubtedly one of the hottest technologies, and it is considered to be an important driving force for the fourth industrial revolution and an important cornerstone for building value Internet. At present, as a new generation of information and communication technology, the blockchain is accelerating integration with traditional industries , and technologies and applications such as blockchain+medical, blockchain+finance, blockchain+logistics, blockchain+AI are emerging one after another. It can be said that with the continuous enrichment of blockchain application scenarios, the blockchain will play an increasingly important role in our production and life, and more industries and enterprises will face the opportunities and challenges brought by the blockchain. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to build a digital China. The purpose is to give full play to the leading role of informatization in economic and social development. Digitalization is the key technical support for informationization. Deloitte's 2019 Technology Trends Report points out that technologies such as digital and cloud are maturing, but still have potential to be tapped; at the same time, the importance and impact of technologies such as blockchain, cognition and digital reality are growing rapidly. It can be seen that digital transformation is a necessary process for organizational innovation in the future, and people's work and life are being widely reconstructed. Whether it is the Internet age or the blockchain era, one of their characteristics is "digital." The basis of digital activities is the digital identity of users. Only by ensuring the true and effective digital identity of the user, the information data of a series of activities, transactions, etc. associated with it is real and effective. Therefore, the development of digital identity system is inevitable, and blockchain technology provides a relatively credible solution to a certain extent by virtue of its decentralization, multi-party consensus, difficulty in tampering, transparency and traceability. What is digital identity? Digital identity refers to the identifiable depiction of individuals through digitized information. It is also understood as the condensing of real identity information into public/private keys in the form of digital codes to bind, query and verify individual real-time behavioral information. Digital identity includes not only identity information such as birth information, individual descriptions, biometrics, but also individual behavioral information of various attributes. For example, WeChat, Facebook stores social information, Alipay, Amazon stores transaction information, games, video software stores entertainment information, etc. These different attributes are part of the personal digital identity. In the Internet age, due to the large number of media for information acquisition and storage, people's digital identity information is relatively scattered. Only the more comprehensive the attributes, the more complete the identity information. By continuously integrating new digital identity information, the user can achieve a more comprehensive portrayal. . With the rapid development of the Internet and digital, the importance of digital identity has also risen sharply. As one of the relatively mature applications in China, identity authentication mainly binds personal behaviors with the identity card information of public security agencies, and fills in mobile phone, photo, social, shopping, sports and other information to achieve third-party verification and verification of relevant documents. . The development of identity authentication can be roughly divided into three stages: traditional identity authentication uses identity documents, which are characterized by offline identity authentication, which belongs to identity authentication 1.0; the emergence of eID and CTID, using centralized digital authentication technology, characterized by online single Point identity authentication belongs to identity authentication 2.0; blockchain digital identity adopts blockchain authentication technology, which is characterized by online joint identity authentication, which is a network platform that can carry identity authentication services in the future digital age, and belongs to identity authentication 3.0. Three advantages and three major pain points The emergence of digital identity is profoundly changing the development momentum and development mode of the economy and society. Compared with the traditional identity system, it will greatly improve the overall social efficiency and maximize the release of user value, so that the government, service providers, users and other parties Can benefit from it. Users have the flexibility to use personal information. Users not only have control over other people's access to personal data information, but also can decide when and where and how to publish their information. In addition, the digitization of personally identifiable information helps users to conduct transactions with the outside world more conveniently, while protecting users from illegal activities. The service provider implements a customized service. On the one hand, the service provider can customize the corresponding products and services for the user attributes and purposes by means of the user identity information recorded in the system. On the other hand, the existence of digital identity system can effectively replace the complicated paper proof from the previous process, reduce the cost of repeated communication between the service provider and the user, and greatly improve the efficiency of work. The government communicates with citizens more efficiently. The digital identity records the key identity data and behavioral information of all citizens. The government can help the citizens with different attributes and their needs. At the same time, from the perspective of the regulatory authorities, with the help of the digital identity system, the regulatory authorities can strengthen supervision and enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of supervision. At present, there are many problems in the process of digital transformation in China, such as insufficient development and utilization of digital resources, imperfect digital infrastructure, and challenges in digital social governance. This has triggered a series of pain points in the current development stage of the digital identity field, and it is urgent to effectively solve them. . The true validity of personal data is missing. Even if the network identity is basically real-named, the user only gets the identity authentication, and does not really grasp the identity control right, and then there are many problems. For example, it is impossible to determine whether the user who is using the digital identity is himself or herself, and it is difficult to trace the true validity of the digital identity information in the system from the source, and it is more difficult to correspond the reality to the network identity. The construction of social infrastructure is incomplete. There are many classifications of identity attributes, and different application scenarios require different identity information. For example, the personal information recorded in the government identity system and the business identity system is not uniform, and the same person is in different centralized systems. Information is isolated, and mutual authentication between systems requires a very complicated process, making it difficult to perform consistent collaborative management. Simple authentication technology makes privacy easy to leak. As people become more and more active on the Internet, the prerequisite for using Internet services is to solve the problem of identity identification. At present, the identity authentication methods of major platforms are relatively simple, and there is a hidden risk of personal privacy information disclosure, which may lead to the sale of user information, resulting in serious loss of property and related interests. Blockchain empowers digital identity Behind the blockchain-based digital identity, it mainly covers four important dimensions: identity autonomy, data security, personal privacy, and asset. The asymmetric encryption and distributed storage of blockchain can effectively protect the privacy and data security of users, and leave the decision-making power of user information in the hands of users, becoming a kind of digital assets. The specific value can be reflected in the following three aspects: Data is valid Authorize a credit endorsement (such as government certification) before the data is chained, and then put the data on the chain. Based on the non-tamperable nature of the blockchain, the integrity and security of the identity data on the network is guaranteed, and the risk of identity disclosure, theft, tampering and fraud is prevented, so that the data can be guaranteed from the source. In addition, every piece of data in the chain is truly and completely recorded in each node under the “supervision” of others, and the evidence is sufficient and traceable. The system is open to all users, and all participants require authorization from the parties to obtain information about other individuals. The identity information belongs to sensitive data. In the application process, the data should be distinguished. The public data with lower privacy level can be kept on the network. The most important private data can be saved on the user equipment to form “chain + chain. "Full + Privacy" full mode. The asymmetric encryption mechanism of the blockchain effectively protects the privacy of users. On the one hand, the blockchain can protect the privacy of users from being used by anyone else. The right to use is in the hands of the users themselves, not in the hands of the platform. On the other hand, the privacy of both parties can be well encrypted during the transaction. Dealing with the outsiders' understanding of their trading behavior is limited to the process level, and the information of both parties is not open and transparent. Data sharing and user rights At present, each Internet platform is independent of each other, and each has its own core data. Using blockchain technology to build a coalition chain system between major platforms, relying on corresponding smart contracts, consensus mechanisms and incentive systems can effectively drive enterprises to share data and promote industry information circulation and integration. At the same time, the user has the right to select, authorize, delete and restore the identity data. In different application scenarios, the corresponding data can be authorized, and the user has absolute autonomy over his identity data. Where does “blockchain+digital identity” fall? Digital identity can be regarded as the cornerstone of digitalization in various fields, whether it is government governance, public services, or medical, telecommunications, finance, etc., which are closely related. As the “data sovereignty” consciousness is fully awakened, the blockchain digital identity is accelerating the “scenario” layout. Throughout the world, many participants, including governments, banks, Internet giants, and startups, have made various attempts in the field of digital identity, and some typical areas have had initial results. Because of the theft or loss of identity, more than 7,000 homeless people in Austin, Texas, have no access to social services such as medical care, housing and potential employment. To address these issues, the city uses blockchain technology to create unique digital identifiers for homeless people, enabling them to rebuild credible records about housing, health and employment records and help them get back on track. IDHub, a domestic blockchain digital identity startup, has realized the link between the blockchain and the pan-Internet, government, judicial, notarization and other multi-business scenarios through the core entry of the blockchain digital identity. In 2017, Foshan Chancheng in Guangdong and IDHub cooperated to establish the IMI digital identity system, kicking off the “Zhixin Chancheng” program, providing a credible identity data authentication interface for the local government and the jurisdiction of more than 1.3 million residents to achieve administrative approval and medical health. Mobile phone online application for public services such as charity, pension, and disability; as of the first quarter of 2019, the project will complete more than 250 public affairs matters. At present, major operators around the world have joined the major leagues to develop blockchain research. The four major US carriers AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint form a mobile authentication verification team. In March 2018, a new "mobile verification platform" was released, which can provide encrypted authentication calls to other users with the user's consent. Number and profile data, and recorded using blockchain technology to ensure true traceability. In September 2018, China Mobile launched the “Liannuo Cloud ID Card Verification Platform” to provide user identity authentication services for the express delivery industry and the lodging industry. Under the blessing of blockchain technology, it prevented possible information tampering and ensured information. Traceable, and the idle ID verification capability of each host node can be shared, ensuring verification efficiency. According to a study released by Forrester GBG, 95% of Australian financial companies are focusing on digital identity, and 92% are using digital identity as a key task for platform operations. In 2017, Canadian startup SecretKey announced a joint release of a blockchain-based digital identity network with IBM and cooperation with Bank of Montreal, Bank of Canada Imperial Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, Toronto Dominion Bank, etc. The provided mobile app authenticates the identity and controls which part of the trusted credentials stored in its blockchain can be shared with the selected company, and these companies can also quickly verify the identity of the user to schedule a new service. In 2018, the American Credit Union and the blockchain digital identity startup Evernym jointly released a blockchain digital identification system called MyCUID, which will enable credit unions around the world to communicate with financial institutions. 2 billion people provide banking services. The challenge of "blockchain + digital identity" Blockchain technology as an emerging technology, although the government is also implementing, the industry is also exploring, but in fact, there are still many areas for improvement in blockchain technology. From the current characteristics of blockchain technology and digital identity, there are still some obstacles and restrictions in the combination of the two : The authenticity of the uplink data is difficult to guarantee. Blockchain technology can guarantee the true validity of the data on the chain, but the authenticity of the data under the chain and the process of passing it to the chain may be risky. Offline data requires an authority to certify. Based on the result of the authentication, the information is then chained to ensure the accuracy of the initial information. There are restrictions on the management of identity systems in various countries. The blockchain network is a global network. Due to the obvious boundaries between countries, the globalization of digital identity systems will be limited. In the country, the government authenticates user identity information and can access and supervise user data information. However, whether or not the systems are connected to each other and whether the information can complement each other is highly questionable. The relevant laws and regulations are not perfect. Digital identity systems based on blockchain technology definitely need to be organized by organizations with blockchain technology background. Whether the legal definition of legal status and responsibility of digital identity system builders is clear enough, and difficult disputes arise in the process of system operation. How to distinguish the relevant legal responsibilities, these issues should be fully considered in the initial stage of the platform construction. Based on the full understanding of the digital identity system, combined with the characteristics of blockchain technology – decentralization, peer-to-peer network, time stamp, non-tamperable, consensus mechanism, smart contracts, etc., can be found, digital identity and blockchain technology There is a clever connection between them. In the blockchain era, the two are indispensable, synergistic and mutually reinforcing. From the current point of view, the development of digital identity systems is inevitable, and blockchain technology also provides a relatively credible solution to some extent . The source of digital identity requires a strong endorsement, the strong centralization of the state to endorse. At this level, centralized organization is necessary, but the digital identity attribute information of circulation can fully utilize the decentralization of blockchain technology when confirming or verifying. At the same time, whether the user attribute information is sufficient and perfect depends on the cooperation of the enterprise, and the enterprise provides the strongest driving force in this process. Therefore, for the application of blockchain in the field of digital identity, the government is the cornerstone, the enterprise is the driving force, and centralization and decentralization also need to be treated dialectically.

Anthropogenic and natural disturbance have caused habitat loss and fragmentation, leading to population declines of greater sage-grouse. USGS ecologist Steve Knick is leading a new study using GPS and cell phone technology to determine how sage-grouse move through a landscape. Data collected from conventional radio-tracking systems are not precise enough to understand how landscape features influence actual movements. However, GPS locations of sage-grouse obtained every 15 minutes, when overlaid on land cover maps, can help scientists understand how sage-grouse navigate their landscape and how far they move to avoid disturbances. The information on movement patterns gained from this study will identify how much sage-grouse habitat area is actually affected by disturbance. The study will fill a critical need for information about disturbance effects for the 2015 decision about whether to list the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

Are you looking for ways to retire early at 50? Maybe you’re just learning about retirement now. Maybe you’ve been planning on a traditional retirement at the age of 65 but are looking to bump it up? Either way, this is the article for you! Retirement is the point in one’s life when one no longer works. It may provide you with the opportunity to make your ambitions a reality, and you can devote more time to learning new skills or doing things you enjoy. The conventional retirement age is between 60 and 65 years old in most counties, while many people prefer to retire earlier. After retirement, several sources such as pension plans, retirement accounts such as social security, 401(k), and other savings accounts and long-term resources such as nest eggs are available to meet retiree needs. Reasons people retire early There are a variety of reasons why people choose to retire. Some of them are as follows: - As people get older, some of them no longer desire to work. - Some people opt to quit their jobs to relax. - Hobbies and travel are also reasons for retiring. - To focus on their health and safety as their health deteriorates. - Another reason to retire is to spend more time with family and friends. Though you may be able to retire from your job for the reasons stated above, this is only possible if you have enough money to live comfortably without working. As a result, it’s critical to save up a suitable amount of money before retiring. To retire early at 50, start planning now A well-timed, well-planned retirement not only aids you in achieving your dream lifestyle but also aids your spouse. Timely retirement planning is critical, and it will help you realize your objective. Aside from pension programs, if your business offers you pre-tax savings and other appealing investing options, you can easily reach your dream retirement. Though you may have challenges in the early stages of your early retirement preparation, don’t panic; numerous financial consultants can help you with your retirement planning. Investment experts can help you find appealing and profitable investment opportunities. You can also call numerous organizations to inquire about various retirement home schemes. Examine all of your possibilities and select the best one; after all, your goal is a secure and pleasurable future. Planning for retirement The Retirement Planning Calculator will provide you with an accurate representation of your retirement strategy. Early preparation will allow you to save and invest wisely and make essential adjustments at the perfect time. This is vital if you want to retire early at 50. You’ll have a fair cash inflow once you’ve optimized your resources, which will bring actual value to your future existence. Remember that “the early bird gets the worm.” You’ll have to think ahead of time about allocating resources for life after a paid job. It consists of both financial and non-financial assets. Currency, bonds, and other equivalents are examples of financial resources. Non-financial considerations include where you live, how you live, and other social activities to keep you occupied. If you want to maintain excellent financial health, it is critical to focus on financial resources first. You can add non-financial components later on for a better future. Ways of Savings Saving money is difficult, and saving a large sum is even more difficult. You can save money in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples: Start saving early to retire at 50 It’s preferable to have a single dollar today than two dollars tomorrow. You can start investing today with a single dollar, giving yourself more time to build your money. In the end, a tiny investment will be a larger investment. You’ll have plenty of time to recuperate in the event of unfavorable circumstances or losses. You can enjoy compound interest by starting earlier. Compound interest is earned by investing in an account that pays interest. Earning interest on your money is essential for retiring early. Let compound interest build your money over time as it applies to your principal amount. The principle amount will grow over time if you invest in a savings account, checking account, or certificate of deposit. After a few years, the initial investment has grown to a considerable sum. When you leave it for a set period, both the principal and interest amounts increase. Here is a quick example. If you invest $1,000 per year into an account that accrues 10% interest, here is how much you’ll have each year: - 1: $1,100 - 2: $2,310 - 3: $3,641 - 4: $5,105 You can see that after only four years, you’ve put in $4,000 but now have over $1,000 in compound interest! Eventually, you’ll have enough money that you can live entirely off the interest of your savings! Savings from Salary Your paid employment is the most important source of savings. Due to the economic downturn, prices of commodities are rising, but salaries are not keeping pace. Some businesses in the private sector are reducing their workforce and their pay and perks. If you can’t manage your spending and wind up spending a lot of money, here are some money-saving ideas. The first step is to keep track of your gross income and monthly expenses. Please make a list of your costs to allocate funds to them quickly. You can deduct expenses from your income, but you’ll need to cut back on your spending if the result is negative. If the outcome is favorable, you can set aside a portion of your earnings as a savings account. Categorize your spending Before we think about retiring early at 50, we need to categorize all of your spendings. You will be able to pay off the bills that can put you under a financial strain, such as debts, by doing so. It’s significant because you’ll be able to use your money to meet other demands without the stress of overdue obligations. Tools like Mint and YNAB can help a lot here. The third and most critical step is to set aside at least 25% of your monthly earnings. Your savings should be deposited or invested in some profitable opportunities that will provide a decent return in the future. Use it only if necessary, such as in a severe emergency. After leaving your job, you may be eligible for social security benefits. You will be able to collect the money you have saved each month as a supplemental income from social security. This money isn’t a set quantity; it might be any amount based on your earnings from a paid job. The social security office will calculate your monthly payment based on your pay schedule. Find strategies to supplement your social security benefits to avoid taking on additional work during your retirement. Some of the suggestions below can assist you in this area. - You can start claiming benefits at the age of 62, but your benefits will increase every year if you wait until you’re 70. As a result, waiting for a longer period is preferable because the longer you wait, the more you will earn. This means that social security won’t help you right away if you retire early at 50, but you can still plan on using the beenfits when it kicks in 12 years later. - Request direct deposit because it is the only fee-free alternative. Other choices come with a variety of costs. Therefore direct deposit is the best option. - Children under the age of 18 receive additional benefits. So, if your child is under the age of 18 or has a disability, make sure to include them. - If you are a widow or widower, you are entitled to a greater settlement. If you are eligible, keep this in mind. Individual Retirement Account There are various IRAs, each of which serves a particular function. Consider all of these possibilities while planning your retirement to achieve the lifestyle and standards you’ve always desired. Here is a quick summary of the many types of IRAs. Contributions to a Roth IRA are made with after-tax dollars. Because the contribution was made with after-tax funds, you will not be taxed when you remove the funds. As a result, there is no risk of losing money due to taxation at the moment of withdrawal. Another appealing characteristic of Roth IRAs is their investment flexibility. It allows you to choose your investment strategy, and the corporation will follow your instructions. If you know how to invest, this is a terrific option for you. Of course, if you lack investment expertise, the corporation will handle it for you. Traditional IRAs are the second sort of IRA, and they allow you to put pre-tax money into them. As a result, you are taxed at the time of withdrawal so you will receive a lower amount then. Everyone is qualified to participate in this form of IRA. Similarly, a typical IRA offers creditor protection. In the event of your death, you have the option of transferring assets to beneficiaries. You have complete control over your contribution investment in a self-directed IRA. Self-directed IRAs are an excellent option for financially secure folks and have experience with investment strategies. However, if you don’t have a good understanding of investment and retirement planning, this form of IRA will almost certainly be a financial nightmare for you. The simple conclusion is that IRAs can bring you riches if you understand how to invest and plan for retirement. You can make autonomous investment decisions and receive the best ROI if you are knowledgeable of investment approaches and financially informed. Contribute to your 401K As a salaried employee, the first and most crucial stage is to define reasonable and practical financial goals. After you’ve identified your main objectives, the next step is to focus all of your efforts on them while developing a robust financial strategy to assist you in achieving them. Remember that accomplishing your objectives in a single night or week is impossible; it will take time and work. To better your future, you must devote a portion of your life now. You should consider 401K plans in your financial strategy, and you should set a percentage of your take-home salary aside for them. A 401K plan, if properly managed, can provide you with excellent financial health for the rest of your life. A 401(k) plan is one of the best options for anyone interested in saving for retirement. You won’t be able to withdraw from it right away if you plan to retire early at 50. But the pre-tax benefit is still worth it in the long run! The method is straightforward and straightforward. When you create a 401k account, you can choose from various investment possibilities, each with a different level of risk. Following a simple rule of maximum profits and least risk is the best strategy to find the best plan. It also provides you the option to alter your mind at any time. You have the option of switching from one appealing option to another. These plans do not consist of just one investment but rather a combination of stocks, bonds, and other money market investments. As a result, we strongly advise you to contribute to a 401K plan to achieve excellent financial health and financial independence. How to retire early at 50 Once you’ve decided to retire in your fifties, you should start saving as soon as possible. It’s much easier if you start saving in your 20s, but it’s better to start saving in your 30s than in your 40s. The earlier you begin saving, the easier it will be to retire early at 50. Especially at a time when circumstances make accomplishing financial goals more difficult. Jon Kuperman is a software engineer and real estate investor. He’s always looking for new investments. He’s also hoping to achieve financial freedom through investing.

Previous research has shown that palliative home care use is influenced by variables such as age, socioeconomic status, presence of an informal carer, diagnosis, and care dependency. However, there is little information on its association with other health service use. This study compared 121 cancer patients referred to Hospital at Home (HAH) for palliative care with a sample of 206 cancer patients not referred who died within the same period. Electronic record linkage of NHS databases enabled investigation of patients' total input of care in their last year of life. Univariate analysis showed that patients referred to HAH were younger, lived in less deprived areas, were less likely to have been diagnosed within a month of death and to have causes other than cancer recorded on their death certificate. They were furthermore more likely to have had specialist oncology input, Macmillan nursing, Marie Curie nursing, acute hospital care, and district nursing before their last month of life. When care was received, patients referred to HAH received more hours of district nursing care. However, patients not referred to HAH began their acute hospital and district nursing input earlier (further from death) than those referred. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed HAH referral to be negatively associated with breast and genitourinary cancers and number of noncancer causes recorded on the death certificate. Referral was significantly positively associated with specialist oncology input, Marie Curie nursing, and a late start (close to death) of acute hospital and district nursing care. It is hypothesised that referral to palliative home care is more likely among patients who have had prior contact with cancer services or are most clearly identified as cancer patients, and whose illness progression is manifested by a relatively short but intensive period of care prior to death.

Prior to a recent transformation, this 1947 cottage in Beaconsfield, Fremantle was asbestos-riddled, rundown, and calling for a major reconstruction. The clients first approached Simon Pendal Architect with a relatively simple brief; to reconstruct the original cottage and add more space. Both a challenge and blessing was the project’s duration – 12 years. Simon Pendal explains, ‘At the six-year mark, the project – which had been on hold for five years – was recommenced and allowed this moment for clarification. The project became smaller, more intense. The resolution of the architectural ideas and details had time to reach a much fuller state of maturity, simply by the virtue that I had evolved a little more as an architect in that time.’ ‘It was a great lesson about the value of a clear idea, because it was allowed to become clearer still, but also the value of time as a producer of maturity.’ Simon’s response was to strip back and restore the original cottage, with only subtle changes to maintain its integrity. ‘It has been treated on its merits as thin, modest and direct. There is beauty in its basic quality,’ he says. The addition developed based on careful client observation, resulting in a house deeply rooted in its environment. Best described as a series of ‘cave-like chambers’, new rooms are weighty with rustic surfaces, in contrast to the luscious garden outside. Openings throughout the interiors have no frame, appearing as though carved out of the building mass. Recycled brick was chosen as the addition’s primary material for its sheer mass and consistency. ‘It is a material which feels very quiet, where the world settles into a quieter state through the presence of its mass,’ says Simon. As well as directly opening to outdoor spaces, the house engages with natural elements through the curation of light, colour, breeze, and outlooks. Light enters from above in an orchestrated sequence; breezes are invited within; a large skylight frames the night sky in the bedroom, and its walls provide an intense moment of blue and indigo colour. ‘This room makes us feel as though we’re swimming or immersed in water,’ says Simon. The project has been recognised by several awards, winning the Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award For Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions) at the Australian Institute of Architects 2021 National Architecture Awards, and receiving an honourable mention in the international 2021 AR House Awards. Simon says, ‘I am so pleased that the very humble little cottage has been given life for at least another 30 or 40 years, and in so doing, the existing neighbourhood’s qualities are maintained, but not as some sort of stifled preservation project, but as a place that is cared about and much loved by its residents.’

Over the last couple of decades, and more emphatically over the last five to ten years, we’ve seen a rapid development in 3D technology in the GIS world, with better quality than ever before. That, along with the growing speculation and building of the metaverse, in which geospatial professionals figure to play a central role, has created an unlikely bridge between the GIS and gaming industries, with the latter’s 3D technology increasingly being involved in the GIS world. Recently, perhaps the biggest name has announced new software development kits (SDKs) with two of the biggest names in gaming engines. That would be Esri, who recently launched an ArcGIS Maps SDK for both Unity and Unreal Engine. Both are available as a free download for users with an ArcGIS Developer or ArcGIS Online account. While these engines were obviously built for the purposes of gaming experiences at the outset, recent years have seen a number of industries start to utilize these kinds of technologies into their own use cases. In Esri’s case, they took the task extremely seriously, saying they started the process of working on these SDKs in 2019, ensuring maximum ease of use in working with real-world data in these game engines. With these SDKs, developers can take advantage of their own data for large-scale or more local projects, and can also utilize live services from repositories such as the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. Esri calls out a number of different industries and use cases that can benefit from these SDKs, too. That includes everything from AEC workers, to those in defense, public safety, natural resources, and urban planning. Generally speaking, these SDKs are ideal for users who need to monitor projects and/or run simulations. This also should theoretically lead to better collaboration, especially in this era of more remote work. Rather than having to gather at a site, for example, AEC workers can model their project in realistic and accurate 3D engines and collaborate while looking at a detailed model from remote locations. These SDKs can also be used by developers to build experiences in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) spaces. This kind of immersive and realistic experience with GIS data has the potential to be a game-changer for all of these different industries, and continues an exciting trend of improved 3D technology and a growing number of use cases. One of the early adopters of this new SDK with Unity has been construction firm CIMIC Group, whose General Manager of EIC Activities Simon Bowles likened this to a “flight simulator for construction.” The firm uses ArcGIS for Unity to create an interactive and dynamic digital twin of their construction site, allowing for an easy way to track large-scale projects and seeing potential clashes before they take place. Adding in these game engine plug-ins is part of the continued development of ArcGIS from Esri, long among the leading platforms for GIS professionals. At the company’s UC 2022 conference last month, they highlighted their ongoing shift towards big data for the product, making advances not only in this visualization aspect but also looking to add more in the way of analytics and artificial intelligence. They also recently unveiled their new GeoAnalytics Engine to this end, a software library of over 100 tools that can be used to perform spatial analysis on large data sets and then move the results into ArcGIS. Esri founder and president Jack Dangermond pointed out at the conference that the amount of data is so large that it can be hard to take it out and put into a GIS, an issue solved by these tools. It’s undoubtedly encouraging to see one of the leading companies and software packages in the industry continue to develop in this way as the technology in related spaces improve at such a rapid pace. Users are certainly going to be able to benefit in major ways from this new plug-in around Unity and Unreal Engine, along with the other initiatives around big data. And in terms of gaming companies partnering with all sorts of different industries, and the GIS world specifically, it’s likely fair to assume we’re only at the early stages of that mix.

EVEN house dust mite droppings have their uses. By studying the way the droppings provoke asthma attacks, scientists say they may discover new ways to deliver drugs and possibly even clues to how cancer cells can spread around the body so easily. Dust mite proteins can get into lung tissue and cause an allergic response in people who are prone to asthma attacks. But how they do this has been something of a mystery, because the proteins are far too large to squeeze through cell membranes. They are also too big to pass through “tight junctions”—protein complexes that cement cells together and act as a barrier to toxins. While studying these allergies, asthma researcher Clive Robinson at St George’s Hospital in London put some droppings on tissue from a cow’s airways. He found that the faeces very soon started to break down the tissue. “We were quite amazed at how devastating a tiny amount of these faecal pellets was,” he Analysis of the pellets showed that they contained significant amounts of the enzymes that the mites use to digest flakes of human skin—their staple diet. Robinson and an international group of researchers sponsored by Britain’s National Asthma Campaign have shown that one particular enzyme in the faeces, dubbed Der p 1, can eat through the lining of the airways by weakening tight junctions (The Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol 104, p 123). Robinson speculates that once Der p 1 has penetrated lung tissue, it is spotted by the immune system. This would set in motion the whole cascade of inflammation that leads to asthma. By analysing the way that the enzyme breaks down the protein glue at the tight junctions, Robinson’s team has been able to identify which proteins are vulnerable to damage and which parts of their structures are attacked. “This offers very great prospects for the prevention and treatment of asthma and other allergies,” says team member David Garrod of the University of Manchester. Bruce Stevenson of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, describes the study as a landmark in the understanding of how cells stick together. He adds that agents which mimic the mite enzyme might allow drugs to pass through membranes such as the blood brain barrier, that until now have been considered impermeable to large molecules. Robinson’s team even wonders whether the protein chemistry of tight junctions could provide insights into how cancer cells spread around the body and establish themselves in distant organs. “Like all good science, the results generate as many questions as they answer,” says Stevenson.

Ratings agency wrong on climate change plans, says minister An international ratings agency was wrong in its assessment that the island “lagged” behind in the creation of ways to tackle climate change, the home affairs minister insisted today. Walter Roban said he disagreed with the Kroll Bond Rating Agency report and that the Ministry of Home Affairs had not been contacted about its climate strategy. Mr Roban said: “They were misinformed, in my view. “We have had a biodiversity action plan since the mid-2000s, we have continuously enhanced legislation around invasive species, continued to put protections in place for endangered species and have plans in place – and are developing further plans – around the mitigation of climate change. “Unfortunately we did not have a chance within the Government to have a conversation with Kroll. “They would have been better informed.” Mr Roban, whose comments start at 8:04 on the attached video, added that with the financial support of the UK government, a massive climate change study would be carried out, which will build on a coastal study from mid-2000s. He said: “We are entering into a much more comprehensive set of plans and studies following on from the work we are already doing around the mitigation of climate change.” Mr Roban also highlighted Bermuda’s involvement in the next month’s UN Global Climate Change conference – known as COP26 – in Glasgow, Britain. He said that Bermuda would play an important role in the event as the island is the present head of the UK Overseas Territories Association and would lead the Territories’ delegation. Mr Roban said: “Under Bermuda’s leadership, COP26 is a vital and important opportunity to showcase our work tackling climate change in each territory and how we are protecting the unique marine and terrestrial environments within each territory. “The UK pavilion will have a nature day and I, as Deputy Premier and as the leader of the Overseas Territories delegation, will lead an event entitled ‘Our Vision for Healthy Oceans’.” He said the event would emphasise efforts by the Overseas Territories to boost knowledge environmental problems, protect the oceans and tackle climate change. Mr Roban added that the event would also be an opportunity to gather international support to protect the environmental resources of the Overseas Territories. He said the delegation would also meet with non-governmental organisations and other groups with a stake in environmental protection, as well as other small island states. Mr Roban said the UK Overseas Territories represented the world’s sixth largest marine estate and more than 90 per cent of the UK’s biodiversity. He added: “We are vital to the UK meeting its pledge of protecting 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030. “The governments of the Overseas Territories are custodians of internationally essential and crucial habitats which span the globe from the Antarctic to the Caribbean and, of course, the North Atlantic. “All territories are vulnerable and we will be among the first in line to experience the potential impact of climate change.” Mr Roban said the Overseas Territories were at the leading edge of renewable energy, ocean protection and climate finance. He added Bermuda was moving away from fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy, developing bans on single-use plastics and adopting electric vehicles among other environmental improvements. Mr Roban added that he awaited a Regulatory Authority report on the solar energy farm project at the airport. But he said he understood the farm was “on the verge” of going live, and that he hoped he would be able to provide an update before the end of the month.

Sibling Cities USA facilitates cross-regional pairing of US cities to build deep relationships Calls for national unity are increasing in response to today’s national divides. Americans yearn to move past the polarization afflicting our country. Knitting this country back together is essential, but will be neither easy nor quick. Coming together will require a focused, sustained, multi-faceted effort. In his inaugural address, President Biden proclaimed that we “can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.” Sibling Cities USA is designed to be a leader in this effort so that “disagreement does not lead to disunion.” Sibling Cities Will: Showcase each city’s unique heritage, culture, and attributes. Discover common values and aspirations. Build relationship, trust, and mutual respect. Explore opportunities for economic collaboration. Share best practices for city management and addressing civic issues. Engage in public dialogue on policy issues. Three Pillars of Connection: Community, Commerce, and Civil Discourse Sibling Cities USA will assist America’s communities in recognizing the assets each community brings to the table, the benefits that come from exploring partnerships across the miles, and our commonalities as fellow Americans committed to the prosperity of our country and the success of our democracy. To accomplish this, Sibling Cities USA relationships will consist of three types of interactions in accordance with the Three Pillars of Connection. Every city or region has its unique and distinguishing culture, history, and assets of which it is proud. Pillar One interactions showcase these unique attributes and provide easy opportunities for city residents to enjoy getting to know each other. Initial interactions may mostly be virtual (meetings on zoom or other platforms). Over time, in-person delegations may visit the other city or even meet at a third location for a service project or a class trip. Opportunities include student exchanges, arts and culture events, racial justice, LGBTQ, and environmental group joint meetings, service/neighborhood organizations sharing volunteer opportunities, and athletic clubs providing joint training and/or friendly competition. Working together is one of the best ways for Sibling Cities USA residents to get to know one another. Sibling Cities are encouraged to explore economic and business collaboration that would drive equitable development, innovation, sustainability, and mutual prosperity in both places. Identifying workforce, capital, space, and other economic needs in the two regions could lead to opportunity for cross-regional investment or other types of economic partnership. Strategies for meeting sustainability and climate goals, including the development of well-paying sustainability-related jobs, can be shared and developed. Exploration of economic partnerships may include: · Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development entities trading economic profiles, strategies, and goals. · Universities, colleges, and community colleges engaging with economic actors in the other city regarding workforce training, research collaboration, intellectual property licensing, and venture investment opportunities. · Venture, angel, and private equity investors having opportunities to hear pitches from businesses in the other city. After Sibling Cities residents have begun to develop friendship, mutual respect, and trust through the community interactions and commerce activities of Pillars One and Two, they will have an opportunity to discuss our nation’s challenging policy issues. Joint town halls and smaller group discussions will provide opportunities to hear each other out in a respectful, safe, and open manner. These discussions aim to uncover both shared values and differing perspectives. The goal is to increase understanding that will foster empathy and ideas for better ways forward—together as a more united country. Several organizations have developed protocols for balanced and respectful policy dialogues on difficult topics that the two cities can use, including: While we hope some city residents will be able to travel to the other city to have conversation in person, convening these dialogues online offers opportunities for easy and sustained remote conversation among residents of the two cities.

In this city of roughly 20 million, museumgoers can visit colonial-era institutions now managed by the government to contemporary art galleries funded by private individuals. Many are easy to reach, while some will bring you to remote corners of the state. And perhaps the most exciting museum in Lagos yet – the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History – will open in the near future. The National Museum was established in 1957 to house objects collected from archaeological digs carried out across the regions that now make up Nigeria. As visitors stroll through the museum’s breezy courtyard, they’ll take in rare carved stone objects and monoliths, part of Nigeria’s rich ancient rock-art heritage.

Who we are The Australian & New Zealand Thyroid Cancer Registry (ANZTCR) is a clinical quality registry, which collects information about the diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of individuals diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The registry is managed by the Cancer Research Program in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. The ANZTCR is designed to describe patterns of care following diagnosis of thyroid cancer. The aim of the registry is to identify variation in the management, treatment and outcomes of patients with thyroid cancer, with a view to improving patient outcomes and quality of care. By participating and allowing information about your diagnosis, treatment and health outcomes to be collected by the ANZTCR, you are contributing to the improvement of the quality of care and outcomes for patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer in the future. Over 1600 patients are currently participating in the ANZTCR from Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland Over 35 hospitals are currently participating in ANZTCR Over 40 surgeons are currently contributing to the ANZTCR

One-hundred years ago, my great-grandfather trekked down the pit road six and a half days a week, sometimes a mile into the gloom, to reach the current coal face of the Hamilton Palace Colliery in Lanarkshire, Scotland. (Those who lived in the colliery’s tiny pit village of Bothwellhaugh affectionately knew it as the “Paillis”.) It might have taken John an hour before shift start for him to ride the cage down hundreds of metres to the road below before beginning his walk, and he didn’t earn a shilling until the first coal shards hewn hit the bottom of his skip. In the quiet of the mine, every noise magnifies, the laughter and cursing of men, the snickers and snorts of pit ponies, the clang of picks on rock and shot fired into the bords bringing down stone and coal and earth. Some shifts, depending on your bord (work face), you’d spend soaked to the skin from start to end, if not soaked with sweat from the heat generated deep underground, you’d be wet through from the sodden roads or lying crouched in cramped quarters to get at the coal. We can read a hundred books, and scan a thousand photographs and still be hard pressed to realise the eerie, cloying nature of dust-filled air and the closed-in walls of the underground caves of a coal mine. Tiny lamp lights carried not far in front, especially in the days of naked flame lamps pre-gas and battery lit lanterns. Danger lurked in a myriad of life-threatening ways. Precipitous rock was not always given to staying put leading to frequent “falls of stone”, or men and lads might face a panicking pit pony sending a tonne of skip and coal careering down the tracks to crush any body unable to jump into a cutaway in the wall, or see the pony fall victim itself, another of the many unfortunate creatures lost to the task. Men might drown with an inrush of water. Others fell down shafts or found themselves crushed between hutch (skip) and props. The tales and manner of demise of workers, especially in the shameful era before men’s lives were considered more important than the tonnage hewn, are endless, even without the oft written about explosions from fire damp and roof falls. I cannot imagine many miners, wheelers, shiftmen or engine drivers began their shifts at ease, nor saw their loved ones wave them off without a prayer. In the course of writing my novel, I’ve imagined their discomfort, the dirt, the wet, and the fettered fear that must have travelled the pit road with all who worked the tunnels. Last week, for a second time, I ventured down a coal mine too. My first trip underground was mid-2010 when I went down a Lanarkshire coal mine, into the gloom, yet fully trusting of our guide and in the knowing we were down for a limited time and with all the safety precautions of modern-day OH&S. Still I found it unnerving and the prickles jagging up my spine only eased on stepping back into daylight. I was determined though to tour underground at the Wonthaggi State Coal Mine, it being my great-grandfather, John McConaghy’s workplace the last eighteen-years of his working life before ill health saw him retire in 1930. Regardless of whether you’ve a family history connected to mining, the tour at Wonthaggi offers excellent insight into the workplace/life of a miner, wheeler or shiftman. From the steep trek down a (tourist smooth) path between the skip tracks to the ride out up the very steep incline in a cage train, I found the tour took me not only down into the mine but transported me to another time. Part of me wanted the human voices to hush and let me hear the whispers and sounds of the long-ago workings take up instead. Only the coward in me remained happy to keep it real and modern and focused. A few seconds pause, at one stage, saw our humorous guide, Rod, snapping off the lights to give us an inkling into just how black, dark can be. From then on, though the periodic lamp lighting somewhat injured the pretence going on in my imagination I was most grateful for the light they cast just the same. Rod told us tales of how the miners used to kick the thunder box before opening the lid for a sit, lest they got a bite on the bum from a rat for their oversight. Yet the rats were the miners’ mates. The miners used to feed them. And if the rats hung around, you knew you were pretty right. But if the rats were running past, you knew to high-tail it out of there fast too. We writers and descendants are lucky to have such opportunities to hear the whispers of our forebears and vicariously experience a tiny taste of their lives, without the danger, the suffering, the physical and health damage working in any mine (be it coal, gold, tin, or other) can inflict on a body leading to premature illness or death. I’ve often lost sight of some of the harsh realities while writing my novel, which is set in both Wonthaggi and Bothwellhaugh. At times I saw only the romantic side of a different era and place and lifestyle, despite working hard to establish authenticity, but then even war can take on a romantic side in literature. We can paint the suffocating air, the crash and grind and squeal of a hutch careening out of control and slamming into flesh, but I am grateful not have to see and live the aftermath and grieve as men, and wives and mothers did often in days when many had no choice but to follow the pit road. I am grateful as are some I’ve interviewed and read about that those days are gone. Though there are others that equally mourned the passing of such days and a life that was all they knew. I’ll be proud to see the novel that has resulted from my research published. I’m delighted that the feedback coming already has acclaimed its veracity and believability. Research is my bliss in being a writer, almost equal to the writing, be it interviewing a rodeo clown, climbing down a coal mine, or scuba diving in the ocean. I wonder what on earth, above or below, is coming next…

Former CPS Energy exec Cris Eugster’s new venture seeks to drive Texas to 100-percent renewables with ‘Goldilocks’ solar farms while allowing companies to meet their sustainability goals. The six-month-young Seattle-based solar company focused on Texas has three South Texas projects in development already. With record-breaking temps delivering a miserable summer onset in Texas, the state’s power grid has strained against unprecedented energy demand. All-time-high electricity-use records have been made and broken repeatedly in rapid succession. Throughout solar has been a star performer. As UT energy prof Michael Webber told CNN, the renewables sector has been “rocking,” at times supplying nearly 40 percent of the state’s total power generation. Long positioned in wind power’s shadow, solar’s share of generation capacity in Texas—roughly four percent compared to wind’s nation-leading 20-percent slice—is set to explode. With increasingly large batteries coming in to firm up the intermittent-tech, sun power is without doubt the star attraction on the energy scene. As much as a third of new solar coming online nationally is expected to happen in Texas, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Will that be enough? Cris Eugster, formerly chief operating officer of San Antonio-based CPS Energy, now lifting off a Seattle-based but Texas-focused solar startup, hopes to direct solar’s sudden rise to transformative levels. “We think we can accelerate the pace to an energy transition to 100 percent renewables hopefully in the next decade,” Eugster told Deceleration this week. In this month’s Deceleration podcast, Eugster describes Evergreen’s unique model and why it could be a game changer taking solar to unseen heights in a handful of years. Unlike many other states, Texas lawmakers have yet to set a date to reach 100 percent renewables. But Eugster expects to make a impact on climate by targeting urban locations with mid-sized (and easily replicable) farms while helping companies to “green” their operations and stacking co-benefits like green jobs, pollinator gardens, and possibly even conservation easements to protect wildlife and water quality. The Evergreen model could allow companies go 100-percent renewable in under a year, he said, while increasing the amount of low-carbon energy going into the grid. “We put these 2050 goals out there but 2030 is where we’ve got to show meaningful progress. Velocity matters. The more cumulative it is the more dire the situation becomes,” he said. “I feel like we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to figure out this energy transition and to tackle climate change.”

We all dream of travel. Some of us long for tropical beaches in the Caribbean with white sand and crystal clear water. Some long for the powdered ski slopes of Colorado or the Alps. Still others dream of breaking into a fresh baguette in Paris, knocking back a proper pint in Ireland or settling in for crab back at Swan Oyster Depot, Anthony Bourdain’s favorite restaurant in San Francisco. Maybe you want to stay in the finest hotels, or perhaps you want to travel with everything you need in a backpack. Whatever your dream is made of, we all yearn for the horizon; we all long to wake up someplace that isn’t our bedroom tomorrow morning. How Debt Can Keep You Stuck at Home One of the biggest obstacles to traveling is credit card debt, and some of the biggest ways credit card debt can prevent us from travel include: Nagging Guilt – Once your credit card balance reaches a certain point–and it’s a different point for all of us–a feeling of guilt begins to undermine everything in our lives. We start to feel like we shouldn’t order delivery on Monday night, meet our friends for a happy hour on Thursday, or take a much-needed date night on Saturday. Guilt related to debt also stops us from taking advantage of travel opportunities such as cheap flights and invitations from loved ones. We think, “Well, I probably shouldn’t. I owe so much…” Depression – Like guilt, debt can carry a depressing feeling with it that stops you from becoming excited at the possibility of adventure. Instead of being filled with a sense of excitement when you see a picture on Instagram or hear your friends tell you about a vacation they’re planning, you think, “Must be nice. I’ll never get to do anything like that because I owe so much money.” Lack of available balance to use when you need it – If your credit cards are maxed out, you might not be able to even book a trip. Many hotels and rental car companies, for example, require that you use a credit card, not a debit card. You’ll need an available balance for that to work. The First Step to Freedom The first step to getting back the financial freedom to travel–and removing guilt, depression, and other obstacles–is to understand the following about credit card debt: You’re not just paying back the money you borrowed. In many cases, you’re still accumulating interest, which is set at an incredibly high rate. It’s almost as though the credit card companies don’t want you to be able to break free. Each month that you make a minimum payment, you’re digging yourself deeper. Instead, look to a company like Polo Funding to help you breakthrough that wall of interest. How does it work? You might be surprised to find that working with a company like this is a lot easier than other options you have considered. Can I Still Have Credit Cards? Credit cards are not in and of themselves evil. When used judiciously, credit cards can help you compile rewards to redeem for airline flights or other travel expenses. In fact, a rewards credit card is almost a must-have for the modern adventurer. A credit card doesn’t have to be part of a travel-oriented rewards program to be useful, however. It could provide cash-back or other rewards that might be more suitable to your lifestyle. How to Travel Debt-Free Working to become debt-free can help you become a more frequent traveler. Get rid of high-interest credit-card debt; use a company like Polo Funding to help you resolve the ever-accruing monthly interest payments. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Start saving money to travel a little at a time. When you have a mound of debt to worry about, this seems impossible. But even if you tuck away a small amount each paycheck, your nest egg can add up. If you get paid 26 times a year (that’s a pay schedule of every other Friday) and set aside just $30 a paycheck, you’d have $780 at the end of the year for your next vacation.

Peer support groups are a vital aspect of long-term addiction rehabilitation. They are free groups where individuals suffering from addictions obtain assistance from others in recovery. Attending these meetings may create a feeling of community as well as responsibility in abstaining from drug use. Research suggests peer support groups are most helpful when accompanied by official addiction therapy. This article will talk about what are the 12 steps? What are the 12 Steps? The 12 steps themselves form a roadmap for recovery that has helped countless addicts get clean over the years – they include guidance on how to tackle cravings head-on without giving in to temptation while also encouraging some serious self-reflection at the same time! By working through each step carefully, one after another, individuals will learn how to overcome the problems they face as a result of alcohol dependence. Alcoholism and addiction can be life-damaging conditions if not treated correctly, but 12 step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous have been shown to work repeatedly. People in recovery had no other options until the 1970s when 12-step organizations became the sole choice available to them. Today, there are a variety of 12-step alternatives available for individuals who do not identify with its emphasis on a higher power. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was the first 12-step program, and it served as an inspiration for the development of additional 12-step programs such as: - Narcotics Anonymous (NA) for people suffering from drug addiction. - A support group for those who are battling with dysfunctional relationship patterns is called Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA). - Eating Disorders Anonymous (EDA) for people with bulimia, anorexia, and other eating disorders. - Gamblers Anonymous (GA) support group for persons who have gambling addictions. - Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) is a support group for those who are addicted to sex. Possible Options Besides the 12 Step Program In recent decades, there has been a slew of alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs that have emerged. They operate similarly to the 12 Steps, with local meetings organized and controlled by members. Some organizations provide both in-person and online meetings. They include: SMART Recovery is a secular alternative to 12-step programs such as AA and other similar organizations. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) encourages members to acknowledge that they are helpless over their alcoholism and to turn to a Higher Power for help. SMART Recovery sees drug misuse as a dysfunctional habit that individuals may regain control over by changing their behavior. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and other evidence-based techniques for behavior modification are included in the strategy. SMART Recovery is an abbreviation for self-management and training in recovery. It is based on the “4-Point Program” that they have developed. - Developing and retaining the desire to make a positive change. - Managing temptations to use drugs or alcohol. - The ability to manage one’s thoughts, emotions, and actions in an efficient manner without resorting to addictive behaviors - Living a life that is balanced, happy, and healthy. To assist those who are struggling with cravings and other issues in recovery, Refuge Recovery relies on Buddhist philosophy. Several of the teachings of Refuge Recovery are founded on the Buddhist idea that the core cause of suffering is people’s desire to push away pain while simultaneously striving to quench an insatiable longing to be satiated with pleasure. Participants discover how consuming alcoholic beverages and abusing drugs keeps them trapped in misery. They learn to have compassion for themselves and the suffering they have encountered as a result of mindfulness and other Buddhist practices, as well as healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with challenging emotions and drives in their lives. Secular Organizations for Sobriety (S.O.S.) A secular 12-step alternative, Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS) is a 12-step program for persons who are battling drug addiction, alcohol addiction, or food addiction. It is based on the words of its creator, James Christopher, who became clean in 1985 and chose to utilize his experiences to inspire a recovery program for non-religious drug-abusing individuals. SOS believes that individuals may maintain their sobriety by maintaining their integrity, principles, and convictions. It does not subscribe to the 12-step philosophy that surrendering one’s life to a Higher Power is the sole way to find healing in one’s life. The “sobriety priority” method is used by SOS sobriety officers. This implies that anybody may maintain their sobriety if they make it their priority in their lives. SOS invites people to do the following: - They must admit to themselves that they are an alcoholic or addict. - This must be reaffirmed and accepted regularly. - Make sobriety a priority in your life daily by doing whatever it takes. Drinking or using drugs is not an option. - No matter what obstacles emerge, refrain from drinking or taking drugs and recognize that life is unpredictable, but it may also be very rewarding. - As sober individuals, you may share with confidence. - Recognize that each individual is solely accountable for his or her own life and sobriety. Women for Sobriety Women for Sobriety (WFS) was founded in 1976 by sociologist Jean Kirkpatrick to help women who were struggling with addictive behavior. Alcoholism and drug addiction in women are seen as symptoms of more widespread issues that affect this community by those who do not practice AA or NA. Several factors might contribute to poor self-esteem such as trauma and despair, as well as shame and guilt. Alcohol and drug misuse become coping mechanisms for dealing with these conditions. WFS groups urge individuals to focus on the underlying causes and flawed thinking that contribute to their drug or alcohol use problem and to seek treatment. Participants learn how to take care of their basic requirements and grow in awareness and self-fulfillment as a result of their participation. It is a 12-step program that emphasizes behavior transformation via the following steps: - Encouragement is a good thing. - Participation in a group - Taking good care of one’s physical health - Approaches that are cognitive LifeRing Secular Recovery Participants in LifeRing Secular Recovery are encouraged to take control of their recovery by identifying their triggers and determining what it will take to overcome them. Sobriety is emphasized, and the “addicted self” is weakened. Members of 12-step groups learn to connect with one other’s sober selves via group exercises. Sharing personal sobriety stories is a key part of the program. LifeRing is an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous (AA and NA) that encourages people to identify what works best for them and utilize it to remain clean. People in recovery must work hard every day to lead with their sober selves since the “addicted self” is still there and will always be there.

Kitchen of Life to teach students resiliency through MasterChef-style cooking experience That's because the culinary program, created and hosted by the Lori Schottenstein Chabad Center in New Albany, will use cooking stations similar to those on the hit TV show to teach children about cooking and resiliency. Religious education:Eight churches coming together to open Christian school on Columbus' Hilltop "Food is a medium that every person in this world has to be involved with it," said Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann, executive director of the center. "It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter from what demographic you come from in society, you've got to eat food and food transcends all denominations, everything." For the students, specially-designed lessons in social emotional learning will be baked into the curriculum and the dishes they're creating. Whitehall City Schools is among the first districts to sign on and plans to introduce the program to freshmen in the fall. Sharee Wells, district superintendent, said she is enthusiastic about programs that take students out of traditional classrooms and put them in an environment where they can see and learn differently. "For us, it ties into everything that we are trying to build," she said. "It's essential to our work." Kaltmann and his wife, Esther, got the idea for Kitchen of Life several years ago after a visit to Australia, where the rabbi is from. In Sydney they toured a community kitchen called Our Big Kitchen. It has a different model than what will happen locally, but it inspired the Kaltmanns to use cooking for a purpose. Repairing the world:Jewish women bake challah for Hilltop homeless assistance center "I saw there's something with cooking, with baking. There's a magic," Areyah Kaltmann said. "We're taking this magical cooking touch and just using it in a medium where we can implant resiliency skills, and we all need resiliency. There's not one teenager who will walk through our doors who won't benefit from our program." 'Removing the leaven from our hearts':Not eating leavened foods on Passover has deeper Jewish meaning than clearing out pantry Esther Kaltmann said the Australian program showed them how cooking could bring people together. "So we thought, 'How we could apply such a concept here? What was the biggest need in Columbus?'" she said. "Ever since then we've been looking for a space." The organization purchased the space at 2525 E. Main St. in Bexley — the former home of Bexley Premier Restaurant — in April. The Franklin County Auditor's website reported the sale price as $2.6 million. When the program begins in the fall, it will include a social worker and chef working with several trained volunteers. It will be funded by the center and private donations, Areyah Kaltmann said. Kitchen of Life will offer students ages 12 to 18 a curriculum designed to teach them resiliency and social emotional learning skills through cooking. Students, in groups of 20 to 25, will come back to the kitchen four times a year for two hours at a time. The Kaltmanns said one reason they decided to focus on mental health and this age range is because of the increasing number of teens dying by suicide. From 2019 to 2020, the suicide rate among youths 19 and under in Franklin County increased from 4% to 9%, according to the Franklin County Coroner's office. "We know there's an issue," said Shea Kaltmann, director of Kitchen of Life and the Kaltmanns' son. "We know suicide is an issue, and we want to build resiliency." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on building resiliency for teens include increasing connectedness, something Kitchen of Life will do by giving teens opportunities to form bonds and relationships with one another, Shea Kaltmann said. The Chabad center also hosts LifeTown, located in its New Albany building, a simulated streetscape where young people with disabilities can learn skills they'll use in everyday life. Neither program is religious, but they host these programs and help people because of the religious belief that "someone else's physical problem is our spiritual mandate," Areyah Kaltmann said. Each cooking class will have a larger theme: belonging, generosity, independence and mastery. Aging 'independently, with dignity':Agencies strive to help Columbus Holocaust survivors age well "These are just different elements of what we call the circle of courage," Shea Kaltmann said. "It's something based on the belief that in order to be healthy everyone needs belonging, generosity, independence and mastery. (And) with cooking we're teaching them how to get along with others and attaining goals with yourself." For instance, when something goes wrong with a recipe, students will have to think of a way to solve the problem and also perhaps to stand up for themselves by asking an adult for help. They'll learn belonging when each person in a group has something needed for a recipe and generosity when they're tasked with making a dish for someone else and finding out what they want it to taste like. Other skills that will be taught include evaluating goals, adapting to changes, persevering through challenges and receiving feedback in a respectful way, Shea Kaltmann said. The mastery portion of the program is where the competition part of MasterChef comes in, Shea Kaltmann said, with students making a full meal within a given time limit. The Chabad center worked with Global Psychological Services Educational Services in Michigan — an organization that offers educational programming to schools and other organizations — to create the curriculum. It is also working with Stephen Gavazzi, a professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University, to evaluate the program's effectiveness. 'All walks of life':Capital University pastor helps students connect to different faiths Other program developers have used the circle of courage, Gavazzi said, though it hasn't been evaluated extensively. He said he's intrigued by the incorporation of cooking into the curriculum. 'Journey of the soul':Chabad course explores life, death and the afterlife in the age of COVID-19 "I think what's really innovative here is using cooking as a way of grabbing the attention of children and leading them to certain areas of learning that all children need to learn," Gavazzi said. "It gives them cooking skills, a sense of independence and mastery." Areyah Kaltmann said he hopes a rigorous evaluation means the program can be replicated elsewhere. "This is needed desperately," he said. "We don't want our teens to crumble in the face of adversity ... The name is Kitchen of Life because they're going to be learning life skills."

Raz-Lee Security has added a ransomware attack simulator to its iSecurity Anti-Ransomware. With this feature, customers can test how their systems would behave during ransomware attacks. Administrators can verify and fine-tune the protection that the product provides. Ransomware usually runs from a PC. It attacks any data file it can access, including IBM i IFS files. A few weeks ago, Sapiens, a software developer for insurance, with software for IBM i, was forced to pay a $250,000 ransom in Bitcoin. A published known Ransomware attack on an IBM i made 250,000 IFS files unusable, stopped normal work for a month and cost the organization $200,000 to get the decryption key. “During this COVID-19 pandemic, ransomware and other cyber-attacks have increased, targeting healthcare, financial, and government organizations. Cybercriminals are looking to take advantage of this global crisis. Now more than ever, it is important to ensure that IT systems are safe,” says Shmuel Zailer, CEO, Raz-Lee Security. The Anti-Ransomware attack simulator can simulate known ransomware such as Sodinokibi, Ryuk, CryptoLocker, or WannaCry. The attack simulator can also simulate unknown zero-day ransomware that criminals on the darknet are offering as “ransomware as a service”. The attack simulator runs from a PC. It installs quickly and can be reused repeatedly to test various conditions on the IBM i. Simulated attacks are completely safe, but the IBM i sees them as realistic ransomware attacks. With these combined capabilities, organizations can have confidence that their IBM i is well protected. iSecurity Anti-Ransomware itself runs on the IBM i. Unlike antivirus software, which consumes a lot of CPU and can only report on the damage that an attack has caused, Anti- Ransomware consumes virtually zero resources. It stops ransomware attacks immediately when they start. It can disconnect the IBM i from the network, send an email, alert the SIEM, and shut down the attacking PC.

60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker talks optimism, faith at MLK breakfast As a national news correspondent, Bill Whitaker has covered an array of hard-hitting topics, from police and community relations to the harrowing heroin epidemic. The state of the country, and the world, can at times be disheartening to report on, he said. But he remains hopeful. “I am an optimist. I believe in us. I believe in 'We the people.' I believe we can get it right,” said the 60 Minutes correspondent. Whitaker spoke to hundreds of community members Friday at the 26th Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, presented by the Catharine Street Community Center. The annual event recognizes members of the Dutchess County community who reflect the goals and ideas King embodied. This year’s breakfast fell on Inauguration Day, as Donald Trump was sworn into office as the 45th president of the United States. “When the Constitution was written, I wasn’t included in ‘we the people.' When I was growing up, there weren’t many people like me on TV,” Whitaker said. “Today, we say farewell to the country’s first black president. It says a lot about our capacity for change.” Whitaker has worked across the country and beyond, from Tokyo to Atlanta to Los Angeles, and now New York. He became a correspondent at 60 Minutes in March 2014. But his story started in Harlem, he said, back when his parents met. His father wanted to be a journalist. “But a black man living in Harlem in the 1930s couldn’t expect to make a living as a journalist,” Whitaker said, explaining that his family then moved to Philadelphia. Now, a Harlem resident himself, Whitaker said he wears his late father’s ring as a reminder of the change that is possible. “This ring has been there before. It’s seen this street. This ring has been full circle. I’m living the life my father dreamed of,” he said. “That’s why I’m an optimist." Grand sponsors of the event included IBM, the Poughkeepsie Journal and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum. Naraya Price, a Roy C. Ketcham High School senior, was one of two local students to be awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. youth award for her academic achievements and community involvement. "Now, when our country is so divided, it is imperative we remember Dr. King's legacy by honoring citizenship, to hold fast to the freedoms that make American democracy an example for the rest of the world." Poughkeepsie High School senior Neliekah Wallace was also an honoree. Both students received a $1,000 scholarship awarded by the Roosevelt Library and Museum. Quoting Nelson Mandela, Wallace said "education is the most powerful weapon which can use to change the world." Two community members were honored for the way in which they seek to change and help others in Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley. Barbara Davis served on the Catharine Street board for nine years. She also manned the YMCA's Battered Woman's Hot Line for 15 years. She currently volunteers at Walkway Over The Hudson, as well as the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. Fellow honoree Thad Jones, a former senior tax adviser at IBM, has served as a board member to United Way, the Rehabilitation Programs for Abilities First, and the Hudson Valley Chapter of the National Accounting Association. The Town of Wappinger Little League was awarded the Richard K. Wager Inclusiveness Award. The award, named after a former Poughkeepsie Journal publisher, was presented to league President Peter McGowan. The co-ed league, which serves young players with disabilities, provides a platform for them to play baseball on a specially designed field. The field's surface is made of virgin rubber, colored to resemble a grass field with an infield and pitcher’s mound painted in. The surface makes it possible for players of all abilities to play, as it offers cushion in case of falls, and is easy for players in wheelchairs to move around on. It is inclusiveness, equality and justice that must be continuously fought for, Whitaker said, if change is to be made. “King called himself a drum major for justice. I think he would urge us to keep beating that drum,” he said.

In this business, we deal with pressures, pressure drops, flows and velocities all the time. For all that familiarity, you'd think we could visualize what one of these measurements means in terms of the others. Unfortunately, most of us can't. Mentally, we have a hard time relating the velocity of a moving airstream to its velocity pressure, and we usually underestimate, by a huge margin, the force exerted on a surface by a static pressure. Maybe we just don't use the right terms to fix the ideas in our heads. Let's try out some non-standard ways of looking at the subject. Remember when you were a kid, riding in the front seat of the car? It was a nice summer day, and you'd stick your hand out the window. With your palm facing the road, your hand would slice through the air. If you angled it up or down, the moving air would try to make your hand climb or dive, just like an airplane wing. If you turned your palm into the wind, its force would push your arm backward. What was going on there? You were feeling what happens when velocity is turned into pressure, and pressure generates force. The velocity of a moving airstream is directly convertible into pressure. All you have to do is put something in its way. Once the pressure meets that object, it exerts a force on it. Working backward, the force is proportional to the velocity of the moving air. Suppose Mom or Pop was driving along at 45 mph (72 km/h). Assuming no winds outside, the air is moving past the car at that speed. You put your hand out the window. The moving air exerts a velocity pressure of about 1" w.c. (2.5 mbar) on your hand -- that's equivalent to 5.2 lb/ft 2(25.4 kg/m2). For an average kid's hand, the force trying to push his or her hand backward works out to about 0.5 lb (0.26 kg). It feels the same as if someone placed an object weighing that much in your hand. Now, let's take this insight over to a process oven. If it's like many ovens, our typical example has an array of slots and louvers where the heated air enters the product chamber. Pressure in the air plenum forces the air through the slots, accelerating it toward the load, which it heats on contact. Suppose you read a static pressure of 0.2" w.c. (74 mbar) in the plenum. The pressure drop from the plenum to the product chamber, which is usually at around atmospheric pressure, will generate a velocity of 30 ft/sec (9 m/sec). In hand-out-the-window terms, that's about 20 mph (33 km/h) -- a fairly stiff breeze. Obviously, ovens operate at elevated air temperatures. What happens then? You can calculate it with this equation: V is the air velocity in feet per second. ΔP is the pressure drop (or velocity pressure), in inches water column. T is the air temperature inoF. Taking our example oven one step further, let's say the plenum-to-chamber pressure drop is 0.2" w.c. (0.5 mbar) at 400oF (204oC) air temperature. Run the numbers, and you get 38 ft/sec (11.6 m/s) -- or in hand-out-of-the-window terms, 26 mph (42 km/h). This makes sense when you think about it -- heating the air causes it to expand, so for a given pressure drop across a nozzle or louver, it has to move faster. The flip side of this comes when the hot air makes contact with the product or any other fixed surface. For the same arrival velocity, hot air will exert less pressure on that surface. Why? Because it's less dense than ambient air. Let's return to the oven plenum. The air is at 400oF and 0.2" w.c. static pressure inside the plenum. Say the plenum wall is 40' long by 10' high (12.2 x 3.04 m). How much total force is the air exerting on it? A pressure of 0.2" w.c. equals 1.04 lb/ft2(5.08 kg/m2), so the total force on the wall is 416 lb (188 kg). Hard to believe that such a measly little pressure differential can do that, but now you may understand why oven walls often bang and thump when the fan is turned on and may continue to creak as the system heats up. Oven designers need to maintain a certain hot-air velocity at the product in order to get the desired heat transfer rate. Because the moving air is spreading throughout the oven and mixing with air already there, it loses speed on its way to the product. Consequently, the velocity at the nozzles or louvers has to be higher than at the product surface, and it's that required velocity that dictates the circulating fan pressure. By the way, if you have the air velocity and want to figure its velocity pressure or the nozzle drop required to generate that velocity, the equation is: One word of caution when using this to figure nozzle or louver pressure drops: The actual air supply pressure will have to be higher than this because of friction and turbulence losses at the nozzles. PH

Creation of the first colony in Australia — New South Wales Ideologists of colonialism usually seek to prove that colonization of overseas territories was objectively necessary owing to an overpopulation of the European states. However history of the British colonization of Australia disproves this statement. Only in eighteen years after visit of east coast of Australia by J. Cook the English government remembered “rights” for this continent and started its colonization. But also in the eighties 18th century to Australia not residents of the English cities, but inhabitants of the English prisons began to move. Development of capitalism in England was followed by a terrible impoverishment of a people at large. Since the end of the 15th century in agriculture of England fast development of sheep breeding was observed. Large landowners in more and more wide scales turned the land grounds into pastures. Moreover, they occupied communal lands and drove peasants from their plots. At the same time not only certain country houses, but also the whole villages communicated. Peasants, having lost the earth, not having an opportunity to find work, joined huge army of the tramps wandering over the country without means of support. Those from them who managed to find work on manufactories or large-scale farms got to conditions of ruthless operation. The working day in the centralized manufactory proceeded 14-16 hours and more. An arbitrariness of the owner was unlimited. The salary was not enough even for bread therefore the beggary was widely adopted. On manufactories child labor was applied. “Unfortunate children at the age of six or seven years had to work twelve hours a day, six days a week in terrible noise of weaving mills or underground in dark as night coal mines” [143, page 6]. “Hungry women even “sold” the children on mines and factories because they not were to find in forces to themselves work. Thousands and thousands of jobless, homeless people faced a dilemma: “to steal or die”” [132, page 6]. Rise in crime was result of social disasters. “Gangs of robbers directed horror at the cities. A ruling caste, fearing uncontrollable crowds of men and women, fell upon them by all force of barbarous criminal laws” [132, page 6]. The English criminal laws of that time differed in extraordinary cruelty. The death penalty was provided for 150 types of crimes — from murder before theft from a handkerchief pocket. It was allowed to hang up the children who reached seven-year age [132, page 6]. To unload prisons, the authorities sent convicts to North America. Planters willingly paid delivery of gratuitous labor: from 10 to 25 f. the Art. for the person, depending on his qualification [132, page 5]. During the period between 1717 and 1776 about 30 thousand prisoners and 10 thousand from Ireland were sent from England and Scotland in the American colonies [95, t. 1, page 61]. When the American colonies achieved independence, the British government tried to send prisoners to the possession in the Western Africa. Consequences were catastrophic. The pernicious climate resulted in enormous mortality among exiled. In 1775-1776 to the Western Africa 746 prisoners were sent. From them 334 persons died, 271 persons died in attempt to flight, about the others the Ministry of Internal Affairs of data had no [79, page 29]. The English government had to refuse use of the West African colonies as places of the reference. There passed many years before came to send to the government of England thought put in Australia. The botanist J. Banks, the participant of expedition of J. Cook, in 1779 acted before, the special committee of the House of Commons created for studying of a question of creation of transatlantic settlements for the concluded British prisons. As legal record testifies, “Joseph Banks when he was asked in what remote place of the globe it is possible to create a colony for convicts from where escape would be complicated and where the fertile soil would give them the chance to exist after the first year during which the homeland will give them small help … informed committee that, IN his opinion, the most suitable place is Botany Bay in New South Wales … swimming to which from England takes about seven months and where the probability of opposition from natives is very small. Banks visited this gulf at the end of April — the beginning of May, 1770 when weather was soft and moderate, as in Toulouse, in the south of France. The area of fertile soils in comparison with fruitless spaces is small, but is quite sufficient to support the big population. There are no pets, and during the ten-day stay Banks did not see any wild animals, except a kangaroo … He did not doubt that the sheep and a bull if to bring them there, will get accustomed and will give posterity. The grass high and juicy, is some edible plants, one of which reminds wild spinach. The area is well supplied with water, it is a lot of wood which will be enough for building of any number of buildings. When J. Banks was asked whether the homeland will receive some benefit from the colony created to Botany Bay, he answered: “If civil management is created, population of a colony will inevitably increase, and it will give the chance to import there many European goods; also there is no doubt that such country as New Holland which by the sizes exceeds Europe will give in exchange a lot of necessary” [113, page 16-17]. - Banks was supported by J. Matra who also took part in Cook’s expedition. His family battled against the American colonists on the party of the English troops. J. Matra suggested to provide to the colonists of the former British possession in America who remained faithful to Great Britain, the land plots in the territory of New South Wales. “I want to submit the proposal which will help to compensate loss of our American colonies over time on the decision of our government — J. Matra in December, 1784 wrote the lord to Sydney holding a post of the Minister of Internal Affairs. — The captain Cook the first landed and investigated east part of that beautiful country (New South Wales — K. M.) from 38 ° to 10 ° southern latitude about which it gave the most favorable account. Few black inhabitants who are at the lowest step of social development inhabit this territory and lead animal existence … The climate and soils are so good that all types of products, both European, and Indian will allow to make. At good management it will allow to make in 20-30 years revolution in all system of the European trade and will provide to England monopoly for its considerable part” [113, page 14-15]. Matyora emphasized that in a new colony it is possible to grow up flax, pointed out high qualities of the pine growing on Norfolk Island. These arguments were very powerful because flax and the wood at that time were of the same great importance as steel and oil today. For preservation of the ascendent position in the world England had to have the most powerful fleet, and the wood and flax were the most important components of shipbuilding of that time. England annually bought in Russia flax for the sum about 500 thousand f. St. Having lost the American possession, England lost the most important supplier of the wood. Matyora paid attention and to important military value of future colony. “In case of war with Holland or Spain we will be able to cause very big troubles to these states from our new settlement” — he wrote. For implementation of the plan of J. Matr asked the admiralty to allocate a frigate. However the first lord of the admiralty Hau did not share J. Matra’s enthusiasm. In the letter to Sydney he wrote the lord: “I believe that if it is recognized desirable to increase number of our settlements according to the plan, offered by mister Matra, there will be a need to use vessels of other design. Frigates are unsuitable for performance of such service”. Further lord Hau pointed to the great difficulties connected with the organization of a colony at so far distance from England: “Navigation duration such is that it is hardly possible to hope for obtaining any benefits in trade or war which are meant by mister Matra” [113, page 15]. However Matra was not discouraged by a position of the first lord of the admiralty. At the beginning of 1785 he asked the admiral J. Young to support his project that the last willingly made. In the letter to the government Young emphasized that creation of a colony in New South Wales would allow to expand trade with Japan and China, and also would have important military value. Young, as well as Matra, considered it expedient to send to a colony of prisoners from the English prisons as its remoteness practically excluded a possibility of escape. Intervention of the admiral Young accelerated the solution of a question of creation of a colony in New South Wales. It is necessary to tell that the American colonists who kept loyalty of England received the land plots in Canada by then. On August 18, 1786 the British government prepared the plan of creation of a colony in New South Wales. The lord Sydney addressed the Minister of Finance with the letter in which he specified that the British prisons are strongly crowded and that it creates threat to society that attempts to find the suitable area for the organization of the settlement in Africa were not crowned with success. Therefore, the lord wrote Sydney, it is necessary to allocate funds for sending 750 put in Botany Bay “with such quantity of the food, necessary objects of use and agricultural tools which can be necessary for them after arrival” [113, page 18]. In January, 1787 the king George III reported about this plan in the speech in parliament. To order transportation of the first party of exiled in the Australian “colony of disgrace” as then were expressed, the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs lord of Sydney it was entrusted to the captain A. Phillip. In its order 2 soldiers and 9 transport vessels were allocated. It is not necessary to think that the most dangerous and inveterate criminals were sent into otdalenneyshy exile. Absolutely on the contrary: there the people condemned for small crimes, for example for theft of two piles of wool, a loaf of bread, four yards of fabric, a rabbit or ten shillings were sent generally [143, page 8]. In the majority it were the exhausted, weak and sick people, among them there are several tens old men, one woman was 87 years old [132, page 8]. Preparation of expedition began in March, 1787, and on May 13 the flotilla left England. Swimming continued more than eight months. On January 26, 1788 the ships approached to Port Jackson. Filip found there as he wrote the lord to Sydney, “the harbor, finest in the world, in which one thousand ships can be in perfect safety” [113, page 26]. From England 1026 people, including officials, their wives and children, and also soldiers — 211, exiled of men — 565, women — 192, children — 18 left. During travel 50 people died, 42 was born. The first seamen were put ashore. They set up the British flag and fired a volley from guns. The colony pioneer settlement New South Wales called by Sydney in honor of the British Minister of Internal Affairs was so based. For seamen on the coast male prisoners descended (women were landed only on February 6). They were surrounded by the virgin eucalyptus forest. The earth was infertile. There were no wild fruit and vegetables. Kangaroos after appearance of people left on such long distance that there was impossible a hunting for them. When were accepted to the colony device, saw how people are picked badly up for this purpose. Among exiled there were only 12 carpenters, one bricklayer and any person understanding agriculture or truck farming. Filip wrote Sydney: “It is regularly necessary to victual within four or five years a colony, and also clothes and footwear” [113, page 27]. The ceremonial opening of a colony New South Wales took place on February 7, 1788. The judge D. Collins read the royal decree according to which the captain Phillip was appointed the governor of a colony New South Wales. Colony borders were defined by this act: from the North on the South — from the peninsula of Cape York peninsula to the Southern cape with all islands and on the West — to 135 ° east longitude. Then decrees on appointment of officials of a colony and its legislation were announced. The governor was allocated with such large powers what were no by any administrator in the British colonies. He knew foreign and domestic trade, had the right to distribute lands at discretion, ordered armed forces, made all appointments to positions in colonial administration, had the right to impose penalties, to impose sentences, up to the death penalty, and to exempt from them. In February 1788 Mr. Phillip for the first time carried out the right to punish colonists the death penalty. For theft of oil, pork and peas T. Barrett was hung up. In two days for theft of flour J. Freeman and his friend were sentenced to death. Filip promised to exempt them from punishment if Freeman agrees to hold the executioner’s position. The last accepted the offer and became the first state executioner in the history of Australia. Colonists met in Australia great difficulties. To the exhausted people was beyond the power to bring down huge trees and to loosen the stony soil. Filip reported that twelve people require five days to cut down and root out one tree [132, page 17]. Filip had also other cares. In six days after British were put ashore, two French warships under team of the captain Laperuz entered Botany Bay. It is necessary to tell that France very jealously watched progress of British in the Southern seas. Having learned about intention of England to start colonization of Australia, the French government sent Laperuz there to take part of the Australian continent. As French hurried, they lagged behind British also here. Laperuz’s appearance excited the exiled who saw a real opportunity to run from this the place seeming to them disastrous. The group of prisoners appealed to the French captain to take them on the ships. They promised to bring for it with themselves the prettiest women from number a katorzhanok. Laperuz refused to British. But when the French ships left Botany Bay, the governor Phillip missed two most attractive women of a colony. The gallant French captain captured them with himself. To provide the best supervision of colonists, almost all of them were concentrated on the small territory. Only small groups went to Parramatta’s region and to Norfolk Island where lands were more suitable for agriculture, than in Sydney. However and there it was not succeeded to reap a little notable crop. In Parramatta, for example, in November, 1788 200 bushels of wheat and 35 bushels of barley were received. All this harvest went to seeds for the following crops [106, page 32]. In Sydney the situation was even worse. Wheat, a maize, and also the seeds of some vegetables seeded somehow by the people who did not have agricultural experience did not give shoots at all. The brought food quickly was exhausted. In a colony hunger began. The ships with supplies as it was promised the government, did not come from England. At the beginning of 1789 the governor sent a frigate “Sirius” to the Dutch colony near the Cape of Good Hope behind the food. The ship delivered 127 thousand. flour pounds, but it lasted not for long. The crop reaped in December, 1789 was very small again, and it was decided to be left for new crops in hope that the ships from England will approach soon. But they were still not. Then Filip, believing that on Norfolk the good harvest is reaped, decided to send part of exiled there. In February, 1790 to the island the ships “Sepplyay” and “Sirius” by which there were 184 adults and 27 children went. On March 13 arrived were put ashore. But the storm forced out the ships in the sea; in six days they approached the coast again, at the same time “Sirius” came across a reef and sank. The people who got out to the coast learned that the crop reaped on the island cannot provide even the population of Norfolk. “Сеппляй” it was forced to deliver party of exiled back to Sydney. The week food allowance of colonists was reduced to three pounds of flour and semi-pound of corned beef. Together with the first party of exiled to Sydney delivered the European pets who had to become a basis for development of cattle breeding in a new colony. Many animals died in way. The census made in May, 1788 showed that in a colony there were 7 heads of cattle and as much horses, 29 rams and sheep, 19 goats, 25 pigs, 50 pigs, 5 rabbits, 18 turkeys, 35 ducks, 29 geese, 122 chickens and 97 chickens [52, page 75]. All of them, except horses, sheep and cows, were eaten by colonists. The remained animals generally died due to the lack of forages, habitual for them. A small amount of the sheep who survived and adapted to the Australian pastures were broken off by dingo dogs. Hunger in a colony amplified. Any penalties it was impossible to keep hungry people from plunder of shops, from theft of the food. And these measures were very severe. For example, punished for theft of couple of potatoes in 500 blows of a whip and for 6 months deprived of the portion of flour relying them. With the ships of the First fleet which were coming back to England, Filip sent to the British government of the letter to whom asked to send urgently the food and agricultural tools, and also free settlers for the organization of farms, promising to transfer to the last as labor of prisoners. But the answer was not. At last on June 3, 1890 the Australian colonists saw the British vessel “Lady Yuliana” entering the gulf. It was the first of the ships of the Second fleet sent by the English government to Australia. The disappointment of colonists when they learned that by the ship there is no food was big, but are 222 female-katorzhanki. Later also other vessels of the Second fleet which brought over 1000 more exiled to New South Wales approached. As a part of this fleet there was a vessel, loaded the food, but on December 23, 1789 at the Cape of Good Hope it ran into an iceberg. To rescue the ship which began to sink, it was necessary to throw out all stocks of the food in the sea. Conditions of transportation of exiled were terrible. Shipowners received 17 f. 7 prickers. 6 pence for each person irrespective of, he will be brought to Australia live or dead. Therefore on the ships tried to ship as much as possible prisoners. That exiled did not run away to swimming time, held down them ranks, and in such situation they were in holds of the ships many months of a way. There were cases when the dead long remained among live which hid death of the companions to receive their portions of food. In way 267 people died. From survived 488 were seriously ill. Within six weeks after arrival in Sydney about 100 more people died. Till August, 1791 to a colony there arrived 1700 exiled, and in September of the same year — about 1900 more people. Thus, the population of New South ales exceeded 4 thousand people (together with soldiers and officials). Some satisfactory crops did not manage to be reaped still. And if not the food delivered by several ships from England the population of a colony would die with hunger. Transportation of convicts continued. Conditions of their transportation remained very heavy. Even in the thirties 19th century mortality in way was rather high. So, from 4981 exiled sent to Australia in 1830 in way 45 people, in 1831 — 41 of 5303, in 1832 — 54 of 5117, in 1833 — 63 of 5560, in 1835 — 37 of 5315, in 1837 — 63 of 6190 died [79, page 217]. And in the first decade of settling of Australia mortality was bigger. For example, the ship which arrived to Sydney in 1799 brought only 200 of 300 exiled. About 100 people died in way [79, page 214]. Situation in New South Wales continued to remain deplorable. The captain Phillip had to create the self-sufficient colony in Australia, but within five years of his governorship New South Wales completely depended on deliveries from England. During this time the colony cost to the English government 500 thousand f. Art. [162, page 54]. As it was already noted, Filip persistently asked the government to organize sending to New South Wales free settlers to create steadier basis of colonization of the remote continent. In one of letters the governor wrote: “Fifty farmers with the families in one year will make for creation of the self-supplied colony it is more, than one thousand exiled” (tsit. on [160, page 19]). But wishing to go voluntarily to “a disgrace colony” in England there was very little. For the first five years of existence of a colony there arrived only 5 families of free colonists though the British government undertook all expenses on moving, free of charge victualed for two years, gave the earth and made available to immigrants of exiled for processing of the earth, and even food of these exiled was carried out at the expense of treasury. Filip gave the earth to the prisoners who served punishment sentences, to soldiers and sailors. But them was very little (in 1791 — only 86 people), and they processed a little more than 900 acres of the earth. Only after the governor acquired the right to reduce punishment terms, it managed to bring the general size of the sites processed by the released exiled to 3,5 thousand acres. In 1792 Mr. Phillip returned to England. Together with it also the group of military seamen bearing security service was returned home. In a colony there was Polk of New South Wales which soldiers began to arrive to Australia since 1791. This regiment was generally formed of the soldiers and officers who compromised themselves on the former duty station with theft, alcoholism, etc., or let out from military prisons where they served sentence for various criminal offenses. After departure the commander of a regiment major F. Grouz began to fulfill duties of the governor of a colony. He appointed officers to all civil positions, distributed to military the earth and the received sites concluded for processing. In total he distributed over 10 thousand acres. 250 acres of the first-class earth around Parramatta were received by the officer J. Makkartur who became subsequently “the father of the Australian sheep breeding”. At that time he held a post of the inspector of public works, and all labor of a colony was at his disposal. Makkartur directed prisoners to farms and managed over them court at discretion. He did not forget and own interests, widely using work of prisoners on the lands belonging to it. It is not sophisticated that in two years J. Makkartur became the richest person of New South Wales. Leaving England, it had 500 f. the Art. is long, by 1801 its property was estimated at 20 thousand f. St. Soon F. Grouz’s actions led to the fact that the power in New South Wales passed to officers of a regiment. They monopolized all trade operations of a colony, and first of all trade in alcoholic drinks. Officers forced prisoners to drive for them alcohol and sold it at the fabulous prices. The income from sale of alcohol reached 500%. Seeing it, the prisoners who served sentence and the received land plots, and also soldiers of a regiment were engaged in production of alcohol. On these purposes there was a grain intended for production of bread. Rum became the only real currency in a colony, for the sake of its acquisition people went on any crimes. “In this new small terrestrial hell which early Sydney was people above all were eager for rum. For the sake of it the most cruel of prisoners killed at night and plundered those who had it. They paid in rum to public women … For the sake of rum they spied one after another and betrayed each other” [143, page 14]. Officers by sharing the cost bought all goods brought to a colony by the British vessels and resold them to the population, getting up to 300% of profit on these operations. Almost all prisoners worked at the lands belonging to officers of a regiment. In essence, it was the slave labor, with only that difference that slaveholders fed the slaves, and the prisoners working for officers of a regiment were on the state providing. - Twain who visited Australia in the nineties 19th century when in memory of the population memories of these events were still fresh wrote in the book “On the Equator”: “Officers undertook trade and besides in the most lawless way … They began to import rum, and also to produce it at own plants … They united and subordinated to themselves the market … They created the closed monopoly and strong held it in hand … They made rum currency of the country — there was almost no money — and kept the harmful power, keeping a colony under thumb years eighteen-twenty … They accustomed to alcoholism all colony. They accustomed to drinking settlers, appropriated their farms one for another and grew rich as kreza. When the farmer completely became an inveterate drunkard, they tore off from him seven skins for a rum drink. The case when for rum gallon cost the farmer gave a ground which in several years was sold for hundred thousand dollars” [65, t to two dollars is known. 9, page 90-91]. The new governor, the naval captain D. Hunter, arrived to a colony on September 11, 1795. But it could not break domination of officers of the regiment nicknamed “the rum case”. It did not work well and to the following governor — the captain U. Bligh famous for the courage and persistence. The rebelled sailors of the ship “Baunti” landed it in May, 1789 among storming waves of the Pacific Ocean in the small boat with 18 crew members betrayed to it. The providences left on will, people did not die. After 48 days of terrible deprivations the captain Bligh brought the boat to the island of Timor which was in one thousand miles from that place where they were landed from the ship. From this Dutch colony of Bligh and his companions delivered to England. Bligh entered fight against Polk’s officers of New South Wales: forbade them duty-free trade in alcoholic drinks, did not allow Makkartur to construct distillery. Then officers decided to overthrow the governor. They collected a regiment and with the developed banners went to his house. In half an hour Bligh was arrested and imprisoned in barracks. Management of a colony was taken in hand by the commander of a regiment major Johnston. Makkartur was appointed the secretary of a colony. Only on December 31, 1809 to a colony there arrived L. Makkuori sent by the English government for establishing order, and together with it the 73rd infantry regiment. L. Makkuori had the following instructions: to reinstate as Bligh, but only for one days to accept from him a governorship; having become the governor of a colony, L. Makkuori had to cancel all appointments, judgments and distribution of lands which took place since Bligh’s arrest. - Makkuori with a scrupulous accuracy carried out these instructions. When on January 17, 1810 Bligh returned from Earth Wang Dimenga to Sydney, Makkuori arranged to it a magnificent meeting — with salute, parade, illumination and a ball in the governor’s house. After that Bligh was sent to England. Together with it “the rum case” led by the commander Johnston left New South Wales. Makkartur was also forced to leave Australia. On arrival to England Johnston and Makkartur appeared before the court. The first steps in studying of the Australian continent There passed two decades after creation of a colony, but inhabitants of New South Wales did not knew that represents all fifth continent. By this time only separate sites near Sydney, the small ground which was in 90 miles to the North from Sydney and also the district of Hobart on Earth Wang Dimenga were investigated. Australia, as we know, occupies the space in 3 million sq. miles, i.e. almost equal to the area of the United States and by 50 times the exceeding territory of England. The first attempt to pass the Blue Mountains which are in 40 miles to the West from Sydney was undertaken only in May, 1813. Expedition consisted of three employees of a colony — G. Blekslenda, U. Uintvort, U. Lauson — and five prisoners. In two weeks they reached the western slopes of the Blue Mountains and found fine pastures on which it was possible as members of expedition claimed, “to feed all cattle of a colony within the next thirty years” [162, page 30]. Blekslend, Uintvort and Lauson were generously rewarded for the opening. Each of them received a ground of 1000 acres in size. By order of the governor prisoners began to construct the road to newly opened areas hastily. In January, 1815 L. Makkuori could already pass on it to the new city of Bathurst constructed” in 120 miles to the West from Sydney. Activization of research by British of the Australian continent was promoted by three circumstances: attempts of French to locate in Australia, need to settle the arriving exiled, and also a lack of pastures and water. In 1801 the French ships “Geographer” and “Naturalist” under command of the admiral N. Boden investigated the southern and western parts of Australia. After that British hurried to proclaim the formal possession of Earth Wang Dimenga, and then started creation of settlements in Makkuori-Harbore and Launceston. Settlements appeared also on east and southern coasts of the continent — on the place of the present cities of Newcastle, Port-Makkuori and Melbourne. D. Oxley’s researches in 1822 in northeast part of Australia led to creation of the settlement near the Brisbane River. Expedition of the French captain Zh. Dyumon-Dyurvill induced the governor of New South Wales to create in 1826 on the southern coast of Australia the settlement the Western Port and to send the major E. Lokyir to the passage of the King George in southwest part of the continent where it founded the settlement which received subsequently the name of Albany and declared distribution of the power of the British king on all Australian continent. The British settlement Port-Essington was founded in an extreme northern point of the continent. The population of new outposts of Britain on the Australian continent consisted of exiled. Their transportation from England went more intensively from year to year. It is considered that since the basis of a colony and to the middle of the 19th century was sent to Australia to 130 – 160 thousand prisoners [79, page 210]. As settlements were from each other at huge distance, besides the actual annexation of territory also other objectives — dispersal of exiled were achieved. Due to the rapid growth of a livestock of sheep new pastures and sources of fresh water were required. In 1810 the colony made only 167 pounds of wool, and in 1829 — about 2 million pounds [106, page 91-92]. “As it is impossible to force Arabs of the desert to live in limits of a circle, nacherchenny on sand — the governor of a colony of Gipps said — it is so impossible to limit movement of sheep breeders of New South Wales to certain borders; it is obvious that if it was made … herds of cattle and sheep of New South Wales would die and to wellbeing of the country the end came” [160, page 40]. Southeast and southern parts of Australia, their system of the rivers Oxley, G. Hulme, A. Kanningkhy and Ch. Stert investigated in the twenties the XIX EL. The contribution of the last is especially considerable. In 1826-1828 in a colony there was the strongest drought. From lack of forages the cattle fell, the harvest perished. Colonists rushed about in search of new pastures and water. “Huge trees, died. An emu, having extended necks, greedy gasped, suffering from thirst. Native dogs were so thin that could hardly move. Natives starved. They brought the children to white people, asking to give to some food” [133, page 38-39]. The governor of New South Wales of that time R. Darling sent the captain Ch. Stert for searches of the new rivers or maybe big closed seas which, in the opinion extended then, had to exist in the depth of the Australian continent. Expedition Is erased continued from November, 1828 to April, 1829. Investigating Makkuori’s river, It is erased found out that it terminates in a big bog, overgrown reed and a cane. But soon it found to the West from Makkuori the stream flowing on the North. Moving on it, It is erased reached the wide, deep river called by it in honor of the governor of a colony Darling. Water in the river was salty, its coast were absolutely naked, very stunted vegetation met only in marshy places. Results of expedition could not satisfy the governor of a colony, of course. In September, 1829. It is erased at the head of small group undertook new expedition. On September 25 it reached the river Murrumbidgee. The locals who met to it claimed that it — inflow of other big river. Then It is erased, having taken with itself six people, began the research Murrumbidgee. Expedition: moved with huge difficulties on the unfamiliar river. On January 14, 1830 travelers reached its mouth and entered other big river. It is so erased opened one of the largest rivers of Australia, having called its Murray — in honor of the British minister of colonies of that time. Were not in time It is erased also his companions to be glad to the opening as they were met by the trouble which was nearly costing them life. Unexpectedly their boat ran aground, and soon they were surrounded with crowd of the natives who are adjusted very aggressively. Collision seemed inevitable, British prepared for deadly fight. But suddenly the native of huge growth seemed ashore. He rushed to the river and floated to a shallow. Having reached it, he scattered the people who were there, approached the boat with British and welcomed them as friends [133, page 39-40]. Throughout all further way British met from locals only friendship. After 33 days of traveling, having passed by the boat of 1000 miles, It is erased and its satellites found the lake called by them Aleksandrina, by name the British princess. Moving further, they found a way out to the high sea. It was the big victory. Only on May 25, 1830. It is erased with companions returned to Sydney. The expedition investigating system of the rivers of South Australia proved that it is possible to reach by the waterway the southernmost tip of the continent, and also found big spaces of the fertile lands extremely convenient for colonization. “I — reported Is erased — never saw the country which would have more advantageous position … we received five million acres of the beautiful earth” [106, page 67]. Its message caused colonization of South Australia. Opening It is erased haunted the major T. Mitchell. This ambitious person could not reconcile with the fact that he, the senior in a rank, was not appointed the head of expeditions. When in 1831 Darling favoring Sterta left a colony, T. Mitchell undertook the first expedition. It was going to find the river as if flowing into the gulf Gulf of Carpentaria about which it was told by the exiled D. Clark living some time among natives. Expedition terminated in failure: the river flowing on the northwest, Mitchell did not find, but reached the rivers Wash also Gvidir. In skirmish with locals he lost two people and all stocks of the food therefore he was forced to return back. It should be noted that all expeditions of Mitchell, unlike expeditions It is erased, were followed by numerous skirmishes with natives. The spiteful attitude of Mitchell towards the last was fault to it, undoubtedly. During the second travel Mitchell reached the Darling River near that place which approached Is erased. It is interesting that Mitchell found water of Darling absolutely fresh. The strengthened camp, the called Fort Bourke then expedition moved further on the river flowing was constructed as of it it was convinced not trusting Sterta Mitchell, to the river Murray. The further course of expedition was stopped by the new bloody skirmish with natives which forced to turn travelers back. The third expedition of Mitchell led to opening of the territory to the South from the Murray River. This earth which as Mitchell claimed, “will be able to give rise to wheat even during the most droughty seasons and will never become a bog in the most rainy time” [106, page 69], was called “Happy Australia”. Continuing expedition, Mitchell left to the seashore around a bay Portland. Participants of expedition were very surprised, having found in a bay the vessel, and ashore — the European settlers. It were colonists, in two years arrived from Earth Wang Dimenga before. Among pioneers of southeast part of Australia there are two Polish researchers — Ya. Lkhotsky and P. Stsheletsky. Ya. Lkhotsky who arrived to Sydney in 1833 gave the first description of the area where now there is Canberra, and the mountain chain called now the Australian Alps. P. Stsheletsky who appeared in Sydney in 1839 investigated in 1840 the most southern part of the continent called by it Gippslend in honor of the governor of a colony of that time, and the first rose by the highest mountain of the Australian Alps which he called Mount Kosciusko. In 1844 already fifty-year-old Ch. Stert resumed the expeditions. This time he wanted to investigate the central part of the continent. On August 15, 1844 it left Adelaide, going to the North. Travel continued till 1846. It is erased it was convinced that the center of Australia represents the real desert which it could not overcome. The seriously ill patient who went blind he returned to Adelaide. Already mentioned T. Mitchell tried to investigate northern part of Australia the first. In 1845 it reached a river basin of Barcoo, but because of a lack of edibles returned back. The greatest contribution to research of the North of the country was made by L. Leykhgardt and E. Kennedy. The authorities of New South Wales in every possible way encouraged researches of northern part of the continent, hoping that they will lead to opening of the shortest and convenient trade way connecting a colony to India. - Leykhgardt, the native of Germany, at university in Goettingen got acquainted with Englishman D. Nikolson; further it accompanied it on trips across France, Italy and England. Without having found work in England, Leykhgardt in October, 1841 went to Australia. It arrived to Sydney in February, 1842 and soon proved as the capable scientist. It went to the first travel in August, 1844. Through. 16 months Leykhgardt reached Port-Essingtona. Travel was very difficult. It is a lot of months Leykhgardt and its satellites did without flour, sugar, salt and tea, whole a quarter of year they ate only dried beef [52, page 218]. Having returned to Sydney, Leykhgardt began to prepare new expedition. He intended to reach the continent North, having rounded the desert found Erased in its central part. It was supposed that travel will be very long therefore provisions took for two years. On December 12, 1846 expedition as a part of seven Europeans and two natives came out from Darling-Dauns. Travelers had 15 horses, 13 mules, 40 cows, 270 goats, 100 pigs and 4 dogs [133, page 72]. However the most part of cattle fell, edibles were almost entirely spent, people suffered from fever. Without having achieved anything, Leykhgardt in 7 months returned back. Failure did not stop it. In April, 1848 Leykhgardt went to the North again. It was accompanied by 6 people. This time business came to an end in a complete disaster: expedition disappeared in continent depths. Within the first two years lack of information about her did not cause special concern in New South Wales as she was calculated on long term. On in 1851 the authorities of a colony began searches which did not yield results. The destiny of participants of expedition and remained the unknown. In April, 1848 Sydney came out one more expedition which had to investigate the continent North, find the most convenient way to the Southern Asia and choose the place for construction of port on the northern coast of Australia for trade with the Asian countries. Headed E. Kennedy’s expedition, taking earlier part in T. Mitchell’s expeditions. To reduce time, the part of a way was done by the ship. On May 21, 1848 travelers reached harbor Rokgempton and were put ashore. The terrible heat, the marshland, almost impassable thickets forced them to refuse the planned route — on the northwest, to the Gulf Gulf of Carpentaria. They went along the northeast coast of the continent, but also here met the same difficulties. Besides in a month frequent skirmishes with locals began. In August expedition had to reach the gulf of the Princess Charlotte where it was waited by the ship which is specially sent there. But Kennedy and his satellites reached the gulf only in October when the ship already left. Rescue was in reaching to Port Albany. But to make the exhausted, hungry and sick travelers could not any more. Only one participant of expedition — the native by the name of Jackie-Jackie came to Port Albany in December, 1848. The ship for searches, the survived members of expedition was at once equipped. On December 30 the ship reached the gulf of the Princess Charlotte. From eight people who reached here only two survived. All others, among them and Kennedy, died. The expeditions on research of the Australian continent which were taking place with such difficulties and losses were of very great importance for expansion and strengthening of the British domination in Australia. Robbins met French on King Island. Having put ashore with three sailors, he, to surprise of French, immediately proclaimed the island property of the British king, hoisted the English colors, gave triple salute and left the island. Then Robbins visited Port-Fillip on the continent, and also the area of the Derwent River on Earth Wang Dimenga and left two soldiers for confirmation of the British property on these lands there. In a year before in Port-Fillipe the English officer D. Murrey visited. He recommended to the government to use this place as an additional ssylny colony. Based on the report of Murray, lord Hobart, the minister of colonies of that time, ordered to the lieutenant colonel D. Collins to head expedition for. organizations of a new colony. In October, 1803 330 prisoners on two vessels were brought to Port-Fillip. The place was not pleasant to Collins. According to the instruction given it by the British government he had the right to choose other territory for a colony provided that searches of new, more convenient place will not be tightened. Therefore in February 1804 Mr. Collins transported all colonists to Earth Wang Dimenga and landed them where now the city of Hobart is located. Here he met the nineteen-year-old lieutenant D. Bowen who by order of the governor King with small party of free colonists and prisoners in September, 1803. based in this place British poseleniye-Rukovodstvo the integrated colony Collins assumed. In the first years of existence of a colony on Earth Wang Dimenga immigrants met such difficulties what were not known by colonists of New South Wales. The English government believed that supply of a new colony has to be carried out from Sydney, the governor of New South Wales considered that this business of the British government. Communication between Sydney and Hobart was supported only by small vessels belonging to a colony New South Wales and was incidental. If not meat of the emu and kangaroo who were available in a large number on the island the population of Hobart would die out soon. The British government occupied Earth Wang Dimenga prisoners and free colonists, without caring for the corresponding material basis. In November, 1804 on the northern coast of the island, near the place where now the city of Launceston is located, there was the second colony which was headed by the colonel Peterson. In 1813 both colonies were independent from each other and submitted to New South Wales. The relations between Peterson and Collins became aggravated to such an extent that the governor King was forced to divide administratively the island into two parts — northern, called Earth Kornvoll, and southern, called Bukingkhemshir. In 1813 the official in the rank of the assistant to the governor of New South Wales who became actually the head on the island was sent to Hobart. Gradually new colonies began to become stronger. If in 1813 in Hobart 2 thousand acres of the earth, then in 1819 — yes 8 thousand acres were processed. In 1820 Earth Wang Dimenga already exported wheat and meat to New South Wales. At this time on the island there lived 5500 people, from them 2538 prisoners, 2880 free settlers; the livestock of cows made 30 thousand, sheep — 180 thousand [123, page 11], In December, 1825 Earth Wang Dimenga officially became an independent colony. Same year in England the Company of Earth Wang Dimenga who had to promote development of agriculture and cattle breeding on the island was created. To the middle of the 19th century 170 thousand acres of the earth were processed here, there were 1,7 million sheep and 80 thousand heads of cattle [79, page 185-186]. However the colony continued to carry lines of the exiled of the settlement considerably. It was explained by the fact that even at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century prisoners made one third of the population of the island. Their transportation in this colony was stopped only in 1853. The power of the head of administration of the island was actually boundless. It, the English historian of X wrote at that time. Melvill, “exceeded the power of any sovereign in the Christian world” [146, page 212]. Conditions of keeping of prisoners were worse, than in other British colonies in Australia. Not surprisingly therefore that as soon as possible exiled tried to run. Runaway convicts united in groups of “bushreyndzher” which directed horror at all colony. To catch and destroy these groups, the authorities organized numerous bloody expeditions. The free population of a colony demanded to stop transportation of exiled on the island. In 1845 the British government promised to fulfill this requirement: within two years not to send prisoners to Earth Wang Dimenga. After this term the minister of colonies lord Gray declared that the government Wang Dimenga for exiled of settlements will not use Earth from now on. But actually prisoners continued to arrive to the island and in the next years. So, in 1845-1847 3 thousand people were brought. Only since 1854 Earth Wang Dimenga was carried to colonies in which it was forbidden to send prisoners. In the same time the colony was renamed into Tasmania, in honor of the pioneer of the island A. Tasman. The name Earth Wang Dimenga which exiled changed the earth to Chertova disappeared, using a word-play — Van Diemen’s Land and Van Demonians Land. If New South Wales and Tasmania arose as exiled of a colony, then South Australia from the very beginning was a colony of free settlers. Her organizers tried to embody in practice ideas of one of the most visible ideologists of the British colonialism of the first half of the 19th century, E. Uekfild formulated by it in work of “The letter from Sydney” which was published in 1829. K. Marx devoted to analysis of the theory of E. Uekfild the separate section in the first volume of “Capital”. The ambition was the main trait of character of Uekfild. It brought it into Nyyugeytsky prison in London. Thirty-year-old Uekfild served as the secretary of the English Embassy in Paris, was widows, had two children and cherished ambitious dream to become the member of the British parliament for which implementation it lacked money. To grow rich, he decided to marry rich. Uekfild learned that fifteen-year-old Ellen Tarner is the only heir of the large industrialist. Uekfild never saw the girl, but it did not confuse him at all. It arrived to the Liverpool school and demanded from the director to release Ellen with it under that pretext that her mother is seriously sick. He told the girl that her father was suddenly ruined and for rescue of a family she has to marry it. Probably, Uekfild was very eloquent as they got married immediately. Then newly married hasty left to France. However their honeymoon was right at the beginning interrupted. To France there arrived two uncles of Ellen and took away it home. Uekfild also soon came back to England, but was arrested and sentenced to three years of prison. So his dream to become the member of parliament broke. And then it chose other field of activity which glorified his name: he became the creator of the theory of “systematic colonization” and “sufficient” land value in colonies. Uekfild proved that it is necessary to colonize transatlantic territories not by expulsion of convicts there, and involvement of quite “respectable” people. Land value in colonies have to be so high that colonists got it after arrival not at once, and having only worked a row of years. “Sufficient” land value will prevent transformation of colonists into independent peasants; when they them become, there will be others, ready to take their place in the market of wage labor [1, t. 23, page 782]. Money from sale of land, according to Uekfild, has to go mainly for involvement of new immigrants, and partially — for needs of colonies where the layer of small colonists who will make a firm basis of outposts of Britain in various parts of the globe will gradually grow and become stronger. Thus, that part of the English society which as a result of industrial development of the country was left without work and was real threat to the existing order of things turned on the Wednesday cementing the British Empire. In 1830 Uekfild developed active work of practical implementation of the ideas. It promoted much the fast organization of National society of colonization which the same year issued the brochure entitled “A statement of the principles and the purposes of estimated national society for healing from a pauperizm and its prevention by means of systematic colonization”. Approximately at the same time, when E. Uekfild’s book was issued, data on the fertile lands in the valley of the Murray River opened Erased came to England. A business community of England on which Uekfild’s book made big impression, became interested in an opportunity to carry out the ideas stated to them. In 1831 negotiations on creation of the company which purpose would be a colonization of the lands which are in the south of the Australian continent began. At the meeting of National society of colonization which was taking place on August 3 under the chairmanship of the colonel of Torrance the plan of colonization of South Australia which provided creation of the company with the capital of 500 thousand f was approved. to the Art. divided into 10 thousand actions, each worth 50 f. St. The company had to buy lands in the southern part of the Australian continent and base there a colony, having undertaken all financial responsibility connected with its organization and existence. Soon the offer was sent to the government about the colony basis on the southern coast of Australia to a Colonial Office which answered that it does not intend to consider the plan for a being until the money necessary for implementation of activity of the planned company is raised [163, page 58-59]. Thus, the solution of a question of creation of a colony in South Australia hung in mid-air. However this circumstance did not discourage E. Uekfild and his friends. It founded the Southern Australian association which in December, 1833 developed the new project of colonization of the southern Australian lands. This plan provided the organization of the Southern Australian land company at the expense of which it was supposed to create a colony. This time the Colonial Office was positive to the project. On April 15, 1837 the minister of colonies Stanley answered association that its project is approved though with essential additions and corrections [163, page 68-69]. June 3, 1834. The southern Australian association called the first public meeting at which there were 2,5 thousand people. The audience was acquainted with the plan of creation of a colony. To the same time in the English parliament there was a discussion of the project developed by association which got approval of both chambers. Issued in the form of the law, the project was signed by the king and enacted by the royal decree of August 15, 1834. In the law it was emphasized that creation of a colony has to be carried out by the Southern Australian land company. It was provided that the power in a colony will belong to the governor appointed the king, and the representative of the company. The captain D. Hindmarch became the governor of a colony, the representative of the company — X. Fischer, the representative of council of the Southern Australian land company — the colonel Torrance. The basis of the capital of the Southern Australian land company was made by a contribution of the rich businessman D. Enges of 320 thousand f. St. The company collected the additional capital by sale of the rights for the land plots in the area about which then not only in London, but also in Sydney had, in essence, no idea. The company sold shares which granted to their owners the right for 120 acres of the earth in the territory of an estimated colony and 1 acre in its future capital. For involvement of colonists in England special brochures were issued, lectures were given. Torrance wrote the book “Colonization of South Australia” which was published in June, 1835. The first party of colonists was supposed to be sent to South Australia in September, 1835. However sale of sites dragged on till November, and was decided to postpone expedition to the next year. It began in March, 1836. In July, 1836 three ships of the company which had onboard 546 colonists approached Kangaroo Island which is at coast of South Australia. They remained on the island before arrival there in August of the colonel Leith who chose the place for the capital. Now there is Adelaide. The organization of a colony went quickly. In December there arrived the governor of a colony D. Hindmarch. It did not like the place chosen for the capital, and he tried to find another. It caused serious friction between it and officials of administration of a colony, ended with Hindmarch’s resignation and his replacement in 1838 on the governor’s post by Gouler. The first years of existence of a colony were characterized by enormous land speculation. Actually, the aspiration to fast enrichment by speculative resales of the land plots acquired by them was a main goal of both the most Southern Australian land company, and colonists. The system granting the right for 15 thousand acres of the earth to the person who bought from this quantity at least 4 thousand acres on 1 f was widely adopted. the Art. for an acre. The rest of the earth was bought by it gradually at the price already of 5 prickers. 4 pence for an acre [52, page 134-135]. It led soon to the fact that all fertile lands fell into hands not of hardworking farmers who as E. Uekfild assumed, the persistent work will create richness of a colony, and speculators the earth, in the majority living not in Australia, and in England. There passed 4 years since the colony basis, but nothing was made for development of agriculture and cattle breeding. The colony almost made nothing. In 1837 from the sold 3700 acres only 4 was processed; in 1839 170,5 thousand acres were sold, and 443 were processed. The cost of import of a colony in 1839 grew to 346,6 thousand f. the Art. whereas the cost of export made only 22,5 thousand f. St. The administration which did not have means for development of the territory, construction of ports, roads, etc. was forced to ask for the help the government. As soon as it became known in London, among shares holders and creditors of the Southern Australian land company the real panic began. They hurried to get rid of actions and showed bills for payment. The company was the bankrupt. The colony endured full financial breakdown, people ran from a colony. For several months its population decreased half. There were only those who had no opportunity to leave. Food prices catastrophically grew. The land plots could not be sold. Most of land owners, including the governor of a colony Gouler, were completely ruined. Rumors about a distress of colonists of South Australia reached other British colonies on the continent. The most enterprising cattle-farmers and farmers of New South Wales and Port-Fillipa began to get into South Australia, hoping to use its fertile lands with benefit. By the end of 1841 on pastures of South Australia 50 thousand sheep were grazed already. Deposits lead, and in 1843 — copper ore were the same year found. The cattle breeding and the mining industry became a basis of economic development of a colony. Also its population grew; in 1850 when South Australia acquired the rights of self-government, it made 63 thousand people. Huge spaces of the central and northern parts of the continent administratively were a part of South Australia. As it was already noted, their development was connected with searches of the most convenient trade way to India. In 1817 for careful research of the northern coast of Australia the lieutenant F. King was sent. In the report King reported to the government that the northern coast — the ideal place for construction of seaports. On the basis of its report the British government sent to this region of the captain Mr. Bremer which in 1824 founded the first British settlement there — Port-Essington. But in general huge spaces of northern part of the continent remained undeveloped. Numerous attempts to base there settlements did not make success. They quickly enough stopped the existence. Together with them the hope to use ports of the northern coast for trade with the Asian countries died away. Only in 1863 when the Northern Territory was administratively subordinated to a colony South Australia, to it for a while again there was an interest. There the resident who founded the small settlement named by Palmerston in honor of the British prime minister of that time was sent. But South Australia could make nothing for development of the huge and remote area. In 1911. The northern Territory passed under direct management of the government of the Australian Union. The city of Palmerston was renamed into Darwin. Like South Australia, Western Australia originally arose as a colony of free settlers. In 1826 the governor of New South Wales Darling charged to the captain D. Sterling to investigate the western coast of Australia for creation of the British colony there. Having returned to Sydney, the captain reported in the report that the most suitable for the organization of a colony is the area of the river Suwon. He pointed to healthy climate, fertile soils, security with fresh water, and also to the advantageous geographical position allowing to create there port through which it would be possible to trade with the countries of the East. D. Sterling emphasized that it is necessary to work quickly in view of real threat of the French occupation of this area. The governor Darling supported D. Stirlinga’s proposals and sent his report to London. However the British government did not find it possible to undertake burden of expenses on the organization of a colony. In the middle of 1828 D. Sterling, being in London, again addressed the government and volunteered to direct expedition on the organization of the British colony on the western coast of Australia. As the British government motivated the first refusal with what cannot foot the bill on the device of this remote colony, D. Sterling suggested to create private syndicate. This time the government frightened of rumors about possible occupation of the western coast of Australia by French listened to a persistent voice of the captain. However it considered that the colony has to be organized not by individuals, and the state. First of all it was necessary to carry out official capture of the western part of the Australian continent as before Great Britain formally, J. Cook’s lips, proclaimed the power only over his east part. For this purpose in November, 1828 the captain Freemantle by the ship “Challenger” went to west banks of Australia. On May 2, 1829, having landed in the mouth of the river Suwon, Fremantle proclaimed the British sovereignty over the territory ten times exceeding the sizes of Great Britain. A business community of England showed a great interest to a new colony. In November, 1828 the group of business people of London headed by T. Pil suggested the British government to deliver 10 thousand in a colony. the person, for what asked to transfer it 4 million acres of the earth. The government agreed only to 1 million acres. It was established that each colonist will acquire the right for the land plot in 40 acres provided that he will pay 3 f at once. the Art. and within the first three years of use of the earth will spend for its processing not less than 3 more f. St. The captain Sterling was appointed the head of a new colony. In June, 1829 the first party of colonists in number of 50 people arrived to coast of Western Australia. It is necessary to tell that among them there were almost no people who would intend to process “by the sweat of the brow” virgin lands of the fifth continent. To far Australia they were attracted by thirst of fast and easy enrichment. The company on colonization of Western Australia in every possible way praised highly fertility of new lands. Colonists, getting almost for nothing the land plots near the river Suwon, hoped that shortly they will gain income which is not inferior to those which land owners in the English counties have. Counting on cloudless, rich life, colonists brought grand pianos, graceful carriages, thoroughbred trotters, expensive hunting dogs, etc. from England. The first two cities of a colony were soon put: Perth and Fremantle. The cruel reality disseminated delusions of British soon. The earth was infertile. Because of an acute shortage of the food the cattle had to be hammered, and to distribute meat to colonists. The sheep brought from England could not adapt to local pastures and perished. Besides the company very quickly sold most and best part of the earth received from the government to very limited circle of colonists. So, in 18 months after creation of a colony of 70 colonists got the right for half a million acres of the earth near Perth. The others received the earth further and further from the coast. Dense forest thickets and lack of roads did not only their processing, but also access to them very difficult. As the colony made nothing and did not conduct trade operations, money at it was absent. Distribution of the land plots was the only form of remuneration. Even the governor of a colony of Stirling earned a salary the earth. It was given 100 thousand acres. By 1832 the total area of the sold land plots made one million acres. But they were not processed. Colonists began to leave inhospitable coast. The population of Western Australia from 1830 to 1832 decreased from 4 thousand people to 1,5 thousand. Rumors about a distress of a colony reached coast of England, and the number of persons interested to go to Western Australia sharply decreased. In 1832 only 14 colonists arrived to Perth, in the next years situation significantly did not change, despite the broad advertizing organized in England by the West Australian association which was founded in London in 1835. The organizer of a colony T. Pil was ruined. His family returned to England, he continued to live in a colony in poverty. The priest Uollaston who visited him in 1842 so describes the dwelling Sawing: “He lives in a poor house from a stone, with a roof from a cane. Everything around it demonstrates that he is the broken person” [79, page 199]. The West Australian company created in London in the late thirties — the beginning of the 40th years, tried to intensify colonization of Western Australia. In 100 miles to the South from Perth it was supposed to put the city — the center of a colony — and around it to lodge colonists, selling them sites in 100 acres at the price 1 f. the Art. for an acre. The first party of colonists (414 people) arrived to the planned area in March, 1841, in 1842 their number increased to 673 [100, page 16]. But the people agitated by the company soon, having been disappointed in the new homeland, began to run up. For example, in 1845 left a colony 129 people more, than arrived [100, page 16]. In 1848 in Western Australia the first official census according to which population of a colony later after its creation made 20 years only 4622 persons was carried out [100, page 17]. The idea of the organization of free settlers obviously failed. Then the authorities of a colony in 1849 appealed to the British government to send prisoners, using whom they hoped to develop at last the valid development of a colony. This request met support, and transportation of prisoners to Western Australia began. Within 18 years 10 thousand exiled were brought there. Only in 1868, because of a resolute protest of the next colonies which indicated that Western Australia became “the pipeline via which moral sewage of Great Britain pours out in the Australian colonies” [106, page 7], expulsion of prisoners to Western Australia was stopped. Political and economic development of Western Australia went more slowly, than other colonies on this continent. In 1849 in Western Australia there were 134 thousand sheep and 12 thousand heads of cattle. 7,2 thousand acres of the earth which half was sowed with wheat were processed [100, page 20-21]. Western Australia acquired the rights of self-government only in 1890. If all colonies of which it was talked above arose from blessing of the British government, then Victoria appeared contrary to intentions of the government, but as it often happens to “illegal” children, showed big viability and soon became one of the richest British colonies in Australia. As it was already noted, in 1809 to the southern coast of Australia the captain Collins went to organize there the British settlement, but, without having found enough fresh water, he landed the satellites on the bank of Earth Wang Dimenga. The authorities of New South Wales still reluctantly went for any expansion of the territory of a colony. In 1829 the governor Darling broke a colony into 19 districts which borders were forbidden to be expanded strictly. All territory of a colony stretched for 300 miles in length and 150 miles width. But when the major Mitchell in 1836, investigating a river basin Murray, left to the southern coast of Australia, he saw settlements of the British colonists there. They, working at own risk, came from Earth Wang Dimenga here. The first in December, 1834 there arrived to the area Port-Fillipa E. Henry’s family, at the end of May, 1835 — small group of colonists (only 14 people) led by D. Betman. They had the lawyer who issued the contract with locals for “purchase” of the earth. It would be possible to call this act comic if it had no character, so humiliating concerning natives. For several blankets, knives, braids and a small amount of flour the group “got” the rights for 600 thousand acres of the fertile earth. “Contract” was made in English, and natives, putting under it the signs, did not know about its contents. Of course, British could not trouble themselves and to these. The document on purchase and sale of the earth was created by them to prove to the authorities of New South Wales “legality” of acquisition and to avoid payment of money to the British government. But neither the governor of New South Wales, nor the British government, having learned about formation of the settlement in the area Port-Fillipa after a while, did not recognize valid the contract signed by D. Betman with locals. They recognized from the fact that after J. Cook’s opening all Australian lands are property of the British crown, but not natives. However colonists were not confused by anger of the administration. They created own administration, court as a part of three people, established laws according to which nobody had the right to sell a site within at least five years. The admission in a colony of prisoners was forbidden. Import of alcoholic drinks was not allowed. For extermination of wild dogs of the dingo interfering development of cattle breeding, the administration of a colony paid 5 prickers. for each killed dog. In several weeks after D. Betman and his satellites landed in Port-Fillipe, there arrived from Earth Wang Dimenga one more group of colonists led by D. Foukner. In June, 1836 in the area Port-Fillipa there lived already 177 people owning 26,5 thousand sheep, cows and 60 horses. But the main flow of colonists moved not from the South, and from the North. After opening by Mitchell in 1836. “happy Australia” numerous colonists from Sydney directed there. The colony in Port-Fillipe became stronger, and the governor of New South Wales Burke remained nothing else how officially to recognize its existence. In September, 1836 the governor’s representative captain V. Lounsdeyl with four officials and fourteen soldiers was sent to Port-Fillip. And in March, 1837 Burke visited a new colony and the Port-Fillipu gave it to the capital the new name — Melbourne, in honor of the English prime minister of that time. Then it founded the settlement which was called by Vilyamstaun, in honor of the British king William IV. In 1839 the colony was included in structure of New South Wales. Colonists Port-Fillipa protested and demanded office on the ground that New South Wales is a colony of prisoners, and Port-Fillip — a colony of free settlers. England, one of representatives of colonists said in London Port-Fillipa, it has to be interested in possession “in the free colony based on the principles of the world and a civilization, philanthropy, morals and moderation” [79, page 188-189]. The British government at that time refused to colonists their request. The office Port-Fillipa from New South Wales happened only in 1850. At the same time the colony received the name Victoria, in honor of reigning then British Queen Victoria. During this period the colony was inhabited already by 77 thousand people. On its pastures over 5 million sheep were grazed [79, page 189]. In spite of the fact that from the territory of modern Queensland J. Cook in 1770 proclaimed Australia property of the British crown, this area long time had no English settlement. Only in 1821 the small ssylny colony in Port-Makkuori was created. In 1823 the governor of New South Wales T. Brisben decided to create one more ssylny settlement to the north of this area. For this purpose it sent the waterway of D. Oxley there. Floating along the northeast coast of the continent by the ship “Mermeyd”, Oxley reached the area Port Curtis. The place was not pleasant to it, he returned to the gulf Moreton and unexpectedly met on the bank of two British there — Finnigena and the Lampoon. They put out to sea from Sydney by the small boat, without having a compass. The flown storm incurred the boat to the ocean. When British moored to the coast, decided that they are to the south of Sydney, and went along the coast to the North. Actually they moved in the opposite side as after a storm approached the coast located to the north of Sydney. People would die if not the help of natives. Wandering together with them, British well studied the district. They told that nearby there is a river flowing into the ocean which coast are convenient for the organization of a colony. Moving in the specified direction, expedition really found the river which Oxley called Brisbane, in honor of the governor who organized expedition. Upon return to Sydney Oxley recommended to create a new colony on coast of this river. Brisbane itself was visited by Morton and approved Oxley’s choice. In September, 1824 there arrived the first party from 30 exiled here. In the instruction which the governor gave to the commandant of a colony lieutenant Miller, page 85 was spoken that “exiled first of all have to clear away the territory for the settlement and when it is made, to prepare it for free settlers” . The settlement was built on that place where now there is a capital of Queensland — Brisbane. The colony remained only the place of the reference for a long time in spite of the fact that in 1827. A. Kanningkhy found lands, very convenient for cattle breeding, to Darling-Daunse. In 1830 in a colony there were 1 thousand prisoners and 100 soldiers protecting them. In the thirties Brisbane did not make impression of the city [79, page 192]. Only in 1840 P. Lesley brought the first herd into the area Darling-Dauns. By 1851 in the town there were 2 thousand inhabitants. Also other lands which are to the West and the North from this area were developed. The act of 1850 provided separation from New South Wales not only Victoria, but also all territory to the north 30 ° southern latitude for creation of the self-coping colony there. However it occurred only in nine years. The act of 1859 the northern part of New South Wales was proclaimed a separate colony and received the name Queensland. By this time the British population of a colony made 28 thousand people

The next time your energy levels are feeling low, instead of cracking open a can of Red Bull, brewing a coffee, or taking advantage of the excuse to grab some candy, why not try and pep yourself up in a more healthy way. Stimulants and sugar may get the job done, but it’s not the only way to go. Below you will find some of the best energy boosting foods and all of them are healthy options that can easily be incorporated into a calorie-controlled diet. 1. Fresh Fruit The ratios of fructose and glucose provided by fresh fruit are very similar to what you’d get from table sugar, so they can provide a quick energy buzz that is very similar to that of sugar. However, fruit is packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are good for the health. Fruit also contains water and generally has less sugar by volume. The antioxidants provided by fruit also help purge the body of free radical toxins that can slow the metabolism, robbing the body of energy and encouraging weight gain. Most fruits are also good sources of Vitamin C, which can boost energy levels by improving fat metabolism. Some fruits also contain modest amounts of B Vitamins, including Vitamin B6. All B Vitamins help the body extract energy from food and Vitamin B6 is a key ingredient in energy drinks. Tuna is always a healthy food option and bodybuilders love it because it’s high in protein and low in fat. Eating tuna can also do wonders for your energy levels. The body burns protein for energy when carbohydrate is not available. Tuna also contains several B Vitamins including Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12 (another key ingredient in energy drinks). Having a bowl of oatmeal is a very good way to start the day. Oatmeal one of the best energy-providing foods there is and it’s high in fiber. This makes it very filling and allows it to be useful for staving off feelings of mid-morning hunger. Oatmeal is a good source of complex carbohydrate and, unlike simple carbohydrate (sugar), it releases energy slowly. The effects take a little while to kick in, so oatmeal is a poor choice for anyone in need of a quick energy buzz, but it’s perfect for providing a long-lasting supply of energy. If you want to feel energized and focused, without the need for coffee, oatmeal will do the trick. However, anyone who is watching their weight will need to be sensible about it and forgo the temptation to add honey or sugar. Salmon is often referred to as a “brain food” because the omega-3 fatty acids it provides support good mental health, fight depression, and improve the mood. However, omega-3 is also an energy-provider, but it won’t need to act alone. Salmon is an excellent source of protein. It’s also rich in Vitamins B6 and B12. In fact, each 100g serving of salmon provides the body with 53% of the Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) of Vitamin B12 and 30% of the RDA for Vitamin B6. If you are partial to its sour flavor, eating this fermented raw cabbage can be a good way to boost your energy levels. Sauerkraut provides complex carbohydrate, dietary fiber, and a number of important vitamins and minerals including Vitamin C and Vitamin B6. It’s prepared using a process called lactic acid fermentation. Apart from providing the cabbage with such a distinctive taste, lactic acid fermentation also causes sauerkraut to be high in probiotic bacteria, also known as flora or “good bacteria”. Probiotics support healthy digestive function, enabling the body to process food more efficiently and obtain an increased amount of energy. Mushrooms are another energy-providing food that contains several B Vitamins, including Vitamins B6 and B12. Mushrooms are also a good source of iron. One cup provides around 50% of the RDA. The body needs iron to support the production of the red blood cells that are responsible for transporting oxygen around the body. When people are lacking in this important mineral it causes them to feel fatigued, rundown, and unwell. By supporting red blood cell production iron can boost energy levels, provide extra mental focus, and encourage an increased sense of well-being. Although it’s unlikely to give you arms like Popeye, like mushrooms, spinach is an excellent source of iron. It also provides generous amounts of magnesium and potassium. Magnesium supports the activity of more than 300 enzyme systems that are integral to numerous important biological processes including protein synthesis and blood glucose control. Magnesium is also required for energy production at the cellular level because it supports the release of energy from ATP. Potassium helps the cells release energy as well and offers additional value as an energy provider because it supports the healthy digestion of food.

Speech at Mineolas Community event Irish American Society for Nassau, Suffolk and Queens, Sunday, 29th September 2019 Táim fíorbhuíoch as ucht an fáilte mór a chur sibh romhaim and roimh mo bhean chéile, Sabina, anseo i Mineola inniu. Tá áit speisealta i gcroíthe na hÉireannaigh don comhrá agus comhluadar. Tá sé soiléir domsa go bhfuil neart sin san ionad cairdiúil seo. May I thank you, Jeff, and indeed all of you here in Mineola for such a warm welcome that you have given both my wife Sabina and myself this afternoon. The Irish have a special place in their hearts for conversation and company, and it is clear that there is plenty of that to be had here in Mineola. Wherever I travel across the globe, it is very important to me to meet representatives of local Irish communities, and it is wonderful to see such strength of community here in New York as is evident with the gathering here today. This afternoon comes at the end of a busy week, although not the end of my visit, here in New York. I came to New York to join other world leaders for the UN General Assembly. Ireland is seeking election to the UN Security Council and our campaign has been the focus of my week. One of the themes of this campaign has particular resonance – that of empathy. Since the earliest of times, Ireland has been a country of people coming and going. Some have passed on to the mists of time and legend. Others are seared in our collective memory – for reasons good and bad. But our experiences of the past two centuries, and particularly emigration brought by hunger, poverty and a desire to reach a better future, gives us a specific understanding of the challenges that face many in our world today and an ability to identify and empathise with them. Whatever your personal history is – if you just arrived a few days ago or if your ancestors travelled here many decades or even centuries ago – the story of the Irish in New York shows how migrants can contribute to the development of their adopted home. That experience also teaches us how we can help others, facing the same challenges, among current generations. I look around this room today and see so many examples of people who give so much to their local communities, honouring the legacy and heritage of their past while being fulling committed to building the future here in the United States. Of course, reports of Irish emigrants arriving into America around the time of our Great Famine were not all positive, with the Times of London editorialising that the Irish deserved the Famine. Thirteen years after mass emigration to North America, the following appeared in the same newspaper, as reported by Patrick O’Sullivan in his book, The Meaning of the Famine: “If this goes on as it is likely to go on, (…) the United States will become very Irish… So an Ireland there will still be, but on a colossal scale, and in a new world. We shall only have pushed the Celt westwards. Then, no longer cooped between the Liffey and the Shannon, he will spread from New York to San Francisco, and keep up the ancient feud at an unforeseen advantage (…) We must gird our loins to encounter the nemesis of seven centuries’ misgovernment. To the end of time, a hundred million spread over the largest habitable area in the world, and, confronting us everywhere by sea and land, will remember that their forefathers paid tithe to the Protestant clergy, rent to the absentee landlords, and a forced obedience to the laws which these had made”. This year marks 100 years since the First Dáil, or Irish Parliament, in Ireland in 1919. One of the first acts of that Dáil was to agree a “Message to the Free Nations of the World” which emphasised the importance of the relationship between Ireland and the US as we sought to make our mark as an independent nation. The message declared: “Ireland is the last outpost of Europe towards the West; Ireland is the point upon which great trade routes between East and West converge… her great harbours must be open to all nations”. By October of that year, a Consulate was established here in New York, ready to bring the aspirations of the First Dáil to action. We knew then, as we know now, that our future, our strength, our prosperity lay in being integrated with the world, being a part of the world and contributing to it. It is why a Consulate in New York was such a priority; it meant we could begin to take our place among the nations of the world. It is also why we place such importance on being active members of the United Nations, why, since the first deployment in 1958, not a month has passed without Irish troops as part of a UN peacekeeping mission, why so many Irish people around the globe work hard to respond to humanitarian emergencies and the challenges of human suffering. The story of the Irish in the US in no different. Throughout its history, from the canals and railroads to the steel mills and laundry houses, the Irish have worked hard to contribute to the development of the US we see today. The Irish have always understood that the way ahead lies in getting involved, of taking part. I need only think of the labour movement here in New York and nationally, where Irish took leadership positions in pushing for improved working conditions and better treatment for workers – leadership that continues to this day. The Irish have not shied away from playing their part in shaping the political and legislative landscape, that engagement which provides such an important framework for any country. And throughout all the hard work, we never lost sight of the core of our Irishness – that culture of community, of helping each other, of caring. Those of you in this room here today are the exemplar of that. You represent organisations and societies whose very reason for existence is to help, support and care for others. Whether that be mutual support as members of the same profession, or helping out people who come from your part of Ireland, or providing care and advice to people living in your area, you do what you do because you care about the legacy of those who came before us and you care about a compassionate future. Creating societies that are ethical and inclusive is a task for all of our citizens, of all ages and circumstances. However, inclusive and ethical societies can only grow from communities that are ethical in their structure and practice; communities that work together, in solidarity, that recognise the needs of all their members including, in particular, those who are vulnerable and marginalised. It has become one of the great ironies of modern life that someone residing on the other side of the world is contactable by the click of a button, yet an increasing number of people no longer know their neighbours and the people with whom they share a community. This is, perhaps, a regrettable aspect of modernity, indicating a growing detachment from resonating with the world, as Hartmut Rosa puts it, having been replaced with consumption, or “consuming the world”, to quote Rosa once more. Community, however, remains an essential component of human life and the character of a place, its identity, and the sense of belonging and rootedness with which it provides its members are founded on the human interactions which lies at its heart. It is critical the we continue to work to build and maintain that strong sense of community, which has also been such an essential part of our Irishness, and which continues to offer so much potential for the flourishing and fulfilment of our citizens. It is a great pleasure, therefore, to have the opportunity to recognise today the contribution that each one of you makes through your public service, your community and voluntary work, and your time spent nurturing a love of Irish heritage and culture as it is passed to new generations. We are being confronted with many challenges in today’s world. I have faith that the legacy of our forebears, the innate empathy that we carry with us, will make it possible for us to meet the future with a compassion, not just for our fellow countrymen and women, but for all the peoples of the world. There is an Irish saying that is perhaps the best way to express this sentiment: Is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine. Translated loosely, we all live in each other’s shadows; people need and rely on each other. I leave that with you this afternoon as a thought to carry with you. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to meet with you here today in Mineola and I wish you well in your future endeavours.

Possession of Heroin in Aliso Viejo In Aliso Viejo, as in the rest of the country; possession, dealing and trafficking of heroin and other narcotics is illegal according to state and federal laws. Heroin is one of the most dangerous and highly trafficked on the illegal drug market. Not only is it highly addictive, but the overdose rates have been increasing within the last few years. It is a derivative opioid drug of morphine that causes the short term effects of a rush of euphoric feelings, but with the long term effects of infection of the valves, liver disease, lung problems, mental disorders, and kidney disease. When the amount of heroin is increased, users can develop a tolerance to the quantity that they had previously been using, causing them to want and use in larger quantities. Withdrawal symptoms also accompany abruptly stopping the use of the drug. Examples of these symptoms include severe pain, cold flashes, and severe cravings. California heroin laws are quite strict and generally attract felony charges for possession, dealing and trafficking. This is in part due to the fact that heroin isn’t seen to have any legitimate medical use in the state California. The heroin laws are particularly strict on heroin dealers and traffickers but offer some options for those in possession of heroin and are in need of treatment. According to ‘Proposition 36’ or the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA), people arrested for nonviolent drug offenses may be offered treatment instead of serving a jail term. Some of the defenses for heroin possession or drug possession in general include an unlawful search and seizure. Unlawful search and seizures are in direct opposition to your fourth amendment rights, as protected by the US Constitution. Drugs found unlawfully will not be permitted at trial and cannot be used. Another common defense is that the drugs were not yours or that you were unaware of their presence within your possession, such as on your property or in your car. Some even make the argument that the drugs were planted there.Penalties for heroin possession In essence, Proposition 36 provides the option to avoid jail in some circumstances especially if a person are no previous convictions. That being said, a judge may still impose a jail term in some heroin possession circumstances. Generally, the charges for heroin possession are imposed as follows: - Heroin possession for personal, usually a misdemeanor charge, attracts up to 1-year in county jail and a fine of up to $ 20,000 - For Possession of heroin for sale, a felony charge, the penalties are up to 4 years in jail and up to a $20,000 fine. If the weight of the heroin in possession for sale exceeds 1kg, then an additional 3-25 years in prison and fines of up to $8,000,000 can be additionally imposed.

If Your Pet Gets Sick Many major problems can be avoided with regular wellness care. However, sometimes pets eat something they shouldn’t or catch a strange sickness unexpectedly. Always trust your instincts. Noticing that the cat “just isn’t looking at you right,” or that the dog isn’t jumping up to greet you as per usual are some of the first things pet owners report when their animals are sick. Animals can’t communicate in words, but they regularly communicate in body language. Take the worrying and wondering out of the picture by visiting us so we can accurately diagnose the problem and give you the tools to get your pet’s health back on track. Signs to Watch For - Bathroom “accidents” after your pet has been housebroken. This could be a sign of stress or a bigger issue. If it continues to happen, it’s time for a checkup. - Urinating more or less frequently. This can be difficult to monitor, but be aware of how many visits your pet makes to the litter box or backyard. If the frequency changes significantly, it’s time to get a check-up. Straining to urinate or lack of urination in cats is a symptom that should be addressed immediately. - Out-of-character lethargy. Many pets are expert nappers, but if your kitty is playing less and sleeping more than it usually does, and the abnormal behavior continues for more than 24 hours, it could be a symptom of a problem. - Lack of appetite. Maybe your pup is holding out for human food, but if it doesn’t eat for more than a couple days, it’s time to get it checked. Lack of appetite is more of a major concern for cats, though, and should be addressed if it happens longer than a day. - Vomiting more than once or twice. Vomiting can expel harmful substances or excess fur, so it may not be a concern if it happens occasionally. If your pet keeps vomiting, or does so for several days, it’s time to come in for a vet visit. - Blood in your pet’s stool, urine, or vomit. It’s time to schedule an appointment as soon as you notice this. - Persistent coughing or congestion, or discharge from ears or eyes. These are all cause for concern. Give us a call. - Difficulty with normal movements, such as standing up or jumping. Even if this is a sign of aging, we may be able to help with any discomfort. - Hair loss or itchy skin. Always contact us if you are in doubt. We are happy to help you or discuss any concerns.

From the article: Do Katas Help You Defend Yourself Or Improve Fighting Skills? For centuries, martial arts practitioners have been doing katas or preordained individual fighting moves designed to protect against and subdue imaginary attacker(s). But as far back as Bruce Lee (likely even further), experts have wondered aloud if the practice of these movements was worth it. Does the practice of forms or katas really help people to improve fighting skills and defend against attackers? - To be honest,I only learn formal karate for a really short time.Mostly I fight using freestyle street-fight moves.But in the short time that I was able to learn n practice kata,it's really helping me focus n it actually kinda like,for me is like drawing my confidence out.My instructor's explained each n every use of every individual moves.So for me,I see the point of practicing kata.But I'd say it depends on people themselves. - —Guest dazle Why Do Forms? - Fighting is not like doing forms (katas) and anyone who thinks that's their purpose is simply mistaken. Forms store the system's moves for later use and for passing on to others, they teach the basic principles which underlie those moves, they sharpen and condition technique and they're great for getting and staying in shape. No fight is like doing a kata though, nor should one be surprised at that. You don't need forms practice to learn to fight well, but it helps a lot and, to the extent that a style brings useful stuff to the table, forms practice provides a source for learning it. If you want to retain a record of what a given system is about, they are a sound means for doing that. Complete waste of time - Katas are a complete waste of time . Most people can only practice 3-4 hrs a week. To make the best of that time, do high intensity practice involving actual, live kicking, punching, grappling etc... Practicing preordained movements is called dancing, not martial arts. For those of you who want to make martial arts a quasi-religion and baffle naive minds, fill your boots. If you want to learn how to defend yourself (yeah I mean HOW to fight) stay away from styles that preach the practice of kata. I would put my money on a Thai boxer, wrestler or mma guy over any practitioner of a kata heavy style, any day of the week. And, I have over 20 yrs of martial arts experience and I've met far too many kata champs who couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag, disgraceful! - —Guest Pat R I grew up as a street fighter - I did not learn kata until later in life, but it helps me teach. Some beginners move in weak or uncoordinated and weird ways. I now use kata as a tool to help beginners learn to walk and move in a coordinated fashion. MMA fights last so long because a lot of mma fighters lack power. Kata teaches power. - —Guest ifironfingers Kata is self defense - Kata is not simply a predetermined fight sequence. Kata is really a mnemonic device for learning self defense. Each movement or set of movements is a part of a self defense technique. These parts are then strung together in a kata to aid the student in memorizing the different techniques. You only need to remember a part of the technique, such as an inner strike. That inner strike can be used on a variety of attacks and after you use your inner strike you can follow up with whatever reaction naturally occurs. Kata can be used in a fight and you can teach it as self defense because that is exactly what it is. But you have to stop thinking of kata as a set of movements. Each movement is separate and individual. And each movement has many uses. And a punch may not be just a punch just because that's what's in the kata. Open your mind and really explore the possibility of the kata. - Kata is simply a co-ordinated way to practice various defences against an opponent and contain some deadly technique banned in MMA contest. It is singular ju jutsu and should be practised with an opponent. - —Guest Jeff McCauley It's good for ya! - Drink your milk, eat your broccoli, do your katas. It's good for you. Plenty of time for sparring and spontaneous reaction drills. - —Guest Big Mike Katas are more than necessary! - A kata shows the core of your art. Without the techniques you learn in kata, you are merely kickboxing. Efficient? Yes. Art? Not so much. - —Guest Ziggy Kata benefits across the board - I agree with Mr.Romano that balance, speed, power and technique and overall physical fitness all indispensable for actual fighting. So as he said that kata helps to develop all those he cannot simultaneously say that kata doesn't help in fighting as he has said above. Just an observation. - —Guest Lennox Alexander - With over thirty years experience in martial arts. I will speak upon my art. Kata its very much essential in the martial arts. It is the foundation the art was built on. Many people do not understand the kata's and become frustrated and attest that they do not work where as they do. 1) They show you every attack within your arsenal (strikes). People rely on thinking the stances are not useful. Low stances are for building leg strength, they teach a student how to lower their center of gravity. How to uproot your opponent and imbalance them. We practiced a kata called sanchin meaning 3 battles (mind, body, and spirit. It teaches the student how to strengthen the body to resist blows and injury. It also teach the student how to still fight while being fatigued. It also teach proper alignment and how to generate power fat and efficently. Remember they were made not to be easily understood. I have unlocked many techniques. Stop looking for the obvious applications look for hidden movements - —Guest donmiguelc How important are katas to self defense? - I hold two black belts in two different styles of karate and the bane of my experiences is that katas have been of little use for spontaneous self-defense until many years are devoted to them. Unfortunately, when involved in a fight, you must react quickly to a "specific" offensive technique. You can't be thinking about any specific component of a kata. You must react quickly, almost without thinking. Katas are all about planned patterns of thinking (fight choreography). Thus, over many years, I have found much disappointment in memorizing katas though they may be viusually awesome to the observer (visually awesome is not a self-defense technique). Over the years I've seen plenty of black belts who can not defend themselves; they put in their time and money and got a black belt. If someone chokes me from behind or in front, how can I react? What are the 2-3 specific defense techniques that I can use? Even fighting barefoot is antiquated. There is a significant difference with shoes on - —Guest Bill Sheehan What Kata Was Designed For - After practicing Taekwondo forms for about ten years, I could not figure how to use them in sparing / fighting. For me it took going back to one of the Chinese arts (Tai Chi Chaun) to understand what the movments ment. The forms / katas were not designed for fighting. They were designed to stop an attacker quickly and effiently. In addition they were designed to condition your body and mind. In Tai Chi it takes about a year to learn the form and a lifetime to perfect it. Today MMA is the buzz word, but if you look closely at the original arts, they all were MMA. - —Guest Dan Instructor is Important - There is no best style.Your size, body type and sex have nothing to do with the style you want to chsooe. People that think that your size and body type determine the style know little to nothing about martial artsMost people will tell you there style is the best or they heard such and such is a great style,The style is not important, what matters is how good your instructor is and how you train. The style is secondary, they all have there pro's and con's there are no superior styles.If you have an instructor that can’t teach you how to fight, regardless of the style, what good would it do you?Choose a school with a good instructor in the end that’s all that matters, that and how you train.Its the person that has the ability to fight not the styleReferences : 30yrs ma - —Guest OMngFgRjO Yes and no - To say not to practice katas is not to be a martial artist is very sad. Many styles of martial arts do not use Katas as they are known in styles like Karate. Martial arts predates writing, printing and film, so it was a logical way to document and codify techniques. I think it can help only if the application of the moves are learned and also practiced with a partner, specially for self defense. That being said Martial arts is all about interacting with others, to truly develop fighting skills and self-defense one as to engage in, if not combat, drills that will mimic as closely as possible reality and that as to be done with partners. Kata can improve focus but to improve timing, range or "warrior spirit" one as to interact. Most people do not like to engage in strenuous activity's, specifically involving contact. So it is not surprising that styles that put forward katas are so popular. To much katas can give you a false sense of efficiency and create a kind of martial art pathology - —Guest Eric Alphonso only if you practice - In addition to 'the basics', kata help develop muscle memory, mental focus, timing and ki. I don't recall ever consciously using a 'kata move' in a tournament round, though I'm sure I have included some techniques polished in kata. And most certainly, when a buddy of mine tried to sneak up on me from behind recently, my automatic response was straight out of Pinan sandan.

Notes, Caveats, and References 1) Terrestrial - Meteorwrong. All of the "meteorwrongs" in the plots (large white circles) are for rocks that people have had analyzed by Actlabs or some other lab and for which people sent me the data. If you obtain a chemical analysis of your rock, please send me the numbers! 2) Terrestrial - Geostandard. Many countries have agencies that pulverize large quantities of rock for use as interlaboratory standards. Several hundred geostandards are available that represent all of the common, and many uncommon, rock types of the earth. For most of these, there are many analytical data available. I have selected from the compilation of Govindaraju (1994) and Korotev (1996) data for 156 such rocks. I have avoided data for soils and unconsolidated sediments, monominerallic rocks (except chert, sandstone, limestone, hornblendite, magnesite), ores (except for some iron ores, because these are sometimes mistaken for meteorites), and geostandards that don't have data for the elements I plot here. In total there are data for 7 andesites, 5 anorthosites, 17 basalts, 2 carbonatites, 1 chert, 6 diabases, 2 diorite or diorite gneiss, 2 dolomites, 4 dunites, 15 gabbros, 21 granites and related rocks, 5 granodiorites, 1 hornblendite, 6 iron ore or iron formation rocks, 2 kimberlites, 1 quartz latite, 10 limestones, 2 lujavrites, 1 magnesite, 1 monzonite, 1 norite, 3 peridotites, 1 pyroxenite, 5 rhyolites including 1 obsidian, 1 sandstone, 5 schists, 3 serpentinites, 12 shales, 2 slates, 6 syenites, 2 tonalites, 3 trachytes, and 2 "ultrabasic rocks." Data for some trace elements are missing for some of the GRS's. 3) Terrestrial - Tektite. I have plotted data of Koeberl (1986) for various types of tektites. Note that tektites have like terrestrial rocks (because they are!), not like meteorites. 4) All of the white points are for terrestrial rocks. All of the black points and colored points are for meteorites. 5) All the meteorites plotted in the plots (all square symbols) are stony meteorites, not stony-irons or irons. 6) Most (~95%) stony meteorites are chondrites, and most chondrites are ordinary chondrites. If you have actually found a meteorite, it's probably some kind of chondrite. That's why I made the points for chondrites black and the ordinary chondrites BIG and black. Chondrites are most dissimilar to Earth rocks. Each black point represents the average composition of one of the chondrite groups: H, L, LL, EH, EL, CI, CM, CV, CO, CR, CO, R, Ac, & K. Data from Wasson & Kallemeyn (1988). 7) The lunar meteorite data are from my own database. Each point represents a different meteorite. 8) For the martian meteorites, eucrites, howardites, diogenites, and "other rare achondrites," each point represents a meteorite or analysis. Data mostly from Jarosewich (1990), Lodders & Fegley (1998), and Mittlefehldt et al. 9) The plots presented here reasonably represent >99% of all meteorites. 10) If you have a meteorite, its composition must be consistent with ALL of the chemical-composition parameters shown here, not just some of them! 11) I should show some plots here for chalcophile (sulfur-loving) elements - Cu, Zn, As, In, Sn, and Sb. The problem is that the concentrations of these elements are so low in achondrites (= meteorites that are not chondrites) that there are few data to plot. Chondrites have higher concentrations of chalcophile elements than achondrites: concentrations in chondrites (range of group means of Wasson & Kallemeyn, 1988) values in ppm So, for example, if you have a rock with >5 ppm As (arsenic), then the rock is not a meteorite. Many terrestrial sedimentary rocks, as well as metamorphic rocks that formed from sedimentary rocks, have concentrations of chalcophile elements much higher those in the table above. Govindaraju K. (1994) 1994 compilation of working values and sample description for 383 geostandards. Geostandards Newsletter Jarosewich E. (1990) Chemical analysis of meteorites: A compilation of stony and iron meteorite analyses. Meteoritics 25, Koeberl C (2006) Geochemistry of tektites and impact glasses. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 1986 14, Korotev R. L. (1996) A self-consistent compilation of elemental concentration data for 93 geochemical reference samples. Geostandards Newsletter 20, 217–245. Lodders K. and Fegley B. Jr. (1998) The Planetary Scientist’s Companion, Oxford University Press, New York, 371 pp. Mittlefehldt D. W., McCoy T. J., Goodrich C. A., and Kracher A. (1998) Chapter 4. Non-chondritic meteorites from asteroidal bodies. Vol. 36, Planetary Materials (ed. J. J. Papike), pp. 4-1–4-195, Mineralogical Society of America, Washington. Wasson J. T. and Kallemeyn G. W. (1988) Compositions of chondrites. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A 325, 535-544.

1. The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite. 2. Virulence; deadly quality. His physicians discerned an invincible malignity in his disease. (Hayward) 3. Extreme evilness of nature or influence; perniciousness; heinousness; as, the malignity of fraud. Synonym: see malice. Origin: f. Malignite, L. Malignitas.

Guest Blog – Research Gallery Walk Melyssa Quintanna is a 7th/8th Grade Literature and Composition Teacher in South Brunswick, NJ. My students become active participants in their learning when they utilize BrainPOP as part of their research process. With so many sub-topics within the broad categories, students have the option of choosing a topic they find appealing. As we begin our annual research paper project, BrainPOP offers the perfect foundation for students to find a topic of interest to them. They engage in Socratic Seminar Discussion to further explore the concepts introduced. I set up various laptops around the room with a different BrainPOP video streaming to each. In groups of four or five, the students gather around the laptop and view the BrainPOP video. As they watch, they come up with questions about the topic that could be further explored through their own research. In their small groups, they have a two-minute discussion on the video they watched. When time is called, the groups move to the next laptop and repeat the process. They could just as easily stay where they are and view the next video, but moving around helps address our kinesthetic learners. At the end of the round robin, we have a big-class discussion in which I pull up some of the FYI information for each topic. By the end of the class period, each student has a basis for making a decision on a research project topic. The following day, my students come to class committed to a research topic. From there, I group them with other students who have chosen the same topic and instruct them to watch the video again. They may use the quiz, activities, and Q & As to begin to make decisions of what they want to explore further with regard to their research project. Students come up with 5-10 research questions they would like to answer through their own research. The structure and format of the BrainPOP interactive learning environment makes it a perfectly manageable way for my students to begin actively engaging in what sometimes seems to be a daunting research project.

Even as the dust was settling from the 2008 crash, innumerable commentators were already proclaiming the death of capitalism. Well, nearly three years later, capitalism is still around in one form, and socialism’s resurgence failed to produce the growth it promised. The trillion-dollar bailouts and stimulus plans have still not resurrected the economy. Yet, far fewer articles proclaim the death of government intervention. Such is life… But that doesn’t mean some lines of thought haven’t completely changed. So, I made a list of three ideas killed or severely wounded in the crash. 1. Macroeconomics – The crash has given birth to numerous conspiracy theories that explain market crashes. And this doesn’t come from just the political pundits but educated professionals as well. In listening to some of these opinions, one would think that the 2008 crash was the first in history. The analysis rarely looks beyond the immediate events. For example, theories based on the 1999 Glass-Steagall repeal fall into this category. Supposedly, with Glass Steagall intact, the crash would have been prevented. Has everyone forgotten the many recessions between 1933-1999? Yes, there were quite a few of them. Other analysis often blames derivatives or this or that event while typically ignoring the historical record of other crashes where these factors weren’t present. 2. The European Monetary Union’s expansion – It seemed for a moment that the EMU would spread to every corner of the continent. But with Greece and Portugal in dire need of a bailout, those dreams are now all gone. After this experience, other weaker countries with hopes of joining can just forget about it. Furthermore, the jury is still out on the future of the EMU. It may still fall apart through a series of unfortunate events. In some ways, the euro reached its high-water mark prior to the crisis. Its expansion will be limited from here, and its experience with bailout after bailout will likely hinder its role as a possible alternative reserve currency. 3. The anti-war movement – With the economic crisis center-stage, the American anti-war movement is dead as a door nail. Obama was the last glimmer of hope with regards to ending the wars. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from him, but the results were even worse. At least with Bush, the wars continued while facing some opposition. Now, even the majority of the left supports the strike on Libya. Bush started the wars, and Obama – along with the economy – silenced the opposition. What a tag team. Perhaps some of these things can be resuscitated. Certainly, the anti-war movement will come back with a Republican presidency, but a weak economy may still stifle it. And after the crisis dies down, perhaps economists will begin to evaluate it in comparison to other historical crashes. The expansion of the euro… well, that one might be dead for good. If you have any more thoughts on what should be on the list, please write in. CPM Group recently released their 2011 Gold Yearbook, an invaluable resource for us gold analysts. Mostly a reference book, even a gold enthusiast might find it dry reading. But I loved it, and as I studied it on a plane, I kept finding data that made me perk up. To have a little fun with it, I thought I’d summarize what I read in the form of a quiz. See how many you can get correct. Regardless of your score, I’m sure you’ll agree with the ramifications each point makes for the gold market. I’ll start off easy… 1) The main driver behind rising gold prices over the past decade is: a) Increased jewelry demand in India b) Greater industrial uses of the metal c) Investment demand Worldwide investment demand for gold totaled 44 million ounces in 2010. Because of the growing demand by investors, prices have been forced upward. →Five exchanges began trading gold contracts for the first time in 2010, and three more introduced mini contracts, collectively the largest number launched since the early ‘80s. There are now 24 gold vending machines in seven countries, with three more countries adding machines this year. Households in developing countries are now moving away from gold jewelry and buying coins and bars for their savings. I could go on, but suffice it to say that investment demand will continue to be very strong. 2) True or false: recovery from gold scrap was lower in 2010 than 2009. Scrap rose three consecutive years in a row – until last year. Gold supply from scrap fell 2.1%, to 42.2 million ounces. →This is significant because gold prices were higher, which would normally increase the amount of scrap coming to market. One of the primary reasons scrap dropped is because investors are holding on to their metal, reportedly because they believe prices are headed higher. Isn’t that one reason you’re holding on to your bullion? 3) There are many reasons investors have been buying gold over the past 10 years, but what is the #1 reason? a) Safe-haven asset b) Gold coins and bars have become more intricate, widespread, and beautiful c) Supply and demand imbalance Global fears increasingly led investors to purchase large volumes of gold in 2010 for safe-haven purposes, despite record price levels. →High levels of investment buying are expected to continue in 2011 because virtually none of the economic, political, and monetary concerns have been resolved. Now let’s step it up a little… 4) Gold represented what percent of global financial assets at the end of 2010? The estimated value of investor gold holdings stood at $1.5 trillion at the end of last year, about 0.7% of global financial assets. →While up nine years in a row and triple what it represented in 2001, gold is still a miniscule portion of the world’s private wealth. It represented 2.8% of global assets in 1980, four times what it does today. 5) How many central banks increased their gold holdings in 2010? Russia, Thailand, Belarus, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Jordan, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Germany, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Greece, Pakistan, Belgium, Czech Republic, and Malta = 19. Central banks as a group are expected to continue to be net buyers of the metal for the foreseeable future. →It’s interesting that most purchases were from developing countries, unsurprising when you consider they’ve accumulated over $5 trillion in foreign exchange reserves just since 2002. 6) Compared to 2009,U.S. Mint gold coin sales in 2010 were: a) Down 12% b) Up 8% c) Up 5% d) Up 3% The U.S. Mint sold 1.43 million ounces last year, down 12% from the 1.62 million ounces sold in 2009. You might think this is negative until you realize that global coin sales rose 21% last year, reaching 6.3 million ounces. Makes you wonder what other countries know that many North Americans don’t. →Supply problems continue to plague the U.S. Mint, evidenced by the fact that Buffalo sales were suspended for half the year.What happens when the greater population begins to clamor to buy gold? Bottleneck, meet desperation. 7) CPM estimates that the fiscal and monetary imbalances, especially in developed countries, could take how long to resolve? a) 1 year c) 5 years d) 2 years Rigid social contracts are so deeply ingrained, especially in the developed world, that it will take decades to resolve the monetary imbalances. →This sobering fact means gold will likely be in a bull market for many years to come. There are very few options to deal with the overwhelming debt burden in most of these countries: raise taxes, cut spending, increase growth, or print money. Guess which one is most likely? Inflation from currency dilution is baked in the cake and will spur further gold demand and light a fire under the price. If you got these four questions correct, I think it means you’re an astute investor who doesn’t worry about day-to-day price fluctuations and instead focuses on owning enough ounces to protect your assets from the huge and intractable fiscal problems that still have to be faced. Now here are some questions for those of you who love gold stocks… 8) What was the industry-average cash cost to produce an ounce of gold last year? Cash costs have tripled since 2002 and rang in at $544 last year. They will certainly be higher again this year. →In spite of higher costs for the producers, margins actually rose due to higher gold prices. Margins in 2010 averaged $680, and were only $114 as recently as 2002. We’ve got some of the most profitable companies in BIG GOLD, along with a number of producers that have big growth coming online over the next one and two years. Buy these stocks before that growth happens; if you shell out the bargain basement price of $79 now, I think your portfolio will be very happy when it comes time to renew. 9) The average grade of gold mined on a worldwide basis last year was how much? a) 5.11 grams/tonne b) 3.54 grams/tonne c) 2.96 grams/tonne d) 1.83 grams/tonne The second lowest level on record – 1.83 grams per tonne – occurred in 2010. While not entirely negative since higher gold prices allow producers to go after lower-grade deposits, this leads to higher costs for both discovery and production. It is undoubtedly true, though, that one of the main reasons grades are lower is because the easy fruit has been picked in many regions around the world. →This is bullish for those explorers that can find and develop higher-grade deposits and is where much of our speculative dollars should be focused. Our mining exploration advisory International Speculator tells you which companies are the best of the best, outperforming the S&P by 8.4 times last year. So if you’re not reading the International Speculator yet, you’re missing out on some spectacular profits. 10) The most popular region for exploration spending is where? a) Latin America Roughly 25% of all global exploration money is devoted to Latin America. The biggest beneficiaries are Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. →If you’re investing in gold and silver explorers, make sure you have exposure to this region, as odds are high there will be a number of major discoveries made here. If you got these three questions correct, you’re well in touch with the gold stock market, and I hope you’re taking advantage of the picks we offer in BIG GOLD and International Speculator. This data clarifies and confirms why many investors own gold and continue buying it. It paints a decidedly bullish picture for the metal, in spite of record price levels. Monetary issues are far from over, won’t be easily resolved, and will take years to play out. Banks continue buying, and investors aren’t selling. The U.S. Mint can’t keep up with demand, and yet gold is underowned when compared to other major asset classes. Costs are rising for the producers, but margins are rising faster for the better-run companies. When looking at the big picture for gold, I for one draw comfort from knowing I’ve got some ounces tucked away. I hope you, too, see gold for what it is – protection against unsustainable fiscal imbalances and massive currency debasement, and a profit center for years to come. By Alena Mikhan and Andrey Dashkov A report published by the World Gold Council this week reveals that investors willing to diversify into gold should look beyond commodity indices and gain direct exposure to the metal, both for risk reduction and higher returns. The report titled “Gold: a Commodity Like no Other,” released this week, investigates the benefits of increased exposure to gold and looks at whether various commodity indices serve that purpose. The results are quite striking: investors who use such indices as the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (S&P GSCI) or the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index (DJ-UBSCI) as “benchmarks for their commodity allocations” do not get exposed to the yellow metal to a significant degree. The reason is quite obvious: gold weighting in most commodity indices is too small, somewhere between three and seven percent of the total basket. In this case, if an investor has a 10% overall allocation to commodities, his or her effective exposure to gold is less than 1%, which is obviously less than enough to make gold have a meaningful impact on portfolio performance. To clarify, consider this example: “An investor with an asset allocation similar to a simple benchmark portfolio (50% equities, 40% fixed income, 10% commodities) during 2008 would have reduced portfolio losses by between US$200,000 to US$400,000 on a US$10mn investment by allocating 5% to 10% of the overall portfolio directly to gold. Furthermore, over the past 20 years, the same investor would have increased average annual portfolio gains by between US$100,000 to US$200,000 by directing a similar allocation to gold. These findings suggest that portfolio managers and investors who already have exposure to commodities in their portfolio stand to benefit from including gold as a separate strategic asset class, without compromising long-term returns.” WGC insists, “Gold should be viewed as a separate, distinct asset class, and a foundation to a well-diversified investment portfolio.” And goes on to suggest that “the optimal strategic allocation to gold can be as high as 9.5% to the overall portfolio for more risk-averse investors (leaving a 0.5% to other commodities) or a moderate 4.5% (5.5% to other commodities) for those willing to take on more risk.” We take this portfolio model and suggestions on allocation between different assets with a grain of salt – we have a much higher allocation to precious metals – but the recommendation to increase gold exposure is quite interesting, given how much the metal has appreciated recently. It implies an assumption that gold still has potential to appreciate and the market for it is not in a bubble. The report goes on to contrast the gold market to those of other commodities (including energy, agriculture, livestock and other metals, including non-gold precious metals). In short, the gold market is quite unique. There are a number of features and market conditions that make the difference. First, the demand-supply structure: dominated by jewelry and investment, gold demand allocated to industrial uses comprises only one-tenth of the total (see table below). This makes gold exposure to business cycle fluctuations much less than for other metals. Indeed, for the rest of the metals listed below, technology represents at least a half of the total demand. Gold supply comes in large part from recycling, as most of the gold ever mined still remains on the face of the earth. This makes total gold supply quite stable, and demand depending to a large degree on the current investment sentiment, or “fear factor,” not industrial demand. And although gold is priced in dollars, it is, unlike USD, not subject to default. Gold does not represent debt. This makes it a monetary asset, something other commodities (besides, silver) lack. The WGC report supports our core belief that gold should be a part of any prudent investor’s portfolio, reducing risk of loss and enhancing overall performance. Unfortunately, gold is largely underrepresented in the most popular commodity indices, so relying on them does not provide an investor a significant chance to profit from gold’s price action. Vedran here. Let me point you again to our BIG GOLD newsletter, one of the best advisories I know of – maybe the best – when it comes to gold and silver. Where to get it, where to store it, when to buy it, when to sell… plus the best conservative precious metals stock and fund recommendations. Despite the rather low risk exposure, some of Jeff Clark’s stock picks have more than doubled in price since he recommended them. You’ve got nothing to lose trying it. First of all, it’s only $79 a year, and second, you have 3 full months to figure out if you like it. If not, cancel for a 100% refund. Learn more about Jeff’s portfolio-boosting strategies here or sign up right away here.

The shut down of European air traffic as a result of the ash cloud from Iceland’s volcano demonstrates how ill-prepared we are for the period of declining oil production ahead of us. This map shows global air routes. From The Frankfurt daily FAZ describes following impacts in an article entitled “Is there a way without flying?” - Ministers take night trains to meetings - People stay home - CEOs cancel conferences - Letters take longer - Supplies disrupted: tropical fruits; T shorts from China, Laos, Cambodia; computer chips from Taiwan, orchids from Thailand, fish from Japan, books ordered by internet - Hire car business is booming but geographical distribution of fleet is out of balance as cars are not returned to base as usual - Taxis at airports and air port shops have less business; 70,000 employees at Frankfurt Airport are affected - Tax revenue for city council is reduced – the airport is the 2nd most important source of tax after banks - Less visitors for trade fairs - No more short weekend trips to Mallorca - Video conferencing is now so advanced, even confidential talks can be done - Quiet approach corridors for residents and clearer skies There are other dangerous volcanos waiting for the airline industry: “Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower” Crowded trains. Despite an extensive electrified rail system, Europe’s trains could not cope with additional demand from stranded air travellers. The just-in-time air freight has also made our economy highly vulnerable to disruptions. Factbox: Industry impact on day 6 of volcano disruption Luxury carmaker BMW said it would stop production in its German plant in Dingolfing on Tuesday night, with Regensburg to following on Wednesday and Munich on Thursday due to lack of electronic components. Distances driven by Norwegians have increased by 500 percent since the Icelandic volcano erupted, the Norwegian branch of car rental company Avis said. A number of companies joined Cisco Systems said it was offering free trials of its phone and web conferencing systems and Polycom, a U.S. company offering conferencing services, said it had seen a jump in demand. British-based supermarket group Tesco, the world’s No. 4 retailer, said it was arranging to pick up UK-bound Kenyan flowers from Spain, but it and other European retail giants Metro and Rewe of Germany stressed that only a tiny proportion of products traveled by air Reed Elsevier’s flagship London Book Fair, which last year hosted 12,225 visitors and 1,567 exhibitors, was eerily quiet, with some events canceled and many speakers replaced. British airports operator BAA, majority owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, estimates the daily impact from airport closures on adjusted EBITDA and cash flow at about 5 million pounds ($7.65 million). We need to build in more redundancies into our logistics and move away from air dependent traffic in a systematic and planned way. There is very little time left to do this. The airline industry is now further weakened, reducing its chances to survive the next oil price shock expected by 2012. What will happen to Brisbane – Sydney – Melbourne – Adelaide air traffic when there are jet fuel shortages or air lines go into receivership? Due to the distances involved flights can only be replaced by night trains. There are only 8 sleeper cars in the XPT fleet: Here are the jet fuel “savings” during the peak of the disruptions: That’s about 1.3 mb/d out of approximately 5 mb/d for global air traffic That tells us what kind of dramatic events must happen to reduce oil demand as already highlighted here: Download this article as PDF file: [download id="31"]

Alternate name: Pigweed Family: Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot view all from this family Description On a branching plant, often with red-streaked stems, grow clustered spikes of minute, unstalked flowers. The distinguishing features of this species are the white lower leaf surfaces and the seeds lacking a honeycomb appearance. Habit: native annual herb; erect to sprawling, usually branched. Height: 1-6 ft or more Leaf: alternate, variable: broadly lanceolate to ovate to diamond-shaped to triangular, stalked, coarsely and irregularly toothed, lower surface whitish, to 5 in (12.5 cm) long, to 3 in (8 cm) wide. Flower: very small, spherical, pale green to yellow-green, without petals, stalkless, 0.05 in (1 mm) diameter; in terminal spike 4-16 in (10-40 cm) long. Fruit: seeds smooth, black, shiny, about 0.05 inch (1 mm) diameter. Warning Can be fatal to animals if eaten. Humans should generally avoid ingesting plants that are toxic to animals. Flower May to October. Habitat Open, often moist habitats: cultivated land, disturbed sites, and roadsides. Range Throughout North America, except Arctic islands. Discussion Also known as common lamb's quarters, white goosefoot, pigweed. Seven varieties have been proposed. Although this plant is usually considered weedy or invasive in North America and Europe, it is cultivated for food and forage in Asia and Africa. Many of the introduced members of this family are weeds with non-showy flowers that invade lawns and gardens. Many more species of this genus are found in North America, among them Mexican Tea (C. ambrosioides), an aromatic plant that has oblong or lanceolate leaves with wavy-toothed margins; and Jerusalem-oak (C. botrys), also aromatic but with has oak-like leaves.

A new regulation on shrimpboats not only has has shrimpers upset, it's now the center of a federal debate. The NOAA Federal Fisheries Agency said by next year, all shrimping trawls must have turtle excluder devices (TEDs), a trap-door that would protect sea turtles from drowning in shrimp nets. The proposal would affect 2,400, most of those in Louisiana. But many shrimpers, along with U.S. Congressman Jeff Landry, don't want the regulation passed. Some boats, with nets that drag on the bottom, are already required to have the turtle excluder devices, but NOAA wants to require TED's on all boats, those with skimmer and butterfly nets. Congressman Landry said not only would that be devastating for the shrimping industry, but it's not necessary in Louisiana's shallow waters. Ted Melancon, a long-time shrimper, returned this Thursday with a modest catch. He said he would have done better if it weren't for the TED's. "If you hit a crab trap, you're going to lose your shrimp, if a tree or something gets in there or a big old log it opens up and you're going to lose all your shrimp," said Melancon. Melancon said the TED's are expensive and he can lose up to 40% of his catch because of them. "If we wouldn't have them, there'd be no loss, everything would go into the bag," he said. Congressman Landry said he doesn't want even more shrimpers to go through what Melancon does, so he's pushing an amendment that would counteract NOAA's regulation. Landry said it would hold NOAA accountable to a previous agreement made with the shrimping industry, that fishermen would pull up their nets after a certain amount of time to allow turtles to escape. Still, the Federal Fisheries Agency said TEDs are necessary on all boats now. "With a properly installed TED, Turtle Excluding Device, we estimate that around 95% of turtles are able to escape the net unharmed," said Dr. Roy Crabtree, Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Services in the Southeast Region. But shrimpers and Landry question the number of sea turtles actually in danger, saying there's no proof of an increase in turtle deaths because of shrimp nets. "No, don't see no turtles, that's a joke, don't see no turtles there," said Melancon. Landry's amendment passed in the House Thursday with Republican and Democratic support. It now moves on to the Senate. NOAA will also hold public meetings on the TED proposed regulation on June 4th in Larose and June 5th in Belle Chasse.

Thus, it is even more critical to view testing as a process of experimentation: one that involves continuous data collection and assessment, learning about the strengths and weaknesses of newly added capabilities or (sub)systems, and using all of this information to determine how to improve the overall performance of the system. This should not be viewed as an activity to be carried out solely by contractors near the initiation of system development or by DoD near the end; instead, it should become an intrinsic part of system development with facilitated communication and interaction between the contractor and government testers throughout the developmental process. In the evolutionary acquisition context, experimentation in early stages can be used to identify system flaws and to understand the limitations of system design. The focus in later stages should be on problems identified in the field and/or unresolved from earlier testing, evaluating the most recent modifications to the system, and assessing the maturity of a new component or subsystem design. This experimentation can be at the component level, at the subsystem level, or at the system level, with varying degrees of operational realism, depending on the goals. Operational testing and evaluation (or testing for verification) will still have a major role to play, since it is the only way to verify that the systems are in fact operationally effective and suitable. In fact, it is critical that there is adequate oversight and accountability in this flexible environment. However, it is not realistic to undertake comprehensive operational tests at each stage of the development process. These should be undertaken only at stages encompassing major upgrades, the introduction of new, major capabilities, or new major (sub)systems. At other stages, a combination of data and insights from component or subsystem testing and developmental tests (reflecting operational realism as feasible) can be used instead, along with engineering and operational user judgment. Conclusion 1: In evolutionary acquisition, the entire spectrum of testing activities should be viewed as a continuous process of gathering and analyzing data and combining information in order to make effective decisions. The primary goal of test programs should be to experiment, learn about the strengths and weaknesses of newly added capabilities or (sub)systems, and use the results to improve overall system performance. Furthermore, data from previous stages of development, including field data, should be used in design, development, and testing at future stages. Operational testing (testing for verification) of

Suspected of psychosomatic disorders occur when physical symptoms for which there is no medical explanation. It is therefore of psychological disorders manifested by physical symptoms. One characteristic of these disorders is that the subject, looking for a physical explanation, went to many doctors, the following treatments in series, without notable success. In the foreground are signs of general symptoms such as fatigue, exhaustion and pain. Cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems are common. The birth of psychosomatic disorders resulting from the combination of several factors, including biological, psychological and social. Part of genetic predisposition is also under discussion. Psychosocial factors seem to lie in the foreground. The main psychosocial factors: Symptoms vary widely and can affect different organs. Here are the most common symptoms: Often, patients with psychosomatic disorders end up being classified by physicians into the category of subjects ‘difficult’: the frustrating search for a physical cause for their ailments often ends well lead to disease. They do not understand why the doctor finds nothing, despite the symptoms they present. The doctor, often frustrated, advise them to go to another specialist, which does not necessarily interrupt the vicious circle. If the doctor issues at one time or another, the idea that the disorder might be psychological in origin, many subjects feel rejected, cataloged and feel that their physical symptoms are not taken seriously. Consequently, the patient goes to a doctor after another. For this reason, many patients have a long journey of suffering and illness behind them before psychosomatic disorders are detected for the first time. Treatment is usually long and difficult. Many subjects have a long history of illness and suffering behind them before their problem is taken care of. It is not uncommon for the symptoms become chronic. Even if symptoms do not always disappear completely, they can at least be significantly reduced through appropriate treatment. The relationship of trust between doctor and patient is essential. For it to be established, the patient’s symptoms must be taken seriously without giving rise to an over diagnosis. The patient should receive information on psychosomatic disorders and the interactions between physical and psychic. Physical therapy, Feldenkrais, respiratory therapy, relaxation function, dance therapy or art therapy often contribute to the alleviation of symptoms. This type of treatment can include addressing stress or psychic conflicts that can only be controlled. Seeking a medical explanation for symptoms often leads to patients in long and costly journey. It is not uncommon that many examinations or surgical procedures are performed without success. Regular intake of analgesics can cause serious side effects and addictive. Psychosomatic disorders are often associated with depression and anxiety disorders. Physicians also have an influence on evolution: overdiagnosis can generate new fears and contribute to the chronicity of symptoms.

|How can you be sure your tank has enough gas to complete the dive you want to make?| Plan your dive and dive your plan--for most recreational divers this means checking your no-decompression status and perhaps reviewing communications and a route with your buddy. That's all well and good, but it leaves out the real limiting factor of most dives--your gas consumption. How can you be sure your tank has enough gas to complete the dive you want to make? Well-trained technical divers don't even think of entering the water without first running the numbers to ensure they have an adequate gas supply for their complex dive plans. But the process can also help recreational divers who never venture beyond 130 feet. Think about it: How many group dives end early because one diver ran low on air? How many divers surface ahead of the group, ending a dive for both buddies in the team because of insufficient gas supply? How many divers fail to reach the objective of a recreational dive for the same reason? The process of planning and monitoring your gas consumption is simple and only takes about 10 minutes of dive time and three minutes with a calculator. Know Your SCR The process starts with knowing your Surface Consumption Rate (SCR), a measure of how much gas you normally breathe on a typical dive. If you know your consumption rate, the planned depth and the duration of the dive, you can quickly calculate how much gas you'll likely use. Here's how it works: Wearing a standard aluminum 80 rated to 3,000 psi, drop to a set depth (we'll use 33 feet seawater for simplicity), and record your starting tank pressure. Now swim at an average pace for 10 minutes while maintaining that depth. When the time is up, record the ending tank pressure. Subtract the end pressure from the start pressure to get the total gas used in psi. If you started with 2,700 psi and finished with 2,100 psi, you have used 600 psi. Now adjust that usage to reflect surface pressure. First, convert the depth of the dive to pressure in atmospheres absolute (ATA) by dividing by 33 and adding one (33/33 + 1= 2 ATA). Then divide the total gas used by the pressure of the dive in ATA. (600 psi used/2 ATA = 300 psi). Now divide by the number of minutes in your swim for your SCR (300 psi/10 minutes = 30 psi per minute). Using Your SCR If you always use an aluminum 80, you now have enough information to plan gas consumption for any dive. Simply find the pressure in ATA of your maximum dive depth and multiply it by your SCR to find out how many psi per minute you will use. Say you're planning a dive to a wreck at 100 feet and want to be sure you have enough gas to stay on the bottom as long as the no-deco times allow: 25 minutes by the U.S. Navy tables. (For deeper dives you should always plan to use the rule of thirds to manage your gas supply--one-third of your gas supply to swim away from the entry point or anchor line, one-third to get back to the anchor line and keeping one-third in reserve for any delays, your ascent and a safety stop.) First, convert your planned maximum depth to ATA (100 feet/33 + 1 = 4.03 ATA). Now multiply the pressure at depth times your SCR (4 ATA x 30 psi per minute = 120 psi per minute). If you follow the rule of thirds, you should arrive at the anchor line to begin your ascent with 1,000 psi remaining in your tank. That means you have 2,000 psi to explore the wreck. So: 2,000 psi/120 psi per minute = 16.6 or approximately 17 minutes. Remember that this calculation is based on a moderate-work SCR. If you're likely to be kicking a lot or fighting a current, you'll need to use a higher SCR. You can find this heavy-work SCR by repeating the swim exercise at a strenuous rate. In order to maintain a constant effort, it may help to push against the side of a pool or against a dive platform. To get an accurate measure, try to swim at the strenuous rate for at least two minutes--five minutes if you can stand it. Just be sure to accurately record your beginning and ending tank pressures and to divide by the appropriate amount of time. Once you start calculating air consumption, you may find that the aluminum 80 is not the best cylinder for you or for a specific dive. If you arrive on the boat and find that they use steel 98 tanks, for example, you'll need to take this calculation one step further. To adjust your dive planning to any cylinder size, you simply need to convert your SCR to another measurement called a Respiratory Minute Volume (RMV). To make this conversion, you first need to determine how much gas, in cubic feet, is used every time the SPG drops 1 psi in the cylinder you used for your SCR calculation. We accomplish this by dividing the rated pressure of the tank into the rated volume of the tank. (Note: For this calculation, remember to use the rated pressures and volumes stamped into the metal near the top of the cylinder, not the pressure you read on your gauge.) For your aluminum 80 rated to 3,000 psi: 80 cubic feet/3,000 psi = .0267 cubic feet in every psi. Now multiply this number by your SCR. (30 x .0267 = .8 cubic feet per minute.) Your surface RMVa€?is .8 cubic feet per minute. Now you can use the RMV to compare the difference between the aluminum 80 and the steel 98 in order to see which would be most useful for the 100-foot wreck dive following the rule of thirds. At the maximum depth of 100 feet, our diver will use 3.2 cubic feet per minute (.8 cubic feet per minute x 4 ATA = 3.2). For the aluminum 80: 80 cubic feet/3 = 26.6 cubic feet. Our diver can use about 26 cubic feet out and 26 cubic feet back to the anchor line or 52 cubic feet prior to ascent. If the RMV at depth is 3.2, that gives him about 16 minutes of bottom time (52 cubic feet/3.2 cubic feet per minute = 16.25 minutes of bottom time). For the steel 98: 98 cubic feet/3 = 32.67 cubic feet. Our diver can use 65.3 cubic feet of gas prior to ascent. At the 3.2 RMV at depth, that gives him about about 20 minutes of bottom time (65.3 cubic feet/3.2 cubic feet per minute = 20.4 minutes). So far, we've used SCRs and RMVs to see if an existing cylinder has enough air to make a given dive. You can also work the problem in reverse to calculate how much gas you will need and then select the appropriate cylinder to achieve your objectives. So how much air would you need to spend the entire 25 no-deco minutes at depth on the shipwreck and still dive by the rule of thirds? We already know our RMV at depth is 3.2 cubic feet per minute (4 ATA x .8 RMV = 3.2 RMV at depth). Now multiply the RMV at depth by the maximum no-deco time (3.22 x 25 minutes = 80.5 cubic feet). If our diver is properly using the rule of thirds, that 80 cubic feet equates to two-thirds of the total required gas supply, so this diver would need another 40 cubic feet or a 120 cubic-foot cylinder to make the dive as planned.

Whilst reading a blog post by Seth Godin entitled The forever recession (and the coming revolution) with the line "When everyone has a laptop and connection to the world, then everyone owns a factory" it reminded me of the book 'Makers' by Cory Doctorow and in turn of the potential of Shapeways 3D Printing as New Work. Seth's post looks at the current employment recession as a long term revolution, where "The internet has squeezed inefficiencies out of many systems, and the ability to move work around, coordinate activity and digitize data all combine to eliminate a wide swath of the jobs the industrial age created." This echoes elements of Cory's Makers where an economic and employment revolution happens thanks in part to product hacks, access to 3D printing and internet notoriety. If we look at the potential of Shapeways online 3D printing in the context of these visions which speak of 'employment' in terms of a series of projects you just do, whether they be self initiated, collaborations or by consultation for cash, a factory plugged into your laptop is an incredibly powerful asset. Take a moment to read Seth's post, set aside some time to read Makers which you can download for free in various formats and prepare yourself for New Work. Take a look at the tutorial, experiment with your own website, share your examples and let us know if this is something you would like integrated into your Shapeways Shop to sell your own 3D printed designs? The guys at Makerbot are running full steam ahead with improvements to their machines and with the latest Mk7 extruder they are outputting really nice quality 3D prints. Makers of commercial FDM 3D printers lookout. Dolf Veenvliet aka macouno of Enotforms fame has been working on some fun tools to generate 3D forms for the 3D Cad illiterate. Under the ShapeWright moniker Dolf has produced a random space ship generator entitled ShipWright that generates unique configurations of space ships ready for 3D printing with Shapeways... Yeah, awesome.. You can also have a personalized Space Ship generated by your name, or whatever text you enter into the build system... Yeah, super awesome. ShipWright is another awesome project that uses the Shapeways API to upload 3D files to Shapeways, if you have a project to generate 3D forms take a look at the API documentation to see how you can send the files to Shapeways for 3D printing too. The original version generated space ships based on the nicknames of all Blender 3D coders The code is based on the entoforms scripts... which you can find here: Create your own silver ring on your Android device and 3D Print it with Shapeways! kelecrea is developed for the Android platform by Shapeways community member Lajos Kelemen that lets you add text as engraving or embossing to 3D models. Currently you can modify a choice of rings, pendants, nameplates, coins, brooches and hairpins. You can already see some of the designs generated in his shop gallery. We mentioned Joshua Harker's Kickstarter project a few days back where he was looking for $500 worth of backing to get his intricate skull sculptures out into the world but with 34 days to go and over $25,000 dollars raised it is fair to say Joshua is very happy with his decision to put his project on Kickstarter. We also mentioned the Mathematician's Dice by Matt Chisolm who raised $19,620 when seeking $2000 to get his project off of the ground using Kickstarter. I am sure a market research department would have been hard pressed to find enough respondents to take the product to market through any other means, but crowdfunding reveals itself to be a perfect way to find a market for really unique items. And of course you know how much we love the Glif which raised over $137,000 when seeking $10,000 to get their iPhone tripod connector off of the ground using Kickstarter. The guys from Studio Neat have become the poster boys for success on Kickstarter by successfully launching a second product, 'The Cosmonaught' that even trialled a Radiohead inspired 'Pay What You Want' pledge. Maybe not for everyone but definitely proving the point that products are becoming more digital, in that the way they are designed, fabricated, sold and distributed. 3D print a miniature version of yourself with just two photos and ShapeMe (developed by Archipelis). Shapeways community member Archipelis has developed a really fun and mildly addictive app that lets you make a miniature version of yourself with NO 3D modeling skills needed. You simply download the ShapeMe app, take a front on and profile head shot of yourself, use the simple interface to map your head onto a range of bodies and you are ready to 3D print in our new full color... You can also add other elements such as hair, glasses and a base. ShapeMe is currently only for Windows but soon to be released in the Apple app store so you can also use ShapeMe on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.. Being so easy to use it is a perfect way to get friends and family to start playing around with 3D printing. What better gift for grandma than a miniature grandchild to put on the mantlepiece, or perhaps you could do a personalised wedding topper, with the bride and groom imortalised in full color. Whatever you choose to do the ShapeMe is fun and easy. Take a look at the gallery of ShapMes so far. producing structures that are both lighter and stronger than conventional concrete, by making it porous in the center and solid on the exterior, just like bones. To illustrate this, Keating uses the example of a palm tree compared to a typical structural column. In a concrete column, the properties of the material are constant, resulting in a very heavy structure. But a palm tree’s trunk varies: denser at the outside and lighter toward the center. As part of his thesis research, he has already made sections of concrete with the same kind of variations of density. always uses graded materials,” Keating says. Bone, for example, consists of “a hard, dense outer shell, and an interior of spongy material. It gives you a high strength-to-weight ratio. You don’t see that in man-made materials.” Not yet, at least. This may also have benefits to to make concrete structures to have inherent insulation, to channel, store and filter water, the possibilities are truly exciting. One day in surgery an opportunity arose, a patient needed a 3D model created of their fractured forearm to plan their surgery to realign it. This had already been done via a university department and the model produced was out of proportion and only a truncated portion due to cost issues. Even with this it was still north of $1200 for the small model. I then realized I could do better and for less and challenged my self to produce a model. I trawled the blogs and the shapeways forums, gleaning help and advise from many members of the shapeways community. Having chosen my tools I got to work. There have been many applications of rapid prototyping within medicine, especially recently in maxillofacial (face) surgery and orthopedics (bones). Being able to produce physical models from your 3D scan images are useful for education both of surgeons and patients, preoperative planning and procedure rehearsal, trying out your procedure before you do it in real life. The issue has always been accessibility. Its has tended to be limited to well funded research projects or to private units with bottomless budgets. This is not the model the NHS use, especially in this financial climate. As an orthopedic surgical trainee and a big fan of any new tech or gadgets, I couldn’t fail to have noticed this upsurge in talk about 3D printing. Filling up pages of blogs on many sites such as Engadget and Gizmodo. One company that kept getting mentioned was Shapeways. Ok, so the HP LasertJet Pro 200 color MFP M275 (catchy name) does not really 3D scan an object in any way that is 3D, it does not create a point cloud capable of being converted into a 3D object nor does it make multiple views available instead: A total of six images are captured per scan or copy— three with flashes from different angles and three in ambient light conditions with different exposure levels—producing virtually glare-free and shadow-free images. These separate shots are then automatically combined into one seamless image of exceptional quality. With HP TopShot Scanning, you’ll see images similar to or better than those captured by your hand-held digital still camera and with better depth-of-focus than images from a flatbed scanner.

Symptoms and Causes of Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome Some of the various symptoms and causes of tethered spinal cord syndrome are discussed in brief in this article to make it easy to understand the problem. Congenital Causes of Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome Sometimes causes and symptoms of tethered spinal cord syndrome become obvious among children at the time of their birth meaning that they are born with the disease. In such cases the problem develops in the newly born babies due to biological complications during the growth of embryo in the uterus of their mother. Some of the causes of congenital tethered spinal cord syndrome are provided here. Tethered spinal cord syndrome in the mother’s uterus is mainly caused due to the cells at the bottom of embryo which influence the development of various organs of the growing baby including bladder, lower kidneys, genital and rectal structures, skin covering the lower back and bones of the lower spine. Some kind of disruption or error is experienced by the cells in the caudal cell mass with the formation of embryo. A reactional chain of changes is observed in the spinal cord and various other parts of the body influenced by these cells due to error in them. Children having abnormalities in three or more parts including vertebrae, anus, trachea, esophagus and radial and/or renal at the time of their birth and the babies born with anomalies in the limbs and heart alongwith above said three or more organ systems also Causes of Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome. That is why an unusual growth on the skin of lower back of child is observed alongwith other abnormalities in his genital or anus parts due to the existence of tethered spinal cord syndromes at the time of his birth. Causes of acquired tethered spinal cord syndrome Severally causes of tethered spinal cord syndrome can also be acquired from other resources which may affect the child any time after its birth. In such children these syndromes are caused due to: - Damage in spinal canal, spinal cord or spine due to any reason may block spina bifida - Formation around the spinal cord caused by the scar on the tissues due to any surgery on spinal cord in past - Downward pressure on the spinal cord due to tightness on filum terminale causing thickening of long thin nerve tissues which help in joining spinal cord to backbone - Growth of skin’s fatty mass into the spinal cord - Tumors build up on spinal cord Symptoms due to Causes of tethered spinal cord syndrome Unusual raised lump, dimple, patch or discoloration of hair on the lower back of the baby Abnormal anatomy of the anus or genital organs Considerable difference in the length of one leg or foot In grown up and older children Numbness or weakness in the feet or legs Pain in the lower back Problem in walking or standing These are some of the symptoms and causes of tethered spinal cord syndrome which can make it to treat the problem after proper detection

Maybe it's end-of-year nostalgia, or maybe it's all the LinkedIn feed employment updates plus awareness of changes at my own company, anyway, I got to thinking this week about my initial explorations into the community of government transparency and digital reform known as "Gov 2.0" or "open government." I got involved in Gov 2.0 in 2008 as a municipal government employee after wondering whether some of the digital engagement strategies of the Barack Obama presidential campaign could be applied to civic engagement in a more formal context, and found a small but welcoming community first on LinkedIn, then on GovLoop.com and Twitter. I went on to become group manager for the LinkedIn Government 2.0 community, to start the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast, and to make a (highly unsuccessful) run for U.S. Congress. During that campaign, I met Jim Gilliam, a civic technology entrepreneur, and, in 2011, I joined Jim and his co-founder Jesse Haff at NationBuilder. NationBuilder, a community organizing system, now has 80 employees and provides a web platform for thousands of politicians and elected officials, and a growing number of cities and agencies. I recently met a new intern on our data team who has quite a local (NationBuilder is based in downtown Los Angeles) reputation in the open government community, and when she added me to a couple of her community Twitter lists, it struck me that I know fewer of the names and faces of today's Gov 2.0. For a more up-to-date view of the Gov 2.0 community, check out these Twitter lists: This is the briefing document I've provided for prospective lead legislative sponsors (see questions and comments below): Along with a number of other open government advocates, I've launched a campaign to put a definition of "open data online" into California and San Francisco law. The issue is that often when documents and data are published online, they cannot be accessed or used in a meaningful fashion because they cannot be searched, indexed by Google, or combined in a meaningful way with other documents for analysis. I want to tackle this not by mandating that certain documents and data be published online, but simply by creating a reference standard so that when new mandates pass, or new documents are published online as a matter of course under existing law or regular business, they are in accessible formats. This has the benefits of making things easier for people who use screen readers, for developer who want to use public data to build applications, for transparency advocates, and is simply good policy. Publishing data in formats that can't be searched, compared to other documents or reused in a meaningful way is as useless as keeping it tucked away in an obscured file cabinets. Publishing in accessible formats online is as simply as education employees in how to properly save and store documents for online publication using the same software they already have on their computers. In an ironic demonstration of the current problem, San Francisco's current open data law was published by the Board of Supervisors as an unsearchable PDF. - Javier Muniz, CTO and co-founder, Granicus (based in SoMa and one of the greatest open gov tech company success stories in the U.S.) - Steve Ressler, founder, GovLoop - Rep. Jason Murphey, Chairman of the House Goverment Modernization Committee, Oklahoma - Scott Primeau, OpenColorado - Luke Frewell, founder and publisher, GovFresh Open data in San Francisco, the state of California, and throughout much of the U.S. and the world remains hobbled by a lack of legal definition. San Francisco's own open data law, for example, is posted online by the Board of Supervisors as a non-searchable PDF. On December 10-11, at the winter CityCampSF Hackathon, Gov 2.0 advocates will publicly launch an advocacy campaign to institute an open data standard in San Francisco municipal and California state law. The primary goal of this advocacy will be to achieve a clear and reasonable definition of open data for all materials required by law to be published online. Please join us in endorsing this advocacy campaign, and encourage your friends and legislators to sign on as well. For another definition of open data online that we will consider, see the CityCamp model Open Government directive, which describes open data as being published online in an "open format that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, sorted, searched, and reused by commonly used Web search applications and commonly used software." This legislation should also encompass the goals of increased transparency in responses to SF Sunshine Ordinance requests and California Public Records Act requests - documents released in an electronic format after implementation of this ordinance would have to follow its standards of accessibility. Machine-readability: Data should be published in structured formats easily processed by machines/software. Wednesday's series of panelists balanced open data dreams with hard truths about privacy in the globalized infoweb. Bob Berring, a UC Berkeley law professor, summed up the core issue: Carl is working on a 10 year old's question: Government has laws. We have to obey those laws. Where are they? Twitter in-house counsel Alexander Macgillivray talked about the difficulty for legal staff's at small companies to afford basic research because of high Westlaw and Lexis fees - fees that units of government pay as well for access to legal documents. Malamud believes that the law is one area that the disintermediating promise of the Internet has barely touched, and he brought in friend O'Reilly for a lunchtime discussion with California Secretary of State Debra Bowen. "What are we missing as a society because we are denied access to what is essentially the open source of our democracy?" O'Reilly asked. A recurring theme was the problem of authentication of legal materials online, and the implied authority of the two major vendors. Erika Wayne, a Stanford law librarian, asked if anyone had seen an "informational only" disclaimer - common on web legal materials - on a physical book. Chris Hoofnagle, a privacy researcher and UC Berkeley law professor also had a stark warning about the need to protect individual privacy as advocates seek to put more government information online. He argued that believers in "Big Brother" powers for the government - "I'm serious" - will use the language of the transparency movement to accomplish their goal of a surveillance society. Despite the serious mission and very real challenges, the promising theme of open data, Law 2.0 mashups and lowered barriers to legal knowledge was not lost. Said Macgillivray, imagine a statue with its own Twitter account, tweeting its revisions.

Entries with no category The Bible’s Bamboozled Men and Hornswoggling Women By Denise Noe We commonly think of the society depicted in the Old Testament of the Bible as a classically “patriarchal” one. Indeed, it was a culture in which formal power was largely concentrated in male hands. However, certain stories in the Bible display a great deal of real power wielded by women. Perhaps most interesting is the way prominent women outwit men and are in no sense punished for their treachery. In Genesis 25:28 we are told of the feelings of Isaac and Rebekah toward their twin sons: “And Isaac loved Esau . . . but Rebekah loved Jacob.” Here the Bible is perennially relevant and realistic. Most people would probably say parents of both sexes should love their children equally but parental emotions are often dramatically undemocratic. As the official head of the family, Isaac has the power to bestow blessings that Rebekah does not. He wants to bestow a blessing on his favorite son Esau. However, he has become blind in his old age so Rebekah comes up with a plan to foil his intentions and grab the blessing for HER favorite son Jacob. She advises Jacob to pretend to be his brother. When he objects that his father might feel him and realize he is not the hairy Esau, she puts goatskins on his hands and neck (Esau must have been hirsute indeed). Isaac is taken in by Rebekah’s subterfuge and blesses Jacob. We do not read of any comeuppance for the cunning Rebekah. Perhaps the moral of this rather sordid tale is that the son favored by his mother is the son “blessed” both literally and metaphorically. By Denise Noe In a column published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution looking back on the feminist movement that broke in the early 1970s, Ellen Goodman stated that women make 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. This figure was stated as if it were an automatic indication of either employers’ discrimination against women or a more overall societal tendency to oppress women by limiting their workplace opportunities and therefore their pay. One of the reasons the above assumptions are false was thrown into sharp relief by a conversation I had with a man shortly after reading Goodman’s column. This man had been working on a job cleaning windows and was on a ladder when he had an accident that took his foot off. Luckily, doctors were able to reattach his foot but he was left disabled. A major reason for the 23 cent gap in average pay for men and women is that the most physically dangerous jobs require more physical strength than the vast majority of women possess. People, regardless of gender, tend receive higher pay for work that puts life and limb in jeopardy. According to US Department of Labor statistics for 2006, 54% of workers were men and 46% women while 92% of those killed on the job were men and only 8% women. The 23-cent gap between men’s and women’s incomes is to a large extent a reflection of the workplace death gap. Another reason for the gender wage gap is that women are more likely to move in and out of the labor market than men. That women spend more time out of the paid workforce than men does not necessarily indicate oppression by tyrannical male chauvinist pigs but can reflect the greater freedom we have to devote time to homemaking and/or child care and the generosity and caring of the men who take on the sole breadwinner role in order to allow us that freedom. Indeed, men often take dangerous jobs so they can adequately support the women and children in their lives. The title of this essay is taken from the opening statement in the chapter on rape in war in Susan Brownmiller’s book, “Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape.” Her sentence in turn follows an excerpt from “War As I Knew It,” the memoirs of General George S. Patton (“Old Blood and Guts). Patton writes, “I told him that although I would do my best to keep such incidents to a minimum there would unquestionably be some raping. I told him that he should forward the details of all such incidents to me so that I could have the offenders properly hanged.” Brownmiller in turn writes, “It’s funny about MAN’s attitude toward rape in war. UNQUESTIONABLY there will be some raping. Unconscionable but unquestionable. When men are men, slugging it out, unquestionably there will be some raping.” In war, men must “slug it out” in squalor, filth, sustained panic, and horror. They are immersed in brutality, killing and getting killed, watching as their best buddies are torn to pieces and living every second with the knowledge that they could be next. “Unquestionably,” under the hideous and maddening conditions of war, some men who might live inoffensively in civilian life commit the atrocity of rape. There are multiple reasons for this but two stand out in my mind. One is that the conditions of war cause law and order to inevitably collapse. Thus, those men who are the least moral and well-socialized to begin with take advantage of the situation to commit this crime even though they might not have done so within the tighter structure of civilian society. Another reason is that, under the enforced brutality and terror of war, the aggressive and sexual impulses of some men become confused. Their brutality “spills over” from its officially designated targets – other men in ground combat and specifically other men who are soldiers – onto women and takes a sexualized Here’s To You, Greg! My tribute to the student hairdresser named Greg whom I’ll never forge. By Denise Noe I was fifteen years old. It was 1972. Mom had two coupons for free hair stylings at a local beauty college. She let me make use of both coupons. I don’t recall much about the first styling. I will never forget the second. The student hairdresser who would perform that styling introduced himself to me as Greg. It occurred to me that we were both unusual in that beauty college setting. Greg was a man in a sea of women and I was a teenager in a sea of gray and white elderly heads. Greg was a handsome young man. He had an attractive face with bright eyes and a ready smile. He was blonde and I’ve always had a special liking for yellow hair. His hair was shoulder length and styled so that it fell in waves. I was immediately and strongly attracted to Greg – and just as immediately embarrassed by that feeling. After he received the coupon, he asked, “Is there any special way you’d like me to style your hair?” “No,” I said, smiling back and shrugging my shoulders. “Just anything I want to do?” he asked. “Yes,” I said. “I thank you,” he said, taking a little bow at what he seemed to take as my implicit compliment to his good judgment or perhaps the privilege of being the decision maker on what he would do with my hair. I was charmed by the gesture of that bow. I was really getting a strong crush on Greg and feared it must show. We went to the place where hair was washed. Greg shampooed my hair. Then we returned to the station where he began working on my cleansed and wet hair and putting it in curlers. “Do you know any good jokes?” he asked. Tongue-tied, I didn’t dare start telling the vulgar jokes I heard By Denise Noe I first encountered the story of Abishag as a child watching the BBC production of The Six Wives of Henry VIII. She was mentioned in the segment about Henry’s doomed fifth queen, Catherine Howard, who would eventually be executed for adultery, a crime that constituted treason in a queen. On the morning after her wedding night, a distraught Catherine Howard (Angela Pleasance) sobbed in the arms of Lady Rochford (Sheila Burrell). The latter told Catherine she wept “as if you’re heart will break.” Between sobs Catherine confided, “He called me his Abishag.” Eyes wide with alarm, a shocked Lady Rochford asked, “Child, what are you saying?” Then the new Queen spilled out the story of her husband’s impotence. He had quoted from the Biblical story of an elderly King David and Abishag: “He knew her not.” One of my current projects is to read the Bible cover to cover and I recently came to the passages about David and Abishag. They are in 1 Kings 1: 1-4: “Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunamite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.” David was sick and cold in his sickness. He craved the warmth of a human body next to his and apparently received comfort from Abishag’s sharing his bed. He enjoyed this comfort even though he did not have sex with her. Whether he did not have sex with her because he was no longer getting erections or simply because he chose not to is something that the Bible story does not make

EARTH NOW: American Photographers and the Environment Curated by Katherine Ware Ansel Adams’s and Eliot Porter’s landscape photography fueled a growing concern for the environment in this country. Earth Now begins with the work of these two artists and moves on to a group of landscape photographers who came of age in the 1970s. Adams and Porter worked independently as artists but also actively participated in placing their photographs in the context of environmental activism. Their idealized, unpopulated landscapes set the standard for twentieth-century nature photography, and each of their followers had to contend with the precedents they set. A gallery of images by Robert Adams, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Mark Klett, Terry Evans, Patrick Nagatani, Richard Misrach, David Maisel, and Bill Owens give a sense of the changing voice of landscape photography through the end of the twentieth century. The exhibition’s primary concentration is on work made after the millennium, in response not only to artistic commentary in the preceding century but also in reaction to a critical shift in the human relationship to the landscape. The pictures stimulate visitors to think about their personal relationship to the environment and to consider the impact of the choices we make as a society and as individuals. The artists represented in the second section of the show are Subhankar Banerjee, Bremner Benedict, Michael P. Berman, Joann Brennan, Suzette Bross, Christine Chin, Dornith Doherty, Chris Enos, Daniel Handal, Beth Lilly, Brad Moore, Matthew Moore, Brook Reynolds, Laurel Schultz, Christina Seely, Sharon Stewart, Carlan Tapp, Brad Temkin, Sonja Thomsen, Robert Toedter, Phil Underdown, Greg MacGregor and Victor Masayesva, Jr. Many are emerging artists whose work has not been shown in the Southwest, while others are more established artists doing new bodies of work, some of which have never been exhibited.

Subprime mortgages were a standard feature of the boom real estate markets of the 1990s and 2000s. They addressed the needs of riskier borrowers who may have had decent but lower-tier credit, or other risk factors such as non-verifiable self-employment income or high debt on their loan applications. Lenders developed the subprime loan as a tool to expand their customer base and gain a competitive edge in the market. After the lenders get a bunch of loans completed, they then bundle them, sell them to another group or lender at a profit and walk away, so their exposure to risk is gone. During the late 1990s and 2000s, the real estate market took off. Homes were selling for record prices within hours of going on the market. This steady and dramatic increase in property values made it safer for lenders to make loans to borrowers that fell outside the realm of “prime” borrowers. Subprime loans went to borrowers who could not qualiy for conventional loan programs. Lenders knew that if these risky borrowers defaulted, the increased interest already paid, along with natural appreciation and short marketing times, would easily allow them to recoup their losses or even make a profit from foreclosure. Borrowers with lower credit scores, those below 650, are the standard customer for subprime loans, according to CNBC. So are those with a high debt-to-income ratio--the amount of monthly debt compared to monthly gross, or pre-tax, income. While debt should be below 36 percent of income for conventional loan programs, some subprime lenders have allowed borrowers to have debt-to-income ratios as high as 55 percent. Lenders make money from risky subprime loans by charging interest rates that run as high as 3 or 4 percent above conventional loan rates. Many borrowers choose to lower those rates even more by taking adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) instead of fixed-rate loans. ARMs offer a low initial interest rate, but adjust upward after a set period, usually two or three years. For most subprime borrowers, this is the only way to afford loan payments. Subprime loans usually feature small or no downpayments. In the past, some lenders have loaned 80 percent of the purchase price, and then offered an additional 20 percent loan for a zero down payment. This “second” 20 percent loan carries an even higher interest rate than the first loan. Subprime mortgages fill a need in the real estate market, so they will always exist in times of prosperity and low market risk. Buyers on the edges of conventional loan guidelines will always seek loans, and lenders will take on the risk in return for greater profit. For borrowers who have had some temporary financial issues, but are fiscally responsible overall, these loans represent the opportunity to have a home of their own. The danger posed by any loan program is when it is used to finance transactions that should never be allowed. The inherent dangers of adjustable rate subprime loans show best in a recession or real estate market downturn. Many homeowners who obtain these loans do so with the hopes of refinancing to a lower rate after their economic situation improves. When their interest rate adjusts upward after the adjustment period is over, they may be unable to qualify for a refinance loan because their economic situation did not improve or has worsened, or their home has insufficient market value for them to refinance. These borrowers cannot afford the new, higher payments and risk severely damaging their credit with late payments or go into foreclosure. The fact that they have little to no equity in their home means that they cannot afford to sell it at a price that would cover the subprime loan or stop foreclosure in a down market.

Hlumelo Biko Says His Father, Steve Biko, “Would Not Be Happy” About Continued Economic Inequity In a recent interview about his book The Great African Society, Hlumelo Biko said that his father, Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko who was killed in the custody of the apartheid police, “would not be happy” with the current state of South Africa today. “We ceded the space to a few politicians and allowed them to operate. And then we look back 10 years later and think, ‘Oh no, what happened?’,” Biko said in conversation with Kristin Palitza of IPS News. Palitza also asked Biko about his mother, Mamphela Ramphele’s recently formed party political platform, Agang South Africa, his ideas for better governance and tackling corruption: Q: One of your book’s main premises is that South Africa needs better governance. A: Effective regulation means you have to have competent people. It shouldn’t matter what you did before 1994 (the end of apartheid). Yet those records still give people a leg up over others. We need to go beyond that and focus on technical capability. If you look at economies like China, they are where they are because their government operatives are, like it or not, extremely qualified. They are able to put forward effective policies. That’s where we need to take it.

Life cycle assessment of timber components in Taiwan traditional temples Ye, S. Y., Hsu, M. F., Chang, W. S. and Chen, J. L., 2011. Life cycle assessment of timber components in Taiwan traditional temples. In: Proceedings of the 12th East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction, EASEC12. Vol. 14. Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 2683-2691. (Procedia Engineering) For years, research on the life cycle of conventional building materials (e.g. reinforced concrete and metal structures) has been studied; however very little literature can be found in non-conventional materials such as timber. Ever since the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake that happened in Taiwan, many traditional timber framework buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. For the past decade, enormous amount of resources have been invested by the Taiwanese government to begin various studies on traditional timber building techniques, timber material testing etc. Although correct building technique or proper use of building material are crucial towards establishing a structurally-sound timber framework, without proper building maintenance, the structural integrity will also be jeopardised in future. With the continual decline of timber supply, re-using existing timber materials becomes especially important in building conservation. In this paper, eight Taiwanese traditional temples are used to study the life cycle of historic timber framework. Based on past records of each building's restoration process, statistical calculations of various timber components at different repair stages and oral interviews with the traditional master carpenters, architects and timber surveying units, results shown that alteration design during repair stage is recommended as it enables architects to give more informed repair advice. However if improper or unsuitable measures are carried out during emergency rescue work, timber deterioration will only aggravate further instead of being salvaged. Lastly, a theoretical calculation method for timber framework life span is proposed by using 50% as the critical point for overall structural failure.

August 29, 2005. For the citizens of New Orleans, that date, the day Hurricane Katrina devastated their city, is burned onto their collective memory like a cattle brand. But thousands of resilient people who cannot imagine living anywhere else are determined that August 29 will be but one page of a long story with a happy ending. Thanks to organizations like Build Now, New Orleans is coming back. Build Now is a non-profit organization that helps people who lost their homes during the flood build new, elevated homes on their property. Homeowners can choose from 7 traditional New Orleans architectural styles and 14 different floor plans. (Pamela Plaisance’s new home, above, is called “The Octavia.”) Designed to meet EnergyStar standards, these high-quality homes are very affordable, running from about $100-200,000, depending on size and amenities. Build Now even helps line up financing. So what’s this have to do with gardening? Well, Build Now doesn’t just want to restore houses. It wants to restore gardens too. So it’s partnered with horticulture students and instructors of Delgado Community College in New Orleans to design and plant new gardens for a number of these houses as part of a contest called “Landscaping Our City.” Judging takes place during the week of May 10 and Grumpy is one of the judges!! During my brief visit this week to several new Build Now homes in the city’s Lakeview and Gentilly neighborhoods, I watched student volunteers from St.Augustine High School pitch in with the Delgado folks to plant trees and shrubs donated by The Garden Gates nursery in nearby Metairie. Here are some photos of plants going in. Students and instructors pitching in. It’ll be interesting to see how the gardens change by the time we do the judging next month. I’ll show you the winner right here as soon as it happens. Then everyone’s going to celebrate the event and new beginnings with a rousing crawfish boil. You can bet I’ll toast New Orleans with a few of my favorite beverages.

Quarried long ago in ancient Egypt for construction purposes, granite is a natural stone that has been used for some of the world's most famous monuments and memorials. Prized for its strength and durability, granite is medium- to coarse-textured igneous rock that comes in a wide range of colors and is available in large hunks. Many famous monuments, such as the Washington Monument, pair granite with marble, while others feature only the sturdy, multicolored granite. Mount Rushmore National Memorial The carving of the faces of four US presidents in the southeastern side of Mount Rushmore is among the world's most recognizable granite monuments. The original idea was to promote South Dakota by carving famous Westerners' faces into a Black Hills peak, but that changed when sculptor Gutzon Borglum and others insisted the project should honor national leaders and their accomplishments. Mount Rushmore was chosen because it was the highest peak in the region and had some of the hardest granite. The George Washington sculpture was dedicated in 1934, with Thomas Jefferson following in 1936, Abraham Lincoln in 1937 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1939. More than 3 million people visit the monument each year. Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in Constitution Gardens near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., came about largely through the efforts and private fundraising of veterans and families who wanted to honor soldiers lost in the conflict. Maya Lin's winning design features a V-shaped memorial wall made from 500 feet of polished black Indian granite sandblasted with more than 58,000 names of veterans who died or were missing in action. The memorial was dedicated in 1982. A bronze sculpture of "The Three Servicemen" later was added to the memorial, which draws millions of visitors each year. Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London's Hyde Park has drawn more than 1 million visitors a year since it was dedicated in 2004. The unusual fountain was made from 545 pieces of Cornish granite, each shaped by computer-controlled devices and then put together in a more traditional way. Said to reflect the beloved Diana's life, the granite fountain flows in two directions from the highest point, cascading and splashing and meeting at the bottom in a serene pool. Three bridges can be crossed directly to the fountain, symbolizing the princess' openness and quality, according to Royal Parks officials.

Learn about Pole Dancing and Healing Touch Therapy From out of the clubs into the gym circuit comes pole dancing, once an exotic act paid for handsomely by blokes out of the town, now an abs crunching session paid for women and men seeking to develop their own body beautiful. The origins of pole dancing are unclear but perhaps it stems from the 1920’s depression era where show dances have to use tent poles as props out of necessity. Of course from here it made its way into strip clubs, in other parts of the club though it's always noted as a non sensual highly skilled art. The Chinese pole performers and male Indian performers have been providing family entertainment for years. In fact Malacham is used to train the Indian police force and is often made over harder by using rope instead of a solid pole. Now pole dancing is considered a bonified sport all over the world, whether its non aerobic or aerobic workout you’re after. Regardless of your gender or culture, one thing is for sure, muscle strength and coordination are key to pole dancing success. The pole runs from floor to ceiling and is generally five centimeters in diameter for easy grip; first you do a thorough warm up and get acquainted with your pole before attempting the hard stuff. It takes a fair while to get good at this sport; essentially you are honing and toning by using your body’s own resistance. It's just you and the pole; a rigorous session will burn a whopping four hundred calories per hour well worth the effort. You’ll turn your arms and shoulders, arms, buttocks, and legs, every muscle in your body gets a look in. Be prepared for the ouch factor the next day but the pain is worth it for that sense of freedom, self confidence and sexiness you experience dancing around that pole. Choose from studio classes like this one to private lessons from instructors when you’re not quite game enough to let yourself loose in public. Of course you could always opt for a pole dancing party, one of the original birthday gifts. Due to a certain body part that makes it in the way, it's suggested that men take care when attempting certain positions with the pole, women definitely have the advantage here but men have the advantage of greater upper body strength, so really, it's an even playing field. Start with a beginners class and work your way up the pole to advanced beginners, intermediate and then advanced. There are cardio pole classes to really get your heart pumping; it's the only exercise class you’ll ever be allowed to wear high heels in. The laying of the hands is currently enjoying a renaissance with people visiting Reiki and healing touch practitioners to relive stress, headache, backache, and depression. It may seem a dubious method of healing but according to anthropologists, western culture is the only one in the planet that didn’t have a strong energy healing component in a medical system until now. The Balinese have their Balians who can heal physical abnormalities and psychosis with touch. The Australian aborigines have their Manchary who use the laying of the hands and dreaming to cure people, they’re employed to work in hospitals too as complimentary practitioners to western psychiatrist. Healing touch makes sense if you pick up the scientific thread from where Plato left off, he suggested that spirit controls matter. Western science is mainly based on Aristotle’s assumption that matter controls spirit and thanks to Aristotle too, westerners have a non holistic approach to the human body, and everything is compartmentalized. Physicist are not beginning to think Plato was right, we’re all connected. As pole dancing more popular professional camps are starting up, a true test for any athlete.

Duct Tape Sheet Solar System Activity DesignerKathy Zagorski My daughter loves outer space and planets and can name each planet, so we decided to make a fun solar system out of duct tape sheets! What You'll Need - permanent marker (black) How We Did It Since my daughter is only three, I used circles around the house to trace different sizes of planets on each of the colors of the duct tape sheets. Older kids can definitely trace the planets themselves, or even draw them freehand! Next, I cut the planets out of the duct tape sheets, but, again, older kids can cut them themselves! We used the black marker to add Saturn's rings. My daughter wanted to go in order, so we started with the sun. She continued peeling off each duct tape sheet planet and sticking it down on the black construction paper, naming each planet as she went along.

ATLANTA — Chronic kidney failure more than doubled in the United States in the 1990s — another sign of the toll being taken by America’s obesity epidemic, the government reported Thursday. More women opting for preventive mastectomy - but should they be? Rates of women who are opting for preventive mastectomies, such as Angeline Jolie, have increased by an estimated 50 percent in recent years, experts say. But many doctors are puzzled because the operation doesn't carry a 100 percent guarantee, it's major surgery -- and women have other options, from a once-a-day pill to careful monitoring. - Larry Page's damaged vocal cords: Treatment comes with trade-offs - Report questioning salt guidelines riles heart experts - CDC: 2012 was deadliest year for West Nile in US - What stresses moms most? Themselves, survey says - More women opting for preventive mastectomy - but should they be? Between 1990 and 2001, cases of chronic kidney failure rose from 697 to 1,424 per 1 million population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 104 percent increase was even bigger than researchers expected, said Dr. Wayne Giles, a CDC associate director. “Obesity plays an important role,” Giles said. Obesity can lead to diabetes and high blood pressure, and both of those conditions can cause chronic kidney failure. Diabetes-related chronic kidney failure increased 194 percent, from 171 to 503 cases per million, and hypertension-related cases doubled from 166 to 331 cases per million during the same period, the CDC said. Aging population also a factor Other possible reasons cited by the agency for the rise include an aging population, and medical advances such as dialysis that are keeping more people with the condition alive longer. Chronic kidney failure is the ninth-leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for nearly 39,500 deaths per year, according to the CDC. To reduce chronic kidney disease, the CDC emphasized the same tips it suggests to reduce obesity — a healthy diet and regular exercise. Controlling diabetes and high blood pressure also is important — only 37 percent of diabetics have their glucose under control, and only a third of U.S. hypertension patients have restored their blood pressures back to normal levels, Giles said. A CDC survey in the early 1990s found that 56 percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese. That rose to 65 percent in a similar survey done from 1999 to 2002. Obesity is a life-or-death struggle in America: It was the underlying cause of 400,000 deaths in 2000, a 33 percent jump from 1990. If current trends persist, it will be the nation’s No. 1 cause of preventable death, the CDC said earlier this year. Washington, D.C., Louisiana and Mississippi had the highest rates of chronic kidney failure.

Hampson, Paul S., Treece, Jr., M.W., Johnson, Gregory C., Ahlstedt, Steven A., and Connell, Joseph F., 2001, Water quality in the Upper Tennessee River Basin, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia 1994-98: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1205, 32 p. Available Online Ivahnenko, Tamara, Grady, Stephen J., and Delzer, Gregory C., 2001, Design of a national survey of methyl tert-butyl ether and other volatile organic compounds in drinking-water sources: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-271, 42 p. Available Online Kalkhoff, Stephen J., Barnes, Kimberlee K., Becher, Kent D., Savoca, Mark E., Schnoebelen, Douglas J., Sadorf, Eric M., Porter, Stephen D. and Sullivan, Daniel J., 2001, Water quality in the Eastern Iowa Basins, Iowa and Minnesota, 1996-98: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1210, 37 p. Available Online Kauffman, Leon J., Baehr, Arthur L., Ayers, Mark A., and Stackelberg, Paul E., 2001, Effects of land use and travel time on the distribution of nitrate in the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system in southern New Jersey: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4117, 49 p. Available Online Litke, David W., 2001, Historical water-quality data for the High Plains Regional Ground-Water Study Area in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming 1930-98: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 00-4254, 65 p. Available Online Moran, Michael, Grady, Stephen, and Zogorski, John, 2001, Occurrence and distribution of volatile organic compounds in drinking water supplied by community water systems in northeast and mid-atlantic regions of the United States, 1993-98: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS-089-01, 4 p. Available Online Morrow, Jr., William S., 2001, Uranium and radon in ground water in the Lower Illinois River Basin: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4056, 29 p. Available Online Paybins, Katherine S., Messinger, Terence, Eychaner, James H., Chambers, Douglas B., and Kozar, Mark D., 2001, Water quality in the Kanawha-New River Basin, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, 1996-98: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1204, 32 p. Available Online Pope, Larry M., Bruce, Breton W., and Hansen, Cristi V., 2001, Ground-water quality in Quaternary deposits of the central High Plains Aquifer, south- central Kansas, 1999: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 00-4259, 44 p. Available Online Reuber, Eric J., 2001, Shallow ground-water quality in an agricultural area of the Lower Coastal Plain of South Carolina, 1997: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-377, 13 p. Available Online Rowe, Barbara L., Grady, Stephen, Zogorski, John, Koch, Bart, and Tratnyek, Paul, 2001, Initial findings: National survey of MTBE, other ether oxygenates, and other VOCs in community drinking-water sources: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-399, 2' by 3' poster. Available Online Shelton, Jennifer L., Burow, Karen R., Belitz, Kenneth, Dubrovsky, Neil M., Land, Michael, and Gronberg, JoAnn, 2001, Low-level volatile organic compounds in active public supply wells as ground-water tracers in the Los Angeles physiographic basin, California, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4188, 29 p. Available Online Spahr, Norman E., Apodaca, Lori E., Deacon, Jeffrey R., Bails, Jeffrey B., Bauch, Nancy J., Smith, Michelle, and Driver, Nancy E., 2001, Water quality in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado, 1996-98: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1214, 33 p. Available Online Stackelberg, Paul E., Kauffman, Leon J., Ayers, Mark A., and Baehr, Arthur L., 2001, Frequently co-occurring pesticides and volatile organic compounds in public supply and monitoring wells, Southern New Jersey, USA: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, vol. 20, no. 4, p. 853-865. doi: 10.1897/1551-5028(2001)020<0853:FCOPAV>2.0.CO;2 Available Online Stark, J.R., Hanson, P.E., Goldstein, R.M., Fallon, J.D., Fong, A.L., Lee, K.E., Kroening, S.E., and Andrews, W.J., 2001, Water quality in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa, and North Dakota, 1995-98: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1211, 35 p. Available Online Warner, Kelly L., 2001, Arsenic in glacial drift aquifers and the implication for drinking water--Lower Illinois River Basin: Ground Water, vol. 39, no. 3, May-June 2001, p. 433-442. Welch, Alan, Ryker, Sarah, Helsel, Dennis, and Hamilton, Pixie, 2001, Arsenic in ground water of the United States: An overview: Water Well Journal, February 2001, p. 30-33. Zogorski, John S., Moran, Michael J., and Hamilton, Pixie A., 2001, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds--New findings and implications on the quality of source waters used for drinking-water supplies: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS-105-01, 2 p. Available Online Becker, Mark F., Bruce, Breton W., Pope, Larry M., and Andrews, William J., 2002, Ground-water quality of the central High Plains aquifer, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, 1999: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4112, 64 p. Available Online Dennehy, K.F., Litke, D.W., and McMahon, P.B., 2002, The High Plains aquifer, USA: Groundwater development and sustainability: In Hiscock, K.M., Rivett, M.O., and Davison, R.M. (eds.), Sustainable Groundwater Development, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 193, p. 99-119. Ferrari, Matthew J., 2002, Occurrence and distribution of selected contaminants in public drinking-water supplies in the surficial aquifer in Delaware: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-327, 62 p. Available Online Ging, Patricia B., 2002, Pesticides and their breakdown products in Lake Waxahachie, Texas, and in finished drinking water from the lake: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 032-02, 2 p. Available Online Glass, Roy L., 2002, Ground-water age and its water-management implications, Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 022-02, 4 p. Available Online Hamlin, Scott N., Belitz, Kenneth, Kraja, Sarah, and Dawson, Barbara, 2002, Ground-water quality in the Santa Ana watershed, California: Overview and data summary: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4243, 137 p. Available Online Johnson, Gregory C., 2002, Water quality of springs in the Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province in the Upper Tennessee River Basin, 1997: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4180, 24 p. Available Online

Transformers are used in two places in an audio amplifier. One is the power supply and the other is to match the impedance of the tube plates to the speaker. To understand amplifiers you must under stand the workings of a transformer. The following is an excerpt taken from a textbook I wrote for the electronics course I used to teach. I have supplemented it with additional explanation and comments appropriate to tube circuits. If you don't have a mathematical background just skip over the equations and look to the words where I will explain what is going on. A transformer is a device which will change the voltage and current of AC, but not DC. A transformer can be used to step down the voltage of the power line for use by circuits which would be damaged by the full 120 volts of the power line or step up the voltage for circuits which need higher voltage. In addition the electric utility itself uses transformers to step the voltage up and thereby step the current down to minimize the power lost in long power lines. A transformer consists of two or more coils of wire wound on an iron core. The coils are usually wound one surrounding the other. The schematic symbol for a transformer is shown in Figure 2.24 above. The winding to which power is applied is called the primary winding and the winding from which the power is taken is called the secondary winding. Many transformers have more than two windings. Figure 2.24 Schematic symbol for a transformer. To determine quantitatively how the voltage is changed by a transformer we must remember the equationwhere E is the voltage across the coil, N is the number of turns on the coil and phi is the magnetic flux linking the coil. For the two windings of a transformer we can writewhere the subscript P refers to the primary and the subscript S refers to the secondary. In a transformer the magnetic flux is so well confined by the iron core that all of the flux from the primary also links the secondary and visa versa. This means that Phi sub P = Phi sub S. We can divide equation 2.42a through by NP and equation 2.42b by NS which solves them for d Phi / dt, set them equal and rearrange terms to obtain the following equation.Think of it as volts per turn. If a transformer had 600 turns on its primary the volts/turn would be 120/600 = 0.2 volts/turn. If a secondary on that transformer had 63 turns its voltage would be 63 x 0.2 = 12.6 volts. If another secondary winding had 2250 turns the voltage on this secondary would be 2250 x 0.2 = 450 volts. Example 2.23A transformer has 2450 turns on its primary and 700 turns on its secondary. If 120 volts is applied to the primary, what is the secondary voltage? Solution:The secondary voltage is Es = Ep (Ns)/Np) = 120 (700)/(2450) = 34.29 vAC Example 2.24In the case of the transformer from example 2.23 if the secondary current is 850 mA, what is the primary current? Solution:Transformers are so good that the efficiency may be taken as 100% without introducing serious errors. Therefore, the power in the secondary equals the power in the primary. PP = PS and EP IP = ES IS; therefore,A transformer which steps up the voltage will step down the current and vise versa. An electric utility uses transformers to step up the voltage to a very high value (as much as 300 kV) to send power over very long distances. When the voltage is stepped up, the current is stepped down. Most of the loss in power transmission lines is due to the resistances of the wires. Making the current as small as possible will minimize the power loss due to resistance. The voltage is stepped back down for distribution around cities and stepped down again just before being delivered to the customer.and so IP = 850 mA x ( 34.29 v / 120 v ) = 243 mA. From equation 2.44 you might deduce thatand you would be right. Impedance Transformation (Output Transformer)The apparent impedance of the primary of a transformer is given by ZP = EP / IP and the impedance in the secondary is ZS = ES / IS. If we divide equation 2.43 by equation 2.45 and solve the result for EP / IP we have A note about terminology The term "impedance" is often used when the term resistance could be applied. This is correct usage because of the way in which impedance is defined. Impedance is a combination of resistance and reactance (the effect of inductance and capacitance). The reactive component may or may not be zero. In the case of pure resistance it is still correct to say "impedance" even though there is no inductance or capacitance. Therefore, it is possible to say "impedance" and mean "resistance". The reverse of this is not true.Think of it this way, suppose we have a step down transformer. That's one that steps the voltage down. It also steps the current up. If the voltage was stepped down but the current remained the same the resistance would be stepped down. R = V / I. If the current were stepped up and the voltage stayed the same the resistance would also be stepped down. Since the voltage is stepped down at the same time that the current is being stepped up the resistance is stepped down twice. So the resistance (impedance) changes as the square of the turns ratio. Example 2.25What is the turns ratio of a transformer to match an 8 ohm speaker to the 10,000 ohm plate to plate resistance of a pair of 6V6s? Solution:Since power goes to a speaker, the 8 ohm speaker side is the secondary of the transformer. The power flows from the transformer to the speaker.Even though turns can only be whole numbers the decimal fraction doesn't matter. The manufacturer will use numbers large enough to come within 1 or 2 percent of 35.35. Example 2.26You have a couple of unknown output transformers that look very good and you wonder if you can use them in an amplifier you want to build. How can you figure out what you have? Solution:First of all, the primary leads (ones that go to the plates of the tubes and B+) are colored blue, brown and red respectively. The secondary leads usually have colors like black, orange, yellow and green. These are generally taps for 4, 8 and 16 ohm speakers. Connect an audio oscillator or function generator (set to sine wave) to the blue and brown leads. Turn the generator up to full output and set the frequency to 1000 cycles per second. Use an AC voltmeter or DMM to measure the voltage across the generator output and between the following secondary leads. Black to orange, Black to yellow, and black to green. Let's say you measured the following voltages.Eureka! You've got two transformers that will match a pair of 6L6s to 4, 8 or 16 ohm speakers. Have fun building the amplifier. Blue to brown = 8.00 volts. Black to Orange = 0.226 volts. Black to Yellow = 0.320 volts. Black to Green = 0.452 volts. So far you can conclude that the black to orange is the lowest impedance output the black to green is the highest and the black to yellow is in the middle. A very good guess is that the black to orange is for a 4 ohm speaker, black to yellow an 8 ohm speaker and black to green a 16 ohm. Let's assume this is the case and calculate the plate to plate impedance for each secondary tap. The voltage ratios are equal to the turns ratios so we can just square the voltage ratios to get the impedance ratios. ZP = 4 Ω (8 / 0.226)2 = 5012 Ω ZP = 8 Ω (8 / 0.320)2 = 5000 Ω ZP = 16 Ω (8 / 0.452)2 = 5012 Ω

No, not a politician. New Scientist is reporting that a new material has been discovered by accident. A superhard substance that is more slippery than Teflon could protect mechanical parts from wear and tear, and boost energy efficiency by reducing friction. The "ceramic alloy" is created by combining a metal alloy of boron, aluminium and magnesium (AlMgB14) with titanium boride (TiB2). It is the hardest material after diamond and cubic boron nitride. BAM, as the material is called, was discovered at the US Department of Energy Ames Laboratory in Iowa in 199, during attempts to develop a substance to generate electricity when heated. This has great potential. It doesn't react with steel—and degrade—the way diamond does. Think of all the applications: coatings for drill bits, gears, internal engine parts. The list is nearly endless. Nearly as hard as diamonds, slipperier than teflon. Wow.

El Veterano: Mr. Trevino's Neighborhood Any day of the week, you can find his work on the street “La Historia Chicana,” Our Lady of the Lake 411 SW 24th St., Our Lady of the Lake campus, This majestic wall mural encircling the Sueltenfuss Library is generally acknowledged to be the first grand-scale work executed by Treviño after the loss of his right hand. This new-lefty (in all senses) epic visually synthesizes familia, faith, and symbols of both el movimiento and Old Glory in a lyrical style that references Orozco, Siquieros, and Rivera, and ignited the imagination of a young Vincent Valdez. Treviño earned his BA and garnered an honorary doctorate from OLLU. “Imagenes de Mi Pueblo,” Wells Fargo Bank (formerly Kelly Field Bank) (1982) 707 Castroville Rd. Missions and marketplace, ethos and commerce, architecture and terrain, history, and hope all unite in this enormous narrative wall mural inside what is now a Wells Fargo branch. Significantly, the building once housed Kelly National Bank, a financial institution patronized primarily by Kelly Air Force Base workers (see “No Te Acabes,” page TK). This mural serves as a reminder of where, when, and from whom those Kelly workers, many new to an emerging Chicano middle-class, arose, and places this new wave of economic opportunity squarely on the historical map. “Spirit of Healing,” Santa Rosa Hospital (1997) 333 Santa Rosa St. Nine stories high and comprising more than 150,000 pieces of hand-cut tile (an estimated 100,000 of which were cut by Jesse Treviño himself), this mural was commissioned by Christus Santa Rosa on a leap of faith with little idea of what it would cost, and was erected with significant help from students and community volunteers. The child depicted is based on Treviño’s own son, Jesse, and the comforting (if, significantly, broken-winged) angel is modeled on his late sister Eva. (Fun fact: In the photograph from which young Jesse’s likeness is taken, he’s cradling not a pair of doves, but a hedgehog.) “La Curandera,” Texas Diabetes Institute (1999) 701 S. Zarzamora With diabetes twice as prevalent in the Mexican-American community than in either the U.S. Anglo population or in Mexico — it’s estimated by the Diabetes Monitor (diabetesmonitor.com) that 25 to 30 percent of Mexican-Americans age 50 and older are diabetic — Treviño’s moralistic homage to 1950s-era medicinal arts in this state-of-the-art facility is both thoughtful and timely. The wise Latina manning the counter surrounded by traditional remedies is based on an actual practitioner in a downtown botanica, and serves as a reminder that health care is more than a right; it’s a tradición. “La Veladora of Our Lady of Guadalupe,” Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center (2006) 1301 Guadalupe St. Treviño constructed this 40-foot veladora in honor of those lost in the 9/11 attacks. La Virgen de Guadalupe is the patron saint of the Americas and a symbol of compassion, social justice, the power of the feminine, and the spiritual equality of people of color. Treviño’s massive, three-dimensional veladora, which contains an eternal flame, ranks as the largest Virgin Mary mosaic in the world, and is said by Treviño to have been designed to last at least 500 years.

This post will likely make you uncomfortable. I know that I am going to be uncomfortable writing it. When I was in Boy Scouts, I washed vans for the Stake President to make money for the troop. He was the head of a plumbing company and there was a vast back lot in which we engaged in water fights and exploration when the washing got dull. One time, some of us found some pornographic magazines in an old container back there. They had something to do with vampires, pregnant ladies, and a whole lot of nudity. All of us snuck a glance, due to the bizarreness of the magazine and the fact of naked ladies. A similar thing happened on another Scout trip to clean up someone’s old homestead. In sorting through all the crap, we found a stash of photographic slides of nudes. All the scouts involved had a look. I’m not proud that I did it, but I’m not terribly surprised that I did it either. There are certain lessons that we could take from these two anecdotes. Certainly it is appropriate to wonder where the leaders were in all this. I think that they were inside, in the cool, in the plumbing back lot and that they were carefully steered away from the slides by us. Certainly they could have been more vigilant. In this same era I remember that one of the benefits of going on overnight temple trips to Atlanta was the possibility of seeing R rated movies at the hotel, where the chaparones were present. So we could read this as an opportunity to condemn my youth leaders. Or we could turn it into a critique of pornography in general. I don’t know that the other young men struggled with pornography in the intervening years, but I do know that I am one of only a couple who are still active in the church. Perhaps these brushes with porn began to poison these boys, sapping their connection to the Lord and eventually leading them to reject missions and eventually the church itself. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one who thought about driving out to that homestead and retrieving those slides, which, when you think about it, is about the most inconvenient way to view pornography, especially if you don’t have a slide projector. That said, I often felt like I was. I remember, one time, I told a bishop, in a fit of guilt, that I had masturbated. He looked at me and, stifling a laugh, told me that if everyone who did that came to see him he’d be holding interviews 24/7. He left it to me to figure out my repentance with the Lord. I think either of these approaches misses the point. I was of sufficient age to understand what pornography was. I had attended umpteen lessons regarding the dangers of porn, its degrading nature, its poisonous influence. I understood that I was a child of God, meant for better things. Yet when the opportunity arose I, like all my peers, partook of the forbidden. I didn’t do it because of my peers (although their participation doubtless didn’t hurt); I did it because I was deeply curious about sex, about what women looked like without clothes on, and about what it meant to be grown up. It is something of a cliche in the bloggernacle that female sexuality is somewhat stifled in the church and there are plenty of people who enjoy the transgressive nature of posts that offer anonymous sex advice. However, aggressive female sexuality, initially thought of as a feminist triumph, still allows women to be considered primarily as sexual objects. The status of masturbation as a sin is a regularly debated topic (one which that bishop, at least, seems to have resolved for himself). Pornography itself is occasionally treated, usually with kid gloves, because too much empathy may indicate sympathy and too much stringency may indicate judgment beyond one’s pay-grade. Both of these problems within the church are, moreso, symptoms, I think; it might be helpful to treat the cause. The cause, I think, is to a great degree our tendency to ignore the elephant in the room: male sexuality. This isn’t only an issue of our church; all of American society is gripped with the same issue. At best, we have some notion of the libido in men. My wife tells me that much male sexual behavior and desire can be explained by evolutionary biology and psychology. Freud certainly acknowledged the power of male sexual desire, but I don’t know that we have much progressed beyond his thoughts. Certainly I am no sexologist, but it strikes me that we can have lengthy discussions of the best way for women to masturbate in the bloggernacle, but the opposite simply isn’t true. Male sexuality is a big, powerful mystery and our unwillingness to confront it directly is leading to a lot of trouble. I feel a need to note that I am not advocating free love, a loosening of sexual taboos, the breaking of commandments, or a weakening of the church’s position on pre-marital sex. That way lies madness (literally, in the case of syphilis) and a host of other social problems. Nor am I interested in hearing about your fantasies, fetishes, or freakishness. This post isn’t about confession; go see your bishop or your counselor if you need to unload. This post is a call for some understanding of why our young men seek sex, in spite of all our well-meaning warnings, with a couple lousy suggestions for improvements in how we teach and talk about sex. We have a tendency to treat male sexuality as a great untamed beast. This is, I think, setting all our young men up for failure. We take it for granted that a father might tell a son or daughter to not stay out late with their partner “because I know how boys are at your age.” But what is the message sent by that saying? That every boy is a potential rapist? That the father understood that he might have raped someone if he didn’t go to bed by 11:30? Obviously, these scenarios disregard the potential willingness of the girl (we’ll set aside homosexuality for now, although our treatment of it is another symptom of our great fear and unwillingness to directly address male sexuality). But if it is all about what boys at age x are like, we’re ignoring her feelings about the matter anyway. Now, I don’t want to dismiss the problem of acquaintance rape, which is real and happens a lot (at least, that’s the case in Utah valley), but rather I want to emphasize that we treat male sexuality like the Hulk. You don’t know when it will come to the fore, but when it does it will take over everything in your life and the results won’t be pretty. Another example: it is a commonly held belief amongst my students at UVU that porn leads to serial killing. Everyone knows that Ted Bundy looked at pornography and Bundy said that it was pornography that led him down the path to killing women. They say that in addictive behavior, such as that induced by porn use in conservative communities, the addict escalates. Therefore, after you’ve browsed a Playboy, it won’t be long before you are slaughtering young girls on the hillside. This is, of course, absolute crap. As far as I know, every single boy over 14 in Utah County (possibly in America) has seen porn and yet our serial killing still seems relatively rare. But because male sexuality is the great bear, ready to attack and consume, this is how we understand it. The problem with this approach is that, of course, once you’ve looked at porn (had sex, wondered what that girl you like would look like without clothes on), then you are obviously in the grip of powers beyond your control. You can’t help yourself now, because the force of the thing is too powerful. Certainly, the libido is a strong force, but the bigger and more intimidating we make it, the less likely young men are going to be able to learn to control it. The less we discuss and consider it, the bigger a problem it is. When I looked at those magazines, I was interested in the pictures, but I was equally interested in what they represented to me: adulthood. It is crazy to think of pornography as sophisticated, but I did. Sex indicated a new stage of life, the final border to between me and autonomy. It was what grown-ups did and, as a teen, I was determined to assert my ability to be grown up. Of course, the manner in which I did this was deeply childish and selfish (which all pornography is), but I didn’t/couldn’t/wouldn’t see that. Looking at porn, amongst other things, made me feel strong and in control of my life. That was its allure, as much as or more than the promise of nudity. That’s what Hollywood sells, not sex, but sophistication and autonomy. It seems to me that, if we want to teach our young men successfully about sexuality, we should focus on what a truly adult approach to sexuality would be. This shouldn’t cloak it in secrecy, but its proper application should be acknowledged. Stable, strong, sexual relationships make us happier. Pornography, sexual deviation, and a lack of reverence for your partner can harm that relationship. Again, I don’t think explicit description is necessary (or helpful), but I think that a sense of the power of a loving, sexual relationship is necessary to convey to young men (and women) why waiting for the one to whom you’d like to be married is necessary. And if providing that sense makes the young men and women deeply uncomfortable and embarassed in the meantime, that might be helpful, too. On the bus on the way to school the other day, I heard the hoary ol’ saying “If you don’t look, you are not a man. If you look twice, you are a bad (missionary/husband/boy scout).” If being a man has been truly reduced to having the ability to objectify a woman, then we are all in pretty sorry shape. I know this goes contra culture, but what if we did teach kids (and provided examples ourselves) that sex is only a part of healthy relationships, a necessary part, but not the spice. The spice is having someone you trust to put up with your quirks and having the joy of putting up with another’s. The spice is getting to be a part of someone else’s plan without feeling or being used. The spice is giving oneself over to another, taking the risk of intimacy and having it work out. In marriage, sex is often obligatory; trust never is. I remember President Hinckley once giving an anti-pornography talk about being the person your future spouse wants to marry. That’s the sort of thing that, I think, will help. But our present tendency seems to me to be to treat our young people, involved in sexual sin, as lepers, victims of an eventually fatal, lingering, consumption. If we want male sexuality to stop being our societal cancer, then we need to deal with it directly, instead of stepping lightly around it. After all, cancer is uncontrolled growth; if we actually started teaching boys to direct it properly, what heights could they achieve?

Formally, a correlation coefficient is defined between the two random variables (x and y, here). Let sx and xy denote the standard devations of x and y. Let sxy denote the covariance of x and y. The correlation coefficent between x and y, denoted sometimes rxy, is defined by: rxy = sxy / sxsy Correlation coefficients are between -1 and 1, inclusive, by definition. They are greater than zero for positive correlation and less than zero for negative correlations.

Chapter 6, Teaching Indigenous Languages edited by Jon Reyhner Northern Arizona University. Coyote as Reading Teacher: Oral Tradition in the Classroom Armando Heredia and Norbert Francis Legends, myths, folk tales, and stories have long been an important aspect of the history and culture of indigenous people; vehicles to preserve, carry, and teach historical events, religious beliefs, ethics, and values to the young and old. Ethnographers and students of folklore have described in detail and extensively analyzed the literary aspects of oral tradition. However, despite the broad consensus on the artistic merits of traditional stories and the role they have played in the linguistic and cultural continuity of indigenous peoples, they are little used in schools. This paper discusses the instructional uses of traditional stories is meant to serve as a contribution to realizing their educational potential.Story telling was a way of relating history, transmitting cultural knowledge, and giving expression to the esthetic and poetic endeavors of all Native American peoples. As Chief Standing Bear explained: Story-telling is an ancient profession, and these stories are among our oldest possessions. For many years before the white man ever came to our homeland these legends were told over and over, and handed down from generation to generation. They were our books, our literature, and the memories of the storytellers were the leaves upon which they were written. (quoted in Humishuma, 1990, p. 305)Erdoes and Ortiz (1984) refer to the 166 legends that they recorded as productions from the heart and soul of the Native people of North America: Some have been told for thousands of years, and they are still being told and retold, reshaped and refitted to meet their audience's changing needs, even created anew out of a contemporary man's or woman's vision. (p. xi)While authorship and possession were typically collective, as with all esthetic and formal language use, special conditions and contexts of performance, the narrator's qualifications, and even, in some circumstances, strict requirements of execution and replication were observed. For example, Plains Indians followed prescribed procedures specifically identifying persons for conserving and sharing stories, who "owned" and protected individual story bundles. When the time was right, transfer of the story bundles would be carefully transacted by a process that involved formal instruction and preparation (Lankford, 1987). Clearly, oral esthetic, ceremonial, and formal genres depart from the context-embedded registers of everyday casual conversation in a similar way that their written counterparts differ from situation-dependent graphic messages. Oral tradition and writing It is important to note that the indigenous cultures of the Americas were not complete strangers to complex systems of graphic representation when the Europeans introduced alphabetic writing in the 16th Century. The Maya were evidently the most advanced in this area, with the Aztecs not far behind with their hybrid system that clearly was evolving toward true writing (the representation of units of language in graphic form). Montemayor (1993) compares the two systems: Mayan writing, the closest to what we would define as a [true] writing system, and Náhuatl, had at their disposal numerals, logograms, phonetic and semantic determiners, and rebus elements. They were able to transcribe homonyms, or rather homophonic suffixes and endings. These pictographs and symbols not only represented ideas, but also sounds and sound patterns, which presupposes the capacity not only to recognize parts of words, but also the ability to recognize homophonic relationships among these parts and among other words. Writing was employed by priests, nobles and specialized scribes, and its origin and functions were closely tied to religion. (p. 22)At the time of the European contact, many of the tribes to the North had already experimented with various pictographic, iconic, and mnemonic systems. Lankford notes: Europeans had early commented on the wampum (bead) belts used by speakers at formal councils to remind themselves of the historical or mythical episodes they were to tell; in the Plains the same devices were used, but they seem to have been more usually painted on skin. Both practices seem to have existed in the Southeast. (1987, p. 47)However, a full account of pre-Columbian writing will never be available because of the massive destruction of bibliographical and archival data during the Conquest. While the greater part of the material was surely lost, significant portions of the historical record and much of the poetic and narrative tradition was preserved orally. The interest in indigenous narratives and poetry actually dates to the period immediately following the Conquest as missionaries and religious scholars began to take stock of the devastating loss to scientific and cultural knowledge that had already been irrevocably consummated. The compilation, transcription, and publication of indigenous oral tradition has continued to this day. More recently with the resurgence of interest in preserving the Native languages of the Americans, original editions have begun to be prepared, in many cases, without translation. Critics of oral tradition transcription have pointed to the vastly differing contexts of oral performance on the one hand and the conventions of written language on the other--the collective and interactive processes that mediate text construction between narrator and audience versus the isolated and decontextualized encoding of the writer. However, despite the modifications that transcription entails (adjusting, for example, for the absence of an immediate and physically present audience and the loss of certain discourse resources available only to the narrator--prosody, deixis, and so forth), both historical evidence and our own experience in compilation and transcription have demonstrated, we believe, that the alleged discontinuities have been entirely overstated. In any case, transcribed and edited versions of oral narrative are not meant to capture the singularly interactive features of face-to-face performance. On the one hand, the formal and artistic genres of traditional cultures approximate in significant ways the planned, and peculiarly structured discourse that characterizes most (but, again, not all) written expression. And on the other hand, edited versions, in print (which need not in any fundamental way imply the displacement of oral forms) offer the reader/listener new options that we will briefly explore in the following sections. Narrative structure of the stories The very selective survey of coyote stories presented below highlights the vast classroom potential of this branch of oral tradition. Even a very introductory study and analysis of their literary aspects by teachers would enrich any reading and language arts program. But in particular, incorporating this awareness into teaching practice would be an essential component of bilingual language revitalization programs involving the teaching of indigenous languages. From our own rather summary examination of the material, teaching applications would seem to fall into two broad areas of school-based language learning: Closely related to the say/mean distinction is the portrayal of Coyote's complex and ambiguous character. A literary feature usually associated with modern fiction, especially the novel, is ambivalence and inner strife, a common state of mind for our canine hero. Research on literacy development has pointed to the reader/listener's focus on and contemplation of characters' inner psychological states, thoughts, and feelings as an important milestone toward decontextualized comprehension strategies (Torrence & Olson, 1985). In "The Story of the Rabbit and his Uncle Coyote," a Tzutuhuil story (Sexton, 1992), and "Coyote's Rabbit Chase," Tewa (Erdoes & Ortiz, 1984), the use of dramatic irony presents but another opportunity for the emergent reader to reconcile contradictions and disparities of all sorts. Heroism is unambiguously conferred upon our protagonist in the Diné version of "Coyote Brings Fire" (Newcomb & Zolbrod, 1993). The sequence of building conflicts and increasing tension, punctuated by the characteristic rhythm and tempo of the omnipresent parallel structures and recurring patterns, culminates in Coyote's escape from the Fire Man. Throughout this and many other coyote stories, the extensive recourse to metaphoric language ("cloud of sparks," "in the air waiting for a flame to blaze upward," "showers of sparks"), again, calls the reader/listener's attention to linguistic forms, the poetic functions in general, and how words are good for more than just expressing referential meaning. Especially regarding the higher literacy proficiencies, the reader must be able to reflect on what words actually (i.e., that which is stipulated by the text itself) mean as opposed to the mere interpretation of what was intended, as in casual conversation (see Olson & Hildyard, 1983). Two contrasting examples Coyote stories vary widely in their structural complexity, as well as thematically. In this variability, precisely, lies their power as a genre, from the pedagogical point of view. We would like to call the reader's attention to two particularly illustrative examples, each exemplifying features that, respectively, lend themselves to our two broad language learning objectives: 1) the development of textual consciousness and literacy-related discourse competencies, and 2) a source of second language comprehensible input. Coyote and the Shadow People--for discourse competence While the theme of the journey to the Land of the Dead in order to retrieve a loved one is apparently universal among indigenous peoples, in "Coyote and the Shadow People" coyote rises to truly heroic and humanlike proportions.2 The Death Spirit/Guide offers Coyote (who we find in the opening episode weeping and lonely) the opportunity to be reunited with his wife. To our tragic figure, he must repeat the classical admonition too many times: "You must do whatever I say, do not disobey" (Ramsey, 1983). Guided through a series of images and illusions that Coyote (at first confused) must acknowledge as real, he is rewarded with the arrival at the longhouse where he greets old friends. Upon being reunited with his wife and admonished one last time not to touch her, he sets out on the return journey; the descent from the fifth mountain signaling the triumph over the Underworld. However, by the fourth encampment, the wife's apparition had become too attractive for Coyote to resist touching. Weeping at her loss, he vainly retraces his journey, reenacting the illusions of the first trip that are now so movingly useless, finally he arrives back at the dusty prairie where he first encountered the Lodge of the Shadows. Here, the teacher can take full advantage of the complex interplay between irony and foreshadowing. As Ramsey points out, "in a sense, everything Coyote does in his quest foreshadows his failure, both for himself and his wife, and for the great precedent of returning from death that he might establish. Specific prefigurements occur at every turn" (1983, p. 53). This element of textual coherence cannot be underestimated, and unfortunately in many elementary reading and language arts programs developing the ability to mentally construct it is left for the student to somehow spontaneously acquire. This particular comprehension skill becomes increasingly more useful as children's reading material becomes more difficult. Students in the upper grades will find school texts more abstract and less transparent because predicting strategies based almost exclusively on general previous knowledge lose their universal applicability. The reader must rely to a greater extent on his or her ability to find in the text itself the cues, referents, causal relationships, and antecedents necessary for constructing global meaning. Predicting strategies in reading have long been recognized as fundamental to both decoding and comprehension (Smith, 1988). Expectation and anticipation facilitate the processing of text at all levels. Perhaps at some levels, direct teaching of the patterns may require relatively limited conscious attention on the part of the teacher (e.g., sound patterns and grammar structures). However, at the higher levels, deliberate and systematic instruction plays a critical role in the acquisition of the advanced text processing skills that are the mainstay of textbook-type academic discourse. In "Coyote and the Shadow People" some of the cues are explicit. After lecturing the traveler extensively against his inclination to do foolish things and repeating: "you must never, never touch herbut never touch her," in an aside, the Spirit says to himself "I hope that he will do everything right." Other cues are more subtle. Upon arriving at the Lodge of the Shadows, Coyote suddenly, and in apparent contradiction to his desire to take his wife back home, tells the Spirit that he wants to stay with his friends. Coyote's futile recapitulation of the failed first journey (pretending to see the wild horses on the prairie, going through the motions of picking and eating the berries, and raising the door flap to the lodge) calls for special attention by the teacher, even perhaps during reading, in mid-discourse. On the unconscious level the young reader/listener experiences the effect of the different layers of parallelism and symmetry in the narration. Contrast is artfully reiterated: day and night, living world and shadow world, suffering (the heat and dust of the day) and celebration (the lodge reunion). The repetition of detail evokes the images that bring narrator and listener closer, another of the many features that everyday conversation and literature share (Tannen, 1989). But it is when students begin to consciously reflect upon these structural aspects of the text that they are beginning to acquire the basic competencies of what Cummins and Swain (1987) call Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). In addition to the thematic and general content schemata, the students' network of previous knowledge will now call upon the powerful text organizing tools that correspond to their newly acquired system of formal schemata (Carrell, 1989; Carrell & Eisterhold, 1983). The skillful teacher can guide their students in discovering, for themselves, these literary features and discourse patterns. Tlacual uan coyotl--for second language learning Our second example comes from the oral tradition of the Náhuatl speaking communities of Central Mexico, where we were able to record a complete version of "Tlacual uan Coyotl" (The Opossum and the Coyote) from a middle-aged informant, native of San Isidro Buensuceso, Tlaxcala. Both thematically and structurally, the narrative falls at the opposite end of the continuum from the Nez Perce Orphic myth, although the particular context of the performance, an audience of young children, surely contributed to its simplification. But here, it is this characteristic that corresponds to the instructional objective in question: second language acquisition. Along the lines of another common theme, especially in Mexico (see "Didxaguca' sti' lexu ne gueu," a Zapoteco version that attempts to account for a different natural phenomenon, de la Cruz & de la Cruz, 1990), Coyote arrives at what he thinks is an agreement with God to eat all His children. God's confederate, the opossum, submits the (in this case, outrageously) foolish coyote to a series of outlandish deceptions and deservingly punishing pranks. If the young listeners do not begin to predict the outcome of the subsequent sequences from the opening frame where the lowly coyote thinks he has actually made a contract with God, they may take note of opossum's patent lie in episode #2 that Coyote wholeheartedly believes. Opossum assures Coyote that, "God won't see [him]" drink the pulque (the agreement was for Coyote to fast before he could eat all the Earth's creatures). Seven episodes of opossum's craftiness and evasion at coyote's expense end with the latter hungry and alone, waiting forever for opossum to reemerge from his burrow. What "Tlacual uan Coyotl" may lack in universality of theme or structural sophistication is more than compensated for in the series of repetitive structures in close succession, with the pertinent referents in high-profile foreground. This is the ideal kind of sequence for second language learners. Each short episode begins with the same initial event: Coyote comes looking, running after, wandering and (later) faltering; the repeated promise to devour Opossum who, each time, shifts the responsibility of the deception to the pulque opossum, the shepherd opossum, the turkey opossum, and so forth, nicely recapitulating for the reader/listener the sequence of deceptions. True to the repetitive pattern, Coyote, pleadingly, demands to know, every time why Opossum is deceiving him so much. And every time he reminds himself of God's admonishment. The over-repetition of key content words (Toteotatzin--Our God Father, niccuaz--eat up, amo nimitztelhuiz--I won't accuse you, otnechacacaya--you deceived me), signaled by the appropriate intonation markers, increases the comprehensible input level. This feature makes the narrative even more accessible to the second language learner, in this case the Spanish speaking student whose Náhuatl language skills are still incipient or have suffered a degree of erosion. The singular merit, from the pedagogical standpoint, of the Náhuatl coyote story and many others like it consists of the combination of simplified structure and authenticity. Too often authentic texts lack the necessary modifications that second language students depend on to be able to process textual material in their weaker language. In fact, with appropriate visual context support (puppets of Opossum and Coyote and props that depict the seven action sequences) the performance of "Tlacual uan coyotl" could serve as a highly effective language and literacy instructional material for level one (or even level zero) beginners in Náhuatl. Here, the process of meaning construction is supported by the key content word items, the limited concept load, repetitive action sequences, and the application of general previous knowledge. For language revitalization purposes this type of narrative genre is a critical component of academic language input that, in turn, represents the raw material for learning new vocabulary and acquiring or reinforcing the grammatical structures of the indigenous language. Its complete and authentic characteristics facilitate learning the structural aspects of the language. Furthermore, learning language in context not only contributes to the development of higher order comprehension skills but integrates the all important cultural component (more critical in situations of indigenous language loss) into the language arts curriculum. Geographical features and towns mentioned in the narrative are often concrete cultural referents that are tied to important historical moments and turning points. The introduction of certain characters often correspond to historically significant transitions in the domain of interethnic contact: the white man, the priest, and new non-indigenous institutions. For the monolingual indigenous language speaker, or beginner, translations into Spanish or English of oral tradition material provide for many of the same advantages outlined above. Reading and listening to the traditional stories of one's community insure significant levels of top-down support for the difficult second language decoding and processing tasks. And of course, the straight forward temporal/sequential narrative schema (with elements of causal/logical organization) lends itself well for native level Náhuatl speaking children in their initial stages of literacy development. The popularity of indigenous oral tradition in translation, especially in regions of sustained intercultural contact, attests to the broad applicability of the various sub-genres (creation legends rivaling the coyote stories in both English and Spanish editions) for expanding non-indigenous students "narrative awareness" beyond the familiar patterns of their own traditional texts. The potential of this indigenous literary form for enriching the reading and language arts curriculum has been realized only partially, even in the most favorable contexts of additive/developmental bilingual education. Our examination of the multitude of applications has focused on only a few examples in the area of reading. Without a doubt, applying the material to the area of developing students' writing skills would be equally as productive. Coyote stories are basically vignettes in a never-ending story, prototypes of inexhaustible variations and permutations. It is, in fact, the assimilation of a relatively limited set of text organization schemata, mastery of basic narrative techniques, and a set of formulas that the traditional story teller has relied on in developing the extensive repertoires of his or her art. In closing, it is important to emphasize that creativity depends on the writer's access to structures and patterns, the application of which are facilitated by high degrees of metacognitive awarenessfundamentally, on an awareness--fundamentally on an awareness of how expression is constrained. These text construction frameworks and organizers are consolidated by significant amounts of exposure to the pertinent models and reflective and deliberate examination of how they work (which includes reflection upon and feedback on one's own productions). Creativity, is also expansive and divergent, and within the self-imposed limits of all good literature, Coyote can do, or at least try, anything. 2The presentation and percipient literary criticism of this Nez Perce Orphic story we owe to J. Ramsey (1983), whose analysis we follow closely. The myth of Orpheus and Euridice is surely one of the most prominent examples of the universality of traditional narrative themes. The recording, transcription, and translation of "Coyote and the Shadow people" forms part of the extensive ethnographic and literary work of A. Phinney of Columbia University and a member of the Nez-Perce tribe. Swadesh (1966) shares with us a Nutca version where "Orpheus" travels by canoe and is counseled and guided by an elderly woman from his tribe who he finds on a strange and unknown beach. Carrell, P.L. (1989). Metalinguistic awareness and second language reading. The Modern Language Review, 73(2), 121-130. Carrell, P.L., & Eisterhold, J.C. (1983). Schema theory and ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly, 17(4), 553-573. Cummins, J., & Swain, M. (1987). Bilingualism in education: Aspects of theory, research and practice. New York: Longman. de la Cruz, G., & de la Cruz, V. (1990). Didxaguca' sti' lexu ne gueu'. In Animales fantásticos y más leyendas. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo. Erdoes, R., & Ortiz, A. (1984). American Indian myths and legends. New York: Pantheon. Humishuma, C.Q. (1990). Coyote stories. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska. Lankford, G. E. (1987). Native American legends: Southeastern legendsTales from the Natchez, Caddo, Biloxi, Chickasaw and other nations. Little Rock, AR: August House. Montemayor, C. (1993). Situación actual y perspectivas de la literatura en lenguas indígenas. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. Newcomb, F. J., & Zolbrod, P. (1993). Navajo folk tales. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico. Olson, D., & Hildyard A. (1983). Literacy and the comprehension and expression of literal meaning. In F. Coulmas & K. Ehlich (Eds.), Writing in focus. New York: Mouton. Ramsey, J. (1983). Reading the fire: Essays in the traditional Indian literatures of the far west. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska. Sexton, J. D. (1992). Mayan folk tales: Folklore from Latitlán, Guatemala. New York: Doubleday. Smith, F. (1988). Understanding reading: A psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Swadesh, M. (1966). El lenguaje y la vida humana. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Tannen, D. (1989). Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University. Torrence, N., & Olson, D.R. (1985). Oral and literate competencies in the early school years. In D.R. Olson, N. Torrence, & A. Hildyard (Eds.) Literacy, language, and learning: The nature and consequences of reading and writing. New York: Cambridge University. Torrence, N., & Olson, D.R. (1987). Development of the meta-language and the acquisition of literacy: A progress report. Interchange, 18(1 & 2), 136-146.

Context: Controversy exists regarding whether and how physicians should address religion/spirituality (R/S) with patients. Objective: This study examines the relationship between physicians’ religious characteristics and their attitudes and self-reported behaviors regarding R/S in the clinical encounter. Methods: A cross-sectional mailed survey of a stratified random sample of 2000 practicing U.S. physicians from all specialties. Main criterion variables were self-reported practices of R/S inquiry, dialogue regarding R/S issues, and prayer with patients. Main predictor variables were intrinsic religiosity, spirituality, and religious affiliation. Results: Response rate was 63%. Almost all physicians (91%) say it is appropriate to discuss R/S issues if the patient brings them up, and 73% say that when R/S issues comes up they often or always encourage patients’ own R/S beliefs and practices. Doctors are more divided about when it is appropriate for physicians to inquire regarding R/S (45% believe it is usually or always inappropriate), talk about their own religious beliefs or experiences (14% say never, 43% say only when the patient asks), and pray with patients (17% say never, 53% say only when the patient asks). Physicians who identify themselves as more religious and more spiritual, particularly those who are Protestants, are significantly more likely to endorse and report each of the different ways of addressing R/S in the clinical encounter. Conclusions: Differences in physicians’ religious and spiritual characteristics are associated with differing attitudes and behaviors regarding R/S in the clinical encounter. Discussions of the appropriateness of addressing R/S matters in the clinical encounter will need to grapple with these deeply rooted differences among physicians.

Fission weapons discussed above are ultimately limited in their destructive capability by the sheer size a subcritical mass can assume -- and be imploded quickly enough by high explosives to form a supercritical assembly. The largest known pure fission weapon tested had a 500 kiloton yield. This is some thirty-eight times the release which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. Not satisfied that this was powerful enough, designers developed thermonuclear (fusion) weapons. Fusion exploits the energy released in the fusing of two atoms to form a new element; e.g. deuterium atoms fusing to form helium, 2H + 2H = 4He2 , as occurs on the sun. For atoms to fuse, very high temperatures and pressures are required. Only fusion of the lightest element, hydrogen, has proven practical. And only the heavy isotopes of hydrogen, 2H (deuterium) and 3H (tritium), have a low enough threshold for fusion to have been used in weapons successfully thus far. The first method tried (boosting) involved simply placing 3H in a void within the center of a fission weapon, where tremendous temperatures and high pressures were attendant to the fission explosion. This worked; contributing energy to the overall explosion, and boosting the efficiency of the Pu fissioning as well (fusion reactions also release neutrons, but with much higher energy). Because 3H is a gas at room temperature, it can be easily 'bled' into the central cavity from a storage bottle prior to an explosion, and impact the final yield of the device. This is still used today, and allows for what is termed 'dial-a-yield' capability on many stockpiled weapons. Multistage thermonuclear weapons -- the main component of today's strategic nuclear forces -- are more complex. These employ a 'primary' fission weapon to serve merely as a trigger. As mentioned above, the fission weapon is characterized by a tremendous energy release in a small space over a short period of time. As a result, a very large fraction of the initial energy release is in the form of thermal X-rays. These X-rays are channeled to a 'secondary' fusion package. The X-rays travel into a cavity within a cylindrical radiation container. The radiation pressure from these X-rays either directly, or through an intermediate material often cited as a polystyrene foam, ablates a cylindrical enclosure containing thermonuclear fuel (shown in blue at left); this can be Li2H (lithium deuteride). Running along the central axis of this fuel is a rod of fissile material, termed a 'sparkplug'. The contracting fuel package becomes denser, the sparkplug begins to fission, neutrons from this transmute the Li2H into 3H that can readily fuse with 2H (the fusion reaction 3H + 2H has a very high cross-section, or probability, in typical secondary designs), heat increases greatly, and fusion continues through the fuel mass. A final 'tertiary' stage can be added to this in the form of an exterior blanket of 238U, wrapping the outer surface of the radiation case or the fuel package. 238U is not fissionable by the slower neutrons which dominate the fission weapon environment, but fusion releases copious high energy neutrons and this can fast fission the ordinary uranium. This is a cheap (and radiologically very dirty) way to greatly increase yield. The largest weapon ever detonated -- the Soviet Union's 'super bomb', was some 60 MT in yield, and would have been nearer 100MT had this technique been used in its tertiary. Again, to control the yield precisely, 3H may be bled from a separate tank into the core of the primary, as shown in the hypothetical diagram on the left of a modern thermonuclear weapon. This primary/secondary/tertiary or multistage arrangement can be increased -- unlike the fission weapon -- to provide insane governments with any arbitrarily large yield.Fusion, or thermonuclear weapons, are not simple to design nor are they likely targets of construction for would-be terrorists today. Many aspects of the relevant radiation transport, X-ray opacities, and ultra-high T and D equations-of-state (EOS) for relevant materials are still classified to this day (though increasing dissemination of weapons-adaptable information from the inertially-confined fusion (ICF) area may change this in time). Keeping such information classified makes good sense.

Your commute to work may not be the highlight of your day, but fewer of us are using our own cars to commute to work, a new study shows. More people are working from home and those who do commute use public transportation, bikes or their own two feet. That’s why fewer cars are on the road than in the past, the report says. The Texas Public Interest Research Group evaluated U.S. census data and found that Americans drive 7.6% fewer miles than they did in 2004. On average, Americans between 16 and 34 years of age lowered their driving miles by 23% from 2001 to 2009. Younger Generation Goes Green to Lower Commutes Thank millennials for part of the shift. The report says they leverage public transportation and bicycles to get to work. They also use technology to plot their routes by foot. And when they do need a ride, they turn again to the Internet to rent a vehicle. “We see an increased use of public transportation, green transportation, and walking among the nation’s millennials,” Sara Smith, a researcher with TexPIRG, said in a statement. It wasn’t only younger adults who changed the figures. Vehicle maintenance costs and fuel expenses also contributed to the reduction. Tips to Reduce Your Daily Commute While you may not be able to quit your job, you may be able to stop driving to work daily. Here are a few ways to spend less time behind the wheel. - Check into public transportation options. - Purchase or rent a bicycle. - Set up a carpool with nearby coworkers. - See if you can relocate to an office that’s closer to home. - Consider self-employment. - Talk to your boss about working at least one day from home. - If feasible, walk to work.

More on the Myth of the Exploding Safety Net Our recent post on false claims of an ever-expanding safety net explained that virtually all of the recent growth in spending for means-tested programs is due to the recession and rising costs throughout the U.S. health care system, which affect costs for private-sector care at least as much as for Medicaid and other government health programs. We’ve since updated the CBPP analysis that we cited in that post to incorporate the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections and some other changes. But the basic picture remains the same. Our paper finds: [F]ederal spending for low-income programs outside health care (including refundable tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit) averaged 2.1 percent of GDP over the past 40 years. This spending peaked at 2.9 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2010, a substantial increase. But it has already fallen in 2011 and 2012, and CBO projects that it will return to the prior 40-year average of 2.1 percent by 2018 and then fall further, to 1.75 percent of GDP, by 2020 — a level well below the prior 40-year average (see graph). The above figures include expenditures for both mandatory (entitlement) and discretionary (annually appropriated) programs. . . . To be sure, Medicaid is projected to rise significantly in cost, relative to GDP, for several reasons. To begin with, costs throughout the U.S. health care system — in both the public and private sectors — have been growing faster than GDP for several decades. Medicaid isn’t the cause of this systemwide cost growth; over the past decade, in fact, per-beneficiary costs have risen more slowly in Medicaid than under private insurance, a trend expected to continue over the next ten years. Moreover, Medicaid costs per beneficiary are substantially lower than those under private insurance (after adjusting for differences in beneficiaries’ health status), because Medicaid pays providers much lower rates and has lower administrative costs. As we conclude, policymakers and others may hold different views about whether programs for the poor should stay at current levels, grow, or shrink. But, the assumption that the universe of safety-net programs is experiencing ever-increasing costs is fundamentally wrong.

The art of coffee drinking is, along with tea drinking, one of the crowns of what is generally called "the art of living." It can be practiced everyday, under different sets of conditions. I've gone to coffee houses for being alone -- especially to get away from the people at home, so I can write, think, speculate, ruminate, or do business. Then again, I go to coffee houses to be with people in a light way, especially when I am living alone. The art of coffee drinking encompasses both these conditions. Years ago, one of my very best friends told me that we need only plan having a cup of coffee each day! The rest takes care of itself. For us, this became a spiritual practice much like the Japanese tea ceremony. Of course, many things may happen in one day. But the art of coffee drinking is in the ease, the gentleness of the act. The simplicity of the situation. Life does well when kept down, for a moment, to a single point. Sometimes, we would go to a place, like The Coffee Mill in Oakland, and talk about books whether, Martin Hiedegger's Being and Time or A Course in Miracles, and take periodic "mind breaks" that we called "twelve seconds." These mind breaks consisted in looking at a spot on the wall or remembering just one word for twelve or more seconds, until the mind experienced a moment of pure stillness. That is the essence of the art of coffee drinking: to bring the mind to an active stillness. To be relaxed, yet wide awake. We naturally get this state when we drink good coffee in a good coffee house or in our favorite spot at home. Most of my best writing happens in coffee houses such as The Coffee Mill in Oakland or The Cafe Mediterraneo on Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue. For me, going to the same places over and over again has a way of stimulating the writing process. But I write just a little bit each time. I don't write continuously, for that would turn the coffee house into an office, a place of work. The power of simplicity can be seen in almost all aspects of life. The judo master flips the opponent with a thought. Remember when Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev shook hands in front of a fireplace -- and the world felt like it was moving closer to peace between the superpowers. Going to a coffee house and drinking that cup has become like a church mass for some of us. It is part of the ultimate order of life itself. A sign that things are working well enough for at least a few moments. When the mind is alert and at ease miracles begin to happen. Clear conversation between people becomes possible. If you go to the same coffee house regularly and often, you begin to known an extended community of fellow lovers of life. The alienation of modern human existence is reduced. A cup of gourmet coffee is a joy to the palate, just like fine wine. The flavor is rich, but not bitter. The acidity is low and not a disturbance to the stomach. Coffee should be taken in moderation -- it is a drug not a food. Treat it with respect. Two strong cups a day can be more than enough. We should, after all, get high on life itself -- not caffeine, alcohol, or whatever. We get the most from coffee when we practice the high art of coffee drinking. Drink it slowly. Don't gulp it down. Do not ruin the experience with "to go" coffee. Sit down. Look out upon the passing world and the people all around. Know that there is time. My cup is now empty. My writing pad is filled with these notes. Time to go to the word processor.

You happen to be in the second half of your menstrual cycle. That means your body is producing lots of progesterone, a reproductive hormone that in animal experiments has been shown to induce sleep. So you fall back to sleep. If instead you were about to get your period, a time when progesterone levels drop, you might have had more trouble. If this is a monthly problem, experts suggest you take sleeping pills just for those couple of days. The time between now and your alarm — the last few hours of sleep — may be especially important: Recent research suggests that this is when your brain rehearses what you learned the previous day. And "sleeping on it" does more than help you remember new things — it may make you better at them. In a 2002 study, scientists asked people to type a sequence of numbers over and over. The volunteers got faster with practice, then plateaued. Tested later in the day, they performed no better, but the next day, after the benefit of a good night's sleep, they sped up an additional 20 percent. Curtailed sleep eliminates those sorts of gains. So as for that cake-decorating class you took yesterday: Right now, your brain is reviewing how to color the icing and choose the appropriate nib for the pastry bag. Thanks to tonight's sleep, when you bake a cake for your mom's party, you'll fashion sugary roses more expertly than you did in class. "It will feel sort of magical to you, but your performance will have improved," says Robert Stickgold, Ph.D., a Harvard Medical School neuroscientist who coauthored the typing study. Banh banh banh banh...You fumble for the alarm. You've never been a morning person — now it turns out your preference for sleeping in is genetic. Coordinating basic daily needs to earth's 24-hour light/dark cycle is so crucial to survival that even the most primitive creatures possess internal biological clocks. These clocks tell them when to forage for food, when to rest, when to mate, when to migrate. In humans the clock regulates sleep through the release of the hormone melatonin — that substance sold as a sleep aid at health food stores. In recent years biologists have discovered at least 10 "clock" genes, and these genes, it turns out, occur in more than one variety. Some people inherit genes that make them natural early birds; others are born to be late risers. It's biology that makes your inner morning person reassert itself after cramming for a deadline. "When the pressure to change goes away, you're likely to slip back," Dr. Salzman says. Now that you've showered, though, you're feeling unusually chipper. It's been a while since you felt so rested. You actually have the energy to multitask, scanning the headlines as you make Olivia's lunch. And when you snap her into her car seat to drive her to day care and yourself to work, that extra sleep will make you both safer. The National Transportation Safety Board estimates that driver fatigue causes at least 100,000 auto accidents a year; crashes are more likely in people sleeping less than 6 hours a night. Maybe, you think, you should try harder to get enough sleep. You make an effort to accomplish so many other things. And what could be more important than your mood, your health, and your family's safety? "It's just a matter of prioritization," says Eric Olson, M.D., codirector of the Mayo Sleep Disorders Center in Rochester, Minnesota. "People have to decide where sleep falls in how they're going to spend the 24 hours we're all limited to."

From Ipanema to the Elevator: Bobby Lee Rodgers Jazz Trio Brings Bossa Nova to Life at Green Room Tonight -- Brian Zimmerman Picture this: You're in an elevator, alone, when suddenly, a gentle island ditty starts piping through the speakers. It starts with a guitar, a wave-like rhythm that reminds you of white sand and lapping waves. Then the melody kicks in. It sounds familiar, strangely familiar, and you probe your mind for where you've heard it before. Fragments of lyrics start to assemble in your brain. Your foot begins to tap. Suddenly, you're singing: "Tall and tan and young and lovely, the Girl from Ipanema goes walking..." Then you stop and wonder: How the hell do I know this song? Today the song is the default track for elevators and shopping malls around the country, and chances are, if you've ever been put on hold, this is the song that's pumping through the phone. But believe it or not, this song wasn't always a Muzak cliché. In fact, there was once a time when bossa nova was immensely popular in the United States. And much of that popularity can be attributed to Antonio Carlos Jobim, whose song about a real-life girl on a real-life beach helped make bossa nova a worldwide phenomenon. Since the 1950s, when the music was first heard on American airwaves, the name Jobim has been synonymous with bossa nova. Jobim's style -- a blend of African rhythms, Brazilian melodies, and European harmonies -- meshed perfectly with the already popular "cool jazz" of the American West Coast, and for the next few years Jobim collaborated extensively with cool jazz artists to bring his music to the United States. Then in 1958, bossa nova witnessed a wild surge in popularity, spurred on by a Portuguese-language movie called Black Orpheus. The movie's score -- which featured a bevy of soon-to-be classics like "Manha de Carnival," "Samba de Orfeu," and "A Felicidade" -- was written by none other than Antonio Carlos Jobim and fellow Brazilian Luiz Bonfa. The movie's soundtrack was an instant hit with American audiences, and by the time The Girl From Ipanema album was released in 1964, with saxophone by Stan Getz, bossa nova was a full-fledged craze. For the youth of beat-generation America, whose members were never without their bongos or acoustic guitars, bossa nova was a fun and exotic companion to American popular music, and Jobim, the mastermind behind it all, had become a musical icon. But the wild success enjoyed by bossa nova during the 1950s and early '60s came to a close just as another kind of music was beginning to sweep the country: rock 'n' roll. Soon enough, the island sounds of Jobim and his contemporaries were replaced by the surf-rock melodies of the Beatles and the Beach Boys. California girls, after all, were much more familiar to Americans than the ones from Ipanema. Before long, bossa nova was all but extinct. Though it retained small pockets of dedicated followers throughout the country, especially in regions with sizable Latin American communities, its commercial appeal was ultimately lost. The Brazilian music, literally translated as "the new beat," had become old news. But we, as South Floridians, can change all that. With the distinct advantage of living in close proximity to South America, where the tropical breezes blowing in from the coast carry with them the rhythms and harmonies of Rio de Janeiro, we are in the perfect place to put bossa nova back on the map. After all, this region is rich in Brazilian culture and art. Just look at the statistics. Several of our cities, like North Bay Village in Miami and Deerfield Beach in Broward, have some of the highest percentages of Brazilian residents in the U.S. (North Bay ranks number two on the list; Deerfield is number eight). So if there's going to be a bossa nova revival in this country, it has to start here. So how can you bring bossa nova back to life? One way is by heading to the Green Room this Thursday night, April 26, to check out the Jazz Sessions concert with the Bobby Lee Rodgers Jazz Trio. If you've never seen a Jazz Sessions concert before (they happen every month and feature music by a different jazz artist each time), you're really missing out.

The tourist industry could be boosted by a new marine survey off Devon and Cornwall, scientists say. A Falmouth-based company operates whale watching trips The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is to count the number of turtles, basking sharks, dolphins, porpoises and jellyfish blooms off the coast. It will then pass the information to people running sea safaris for tourists to help them find the creatures. The three-year survey will cover the sea up to 12 miles off the region's coastline. The MCS said it hoped the more tourists who see the animals in their natural environment, the more interest there will be in preserving them. The society is looking for a pilot and an aeroplane to help with the survey. Two years ago Orca Sea-Faris based in Falmouth received a cash investment by Finance Cornwall and the Cornwall Business Enterprise Fund to operate educational whale and dolphin spotting trips.

In 1987, Apple Computer released a video called “The Knowledge Navigator” in which a college professor in 2012 walks into his paneled office and has a conversation with his computer, personified by a bowtie-wearing avatar. I love showing this video when talking about the future because it’s pretty easy to spot the predictions that have come true and those that haven’t. While the video accurately predicted a world of global networks, search engines, large databases and the integration of phones and computers, the biggest miss would have to be the natural language interaction between the professor and his computer. While I’ve been talking to my computer for nearly 20 years, it’s largely been a party trick. But that’s changing. Here’s why: Competition. Google, Apple and Microsoft, the dominant players in tech, are making voice interfaces a central strategy in their quest for long-term dominance. Apple surprised everyone with the release of Siri, the occasionally cheeky voice assistant, and Google responded with an improved Google Voice Search. While Microsoft has been on the mobile sidelines recently, they’ve had the car automation field largely to themselves since Ford adopted the My Ford Touch/Microsoft Sync system in its cars. The early going was rocky, but recent Sync updates have shown improvement, just as Siri of fall 2012 can do a lot of things that Siri of fall 2011 couldn’t and Google’s latest iteration of Voice Search has gained speed and a voice that is almost eerily human-sounding. This kind of competition augurs well for rapid advances in voice technology. Location and context awareness. Thanks to GPS and geolocation services for cell towers and WiFi, our phones, tablets and computers know where we are. That makes it possible to say things like “Remind me to call my father when I get home” or “Is there an Indian restaurant nearby?” and have the phone respond appropriately. Voice interaction isn’t absolutely necessary for location and context awareness to be useful, but it can certainly cut out a lot of steps. For example, on a recent trip, I told my iPhone: “When I land in Los Angeles remind me to get my jacket out of the overhead bin,” and it responded by setting a reminder titled “Get my jacket out of the overhead bin” that popped up when the plane touched down at LAX. Cloud processing power. Google and Apple rely on the massive processing power of cloud-based servers to amp up the accuracy of their voice recognition and the quality of their results. While this means the services lose functionality in the absence of a network connection, it also means that relatively low-powered devices can do some truly amazing things. Curated data. Wolfram Research got this area rolling with its “Wolfram Alpha” service, which they dubbed a “computational knowledge engine.” Over the last several years, Wolfram has been pulling together an ever-longer list of authoritative data sources for scientific, demographic, geographic, financial and other types of data. The result is a voice-driven search that allowed Apple to surprise Google with Siri, a voice assistant that was smarter and more capable than most people expected. (Try asking your iPhone, “What is the atomic weight of gold?” The results are pure Wolfram Alpha.). Curated data is a major part of Apple’s voice strategy going forward. Siri 2012 got the curated data makeover for sports and financial info and we can expect more niches to get filled next year. Deeper integration. Siri’s first iteration couldn’t open apps, and while the current version can, it doesn’t yet let you control third-party apps with voice commands. Google is ahead of Apple in this area, but that’s the direction things are headed. While the current reality involves you knowing the limits of your digital assistant, the future of voice interaction will have fewer and fewer limitations, and greater and greater capacity for conversational, complex interactions with your devices.

Zombie-bees may be near you! Parasitized honey bees found in Vermont Adult Apocephalus borealis reared from a Vermont honey bee. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 9, 2013 -- Parasitized honey bees, or "zombees," have now been spotted for the first time in New England, according to researchers at San Francisco State University. The University's web-based project, ZomBee Watch, reported the find today on its web site. SF State Professor of Biology John Hafernik and colleagues first identified parasitized honey bees in 2011. After being infected with a fly parasite, the bees abandon their hives to congregate at night near lights, dying after a bout of disoriented, "zombie-like" behavior. Hafernik and other researchers are tracking the phenomenon with the help of more than 1,500 citizen scientists who report possible parasitized bee sightings to ZomBee Watch. Until now, zombee sightings were limited to the U.S. West Coast and South Dakota. But this September, a Chittenden County, Vt. beekeeper discovered dead bees under his porch and landscaping lights. The beekeeper, who requested to remain anonymous, submitted photos and the pupae of the parasitic phorid flies that burst out of the dead honey bees to the SF State project. Brian Brown, a phorid fly expert at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, identified the pupae and adult flies as Apocephalis borealis, the parasite behind zombee infestations. Vermont hone bees and A. borealis pupae. Brown has studied this group of flies and found that A. borealis naturally occurs throughout the continent. "It is the presence of parasitized 'zombie' honey bees that is the new East Coast discovery," he said. The Vermont zombees add another piece to the puzzle that Hafernik and colleagues have been piecing together for several years. "We've always thought it was possible that we would see different things in different parts of the fly's range, maybe differences in their ability to parasitize their hosts," Hafernik explained. "This suggests that this phenomenon is more broadly occurring across the United States." "This find is also a great example of the power of citizen science to make important contributions," he added. The zombee research team continues to study how honey bees are parasitized by the phorid. Brown said parasitic wasps, which have been studied much more extensively than parasitic flies, may offer some clues. "There's probably more than just something mechanically chomping away in those bodies," he noted. "In the case of the wasps, there's an entire biochemical package that's delivered that in some cases has very sophisticated effects on its host's behavior." Vermont honey bee samples infected with A. borealis. Beekeepers "who find their hives are infected should stay calm and use the best beekeeping practices to keep their hives as healthy as possible," Hafernik said. "It's most likely that healthy hives are best able to survive, whether it be phorid fly infections or varroa mites or any of the other pathogens they're experiencing, probably at the same time in many cases." He stressed that it's still an open question as to how widespread the zombee phenomenon is, and he urged more individuals to join the zombee hunt. The team has prepared a series of videos to help new hunters get started. "We have a window of opportunity for people to make observations, but that window is going to close very quickly as winter comes in, especially in the east," he said.

I can distinctly remember the sense of freedom I felt the day I turned 16 and my parents handed me the car keys for the first time. Sure, we lived in a small town and I was usually only driving a few blocks to my friends houses or school, but it was the idea of it all, the fact that I could. I was thinking about this after reading about a couple of studies that came out recently on teen driving. Conducted by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the studies find that teenagers with their own cars are much more likely to get into crashes than those who share a car, while crashes are much more infrequent among teens who have clear driving safety rules in place. It’s funny how time can give you a different perspective. When I think back to the excruciatingly long weeks and months leading up to my 16th birthday, I have no trouble conjuring up the feelings of anticipation and entitlement. After all, it was a given that as soon as I reached that age, I would drive, an idea that was fortified by seeing countless friends and peers on the road every day. This feeling is nothing new, and research clearly reflects this feeling among teens, and especially those who have their own car, which can often make them less cautious. Like I said, it’s easy to recall those feelings, but the facts are startlingly grim: Traffic crashes kill more than 5,000 teens each year, the leading cause of death for the age group. In addition, more than 7,000 people were killed in crashes involving teen drives in 2007, including more than 3,000 teen deaths and more than 250,000 teen injuries. According to Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston, who headed one of the studies, “Families need to know that driving is different from other steps toward independence. Just at the time their teen is pulling away, they need to get back involved to spare them heartache.” According to Jeffrey Weiss, who co-wrote an American Academy of Pediatrics report on the subject, “With teen drivers, you have to recognize that it’s a public health issue.” Now that I’m a parent, I am all too aware of the risks involved and am increasingly focused on the safety aspect of the issue. For the record, the studies suggest that setting clear rules and monitoring childrens’ locations without becoming overly controlling are the best ways to keep them safe. Maybe that doesn’t seem like groundbreaking advice, but if nothing else, it’s a good reminder that passing on the car keys comes with a huge amount of responsibility for everyone involved.

Summer job tips for Texas teenagers As summer approaches, the number of teenagers looking for work increases dramatically. According to a 2012 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) study, the number of 16- to 19-year-olds employed or searching for work last year skyrocketed between April and July, increasing by almost 2 million workers for a total of more than 7.3 million in July1. “Summer employment can help Texas high school students learn the value of hard work and responsibility, while experiencing the pride of earning their first paycheck,” Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chairman Andres Alcantar said. “TWC is committed to helping Texas’ future workforce acquire the skills that will benefit them throughout their careers.” TWC reminds employers, workers and parents to familiarize themselves with state and federal laws, as well as safety regulations that address child labor issues. Any person under the age of 18 is considered a child when employed. Federal and state child labor laws are designed to protect youth against potentially detrimental occupational settings or working conditions that could interfere with their safety, health or well-being. Employers also must comply with wage and hour laws and regulations enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), available online at . “I urge teenagers, parents and employers to educate themselves on the child labor laws designed to protect our children,” TWC Commissioner Ronny Congleton said. “Safety should always be the most important factor as Texas youths join the workforce.” In Texas, certain child labor laws apply to different age groups and different job types. For example, children aged 11 or older may deliver newspapers to customers on established routes. Children aged 14 or 15 may perform office and clerical work, some kitchen work, cashiering, bagging and carrying out customer orders, among other tasks, as long as it takes place during certain hours. Children aged 16 or 17 can perform work for any number of hours, as long as it is not deemed hazardous by DOL. Visit to view TWC’s child labor law poster. “Summer job opportunities provide great experience for young Texans. I encourage Texas employers to offer teens this valuable opportunity to learn about the workplace and develop their skills,” TWC Commissioner Hope Andrade said. “Local Workforce Solutions offices provide many opportunities to both job seekers and employers – including useful information on training programs – which may serve as a valuable resource for a teenager’s job search.” Teens interested in job-search assistance and career resources should contact their local Workforce Solutions offices by visiting WorkInTexas.com. TWC also sponsors the TexasRealityCheck.com website which allows students to explore career options based on their interests, desired lifestyle and job availability in various areas. Older teens also may visit TexasInternship.jobs for free online job resources.

The farm and breeding centre in Ratu, 20km from Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh Emu malai kebab, emu kofta curry, sweet and sour emu soup, grilled emu with wine sauce — tempting and healthy, the Australian bird may soon be the new chicken on your restaurant menu. Ranchi University history graduate Shashank Tirkey has teamed up with Haryana-based private entrepreneurial firm Samridhi Group to breed the world’s second largest bird in Jharkhand and give the state’s sagging rural economy the much-needed facelift. What began as the 24-year-old tribal lad’s personal initiative on a small plot of land in Kanauj village of Ranchi’s Ratu block, 20km from the capital, in September, has now found a steady line of followers. “Samridhi Group brought for me 10 pairs of emu from its Karnal breeding centre. I gave them about an acre of land in my native village. Our farmers’ family has been growing ever since. We are setting up farms with five villagers — two from Hazaribagh and one each from Ratu, Patratu (Ramgarh) and Petarwar (Bokaro). Each will raise one agrarian unit, comprising five pairs of emus to begin with. Many other farmers are coming forward to set up breeding centres,” Shashank, who likes to call himself emu farming promoter, said. Incidentally, in April, Samridhi Group had handpicked Ramgarh district’s Chaingarha village for the state’s first emu farm-cum-breeding centre. State animal husbandry joint director Rajnikant Tirkey, who also happens to be Shashank’s uncle, did a recce of Ramgarh to interact with farmers and explore possibilities. However, the project did not go a great distance from the talks table. That is when Tirkey’s nephew came to rescue, offering his own piece of land, a gesture that may go down as an economic game-changer in Jharkhand’s modern history. According to Samridhi Group executive Ramesh Raj Agarwal, emu farming, though a new concept in India, was fast gaining ground countrywide. “We have a big farm in Karnal from where we can get thousands of birds for Jharkhand. To set up one farming unit (five pairs of the bird), only 2.5 decimal of land is required. Thus, on an acre of land, a farmer can raise up to 200 pairs of emus,” he explained. Each interested farmer needs to make an initial investment of Rs 1.75 lakh, in lieu of which Samridhi Group will fence their 2.5 decimal land and bring five pairs of the emu — one pair of adults and four pairs of chicks. It will also supply bird food for a year and provide medical services, as and when necessary. At 18 months, a young female can start laying eggs, which will again be purchased by Samridhi Group for Rs 1,000 each. An adult emu can lay up to 25 eggs a year. The eggs have medicinal properties and are useful treatment for a host of diseases, from high blood pressure to cardiac problems. Agarwal said his firm would also set up a hatchery at Kanauj village, where the eggs bought from different farmers across the state will be normally processed to rear a new population of emus. The average life span of the Australian emu is 35 years. The all-weather bird can live under the open sky and in temperatures ranging from 0°C to 55°C. Maintenance is minimal, except for dietary needs. Besides its high-protein eggs, emu meat is also healthy, being both low-cal and cholesterol-free. An adult bird produces about 60kg of lean meat, which is sold at Rs 600-700 a kg. Agarwal pointed out that the bird’s body oil could treat skin diseases and was also used in making cosmetics. “Its feather, claws and skin can be of use too,” he added. So far, Samridhi Group has received over 40 applications from interested farmers. The numbers are only expected to swell in days to come.

Anne Van Camp, director of the Smithsonian Institution Archives, radiates exuberance about her work. You would think she won the lottery. Van Camp is a historian by training and an archivist by circumstance. She began her career at Chase Manhattan Bank as an archives manager, went on to Stanford’s Hoover Institution as a director of archives, then to the Research Library Group as an archivist and finally to the Smithsonian. Early on, she appreciated the power of technology to both transmit and record historical events in real time. When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, she was at the Hoover Institution – which was known for documenting contemporary war and revolution – and helped archive it on video. Van Camp said, “It struck me that part of why things happened so quickly and bloodlessly was because of the technology of information.” During the Tiananmen Square protests, Van Camp helped the Hoover Institution archive emails from China but she also experienced the unique limitations of the then-current technology. “There was an instantaneous flood of email from China,” Van Camp said. “And not that many people had e-mail at the time. We had a couple of people trying to collect all of this stuff but what they did was print it all out…stacks and stacks of paper. It was the best that we knew to do. People didn’t think about how we were going to actually preserve online data and information like that.” RLG was a transformative experience for Van Camp, in part because she was at the center of the commercial Internet’s Big Bang in Silicon Valley. “Everything changed so quickly from 1996 to the mid-2000s when I left RLG,” she said. “We went full bore on the Internet, putting web pages out and collecting information in all kinds of new ways, dramatically enhancing access to research resources wherever they were, linking up collections that were dispersed. And then people got the idea to digitize all collection materials and put those out…not just descriptions of things but real things and images of real things.” When Van Camp became director of the Smithsonian archives in 2007, her task was to continue documenting the Smithsonian’s history, from its inception to its current activities. Though she brought with her a decade of Silicon Valley technological experience, the institutional challenge and scope she faced at the Smithsonian was enormous. “The Smithsonian Institution has 19 museums, nine major research centers located in various places around the world,” Van Camp said. “We have a library system that includes 20 libraries. We have a lot of research scientists all over the world collecting information of sorts.” Van Camp said that the Smithsonian archives in 2007 were in good technological shape but they were ready for improvement. “They have been documenting stuff here since the beginning of time and we had some really good people in place,” she said. “The IT archivist was already engaged in a collaborative project to deal with electronic mail and they were thinking about some future projects. But they were also a little bit behind the curve in terms of using technology to best highlight the collections. And they weren’t doing any social media or anything like that and they hadn’t really embraced EAD as a way to describe the finding aids and get them out online. But those are really easy things to implement once people were given the resources and were encouraged to do it.” Now, five years later, all of the Smithsonian’s finding aids are online, they have new websites and a proliferation of blogs. She noted, with well-deserved pride, that Boing Boing and Wired recently picked up a story that her department posted on its blog. “We are really turning things around in terms of making the archives much more exciting and out there and really pushing our information out in new and different ways,” Van Camp said. “Just the other day we realized that we have well over well over 300 social media sites.” She archives them all. Van Camp includes crowdsourcing in her digital archives strategies. Like the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian posts photos on Flickr and they’ve come to appreciate the help they get from the general public in identifying people, places and events displayed in the Smithsonian archives photo collections, photos that the Smithsonian archives often doesn’t have enough information about. “It’s amazing how many people out there love this stuff,” Van Camp said. “For example, we put a big set of photographs on Flickr, portraits of scientists, and we thought ‘Oh my God, this is so boring. No one’s going to pay attention to it.’ But within two days, someone had taken almost all of those portraits and copied them into the corresponding Wikipedia biographies of the scientists. The beauty of this is that you can’t possibly anticipate how people are going to use these things or what they’re going be interested in.” One upcoming crowdsourcing project that Van Camp is planning is the Field Book Project. Van Camp said, “We have thousands of field notebooks from explorers and expeditions and scientists who did their work in the field and took notes on what they were collecting. We want to put the notes online so people can help us transcribe them. A lot of them are handwritten notes that were taken very hastily in the field. There are so many avid naturalists out there, people who could help us in every subject that we have.” Van Camp was part of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the economics of institutional digital access and preservation. One result of the task force’s work, Van Camp said, was that the National Science Foundation realized the necessity of writing digital preservation into their research grant guidelines. From a given project’s inception, grantees must have a plan for preservation of their data before they receive a cent in grant money. “It’s never been stated overtly before,” Van Camp said. “And it’s making everybody think about digital preservation from a project’s outset. An additional possibility would be to embed an archivist in a production who will say from the get-go, ‘OK, you are going to be creating these kind of things. This is how we are going to preserve them.’” Van Camp is fervent about not only preserving the Smithsonian digital archives but also about making the collections widely accessible to the public. She said, “The Smithsonian is in a wonderful place right now, largely because the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Wayne Clough, is a huge supporter of digitizing everything and making it all publicly available. “So we are responsible for not only holding this stuff and making sure that we take care of it but also for getting it out there to the most people. We’re really here to serve the world of learners, from the beginning of their early childhood through their lives. We have things to give and offer and help people learn about new and different things and it is just a very exciting place to be right now. “So keep watching our site for newer and better things.”

Upper respiratory illness (URI) may cause more frequent acute disability among athletes than all other diseases combined. The purposes of this study were to determine the impact of a rhinovirus-caused URI on resting pulmonary function submaximal exercise responses and on maximal exercise functional capacity. Twenty-four men and 21 women (18-29 yr) of varying fitness levels were assigned to the experimental group (URI), and 10 additional individuals served as a control group (CRL). An initial serological screening was performed on all URI group subjects to exclude those with the rhinovirus 16(HRV 16) antibody. All subjects completed both a baseline pulmonary function test and a graded exercise test to volitional fatigue. URI subjects were inoculated with HRV 16 on two consecutive days within 10 d of completing these tests. The day following the second inoculation (peak of illness), post-inoculation pulmonary function and graded exercise tests were performed. A noninfected control group completed these same pulmonary and exercise tests 1 wk apart. ANOVA identified no significant differences (P < 0.05) at minutes 2, 5, and 8 for the physiological responses measured between the pre- and post-exercise tests for both the URI and CRL groups. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between maximal exercise performance between running trials for either group. There was also no significant interaction between treatment (pre/post URI) and group for any of the pulmonary function measures obtained. In conclusion, physiological responses to pulmonary function testing and submaximal and maximal exercise do not appear to be altered by an URI.

Combine each set of the following sentences. Notice how different subordinating conjunctions (such as "because" and "if") and coordinating conjunctions (such as "and" and "but") can alter the meaning of sentences. Your revisions should not only be grammatically correct, but should also exemplify some of the elements of good writing we have covered in class this semester (e.g., participles, appositives, etc.). My doctor warned me about trying to lose weight too fast. My coach reminded me of the danger involved. My mother told me the same thing. The first documented case of AIDS within the United States occurred in 1977. The AIDS crisis continues to grow. The number of newspaper and magazine articles on AIDS has declined in the last few years. Breakfast cereals contain fiber. Oat bran may reduce cholesterol. Advertisers stress the health benefits of their products. The cost of running shoes is escalating. Most people are very selective about the kind of running shoe they buy. Scientists use guinea pigs in their laboratory experiments. They inject them with a disease. They observe their behavior. They dissect them. They examine the effect of the disease on their organs. Michelangelo studied anatomy. He dissected cadavers. Such gruesome work helped him understand human bones and muscles. His sculpture celebrates the human body. X-rays can penetrate the human body. They produce images on photographic film. Shadows on the picture reveal changes in body tissue. The early history of medicine is filled with guesswork. Doctors did not know what caused disease. They developed cures through trial and error. Most of the cures did not work. Cures that worked were considered magical. People went to spas to restore their health. Most spas were located in beautiful settings. They featured special mineral waters. The waters were supposed to purge the body of disease. These watering spots developed into vacation resorts. Coronary heart disease is the major cause of death in this country. Cancer also causes many deaths. AIDS causes deaths as well. My grandfather has coronary heart disease.

Kent, an important maritime county in SE. of England, bounded N. by the Thames and the North Sea, E. and SE. by the Strait of Dover, S. by the English Channel, SW. by Sussex, and W. by Surrey; greatest length, W. to E., 65 miles; greatest breadth, N. to S., 35 miles; 995,392 acres, population 977,706. The surface of the county is hilly, being traversed E. and W. by the North Downs, a chalk range from 3 to 6 miles in breadth. On the N., along the shores of the Thames and Medway, there is a belt of marsh land, which extends over a mile inland. The greater portion of the seaboard is washed by tidal water. Besides the Thames and Medway, the chief rivers are the Stour and the Darent. The soil is varied and highly cultivated, more especially in the valley of the Medway. All classes of cereals and root produce are abundant, as is also fruit of choice quality, and more hops are grown in Kent than in all the rest of England. The woods are extensive. The chief manufacture of the county is paper, most of the mills being on the banks of the Medway, Cray, and Darent. The Government works and dockyards at Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, &c., employ an immense number of the inhabitants. Fishing is extensively prosecuted along the coast and in the estuaries of the rivers Thames and Medway, of which the oyster beds are especially famous. Historically Kent has greater associations than any other county in England. The county contains 5 lathes, 73 hundreds, 435 parishes, and parts of 6 others, the Cinque Port Liberties of Dover, Hythe, and New Romney, the parliamentary and municipal boroughs of Canterbury, Dover, Gravesend, Hythe, Maidstone, and Rochester (1 member each), the parliamentary boroughs of Chatham, Deptford (part of), Greenwich, Lewisham, and Woolwich (1 member each), and the municipal borough of Deal, Faversham, Folkestone, Margate, Sandwich, and Tenterden. It is almost entirely in the diocese of Canterbury and Rochester. For parliamentary purposes the county is divided into 8 divisions -viz., Western or Sevenoaks, North-Western or Dartford, South-Western or Tunbridge, Mid or Medway, North-Eastern or Faversham, Eastern or St Augustine's, Southern or Ashford, and Isle of Thanet, 1 member for each division; the representation of the county was increased from 6 to 8 members in 1885.

Health Insurance Quotes Fortune 500 passing along insurance costs but not information As the price of health care continues to spiral upward, many of the nation's largest employers are looking for ways to contain the escalating costs of health insurance premiums, and most are considering passing the buck to their employees. According to a study sponsored by the journal Health Affairs, almost all of the Fortune 500 companies are concerned that there are few cost-cutting alternatives to consider with the almost universal use of managed care plans. |Employers want their workers to take on more responsibility for their own health care, while either not collecting or not sharing information about the clinical quality of that care.| This lack of options, combined with rising prices, has pushed many employers to use tough negotiating techniques to keep prices down and avoid passing the costs to their employees. It is a trend that may have serious implications for the overall quality of care. However, as businesses have become more successful at exerting price pressure on their health carriers, those carriers have in turn cut their payments to hospitals and doctors. According to James Maxwell, director of health policy and management research at John Snow Inc. Research and Training Institute, it is unclear whether health carriers can continue with these kinds of cost-cutting measures without endangering the quality of patient care. Furthermore, the quality of clinical care is an area that has also been largely ignored by the employers themselves. According to the study, while 83 percent of the employers surveyed reported using quality as a consideration in selecting a carrier, only 32 percent of those set specific standards regarding the clinical quality provided by their health insurance contracts. "Clinical quality efforts generally require more cost and effort, so companies often neglect these in favor of more easily measured quality indicators, such as customer service," says Maxwell. |As large companies are unable to find other methods of reducing the cost of health care, they are passing the higher prices on to workers.| What makes this trend so dangerous is that, increasingly, as large employers are unable to find other methods of reducing the cost of health insurance, they are passing the higher prices on to workers. Between 1994 and 1999, the number of companies that paid all of their employees' health care premiums had dropped by 50 percent. In short, companies want their employees to take on more responsibility for their own health care, even though employers are either not collecting or not sharing information about the clinical quality of that care, says Maxwell. As the Fortune 500 paved the way for managed care, those same companies may set the standard for employer-sponsored health care in the future. The question lies in whether or not the business community will continue to cut costs and corners, jeopardizing the quality of care, or if they will turn to more innovative solutions.

Yesterday the hard copy of the book “Plentiful Energy — The story of the Integral Fast Reactor” (CreateSpace, Dec 2011, 404 pages) arrived in the post. It is wonderful to see it in print, and now available for all to enjoy and absorb. I was honoured to play a small part in its realisation. The subtitle of the book is “The complex history of a simple reactor technology, with emphasis on its scientific basis for non-specialists”. Written by the two leading engineers and Argonne National Laboratory Associate Directors behind the integral fast reactor, Dr. Charles E. Till and Dr. Yoon Il Chang, it is a landmark in the sustainable energy literature. In beginning this book we were thinking of a volume on fast reactor technology in general to be done in a manner suited to the more technically inclined of the general public. There had been advances in this technology that had not been adequately covered in the literature of the time, we didn’t think, and we felt that a book on this area of nuclear technology could play a useful role. However, at about this time the enthusiastic advocacy of the IFR in the writings of Tom Blees, Steve Kirsch, Terry Robinson, Joe Shuster, Barry Brook and Jim Hansen began to appear. In books and articles they outlined the merits of the Integral Fast Reactor and advocated its urgent deployment. Written by these highly technically literate non-specialists in the technology, they provided a general understanding of the IFR and what its implications for energy supplies would be for the future. And they did this admirably, describing accurately and vividly the capabilities of the IFR and the reasons for urgency in its deployment. They could only touch on the technology underlying it, however, and the why and how of the technology that caused it to work as it did, and the influence of the history of its development on the development itself, were obvious to us as being very important too. These things then became the focus of our efforts in this book… After visiting Chicago and Idaho Falls in 2009/2010, talking to Yoon and Chuck, visiting the EBR-II site, and really getting immersed in the background to the technology, I was delighted to assist in the production of this book by reading and doing a technical edit on the entire draft manuscript — and so I think I can claim to be the first person to have read it all, other than the authors! The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) is a fast reactor system developed at Argonne National Laboratory in the decade 1984 to 1994. The IFR project developed the technology for a complete system; the reactor, the entire fuel cycle and the waste management technologies were all included in the development program. The reactor concept had important features and characteristics that were completely new and fuel cycle and waste management technologies that were entirely new developments. The reactor is a “fast” reactor – that is, the chain reaction is maintained by “fast” neutrons with high energy – which produces its own fuel. The IFR reactor and associated fuel cycle is a closed system. Electrical power is generated, new fissile fuel is produced to replace the fuel burned, its used fuel is processed for recycling by pyroprocessing – a new development – and waste is put in final form for disposal. All this is done on one self-sufficient site. The scale and duration of the project and its funding made it the largest nuclear energy R and D program of its day. Its purpose was the development of a long term massive new energy source, capable of meeting the nation’s electrical energy needs in any amount, and for as long as it is needed, forever, if necessary. Safety, non-proliferation and waste toxicity properties were improved as well, these three the characteristics most commonly cited in opposition to nuclear power. Development proceeded from success to success. Most of the development had been done when the program was abruptly cancelled by the newly elected Clinton Administration. In his 1994 State of the Union address the president stated that “unnecessary programs in advanced reactor development will be terminated.” The IFR was that program. This book gives the real story of the IFR, written by the two nuclear scientists who were most deeply involved in its conception, the development of its R and D program, and its management. Between the scientific and engineering papers and reports, and books on the IFR, and the non-technical and often impassioned dialogue that continues to this day on fast reactor technology, we felt there is room for a volume that, while accurate technically, is written in a manner accessible to the non-specialist and even to the non-technical reader who simply wants to know what this technology is. The book is both comprehensive in detail and at the same time very readable, telling the personal as well as technical details of the IFR development and the rationale behind the choices made. It includes chapters on: - The Argonne Experience and the foundation of the IFR programme (Ch 1-3; allowing readers to get a good feel for the excitement, uncertainty and missteps that occurred in reactor development in the early years of the Lab) - A review of the current energy crisis (Ch 4) - The basis of choices for the IFR technology (Ch 5; fuel, coolant, reactor configuration, spent fuel processing) - The special characteristics of metal fuel (Ch 6) - Safety advantages of the IFR systems design (Ch 7) - A huge amount of detail on the pyroprocess and electrorefining (Ch 8-9 and Appendix, both for initial preparation of spent light water reactor oxide fuel [Ch 10], and the subsequent multiple recycles of IFR metal fuel) - Implications of the technology for waste management and radioactive lifespan (Ch 11) - Non-proliferation aspects of the IFR fuel cycle (Ch 12), and - A very interesting analysis on the economics of fast reactors in comparison to today’s LWR technology (Ch 13). For those energy-policy buffs who are focused predominantly on what it all means for the future of abundant low-carbon energy, you could do worse than to jump straight to Chapter 14, “IFR design options, optimum deployment and the next step forward”. The valuable overeview includes a description of what an IFR reactor site would look like, the rationale for sodium coolant over alternatives, the basic physics of fissile fuel breeding, the principles underpinning the reactor design choices, a brief history of fast reactor experience worldwide, some projections on future deployment scenarios, and thoughts on the path forward… Look, if you are seriously concerned about the future of energy in a carbon-constrained world, I’d argue that you owe it to yourself to read Till and Chang’s book and understand its fundamentals. Also, please pass it around to your friends, colleagues, family, politician — whoever you think matters.

Interpretive Summary: Disposal of saline subsurface drainage water is one of the major challenges facing irrigated agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas. Subsurface drainage has been eliminated on 600,000 acres of irrigated land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley because the subsurface drainage water from this area contains potentially toxic trace elements in addition to salt. The first step in developing methods to discharge drainage water will be to reduce the volume to the least practical level through improvements in irrigation system design and management and increased water use from shallow ground water. This concept has been called source control. This paper describes research demonstrating the potential for shallow ground water use by crops through improved irrigation scheduling and managing the groundwater level with controls on the drainage system. Irrigation scheduling methods which include shallow groundwater contribution to crop water requirements resulted in cotton taking nearly 45% of its water requirement from shallow ground water. Weirs and valves installed in a subsurface drainage system were capable of controlling the water table positions across a half mile long field. This reduced the total water application to a tomato crop. These techniques combined with improved irrigation system design and management will result in a sustainable alternative for irrigated agriculture. Technical Abstract: In-situ use of ground water by plants is one option being considered to reduce discharge of drainage water from irrigated agriculture. Laboratory, lysimeter, and field studies have demonstrated that crops can use significant quantities of water from shallow ground water when properly managed. However, most studies lack the data needed to include the crop water use into an integrated irrigation and drainage water management system. This paper describes studies which demonstrated the potential in-situ use of ground water by salt tolerant crops and the limitations. Included are results from three field studies which demonstrated management techniques needed to develop an integrated system which includes irrigation scheduling and control of the water table with structures in the subsurface drainage system. The field studies demonstrated that approximately 40 to 45% of the water requirement for cotton can be derived from shallow saline ground water. That regulation of the subsurface drainage system outflow results in increasing use of ground water by a crop. Implementation of integrated management of irrigation and subsurface drainage systems is a viable and sustainable alternative in the management of subsurface drainage water from arid and semi-arid areas only if soil salinity can be managed and if the system is profitable.