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Today in History: Doomed Invasion of Cuba Begins (1961)
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The United States and Cuba have a long history of not getting along very well. Even after the Cold War ended, the U.S.’s relationship with the small island nation has been mostly adversarial.
During the period after World War II, and specifically after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the U.S. was very worried about the country’s strengthening ties to the Soviet Union. Castro right from the start began to lead Cuba into a more Communist type of government officially, and began to attack U.S. companies who had interests in Cuba. He also began preaching anti-American rhetoric, which caused American leaders more and more worry.
By 1960, it was apparent to some factions of the U.S. government that Cuba was a threat to security in the Western Hemisphere, mainly due to their ties with the USSR. President Dwight D. Eisenhower tasked the CIA to train and arm a small force of exiles, who would then lead an amphibious assault on the island of Cuba. Their ultimate goal was to remove Castro from power by creating a citizen uprising.
After Eisenhower left office, John F. Kennedy inherited the operation, and on April 17, 1961, 1,200 Cuban exiles, who the CIA had been training for over a year, floated on shore at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba.
Bay of PIgs
Cuban Exiles Captured 1961. History Channel
It was a spectacular failure.
The force was met with a fast and brutal response by Castro’s armed forces. The Cuban Air Force sank all of the invading army’s supply ships, and killed more than 100 of the exiles. Almost 1,100 were captured.
The aftermath was rather predictable. With the failure of the invasion at the Bay of Pigs, Castro was able to consolidate his power, and ramp up his anti-American rhetoric, and this time he had tangible proof that the Americans were out to get the Cubans. He also used the failed attack as means to gain further Soviet support.
This would ultimately lead to the Soviets placing missiles in Cuba, which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.
The Bay of Pigs wasn’t the last time the U.S. would attempt to remove Fidel Castro from power. There were attempted poisonings and other attempts at assassinations that took place covertly over the next twenty years. Even after the Cold War ended, and the Soviet threat was neutralized, Cuba remained a sore spot for the Americans. Continued sanctions and restrictions prevented trade between the two nations that are only 90 miles apart. To this day, relations are strained between the two countries, and it seems unlikely to change.
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Educator Network FAQ
Why is the skill of question formulation so significant?
The ability to formulate one’s own questions may be, other than basic literacy, the most important learning skills available to a student, an employee, a scientist and a citizen.
Students who ask questions, who ask good questions, and who can set and follow a line of inquiry will succeed at a far higher rate than those who either do not know how to formulate their own questions or simply fail to regularly generate their own questions.
Why isn’t the skill of question formulation taught in schools?
The ability to produce questions, improve questions and prioritize questions may be one of the most important—yet too often overlooked—skills that a student can acquire in their formal education. However, this skill is rarely, if ever, deliberately taught to students from kindergarten through high school. Most people acquire the skill through exposure to an elite education, or years of higher education, advanced training and much professional experience.
What is the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)?
The QFT strategy is a powerful, low-tech tool that has been utilized by educators in communities throughout the United States and around the world to help students develop their ability to:
· produce their own questions
· improve their questions
· prioritize and strategize on how to use their questions
As students go through the QFT process, they practice three fundamentally important thinking abilities: divergent thinking, convergent thinking and metacognition.
What is my role as a teacher?
Teachers have consistently reported that the QFT process helps with classroom management and allows them to facilitate a student-centered classroom. Asking questions is a transformative and transferable skill for students. Teachers help students develop an essential skill that is transferable beyond the classroom.
You are already using questions to drive your instruction by asking questions of students. The same way you can use student questions. The difference here is that you are using the questions students produce.
What are the Rules for Producing Questions?
The Rules for Producing Questions provide a deceptively simple structure for creating the ideal conditions for question formulation. Students are immediately engaged in a challenging intellectual task that requires speculation, conjecture and open-ended exploration.
Each of the four rules stimulates behaviors that encourage effective and consistent question formulation skills.
How much time do I need to teach the QFT?
It may take a minimum of 40 – 45 minutes for your students to complete all six steps the first time you introduce the QFT process in your classroom. As your students gain experience using the QFT, you will find your students can run through the process very quickly, in 10 to 15 minutes, even when working independently or in small groups.
How often should I use the QFT with my class?
You can use the QFT as often as you want. Depending on your purpose, you will use all six-steps or selected steps in the process. For example, you can use it at the beginning of a lesson or unit to help students set their learning agenda; or in the middle to help students focus or at the end to assess what students learned and any gaps in their learning.
How do I assess the quality of student questions?
The goal of the Question Formulation Technique is to help students develop their ability to ask questions. Allowing students to ask all kinds of questions and not placing value will help build their confidence is asking questions.
How do we know what makes a good question?
You may have ideas about what constitutes a good question but part of the process is to turn as much of thinking as possible to the students. You can do that by setting specific criteria and helping your students make connections between their questions and your learning goals.
How do students use their questions?
You should have a plan about what to do with the questions from the beginning when you design the QFocus and name your purpose in using the Question Formulation Technique.
The goal is for students to learn to think in questions. Answering the questions is not a main goal but part of the process is to use student questions. You or you and the students will decide what action to take, including answering the questions.
Students use their questions to:
• develop a project
• independent project
• set their learning agenda
• write an essay
• research paper
• experiments
Teacher uses student questions to:
• guide a reading
• assess students knowledge
• plan a lesson
• assessment tool
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Weather history preserved
DOWN the Mall on February 4 is correct in saying weather observations were taken at the High School in the 1940s.
The High School was the location of the official Bureau of Meteorology weather station from 1914.
Later it was transferred to the gaol, before being shifted to its present location at the airport in 1991.
Weather observations were actually begun in 1857 by the Department of Lands and Survey.
The original observatory was located in the vicinity of the Survey Office (now Dudley House).
Other official locations include the School of Mines (now the Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE college), and the old Police Barracks.
Unfortunately, the only early Bendigo records the Bureau of Meteorology have in their computer database are the rainfall records which date from 1862, and barometric pressure records from 1909.
The database only contains temperature records from 1957.
Earlier temperature records do exist, but these are on paper and stored in archives.
There was also the claim that Bendigo's all time temperature record of 47.4 degrees Celcius recorded some time between 1862 and 1908.
This temperature was supposedly recorded on January 14, 1862. However, this figure is in doubt.
On the same day, temperatures of 111.2 degrees Fahrenheit (44.0 deg Celcius) were recorded in both Melbourne and Heathcote.
A temperature of 47.4 degrees Celcius equates to 117.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
It is possible the observer misread the thermometer by 5 degrees; this would make the actual reading 112.4 deg Fahrenheit (44.7 degrees Celcius).
This would be a much more probable maximum temperature for this day.
Panton Street,
Golden Square
Tablet - Narrow
Tablet - Wide
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the view through the windshield car blog
A Condensed History of the American Luxury Automobile Market
1. Introduction
Everything changes. And evolves. The luxury auto segment is no exception.
It is fair to say, that at the dawn of the automobile age, all cars were a luxury item. Relative to personal income, autos were an expensive indulgence. In those days, trolley cars were the chief mode of public transit in most major cities. By 1895, nearly 11,000 miles of track had been built in the United States. By 1912, there were almost 40,000 miles of trackage for overhead-wire electric trolley operation in the U.S.
When Henry Ford began his assembly line in late 1913, he simplified the labor needed down to discrete tasks that could be performed by relatively unskilled labor. Ford reduced the time required to assemble a car from 12.5 to 6 man-hours; within a year, it was down to 93 man-minutes. This made it possible for Henry to cut the price of his Model Ts in half and boost production so that, in 1914, Ford made more cars than all other automakers combined.
Ford dropped the price of the Model T from $850 to $550 in 1913, and $440 in 1915. In 1915, over 500,000 Model Ts were sold. Autos ceased being a luxury item.
2. The Early Years - Pre-Depression
Despite the success of the Ford Model T and other low-priced automobiles, there remained a market for luxury cars. In the early years, there were numerous premium marques, many offered with custom coachbuilt bodies, competing for the dollars of U.S. luxury buyers.
Packard quickly became the most well-known of the premium brands. The first Packard automobile was produced in 1899. From the very beginning, Packard featured innovations, including the modern steering wheel. The marque developed a following among wealthy purchasers both in the United States and abroad. Early in the 20th century, a Packard cost four times the price of an Oldsmobile Runabout. The iconic Packard slogan, "Ask the Man Who Owns One," was first used in a Packard ad in October 1901.
Lesser-selling auto marques like Cord, Duesenberg, du Pont, Franklin, Jordan, Marmon, Mercer, Locomobile, Peerless, Pierce Arrow and Stutz were also well-known to well-heeled prospects.
1930 Cord L29 Town Car
Most are long forgotten, victims of the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1930 - the year after the stock market crash, Packard managed to sell 35,443 cars. Cadillac sold 17,117 vehicles, LaSalle - 14,986 and Cord - 1,700.
The survivors lived on because they became less luxurious.
3. Pre-World War II
The depression of the 1930s, which truly didn't end until the pre-war military build-up of 1940, changed the way wealthy Americans lived. Conspicuous consumption became muted. Household staffs were reduced - fewer gardeners, chauffeurs, maids and other servants. Cars were often piloted by owners themselves. The first three years of the Great Depression slashed the number of U.S. automakers almost in half.
Lincoln wasn't a big seller in 1930 with only 3,212 examples finding new buyers. It was handily outsold that year by Marmon (4,681 units), Pierce Arrow (9,865) and Franklin (5,744). But Lincoln was owned by Ford Motor Co. and could weather the financial storm better than small independent automakers.
Lincoln sold only 1,411 cars in 1935 - all of them big, built-by-hand K-Series models. The firm introduced the lower-cost, non-coachbuilt Lincoln Zephyr in 1936. The sleek, mid-priced Zephyr increased Lincoln sales almost 12-fold and probably saved the company. The economy in 1938 had soured; sales of luxury and near-luxury cars were down. Only 19,111 Zephyrs were sold in the '38 model year. That doesn't sound very good but Zephyr actually sold more cars than General Motors' LaSalle.
By 1939, the big K Lincolns were almost dead. Only 133 units were made and the large Lincoln was no longer offered after the '39 model year.
General Motors' LaSalle had made its debut in 1927 and most Cadillac dealers sold both brands. During the depression, Cadillac moved LaSalle to the forefront. During much of the '30s, LaSalle, described as having "Cadillac quality in a medium-priced car," handily outsold its more expensive sibling.
1934 LaSalle convertible coupe
In 1939, Cadillac sold only 13,000 units, while over 22,000 new LaSalles found owners.
The LaSalle division was killed off after the 1940 model year, not because of poor sales, but because General Motors feared that LaSalle was pirating too many sales from its luxury brand Cadillac. When GM discontinued the LaSalle nameplate, Cadillac offered the Series 61 - an entry-level model - to replace it. The Series 61 cost $125 more than a comparable LaSalle sedan.
Packard Motor Car Co. remained an independent automaker and Packard was its only brand.
Sales of its very luxurious vehicles dropped to 8,000 in 1934. In 1935, the firm introduced the lower-cost 120 models; sales jumped to almost 32,000 units. Packard introduced the Six, a 6-cylinder version of the 120, in 1937 and saw sales soar to over 122,000 cars that year. These lower-priced Packards looked very much like their large brothers.
1937 Packard Six
A comparison of prewar sales from 1930 to 1941 shows that Lincoln was the poorest seller of Detroit's Luxury Three:
sales (units)
sales (units)
sales (units)
4. Postwar American Luxury
After the war, all auto manufacturers could sell everything they could produce because pent-up consumer demand was so great. Almost everyone offered slightly warmed-over 1942 models for sale immediately after the war. Typically, conversion times from war production to passenger auto production and availability of raw materials and components dictated factories' outputs. Auto supply never really matched demand until 1950 or so.
The postwar luxury was much different than 20 years earlier. The custom coachbuilt market had pretty much dried up. Except for hearses and some limousines, luxury vehicles had become mass-produced, factory-finished items.
In 1949, Cadillac offered the new and desirable two-door pillarless hardtop, the Coupe de Ville. Cadillac also offered the first overhead-valve V8 engine in the luxury field. Lincoln only offered a flathead V8, a modified Ford truck engine, until 1952 when it introduced an overhead-valve V8 motor. Packard stuck with its pre-war L-head straight eight - an obsolete design which wasn't discontinued until 1955 when Packard finally offered a modern, overhead-valve V8 engine.
Cadillac introduced its first postwar body in its 1948 models. Lincoln had all new bodies for its '49 models introduced in April 1948. Packard didn't offer a new body style; it simply updated the prewar Clipper model in 1948, giving it a more bulbous look. These models were known as Bathtub Packards because they reminded people of upside-down bathtubs.
Writing in Mechanix Illustrated, road test guru Tom McCahill referred to the newly designed Packard as "a goat" and "a dowager in a Queen Mary hat." Still, demand for any car was high in those days and Packard sold 92,000 vehicles for 1948 and 116,000 of its 1949 models. And the Fashion Academy of New York named the Bathtub Packard its Fashion Car of the Year. In 1951, Packard finally rebodied its line of cars - a pleasantly modern but undistinguished design.
The 1954 acquisition of Studebaker and resultant cash problems forced Packard to delay the introduction of its all-new models for a year, leaving 1954 as a year of stale Packard offerings - compared with Cadillac, which sported an all-new body for 1954 and an even more-powerful V8 than before - 230 horspower. That year, Packard's longer-wheelbase Cavalier model had a 185 horsepower motor. Entry-level Clipper models were powered by engines with as little as 150 hp.
When former Packard dealers were shown previews of the '57 Packardbakers (as detractors called them), many ripped up their franchise contracts in disgust. Customers weren't impressed, either. In two model years, fewer than 6,800 Packardbakers found buyers. The last Packard rolled off the line on July 13, 1958. Of the 1,600,000 Packards produced, 48% were made in the post-war years, which says a lot about the revival of the luxury car market following the war's end.
Where did prospective Packard buyers turn in their quest for a luxury ride? Looking at the sales figures from 1951 through 1960, one can speculate that at least some of them turned to Chrysler's new Imperial - a former Chrysler top-of-the-line model which became a separate nameplate in 1955. And, within a few years, Imperial was giving Lincoln serious competition.
sales (units)
sales (units)
sales (units)
sales (units)
The Lincoln brand had its loyal fans but its sales paled compared with Cadillac.
In 1958, Lincoln made a strategic mistake, offering unitized-body cars made in its brand-new Wixom plant. These new models did not sell well because of the unusual styling and quality issues with the new body construction. At one point, Robert McNamara, who soon was elevated to President of Ford Motor Company, wanted to kill off Lincoln. But he relented when shown prototypes of the next Lincoln model.
Originally proposed as a Thunderbird design, the new, smaller 1961 Lincoln Continental featured clean, simple styling with much less chrome than prior models. It was offered as a four-door sedan and four-door convertible and was priced at the level of the premium 60 Series Cadillac rather than the entry-level Series 62 model. That meant that the base 1961 Lincoln sedan cost almost 19% more than the four-door Cadillac 62 ($6,027 versus $5,080).
Following this groundbreaking redesign, Lincoln sales did not jump-start; volumes grew slowly. Cadillac still outsold Lincoln by more than fivefold in 1963. Cadillac was a brand which had maintained a more consistent identity over the years and offered a variety of body-styles and trim lines not available from Lincoln. Two-door Caddies sometimes represented 20% of total sales and the availability of factory 75 Series limousines with corresponding commercial chassis models for hearses, flower cars and other special bodies gave Cadillac additional luxury cachet. Lincoln's line was limited to only two models.
In 1966, the addition of a coupe model helped Lincoln sales considerably - almost 16,000 coupes were sold in '66. Sales jumped again when the Mark III personal luxury coupe was introduced as a 1969 model.
sales (units)
sales (units)
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Meanwhile, Imperial sales languished selling at volumes in the 14-24,000 per year range, despite offering two- and four-door hardtops as well as a convertible model. Imperial failed to capture the luxury cachet of Cadillac and Lincoln. Much of the public still thought of it as a mere Chrysler model, although at Jacqueline Kennedy's request, the White House leased a 1960 black Crown Imperial Ghia-built limousine for her use. There was a brief resurgence in sales when the Lincoln-like 1964 Imperial debuted. It had been styled by Elwood Engel, who had designed the 1961 Lincoln. Chrysler Corporation discontinued Imperial as a separate model in the 1975 model year when only 8,830 units were sold.
It is interesting to note that, beginning in 1965, Cadillac sales began a steady climb. This was a deliberate move on General Motors' part. Aggressive tactics and special incentives allowed Cadillac dealers to offer hot deals on certain models. By 1973, Cadillac sales had risen to an annual rate of over 300,000 vehicles. In 1979, 382,958 new Cadillacs found buyers - outselling lower-priced marques such as Chrysler, AMC and Plymouth.
The increased number of Caddys seen on the road may have shaved off a bit of prestige and exclusivity but the high profit levels of Cadillac put lots of money in GM's pocket. John DeLorean once said that the manufacturing cost difference between a Chevrolet Caprice and a Cadillac was only about $300. In 1966, a Caprice four-door hardtop had a list price of $3,063, while a Cadillac Calais hardtop was priced at $5,040. There was plenty of room for GM to make deals on its Caddys.
In 1986, Cadillac reduced the size of their vehicles and offered styling which - from a distance - was hard to distinguish from its lesser stablemates, Buick and Oldsmobile. Lincoln reaped the benefits of this as Caddy's sales dropped by almost 40%. Lincoln outsold Cadillac in 1988 and 1989. Thanks to improved styling, Cadillac recaptured its long-held sales crown in 1990 and has outsold Lincoln ever since.
5. The Rise of The Imports
Prior to World War II, European cars were curiosities in America, imported to satisfy the eccentricities of the Very Rich. After the war, Europe was in shambles - production and distribution of automobiles recovered very slowly. Postwar importation of Mercedes-Benz vehicles began in 1952 under the auspices of foreign car importer Max Hoffman, who handled numerous European makes. Volumes were small, even in the late 1950s. At that time, Mercedes offered 'luxury' sedans, sized like a Rambler sedan (both rode on a 108-inch wheelbase) but priced nearer to a Cadillac. A 1957 Mercedes 219 four-door sedan was priced at $3,889 with a six-cylinder engine and a four-speed column-shift manual transmission. A '57 Cadillac Series 62 four-door hardtop with V8 engine and automatic transmission was priced at $4,781. A 1957 Rambler DeLuxe six-cylinder sedan cost a mere $1,961.
Expensive European cars of the 1950s and '60s lacked many of the little luxury touches standard in premium American offerings. In 1955, only 58,000 foreign autos were imported into the U.S. - most were small economy cars, such as Volkswagen. In 1961, Volkswagen had 87% of the imported vehicle market.
In 1965, Mercedes had set up its own in-house distribution in the U.S. Sales grew slowly but steadily in the 1970s and '80s. Buyers were mostly Americans looking for something different as well as domestic luxury buyers who had been burned by quality issues with U.S. cars. (This is not to say that Mercedes vehicles were perfect. During a 1973 road test on a Mercedes 280, Road & Track magazine reported that "on the first hard corner to the right, the right axle shaft came out of its wheel hub. Some lock washers had been omitted at the factory, it turned out.")
In 1993, Mercedes-Benz sold only 61,899 cars, compared with 255,869 Cadillacs and 177,208 Lincolns that same year.
BMW's U.S. presence started later and grew more slowly than Mercedes. In the 1950s, the Bavarian automaker was mostly known for its motorcycles and the little Isetta bubble car. In the late '60s, the BMW 2002 made its U.S. debut. Light, fuel-efficient, and agile like a sports car, the compact, 98-inch wheelbase coupe offered four comfortable seats and decent legroom. In 1968, a BMW 2002 cost about $2,800 - a relative bargain. BMW sales began to climb. In the period from 1968 to '76, more than 110,000 BMW 2002s were imported to the U.S.
By the late 1970s, BMW was offering a more complete line of cars - the 3, 5 and 7 Series models. Most of the sales in the U.S. were the smaller, sporty 3 Series models. By the late 1980s, BMW had become a serious presence in North America, with sales to match - although they were still significantly below those of Mercedes-Benz.
When Audi was introduced to the U.S. in the 1970s, its offerings were mostly glorified Volkswagen. Over a three-decade period, Audi has gradually gained prestige status in America, even though its entry-level models are still VW-based. Audi sales continue to lag its European rivals and it is still outsold by Cadillac.
In 1986, Honda debuted its Japan-built Acura premium brand, led by the top-of-the-line Legend. For the 1990 model year, two other Japanese competitors entered the luxury fray. Toyota introduced Lexus; Nissan offered Infiniti. Lexus was a stellar market success; by 1999, it was outselling Lincoln, Cadillac and BMW and was closing fast on Mercedes-Benz.
Comparing 2009 sales with those of a decade earlier, BMW and Audi did well, probably at Mercedes' expense. Lexus sales remained relatively flat. Both Lincoln and Cadillac suffered substantial declines (over 53% combined in a single decade), becoming relatively minor players in the luxury field. In 2009, the three Japanese brands had combined sales slightly greater than the combination of Mercedes and BMW:
1999 sales
2009 sales
1999 sales
2009 sales
Foreign makes now have the majority share of the luxury market, Based on the first nine months of calendar 2013, they have captured an 81+% share. The top three 2013 premium-brand sellers so far are Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus. Cadillac sales have improved over the past four years; it now outsells Lincoln by a factor of 2.2.
In the early days of the automobile, American manufacturers supplied luxury cars to the world. Today, most Americans buy foreign luxury brands, representing a seismic shift in buying habits.
6. Blurred Lines
Recent brand surveys have shown that Mercedes and BMW hold top ranks in the category of automotive luxury cars, followed by Jaguar, Lexus and Audi. Cadillac, Lincoln and Acura received far lower scores. Many auto buffs have trouble believing this. They should keep in mind that, if such a survey was taken in 1939, Packard would probably been the most desirable luxury car, followed by Cadillac. Today's forty-something or fifty-something luxury car buyer probably doesn't know what a Packard is and vaguely remembers Cadillac and Lincoln as something his/her grandfather used to lust after. Then he/she pulls out an iPhone to find the nearest Bimmer store.
Were my Packard-owning grandfather alive today, he would be very confused by the today's luxury car market. So am I. When I was growing up in the 1950s, there was no such thing as an "entry-level luxury car." If you needed basic transportation, you purchased the base model of the low-priced three: Ford, Chevy or Plymouth.
If you wanted something classier to impress your neighbors, there were a large selection of mid-priced cars from all auto companies - marques such as Buick, DeSoto, Dodge, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, etc. In the postwar era, prices began to converge. A 1950 Mercury cost about 30% more than a Ford. A Lincoln cost about 35% more than a Mercury. By the 1970s, a full-size Mercury was priced only 10% higher that an equivalent Ford. Mercury was being squeezed out of existence. The same thing happened to Plymouth as the Dodge brand moved downscale. The mid-priced field was evaporating.
Meanwhile new competition in the luxury field appeared produced significant sales. In the last decade, America's upscale brands began filling the gap left by the mid-priced field. And the term "entry-level luxury" (ELL) was born. These new offering have been squeezing out the mid-priced brands, which is why Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Mercury are dead. Dodge moved downscale to the low-priced perch and murdered Plymouth. Ironically, in recent years, the Chrysler brand has moved downmarket, threatening the existence of Dodge.
In 1936, the lowest priced Cadillac sold for three times as much as a mere Chevrolet. By 1976, a four-door Caddy Calais cost twice as much as an entry-level four-door Chevy Bel Air. Today, a Cadillac CTS will cost you about 50% more than an Impala. Meanwhile, the entry-level luxury field is becoming even more crowded with option-laden, lesser-nameplate competitors such as Toyota's Avalon Limited, Genesis from Hyundai, Buick LaCrosse and more.
Within the ELL field, many BMW 3-Series models carry higher transaction prices than those alleged 'flagship' MKS or CTS models. Lexus, Audi and Mercedes offer vehicles from ELL to six-figure flagship models. These foreign brands either did not exist or were an insignificant factor in the U.S. luxury vehicle market 40 years ago. While Lincoln and Cadillac are openly advertised with discounts off sticker, most foreign luxury cars offer little in the way of discounts. They don't need to.
The 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA, a stylish four-door coupe with a semi-fastback look, is priced starting at $29,900. It is powered by a 208 horsepower, 2-liter inline four. M-B claims that it will 0 to 60 in under 7 seconds. The CLA is made in Hungary to keep labor costs down. In the month of October 2013, Mercedes sold an impressive 4,895 CLA-Class cars in the U.S.
Audi offers its A3 sedan at the same price. The Honda Civic based Acura ILX also stickers at less than $30K, as does the Cadillac ATS. These prices are in the same range as a top-end Ford Fusion Titanium and represent a sea-change in the downward line-extension of prestige nameplates.
Here are the current standings of luxury marques, based calendar 2013 and 2014 U.S. sales:
2014 Sales
Change From
2013 Sales
Change From
It should be noted that top-of-the-line flagship sedans account for only about 4% of total sales at Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz. The vast majority of luxury-brand vehicle sales are of lesser, more budget-priced models.
What will the future bring for the prestige car market? Your guess is as good as mine. (originally posted 11/29/13)
Luxury Amnesia: Once upon a time, Cadillac was the de facto world luxury automobile. Presidents, sheiks, kings, princes and popes rode in Caddys. In the 1996 comedy film, 'Mrs. Winterbourne', Ricki Lake's character spotted a Rolls Royce and exclaimed, "Wow, that's like the Cadillac of automobiles, huh?" Not these days, Ricki. Cadillac has forgotten how to be a luxury car. Amnesia? I dunno. The brand is 115 years old, so maybe it's Alzheimer's.
Just like me, Jack Baruth is unimpressed by the current flagship Cadillac CT6. "Here's the complete list of what I admire about the Cadillac CT6 interior: There's a nifty shiny-bronze-kinda-carbon-fiber strip along the bottom of the dashboard and front-door trim panels. It's absolutely unnecessary, serves no purpose, and looks like the proverbial business. If you're a fan of the "maker aesthetic" that has taken over Instagram with locally machined bottle openers and whatnot, then you'll immediately connect with the idea of having a metallic decoration strip.
And there's also … no, that's it. Everything else is just blah. It's all a bunch of flat-grey plastic and leather that also looks like plastic. There's no joy in here, no sense of glamorous excess like you get in the Continental. It's all been squeezed out by a thoroughly unfortunate concept of Cadillac as a "European performance brand."
Once again, GM is a day late and a dollar short. They brought out the HHR right as the PT Cruiser was tanking, got the Fiero GT fixed just in time to cancel it. You get the idea. This time, they've managed to copy the cheerless interior of an E38 740iL - a full 16 years after Mr. Bangle ushered in the era of Baroque dashboard style and materials. The old W220 S-Class was like that, too. It sucked, and I say that as someone with a lot of miles behind the wheel of that particular chassis."
Timothy Cain recently wrote about Cadillac's shortcomings: "Long gone are the days when Cadillac could sell new vehicles in America at the same rate as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, or Lexus. Indeed, Cadillac is well back of Audi now, as well. To put an exclamation point on Cadillac's difficulties, little ol' Infiniti - also historically reliant on the U.S. market and rather weak globally - outsold Cadillac by a margin of more than 40% in March."
"In 2003, Cadillac was selling twice as many vehicles in the U.S. as Infiniti. Yet, while Cadillac's focus on passenger cars is evident, with an expanding sedan portfolio, Infiniti's headway has been made on the crossover side of the ledger where the brand's five nameplates outsold the XT5, Escalade, and Escalade ESV by more than 6,700 units in 2017 Q1.
Infiniti isn't the only premium brand attempting to take over territory in the United States while Cadillac struggles. Acura, with its own difficulties, isn't far behind Cadillac. Lincoln is trending in the opposite direction, up 9% so far this year. Jaguar-Land Rover is up 21% in 2017 and is quickly catching up to Cadillac in total volume.
Today, Cadillac isn't the top-selling luxury brand in America. It doesn't rank second or third or fourth, either. Indeed, Cadillac isn't even inside the top five now." For the first three months of 2017, Cadillac was outsold 2.5 to 1 by Mercedes-Benz. Lincoln's Continental sedan outsold Caddy's flagship CT6 sedan by more than 33% in the latest quarter.
Jack Baruth reminisced about the first Lexus model - the one that Caddy executives laughingly dismissed when first introduced in the Fall of 1989. "The original LS 400 was a master class in cost-no-object engineering but nobody bought it for that reason. They bought it because it looked just like an S-Class, it based at $35,000 instead of $58,000, and the marketing emphasized that. Period, point blank. I want you to think back to the last time you saw the actual MSRP of a D-class luxury sedan in a television ad and I guarantee you it will be that first-gen LS 400.
The price was the whole point. The Infiniti Q45 was a better car to drive in day-to-day use - I know, I had access to both of them when they were brand new - and it didn't sell worth a damn because the marketing was garbage. Instead of a picture of the car and the sticker price, they had rocks and trees. People already had rocks and trees. What they wanted was a discount S-Class."
That's why I named Lexus LS 400 as one of the world's ten most profound cars, noting that nine years after its introduction, "Lexus was outselling every luxury car brand in the U.S., except Mercedes and Mercedes annual sales were less than 4,500 more (190,382 vehicles versus 185,890 vehicles) than those of upstart Lexus.
One hundred years from now, they'll still be using the Lexus Marketing Jihad as a business case study at the Wharton School and at Harvard."
Lexus is still a luxury car 'value proposition'. When I bought my new 2008 Lexus LS 460, I discovered that comparably-equipped BMW 750i priced out at $13,000 more than the LS 460, while a similarly-equipped M-B S550 cost $22,000 more.
As for Infiniti, I test drove a Q45 in early 1990 and, while it was fast and handled well in the twisties, it was an anonymous car, with the side profile of a Jaguar XJ sedan with a little Buick thrown in and a front-end inspired by a 1973 Volkswagen 412. While the interior was decent-looking and comfortable, the exterior lacked any luxury cache and left me cold. Based on its dismal sales, I think everyone else felt the same way. Even today, Lexus outsells Infiniti by over 40%. (posted 4/11/17, permalink)
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2. Explain what Kant meant by the Categorical Imperative.
To have a good will is to do ones duty. To do ones duty is to do the right thing. The categorical imperative helps us to determine which actions are obligatory and which are forbidden. It tells us what we ought to do, "All in imperatives command either hypothetically or categorically...
Instead, people should not be used as instruments for something else, no matter how worthy the aim may be. Thus, Jim would be killing the man in order to save the rest - so he would be using him as a means of achieving something else.
1. `Always tell the truth and Always keep your promises' Kant's Categorical Imperative.
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New bacteria strain may help clean Gulf oil spill
Written by: Super Admin
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Washington, June 12 (ANI): Researchers have discovered a new strain of bacteria that could help clean up the mess created by the Gulf oil spill.
The strain can produce non-toxic, comparatively inexpensive "rhamnolipids," and effectively help degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs - environmental pollutants that are one of the most harmful aspects of oil spills.
These rhamnolipids are a group of a group of "biosurfactants" - a type of wetting agent that lowers surface tension between liquids, similar to that in detergents and shampoos. Biosurfactants are generally non-toxic, environmentally benign and biodegradable.
However, before commercial use, scientists want to attempt at further reducing costs and scaling up production.
The newly discovered strain, NY3, has an "extraordinary capacity" to produce rhamnolipids that could help break down oil, and then degrade some of its most serious toxic compounds, the PAHs. Rhamnolipids are not toxic to microbial flora, human beings and animals, and they are completely biodegradable.
The only reason they can't replace synthetic chemicals is the cost. By using low-cost sources of carbon or genetic engineering techniques, it may be possible to reduce costs even further and scale up production at very cost-effective levels, researchers said.
The findings were published in Biotechnology Advances. (ANI)
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Transmission Lines
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Impedance of Transmission Lines
A transmission line with characteristic impedance Z0, driven by a source with impedance Zs, and terminated with a load impedance of ZL
Transmission lines are a bit different than the normal wires we’re used to dealing with. For example, if you measured the resistance of a 10m piece of wire, and found it to be 0.01Ω, then you might reasonably expect that you’d measure the impedance of a 20m piece of wire to be 0.02Ω. However, when we say that a coaxial cable (SMA, BNC, or otherwise) has an impedance of 50Ω, there is no mention of a length. 50Ω coaxial cable is 50Ω whether it is 1m or 100m long. How can this be?
A per-length transmission line model consisting of a (small) series resistance R, a series inductance L, a (small) parallel resistance G caused by dielectric conduction, and a parallel capacitance C.
It turns out that the impedance of a transmission line, although it is real-valued (i.e. resistive), is not caused by the resistance of the wire (which is typically quite small, and results in signal loss along the wire). Rather, for a lossless transmission line, capacitance and inductance are what give rise to the characteristic impedance. If you’ve ever cut a cable in half and seen the dielectric that sits between the conducting wire and the exterior sheath, you are probably not surprised that capacitance plays a role. The other key to understanding transmission lines is to recognize that they are for carrying signals. You have to launch a signal down a transmission line, so we should really be thinking about the relationship between the voltage and current of the signal that is transmitted.
Adding a differential piece of transmission line to an infinite line.
Here is a cute pedagogical derivation of how this works. Supposing a lossless transmission line, we add a differential piece of line (with two half-inductances and a capacitor, as shown above), and argue that this shouldn’t change the overall impedance. In this configuration, the overall impedance of the line Z0 is given by
\begin{align} Z_0 & = \frac12 Z_ L + \frac12 Z_ C\parallel (\frac12 Z_ L+Z_0)\\ Z_0^2 & = \frac14 Z_ L^2 + Z_ L Z_ C\\ Z_0 & = \sqrt {Z_ L Z_ C + \left(\frac12 Z_ L\right)^2}\\ \end{align}\,\!
Now if we define L to be an inductance per unit length, and C to be a capacitance per unit length, we have Z_ L=j\omega L \Delta \ell and Z_ C=1/j\omega C \Delta \ell , where \Delta \ell is some small unit of length. In this case:
Z_0=\sqrt {\frac{L}{C} - \left(\frac12\omega L\Delta \ell \right)^2}. \,\!
Notice how the differential length and frequency dependence (and, even the definition of L and C as being per unit length) fall out of the left-hand term under the root. And, of course, as \Delta \ell \to 0, we are left with:
Z_0=\sqrt {\frac{L}{C}} \,\!
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How To Score Baseball: The Balk
Updated on July 20, 2012
Baseball Scoring: The Balk
A Balk is committed by a pitcher for any illegal motions during the delivery of the ball to home plate. Any one the umpires can make the call. In Little League and other youth baseball the balk is not often called. But the rule is enforced as the age groups go up. Here's an example of scoring a Balk in abaseball scorebook.
The situation
1. There is a runner on first base and no one out. The pitcher balks and the runner on first gets awarded second base.
2. In the illustration "Odom" was up with a 1 ball 0 strike count when the balk occurred.
3. Smith was awarded second base due to the Balk. This is indicated by the letters "BK" entered between 1st and 2nd base on the Smith's at-bat.
4. Score the advance from first base to second due to a Balk
5. A line is drawn from first base to second base to reflect the advancing of one base.
6. The letters "BK" are entered in the base runner's cell, between first and second base.
7. Nothing is recorded in the batter's cell
8. If a base runner scores due to a Balk the batter is not credited with a RBI. * If multiple men are on base, each base runner's cell is updated accordingly.
9. If there are no runners on base and the batter has less than three (3) balls in the count, the batter is awarded an additional BALL. If the batter has three balls and a Balk is called, the batter is awarded first base and recorded as a BASE ON BALLS (BB).
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B4UPLAYBALL 5 years ago from NYC - USA
Let's say there are 2 outs, no runners on base and the pitcher has a 3-0 count on the batter. Now let's assume he's pitching from the windup. If he starts his windup,and then stops and starts again - it is a balk. The umpire awards the batter a ball. In this case it results in ball 4 and the batter is awarded first base.
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bil wexted 5 years ago
Please explain how a balk can be committed with no runners on base. Ref Rule ???
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The Internet of Things is Changing the Game for: Vino
The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the game for every industry, including wine. In 2014, E. & J. Gallo Winery paired up with IBM to change the way they grow their vines. Gallo Winery owns over 20,000 acres of vineyards. When they saw NASA satellite images of their vineyards, it was apparent that sections looked overwatered or under watered; and they knew something needed to change.
Gallo Winery decided to change up their watering system and bring in IBM to help them do it. Their old system was not precise enough to calibrate the watering of individual plants. After changing their irrigation system (piping, valves and infrastructure) to Netafim, they could control water to 140 individual sections of vines.
IBM brought in an IoT watering infrastructure to monitor weather forecasts, provide imagery and inform watering techniques. Weather is a major component in how much water a vine might need: wind, storms and sunlight all play an integral role in this determination process. Depending on weather, the vine might need 12 gallons of water one day, but only 2 gallons of water the next. The new infrastructure that was put in place could provide predictions of the weather 24 hours ahead of time and estimate how much water the vines would need as a result.
At the end of 2014, Gallo Winery looked at new satellite images of their 10-acre test area and were shocked. Not only were the plants healthier, but overall they had also conserved water. They used 25% less water while crop improved 26%. That means they managed to conserve seven TRILLION gallons that year, all while producing a higher quality vine. Imagine, if other growers used this, how much water we would save.
After years of successful trial runs with vineyard grapes, IBM is researching the IoT water system with other crops such as mangos, walnuts, almonds and other citrus fruits. With this kind of progress being shown so early, it seems inevitable that IoT systems can change the way we produce food and consume water entirely.
Sources: Nick Dokoozlian, E. J.Gallo Winery with IBMJonathan Vanian, Fortune
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Andrea Massimilian is the Multi-Channel Marketing Manager at ClearObject. Andrea came to the company after graduating from the University of Dayton and completing two years in the prestigious Orr Fellowship. A patron of the arts, more specifically musical theatre and all things Harry Potter related (#always), Andrea can usually be found exploring Indy’s cultural events including local theatre, film festivals, food festivals and everything in between.
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What is a definition of apocalyptic literature? Why is this a form of writing that appears during extremely hard times?religion
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missy575 | High School Teacher | (Level 1) Educator Emeritus
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Apocalyptic literature surfaces regularly when times are tough because a great number of people still cling to widely held beliefs in the bible which is still a best-seller after about 2000 years.
This type of literature arises out of a response to books in the bible that foretell or prophesy about events to come in the future. Since the book was written by a variety of authors and a variety of years ago to be specific, it actually occurs about every generation that apocalyptic literature re-emerges. The book of Mark in the bible references the growing expedience of great storms and quakes as signs of the end of the age. Many writers today would cite that all around us there are signs that the end is near.
The link below has further information for your perusal.
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Gravity siphon and dark matter
1. Mar 23, 2008 #1
This idea came to me recently and I would like to share it. It has to do with the phenomena called a siphon. If I was to start with a pool of 1 million liters of water, using a siphon, I can lift all the water, one meter, against gravity (siphon hump) without using any additional gravity potential, than is already in the pool. If we didn't know how a siphon worked it would look like anti-gravity or a repulsion affect within the pool.
The way the siphon works, is the potential energy release by the falling water pulls a vacuum suction. This potential is used to lift the water up the siphon. In terms of a water siphon, the suction acts like a repulsive force that stretches the electro-static binding between the water molecules. This EM potential is conducted all the way to the pool, until this pseudo-EM repulsion causes the water to overcome gravity. If an air bubble gets into the siphon, it breaks, due to the inability to conduct EM.
Based on these observations, dark matter and dark energy, appear to follow all the logic of the water gaining potential by going up a siphon hill. It is sort of like the gravity potential of the universe is conducting potential up front, to run a siphon. Once it begins one would expect to see both anti-gravity plus pseudo-EM repulsion affects in the siphon hump that will ultimately lead to a net lowering of gravity potential.
2. jcsd
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Although adults can beat children at most cognitive tasks, new research shows that children's limitations can sometimes be their strength.
Deschoolers maintain that a child's learning should be curiosity-driven rather than dictated by teachers and textbooks, and that forcing kids to adhere to curricula quashes their natural inclination to explore and ask questions because children think differently.
In two studies, researchers found that adults were very good at remembering information they were told to focus on, and ignoring the rest. In contrast, 4- to 5-year-olds tended to pay attention to all the information that was presented to them -- even when they were told to focus on one particular item. That helped children to notice things that adults didn't catch because of the grownups' selective attention.
"We often think of children as deficient in many skills when compared to adults. But sometimes what seems like a deficiency can actually be an advantage," said Vladimir Sloutsky, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at The Ohio State University.
"That's what we found in our study. Children are extremely curious and they tend to explore everything, which means their attention is spread out, even when they're asked to focus. That can sometimes be helpful."
The results have important implications for understanding how education environments affect children's learning, he said.
"But the children were much better than adults at noticing when the non-target shape changed," Sloutsky said. Children noticed that change 77 percent of the time, compared to 63 percent of the time for adults.
"What we found is that children were paying attention to the shapes that they weren't required to," he said. "Adults, on the other hand, tended to focus only on what they were told was needed."
A second experiment involved the same participants. In this case, participants were shown drawings of artificial creatures with several different features. They might have an "X" on their body, or an "O"; they might have a lightning bolt on the end of their tail or a fluffy ball.
Participants were asked to find one feature, such as the "X" on the body among the "Os." They weren't told anything about the other features. Thus, their attention was attracted to "X" and "O", but not to the other features. Both children and adults found the "X" well, with adults being somewhat more accurate than children.
But when those features appeared on creatures in later screens, there was a big difference in what participants remembered. For features they were asked to attend to (i.e., "X" and "O"), adults and children were identical in remembering these features. But children were substantially more accurate than adults (72 percent versus 59 percent) at remembering features that they were not asked to attend to, such as the creatures' tails.
"The point is that children don't focus their attention as well as adults, even if you ask them to," Sloutsky said. "They end up noticing and remembering more."
Sloutsky said that adults would do well at noticing and remembering the ignored information in the studies, if they were told to pay attention to everything. But their ability to focus attention has a cost -- they miss what they are not focused on.
The ability of adults to focus their attention -- and children's tendency to distribute their attention more widely -- both have positives and negatives.
"The ability to focus attention is what allows adults to sit in two-hour meetings and maintain long conversations, while ignoring distractions," Sloutsky said.
"But young children's use of distributed attention allows them to learn more in new and unfamiliar settings by taking in a lot of information."
The fact that children don't always do as well at focusing attention also shows the importance of designing the right learning environment in classrooms, Sloutsky said.
"Children can't handle a lot of distractions. They are always taking in information, even if it is not what you're trying to teach them. We need to make sure that we are aware of that and design our classrooms, textbooks and educational materials to help students succeed.
"Perhaps a boring classroom or a simple black and white worksheet means less distraction and more successful learning," Sloutsky added.
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Cultural Studies Essays - Jacques Lacan
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Lacan's View of the Linguistic Structure of the Unconscious and Implications for the Relevance ofPsychoanalysis to the Social World
Jacques Lacan has been called the most influential psychoanalystsince Freud. The impact of his work, both as a theory of the unconscious andas a repertoire of clinical practices, is reflected in the use of Lacanianmethods by over half of psychoanalysts worldwide. Lacanian concepts andconstructs also are thriving outside the consulting room, in the studies ofliterature and film, in feminist studies and legal studies, internationalrelations and social policy.
But what does psychoanalysis have to do with the social world? Historians,social and political scientists have contested a role for psychoanalysis in theirrespective social domains. There is fear that psychological reductionisminevitably results, lowering the 'objective' social sphere to the subjectivelevel of a 'culture on a couch'. However, the theory and practice ofpsychoanalysis need not be atomistic. Freud regarded the study ofinstitutions, languages, literature and art as a necessary prerequisite tosuccessfully comprehending the analytic experience. Like Freud, and in hisproject of returning to Freud, Jacques Lacan studied and borrowed from a rangeof disparate fields, including philosophy, structuralist anthropology,literature, music, topography and semiology/linguistics. He agreed with Freudon the legitimacy of social analysis inspired from a psychoanalyticperspective. In A Theoretical Introduction to the Functions of Psychoanalysisin Criminology (1950), Lacan expressed his position as follows:
It may be well thatsince its experience is limited to the individual, psychoanalysis cannot claimto grasp the totality of any sociological object, or even the entirety ofcauses currently operating in our society. Even so, in its treatment of theindividual, psychoanalysis has discovered relational tensions that appear toplay a fundamental role in all societies, as if the discontent in civilizationwent so far as to reveal the very joint of nature to culture. If one makes theappropriate transformation, one can extend the formulas of psychoanalysisconcerning this joint to certain human sciences that can utilize them(Stavrakakis, 1999, p. 3).
Anthony Elliott (1992) cited Lacan's ideas as establishing theprincipal terms of reference for thinking about the interconnections betweenthe psyche and social field (p. 2).
In this vein, Feher-Gurewich contended that Lacan's psychoanalyticapproach is founded on premises that are in sharp contrast to the ones whichhave led to the failure of an alliance between psychoanalysis and socialtheory (Stavrakakis, 1999, p. 14).
One set of these premises is the topic of this discussion. Thefollowing is an attempt to explain Lacan's claim that the unconscious isstructured like a language and to discuss the bearing this claim has on therelevance of psychoanalysis to the social world.
First, a brief overview of Lacan's career, or 'project,' may assistin supporting this analysis.
Overview of Lacan's Project
Although many perceive his theoretical works as impenetrable or asan incoherent jumble, there are common threads throughout. Lacan consistentlyviewed his mission to be a return to Freud. The keynote for this return washis placement of language as the central construct in theory and in practice(Clement, 1983).
The Mirror Stage
Beginning in the late 1930s, after the publication of numerous casestudies, Lacan began to focus on the emergence of the sense of self, thefunction of the I. He termed this emergence the Mirror Stage in thedevelopment of a child's sense of self during the first two years of life. Drawingupon revelations from his own psychoanalytic experience, together with the workof psychologists such as Henri Wallon, Charlotte Bühler, and Otto Rank, Lacan positedthat the child's emergent sense of self is formed upon entry into language, therealm of the symbolic, and always in reference to some "other. Thatother could be the child's own image in a mirror, the mother or any number of otherobjects with which the child associated self via Freud's mechanism of narcissisticidentification.
The mirror stage is the origin of a fundamental alienation or split inthe individual's sense of self. The speaking subject (I) becomes de-centeredfrom the ideal ego (me). Because self is oriented toward an 'other' who isperceived as ideal/omnipotent, and thus as a potential rival to the self, theego that emerges from this stage is characterized by a hostility that threatensits very existence. Lacan concluded that human identity is formed only within thisintersubjective context in which alienation and aggressivity characterize thenatural state. Rather than being the first step toward the formation of ahealthy and stable ego, his proposal that méconnaissance, ormisperception, is central to the ego formation flew in the face of a basicconstruct of ego psychology, that the ego is the origin and basis of psychicstability. In 1953, Lacan broke with the dominant faction of ego psychologistsand formed his own professional group, the Société franaise de psychanalytique(SFP).
The Discourse of Rome
During the first meeting of this group, in Rome that year, Lacanpresented a paper which quickly became known as the manifesto of the newsociety. He argued that speech and, more generally, language were central topsychoanalytic practice and to any theoretical conclusions that might beextrapolated from it. He drew upon and adapted the semiologic principles of Ferdinandde Saussure and the philosophical traditions of Hegel for his theoreticalvocabulary. It is during this time that Lacan's public focus shifted clearlyfrom the developmental to the linguistic. Drawing from the language of music,he posited three registers of functioning, the symbolic, imaginary and real.The symbolic, a function of speech/language, was seen as central and in dynamicinteraction with the imaginary.
Lacan's acerbic characterization of the ego as the seat of neurosisrather than the source of psychic integration and his emphasis on the symbolicorganization of the human psyche opened new territory for psychoanalytic theory.Lacan credited Freud with the concept and blamed his ego-psychologist followersfor obscuring the point.
The charge that psychoanalysts had abandoned the founding texts oftheir profession exacerbated tensions between the ego psychology and the SFPuntil Lacan left the group in 1963 to form another organization, the ÉcoleFreudienne de Paris (EFP). Lacan continued his close readings of Freud'stexts, but he now began to introduce a number of terms and concepts not foundin Freud's own work. By the time his selected essays appeared 1966, hisseminars were standing-room-only. Many in the crowd associated him with structuralistssuch as Jacques Derrida, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Michel Foucault. As withother members of this group, Lacan was often criticized for the difficulty ofhis style. Within the EFP itself, many of the practicing analysts wereconcerned about what they perceived as the increasingly theoretical andacademic emphasis of Lacan's work. During this stage of his career, Lacan began work toward a"meta-theory" of psychoanalysis, constructing ideas about Lacanianideas. His construct of the three registers expanded to three-plusdimensions. He attempted to recast his earlier insights in the more preciselanguage of mathematics, employing topological figures, such as the Kleinbottle and Borromean knot, to illustrate and explore the relationship among histheoretical constructs. However, many of Lacan's followers criticized thisapproach, complaining that his arguments were increasingly incomprehensible andirrelevant to clinical practice. Lacan's response was the dissolution the EFPand the founding of yet another association, the École de la Cause Freudienne,which he directed until his death in 1981.
The Structure of the Unconscious and Relevance to the Social World
In the Introductory Lectures to Psychoanalysis, Freudcommented that the unconscious can be compared to a language without a grammar(Laplanche & Pontalis, 1983). Lacan, using structuralist linguistics,attempted to systematize this contention, arguing that the unconscious isstructured like a language, and that 'it speaks'/ ca parle. A symptom,Lacan claimed, may be read as an embodied metaphor. As Freud had argued, whatis at stake within a symptom is a repressed desire objectionable to theconsciously accepted self-conception and values of the subject. This desire,if it is to gain satisfaction at all, accordingly needs to be expressedindirectly. For example, a residual infantile desire to masturbate may findsatisfaction indirectly in a compulsive ritual the subject feels compelled torepeat. Just as one might metaphorically describe one's love as a rose, Lacanargues, here we have a repressed desire being metaphorically expressed in someapparently dissimilar bodily activity. Equally, drawing on certain momentswithin Freud's papers On the Psychology of Love, Lacan argues that desire isstructured as a metonymy. In metonymy, one designates a whole concept (e.g.: militaryforce) by naming a component of it (e.g.: a sword). Lacan's argument is that,equally, since castration denies subjects full access to their first loveobject (the mother), their choice of subsequent love objects is the choice of aseries of objects that each resemble in part the lost object.
According to Lacan, the unconscious uses the multivalent resourcesof the natural language into which the subject has been inducted (what he calls'the battery of the signifier') to give indirect vent to the desires that thesubject cannot consciously avow.
While Freud is interested in investigating how the polymorphouslyperverse child forms an unconscious and a superego, and becomes a civilizedadult, Lacan's focus is on how the infant develops the illusion commonly termedas a "self. His essay on the Mirror Stage describes that process,showing how the infant forms an illusion of an ego, of a unified conscious selfidentified by the word "I."
For Lacan's theory, the notion that the unconscious, which governsall factors of human existence, is structured like a language is central. Freud'saccount of the two main mechanisms of unconscious processes, condensation anddisplacement, reinforce this claim. Both are essentially linguistic phenomena;meaning is either condensed (in metaphor) or displaced (in metonymy). Lacan notedthat Freud's dream analyses, and most of his analyses of the unconscioussymbolism used by his patients, depend on word-play (e.g., puns, associations,etc.) that are chiefly verbal. According to Lacan, the contents of theunconscious are acutely aware of language and of the structure of language.Hence, the unconscious, structured like a language, serves to reveal a symptomof neurosis or psychosis through this medium.
Lacan followed ideas laid out by Saussure, but adapted them to hisuse. He argued that Freud had understood the linguistic nature of humanpsychology but that he had simply lacked the Saussurean vocabulary necessary toarticulate it. Saussure talked about the relationship between signifier andsignified in the formation of a sign, and contended that language is structuredby the negative relation among signs (i.e., the existence of a sign isdependent on its distinction from another sign). For Lacan, the contents ofthe unconscious form signifiers and these signifiers form a "signifyingchain." One signifier has meaning only if it is distinct from some othersignifier. There are no 'signifieds' in Lacan's model; there is nothing towhich a signifier ultimately refers. If there were, then the meaning of anyparticular signifier would be relatively stable; there would be a relation ofsignification between signifier and signified, and that relation would yieldmeaning. Lacan posited that relations of signification do not exist in theunconscious; rather, there are only negative relations in which one signifiercan exist only if it is distinct from another signifier.
Because of this lack of signifieds, the chain of signifiersconstantly slides and shifts in an endless series, like actors in search of aplay. There is no anchor operating in the unconscious, nothing that ultimatelygives meaning or stability to the system. The chain of signifiers isconstantly in play, in Derrida's sense; there is no point at which a definitivemeaning can crystallize. Rather, one signifier only leads to anothersignifier, and never to a signified (Lacan, 1966).
Lacan posited this as the nature of unconscious content: continuallycirculating chains of signifiers, with no anchor or center. This is Lacan'slinguistic translation of Freud's depiction of the unconscious as a chaoticrealm of shifting drives and desires. While Freud attempted to bring thosechaotic drives and desires into consciousness so they could be understood and mademanageable, Lacan theorized that becoming an adult, a "self," is theprocess of trying to halt the chain of signifiers so that stable meaning, includingthe meaning of "I", becomes possible. According to Lacan, however,this possibility is an illusion, an image created by a misperception of therelation between body and self
Even sexual identity is determined by the subject's relation to thesignifier, not by some innate, biological predisposition. For Lacan, whatFreud described as the oedipal phase is actually a moment in which theindividual faces the option of accepting or rejecting the signifier in theplace of the object or the imaginary other. Although Freud called thissignifier the phallus, its primary characteristic is not its status as a biologicalorgan that one may or may not possess. Rather, this primordial signifierpossesses the fundamental property of being separable from the object itrepresents. Freud identified this possibility as "castration," butLacan claimed that it is simply the functional principle that enables thesignifier to appear as such. Sexuality and, more generally, personal identityis thus not biologically determined but instead constructed through one'srelation to the symbolic order.
Most of Lacan's work from this period traces the connections betweenspecific properties of the signifier and their effects in human experience. Heclaimed that the entire structure of intersubjective relations is determinednot by the individuals involved but by the way those individuals model on amoment of the signifying chain which traverses them. Because the signifier isautonomous from the signified, the link between them, ordinarily considered toconstitute meaning, is an effect of the signifier itself and its relation to othersignifiers in the signifying chain.
Lacan described the way that illusory meaning comes about byreferencing Roman Jakobson's distinction between two poles of language,metaphor and metonymy. Lacan contended that these functions account for thesense of meaning although there is a barrier between the signifier and thesignified, or between the symbolic and the real. According to Lacan, meaningnever "consists" in language, it "insists" in the chain ofsignifiers as one supplants the other metonymically. Language seems to"mean" in the usual sense due to displaced signifiers that functionas the signified in Saussure's model. Subsequent signifiers merely refer backto earlier ones, and it is this retrospective "reference" thatsustains the effect of reference in the absence of a referent or anactual signified. Lacan described this effect as the "creativespark" of metaphor (Beneveuto & Kennedy, 1986). It is, for Lacan, theseat of the subjective.
Traditionally, subjectivity has been understood as a juncture ofwords with objects, situated on the bar between the signifier and the signifiedor the border between language and the world. That border, Lacan argued, is withinthe unconscious. Read through Saussure's influence and Lacan's emphasis on theautonomy of the signifier, Freud's discovery of the unconscious established an 'absence'in the subject's relation to the object and to the self.
This absence or lack, termed the 'other', can be thought of as theobject of desire. Lacan contended that the concept of the unconscious revealsa subject constituted in relation to an Other it cannot know and orientedtoward an object that it can never possess. As discussed in the Mirror Stage,this splitting is brought about by the subject's entry into the symbolic,supplanting the imaginary unity derived through identification with the other.That identification is replaced by a more complex relation to the symbolicOther. Introduced in the Discourse of Rome" the Other designates a numberof concepts for Lacan; e.g., death, the symbolic father, the role of theanalyst, the unconscious.
For Lacan, Freud's angry father becomes the Name-of-the-Father orthe Law-of-the-Father. Submission to the rules of language itself; i.e., theLaw of the Father, is required to enter into the Symbolic order. To become aspeaking subject, you have to be subjected to, you have to obey, the laws andrules of language. Lacan designated the structure of language, and its rules,as specifically paternal, calling the rules of language the Law-of-the-Fatherin order to link the entry into the Symbolic, the structure of language, toFreud's notion of the oedipus and castration complexes.
The Other is posited as the center of the system, that which governsthe structure's shape and the manner in which all the elements in the systemcan move and relate. The term Phallus also is used to designate the Other, emphasizingthe patriarchal nature of the Symbolic order. The Phallus limits the play ofelements and stabilizes the structure. It anchors the chains of signifiers withthe result that signifiers can have stable meaning. Because the Phallus is thecenter of the Symbolic order, of language, that the term "I"designates the idea of the self. Lacan has referred to this anchoring effectas a 'point de capiton' or quilting point ( Stavrakakis, 1999).
This quilting point has particular significance for the usefulapplication of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory to social domains. Without it,the practitioner is left with a postmodern concept of an endlessly fluid chainof signifiers, signifying nothing in terms of a relatively stable identity ormeaning. For Lacan, the slipping chain is halted by the prominent roleattributed to certain signifiers in fixing the meaning of whole chains ofsignifiers. Lacan described this effect as everything radiating out from andbeing organized around this signifier, similar to these little lines of forcethat an upholstery button forms on the surface of material. It's the point ofconvergence that enables everything that happens in this discourse to besituated retroactively and retrospectively (Stavrakakis, 1999, p. 60). Thisis the point with which all concrete analyses of discourse in thepsychoanalytic and the social world must operate.
Lacan's great contribution to contemporary culture is his teachingabout rhetorical "performance" and "cognition," doing andknowing. The "revolutionary" dimension of Lacan's pedagogy forFelman (1987) is the dialogism of the performative and constative, how inpractice they undermine, deconstruct, and yet inform each other. Theinteractions of doing and undoing form the dynamic basis, Felman said, ofpsychoanalysis's "ineradicable newness" (12), its evergreen vitalityand unceasing "revolutionary" nature. Building on this insight,Lacan has shown experience, largely unconscious, to be structured like alanguage, since human behavior manifests the dialectical interaction ofconscious and unconscious experience, the double writing of that which is enactedbeyond what can ever be known at any one moment.
For example, Gallop (1987) pointed out that the psychoanalystlearns to listen not so much to her patient's main point as to odd marginalmoments, slips of the tongue, unintended disclosures. Freud formalized thispsychoanalytic method, but Lacan has generalized it into a way of receiving alldiscourse (p. 23).
Lacan was often and roundly criticized as a self-aggrandizingshowman, a sloppy theoretician, an intentionally inscrutable speaker andauthor, a postmodern, post-structural 'want to be', and a 'polygamouslyperverse' human. Many disciples justified his obtuse style of presenting ideasas an attempt to model his concepts within the instrument of his linguisticstyle. Others found his style to be sufficient reason for avoiding Lacan'swork altogether. In addition, his clinical practices, such as the abbreviatedsession, were frowned on by many traditionalists in the psychoanalyticcommunity.
However, Lacan's linguistic approach to the unconscious serves as animportant counter to the more-entrenched biological and neurologicalconstructs. His synthesis of Freudian theory with Saussurean semiologygenerated new conceptual tools for critical research and reading in the socialsphere. These tools allow a dynamic analysis of social process from theperspective of What is this doing? rather than What does this mean?
Beneveuto,B. & Kennedy, R. (1986). The Works of Jacques Lacan. London: FreeAssociation.
Clement,C. (1983). The Lives and Legends of Jacque Lacan; A. Goldhammer(trans). New York: Columbia University Press.
Elliott,A. (1992). Social Theory and Psychoanalysis in Transition. Oxford:Blackwell.
Felman,S. (1987). Jacques Lacan and the Adventure of Insight: Psychoanalysisin Contemporary Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Gallop,J. (1987). Reading Lacan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Lacan,J. (1966). Of structure as the inmixing of an otherness prerequisite to anysubject whatever. In R. Macksey & E. Donato (eds), The StructuralistControversy, Baltimore: John Hopkins, 1970.
Laplanche,J. & Pontalis, J.B. (1983). The Language of Psychoanalysis; D.Nicholson Smith (trans.). London: Hogarth.
Stavrakakis,Y. (1999). Lacan and the Political. London: Routledge.
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Monday, December 21, 2015
Dark buzz killed the dinosaurs
From a dopey NY Times book review:
A good theory is an act of the informed imagination — it reaches toward the unknown while grounded in the firmest foundations of the known. In “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs,” the Harvard cosmologist Lisa Randall proposes that a thin disk of dark matter in the plane of the Milky Way triggered a minor perturbation in deep space that caused the major earthly catastrophe that decimated the dinosaurs. It’s an original theory that builds on a century of groundbreaking discoveries to tell the story of how the universe as we know it came to exist, how dark matter illuminates its beguiling unknowns and how the physics of elementary particles, the physics of space, and the biology of life intertwine in ways both bewildering and profound.
If correct, Randall’s theory would require us to radically reappraise some of our most fundamental assumptions about the universe and our own existence. Sixty-six million years ago, according to her dark-matter disk model, a tiny twitch caused by an invisible force in the far reaches of the cosmos hurled a comet three times the width of Manhattan toward Earth at least 700 times the speed of a car on a freeway. The collision produced the most powerful earthquake of all time and released energy a billion times that of an atomic bomb, heating the atmosphere into an incandescent furnace that killed three-quarters of Earthlings. No creature heavier than 55 pounds, or about the size of a Dalmatian, survived. The death of the dinosaurs made possible the subsequent rise of mammalian dominance, without which you and I would not have evolved to ponder the perplexities of the cosmos. ...
Randall calls the force driving that fraction “dark light” — an appropriately paradoxical term confuting the haughty human assumption that the world we see is all there is.
Supposedly she was going to call it "dark buzz", but she did not want to drive traffic to this blog. (Just kidding, Lisa.)
Not everyone accepts that a comet or asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. A recent Time mag article said:
A new study examining volcanic eruptions and the infamous dinosaur-killing asteroid proposes a compromise in which both were responsible for the great extinction that occurred about 65 million years ago.
In the study, published in the journal Science, Geologists examined the timing of the already well-researched volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in western India, and found that those eruptions occurred within 50,000 years of the asteroid hit—a pretty narrow window in geologic time. The seismic punch of the impact may have accelerated the speed of the eruptions, making it not only likely that both events had a hand in the dinosaurs’ downfall, but difficult to tease out which, if either, was more to blame.
So this may never be resolved.
Randall is trying to be taken seriously, but wherever she goes to plug her book, the reporters spend most of their time asking her for stories about how male chauvinist physicists mistreated her, about how women are marginalized, and generally baiting her into talking feminist politics instead of physics. She is too polite to say so, but it is obvious that she is much more annoyed at how these reporters belittle women, than any gripes against physicists.
For an example, see The One Question This Brilliant Physicist Wants People To Stop Asking Her in the AOL Huff Post. I got suckered by the click-bait, as I wanted to see if the question was about Jodie Foster, who played a cosmologist in a movie based on a Carl Sagan book.
Other physicists are more political, and some are telling the US Supreme Court that we need affirmative action:
Minority students attending primarily white institutions commonly face racism, biases, and a lack of mentoring. Meanwhile, white students unfairly benefit psychologically from being overrepresented. ...
We ask that you take these considerations seriously in your deliberations and join us physicists and astrophysicists in the work of achieving full integration and removing the pernicious vestiges of racism and white supremacy from our world.
This is just anti-white hatred. Physics has problems, but having too many white people is not one of them. Yes, most of the historical progress has been from white Christians and Jews, but not out of some white supremacy.
1. Everytime I hear someone talking about how such and such should be racially 'integrated', I tell what a fabulous idea this is and then I ask them how soon we can do this to all professional sports teams. I can usually hear crickets chirping after this. This is no different than people like Hillary Clinton blathering about how much doctors should make for a living, then having one of the reporters ask her when such a fantasic idea might be also applied to the salaries of lawyers as well. She shut up pretty fast.
The last thing this country (or any other) needs is for the government (or guilty busy bodies) to start determining people's occupations statistically by skin color and gender. Talent, ability, and interest are not statistically uniform across all races, cultures, and both genders, what a shock, reality isn't politically correct.
2. The problem is that elitist, inbred and neurotic Yankees have done what people like Orestes Brownson said they would. It's the white Christians and Jews that have gone Satanist and Gnostic. Watch the ads on TV or read the symbolism in movies. It's everywhere! They are the ones that taught minorities to hate us and taught them socialism. They build things like the Denver International Airport and they want the United States to look like an airport. They are such self-haters they can't get over WWI and WWII, so they desire world government. Even Kant knew this was foolish. They conspire to eliminate our lead in just about everything.
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Jan 30, 2014
Structure, Sign, and Play: Derrida
Structure, Sign, and Play
The essay “Structure, Sign and Play” begins with an attempt to find perhaps “something has occurred in the history of the concept of structure that could be called an event” and asks the question “what would this event be then?” and, “Where the structure does occur?” (2) And answer is that the structure occurs in “the centre... (which) permits the freeplay of its elements inside the total form.” (1) It is a process of giving structure a center or a fixed origin. In doing so, Derrida rejects the old notion which says that the center is “within the structure and outside it”. He draws a relation between philosophical concepts like “center”, “subject”, and “event”. In addition, he offers a dichotomy of ways to think: “classical” v/s “poststructuralist.” Beside he thinks the center is not center as its totality lies elsewhere called “the origin.”
For Derrida, structure is a “rupture” or “series of substitution... a linked chain of determinations.” (1) If we look at the structure of Anand’s “Untouchable” we find the structure rooted not in poverty but in caste system which is result of hierarchal society based on old notion of history. Thus, structure is a thought or law to govern the human societies. “When everything became a system where the center is signified, the original or transcendental, is never absolutely present outside a system of differences.” (2)
Derrida studies various concepts such as “an event,” “center,” “bricolage,” (the necessity of borrowing concepts from other texts which leads to myth) and “totalization” to show the relationship between writers such as Nietzsche (concept of being and truth substituted with play, interpretation and sign), Freud (critique of self possession) and Heidegger (destruction of metaphysics). Bricolage is not only as an intellectual activity but also as a mythopoetical activity,” (6) which can be applied to almost word for word to criticism, and especially to literary criticism.
Derrida (in defining sign) says, the relation between metaphysics and destruction of metaphysics describes a unique circle. The metaphysics is attacked with the help of sign which is the result of “opposition between the sensible and the intelligible.” (3) He introduces the two ways to erase the difference: first, submitting the sign to thought; second, going against the first. Derrida writes, “If one erases the radical difference between signifier and signified, it is the word signifier itself which ought to be abandoned as a metaphysical concept.” (3)
Freeplay (organising the structure) is “centered structure” (1) and “notion of a structure lacking any center represents the unthinkable itself.” (1)
Derrida attacks all western for the hierarchy in speech/ writing, nature/ culture etc. He undermines the concept of hierarchy created by Strauss that is between nature and culture and says that nature is superior to culture; speech is natural and writing is culture so speech is superior to writing. Structuralists believe that speech is primary and superior to writing but Derrida opposes by saying that the vagueness of speech is clarified by the writing. The writing has the pictorial quality of the speech, both are equally important, there is no hierarchy. Derrida breaks this hierarchy bringing the example of incest prohibition. Strauss says that “incest prohibition” (5) is natural and the outcome of culture; hence it becomes a norm, therefore, it belongs to culture.
This is the state to which he calls “scandal.” Both nature and culture go side by side, so we can't claim nature as superior to culture, both are interrelated and something can occupy the nature and culture at the same time. We can say that without female the concept of male can't exist. Here he thinks, “The whole of philosophical conceptualisation ... is designed to leave in the domain of unthinkable.” (5) Structuralists believe that from much binary opposition, single meaning comes but Derrida says each pair of binary oppositions produces separate meanings. So, in a text, there are multi meanings. Similarly, Levi-Strauss has made the hierarchy between artist and critic. He claims artist is originator but critic comes later. Likewise artist uses first hand raw materials as engineer does but critics use second hand raw materials. In contrary to him Derrida argues that neither artists nor critic works on first hand materials, rather both of them use the materials that were already existed and used. In this sense, there is no hierarchy between them. The binary opposition between literary and non-literary language is an illusion.
In short, Derrida means to say that meaning is just like peeling the onion and never getting a kernel. The prime objective of deconstruction is not to destroy the meaning of text but is to show how the text deconstructs itself. In future, Derrida’s ideas heavily influenced theories like psychoanalysis, new historicism, cultural studies, post colonialism, feminism and so on.
Here Derrida defines not only the structure a “rather structurality of structure.”(1) The opening makes it clear that the quarrel is between “western science and western philosophy—and ... the soil of ordinary language.” (1) Most of the concept are taken from the syntax of Levi-Strauss, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Rousseau and Husserl and “every particular borrowing drags along with ... the whole of metaphysics.” (3) The question of reltationship between the language and the relation between the human science is a always “a problem of economy and strategy” (4) which oppose nature to law, to education, to art and technics—and also to liberty, to the arbitrary, to history, to society, to the mind and so on.” (4)
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Vaccination, an Overview, Part 3 The New Epidemic
In America today, what infectious diseases remain, such as the flu, are not as life-threatening, and infant mortality has drastically decreased from just a century ago. Children of today are highly likely to make it to adulthood. Coinciding with the reduction of infectious disease, however, has been a corresponding emergence of an entirely new kind of health problem in children: chronic disease. Children in ever greater numbers are suffering from immune system disorders and developmental delays which have no known cause or cure. Eczema, hives, hay fever and food sensitivities have been increasing since the 1920s, with rapid surges occurring in the 1960s and the 1980s, and these allergies now occur in the tens of millions. Asthma has been increasing since the 1960s, particularly in developed countries, and it now affects 6 million children in the U.S. Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has tripled in incidence since the 1970s. Autism spectrum disorders have grown from 1 in 2,000 in the 1960s and 1970s to 1 in 150 today, with the greatest spike occurring from 1996 to 2007. All of these increases in incidence are too great to be explained solely by genetic mutations (although genetic susceptibility does seem to be a factor) or by evolving diagnostic methods and definitions. Consequently, an external, environmental agent (or agents) must be triggering them. Since these diseases are chronic but seem to be unassociated with any pathogen and not infectious, they cannot be explained by the germ theory of disease, and scientists possess no alternative theory that would explain what in our environment could be triggering these types of health problems.
It is worth noting that our environment has changed drastically over the last half-century. Our food, water and air are less likely to be contaminated by bacteria like tuberculosis or cholera but are more likely to contain pesticides and other potentially toxic chemicals. Children who used to run and play outdoors, using up their excess energy and exposing their immune systems to many different natural substances, from pollen to poison ivy, now spend most of their time indoors in school or sitting still in front of a screen at home. At the same time they have adopted diets high in excess calories and low in nutrients. Antibiotics and pasteurization have reduced the presence of both bad and good bacteria in their lives. This new lifestyle could be the culprit for children’s hypersensitive immune systems and hyperactive behavior, or it could at least be a contributor. When it comes to autism spectrum disorders, however, many parents believe that vaccines play a major role.
Vaccines have never been completely without side effects, and even the safest vaccines will cause temporary side effects (such as pain and swelling, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, headaches and crying) between 5% and 40% of the time. Serious side effects are usually some form of inflammation: Guillain-Barre syndrome (an autoimmune disorder causing paralysis) and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). However, these are said to be extremely rare. A vaccine for which the serious side effects were found to be relatively more common was the first combination vaccine, DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis), which was released on the market in 1946. In the 1970s and 1980s there was a growing awareness that the pertussis portion of the vaccine, which used a whole-cell B. pertussis bacteria, was responsible for a higher-than-expected rate of reactions such as convulsions, shock, cardiac distress and brain damage. In 1981 Japanese scientists developed a new vaccine that used a safer acellular pertussis component, and caused far fewer reactions, but this form of the vaccine was only adopted in the United States in 1996, after many years of lobbying by parents who had observed their children react adversely to the DTP vaccine.
As was the case with the DTP vaccine, suspicions of a link between autism and vaccines have their initial basis in the case reports of parents who see their children lose previously acquired mental and social skills following doses of vaccines, the majority of which are administered in the first two years of life, the same timespan in which autism usually appears. This correlation could be explained as a coincidence, but the issue is complicated by the fact the rates of autism have increased in conjunction with rising number of shots given to children. In 1983, for example, children received vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (given together as DTP), polio, and mumps, measles and rubella (given together as MMR). This schedule represented vaccines for 7 diseases in the first 4 years. There were 6 shots containing 18 doses of vaccines plus an additional 4 doses of the oral polio vaccine, totaling 22 doses of vaccines. In the year 1995 the schedule was largely the same, except for the addition of the vaccine against Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (HIB) a bacteria that causes meningitis. After that, however, the number of vaccines began to increase. By 2007, children following the standard schedule were receiving 40 total doses of vaccines against 14 diseases, double what had been given a decade previously. At the same time the number of shots did not greatly increase, because new combination vaccines became available that combine four or five vaccines into one shot. The result has been a significant increase in the amount of foreign material injected into a child’s body at one time.
As discussed in last week’s newsletter, the ingredients of a vaccine must be carefully balanced and formulated in order for the vaccine to be both safe and effective. The typical vaccine components mentioned in the first section – the pathogen, the tissues in which it is cultured, an adjuvant to help stimulate immunity, and a preservative to protect the vaccine from additional pathogens – are each capable of causing unwanted side effects.Live viruses and bacteria, found in the DPT and MMR vaccines among others, are better able to stimulate immunity, but are more likely than weak or killed pathogens to cause a persistent infection and excessive inflammation, including inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) and subsequent brain damage. Animal or human tissues in which pathogens are cultured contain proteins similar to those contained in our own tissues. In reacting to the pathogen in a vaccine, some immune systems may see these proteins as part of the threat, and produce autoantibodies against them. These autoantibodies can’t tell the difference between the injected proteins and body’s proteins, resulting in chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, arthritis or multiple sclerosis. The most typical adjuvant in vaccines, aluminum, is a metal that has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and brain damage, and it may be difficult for some children to detoxify. As for preservatives, some vaccines contain formaldehyde, a carcinogen, and most vaccines previously contained thiomersal, a form of mercury, before vaccine manufacturers agreed to provide mercury-free vaccines upon request several years ago. Could these ingredients, as they are injected into children with greater frequency and in greater quantities, be responsible for the increasing incidence of chronic immune hypersensivity and developmental disorders in children? Clearly, not all children have negative long-term reactions to vaccines; in fact, it seems that most of them don’t. But might some children have a genetic susceptibility to having adverse reactions to vaccines, particularly when administered according to the current schedule?
What are the facts of the situation? First, vaccines carry the potential for adverse effects, including brain damage. Second, there is a parallel between increasing autism rates and the increased number of vaccines given. Last, autism typically emerges in children during the period of time when vaccines are administered. What have we proved? Nothing. These facts are not proof of a causal relationship between vaccines and autism–they only show a correlation. However, this correlation makes a causal relationship a possibility worth investigating, especially since no other cause of autism has been identified. Accordingly, many scientific studies have been done on whether a link between vaccines and autism exists. The initial safety studies done on each new vaccine by Merck, Sanofi Pasteur, Wyeth, and GlaxoSmithKline (the four large pharmaceutical companies that manufacture almost all vaccines), the results of which are reviewed by the FDA and the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), have not found a link for any individual vaccine. Doctors and research scientists, most notably the independent, non-profit Institute of Medicine, have conducted many additional studies over the past two decades, as well as comprehensive reviews of earlier research, and the vast majority of them have also concluded that no link can be proven, thus confirming the scientific consensus that the serious side effects of vaccines are extremely rare and do not include autism.
The most famous study that did hint at a possible connection between vaccines and autism was published in 1998 in The Lancet, a British medical journal that is perhaps the most respected in the world. The lead author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, and twelve of his colleagues, argued, based on observations of twelve children with both inflammatory bowel disease and autism, that the children might have a new syndrome caused by the vaccine-strain measles virus, which was found in their intestines. Because the children were previously normal, Dr. Wakefield suggested an environmental trigger might be the cause of the syndrome, and called for the MMR vaccine (measles-mumps-rubella combination) to be discontinued in favor of separate vaccines administered at separate times, until more research could be done. However, the British government felt that to do so would increase the exposure of children to the three diseases. The results of the study were widely reported in the news media, and with MMR remaining the only vaccine available, many parents did not vaccinate their children against the diseases at all.
In the years that followed, both Wakefield and the study received increasing criticism. Other scientists did similar studies and reported that they had failed to duplicate the results. A journalist investigating Wakefield found that he had ties to a lawyer preparing a lawsuit against the MMR manufacturers, and that he had a patent on a new measles vaccine, both indicative of serious conflicts of interest. Ten of the twelve co-authors eventually disowned the paper. Earlier this year, The Lancet itself finally retracted the paper, and Dr. Wakefield lost his license to practice medicine in the UK.
In light of this evidence, it would seem that the possibility of any link between vaccines and autism has been thoroughly eliminated. But for a variety of reasons, we must question the credibility of those who signed off on vaccine safety, who authored and reviewed pro-vaccine studies, and who have promoted vaccines in the media. To begin with, the general public has long had good reason to distrust the ethics and integrity of the pharmaceutical industry, which has been known to disguise or minimize knowledge of adverse reactions to its products (such as Avandia, Vioxx and Fen-Phen). It has also been known to aggressively market its products to as wide a customer base as possible — even urging in recent months, with governmental approval, cholesterol-lowering drugs on people who do not even have high cholesterol. Vaccines are a guaranteed lucrative investment, given that they are prescribed equally to almost every individual in the country.
An additional strike against the pharmaceutical companies’ assurances of safety is that they are not responsible for adverse side effects of the vaccines they manufacture. In the 1980s, as more parents whose children had been injured by the DPT vaccine began to bring lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, those manufacturers threatened to stop making vaccines entirely, reasoning that it would be unprofitable to continue if they had to pay expensive personal injury claims. In order to ensure that vaccines remained available to the public, the U.S. government stepped in and passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which set up a special government court for hearing vaccine injury claims, and awarding damages up to $250,000. The damages are funded by proceeds from a tax on vaccines, thus shielding vaccine manufacturers from any financial liability. Claims are argued before a government-appointed judge rather than a jury, and while most claims are rejected, the court has had to award almost $2 billion in damages since its inception.
Clearly, pharmaceutical companies manufacture vaccines for profit, not out of an overriding concern for the safety of children. It is not likely that they would abandon profitable products such as vaccines even if they knew that such products caused relatively frequent and severe side effects–just as they knew, but kept secret, the fact that Avandia increased the risk of heart attacks, for example. It is therefore prudent not to accept at face value claims (and by claims, I mean advertising) by the vaccine manufacturers, and by the scientists whom they employ, that vaccines are extremely safe.
What about the government’s independent oversight and regulatory authority? Unfortunately, as in so many industries (including banking, energy, and health care) a revolving door of employment exists between the pharmaceutical companies and the federal authorities that regulate them. An example is Dr. Julie Gerberding, who directed the CDC from 1998 to 2009. This was the period during which the number of vaccines administered and the number of autism cases greatly increased. Dr. Gerberding waited exactly one year and one day after leaving the CDC – the legal minimum – before taking on the job of President of the Vaccine Division of Merck Pharmaceuticals. Gerberding, during her CDC tenure, heavily promoted Merck’s new-to-the-market HPV vaccine, Gardasil, as well as the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in general.
As for scientists and medical doctors who conduct research on the safety of vaccines, many rely on the financial support of the pharmaceutical companies to carry out their research. Without that support, they would be unable to carry out wide-ranging, long-lasting epidemiological studies of vaccine reactions. The most vocal and media-friendly proponent of vaccine safety, Dr. Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, happens to be the co-inventor of the Rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq (also manufactured by Merck). Offit has received royalties totaling $182 million from RotaTeq alone.
The conflicts of interest described so far have their origin in greed, but some conflicts can arise from humanitarian motivations. Most public health officials have concerns that if doubts about vaccine safety are given a more thorough hearing, a majority of parents might choose to vaccinate their children less, or not at all (as we saw happen in the aftermath of the Wakefield study publication) and consequently return us to an era of epidemic disease rivaling that of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The authorities may be unwilling to give a fair hearing to the possibility of a vaccine-autism link to serve the greater good. It’s possible that, even if Dr. Wakefield was partly right in his conclusions, the government and scientific community may have been driven by these types of fears to dissect his work for errors and conflicts and to magnify those flaws.
With so many powerful institutions – pharmaceutical companies, government, and scientific bodies – motivated for a variety of reasons to disprove a link between vaccines and autism, it is unlikely that any individual scientist or pediatrician is willing to stake their reputation, potentially even their license to practice medicine, by publishing (or even conducting) a study indicating greater-than-reported side effects of vaccines. Not only would funding for such a study be difficult to obtain, any flaws in its methodology will be far more heavily scrutinized than if it were to confirm what has already been promoted as scientific truth.
If so many conflicts of interest are at work, shouldn’t we expect to see weaknesses in the pro-vaccine studies? In fact, on closer examination, many of the studies showing that vaccines are unrelated to autism have significant methodological flaws or are reported to have broader conclusions than they really do. To take a recent example, an epidemiological study by researchers from the University of Louisville School of Medicine was published in Pediatrics magazine on May 24th of this year, stating that giving children vaccines on schedule had no negative effect on long-term neurodevelopment. Most news outlets reported that the study had shattered the “myth” that a delayed or alternative vaccine schedule was safer than the standard, CDC-recommended schedule. However, the study was based on data from a 2007 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine intended to determine whether increased amounts of thiomersal in vaccines caused greater numbers of neuropsychological disorders. That study contained a disclaimer noting that children with autism spectrum disorders were specifically excluded from the data set. Consequently, such children were not examined in the recent study either, and the authors acknowledged that they were restricted in their ability to assess outcomes such as neuro-developmental delay, autism, and autoimmune disorders. The differences between the two groups that were compared were also not significant. Those who were placed in the “timely” group received the recommended 10 vaccines in their first seven months while the “untimely” group received an average of 8. The untimely group, though their shots were delayed, did not actually receive fewer vaccines at each doctor visit, and the study indicates that they may have missed vaccines for socioeconomic reasons rather than intentionally abiding by a different schedule. Finally, the study was only of children receiving shots from 1993 to 1997, the period just prior to that in which the number of vaccine shots increased dramatically.
While, as stated above, these types of omissions and flaws are characteristic of most of the pro-vaccine studies, the fact that Dr. Wakefield’s study has been discredited as well is not necessarily comforting for those wanting to be reassured about the safety of vaccines, as it indicates that his conflicts of interest, as well as an error-filled study, somehow escaped the notice both of the editors of the Lancet and of the dozen co-authors who participated in the research. It must be concluded that we cannot simply take for granted the results of scientific studies from even the best medical journals, having seen what happens when they are subjected to intense scrutiny. And, above all, we must keep in mind that such scrutiny is not likely to be applied to studies that confirm the scientific consensus on vaccines.
To better determine whether a connection might exist between vaccines and autism, we would need a long-term study comparing the health problems of a control group of completely unvaccinated infants against another group that has the standard vaccine schedule, and possibly additional groups that follow selective or alternative vaccine schedules. No study of this type has yet been done. Pro-vaccine groups argue that such a study would be unethical, assuming ahead of time that vaccines are safer than the alternative, though this is what the study would be meant to determine. Though such a study would be expensive, anti-vaccine groups might be able to fund it, were it not for the fact that, having staked their reputations on a link between vaccines and autism, they could not be considered an objective sponsor. Perhaps the main obstacle, however, is that a study of this type would require a large number of children to go unvaccinated and potentially susceptible to disease, and no public or private institution would want to take responsibility and liability for these potential adverse effects. Of course, autism is itself an epidemic that must be addressed, but as long as its cause remains unknown, no institution is officially liable for it. Only the families of autistic children bear the burden for it.
As the controversy rages on, fewer parents are taking the medical establishment (including the CDC) at its word. On May 5th, 2010, the CDC announced the results of a study they had conducted on parental compliance with the current recommended vaccine schedule. The percentage of parents who refused or delayed at least one vaccine for their children had increased from 22% in 2003 to 39% in 2008. Why? The parents cited concerns about the safety of vaccines, particularly the risk of autism. If the risks of vaccines are in fact much greater than reported, these parents seem to be making the right choice. However, one must not forget the reason why we vaccinate in the first place: to protect our children from infectious diseases. Eliminating one of the possible causes of autism from your child’s life won’t do them any good if they suffer permanent damage or death from polio, measles, diphtheria, tetanus or meningitis. Therefore, suspecting that the side effects of vaccines may be greater than reported leaves us with no easy decision to make. The overarching question that remains is the same that has pursued us throughout human history: how do we safely protect our children from disease?
We’ll take a stab at answering that question in next week’s newsletter, “Building Immunity.”
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How To Help TNR!
Compassionate people across the country are providing care to stray and feral cats daily. They follow simple but necessary steps of TNR improving the quality of life for these cats by getting them spay/neutered, vaccinating and returning them with a plan. These are ONLY guidelines as every trapping location is different. You must have permission to trap in areas not your own and take precaution for your safety.
NEVER attempt to handle a feral cat as even if they look sweet they get scared and will struggle to get away harming you in the process.
Please consider attending a monthly meeting for demonstrations on how to trap, transport and after care. We will loan equipment to local people interested.
What to Do (and NOT Do) If You Find a Newborn Kitten
Feeding Instructions for the Colony
Food: nutrition and seasonal considerations
The amount of food a cat needs depends on her size, the weather, and what other food sources are available. Expect an adult feral cat to eat roughly 5.5 ounces of wet (canned) cat food and 2 ounces of dry food daily (increase to a half cup if only feeding dry). Cats vary in their needs, and so some will eat considerably more food, others less.
While gauging how much to leave, observe the cats and use your discretion based on the time it takes for the food to be eaten. If the cats eat all of the food in 15 minutes or less, consider putting out a bit more. If there is consistently food remaining after a half hour, put out a bit less. Although most cats clearly enjoy canned food, feeding a colony
dry food alone is fine as well. It is less expensive and just as nutritious.
In the winter, especially in colder locations, expect the colony to
consume more food because they will need extra calories to maintain energy
levels. In places where wet food may freeze, it is advisable to just feed dry
food. If you know the colony will eat right away, and you plan to feed canned
food, consider warming the food prior to arriving at the site and using
insulated bags to keep the food warm during travel.
Remove uneaten food within 30 minutes. Never allow food to sit out, as it may attract insects or wildlife.
It may be obvious that a cluttered area with debris will call undue attention, but it is worth stating here to emphasize its importance. Besides any empty food containers you use for the cats, there may be other garbage and trash. Removing all of this daily or weekly will help make the feeding station sanitary and unobtrusive. Many caregivers realize that it is important to pick up the trash in the area, even garbage they did not create. This helps avoid possible health code violations and maintain positive relations with the local residents.
Please check out Pawswatch’s “BEST PRACTICE FOR FEEDING” for more information and Alley Cat Allies for more on feeding practices.
What is TNRM?
TNRM stands for “Trap, Neuter, Return, Monitor.” Trap-Neuter-Return is the humane, effective approach for feral cats. Feral cats are humanely trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and eartipped (the universal symbol of a neutered and vaccinated cat), and then returned to their outdoor home. Socialized cats and kittens are adopted into homes. The colony’s population stabilizes—no more kittens! Trap-Neuter-Return improves their lives and their relations with the community: the behaviors and stresses associated with mating stop. For a wealth of information regarding TNR, click here to visit the Alley Cat Allies website.
Each year, PawsWatch provides veterinary care (spay/neuter and vaccinations) to approximately 2,000 cats across Rhode Island. We work with the Rhode Island Community Spay/Neuter Clinic in Warwick and local veterinarians who provide discounted services. Volunteers trap feral cats, transport them to veterinary appointments, and return them to their familiar habitat after they have recovered. Volunteers ensure the cats have food and shelter, and also monitor the colonies. Our goal is to transform the population of street cats, also referred to as feral cats, into healthy, managed colonies. Those colonies then decline through attrition, reducing the number of cats killed or euthanized in shelters.
PawsWatch encourages Rhode Islanders to assist the cats on their own property, with our help. We are not a shelter, and we do not take in owned or stray cats; however, we may facilitate the adoption of cats and kittens being cared for by our friends and neighbors.
None of this is possible without volunteers and donations!
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Thyme Will Tell
seed database
my books
my garden
Aspiring Asparagus
By Audrey Stallsmith
asparagus officinalis
One morning the gardener went to him and told him, as if to please him, that he was going to plant a bed of asparagus for his especial use. Now, since, as every one knows, asparagus takes four years in coming to perfection, this civility infuriated Monsieur de Beaufort.
Alexandre Dumas--Twenty Years After
Granted asparagus may be slow to establish itself. And it can be finicky, preferring saline soils like those on seacoasts. But, over the centuries, even kings have considered the "king of vegetables" worth the wait.
As asparagus has such a short season, the ancient Romans dispatched it by fast chariot to the Alps where it could be kept frozen. Although they had a saying that translates to "as quick as cooking asparagus," maybe they should have said, "as quick as transporting asparagus" instead! Later, Louis XIV ordered his gardeners to grow the vegetable in greenhouses year round.
The Greeks named it aspharagos, probably derived from the Persian asparag or "shoot." But the name eventually degenerated, for the common people, into "sparrow grass." They considered the term "asparagus" affected!
No doubt the plant itself was often considered "uppity" due to its aristocratic connections. But bunches of the spears received the more homely designation "Battersea bundles" after a town where they were much grown.
Herbalist John Gerard called the plant "sperage" when he wrote that it "hath at his first rising out of the ground thicke tender shoots very soft and brittle. . .having at the top a certaine scaly soft bud. . ., which in time groweth to a branch of the height of two cubits (three feet), divided into divers other smaller branches, wheron are set many little leaves like haires. . .amongst which come forth small mossie yellowish floures which yeeld forth the fruit, green at the first, afterward as red as Corall, of the bignesse of a small pease. . ."
You want to harvest your asparagus before those 'scaly soft buds ' begin to unfurl, however, because it will be too tough after. Garden lore recommends that the spears be cut an inch below the soil line to prevent disease. And, in preparing asparagus for cooking, smart cooks generally whack off and discard the toughest couple inches at the base of each stalk.
Like most vegetables, asparagus is good for you, being low in calories and high in Vitamin A, folic acid, and potassium. On the downside it "causes a filthy and disagreeable smell in the urine, as everybody knows." (Louis Lemery, 1702) That odor has been blamed on sulphur compounds, and not everyone can detect it.
The spears are laxative and diuretic, contain cancer-fighting glutathione, and reportedly help dissolve uric acid and cholesterol build-ups as well. John Heinerman recommends using the cooled water in which asparagus was boiled to cleanse the face of blackheads, pimples, and the like.
If you don't like green vegetables, you might want to try spargel--white asparagus--instead. Grown under heaps of soil that exclude light, it reportedly tastes even sweeter than the green variety.
But most of us find regular asparagus delectable enough, though we do have a tendency to smother it with cream sauces and soups. Like the spring season, its quintessential vegetable represents life that returns again and again, no matter how often cut down.
Image is from Herbarium Blackwellianum by Elizabeth Blackwell, courtesy of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
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What does redeem mean?
Definitions for redeemrɪˈdim
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word redeem.
Princeton's WordNet
1. deliver, redeem, save(verb)
save from sins
2. redeem(verb)
restore the honor or worth of
3. redeem(verb)
to turn in (vouchers or coupons) and receive something in exchange
4. ransom, redeem(verb)
exchange or buy back for money; under threat
5. redeem, pay off(verb)
pay off (loans or promissory notes)
6. redeem(verb)
convert into cash; of commercial papers
1. redeem(Verb)
To recover ownership of something by paying a sum.
2. redeem(Verb)
To liberate by payment of a ransom.
3. redeem(Verb)
To set free by force.
4. redeem(Verb)
To save, rescue
5. redeem(Verb)
To clear, release from debt or blame
6. redeem(Verb)
To expiate, atone (for ...)
7. redeem(Verb)
To convert (some bond or security) into cash
8. redeem(Verb)
9. redeem(Verb)
To repair, restore
10. redeem(Verb)
To reform, change (for the better)
11. redeem(Verb)
To restore the reputation or honour of oneself or something.
12. redeem(Verb)
To reclaim
13. Origin: Recorded since c.1425, from redemen, modified from redemer, redimer, from redimo, itself from re- + emo.
Webster Dictionary
1. Redeem(verb)
to purchase back; to regain possession of by payment of a stipulated price; to repurchase
2. Redeem(verb)
to recall, as an estate, or to regain, as mortgaged property, by paying what may be due by force of the mortgage
3. Redeem(verb)
to regain by performing the obligation or condition stated; to discharge the obligation mentioned in, as a promissory note, bond, or other evidence of debt; as, to redeem bank notes with coin
4. Redeem(verb)
to ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying a price or ransom; to ransom; to rescue; to recover; as, to redeem a captive, a pledge, and the like
5. Redeem(verb)
hence, to rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law
6. Redeem(verb)
to make good by performing fully; to fulfill; as, to redeem one's promises
7. Redeem(verb)
to pay the penalty of; to make amends for; to serve as an equivalent or offset for; to atone for; to compensate; as, to redeem an error
8. Origin: [F. rdimer, L. redimere; pref. red-, re- re- + emere, emptum, to buy, originally, to take, cf. OIr. em (in comp.), Lith. imti. Cf. Assume, Consume, Exempt, Premium, Prompt, Ransom.]
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
1. Redeem
rē-dēm′, v.t. to ransom: to relieve from captivity by a price: to rescue, deliver: to pay the penalty of: to atone for: to perform, as a promise: to improve, put to the best advantage: to recover, as a pledge.—adj. Redeem′able, that may be redeemed.—ns. Redeem′ableness; Redeem′er, one who redeems or ransoms, esp. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.—adjs. Redeem′ing, saving: good, as exceptional to what is bad; Redeem′less, incurable; Redemp′tive, pertaining to redemption: serving or tending to redeem; Redemp′tory, serving to redeem: paid for ransom. [O. Fr. redimer—L. redimĕrered-, back, emĕre, to buy.]
1. Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of redeem in Chaldean Numerology is: 7
2. Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of redeem in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5
Sample Sentences & Example Usage
1. Bertrand Russell:
The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.
2. Former President Bill Clinton:
Oklahoma City, you had to choose to redeem your terrible losses by having to begin again.
3. Nawaz Sharif:
Pakistan is resolved to redeem its pledge given to its founding fathers that it will protect the homeland.
4. Sa?di:
5. Aldous Huxley:
Art is one of the means whereby man seeks to redeem a life which is experienced as chaotic, senseless, and largely evil.
Images & Illustrations of redeem
Translations for redeem
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
• vykoupit, vyplatit, proplatitCzech
• einlösen, zurückkaufen, wiederherstellen, loslösen, verbessern, befreienGerman
• εξαγοράζωGreek
• uudistaa, pelastaa, [[palauttaa]] [[kunnia]], lunastaa, vapauttaa, [[ostaa]] [[takaisin]], vapahtaa, sovittaa, armahtaa, korjata, [[maksaa]] [[lunnaat]]Finnish
• racheterFrench
• slánaighIrish
• feayshil, aachionnee, kionnee reeshtManx
• megváltHungarian
• redimereItalian
• לִפְדוֹתHebrew
• 回復する, 買い戻す, あがなうJapanese
• bevrijden, aflossen, redden, inlossen, omzetten, uitboeten, vrijkopen, genoegdoen, herstellen, verlossen, terugkopen, afbetalenDutch
• spieniężaćPolish
• redimir, resgatarPortuguese
• выкупить, обелять, улучшаться, обелить, выкупать, улучшиться, искупить, искупатьRussian
• vnovčitiSlovene
• sona, frälsa, gottgöraSwedish
• geri almak, iyileştirmek, temize çıkarmak, eski duruma döndürmek, aklamak, tadilat yapmak, kurtarmak, arıtmak, temizlemekTurkish
• 贖回Chinese
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Tagged: cards
Angle fact flashcards (including circle theorems)
How often do your pupils calculate the answer to an angle fact question correctly, but then don’t get the mark for the ‘give a reason for your answer‘ question? Rather than ‘alternate angles are equal‘ they write any manner of things such as ‘it is a z shape and so the angles are the same‘. Since ‘z angles‘ is no...
Area and Perimeter Follow Me Cards
If you have never seen www.mrbartonmaths.com then you are seriously missing out! Mr B’s website is packed full of great maths teaching resources. These include some excellent ‘follow me cards’ for area and perimeter of squares, rectangles and triangles. I took this resource and slightly changed it so that the question and answers are not adjacent to each other on...
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@article {Caird:1945:0022-1201:45, author = "Caird, Ralph W.", title = "Influence of Site and Grazing Intensity on Yields of Grass Forage in the Texas Panhandle", journal = "Journal of Forestry", volume = "43", number = "1", year = "1945", publication date ="1945-01-01T00:00:00", abstract = "This article presents new information on the effect of site and grazing intensity on the total amount of forage produced and on its distribution along the stem of the plant. The conclusion is reached that poor sites and heavy grazing not only reduce production but also cause a large part of the forage to be produced so close to the ground that it is unavailable to cattle.", pages = "45-49", itemtype = "ARTICLE", parent_itemid = "infobike://saf/jof", issn = "0022-1201", publishercode ="saf", url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/saf/jof/1945/00000043/00000001/art00018" }
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Why is Boston Called Bean Town?
In the colonial days, Boston was highly involved in the the trade of raw materials. Their main import was Caribbean sugar cane. Bostonians used this sugar cane and made it into molasses for rum. Because of the huge supply of molasses, beans baked in the syrupy, delicious food item became a favorite. Baked beans are no longer as prevalent, only being served in a few restaurants throughout the city.
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Accessibility links
Neal Barnard Advocates for Ethical Medicine, Research
Neal Barnard was born into a cattle ranching family in Fargo, North Dakota.
"My grandfather was a cattle rancher, and my uncles and my cousins are still in that business today," he says.
Barnard's father was a doctor who treated diabetes, and Barnard says practicing medicine was the last thing he wanted to do. Instead he became a psychiatrist. He worked for a decade in Washington, D.C., and then spent a year running the psychiatric ward at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York.
In 1985, he returned to Washington to launch the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit organization that advocates for preventive medicine and higher ethical standards in research.
"If humans were being abused in research or if animals were being used when alternatives could be used instead, deal with those," he explains.
Advocating responsible research
PCRM has 7,000 members today. It has campaigned successfully to close down labs at many American medical schools that were experimenting with live dogs, a common practice that troubled Barnard during his medical training and in which he refused to participate.
"We made it a point to let medical schools know that there is a better way of teaching, and now more than 90 percent of schools have scrapped that," he says.
PCRM also fought against a controversial government-funded study that proposed to inject short - but not hormone-deficient - children. The researchers wanted to see if giving them extra hormones would make them taller.
"Now, because these growth hormones are associated with cancer risk," Barnard says, "We sued the National Institutes of Health to try to stop this. I am sorry to say we didn't win."
Targeting role of diet in causing disease
Barnard says such battles have spawned two advocacy programs within the Physicians Committee: The Cancer Project and The Washington Center for Clinical Research. Both focus on the critical importance of diet - and a plant-based, or vegan, diet in particular - in preventing many life-threatening diseases.
Too often, Barnard says, "Doctors clean up the wreckage of bad habits, bad genes or bad luck."
He adds that doctors most often fail in preventing disease.
"We don't do anything about the heart attack until it comes into the emergency room, and we especially don't deal with the causes of it. The cause of a heart disease is not a deficiency of cholesterol-lowering drugs. It's caused by food. I thought, 'Why are we not dealing with that?'"
Special focus on diabetes
That question led Barnard - like his father - to take a closer look at diabetes, a disease that affects 171 million people worldwide. A 2006 government-funded study tested a plant-based regimen head-to-head with a more typical diabetes diet. Barnard says the vegan diet was three times more effective than the American Diabetes Association dietary guidelines for controlling blood sugar.
"When we look at the changes week after week after week, we see dramatic weight loss. Their cholesterol levels fall. Their energy levels improve. You see people who are signing up for marathons when they never would do that before.
More than just medicine
Barnard often takes that message on the road. He's written more than a dozen books, produced video seminars and offers online courses on how a vegetarian diet can reduce the rate of certain cancers and protect against diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
"What we try to do is to do research that lays the groundwork so that we know how diets affect health. Then we work with the government to make sure their guidelines are more in sync with this approach and reach out to the public with materials."
After more than 20 years of medical activism, Barnard says there's still a lot of work to be done helping people live healthier lives.
"We are seeing more obesity, more health problems. And this, he says, is because more people are eating a meat, dairy-based, fatty and sugary diet. He says the answer is not entirely medicine.
"The answer is advocacy. The answer is sometimes litigation. The answer is changing the laws to determine what people eat and what they know."
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is leading a campaign to get nutrition into the medical school curriculum. The group is also lobbying Congress to mandate vegetarian options in school cafeterias through the Child Nutrition Act. As he charts PCRM's future, Barnard says he is still guided by the oath he took when he became a doctor - to ethically practice medicine and do no harm.
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How Social Media affects the way we live - Assignment Example
Only on StudentShare
Journalism & Communication
Pages 12 (3012 words)
How the social media affects our daily life The word social signifies the instinctual needs of the human beings to connect with each other. On the other hand media acts a way to bridge connection amongst them with a jet flow of information exchange. Inculcating both these terms, the social media is the effective use of the technologies to reach out and connect with human beings, generate relationship among them, trust building and in intersecting the confluence of ideas among each other (Safko, 2012, pp…
Extract of sample
How Social Media affects the way we live
Rhetoric is the way in which we use languages and images to persuade. The media through several endeavors asks the people in many ways to buy something, influence in their own way through several product differentiating strategies and mould the consumers behaviors. Rhetorical analysis of the social media helps the user of the social media to become perfectly informed. At the same time evaluation of the ethical messages can be analyzed in order to test the effect on the common public and the way they affect the society (Bolin Carroll, 2010, p.46). Social media and its features The social media in the present world can be thought to be of a group of online media with the array of primal activities including participation, openness, conversation, and community (Mayfield, 2008, p.5). Participation: The social media social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested (Mayfield, 2008, p.5). Openness: The nature of social media basically serves as an open platform where the feedback and the participation are widely invited. ...
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STEM-physics / Overview / Synergy / Synergy (4)
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Frequently Asked Questions
The questions from readers.
SWOT analysis of STEM-physics
Bibliographie de R.L Vallée
About Buddha
A short tribute and apologize to Buddha...
Gravitation explained
Neither space-time curvature nor other weird concepts, the explanation is simple and obvious. Just take a few minutes to read it and many hours to meditate on it.
Gravitation acceleration yields no inertial force
It is a known fact of astronauts: when a space capsule free falls, its passengers float in weightlessness. This lack of force can be strangely regarded because the capsule is submitted to the constant acceleration of gravitation. Actually, any accelerated system at ground level yields an inertial force which is explained by synergetics in a previous article.
Whereas official physics explains how an existing inertia is directly nullified by the weight, STEM-Physics, which primarily considers the interacting energies, relates this lack of force to a constant synergy.
Consequently the synergy of the capsule remains constant so that:
• dS/dt = m0 .dc2 /dt = 0 (1)
Gravitation explained - Demonstration 1
The relationship (2) between the internal speed of light c and the external one c0 comes out from the expression of kinetic energy already explained there. Unlike special relativity does, it is unnecessary to consider neither uniform motions nor constant speeds in order to obtain expression (2). It is therefore fairly applicable in the case of the capsule submitted to gravitation.
• according γ = (1 - v2 /c0 2 )-1/2
• c2 = γ.c0 2 (2)
• so (1) and (2) imply: d(γ.c0 2 )/dt = 0 (3)
The external speed of light c0 can't be a constant because it would make expression (3) impossible to resolve. Thus (3) becomes:
• c0 2 .dγ/dt + γ.dc0 2 /dt = 0 (4)
• which infers (v.dv/dt + (2.c0 - 3.v2 /c0 ).dc0 /dt) = 0 (5)
In the obvious case where v << c0 , expression (5) provides the amazing formula in (6):
• dv/dt = -1/v.dc0 2 /dt = -dc0 2 /dz (6)
The acceleration of the capsule, it is to say the acceleration of gravitation, equals the variation of the squared speed of light along space coordinates.
In conclusion, acceleration of gravitation occurs owing to the speed of light that decreases around masses.
• Vg = - gradc0 2
Gravitation explained - Demonstration 2
A more straightforward demonstration is to consider the same object at two different heigths. Passing from the higher state to the lower corresponds to a loss of potential energy known as:
• ΔEfield = m0 .Vg .Δh
Because free falling from the higher point to the lower yields no inertia, it can be deduced that synergy between the two states doesn't change:
• ΔS = m0 .Δc0 2 + ΔEfield = 0
• consequently m0 .Δc0 2 = - m0 .Vg .Δh
• and Vg = - Δc0 2 /Δh
How much does the speed of light vary?
According the value of gravitation acceleration on earth (roughly 10 m/s2 ), and taking into account the difference of synergy between the ground and the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (roughly 300 m height), a difference of c0 2 is:
• Δc0 2 = - 3,000 (m/s)2
• also 2.c0 .Δc0 = - 3,000 (m/s)2
• However, because of the huge value of the speed of light (3 10+8 m/s), a very few and non measurable difference of speed provides gravitation: Δc0 = - 0.5. 10-5 m/s along a 300 meters height
Amazingly, the gross of gravitation comes out from a tiny variation of the speed of light.
At a conclusion, we can understand how official physics is at the same time right and wrong when considering the speed of light as a constant: right because the speed of light actually varies so few, wrong because the consequences of this variation can't be neglected in most of formulas.
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Scotland Independence Vote Gets Closer: What Will It Mean for the U.K.
As the independence vote for Scotland gets closer, it is important to see what it will mean for the rest of the U.K. if the country decides for it. One of the limitations of this referendum is that only people living in the northern country will get a vote, but there are plenty of Scottish people living south of the border. Should the Scottish become an independent country, it will also mean major changes for those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so surely they should get a vote, too.
There could be benefits for the rest of the U.K. should Scotland vote for independence and get it. The United Kingdom states that the Scottish country continually needs to be bride with more net subsidies each year. In fact, the bribes total £32 billion a year, which could help towards the deficit within the Westminster government at the moment.
However, that £32 billion would be lost when the amount Scotland brings in with the oil and its own taxes. The Union would only see £9 billion per year once all the extras are taken into account. However, that is still an extra £9 billion for the U.K. government, and could help prevent a few cuts and harsh taxes to the English, Welsh and Northern Irish people.
That £9 billion is not that much when the risk is added in. Fewer countries are likely to invest in the Union without the Scottish people. That could lead to much more of a loss over the course of the years. It would also mean the same for the Scottish people, as the country proves that it is a stable option after becoming independent.
What would it mean for the U.K.’s size and density as the Scotland independence vote gets closer? The country would become smaller, but the number of people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would not change. According to statistics from the BBC, the Union would lose 32 percent of its land, but just eight percent of its population. It would go from being the 45th most densely populated country to the 29th on the list of countries around the world. It would be considered much more crowded than ever before.
Westminster parliament would change. While the number of seats the Conservatives gained would decrease by one based on the 2010 results, the number of seats Labour and the Liberal Democrats gained would decrease considerably. This would mean the Conservatives would have had a majority, so would have pushed through all of its reforms. Many of the Liberal Democrat benefits would have been lost on everyone.
However, it could mean positive changes for the rest of the Union. As the Scottish people break away, the government in Westminster may see all the things that work for the country. That could lead to the introduction of new policies based on that. This is something that Carlisle resident Craig Johnston hopes will happen, and is why he is in favor of the Yes campaign.
The break would mean a number of changes for all; some good and some bad. It is important for everyone to consider what it would mean for the U.K. should the country vote Yes, as a whole as the Scotland independence vote gets closer.
By Alexandria Ingham
The Market Oracle
One Response to "Scotland Independence Vote Gets Closer: What Will It Mean for the U.K."
1. barbleighton48 September 7, 2014 at 3:35 pm
I THINK it has Good 7 Bad Merits, but IF the Scots want it? then I am w/then & hope it happens for them..
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What is Past Tense?
The Past Tense describe an action in the Past time.
or, A verb that refers to Past Time is to said to be in the Past Tense.
as – I went, He wrote a letter , They were playing.
Read these sentences for better understanding:
1. I loved. (Simple Past)
2. I was loving. (Past Continuous)
3. 1 had loved. (Past Perfect)
4. I had been loving. (Past Perfect Continuous)
*** The Verbs in all of these sentences refer to the past time, and are therefore said to be in the past tense.
Analysis :
In sentence I, we see that, however, the Verb shows that the action is mentioned simply, without anything being said about the completeness or incompleteness of the action.
In sentence 2, we see that, the Verb shows that the action is mentioned as incomplete or continuous, that was, as going on.
In sentence 3, we see that, the Verb shows that the action is mentioned as was finished, completed, or perfect, at the time of speaking.
The tense of the Verb in sentence 4 is said to be past Perfect Continuous, because the verb shows that the action was going on continuously, and not completed at the time saying.
*** We may now define Tense as that form of a Verb which shows the time and the state of an action or event.
A verb agrees with its subject in number and person. Study the verb forms of various tenses:
Simple Past Tense
* I spoke
* You spoke
* He spoke
* We spoke
* They spoke
Past Continuous Tense
* I was speaking
* You were speaking
* He was speaking
* We were speaking
* They were speaking
Past Perfect Tense
• I had spoken
• You had spoken
• He had spoken
• We had spoken
• They had spoken
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
* I had been speaking
* You had been speaking
* He had been speaking
* We had been speaking
* They had been speaking
Kinds of Past Tense
From the above discussion we can easily realized that there are four kinds of Past Tense
1. Simple Past Tense or Past Indefinite tense
2. Past Continuous Tense or Past Progress
3. Past Perfect Tense
4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
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[PR] Pelanduks Reporter
[PR] Pelanduks Reporter
Chip Komputer Terbaru Boleh Meniru Keupayaan Otak Manusia
Benarkah ada cip komputer yang boleh meniru keupayaan otak manusia?? Suatu masa nanti manusia akan dikuasai oleh mesin seperti cerita dalam beberapa movie lakonan Arnold.Pada masa itu manusia akan menjadi pelarian di bumi. Tiba masa itu juga, giliran mesin berkomputer pula menghasilkan manusia.. fikir-fikirkanlah....
U.S. computer giant IBM says it has developed prototypes of computer chips that mimic the way the human brain works.The Armonk, New York-based company known as “Big Blue” said the experimental “cognitive computing chips” could eventually lead to machines that “emulate the brain’s abilities for perception, action and cognition.”
“These chips are another significant step in the evolution of computers from calculators to learning systems, signaling the beginning of a new generation of computers,” said Dharmendra Modha, project leader for IBM Research.
“Future applications of computing will increasingly demand functionality that is not efficiently delivered by the traditional architecture,” Modha said.
IBM said cognitive computers, like the human brain, would “learn through experiences, find correlations, create hypotheses, and remember—and learn from—the outcomes.”
Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates said that IBM was “taking the architecture of the brain and saying ‘Can we somehow make the electronics mimic what we know about the brain, how the brain works.’”
“They haven’t got to the point where it’s doing any practical work yet but they’ve proven the concept out,” Kay told AFP. “It’s a new frontier.”
For example, a cognitive computing system monitoring the world’s water supply could issue tsunami warnings using a network of sensors that monitor inputs such as temperature, pressure, wave height and acoustics.
So far, IBM said, it has managed to carry out simple applications using the prototype chips like navigation, pattern recognition and classification.IBM said the cognitive computing chips replicate the biological synapses, neurons and axons of the human brain using algorithms and silicon circuitry.
The “long-term goal” of Big Blue is to build a chip system with 10 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses which consumes just one kilowatt of power and occupies less than two liters of volume.
For phase two of the project known as SyNAPSE—or Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics—IBM said it has joined forces with researchers from Columbia University, Cornell University, the University of California (Merced) and University of Wisconsin (Madison).
IBM said the project has received $21 million in new funding from the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Earlier this year, an IBM supercomputer known as Watson defeated two human contestants on the popular US television quiz show Jeopardy!Watson, named for IBM founder Thomas Watson, is capable of understanding natural human speech and quickly providing answers to complex questions.
Watson was the latest machine developed by IBM to challenge mankind—in 1997, an IBM computer named “Deep Blue” defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match.
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Constitutional monarchy
A constitutional monarchy is a form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges an hereditary or elected monarch as head of state). As in most republics, a constitutional monarchy's executive authority is vested in the head of state.
Queen Rania of Jordan states starkly that the difference between ruling a monarchy and ruling a democracy is that, in the latter, an error costs at most the next election, whereas a monarch might well lose their head.
Table of contents
1 Origins
2 Written and unwritten constitutions
3 The theoretical head of the executive
4 A practical example: Britain's Elizabeth II and Governments
5 Other monarchs
6 Constitutional monarchy: benefits & pitfalls
7 Some other constitutional monarchies
8 See also:
The concept of constitutional monarchy owes its origin to the absolute monarchies of the later Middle Ages, where governmental authority was exercised by the monarch and his (or in rare occasions her) government.
The development of popular participation in democracy saw power shifting to governments selected from and answerable to legislative assemblies and parliaments, producing more democratic systems of governments in which the monarch 'reigns but does not rule'.
Popular monarchy is a sub-category of constitutional monarchy.
Written and unwritten constitutions
Most modern constitutional monarchies operate under a written fundamental or organic law known as a constitution, which strictly defines the roles possessed by the head of state, the executive, legislature and judiciary. As well as the strict definitions, restrictions exist as to the manner by which these definitions may be changed, with constitutional amendments being passed either by plebiscite (also called referendum), by weighted majorities in parliament or by the voting through of an amendment by two successive parliaments, with a general election in between. Among constitutional monarchies possessing written constitutions are The former monarchies in Italy and Greece also operated under written constitutions.
The United Kingdom is an example where there is no written constitution. Instead Parliament possesses the ability by means of an ordinary law passed by a simple majority to change, vary, empower or abolish an institution of state, including the monarchy. In the United Kingdom, a collection of written laws, unwritten conventionss, the reserve power, the Royal Prerogative and traditions shape the relationship between the various institutions of state; the monarchy, the Crown, the government, the House of Lords, the House of Commons and the Judiciary. In the absence of any single constitutional document, these together are described as Britain's unwritten constitution.
King of the Belgians (1951-1993)
The theoretical head of the executive
In a constitutional monarchy the post of the
head of state is usually passed (by some form of primogeniture) within a royal family. The head of state is normally the theoretical head of the executive, producing phrases like Her Majesty's Government. In some countries the monarch (or in states in the Commonwealth of Nations a governor-general) may chair the cabinet, though they do not play a role in policy formation. In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the monarch may have a right of access to all government documentation, as well as a detailed briefing from his or her Prime Minister. However some modern monarchical constitutions exclude the monarch from any participation in government, eg, the King of Sweden and the Emperor of Japan, though in the former case he receives detailed briefings and chairs certain cabinet meetings. Nevertheless, both still qualify to be called "constitutional monarchs".
It is said in constitutional monarchies that the monarch "reigns but does not rule." Most modern constitutional monarchies owe their origins to systems in which the monarch not merely reigned but governed, as in the absolute monarchies which replaced aristocratic systems in the Renaissance. In theory the legislative assembly and the cabinet may or may not be democratically elected or democratically accountable, but is usually democratically elected.
A practical example: Britain's Elizabeth II and Governments
Queen Elizabeth II
Queen of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other states, (1952-present)
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
Image on a one euro Dutch coin
However, this access that the Queen has to the highest levels of government has been questioned in recent years. It is pointed out that while the current monarch has many years experience, the monarch has not always, and will not always have. For example, what could the Queen advise or warn Churchill at the beginning of her reign?
Republicans have argued that what advice and warnings the Queen gives Prime Ministers are unaccountable and secretive. Furthermore the case is made that as an unelected figurehead the Queen should keep out of politics.
Other monarchs
Other monarchs possess similar experience and perrogatives, though none with the same length of service or degree of active participation as Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark chairs state council meetings and has done so since 1972, meaning that she is intimately aware of all government decision taking and is in a position to offer practical advice. The late King Baudouin of the Belgians had experience from the early 1950s to his death in the early 1990s. In a country divided between two communities, some said that Baudouin was the only Belgian in Belgium.
King Juan Carlos of Spain
Image on a two euro Spanish coin
The successful escape to England of the Norwegian king Haakon VII and his government from the German invasion prevented the establishment of a legitimate government and forced a burdensome military occupation on Hitler. His son, the late Olav V of Norway was monarch from the 1950s till his death in 1990 but had as Crown Prince an involvement in the Norwegian Privy Council dating back to 1922. Generations of governments and government ministers listened attentively to his observations.
Sweden's Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, though no longer intimately involved in government since the constitutional Instrument of Government (of 1974) abolished the monarch's active governmental role, gets frequent briefings from the Swedish cabinet en masse. After his role in moving Spain from Franco's dictatorship to a modern parliamentary democracy, and most strikingly in his central role in stopping a coup d'etat in the early 1980s, few ignore King Juan Carlos of Spain.
During the American-led occupation period of Japan following World War 2, the Japanese Emperor was stripped of all authority and became one of the world's weakest constitutional monarchies. During the war, the Emperor had ruled as an absolute monarch and was manipulated by his advisors. Eager to prevent such an abuse of power from ever again occurring, the new American-made constitution stated that the Emperor would only be a "symbol of the nation" and was forbidden from any degree of participation in the political process.
Constitutional monarchy: benefits & pitfalls
While monarchy is undemocratic, unlike an elected presidency, monarchists argue that it possesses two central features that rarely are to be found in presidents; they say that while presidents may see themselves in terms of a limited term of office, with them often being "retired" from other posts into the presidency, monarchy tends to involve a professional life-long commitment. The other often cited advantage is that monarchs do not represent specific political views, and that thay provide stability or act as a symbol of the state or nation. Republicans would argue however that presidents are not necessarily "retired" into the position, particularly if they are directly elected. Furthermore republicans often question the relevance and the "dedication" of the monarch. The very fact that it is lifelong does mean that an experienced monarch has a wealth of knowledge that governments find invaluable, although of course most monarchs do not last that long, (see the reigns of the Kings of England 1901-1953). Figures like Elizabeth II or the late King Olav V are seen as possessing an almost encyclopedic knowledge of their state's recent history, knowing lessons learned through error by past governments that can be passed on to future governments. But while there are skilled monarchs, there have also been disastrously inept ones, or ones who showed poor judgment; Edward VIII in the United Kingdom, Victor Emmanuel III in Italy, Constantine II in Greece. It is a matter of opinion whether the benefits outweigh the risks, or vice versa.
For republicans of course the principal concern is that a monarchy undermines the principle of democracy and costs too much.
Some other constitutional monarchies
See also:
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Chemically Modified Fats
Almost all chemically modified fats are as bad for you as they sound. Hydrogenation, the process that turns liquid oils into solid fats, creates trans fat. For years manufacturers used partially and fully hydrogenated oils to prolong the shelf life and stability of processed foods. According to the American Dietetic Association, foods containing industrially derived trans fat should be minimized and the American Heart Association recommends that we eat no more than 2g of trans fat per day. Now that we know the dangers of trans fat, many manufacturers have reduced or eliminated it. But even some foods that claim to have 0g of trans fat are allowed to contain up to 0.49 grams per serving. If you eat several servings per day of these foods, you can easily exceed the AHA recommended daily limit for trans fat of 2 grams. How can you tell if a product has trans fat? If partially hydrogenated oils are on the ingredient list, it has trans fat.
Another process called interesterification alters the melting point and shelf life of margarines and spreads. While interesterification doesn’t create damaging trans fat, the long-term effects of consuming interesterified fats have yet to be fully evaluated.
To avoid chemically modified fats in your buttery spreads, choose Smart Balance® Buttery Spread, which is made from a natural oil blend that is 0g trans fat naturally. As always, please see the nutrition information of each product for fat and saturated fat content.
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Phalaenopsis Orchids
Phalaenopsis Orchids Phalaenopsis Orchids Boulder Colorado orchids at Sturtz and Copeland Boulder CO Moth Orchid
It has long been a myth that orchids are difficult to grow and need expert care if you want them to bloom. Orchids aren't difficult, they are just a little bit different than your other green plants. The new varieties of orchids, especially the phalaenopsis, are some of the easiest houseplants to care for and will reward you with blossoms throughout the year. Each individual blossom may last up to three months and the plant will often send up another spike that will start blooming before the last blossom on the previous spike has faded.
Phalaenopsis are commonly called moth orchids for their gently arching, flowering stems with flat flowers that resemble moths in flight. They come in many varieties and colors but are most often grown in delicate pastel shades. Phalaenopsis orchids are easy to grow because they enjoy the same temperatures we do – above 60º F at night and a range of 70º F to 80º F during the day.
Phalaenopsis do well in Boulder in bright indirect light. An east window is usually ideal. A shaded southern or western window will also do, but northern usually isn't enough. Phalaenopsis leaves are broad and flat and they should be olive green. If they become much darker it is usually a sign that the plant is not getting enough light. Red tinged leaves mean the plant is getting too much light. If your plant doesn't re-bloom easily, you may need to increase the amount of light that it is receiving. If the buds drop on your plants before they open it might be due to fluctuating temperatures if the plant is too close to a window or windowsill that cools down significantly during the night.
Unlike most plants that are rooted in the ground, phalaenopsis are epiphytes in their native habitats where they grow attached to tree branches in diffused light. Their abundant roots that are exposed to the moist, humid air in those habitats are white or silvery. Since they are epiphytes, phalaenopsis should never be potted in soil. Growing mediums for these orchids usually include fir bark, coconut husk, tree fern fibers and perlite. When the potting medium begins to break down, usually in 18 to 24 months, your orchid will need to be repotted. When that occurs, bring in your plants and Sharon, Trevor, Connie, Patty or Heide will be happy to help you repot them in the correct medium.
Please see our orchid section under the plant tab for more information and pictures of orchids that we carry.
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Special Services
Bad Breath TreatmentHalitosis (Bad Breath Treatment)
Bad breath often strikes when people aren’t properly taking care of their oral health. The odor is usually caused by decaying food particles and bacteria in your mouth. That’s why brushing and flossing your teeth is so important, but don’t forget to gently brush and “scrape” your tongue to get rid of even more bacteria. Ask the staff at Valley Dental about your specific concerns.
• Brush your teeth and rinse your mouth thoroughly after every meal to remove food particle from the mouth.
• When you are brushing your teeth, also brush your tongue. The tongue is covered with thousands of tiny hairs that can trap bacteria.
• Have regular check-ups with your dentist to rule out gum disease and to correct any faulty restorations, overhanging fillings or leaking crowns, all of which can trap food in the mouth.
What is Bad Breath?
Night Guard/Splint TherapyNight Guard/Splint Therapy
Diagnosing Bruxism
Snore GuardSnore Guard
Snore Guard is worn during sleep. It uses normal body reflexes to help keep the airway open. The device fits snugly on the upper teeth. When the lower jaw closes, the lower anterior teeth naturally strike the ramp and are induced by natural jaw movement to advance along the ramp moving the lower jaw to a more forward position. An aperture in the device between the upper portion and the lower portion facilitates the passage of air for mouth breathing and attracts the tongue forward.
By inducing the lower jaw and tongue to a more forward position, the device induces a more open airway in the user resulting in a significant reduction in snoring. Minor forward movement of the lower jaw, in the range of 2 to 6mm serves to reduce the incidence of snoring.
What is Snoring & Apnea?
Sports GuardSports Guard
Sports mouth-guards (also referred to as football protectors, sports mouthpieces, or spelled as two words “mouth guards”) are resilient plastic appliances that have been designed in a fashion where they cover over and encase an athlete’s teeth and the gums and bone that support them. The idea is that when a guard is worn it helps to provide protection for the hard (teeth and jaw) and soft (lips, cheeks, gums) tissues of the mouth by way of absorbing and redistributing the forces generated by traumatic blows.
Disorders of the teeth can contribute to TMJ dysfunction (TMD). Impaired tooth mobility and tooth loss can be caused by destruction of the supporting bone and by heavy forces being placed on teeth. The movement of the teeth affects how they contact one another when the mouth closes, and the overall relationship between the teeth, muscles, and joints can be altered. Headaches, clicking or popping of the jaw, excessive tooth wear, pulpitis (inflammation of the dental pulp), are symptoms that may result from TMJ/TMD. Maybe the most important factor is the way the teeth meet together.
What is TMD?
Neuromuscular Treatment
Under Armour Performance MouthwearUnder Armour Performance Mouthwear
Research has shown that when training or competing in sports, the natural instinct for most people is to clench their jaw, compressing the temporomandibular joint. This in turn triggers the release of excess amounts of hormones like cortisol, which can lead to stress, fatigue, and distraction. The same holds true for high-stress occupations like firefighting.
Under Armour (UA) Performance Mouthwear- which includes the Armour Bite mouth guard, Armour Bite Mouthpiece, and UA mouth guard- was engineered to provide an optimum space between the teeth to lessen the negative effects of clenching while under stressful situations and during athletic performance.
UA Mouthguards
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Buy The Last Days of Socrates Lesson Plans
Name: _________________________ Period: ___________________
Multiple Choice Questions
1. According to Euthyphro, the gods only received satisfaction from what?
(a) Saving mortals from peril.
(b) The happiness of mortals.
(c) Divine service.
(d) Holy actions.
2. How did Socrates receive his sentencing?
(a) He swore vengeance on the jurors and his prosecutor.
(b) He collapsed on the floor in tears.
(c) He said that, at his age, death was far preferable to banishment.
(d) He said nothing and quietly left the courtroom.
(a) To help readers understand difficult words.
(b) To help put the information into context.
(c) To provide extra information for those who are interested.
4. To what Athenian god did Euthyphro refer as an example to back up his decision?
(a) Zeus.
(b) Apollo.
(c) Perseus.
(d) Ares.
5. According to what Socrates told the jury, why did he hold dialogues with so many people?
(a) Because he wanted to expand his own store of knowledge.
(b) Because he was trying to determine the validity of the Athenian laws.
(c) Because he was dedicated to what he believed was Apollo's will.
(d) Because he wanted to find out how to interpret the answers of the Oracle.
6. Who was prosecuting Socrates?
(a) Phaedo.
(b) Euthyphro.
(c) Meletus.
(d) Crito.
7. Which two values are often found together in Socratic philosophy?
(a) Justice and wisdom.
(b) Wisdom and piety.
(c) Piety and justice.
(d) Wisdom and strength.
8. What accusation was being leveled against Socrates regarding his relationship with the young men of Athens?
(a) He was supplying them with drugs and alcohol.
(b) He was corrupting them with his inquiries.
(c) He was having homosexual relationships with them.
(d) He was trying to cause them to rebel against the authorities.
9. According to Tarrant, what is the quality and accuracy of the dialogues originally recorded by Plato?
(a) Very high.
(b) Very low.
(c) Somewhat high.
(d) Somewhat low.
10. Why do variations exist between the translations of the Socratic dialogues?
(a) They are written for different audiences.
(b) There are very few variations, only hair-splitting will reveal the differences.
(c) There were long periods of time between the translations, so some have archaic language.
(d) The translations were written by people of varying levels of education.
11. Why are the Socratic dialogues still studied, according to Tarrant?
(a) They must be mastered before other important material from the same time period can be studied.
(b) Because scholars still don't completely understand them.
(c) They are challenging for students to comprehend.
(d) The information contained in the dialogues is still relevant.
(a) The fourth.
(b) The first.
(c) The second.
(d) The third.
13. During "The Apology," what does Socrates say about politicians and poets?
(a) They are generally more intelligent than average laborers.
(b) He was able to learn a lot from them.
(c) They usually pretend to have knowledge that, in reality, they lack.
(d) It was difficult to converse with them because they talked in circles.
14. The victim of the crime committed by Euthyphro's relative had committed what crime himself?
(a) Fraud.
(b) Murder.
(c) Robbery.
(d) Adultery.
15. What happened at the end of the dialogue between Euthyphro and Socrates?
(a) Socrates became frustrated that he couldn't get through to Euthyphro.
(b) They unearthed a circular argument, and Euthyphro ended the discussion.
(c) Despite wanting to continue the discussion, Socrates was called to trial.
Short Answer Questions
1. What did Socrates say would happen if the jury condemned him?
3. Socrates was, supposedly, inspired by which of the Athenian deities?
4. What did Socrates learn as a result of his dialogue with Euthyphro?
5. Which of the four dialogues is "The Apology"?
(see the answer keys)
This section contains 718 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy The Last Days of Socrates Lesson Plans
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Monday, March 1, 2010
Abe Lincoln and the spectre of Dracula
There is a reason Lincoln was so good with an Ax.
Just for fun, check out the Time Magazine blog "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Killer." Be sure to use all of the links and have fun in the process. Let your mind and your creative juices go wild!
I am from Illinois, so I was raised with everything Lincoln, and, yes, the thought did cross my mind a few times in idle thought.
Teenage and Middle Age Brains, why we think we know everything
Studies on teenage brains have show that they think different.
I lecture my students learned about how as we grow we use differing portions of our brain, and that in doing so our logic, out way of thinking and our retention ability shifts.
At several points in our lives we think we know everything. Usually these occur in middle school, as our body and mind goes through major changes, mid or late high school (or young adulthood), again in the mid 20's and later a we approach what is known as middle age. There are very real physiological reasons for these shifts, including nerve connections, the parts of the brain we use and shift in body chemistry.
This morning on National Public Radio some key differences, including why students cram instead of take their time, why adult start to lose concentration and possibly why we may find ourselves with memory, physical and emotional changes as we grow older.
The frontal lobe is not fully connected and there are chemical and physiological reasons for the lack of "common sense" and "reasoning" at a time when teenagers think they learn everything. That is the part that thinks of consequences and put results with specific tasks. Access is slow up until you are in your early 20's. This explains why teens often do not think of what driving fast, or being rude, or playing music or tagging can hurt others. The tendency toward drug or alcahol abuse is higher not just because of a tendency to experiment, but also to ignore the negative consequences, including things that had happened before. Even the tendency to cram for an exam is a teenage tendancy that lives on into adulthood. Results are wanted quickly, with less patience or long term view than adults in their upper 20's or older. The reality is that learning as you go along, reinforcing through frequent review, good nutrition and a good night's rest are far more effective than cramming. But tell that to a typical teenager! More from NPR's Morning Edition at:
Middle age has its effects. Reaction time is lower. It takes longer to learn information. It takes longer to retrieve information. Multitasking is fast, but more errors. Complex reasoning is actually at its best in middle age. It's like going from dial up to DSL. You do tend to take the other persons interests into consideration and are more likely to care about the consequences for others. Physical and mental exercise, vitamins and the correct food does work. Exercise does improve the ability to put ideas together, to remember, to keep the brain functioning at the best it can given age, physiology and previous training or abuse. More from NPR's morning edition at:
Right Brain creative. Left Brain logical. Right Brain emotional. Left Brained reasoned. Not as black and white and true as it is often painted, but there is some truth to the old way of explaining why people are the way we are. We face a battle between the two sides of our brain, with the most effective being a strong use of both halves of the brain. Since women have more physical connections between the lobes of our brain, that may explain why women tend to multitask better and to reason through complex problems while not necessarily mastering each and every step. For more on this go to:
Hands off my health care!
Government will only mess things up.
But what if we do nothing?
Then "my health care" stays the same, right?
Nearly every mainstream analysis calls for medical costs to continue to climb over the next decade, outpacing the growth in the overall economy and certainly increasing faster than the average paycheck. Those higher costs will translate into higher premiums, which will mean fewer individuals and businesses will be able to afford insurance coverage. More of everyone's dollar will go to health care, and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid will struggle to find the money to remain operational.
Click here for one of many stories looking at the reality of cost escalation, declining overall health and the high cost of doing nothing to reform our health care system.
Nevada Budget Cuts
Budget compromise reached.
Cuts in education of just under 7% (on top of previous deep cuts)
State workers to work four days a week.
Increases in almost all fees (but they say this is not a tax increase).
But lots "saved" from Governor Gibbons proposed ax...
Full story from Review
Full story from Las Vegas Sun
Previous blog on the compromise to cut 6.9% (call is "just under 10%) from already emasculated education budget.
Photo: Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, (R), from Las Vegas Sun
BBC to downsize
The BBC is facing deep budget cuts under pressure at home for "competing" with broadcast organizations. Among those heading the "cut the head and balls" off the BBC movement is FOX News CEO, chair of NewCorp, Rupert Murdock.
The worlds finest broadcast news organization may find itself a second rate service thanks to corporate greed.
The BBC has begun, prior to being forced to through legislation, the first ever retrenchment and reduction in its history, as reported in Variety. The focus will increase on local British news, programming and services, reducing online and over the air radio and Internet services intended to overseas audiences. They are quick to point out that the intent is not to abandon their considerable international audience and services, simply to adapt to commercial competition, redundancy in services and the need to justify their set-tax revenue by providing greater service to British and Commonwealth citizens who use the service.
No one is saying this, but the retrenchment (reductions) also represent a shift away from British imperial dominance and England looking at the world as their back yard and their responsibility.
Extrapersonal Communication Model?
What is Extrapersonal Communication?
Trying to explain this term to my students i got some very good questions from them, i answered them but now i want to know the opinions of others too-
I was explaining how extrapersonal communication is done between human and non-human entities... the questions that followed-
Q1. How about talking to a wall/ deity? Many people say and believe that they actually talk to inanimate objects (wall, mountains). Is it extra-personal communication or intra-personal communication?
Q2. When one touches a touch-me-not plant it shrinks back, similarly carnivorous plants show some changes/ movements when touched, is it a communication, if yes of what type?
Q3. Is praying (to the Divine) also communication? if yes then how to plot it on a communication model?
Q4. When talking with your dog or cat, is that interpersonal, extrapersonal or intrapersonal?
Your answers would validate or contradict my points. Kindly comment.
Sumangal Haldar
Senior Lecturer / Soft Skill Trainer
SRM College of Engineering and Management.
I will pass your comments on to this professor. Plus it is an interesting communication model and theory exercise.
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DISCOVER THE POWER OF AN ANTI AGING DIET
FOODS WITH ANTI AGING PROPERTIES
When a human cell converts oxygen into energy, tiny molecules called free radicals are created. These ravaging molecules are one of the major reasons we age. When produced in normal amounts, free radicals work to help rid the body of harmful toxins, keeping it healthy. When produced in large amounts, free radicals damage the body's cells, resulting in the death of cells and tissue damage.
Eating a diet high in raw, alkaline fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds will help normalize your health and slow the aging process. All of these foods are healthy and you should eat a wide variety of them everyday as they are all unique in nutritional value. Here are a few that you should eat whenever possible...
• Berries - berries are excellent sources of flavanoids and antioxidants. These anti-aging properties help prevent free radicals from attacking and damaging your cells.
• Avocados - Avocados are excellent helping to slow aging since it contains potassium which lowers blood pressure and monounsaturated fat which reduces bad cholesterol.
• Nuts - Nuts are good sources of minerals, protein and healthy fats which help repair body cells and strengthen the digestive and immune system.
• Garlic - This has been known to prevent heart disease.
• Cruciferous vegetables - Broccoli, radish and cauliflower are just some examples of the cruciferous vegetables which help prevent cancer.
Live, alkaline plant chemicals, called phytochemicals, are present in fruits and vegetables and may have additional beneficial properties beyond antioxidant activity. The phytochemicals present in such fruits and veggies as blueberries, strawberries and spinach may have anti aging properties that slow the damage done by free radicals.
Eating the wrong types of food on a regular basis can possibly cause the development of a variety of forms of cancer. Unhealthy cell regeneration can be caused by the following acid foods:
1. Sugar
2. Caffeine
3. White flour
4. Processed foods
5. Alcohol
6. Processed meats
7. Vegetable and hydrogenated oils. (These are refined oils)
8. Fried food
When you deep fry healthy foods in high heated oils, you change them at the molecular level. That heart-healthy flounder fillet you just battered and fried just became toxic.
If you eat the way that creation intended, you can live a more quality life, look great and reduce the odds of living a life full of prescription drugs. The western world eats a very poor diet that leads to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. This must change but everyone has to be held accountable for changing themselves first.
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Odocoileus virginianus
White-Tailed Deer are by far the largest resident animals in our two nature centers. Males (bucks) may weigh up to 400 pounds, but usually far less. Adult females (does) weigh about 200 pounds. Both are a reddish-brown in summer and gray in the fall and in winter. Their tails are a fluffy white when raised. Does usually give birth to one - sometimes two or more - fawns in April or May. Fawns weigh about 5-7 pounds when born, don't give off any odor and hide motionless in high grasses for the first week or so (B), to be nursed by the periodically returning mother. Fawns - images "A", "B" and "C" were taken in June - stay with their mothers through the next winter. Bucks grow antlers starting in April. The velvety covering of the fully developed antlers is removed by rubbing against small trees during September. The old Buck in "H" was photographed in mid-August and still had the "velvet" antlers. These antlers are shed by the end of February, well after the "rut", a period when bucks challenge each other and mate with the does in November or December.
White-Tailed Deer are too common in Fontenelle Forest and somewhat less so in Neale Woods. They do not wander far from their relatively small territory. They can often be seen and most are quite used to people. But there are no guarantees that one or more may be seen at a particular time or place. Quietly walking the trails early in the morning increases the chances of spying one.
Because the deer have no natural predators in our two nature centers, their numbers are kept within bounds with an annual controlled hunt. Without such controls, native vegetation, and many other life forms which depend on it would be under extreme pressure from browsing by the deer.
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Our Soils are Being Damaged and Our Air & Water are Being Impacted Rapidly
by S. Tom Bond on March 1, 2015
We Care about Life Down on the Farm
Let us count the ways energy production causes damages
Commentary by S. Tom Bond, Retired Chemistry Professor & Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV
I remember a Soil Conservation pamphlet I saw as a child called “6,000 years of civilization.” The thesis was that most of the civilizations before the Romans, and the Romans, too, had destroyed the soils in their areas of the Middle East by ignoring soil depletion. Each generation looked out for itself, extracted the yield without thought of the future. Eventually there was not enough food production (transportation was crude and slow) and eventually there was not enough that the armies could hold the empires together. The principal exception was Egypt, which had the renewing soil deposits from the annual Nile flood. It held on for 3,000 years, when the average empire lasted about 250 years.
I thought of this when I read the editorial in the 13 February Science, the Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science which is the world’s largest scientific organization, and the most prestigious place to publish science. It was titled “Give soils their due.” Being keen on that sort of thing, since I am a life-long farmer, I realize that at any time the earth has a “carrying capacity.” Just like my pasture can only carry so many cows without being degraded, the earth can only support so many people.
I also remember reading about what caused the 1977 revolution in modern Egypt – high price of food got the hungry people out on the street. There was a riot because of food prices in Argentina in 1989 and in one in Italy not many years ago. Nothing gets people stirred up like having hungry kids. I also remember a graph in Science of the population of China on the vertical scale and time on the horizontal scale. Each bump up was labeled with a new food stuff which caused the increase. Millet, very early, dry land rice, wet land rice and toward the present, corn and then potatoes.
The authors of “Give soils their due” also talk about how properly managed soils hold water and purify it, remove carbon from the air and incorporate it in soil organic matter. It reintroduces nutrients from dead plants and unused plant parts, and prevents wind loss in dust storms. All this is linked to human and animal health, as well as food supply.
These authors recognize paving land over for cities, expansion of farming to marginal soils in deserts and far North regions, and cut down the tropical forests. Unfortunately, nothing is said about modern methods of extracting hydrocarbons for energy.
Now let us count the ways present day energy causes damage to the earth and its inhabitants. Drilling in deep ocean water, like the BP disaster, risks spilling very large quantities of oil into the ocean. The biggest fear of that event was that the leak was around the outside of the drill pipe, and the entire oil reservoir would drain out with no way to stop it, a disaster tens or hundreds of times more serious. Seafood and wildlife were damaged as was the productive capacity of the Gulf. The dispersants, used to break up the oil mass were offenders, too. BP pleaded guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter, two misdemeanors, and a felony count of lying to Congress. BP also agreed to four years of government monitoring of its safety practices and ethics, and the Environmental Protection Agency announced that BP would be temporarily banned from new contracts with the US government. As of February 2013, criminal and civil settlements and payments to a trust fund had cost the company $42.2 billion. Drilling in the Arctic, being pushed by the oil companies, would be even worse, since the platforms would be subject to the surging ice, and spill cleanup would, too.
Fracking destroys the surface by pushing aside top soil and covering the spot with crushed stone for the drilling pad and roads, and preventing forest growth along the numerous pipelines. Also by emitting hazardous chemicals into the air from drilling pads and compressor stations, by contaminating aquifers and streams with waterborne chemicals, all of which degrades farming or forestry, and living in the area where fracking is done. Disposal of fracking water causes earthquakes. Storm water is diverted from the natural channels, and it carries contaminates. The huge area that can be subject to fracking is easily recognizable by looking at a map of the shale beds believed to have gas potential. It even affects the area outside of that due to sand mining in the Upper Midwest and waste water disposal in other places.
Shale oil and tar sands have very low Energy Return on Energy Invested. Tar sands need to be diluted with a light oil supplied from somewhere else, other drilling.
Coal is dirty. In addition to the carbon, it contains a wide variety of elements that contaminate the air: sulfur (as much as 5 percent) and heavy metals, which are bad because the body has no mechanism to eliminate them once inhaled or ingested. I remember reading decades ago that coal contains enough uranium and thorium to generate as much power as the coal itself does. It poisons water with selenium, and if it is strip mined, destroys top soil and drainage.
And then there is the product of burning carbon in air. Few articles remind us that one ton of carbon takes two and two-third tons of oxygen out of the air to make three and two-thirds third tons of carbon dioxide. The kicker, though, is that 400 parts by volume in the atmosphere means carbon dioxide is diluted by 2500 more volumes of pure air to reach the concentration of carbon dioxide the atmosphere. Said in another way, one volume of carbon dioxide will pollute 2500 parts of air. The volume of the atmosphere is huge, but our present way of getting energy, now well over 150 years old is now obsolete.
All the different ways to obtain energy above hurt the earth and its people, the poorest first. There is no moral charity in advocating, or for anyone of any faith to advocate, anything other than reducing burning carbon for energy as quickly as rationally possible.
>> Tom Bond is active with the Guardians of the West Fork and other West Virginia citizens concerned about the impacts of proposed large diameter natural gas pipelines.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Writer's Almanac March 1, 2015 at 4:15 pm
“Questionnaire” by Wendell Berry
How much poison are you willing
to eat for the success of the free
market and global trade? Please
name your preferred poisons.
For the sake of goodness, how much
evil are you willing to do?
Fill in the following blanks
with the names of your favorite
evils and acts of hatred.
What sacrifices are you prepared
to make for culture and civilization?
Please list the monuments, shrines,
and works of art you would
most willingly destroy
In the name of patriotism and
the flag, how much of our beloved
land are you willing to desecrate?
List in the following spaces
the mountains, rivers, towns, farms
you could most readily do without.
State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,
the energy sources, the kinds of security;
for which you would kill a child.
Name, please, the children whom
you would be willing to kill.
“Questionnaire” by Wendell Berry from Leavings. Counterpoint, 2010.
S. Thomas Bond March 2, 2015 at 12:21 am
This is a little confusing on a quick read. Careful thinking about it shows Wendell Berry, one of America’s foremost poets and authors is ‘way ahead of the game.
He is asking, “When do the escalating costs of energy development become too much?”
Tom Bond
John March 2, 2015 at 11:48 am
All this talk is fine. But is it mostly talk? I dislike fallacy with a vengeance! That poster up there, with the Wendell Berry quote from his “questionnaire” commits the fallacy of associating “free markets” with poisoning our lands, waterways, lands, etc.
Free markets? What free markets? Where do you, in the world, have anything that gets even close to a “free market”? Yes, we have global trade and it’s a scourge in many ways, but it is not supported by free markets; no, it is supported by crony capitalism, which is a perversion of true capitalism, true free markets and everything related to liberty, and shames any individual who does not want to live the life of a slave. There is nothing wrong with carbon; carbon is the stuff of life. But there is everything wrong with the way crony capitalists and the (not free!, but rather) slave markets supported by tyrannical fascist, communist, socialist regimes (the US of A included!) exploit, market and profit from the available resources the earth invites us to use without abuse. I am not a greeny, tree hugger or even environmentalist (the word has been pimped for far too long to mean anything decent these days); “sane ecologist” would define me best.
I own farm land and I want it preserved for my children, grandchildren, and their children. I want it managed and maintained and protected – by myself, not some government agency or regulatory body or inane law drafted by some ignorant albeit maybe well intentioned politician who never got his boots muddy or his hands dirty, bathed in a creek, milked a cow or collected poop covered eggs! I can do a better job than anyone else, because it is my land. I worked all my life to be able to own it. I want it free of chemicals and contaminants of any and all kinds. I want the springs to stay clean and the wells too. I have been fighting pipelines to keep them off my property for a long time, so I have a vested interest in protecting my land, not only because I have invested in it financially all I had, but because it’s my posterity’s inheritance and because I believe in good, solid stewardshiping principles. Not because the DEP, EPA, or NY city half naked green paint covered crazy “sensitive” tree hugger says so or thinks they know better.
Now, the Questionnaire that Mr. Wendell Berry drafted falls short. It is missing the million dollar questions, so that the fallacy and hypocrisy may be called out.
So, here are my question to the greenies and the tree huggers who bark up all the trees, regardless of them being the right or wrong trees and who claim for more laws and more control from above when all we need is less of all that and more personal, individual responsibility: Where do you live? How do you get to work and how do you get home? How do you get your food? How do you cook it? How do you warm your home? How do you get on the internet and post your comments on this and every other website? Do you drive a car? Do you ride a bus? The underground? Do you open a water tap to shower? Do you flip the switch to turn on the lights? Do you enjoy any of the conveniences of modern life that are in any way dependent, in any form – any form at all! – on energy that is harvested, produced and distributed by conventional means, i.e, coming from fossil fuels? If you answered yes, then you either are a hypocrite or haven’t got a clue! If, however, you have given up all these things, moved to your own piece of land, live off it, grow your own food, never set foot in [youNameIt]MART or never hit the gas to go to the next green protest meeting, you may complain and have that right because you are already part of the solution. If however you do support, by our demand, any of this, then you are sponsoring the problem. We simply can’t have it both ways.
Don’t forget that even solar panels are produced in factories that use energy that’s fossil fuel based; same with any recycled product or material, etc. It is a fact there is no such thing as 0% footprint in anyone’s life. All things are interdependent. If you are here, you leave a footprint on the planet, and that’s ok.
We all have been changing the planet since we first started to walk on it. But then again, so do all other things and animals and plants. “How do we balance it all out?” is the million dollar question, and the right answers are priceless. I have a few, stop cronyism. Stop manipulating the markets. Cut big oil, big gas, big pharma’s (and etc., the list is endless,) access to politicians and lobbying. Stop passing inane laws that control people but do not provide solutions to any problems.
Respect the inalienable rights of each individual on this planet to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and respect private property rights, and things will take care of themselves, because Life has a way of its own, and human beings are amazingly creative. Our ingenuity, free from constraints, will come up with the solutions. Free markets (TRUE free markets, not the pimping and whoring imitations that abound these days, supported by corruption at all levels,) will get rid of everything that is not viable, healthy and solid. Utopia? I don’t think so!
Tom Bond March 3, 2015 at 7:23 pm
Notice, the last paragraph of Wendell Berry’s poem tells us that it is hyperbole, and the rhythm of ideas should warned us that it is blank poetry:
“State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,
the energy sources, the kinds of security;
for which you would kill a child.
Name, please, the children whom
you would be willing to kill.”
Initially, it was a challenge to understand the context. Unfortunately, the “education” we get now is job training, thanks to the forces we decry. A classical education would have left us better prepared.
“Free market?” If Mr. Berry had chosen to talk about neo-feudalism, few would have made the connection. Those are in some other country aren’t they? Again this is a defect in education which we must correct without official help.
These vast forces of trade agreements, international corporations, “economic necessity,” and news adapted to entertain and make money, rather than inform, threaten to subvert the nation states presently making the rules we call government. “Big business” wants to make them.
Finally, we don’t need burning hydrocarbons for our life style. We need energy. Some hydrocarbons are needed for synthetic chemicals, but most is burned. One ton of carbon burned pulls enough oxygen from the air to make near three and two-thirds ton of carbon dioxide.
Market forces should be used to encourage the change-over. The existing U.S. energy industries — oil, coal, gas and nuclear — have received during their lifetime an estimated $630 billion in subsidies from the U.S. government, i.e., from taxpayers. This kind of money should be spent investigating something better: solar, wind and fusion (not fission), which will produce the energy we need at far less cost to the surface and atmosphere.
Thanks for your consideration, Tom Bond
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Do You Know Anything About Kentucky? Read This To Learn About The State!
Kentucky is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the south by Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia to the East, Ohio and Indiana to the north, and Illinois and Missouri to the west. A common geographic boundary to its north is the Ohio River and the Appalachian mountains to the east.
The state’s 2014 population was estimated to be 4.413 million individuals, whose governor was Republican Matt Bevin, governing from the capital of Frankfurt. The state’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Kentucky is one of only four states to be constituted as a commonwealth entity. The other three are Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Virginia, of which Kentucky was originally a part of before joining the Union in 1792 as the fifteenth state.
The state might be most famous for an annual horse race held in the biggest city, Louisville. The Kentucky Derby happens the first Saturday of each May, preceded by two weeks of festival. There is a virtual year-round celebration of the event at Churchill Downs thanks to the Kentucky Derby Museum.
Kentucky is known to many as the “Bluegrass State.” This nickname comes from the bluegrass that grows abundantly in many pastures thanks to very fertile soil. Central Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region, where two of the state’s prominent cities are found, Louisville as well as Lexington. The world’s longest-known cave system, the Mammoth Cave National Park, sits in Kentucky soil and terrain. You can also find both of the biggest artificially made lakes that lay east of the Mississippi River.
Kentucky’s average elevation is 750 feet above sea level, but it interestingly features the longest length of navigable water pathways within the lower 48 contiguous states. The lowest point in the state is only 257 feet above sea level, which happens at the Mississippi River at a place called Kentucky Bend, a peninsula of land that is not contiguous with the rest of the state, instead linked physically to Tennessee and bordering Missouri.
The highest point is in the Appalachian end of the state, where Black Mountain stands 4,145 feet above sea level. It also stands 500 feet higher than any other point in the state. While privately owned by a coal company, public access is permitted when a waiver is filled out. Several radar and communication towers sit atop the peak, but on a clear day, views go as far as the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.
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Great Britain - It's in the name!
KS2 / P5-7
KS3&4 / S1-6
Play In A Day
Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) and addressing the points raised by the department of Education and Ofsted.
Through a Konflux Theatre Play in a Day® your pupils will discover the true value of what it means to be British. Come along to our Gala and celebrate British culture, find out where fish and chips originate! We all love a good British cuppa but where does tea actually come from?!
Find out all about the Royal Family, why do we have a Queen? Who’s next in line for the throne?
Discover how democracy and the law work in Britain, who invented parliament and the police force? We can all appreciate that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety of everybody! What is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?
Encouraging students to accept responsibility for their actions, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working closely to them and to society more widely.
Our British Values Play in a Day® has been specifically designed as a spring board to open up discussion between pupils’ and teachers – allowing the children both taking part in the British Values workshop and those watching at the end of the day to know that they have a voice that is listened to and respected.
A Play in a Day® for up to 30 KS2 or KS3 pupils. Exploring the key issues and working together as actors to create a 15- 20 minute performance, informing as much as it celebrates.
· “The day was really good, well organised and I loved how the whole school could get involved! You are on to a winner with this British Values workshop! It is very difficult to find something that takes it seriously. We have visitors from all different faiths and it was nice to show where British traditions come from. It got the students thinking about Britain and it celebrates diversity!”
. "The children had a brilliant time and learnt a number of things from the experience including voice projection, presenting, team work and collaboration as well as some interesting facts about British values and the origins of some things we have always thought of as British. It was a great starting point for more in depth learning about being British."
Please call India on 01937 832740 for more information and to book a date!
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Are Mobile Phones a danger to our health, and should they be continued to be used?
Extracts from this document...
Ever since the price of mobile phones dropped, resulting in a huge increase in the number of people owning them, the question has always been asked as to whether they are safe and if they pose a danger to our health. The full results of long-term use on such a huge scale has never been able to be tested, as quite simply they have not been around long enough for the symptoms to make themselves clear. What are the effects of mobile phones and how serious are they? Should we continue to use them, or are the effects so serious that they should be abolished as soon as possible?
New reports continue to be published suggesting that there might be health risks from mobile phones electromagnetic radiation. There can be no doubt any longer that mobile phone radiation affects living cells. For example research shows that nematode worms exposed to mobile phone radiation produce more eggs, release stress hormones and grow larger. But what is the effect of mobile phone radiation on people? Could we see a mass court action in twenty years time against telecom companies by people claiming compensation for health damage caused by radiation?
...read more.
International guidelines are in place to limit public exposure to radio waves from base stations and mobile phones. These guidelines ensure that Radio Frequency emissions stay below a certain level, preventing excessive heating. Set by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), they have been adopted by the UK Government and the country's five mobile phone operators. ICNIRP is an international independent scientific organisation that provides guidance and advice on the health hazards of non-ionising radiation. Short exposure to mobile phone radiation - two hours - has been reported in 2003 to destroy cells in parts of the brain important for memory, movement and learning, and could possibly cause premature onset of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.
...read more.
As a result of my conclusion, further questions arose. I realised from thinking literally and realistically, that people who have a contract for their mobile phone may feel the pressure of the economics of the situation. In real terms, this may mean that people who pay for a certain number of minutes of calls per month, and want to get value for money, will use their phone to the limit of the minutes available to them. This may mean that they subject themselves to the extreme radiation that Professor Leif Salford talked of regarding the effects it has on rats. However research on humans is extremely limited at this stage. Furthermore, I realise that within the next generation, when far more detailed research has been conducted with the benefit of hindsight, awful results may be found. It may be that all of my generation have been subjected to radiation with results no one anticipated. However, it is only possible to draw conclusions from the evidence available at present.
In all, the conclusions that are available to this wide forum are as indecisive as they are conclusive. My research has led me to ask as many questions as I have been able to answer.
...read more.
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Manna from Heaven: What Could Be Better?
• Manna from Heaven: What Could Be Better?
B'shalach, Exodus 13:17−17:16
D'var Torah By:
“Now when Pharaoh let the people go . . . ” (Exodus 13:17) or b’shalach, “sent away” the people, there were no shortcuts. God didn’t send the Israelites on the shorter coastal route, by way of the land of the Philistines, concerned that they might change their minds because of fear of war. They had what they needed for the journey: a pillar of cloud to guide them by day and a pillar of fire to give them light for their nighttime travels. Moses even took the bones of Joseph with them, fulfilling the promise their ancestors made. But the people were afraid, so when Pharaoh’s armies closed in on them by the Sea of Reeds, they cried out: “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?” (14:11).
In one last extraordinary manifestation of God’s power, the sea split, the people crossed through safely, and the armies of Pharaoh drowned as the waters covered over them. The Israelites celebrated their deliverance in song and dance, and then continued their journey—and their complaining.
First, the water was too bitter. Then, shortly after, there was grumbling about food: “If only we had died by the hand of the Eternal in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death” (16:3).
So “the Eternal One said to Moses, ‘I will rain down for them bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day’s portion—that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow My instructions (My Torah) or not’ ” (16:4). The instructions that followed specified how much of this bread from heaven each person was to gather, and gave injunctions against gathering on Shabbat or keeping any overnight. “The house of Israel named it manna; . . . and it tasted like wafers in honey” (16:31).
In the Book of Numbers, we are told that manna could be baked into cakes and tasted like “rich cream,” l’shad hashamen (Numbers 11:8). In a play on the word shad, which can also mean “breast,” the rabbis of the Talmud say thatjust as the infant finds many a flavor in the breast, so did Israel find many a (wonderful) taste in the manna” (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 75a).
The commentaries struggle with what Torah means when it says that the manna was a test. Rashi argues that the test was whether we would keep the precepts connected to the manna: not to leave anything over and not to go out to gather on Shabbat (Rashi on Exodus 16:4). It was one thing to have enough food for today, but what about tomorrow? Those who would try to save the manna, or to gather on Shabbat, demonstrated a lack of faith. . .and failed the test.
Ramban had a different interpretation. “It was a trial for them not to have . . . an alternative to the manna.” He focused on how boring it is to eat the same food day after day, no matter how delicious it was (Ramban on Exodus 16:4). We’ll read later in Numbers 21:5 how the Israelites complained: “Why did you make us leave Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we have come to loathe this miserable food.” Commenting on that verse, Rashi describes manna as a food that is so totally absorbed into the body that there is no waste produced that must be excreted. But no matter how perfect a food source, we want variety, choice, and some degree of control over how we get our food.
Sforno understands the test described in Exodus 16:4 in yet another way: manna will make their lives so easy that the test will be how they use their leisure time, since the bread from heaven required no preparation. “[I] will cause to rain bread . . . that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Torah (follow My instructions) or not.”
The manna that fell from heaven was both a kindness and a test for our ancestors. There was enough food, both delicious and boring. There was enough food, but we had to have enough faith not to take more than we needed. We had everything we needed, so we had the time to do something of meaning with our lives.
Manna no longer falls from heaven, but the questions it raised for our ancestors are still alive for us. What is enough? Why do we so often want more than we really need? What compels us to hoard, to complain, or to be anxious? When can we say dayeinu, “it is enough for us”? How do we learn to be grateful for what we have been given and trust that what we have is actually enough, even in these difficult economic times. So much is given to us; how are we using those gifts?
A lovely story from the Talmud asks a different question about the manna: Why does the manna come every day and not once a year? It answers through a parable about a king and his son. When the king provided his son with his sustenance once a year, the son visited his father only once a year. When the father began to provide his sustenance daily, the son had to call on his father every day. So it is with Israel. If an Israelite had four or five children, he would worry saying, perhaps the manna won’t come tomorrow and my children will starve. And because the manna was coming down daily, the Israelites were compelled to direct their hearts to God (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 76a).
Manna is still flowing into our lives every day. Perhaps the biggest test is to be grateful, every day, and then to share what we have been given with others.
Rabbi Laura Geller is the senior rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California.
Structure versus Variety
Davar Acher By:
Elizabeth Dunsker
If you were stranded on a desert island and could only eat one kosher food for the rest of your life, what would it be? When I have posed that question to high school students, the most reasoned responses have included veggie pizza, and salmon or tuna sushi, as these meals would provide protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates in each bite. However, even once we consider kashrut, taste, and nutritional requirements, we are still stuck with the question of whether or not we would be content with same food for every meal every day.
As omnivores, we humans can create a healthy diet from all kinds of foods, and our systems work best when we do vary what we eat on a seasonal basis at the very least. But we also crave structure and we often perform better on many levels when there is a strong presence of dependability and predictability in our lives.
Given that the lives of the Israelites were so unpredictable; they had to pack up and travel at the whim of God and stop to make camp at the same whim. There was no safety for them; they were regularly attacked by enemies and often, even by God, when they misbehaved. Their path was unclear to them with death as the only ending in sight. With so much of their lives out of their control, the stability and regularity of their food should have been, at least, the one thing they didn’t have to worry about. And yet they complain and rebel against the manna. Perhaps the test was whether or not they could leave everything in God’s hands, including their food. The Israelites were in their infancy as a free people, and like a good parent, God fed us what we needed—something that would fulfill our needs for nutrition, taste, and kashrut. However, as humans we struggle for more than just stability and variety: perhaps for the Israelites, food was the one place where they hoped to take control of their own lives.
The question that remains is whether or not we passed the test. Were we meant to be content with the regularity that God provided, or were we supposed to prove our maturity by striving for more variety and more control over our own lives?
Rabbi Elizabeth Dunsker is the rabbi at Congregation Kol Ami in Vancouver, Washington.
Reference Materials:
B’shalach, Exodus 13:17-17:16
Shabbat Shirah, January 30, 2010 / 15 Sh’vat, 5770
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp. 478-507; Revised Edition, pp. 431–461
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, pp. 379–406
Haftarah, Judges 4:4–5:31
The Torah: A Modern Commentary,pp. 703-709; Revised Edition, pp. 462-467
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Types of Jobs Created Through Automation
A new kind of work
As simple, repetitive tasks get replaced by software and machines, job positions will become more advanced and rewarding. Since the arrival of ATMs in the 1970s, the number of bank tellers in the U.S. has roughly doubled. Not only are there more bank teller jobs, but the job itself has also become more cognitively demanding. This is exactly the type of example we will see across industries.
A study completed by Deloitte and referenced by Katie Allen in The Guardian demonstrated more jobs are being created as a result of technological innovation. Overall, jobs in education, healthcare, and other “caring” professions are on the rise, while jobs labeled hard, dangerous, or dull have declined. More people are working in knowledge intensive fields. As time goes on, automation can lead to more skilled labor and higher wages.
Robots are not capable of coming up with the next billion-dollar innovation. Jobs that involve higher level thinking, creativity, and interactions are not as suitable for automation. These are the types of jobs that could define the future.
The challenge
How can we make sure we successfully transition into the new positions created by automation? After the Industrial Revolution, the United States enforced a law requiring students to attend school until at least the age of 16 to prepare them for factory jobs rather than farm jobs. This was an extremely costly investment that ended up paying off.
It can be important to make similar investments within a company or industry when implementing new technology. The challenge lies in successful adaptation to your rapidly changing environment. Making the investment to prepare and train can be key for success.
Automation may be replacing certain types of jobs, but ultimately this sort of technological innovation will not only create more jobs but also better jobs in the long run.
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tower of strength
Definition of tower of strength
1. : an emotionally strong person who gives a lot of support or help during difficult times She's been a/my tower of strength during my illness.
Word by Word Definitions
1. : a building or structure typically higher than its diameter and high relative to its surroundings that may stand apart (such as a campanile) or be attached (such as a church belfry) to a larger structure and that may be fully walled in or of skeleton framework (such as an observation or transmission tower)
: a towering citadel : fortress
: one that provides support or protection : bulwark
1. : to reach or rise to a great height
: to exhibit superior qualities : surpass
1. : the quality or state of being strong : capacity for exertion or endurance
: power to resist force : solidity, toughness
: power of resisting attack : impregnability
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up tower of strength? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
to cast off or become cast off
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Postmodernism And A Chaotic World English Literature Essay
Published: Last Edited:
During the twentieth century the Modernism movement took place. During this period of time many changes took place. The writers of this period had seen the world as a chaotic world; and the changes of in this period took place, because of this reason.
The changes that took place were the challenges placed upon intellectual, cultural, social, and political crisis. Even the ways of living and traditional forms of governance were being challenged or even replaced by other beliefs. During the movement of Modernism, writers tried to shock their readers with fictional stories about the real issue of the world. Modernist also, tried to fix the worlds issue through their literary works; by trying to inform people on what the problems were. In their works they also, told the readers how to fix the issue that make the world so chaotic. A writer that did a great job as this is Franz Kafka in his short story "The Metamorphosis." Another, movement that happened right after the Modernism movement is the Postmodernism movement. The Postmodernism movement extends the beliefs of the Modernism movement, but it celebrates the chaotic issues, instead of trying to correct them. The Postmodernist, also just dealt with the issue and many of the writers of this period showed this in their works. A Postmodernist writer that did a great job in showing this in their work is Carson McCullers in her short story " A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud." In this paper I'm going to tell you how each of these writers from these different movements, address the different issues of a chaotic world.
During the Modernism movement, the writers tried to correct the issues of an chaotic world, through their works. The writer that I think did the best job at this is Franz Kafka with his literary short story "The Metamorphosis." In Franz Kafka's short story the issue that he addresses is the issue of parents and children living under the same roof and not caring about each other and how people can talk to each other without really communicating. In this story the main character Gregor is the main provider of his family; he does everything for his family from making the money to taking care of the household. But, one morning Gregor woke up from a terrible nightmare; when he woke up from the nightmare, to his terror he had turned into a huge insect. Once, his family seen him as a insect, they were very upset. For a short period of time, his family took care of him; but Gregor was to never leave his room. One day, Gregor's sister Grete is playing music for some guest; Gregor is very moved by the music and tries to leave his room to listen to her. As, he was leaving his room his father sees him and proceeds to throw fruit at him, to make him return to his room. Without his knowledge, there was a piece of fruit stuck in his back; the fruit rotted into his back and he ended up dying from it. After Gregor's death, his family only mourned his death for a short period of time. They quickly moved on with their lives and all of them had to find a way to provide for themselves. This story is a perfect example of how parents and children living in the same house without caring about each other. But in this story it seems like Kafka is trying to fix this issue in the world with this story; the way he is doing that is by telling how Gregor feels and by showing how it is from the inside. These are the reason why this story is such an excellent example.
During the Postmodernism period, writers extended the issues of an chaotic world, but they wrote about how to deal with the issues wither than try to correct them. In their works they show how their characters dealt with the issues and celebrate them. The writer in this period that did the best job at showing this in their work is Carson McCullers in her short story "A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud." This is a story of a little boy that way in a dinner drinking coffee before his paper route; when he ran into an old man, telling his that he loved him. At first the young boy laughs it off with the rest of the people there, than he sets down to see what the old man has to say. The old man tells the young boy about all of his lost loves and how much one of them hurt him in a different way. The boy at first is unsure about the old man, but proceeds to listen to him.
The old man talks about how he has been all over the world looking for love and how one day while sleeping in his car, he became peaceful with the issue of love. In this story it shows how character deals with issue, instead of trying to correct the issue by look for someone else to love. This is how this story is an excellent example.
In this paper, I showed how each movement dealt with the issue of an chaotic world. How the authors of these works had the issues in their works and how the authors choose to deal with them, according to their movement and period of time. Both, of the short stories are great stories with excellent examples.
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The Predicament of the Newly Rich
They are the object of thinly disguised envy. They are the raw materials of vulgar jokes and the targets of popular aggression. They are the Newly Rich. Perhaps they should be dealt with more appropriately within the academic discipline of psychology, but then economics in a branch of psychology. To many, they represent a psychopathology or a sociopathology.
The Newly Rich are not a new phenomenon. Every generation has them. They are the upstarts, those who seek to undermine the existing elite, to replace it and, ultimately to join it. Indeed, the Newly Rich can be classified in accordance with their relations with the well-entrenched Old Rich. Every society has its veteran, venerable and aristocratic social classes. In most cases, there was a strong correlation between wealth and social standing. Until the beginning of this century, only property owners could vote and thus participate in the political process. The land gentry secured military and political positions for its off spring, no matter how ill equipped they were to deal with the responsibilities thrust upon them. The privileged access and the insiders mentality ("old boys network" to use a famous British expression) made sure that economic benefits were not spread evenly. This skewed distribution, in turn, served to perpetuate the advantages of the ruling classes.
Only when wealth was detached from the land, was this solidarity broken. Land - being a scarce, non-reproducible resource - fostered a scarce, non-reproducible social elite. Money, on the other hand, could be multiplied, replicated, redistributed, reshuffled, made and lost. It was democratic in the truest sense of a word, otherwise worn thin. With meritocracy in the ascendance, aristocracy was in descent. People made money because they were clever, daring, fortunate, visionary - but not because they were born to the right family or married into one. Money, the greatest of social equalizers, wedded the old elite. Blood mixed and social classes were thus blurred. The aristocracy of capital (and, later, of entrepreneurship) - to which anyone with the right qualifications could belong - trounced the aristocracy of blood and heritage. For some, this was a sad moment. For others, a triumphant one.
The New Rich chose one of three paths: subversion, revolution and emulation. All three modes of reaction were the results of envy, a sense of inferiority and rage at being discriminated against and humiliated.
Some New Rich chose to undermine the existing order. This was perceived by them to be an inevitable, gradual, slow and "historically sanctioned" process. The transfer of wealth (and the power associated with it) from one elite to another constituted the subversive element. The ideological shift (to meritocracy and democracy or to mass- democracy as y Gasset would have put it) served to justify the historical process and put it in context. The successes of the new elite, as a class, and of its members, individually, served to prove the "justice" behind the tectonic shift. Social institutions and mores were adapted to reflect the preferences, inclinations, values, goals and worldview of the new elite. This approach - infinitesimal, graduated, cautious, all accommodating but also inexorable and all pervasive - characterizes Capitalism. The Capitalist Religion, with its temples (shopping malls and banks), clergy (bankers, financiers, bureaucrats) and rituals - was created by the New Rich. It had multiple aims: to bestow some divine or historic importance and meaning upon processes which might have otherwise been perceived as chaotic or threatening. To serve as an ideology in the Althusserian sense (hiding the discordant, the disagreeable and the ugly while accentuating the concordant, conformist and appealing). To provide a historical process framework, to prevent feelings of aimlessness and vacuity, to motivate its adherents and to perpetuate itself and so on.
The second type of New Rich (also known as "Nomenclature" in certain regions of the world) chose to violently and irreversibly uproot and then eradicate the old elite. This was usually done by use of brute force coated with a thin layer of incongruent ideology. The aim was to immediately inherit the wealth and power accumulated by generations of elitist rule. There was a declared intention of an egalitarian redistribution of wealth and assets. But reality was different: a small group - the new elite - scooped up most of the spoils. It amounted to a surgical replacement of one hermetic elite by another. Nothing changed, just the personal identities. A curious dichotomy has formed between the part of the ideology, which dealt with the historical process - and the other part, which elucidated the methods to be employed to facilitate the transfer of wealth and its redistribution. While the first was deterministic, long-term and irreversible (and, therefore, not very pragmatic) - the second was an almost undisguised recipe for pillage and looting of other people' property. Communism and the Eastern European (and, to a lesser extent, the Central European) versions of Socialism suffered from this inherent poisonous seed of deceit. So did Fascism. It is no wonder that these two sister ideologies fought it out in the first half of the twentieth century. Both prescribed the unabashed, unmitigated, unrestrained, forced transfer of wealth from one elite to another. The proletariat enjoyed almost none of the loot.
The third way was that of emulation. The Newly Rich, who chose to adopt it, tried to assimilate the worldview, the values and the behaviour patterns of their predecessors. They walked the same, talked the same, clad themselves in the same fashion, bought the same status symbols, ate the same food. In general, they looked as pale imitations of the real thing. In the process, they became more catholic than the Pope, more Old Rich than the Old Rich. They exaggerated gestures and mannerisms, they transformed refined and delicate art to kitsch, their speech became hyperbole, their social associations dictated by ridiculously rigid codes of propriety and conduct. As in similar psychological situations, patricide and matricide followed. The Newly Rich rebelled against what they perceived to be the tyranny of a dying class. They butchered their objects of emulation - sometimes, physically. Realizing their inability to be what they always aspired to be, the Newly Rich switched from frustration and permanent humiliation to aggression, violence and abuse. These new converts turned against the founders of their newly found religion with the rage and conviction reserved to true but disappointed believers.
Regardless of the method of inheritance adopted by the New Rich, all of them share some common characteristics. Psychologists know that money is a love substitute. People accumulate it as a way to compensate themselves for past hurts and deficiencies. They attach great emotional significance to the amount and availability of their money. They regress: they play with toys (fancy cars, watches, laptops). They fight over property, territory and privileges in a Jungian archetypal manner. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of all: the New Rich are children, aspiring to become adults. Having been deprived of love and possessions in their childhood - they turn to money and to what it can buy as a (albeit poor because never fulfilling) substitute. And as children are - they can be cruel, insensitive, unable to delay the satisfaction of their urges and desires. In many countries (the emerging markets) they are the only capitalists to be found. There, they spun off a malignant, pathological, form of crony capitalism. As time passes, these immature New Rich will become tomorrow's Old Rich and a new class will emerge, the New Rich of the future. This is the only hope - however inadequate and meagre - that developing countries have.
About The Author
Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.
His web site: samvak.tripod.com" target-new>http://samvak.tripod.com
ambafrance-do.org ©
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Democracy in Ancient Athens
Comparing Ancient Athenian Democracy to American Democracy
Democratic techniques were much different in Ancient Athens than they are in present day, in countries like the United States. Here are some qualities of the ancient governing system that were unique to the time period:
1. Athenian democracy was exclusive. Women, slaves, children, and resident aliens did not have citizenship and could not vote. They did not have any influence on the government at this time. (Raaflaub, Ober, and Wallace, 11)
2. Alienation of political power was absurd to the Greek people. Elections were held through a lottery/chance technique, and they only personally selected their military leaders (like Pericles). "The quintessentially democratic method was selection by lot, a practice that embodies a criterion of selection in principle opposed to the alienation of citizenship and to the assumption that the demos is politically incompetent" (Euben, Wallach, and Ober, 62).
3. Citizenship was determined in a different way, "In ancient Athenian democracy, the right to citizenship was not determined by socio-economic status; but the power of appropriation, and relations between classes were directly affected by democratic citizenship" (Euben, Wallach, and Ober, 75).
4. Differences in citizens and non-citizens were clearly made, "Greeks were intensely concerned with differences among individuals--differences between humans and animals, between males and females, between free people and slaves, between men who owned property and men who did not, and of course between Greeks and non-Greeks" (Euben, Wallach, and Ober, 83). Today, modern America fights for those inequalities to become extinct in society.
5. The legal system was challenging in ancient Athens because individuals often represented themselves in court rather than getting a lawyer or other official representative to deal with the offense. "...the volunteer prosecutor was often not a disinterested or mercenary third-party but the injured party himself" (Osborne, 169).
Democratic techniques in the modern world have embodied the ideology of democracy, but the overall structure has been diluted over time. "The dominant ideologies in modern capitalist states have tended to dilute the democratic idea, to dissolve it altogether into the concept of liberalism, to offer liberalism not as a complement to, but as a substitute for, democracy as popular power" (Euben, Wallach, and Ober, 78).
A shared quality between ancient and modern democracy is the amount of nationalism and patriotism seen in the people and the government alike. For example, the Athenian people regarded their power and existence very highly. "Pericles says abut his policy:...Remember, too, that the reason why Athens has the greatest name in all the world is because she has never given in to adversity, but has spent more life and labor in warfare than any other state..." (Euben, Wallach, and Ober, 106). Similar to this profound sense of accomplishment and perseverance, The United States and its government has also been known for demonstrating respect and honor within the nation and it has also faced times of adversity.
Another similarity is seen between ancient Athens and modern democracy when a lack of representation for a city-state or nation as a whole is seen. In modern democracy, there are still examples where the people, or demos, of a nation feel excluded from the decision making within the government "...Everyone shouting for their rights means that no one is clearly heard" (Euben, Wallach, and Ober, 330). This of course is seen in ancient democracy as well due to the fact that only adult males were allowed to participate in the government's activities. (Raaflaub, Ober, and Wallace, 11)
Creating a more detailed comparison to twenty-first century democracy, John Zumbrennen makes connections to ancient Athenian leaders representing the "silent" demos and describing how this is done in the United States, specifically during the Bush administration shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "...Besides resting on his surging popularity in the days after 9/11 and the vast flow of positive rhetoric from government and media outlets in those days, Bush's political position here hinged on his temporarily successful attempt to let the silence of the American demos speak" (Zumbrennen, 187-188). He goes on to explain why this success existed and compared it to success in Pericles' rule, "What is more, as with Pericles, Bush's success depended in considerable part on central claims about American unity and American identity" (Zumbrennen, 188).
Although similarities exist between ancient and modern democracy, they relate to each other in only basic ways. In Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, the comparison is discussed, "...This system was radically different from just about anything we citizens of the twenty-first century know as a democracy. Even the few examples of direct democracy that have survived to be studied by modern scholars...are comparable with the Athenian model in only elementary ways" (Raaflaub, Ober, and Wallace, 11).
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Every Day
Every Day
David Levithan
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
A has no friends. No parents. No family. No possessions. No home, even. Because every day, A wakes up in the body of a different person. Every morning, a different bed. A different room. A different house. A different life. A is able to access each person’s memory, enough to be able to get through the day without parents, friends, and teachers realizing this is not their child, not their friend, not their student. Because it isn’t. It’s A. Inhabiting each person’s body. Seeing the world through their eyes. Thinking with their brain. Speaking with their voice.
It’s a lonely existence—until, one day, it isn’t. A meets a girl named Rhiannon. And, in an instant, A falls for her, after a perfect day together. But when night falls, it’s over. Because A can never be the same person twice. But yet, A can’t stop thinking about her. She becomes A’s reason for existing. So each day, in different bodies—of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, walks of life—A tries to get back to her. And convince her of their love. But can their love transcend such an obstacle?
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A Few of Our Biographies:
* Cleopatra
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The Assassination of President Kennedy
Fifty Important Battles
Henry Ford:
From Model T to
Vicious Tyranny
By Bob Frost
Biography magazine, 2000
The automobile era began in earnest in 1908 when Henry Ford introduced his Model T to the American marketplace.
Before 1908, only the well-to-do could afford cars. Thanks to Ford Motor Company, the purchase of an auto became possible for most everyone. The rackety sound of the Model T – "chuck-a chuck-a" – became a major part of the nation’s soundtrack.
Henry Ford is rightly respected as one of the most important forces in business history, not only for his successful introduction of mass-market cars, but also for his perfection of the assembly line and his generous wage policies. Largely forgotten, it seems, is the side of Ford that was strikingly stupid and flat-out destructive.
Henry Ford and his Model T.
Ford was born a few weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg, on July 30, 1863, near Dearborn, Michigan, west of Detroit. He was the eldest of six children of William Ford and Mary Litogot Ford. His father, an Irish Protestant from County Cork, arrived on American shores at age 21 and embraced with gusto the New World’s freedom and cheap land, pouring heart and soul into his farm, and bestowing upon his children a passion for labor and success. Work was the mainspring for William Ford, and for Henry Ford as well. In later years, the younger Ford had a favorite pronouncement: "It is always too soon to quit."
In 1876, when he was 13, Henry got his first close-up view of a steam-powered "road roller," also known as a steam roller, a bulky vehicle that chugged along country roads and performed farm chores for hire. This was a primal moment for him - a glimpse of the full potential of the Industrial Revolution - not merely brute factory power but mobility, the capacity of a machine to venture deep into the countryside, off the beaten track, far from the railroad, and enhance the lives of farmers who had previously felt cut off from things.
Formal education didn’t much interest young Henry; he quit school after the eighth grade. Like his future friend Thomas Edison, and countless other youngsters across the nation, he found satisfaction by working with his hands on a complicated task. At some point after seeing the road roller, Ford began dreaming of building his own mobile contraption. He began assembling internal combustion engines in the 1880s, and within a few years was one of many Detroit inventors working on horseless carriages. Holding down a full-time engineering job at an electrical plant in Detroit, he devoted every spare hour to a prototype car, often in the company of other lovers of mechanical gear, ambitious young men who, like their spiritual descendants in Silicon Valley's computer business, aspired to change the world with their creations and get really rich in the process.
The challenge of building an excellent horseless carriage was daunting. Virtually every component had to be created from scratch. No decent carburetors sat on store shelves, no proper bearings, wheels, batteries, spark plugs, brakes, steering systems, camshafts, crankshafts, piston rings, or gears. Ford labored in a shed behind his house with the will and need of a great artist - with a focus that would have made his father proud. "We often wondered when Henry slept," recalled a friend years later. His wife, Clara, whom he married in 1888, supported him fully. He called her "the Believer" which suggests there were doubters. (Their marriage was happy, lasting 59 years, to his death in 1947; Clara died in 1950.)
In 1903, after a couple of false starts, Ford unveiled a car that he felt would succeed. He and his partners incorporated the Ford Motor Company, named their product the Model A, and began selling.
The automobile market was tiny in those days. Most autos were either inexpensive vehicles lacking power and reliability (the early Fords were among the better entries in this category) or hand-built numbers too expensive for ordinary folk. Conventional wisdom held that the industry’s future would be limited to luxury vehicles. (Again, the computer business offers a rough parallel. A University of Cambridge mathematician named Douglas Hartree predicted in the early 1950s that three computers could perform all the calculations Britain would ever require.)
A few visionaries thought about building a car that millions of people would buy – inexpensive, dependable, easy to repair. R.E. Olds created the first mass-market automobile but lost his financial backing and made only a modest dent in the market. Henry Ford kept his company afloat, and in October, 1908, introduced his dream car: the Ford Model T, history's most important consumer product until the personal computer.
The "Tin Lizzie" (also known as the "Flivver" and the "T"; the letter doesn’t stand for anything special) was a seemingly miraculous combination of simplicity, ruggedness, power, and low cost. Its pricetag of $825 was half that of many other autos. Ford Motor sold 18,000 Model T's in the first year of production; the number climbed steadily; in 1920 the company achieved sales of one million of the cars in a single year. The Flivver ushered in the auto era, the consumer-driven economy, and the age of mass production. (In 1914 Americans owned 1.3 million registered cars of all makes; by 1929 the figure was 26.5 million, with the T leading the way.)
Demand for the car inspired Henry to devise the ideal way to build it. In 1913-14, at Ford Motor’s Highland Park factory on the outskirts of Detroit, he and his team introduced the modern assembly line, which reduced the amount of time required to build a T from more than 12 hours to 93 minutes. This, in turn, enabled a price cut to $440. By the mid-1920s a T could be assembled in fewer than 30 seconds and sold for $290.
(The antecedents to Ford's assembly line are debated. The world’s first automatic production line was created in a U.S. flour mill in the late 18th century by Oliver Evans [1755-1819], according to author Harold Evans in American Heritage magazine [October 2003]. Other inspirations for Ford Motor Co. were the meatpacking plants of Chicago and Cincinnati and the flour mills of Minneapolis. Carmaker R.E. Olds also used an assembly line. That said, Henry Ford perfected the process, dramatically expanding what it could do.)
Ford Motor became the world’s biggest automaker and highest-profile corporation in the 1910s and '20s, admired and copied by business executives in every industrialized nation. Henry Ford became one of the most famous men alive – a folk hero with great power and influence. In 1918 he narrowly lost a contest for the U.S. Senate from Michigan, running as a Democrat. In the early 1920s, as Model T sales went through the roof, a "Ford for President" boomlet cropped up, similar in some ways to the Ross Perot flurry in the 1990s; it's not inconceivable that Ford could have won the White House if he had wanted it and been willing to spend money for it.
When Henry Ford spoke, millions of people listened. He was not shy about speaking. A sampling of his pronouncements: "I do not believe in charity, but I do believe in the regenerating power of work in men’s lives, when the work they do is given a just return." "I wouldn’t give five cents for all the finest art in the world." "History is more or less bunk." "I invented the modern age."
He was wiry and intense, with a personal energy that was sometimes overwhelming. He stood a little over 5'8" and weighed about 145 pounds. His hands were quite large. He paid strict attention to his health, with long walks and a diet that emphasized vegetables. "Most people," he said, "dig their graves with their teeth."
In his younger days, in the 1890s and ’00s, as he worked on engines and cars, Ford exhibited an appealing openness, a willingness to listen, play with new ideas, and mess around in imaginative ways. But this openness faded as the Model T became more and more successful. He turned nasty.
Occasionally, to be sure, he allowed his gentle side to emerge - playing with his grandchildren; traveling into the countryside to camp with Thomas Edison, his hero. Mostly, though, Ford was egocentric and controlling, and these tendencies mushroomed into rigidity, paranoia, and cruelty. The story of his moral deterioration is not well known today, enshrouded as he is in gauzy legend, but it’s been studied exhaustively over the years, and it stands as a key historical example of the narcissism and hubris that can result from success.
An early sign of Ford’s encroaching arrogance came in 1912. He was 49. Since the introduction of the Model T four years earlier, he had resisted any fundamental change in the car’s design, believing, with some justification, that alterations would lead to unnecessary manufacturing expenses, which he abhorred. Also, he had invested enormous emotional energy in the car. He seems to have felt that, in some sense, the Model T was not just his, it was him, a manifestation of his life, his dreams, his efforts, his soul.
In 1912, while he was away traveling, several Ford executives and engineers got together and built a Model T with a few modest improvements, hoping to surprise and delight the boss upon his return. They apparently were not cognizant of his identification with his product and not aware of his expanding ego; perhaps these characteristics had not yet come forth in public.
The boss returned from his trip. "What is that over there?" he asked when he walked into a design room.
"A new car," someone replied.
Ford walked over to the slightly-modified T and inspected it, assessing it like a hawk deciding whether or not to swoop down on a field mouse. Suddenly he reached out, grabbed the car's left-hand front door, and with an explosive tug, ripped it off the frame. The sound of shearing metal echoed in the room. No one spoke.
He climbed on the hood and kicked in the car’s windshield. He attacked the vehicle for a couple of minutes, a skinny guy seemingly possessed by a demon, and then he stalked off, leaving behind a battered auto, twinkling shards of glass, and a group of strong men shaken to their bones. Mr. Ford thus passed his judgment on any innovation that he himself did not launch.
The most dangerous manifestation of the ego-mad Henry Ford was his sustained attack on Jews.
During the First World War he decided he was an expert on international relations, with useful perspective about why Europe had been plunged into chaos. It was the fault, he said, of the Jews: "I have evidence here. Facts," he barked to reporters, slapping his hand on a document in his pocket in an uncanny foreshadowing of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
The document was a concoction of lies, of the type Jews had long battled, having to do with supposed conspiracies of an "international Jewish banking power." In 1920 Ford began publishing the "facts" in the pages of a newspaper he owned, the Dearborn Independent – "the Ford International Weekly" - which circulated widely among his fans and customers, from New York to Los Angeles, from St. Paul to Houston, reaching a circulation of 700,000 in 1924. Ford-paid hacks produced dozens of anti-Semitic articles through the '20s, commenting on many aspects of culture, harping on the notion of a destructive conspiracy afoot in the land. A typical headline: "Jewish Jazz – Moron Music – Becomes Our National Music: Story of 'Popular Song' Control in the United States."
The newspaper’s articles were collected in book form under the title "The International Jew." This volume was widely translated. It sold well in Germany in the 1920s and early '30s as the Nazis sought support. Among the readers were the industrialists of the Ruhr Valley, who regarded Henry Ford as a god, and whose support was crucial to Hitler.
In 1927 Ford abruptly stopped his attacks on Jews, sold his newspaper, and apologized for his newspaper’s rhetoric, having been pressured to do so by a court case, meanwhile claiming he was "too busy" to read the contents of the massively popular newspaper he owned. In 1939 he urged Americans to welcome Jewish refugees. But he waited until 1942 to try to suppress publication of "The International Jew," and he claimed that Jewish bankers helped foment the Second World War.
Then came the reckoning. In the spring of 1945 Ford watched film of a Nazi death camp. He was stunned and was stricken ill; perhaps it suddenly hit him in the gut that he, Henry Ford, had helped create a climate in which the most terrible crime of modern history could occur. The author Max Wallace notes that Ford's ideas "imbue" Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf," and writes, "Historian Albert Lee believes that, while Ford did not necessarily inspire Hitler's hatred of the Jews, he lent him a framework for his burgeoning anti-Semitism."
Would the Nazis have risen to power without help from Henry Ford? The question cannot be answered with accuracy, but it's worth pondering.
To this day the idiotic ideas of "The International Jew" receive global circulation via hate groups on the Internet. These Websites have had a direct and powerful impact on people inclined toward terrorism.
Henry’s only child, Edsel, became president of Ford Motor Company in 1918 at the age of 25. He was a gifted auto man, trained from childhood to study and love cars and to sell them by the millions. Unfortunately for him, he was also reasonable, rational, and willing to listen to the opinions of others. His father disapproved of such behavior. "The boy is too soft," he muttered.
Henry badgered and bullied Edsel, spied on him, overturned his decisions, and encouraged other executives to subvert his work. Edsel never worked up the ruthlessness to treat his father in the only way the old man understood - by snarling. Instead, Edsel consistently exhibited loyalty to his father, saying, "It’s his business." The bullying went on year after year, surely contributing to Edsel’s long string of health problems, including serious ulcers. Edsel died of stomach cancer in 1943 at the age of 49. Henry Ford, writes author David Halberstam, had perpetrated something "very close to filicide" – murder of one’s child.
In 1919 Henry hired a new bodyguard, a man named Harry Bennett, a thug with ties to Detroit’s underworld. The two men became buddies, and Bennett rose in the company, eventually controlling big sections of it, including hiring and firing for many jobs.
Bennett’s talents were especially useful during Ford Motor’s war in the 1930s with the United Auto Workers. The New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which came into office in 1933, legalized labor organizing in the U.S., but Henry loathed trade unionism. Edsel Ford wanted to cut a deal with the UAW and move on, but Henry forbade it, and Ford Motor dug in its heels, in common with the rest of the U.S. auto industry.
At the behest of the boss, Bennett assembled an army of so-called "servicemen" to intimidate and beat up union officials and sympathizers. Bennett also got permission to spy on workers with dozens of hidden microphones and a network of informants. "The fear in the plant was indescribable," writes historian Carol Gelderman.
Bennett accumulated more and more power through the '30s and stole the occasional chunk of company money. Henry, meanwhile, busied himself with putting barriers in the path of a new six-cylinder engine that Edsel wanted and the company needed. A pall of decline and corruption fell over the firm, and by the late '30s and early '40s, once-mighty Ford was third in U.S. auto sales behind GM and Chrysler, with Wall Street asking serious questions about the company’s long-term survival. World War II, with its huge weapons contracts, was a god-send for Ford Motor.
After Edsel's death in 1943, his eldest son, Henry Ford II, came to work at the family business, possessed of a cold-blooded streak that his father lacked. Perhaps, on some level, the younger Ford was driven by a thirst for revenge against the martinet in the corner office. Henry Sr. instantly perceived a threat in the young man, and struggled to hang on to power, but by now he was often absent-minded and confused - senility was replacing ferocity. The Ford family took action to ease him out, with the reluctant participation of his wife Clara. The old man retired in 1945 to his Dearborn estate, and died there on April 17, 1947, at the age of 83.
Henry Ford changed the world as much as any business pioneer who ever lived. He put cars and trucks at the center of our lives, permanently changing the global landscape and mindset. The humorist Will Rogers offered a reasonable summary of Ford's life: "It will take a hundred years to tell whether he helped us or hurt us, but he certainly didn’t leave us where he found us." E.B. White generated another useful comment: "Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car."
His business success was epic, as were his crimes.
-The End-
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Demystifying Meah Shearim
I have fond memories from almost thirty years ago learning in yeshiva and trekking around different parts of Jerusalem. I would occasionally spend time in Meah Shearim, buying olive wood souvenirs, having a schnitzel in Ma’adan Hamuchan, or picking up a tallis or some other religious article in the many Judaica stores lining the main road.
I always enjoyed watching the tourists gaze at the community with bewilderment, as if they stepped out of a time machine and were transported to Europe circa 1800. Understandably, the neighborhood is somewhat daunting as the people look, act and dress differently. Although Meah Shearim is located just a few blocks away from the center of Jerusalem, in many ways it feels like a different universe.
Meah Shearim was established in 1874 by pioneers who wanted to leave the cramped and unhygienic living conditions of the Old City where almost all of the Jews in the country had lived. The Jewish Quarter had become too small to handle the expanding Jewish population, and Meah Shearim was one of the first communities built outside of the Old City.
Meah Shearim held significant value to the religious settlers: in addition to being in close proximity to the Old City, it was believed to be located where the kohanim (priests) would discard the terumat hadeshen (ashes from the sacrifices) during the Temple period.
The pioneers named the community Meah Shearim based on a sentence in the weekly Torah portion which coincided with the founding of the settlement. The term “meah shearim” was used to symbolize divine favor bestowed upon Isaac when he reaped a “one hundred fold” bumper crop (Genesis 26:12).
By 1880 the first one hundred homes were built in Meah Shearim, and by 1900 the community expanded to 300 apartments housing over 1,500 people. The community was updated and expanded when the British came into power in 1920, only to have many of its homes and communal facilities bombed and destroyed during Israel’s War of Independence. After the 1967 Six Day War, the community experienced a renaissance and a period of intensive growth.
Breslov children preparing for Shabbat (Photo: CC-BY-SA Yoav Elad, Wikipedia)
Initially the rabbinic leadership in Meah Shearim, led by Rabbi Yoseph Gershon Horowitz, the rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva Gedolah of Meah Shearim, encouraged the residents to cooperate with the forerunner to the Israeli government and to become farmers and help settle the land. However, starting in the 1920s the community took a sharp turn to the right, partially as a result of a large influx of immigrants who were followers of the chief rabbi and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.
Today, Meah Shearim is home to many groups within the Chareidi community. There are Kaminetzers, Briskers, Yekkim and Sephardim, but mostly one encounters many sects of Chassidim, the largest being Gur and Belz. The Belz Chassidim built a gigantic and magnificent synagogue on the outskirts of Romema, which is a huge replica of the original Belz shul in Galicia. The building was completed in 2000, and is worth visiting.
Ever since its inception, Meah Shearim has created a remarkable infrastructure of social programs and charitable organizations to address the needs of its population. These programs include soup kitchens, societies for aiding the sick, non-interest loan societies and an assortment of other services for the needy.
After years of neglect, the neighborhood has recently undergone extensive renovations, and numerous facilities are slowly being rebuilt. Though the buildings have been upgraded, the essence of the community remains intact, steeped in its strong foundations of chessed activity and Torah study.
Much of the information is taken from Leah Abramowitz’ 2005 excellent article “The Roots of Meah Shearim.”
2013-02-19 18:11:27
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Giving Thanks in the Land of the Free
Wall Street JournalOPINION
Americans have long treasured their right to worship as they choose.
Wall Street Journal, Nov. 26, 2013 7:18 p.m. ET
In the fall of 1621, some 50 of the Puritans who had left the Old World in search of religious freedom sat down in their tiny thatched hamlet of Plymouth with their Wampanoag neighbors to feast on turkey, venison, corn and cod. They also gave thanks for surviving their first terrible New England winter, whose cold and privation had carried off half their community.
Continual waves of pilgrims fleeing religious persecution would follow them across the sea. Their sense of providential escape from foreign oppression stayed vividly alive in the American memory, and ultimately helped guide the Founding Fathers to make a revolution and fashion a new kind of government.
WSJ illustrationGetty Images
Hard as it is to believe at this distance of time, British law once jailed non-Anglican Protestants like the Pilgrims for worshiping as they chose. The law also barred them from the universities and public office. Thousands of Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers and others left their native land, bringing to the New World their Dissenting tradition of self-government, individualism and personal responsibility. They had long run their own congregations, hired and fired their own ministers, read the Bible and freely judged its meaning for themselves. They believed that each individual has a direct relation to God independent of, and higher than, any worldly authority.
As late as the 1750s, Constitution-signer William Livingston was still reminding readers of his influential magazine, The Independent Reflector, how “the countless Sufferings of your pious Predecessors for Liberty of Conscience, and the Right of private Judgment” drove them “to this country, then a dreary Waste and barren Desert.”
Decades later, Chief Justice John Jay wrote a gripping account of how his grandfather, a French Protestant, had returned home from a trading voyage abroad in 1685 to find his family and neighbors gone, their church destroyed. While he had been away, Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had extended religious toleration and civil rights to Protestants for almost a century. Jay’s grandfather was lucky to be able to sneak aboard one of his ships and, like many others, sail away to freedom in the New World.
With this long history, Americans have had an almost physical thirst for liberty, as people do who truly know its opposite, like Eastern Europeans who once lived under communist tyranny. Long before Emma Lazarus wrote her Statue of Liberty verses about the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, George Washington noted that for “the poor, the needy, & the oppressed of the Earth,” America was already “the second Land of promise”—the Promised Land. It offered, said James Madison, “an Asylum to the persecuted and oppressed of every Nation and Religion.”
That thirst for liberty led the Founders to revolt when they thought that George III was squeezing upon them the tyranny that had crushed their forebears. It also led them to hedge their new government with every safeguard to keep them free.
To protect life, liberty and property from what they called the depravity of human nature—from man’s innate capacity for inhumanity to others—the Founders knew they needed some kind of government armed with power. But since the officials who wield such power have the same fallen human nature as everyone else, who can be sure that they won’t use it to oppress others? Who can guarantee that imperfect men wouldn’t turn even the democratic republic the Founders were creating into what Continental Congressman Richard Henry Lee called an elective despotism?
The Constitution they wrote in the summer of 1787 explicitly limited government’s powers to what they deemed absolutely essential. They divided and subdivided power, and they made each branch of government a watchdog over the others. But they also recognized that constitutions are only what they called “parchment barriers,” easily breached if demagogues subvert the “spirit and letter” of the document.
In the first State of the Union address, George Washington stressed that the ultimate safeguard against such a danger is a special kind of culture, one that nurtures self-reliance and a love of liberty. “The security of a free Constitution,” he said, depends on “teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights; to discern and provide against invasions of them.”
If citizens start to take liberty for granted, he said, the spirit that gives life to the Constitution will flicker out, for “no mound of parchm[en]t can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.”
It’s that culture of liberty we nourish by recalling that our forebears came to these shores in search of freedom—and by giving thanks that they found it.
Mr. Magnet is editor-at-large of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. His new book is “The Founders at Home: The Building of America, 1735-1817” (Norton).
What would shock our Founding Fathers most about America in 2013
Fox News logo
By Myron Magnet
Published November 18, 2013
Fox News Illustration Library of Congress
Though the Founding Fathers made a revolution because they hated the idea of taxation without representation, soon after independence they recognized that taxation with representation could be tyranny too. That’s the whole point of James Madison’s famous warning about the tyranny of the majority in Federalist 10.
Yes, a democratic republic is the best form of government, he knew; but there’s always the danger that a democratic majority will illegitimately invade the natural and inalienable rights that government exists to protect — the right to life, liberty, and property.
The most likely form such an invasion of natural rights would take, Madison predicted, is the robbery of the propertied few by the unpropertied many, whether by unjust taxation, by debasement of the currency — which silently transfers wealth from creditors to debtors — or by a government-enforced abolition of debts or equal division of property, as the leaders of Shays’s Rebellion demanded in 1786 when they couldn’t pay their mortgages. The Continental Congress sent troops to put the rebels down by force.
That’s why, as the chief architect of the Constitution hammered out in Philadelphia the following year, Madison designed his mechanism of checks and balances. His main concern was to prevent the emergence of what Continental Congressman Richard Henry Lee had once called an “elective despotism.” (One sure sign you were living in one, Madison wrote, is if legislators ever dared pass laws from which they exempted themselves.)
In a genuinely free society, Madison observed in the Federalist, you will always have inequality. People have different talents, different ambitions, different levels of energy and willpower, different ideas of the happiness they are free to pursue. With liberty to exercise what skill and drive you have, some will grow richer than others. And liberty was all the American Revolution set out to achieve. It was the unsuccessful French and Russian Revolutions that promised equality and fraternity.
When the new government under the Constitution got under way, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton immediately designed a financial system to make the most of that liberty. Given that people have different talents and ambitions, he aimed to create a highly diversified economy that would allow people to develop those talents to the fullest extent possible. Everyone would have a chance to find his own niche and make the most of whatever vision and special potentialities lay within him.
Such a free economy would create a wealthy society, to be sure. But it was also an instrument of soulcraft, allowing individuals to become everything that they had it within themselves to become — something you can’t do if being a farmer or a shop clerk or a cog in the state machine are the only choices open to you.
What would they say if a family of four — grandma, mom, and two kids, say — lived without working in subsidized housing on welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and other benefits that cost taxpayers over $40,000 a year — more than a minimum-wage job pays?
And what would they say about a society that supported generation after generation of such families on income taxes that 10 percent of the population pays 70 percent of, and that nearly half the population doesn’t pay at all?
They would be horrified by the injustice of such tyranny of the majority, of course. But they would be no less horrified by the waste of lives that never even try to reach their full potential. This is what millions have done with the liberty that the Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to win?
Myron Magnet is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal. He is editor-at-large for City Journal. His new book, The Founders at Home: The Building of America, 1735-1817 , is just out from W. W. Norton.
Jefferson the Architect
Virginia State House
An early view of the Virginia State Capitol
It was completed in 1788, before he returned to America.
Jefferson's first sketch for Monticello
Link to Monticello Virtual Tour.
Poplar Forest
The University of Virginia's Rotunda and Pavilions IX & X, 1823
Pavilion and dormatories
Pavilion II
Pavilion VI
Pavilion VI
Pavilion VII
Pavilion IX
Pavilion IX
(University of Virginia Library)
University of Virginia
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Saturday, December 12, 2009
New Scenarios for Ireland 2025
Scenario Based Planning
Scenario planning is a technique for exploring the future by creating several plausible but challenging alternative futures rather than making a single prediction. It has been used by commercial companies since the 1970s when Shell was the only oil company prepared for the oil shocks of that decade as a result of its use.
Why use Scenario Planning?
A prediction is (almost) never right. The unexpected always happens and the assumptions, conscious and unconscious, that apply today may not apply tomorrow. For example, at the end of the last century, London could see no solution to the ever increasing amounts of horse manure on the roads, then along came the motor car. This highlights the difficulty with using forecasts: they carry forward current trends, problems and constraints and do not allow for the unexpected.
Scenarios are versatile. Scenarios can be used not only to prepare plans for the future, but to check existing plans for robustness. Will a plan work in more than one scenario or will fail if any of the underlying assumptions change? If we can develop flexible plans that will work with multiple scenarios, then, when the unexpected does happen, there is a better chance that the plan can be adapted to the new circumstances.
It is difficult to get consensus for a prediction. You can either agree or disagree with other people's predictions - and the tendency is to disagree. Scenario planning is about building plausible futures, a much less contentious task because we only need to agree that a scenario is possible to be able to use it. We don't even have to agree that it is likely.
Good scenarios challenge one's thinking and stimulate discussion. The human species has spent most of its history telling stories rather than looking at graphs and spreadsheets. As a result, the implications of a rich story about the future can be more easily understood and used. It is surprising how much information a scenario can convey in a few words. For example, the following classified advertisement can tell us a lot about what the future might be like under a particular scenario:
For Sale: 4x4 with axle suitable for conversion to wind turbine.
This can be interpreted as: Increases in the price of transport fuel have meant that vehicles with high fuel consumption are no longer in demand and it is becoming difficult to sell these vehicles. However, with increasing prices of home electricity, there is a boom in DIY windmills. A component of these windmills is the back axle of a car.
The original Energy Scenarios Ireland, originally described in 2006/7 have been updated, though in a many ways they have not fundamentally changed.
Business As Usual has become Celtic Kitten - our focus is to get back to 'normal' but without a property boom to support the economy and a mountain of debt to support, it's a bit of a disappointment.
Enlightened Transition has become Celtic Phoenix - rather than emulate the ambitions of others, Ireland plays to the talents we have. A well educated work force, adaptable and creative, a small country with plentiful renewables - just what is needed to build and trial new products and services. Ireland markets itself as a big hothouse for new and growing young businesses.
Enforced Localisation has become Celtic Hedgehog - Back to the land and a life of frugal comfort. It takes decades for Ireland to re-emerge.
Fair Shares becomes Celtic Fox - In honor of Colin Campbell who used the Celtic Fox in his presentations. Ireland applies it's abilities to make the best of difficult times to adapt to a high cost economy. Times are tough but we are now well placed to build a stronger economy.
Further installments to follow, with particular focus on Celtic Phoenix.
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These Happy Golden Years - Week 2
JEALOUS - a. jel'us.
1. Suspicious; apprehensive of rivalship; uneasy through fear that another has withdrawn or may withdraw from one the affections of a person he loves, or enjoy some good which he desires to obtain; followed by of, and applied both to the object of love and to the rival. We say, a young man is jealous of the woman he loves, or jealous of his rival. A man is jealous of his wife,and the wife of her husband.
2. Suspicious that we do not enjoy the affection or respect of others, or that another is more loved and respected than ourselves.
3. Emulous; full of competition.
4. Solicitous to defend the honor of; concerned for the character of.
I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts.
1 Kings 19.
5. Suspiciously vigilant; anxiously careful and concerned for.
I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. 2 Cor.11.
6. Suspiciously fearful.
'Tis doing wrong creates such doubts as these,
Renders us jealous and destroys our peace.
JEALOUSLY - adv. jel'usly. With jealousy or suspicion; emulously; with suspicious fear, vigilance or caution.
Little Town on the Prairie - Week 4
(16th President; 1861-65)
Abraham Lincoln Lesson Plans and Activities By...
(17th President; 1865-69)
Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was the 17th president of the United States. Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was Abraham Lincoln's vice-president, and became president after Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Johnson was the only US president who never went to school; he was self-taught. During the Civil War, Andrew Johnson was the only Southern senator who remained loyal to the Union. During his presidency, Johnson authorized the purchase of Alaska from Russia. Johnson died on July 31, 1875, at Carter Station, Tennessee.
(18th President; 1869-77)
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was the 18th president of the United States. Grant was born on April 22, 1822 in Port Pleasant, Ohio. He was a popular commander of the Union Army in the Civil War. The transcontinental railroad (the east-west railroad across the USA) was completed during Grant's term. Grant's two terms (1869-1877) were littered with scandals that involved some of the under-qualified people that Grant had put in high offices; Grant declined to run for a third term. Grant died on July 23, 1885, in Mount McGregor, New York.
(19th President; 1877-81)
Rutherford Hayes (1822-1893) was the 19th president of the United States. Hayes was born on October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio. Hayes ended the Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. During his term as president (1877-1881) the country became more prosperous, but Hayes did not run for a second term. He died on January 17, 1893, in Fremont, Ohio.
(20th President; 1881)
James Garfield (1831-1881) was the 20th president of the United States. Garfield was born on November 19, 1831 in Orange, Ohio. In 1881, four months after becoming president, Garfield was shot and fatally wounded by a person who had wanted, but was not given, a government job by Garfield. Garfield died on September 19, 1881, in Elberon, New Jersey.
(21st President; 1881-85)
Chester Arthur (Oct. 5, 1829-Nov. 18, 1886) was the 21st President of the USA (serving from 1881-1885). Before he was President, Arthur had been the Vice-President of the USA, serving under President James A. Garfield. After Garfield was assassinated, Arthur was elected President. During his term as President, tried to reform the civil service system. Early in his career, Arthur worked as a lawyer and as the customs collector for the Port of New York City (but Arthur was ousted from that office for doing political favors for his party supporters).
Awesome Stories about the Battle at Little Bighorn (warning: some graphic video, may not be appropriate for young audiences)
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White House
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"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" redirects here. For the musical, see 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (musical).
File:White House (south side).JPG
The southern side of the White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States of America.
The White House is a white-painted, neoclassical sandstone mansion located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. (Template:Coor dms). As the office of the U.S. President, the term "White House" is often used as a metonym for the president's administration. The property is owned by the National Park Service and is part of President's Park.
An image of the White House is on the back of the $20 bill.
File:Whitehouse north.jpg
North side of the White House
This is the official entrance of the White House. It is used when foreign heads of state visit.
The White House was built after Congress established the District of Columbia as the permanent capital of the United States on July 16, 1790. President George Washington helped select the site, along with city planner Pierre L'Enfant. The architect was chosen in a competition, which received nine proposals. James Hoban, an Irishman, was awarded the honor and construction began with the laying of the cornerstone on October 13, 1792.
The building Hoban designed was modelled on the first and second floors of Leinster House, a ducal palace in Dublin, Ireland, that is now the seat of the Irish Parliament. Contrary to widely published myth, the North portico was not modelled on a similar portico on another Dublin building, the Viceregal Lodge (now Áras an Uachtaráin, residence of the President of Ireland). Its portico in fact postdates the White House portico's design. The decision to place the capital on land ceded by two slave states—Virginia and Maryland—ultimately influenced the acquisition of laborers to construct its public buildings. The D.C. commissioners, charged by Congress with building the new city under the direction of the president, initially planned to import workers from Europe to meet their labor needs. However, response to recruitment was dismal and soon they turned to African Americans—slave and free—to provide the bulk of labor that built the White House.
19th Century view of the White House as seen from the southwest, with the old West Wing visible.
Construction of the White House was completed on November 1, 1800. Over an extremely slow 8 years of construction, $232,371.83 was spent. With inflation, this would be approximately equivalent to $2.4 million today.
The front and rear porticoes were not part of the structure until about 1825.
The building was originally referred to as the Presidential Palace or Presidential Mansion. Dolley Madison called it the "President's Castle." However, by 1811 the first evidence of the public calling it the "White House" emerged, because of its white-painted stone exterior. The name Executive Mansion was often used in official context until President Theodore Roosevelt established the formal name by having "The White House" engraved on his stationery in 1901.
John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building on November 1, 1800. In 1814 during the War of 1812, much of Washington, D.C., was set alight by British troops (invading from what would later become Canada), and the White House was gutted. Only the exterior walls remained, but it was rebuilt. The walls were repainted white, but the White House was always painted white as early as 1798, and the repainting from the fire damage did not originate the term "White House" as a popular urban legend claims it did. Very few of the spoils of the British troops stolen from the Whitehouse have been recovered. Only two artifacts have been recovered — a painting of George Washington, rescued by then-first lady Dolley Madison, and a jewelry box returned to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939 by a Canadian who said his grandfather had taken it from Washington. The bounty was lost when a fleet of British ships en route to Halifax sank off Prospect during a storm. HMS Fantome was leading a convoy of ships back to Halifax when the vessels sank in a storm on the night of Nov. 24, 1814. [1]
Leinster House in Dublin
The 18th-century ducal palace in Dublin served as a model for the White House.
The White House was attacked again on August 16, 1841, when U.S. President John Tyler vetoed a bill which called for the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members rioted outside the White House in what was (and still is, as of 2005) the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
Like the English and Irish country houses it resembled, the White House was remarkably open to the public until the early part of the twentieth century. President Thomas Jefferson held an open house for his second inaugural in 1805, when many of the people at his swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol followed him home, where he greeted them in the Blue Room.
File:North Portico of the White House.jpg
North Portico of the White House.
Those open houses sometimes became rowdy: in 1829, President Andrew Jackson had to leave for a hotel when roughly 20,000 citizens celebrated his inauguration inside the White House. His aides ultimately had to lure the mob outside with washtubs filled with a potent cocktail of orange juice and whiskey. Even so, the practice continued until 1885, when newly elected Grover Cleveland arranged for a presidential review of the troops from a grandstand in front of the White House instead of the traditional open house.
Jefferson also permitted public tours of his home, which have continued ever since, except during wartime, and began the tradition of annual receptions on New Year's Day and on the Fourth of July. Those receptions ended in the early 1930s.
The White House remained open in other ways as well; President Abraham Lincoln complained that he was constantly beleaguered by job seekers waiting to ask him for political appointments or other favors as he began the business day. Lincoln put up with the annoyance rather than risk alienating some associate or friend of a powerful politician or opinion maker.
The White House was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960.
19th century photo of the Red Room.
File:WH Cross hall.jpg
The Cross hall, connecting the State Dining Room and the East Room. To the left is the official entrance of the house from the North Portico, to the right above the door is the Official Presidential Seal.
Very few people realize the size of the White House, since much of it is below ground or otherwise minimized by landscaping. In fact, the White House has:
• 6 stories and 55,000 ft² (5,100 m²) of floor space
• 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms [2]
• 412 doors
• 147 windows
• 28 fireplaces
• 8 staircases
• 3 elevators
• 5 full-time chefs
• 5,000 visitors a day
• a tennis court
• a bowling lane
• a movie theater
• a jogging track
• a swimming pool
Ellipse and White House, early 20th century
It is also one of the few government buildings in Washington that is wheelchair-accessible, with modifications having been made during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who needed to use a wheelchair as a result of polio. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman added a much-discussed balcony to the South Portico at the second-floor level. Not long after the balcony was constructed, the building was found to be structurally unsound, and in imminent danger of collapse. President Truman and family moved to Blair House across the street while the White House was renovated. The old interior was dismantled, leaving the house as a shell. It was then rebuilt using concrete and steel beams in place of its original wooden joists. Some modifications were made, with the largest being the repositioning of the grand staircase to open into the Entrance Hall, rather than the Cross Hall, as was the case previously. President Truman and family moved back into the White House on March 27, 1952.
Though the structural integrity of the building had been corrected in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the interior, as a result of decades of poor maintenance and then the process of removal and reinstatement, had been allowed to deteriorate. Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy (1961–63), remodeled the interior of many rooms with decors inspired by its early nineteenth-century appearance, often using high-quality furniture that had been put in storage in the basements and forgotten about. Many of the antiques, fine paintings, and other improvements of the Kennedy period were given to the White House by rich donors, including Jane Engelhard, Jayne Wrightsman, the Oppenheimer family of South Africa, and other moneyed individuals. The Kennedy decor, much admired then as now, had an imperial Francophile air that was the result of the decorator Stephane Boudin of Jansen, the eminent Paris design company that had planned and/or executed decors for the royal families of Belgium and Iran, the Duchess of Windsor, and Nazi Germany's Reichsbank. The rooms that had a more early American appearance were decorated by Boudin but heavily influenced by the millionaire museum founder Henry Francis du Pont.
Since then, every presidential family has made changes to the decor of the White House, some subtle, others more profound and controversial. In the 1990s, for example, President and Mrs. Clinton had some of the rooms recast by Arkansas decorator Kaki Hockersmith; the result, though presumably inspired by the Kennedy years, was unveiled to general derision.
The West Wing of the White House, in the foreground.
The West Wing
Main article: The West Wing of the White House
In the early 20th century, new buildings were added to the wings at either side of the main White House to accommodate the President's growing staff. The West Wing houses the President's office (the Oval Office) and offices of his senior staff, with room for about 50 employees. It also includes the Cabinet Room, where the United States Cabinet meets, and the White House Situation Room.
Some members of the President's staff are located in the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The East Wing
The East Wing, which contains additional office space, was added to the White House in 1942. Among its uses, the East Wing has intermittently housed the offices and staff of the First Lady. Rosalynn Carter, in 1977, was the first to place her personal office in the East Wing and to formally call it the "Office of the First Lady." The East Wing was built during World War II in order to hide the construction of an underground bunker to be used in emergency situations. The bunker has come to be known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.
The White House grounds
Although the White House grounds have had many gardeners through their history, the current layout was designed in 1935 by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. of the Olmsted Brothers firm, under commission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Web site
The official White House website is http://www.whitehouse.gov/. It was established on October 17, 1994.
This website used a very lengthy robots exclusion file to shield much of its contents from search engines (http://www.whitehouse.gov/robots.txt). As of early June 2005, the list contains over 2,200 directories. A visitor may still use the official search tool to retrieve information. However, the searchable contents are controlled by the U.S. government.
There are still many directories not covered by the robots exclusion file. For example, www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/ is a Google searchable directory, while www.whitehouse.gov/president/100days/iraq/ is not.
As of December 2005, the site is approximately the 1,541th most popular destination on the Internet in terms of traffic, according to Alexa.com. [3]
See also
External links
de:Weißes Haus eo:Blanka Domo es:Casa Blanca fi:Valkoinen talo fr:Maison Blanche he:הבית הלבן hu:Fehér Ház id:Gedung Putih it:Casa Bianca ja:ホワイトハウス nl:Witte Huis (Washington D.C.) no:Det hvite hus pl:Biały Dom pt:Casa Branca (EUA) simple:White House sv:Vita huset zh:白宮
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April 28, 2017
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Overview of JXTA
• August 21, 2002
• By Sams Publishing
• Send Email »
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Volatile Network
Peers may also seem to disappear and reappear. This is a very common occurrence. Many computers are not connected to the Internet 24 hours a day. Many computers are still connected via dialup and are only on-line part of the day. We also have to consider wireless devices that are usually only on-line for very short periods. A laptop or a PDA can both appear and disappear as they are docked in and out of the network. In these cases, the peer may even seem to pop up in a different city in a completely different network topology! Because of the possibility of such changes, it is very important to be able to invalidate a route and reroute connections.
Gateway Issues
One of the problems with gateways is that they could significantly increase the time it takes for a message to be sent between two peers. If there are too many gateways, the total time for transmitting a message could be several minutes.
With the possibility of messages taking a very long time to transmit, there is a huge problem with managing a user's expectation. An important number to think about here is 200 milliseconds, which is the amount of time between clicking a button and something happening that seems to be associated with the button. In other words, if an action occurs 200 milliseconds or less after you click a button, the action and its response appears to be simultaneous. If the application's reaction to the button click takes longer than 200 milliseconds, your user is waiting. The longer a user waits, the more likely that the user is going to think that something has gone wrong. When the user believes that the application is not working, he or she could hit the button again, terminate the program to try again, or perform another action that you would like to avoid.
Any JXTA processing that is a result of a user's input to the user interface should immediately display some kind of wait symbol or pop-up dialog as feedback. Any area of your software that has some type of JXTA network communications will most likely need to be in a thread separating it from the user interface. In addition, while waiting on the JXTA network, some type of user feedback, such as a wait dialog or a status display, is a necessity. Applications will be more complex, and you will need much more code to make them thread safe, but the effort is required to make your application acceptable.
JXTA Protocols
JXTA protocols are used to help peers discover each other, interact, and manage P2P applications. The protocols are not applications in themselves and require much more code to create something useful. The protocols hide a lot of detail, which makes writing JXTA applications much easier than developing a P2P applications from scratch.
JXTA defines its protocols in the JXTA Protocols Specification. The specification describes how peers communicate and interact; it does not attempt to describe the specifics of implementation or how to write a peer-to-peer application. In this section, we are going just give you an overview of the protocols and discuss related issues.
The following is a list of the JXTA protocols. We have included their acronyms, but we use acronyms rarely in the rest of this chapter:
• Peer Discovery Protocol (PDP)—Allows a peer to discover other peer advertisements (peer, group, service, or pipe). The discovery protocol is the searching mechanism used to locate information. The protocol can find peers, peer groups, and all other published advertisements. The advertisements are mapped to peers, groups, and other objects, such as pipes.
• Queries are made by specifying an advertisement type (peer, group, or advertisement), an XML tag name within the advertisement, and the string to match against the data represented by the XML tag.
• Peer Resolver Protocol (PRP)—Allows a peer to send a search query to another peer. The resolver protocol is a basic communications protocol that follows a request/response format. To use the protocol, you supply a peer to query and a request message containing XML that would be understood by the targeted peer. The result is a response message.
• The resolver is used to support communications in the JXTA protocols like the router and the discovery protocols. For example, the protocol is used by the discovery protocol to send queries that represent searches for advertisements.
The resolver also allows for the propagation of queries. For example, if a peer receives a query and does not know the answer, the resolver sends the query to other peers. This is an interesting feature, especially because the originating peer does not need to have any knowledge of a peer that may actually have the result to the query.
• Peer Information Protocol (PIP)—Allows a peer to learn about the status of another peer. The information protocol is used partially like ping and partially to obtain basic information about a peer's status. The body of a PIP message is free-formed, allowing for querying of peer-specific information. In addition, this capability can be extended to provide a control capability.
• Peer Membership Protocol (PMP)—Allows a peer to join or leave a peer group. The protocol also supports the authentication and authorization of peers into peer groups. The protocol has three key advertisements for authorization, and the credential. The credential created in this protocol will used as proof that the peer is a valid member of the group.
• Pipe Binding Protocol (PBP)—Is used to create the physical pipe endpoint to a physical peer. It is used to create a communications path between one or more peers. The protocol is primarily concerned with connecting peers via the route(s) supplied by the peer endpoint protocol.
• Rendezvous Protocol (RVP)—The Rendezvous Protocol is responsible for propagating messages within JXTA groups. The Rendezvous Protocol defines a base protocol for peers to send and receive messages within the group of peers and to control how messages are propagated.
• Peer Endpoint Protocol (PEP)—Is used to create routes to route messages to another peer. The protocol uses gateways between peers to create a path that consists of one or more of the pipe protocols suitable for creating a pipe. The pipe binding protocol uses the list of peers to create the routes between peers.
• One of the more significant problems is that traditional routers and DNS servers fail because of firewalls, proxy servers, and NAT devices. This protocol searches for gateways that allow the barriers, such as firewalls and others, to be traversed.
This protocol also helps when the communicating peers don't support each other's protocols. For example, if you are connecting peer-A that supports TCP and peer-B that only supports HTTP, the endpoint protocol would choose either one gateway that could make the translation or multiple gateways with multiple but compatible protocols.
We can also describe these protocols in terms of what they provide to a JXTA application. The next list is very basic, but probably is the best way to look at what the protocols really do.
• Peer Discovery—Resource search
• Peer Resolver—Generic query service
• Peer Information—Monitoring
• Peer Membership—Security
• Pipe Binding—Addressable messaging
• Rendezvous—Propagation messaging
• Peer Endpoint—Routing
In the remainder of this chapter, we will describe these concepts further. In the following, we relate the concepts of peers, groups, and how the protocols are associated. In Chapter 3, we will cover the concepts again, but in terms of the Java implementation and the API.
Peers and Groups
The two primary concepts to understand about JXTA are peers and groups. Because peers and groups are a little complicated, we will discuss each one in detail.
As discussed earlier in the chapter, peers are individual nodes on the JXTA network. The peer is similar to a computer on a network, except that you can run multiple peers on a single machine. Peers can be a standard PC, a PDA, an appliance, or even a super computer.
A Peer Is Not a User
The concept of the peer should not be confused with the concept of a user. A peer is a node on the network. Think of a normal computer on the Internet; you should not assume that a single person uses the computer. The computer could be shared by a family or be a publicly used device, such as an Internet kiosk. You also should not assume that a peer node is the only place a user will access the P2P network. The user can access the network from home, work, or through various devices.
In your design of services and applications, be very careful to avoid linking the user to a peer, either permanently or for long periods. Sometimes, you can link a user to a peer, but always be able to log the user off and log in another.
One of the many things you need to manage in a P2P application is identity. The peer is associated with the user in many respects, so for now we will discuss this in terms of a peer. You should create an authentication system where multiple peers could be aggregated as a single user.
The types of things you should manage are authenticating the peer's rights to use services. The identity of the peer in JXTA is a credential. The credential is used throughout the system to ensure that certain operations have the correct permissions. The credential is officially created when a peer joins a group. The credential can also simply be some type of token created ahead of time and presented as part of the joining process. The group recognizes the credential during the authentication process when joining the group.
Why Use Groups?
P2P networks have several key differences from traditional networks, the most important being the ability to control what peers can do. The following are some of the problems:
• Too many peers connecting to one peer for a resource.
• Peers that use resources but do not contribute to resources.
• Certain resources should only be accessible to a set group of individuals.
• Hackers of the general network who are seeking to damage or take over the network.
In P2P networks, it's very difficult to control behavior of rogue peers. There are many different types of mischief, including abuse of other peer's resources. There is also the obvious need to limit access to applications or resources for security or privacy reasons.
To begin to understand how these problems can be overcome, let's look at a use case diagram of a simplistic P2P system. In Figure 2.4, users interact with different instances of a service-A, which collaborates with other services to access specific resources attached to specific instances. In this sort of P2P network, the services are left with the responsibility of security. Each service on each peer must act as a gatekeeper to the data controlled by the peer.
Figure 2.4: Functional view of the peer service use case.
The drawing in Figure 2.5 is representative of how JXTA works. In JXTA, the peer group is a virtual gatekeeper. The service, and thus the service data, resides in the context of the group. The group code is replicated on each platform, but we are showing it as a single entity accessed by all of the group members. The services are accessed through the group, and the services have a context of the group.
The key difference here is that the group contains the security features while the services are only concerned with verifying that other peers are valid members. Credentials created by the group and given to the peers (not shown) will be validated by the group context. Figure 2.5 shows how groups are seen programmatically in JXTA. As can be seen, users interact with a service controlled by the group. The group is ensuring a single point of control, despite the fact that the service and data is distributed.
Figure 2.5: Conceptual view of group-based service.
By using groups, you have at least a chance of controlling peers with a common authentication scheme. You also have a platform to disseminate information to a limited set of group members. For example, you could send a message to other peers that a rogue peer should be ignored.
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What is GPhA doing to curb prescription drug abuse?
How do generic manufacturers prevent misuse of their products?
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GPhA and its members support education for prescribers and providers, and partner with leading national organizations dedicated to promoting public health and preventing abuse. It is important that any effort to minimize drug abuse balances the need to ensure access to medicines for patients who need them.
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The outbreak of West Nile virus infection this summer is more broadly dispersed and accelerating earlier than it did last year, making it vital that more communities work to prevent mosquitoes from biting and breeding, federal health officials said yesterday.
The officials focused their message on states that are experiencing big outbreaks for the first time like Colorado and states like New York that had past outbreaks but have seen no illness so far in 2003.
''The time for people to really be conscientious about taking the steps necessary to protect themselves from mosquito bites is right now,'' Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference in Atlanta.
In many places, Dr. Gerberding said, testing trapped mosquitoes for the virus has just now started to pick up high infection rates.
Continue reading the main story
''For example,'' she said, ''last week in New Jersey, of the various samples of mosquitoes that we tested, we didn't find any, and this week, all of the samples came back positive. We certainly don't want to be lulled into any kind a sense that those states would be immune.''
The big pulse of infections is yet to occur, she said, urging communities and individuals to use insect repellants containing DEET, remove standing water, repair screens and try to stop all other contact between people and mosquitoes.
The goal, health officials said, is to avoid topping the record of 4,156 cases and 284 deaths in 40 states last year, the largest West Nile outbreak in the world.
The virus generally causes relatively mild symptoms like fevers and headaches. But in 1 out of 150 cases, particularly in the elderly, West Nile can cause encephalitis, a potentially deadly swelling of the brain.
It first appeared in the United States around Labor Day 1999 in and around New York City. It was presumably carried from Europe or the Mideast by an infected traveler, bird or accidentally imported mosquito, although scientists doubt that mystery will ever be solved.
The disease has been quickly carried across the country by migrating birds, the main wildlife host.
The C.D.C. listed 153 human cases in 16 states through yesterday, including four deaths. Colorado officials have reported three additional deaths beyond the official national count.
The federal statistics show 72 cases in Colorado, 29 in Texas and 15 in Louisiana, with a scattering in other states from Florida to North Dakota.
This year, the Northeast and states west of the Rockies have reported no human illness.
But scientists and federal officials say the virus has found welcome hosts in dozens of bird species and other wildlife and more than three dozen mosquito species. It is highly likely to infiltrate eventually every place where people coexist with a natural reservoir and the insect intermediary, the scientists say.
Communities should generally understand that methods to prevent the infection, particularly in the most vulnerable population, the elderly, ''are straightforward stuff,'' said the New York City health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden.
''If you're going out dusk to dawn,'' Dr. Frieden said, ''wear long sleeves and use DEET.''
Municipalities would do well to use larvacides that prevent new generations of mosquitoes, he added, saying extensive spreading of a natural product, a bacterium that kills just mosquito larvae, had greatly reduced mosquito numbers around New York.
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Mendeley Brainstorm: Hacking – How Secure Are We?
Our lives are more networked than ever before; does that make them more vulnerable?
Our lives are more networked than ever before; how vulnerable are we?
Recently, a nuclear power plant was hacked. According to Reuters, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the attack “caused some problems” and the plant had to “take some precautionary measures.” Given the increased prevalence of internet-enabled applications, how vulnerable are we to cyber-attacks and what can be done to prevent them? We are looking for the most well thought out answer to this question in up to 150 words: use the comment feature below the blog and please feel free to promote your research! The winner will receive an Amazon gift certificate worth £50 and a bag full of Mendeley items; competition closes November 23.
Hacking – Not Just for PCs Anymore
The arrival of the Internet of Things has meant that our lives are more networked than ever before; the internet isn’t merely on a computer stuck in the corner, it’s connected to our phones (which track our every movement), it’s embedded into our appliances and vehicles, it’s wired up to security cameras and to life support machines. However, this widespread connectivity also is indicative of a just as widespread vulnerability: our personal data, our public services, and even our cars could be hacked.
New Dangers
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said a nuclear plant had been hacked. While he didn’t fully spell out the risks, he noted that the security breach had “caused some problems” and “some precautionary measures” were required.
And Continuing Vulnerabilities
On October 11, Symantec revealed that hackers had attacked users of the SWIFT financial transfer network. The goal was to use “malware to hide customers’ own records of Swift messages relating to fraudulent transactions”.
What Can Be Done?
It’s been projected that “$1 trillion will be spent globally on cybersecurity from 2017 to 2021”; but is this expenditure in vain? Can our data, our banks, and our public services be truly protected? What can be done enhance security? Tell us!
About Mendeley Brainstorms
Our Brainstorms are challenges so we can engage with you, our users, on the hottest topics in the world of research. We look for the most in-depth and well thought through responses; the best response as judged by the Mendeley team will earn a prize.
Cybersecurity Ventures. (2016). The Cybersecurity Market Report covers the business of cybersecurity, including market sizing and industry forecasts, spending, notable M&A and IPO activity, and more. [online] Available at: [Accessed 11 Oct. 2016].
PEYTON, A. (2016). Symantec reveals more hack attempts on Swift network. Banking Technology. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 Oct. 2016].
SHARWOOD, S. (2016). Nuke plant has been hacked, says Atomic Energy Agency director The Register. [online] Available at: [Accessed 11 Oct. 2016].
15 thoughts on “Mendeley Brainstorm: Hacking – How Secure Are We?
1. I think a good way to stop cyberattacks would be to insert analog disruptions in digital systems and thus interrupt the digital flow of information.
It may feel counterintuitive at first, but to slow down or disrupt the fast flow of data could be used as a defense against such hacks.
Like in the example of the recent US Office of Personnel Management hack (, the office has made the “physical possession of a chip-enhanced ID card that correlates with username and password” mandatory. The physical chip is much harder to hack and is personalized.
This is one way to implement such approach, however an even stronger approach would be inserting physical cues in the workflow that would require a physical human to do it personally. An example could be as simple as turning a knob or pushing a key. This could be done better by requiring to enter biological information like scanning a hand or fingerprint.
2. Human behavior is an easy way to hack computer system. We know that people don’t change their passwords, or they use simple ones. Password software to manage sophisticated password for us. Great! But why will you change your account password every month or so if you keep the original IP address and password for all your hardware like router or PLC devices? That information is freely available in online user’s manual or directly written on the device itself. Even worst, many device like router allow brute force password trial without locking up. So do we really have safe?
3. There are so many security measures implemented and available to the public to use (such as SSL, encryption standards, hashing, etc.), that the easiest way to hack someone is to abuse the fact that everyone is human. By this, I mean that the easiest, and probably most used way, is through phishing. Hacking/cracking someones account/password takes very long, but just “asking” them what it is is trivial. So basically, it boils down to two rules:
1. Create a password that is difficult to guess
2. KEEP IT SECRET (use common sense to avoid falling for phishing scams)
If a hacker acquires the credentials of anyone (especially someone in upper management or on the network team) in any company, the company and it’s data is compromised.
4. A systematic negligence to security has let to the current state of affair. It is especially apparent for big names providing closed source proprietary software, which beyond the better/worse argument is just hard/impossible to audit. Password are just a small fraction of security. People need to be educated and common ill practices in the industry cease to exist. None of which I expect to happen at the needed scale. People dont want to be bothered and they expect to simply swallow the magic pill. On the other side, security is hard to sell so companies still have little incentive to push harder.
5. Dual authentication is needed to protect from security breeches available as an option to users that want a more secure experience. Your key changes every sixty seconds and is only linked to a singe device.
6. I think first and foremost we should know the meanings of virus, Trojan, worms and codes beyond dictionary meanings. And equally we should know who is a hacker and what he is capable of doing. Moreover, what are systems and machines?
Securities, encryption, decryption and passwords (secrets) are all helping factors to curbing the menace of Hacking, but not strong enough to stop it in totality. New inventions always give rise to new generation of hackers. It is just like a question and it’s answer. Each and every question must have an answer/ solution provided the question is right, depending pn time….#This is a fact
7. We will never stop cyberthreats, by the simple reason it is intrinsic to the technology development process. It is similar to what happens in other domains, like automobiles – we developed amazing fast machines, wonderful roads… that can also provoque serious injuries; but nowadays we learned who to live with that risk and, above all, we developed a learning system and regulations, enough to make roads a space as safe as possible.
What I am trying to say, in this new cyberspace we need also to create rules and promote education in a way everyone can evaluate the risk and assume its own responsibilities. And this applies to all players: users, technology providers, infrastructures providers and regulators (at national and international level).
8. We are increasingly see IoT devices (including toothbrushes?!) which a little investigation reveals is just using the default user name and password. Many problems are announced on and people reporting vulnerabilities they observe is vital. You then need a way to automatically monitor your machines; not everyone will have a home network set up to keep an eye on their fridge or kettle or toothbrush.
I found the recent “nematode” (anti-worm worm) amusing; though it suggests a way to use offense as defence. A combination of proactively looking for problems, being aware of sensible measures like not using default or crack-able passwords, and also being more pro-active will help.
In the long run, whatever you do to secure machines will be insufficient; in some ways it’s an arms race between sides. The trick is to catch problems early before any damage is done.
9. Most of the attacks do not rely on exploiting exotic software vulnerabilities. Instead, they take advantage of human error. The major vectors of attack have solutions that should be more widely implemented.
1. Phishing attacks on users
Users can be fooled into giving up their credentials to website URLs that look similar to the real thing. These tricks can be prevented by using a 2-factor authentication method that verifies the exact address of the site the user is logging on to, such as a physical U2F key that interacts with the browser or a SQRL program running on a smart phone.
2. Social engineering against companies
Customer service reps can be tricked into “resetting” login credentials at the request of someone who is not the real user. There should be mandatory waiting periods when credentials are reset in that way, during which time the real user is notified about the attempt to reset and has a chance to block it. Also, users who suspect they are being targeted should be able to completely disable over-the-phone resets.
3. Insecure default settings in IoT devices and routers
This needs to be fixed with better industry standards and/or legislation. There should be a regulatory body that gives a seal of approval to products that meet simple standards for security and privacy, and there should be consequences for companies that are negligent.
10. Hacking unfortunately is inevitable and no matter how you secure a system there is always a possibility of getting hacked. Therefore, being as safe as possible can only be achieved if the hacker loses incentive to hack. A computer program is a representative of its engineer’s knowledge and capabilities. Just like we need constant modification and adjustment in any field we relate to, so that we grow and sharpen our knowledge in that field, the program, representing its creator’s capabilities, also needs modification. There is no better way of modifying than being challenged with problems and fixing them after finding the root of the mistake. So major and important companies should do what Google recently did, challenge others to hack them, and offer money for information about a flaw in the program. Given the incentive, areas that need fixing will be revealed.
11. News reports of hacked organisations give the impression that computers are insecure. Yet billions use computers every day without problems, in home appliances, smartphones and workplace devices. Computers are, as Mark Weiser envision in 1991, ubiquitous, successfully running the modern world. However, computers are inherently insecure by their nature because they are a programmable general purpose machine, their malleability being their Achilles’ heel, and hacking has been around as long as the computer. Cliff Stoll’s book The Cuckoo’s Egg covered catching a hacker in the 1980’s. The question is not one of security but of trustworthiness. Do you trust the device and the software it is running? Trustworthiness is undermined by the true causes of security problems, humans. They design systems that are intrinsically insecure. The Cyber-security Group at Coventry University believes that a new class of designs will be trustworthy, otherwise cyber-security will remain computer science’s greatest failure.
12. First we have to acknowledge that as strong and tall that we make our cyber walls our routines and habits can and will be traced, measured and predicted by someone intelligent and who has an interest upon us to just take advantage of. That makes us hackable on and off-line.
On top of that we’re experiencing an explosion on the creation and use of software and digital strategies made to capture the information of the user (apps, mail lists, big data, etc.) which exposes us a lot more.
I think good ways to prevent cyber-breaches for organizations are: having specialized personnel to keep sharp firewalls, software code (so there are no exploits) and access codes. And for the normal user could be having a list of strong passwords which should be changed periodically and also having a strong antivirus besides not leaving your e-mail everywhere! Using common sense works too.
13. Throughout modern times where computers came to emerge, encryption technology has kept pace with the increases in computing power. When encryption technology is utilised in the right way, it could well deter hackers and the mathematical odds of a brute force attack is unlikely. However, with the emergence of quantum computing, how secure would our information be in the future? Hackers may well have an upper hand against society if they manage to harness the powers of quantum computers.
14. The ongoing competition between officials and criminal groups renders the situation cumbersome. Arguably one of the most efficient solutions could be to “recruit” top criminal hacker communities to work with official agencies to reveal hidden threats. Political will is at the center so that “special agent forces” could be formed.
15. Thank you to all who entered this competition; apologies for the slight delay due to the Thanksgiving break. The team will examine the entries and come back with a winner as soon as possible.
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Natasha Notey
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Transcript of Science
Observational vs. Experimental Science
Why would you want to study in a laboratory versus in the field like Jane Goodall?
Because, in the field like Jane Goodall, you would not have as many tools, or help. You would have to be very patient, especially if you were working with animals. You would also have to be careful with the materials you use, because you have to keep it natural. It is easier to work with a laboratory, because you have all your tools, and you have people to help you, and you have more space, and you don't have to keep things so natural. Studying in the field also is harder and takes longer.
Acquiring Energy
How do producers, consumers, and decomposers acquire energy?
Producers obtain energy through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process through which producers obtain their energy or food. Photosynthesis is the process through which plants or producers uses energy from the sunlight to create fuel. Consumers acquire energy through consuming other organisms like producers, and smaller animals. Decomposers obtain energy by breaking dead organisms into smaller peices, and returning the nutrients back to the soil. This would mean that the dead organism is rotting.
Food Chains vs. Food Webs
A food chain is a straight line of animals and plants in the order they are consumed by each other. A food web shows how plants and animals are connected, eaten, and produce more energy, on paths that will show you all the organisms, and what happens to them in that ecosystem. Food chains show a direct path of energy, but a food web shows all the ways animals are connected so they can survive. If one part of a web, or chain is removed, then, it effects everything else, and can lead to disaster.
Population Dynamics
Adaptation - behavioral and structural~
Behavioral~ Behavioral adaptation is the way animals act to survive their environment. Behavioral adaptation also helps in reproduction.
Structural~ Structural adaptation is relating to any part of the animal that helps it be able to do things that help them be able to live.
How does adaptation (behavioral and/or structural) influence survival?
It helps because they will have features that will help them to stay alive. Like a bird has a beak to help them to dig into the dirt to get worms. If they didn't have these adaptations they wouldn't be able to survive, and they would soon be extinct.
Organizing Life
How do scientists classify living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem?
Living things are are called biotic. Many things in an ecosystem are biotic. Non-living things are abiotic. Important things like water, and air are abiotic. Water an air helps the biotic things grow.
What is an Organism’s Niche?
An organism's niche is the organisms particular role, or the way it makes its living. Different organisms have different roles, or jobs.
Populations and Ecosystems
Abiotic includes things like water, stones, and air. Biotic things like animals, plants, and humans.
Experimental science is the scientific method, by taking hypothosis and studying the results of the actual test.
Oberservational science is more about manipilating, and applying laws and principals. Also, you can't do the kind of experiments you can in a labratory.
One example of an organisms niche, is that a deer has to keep the grass and plants under control. Another one is that birds help keep the bugs under control. Certain bugs ruin trees, and other important things, and these birds get rid of them.
An example of a food chain is: The sun provides food for grass. The grass is eaten by a white grub. The White grub is eaten by a mouse.
The mouse is eaten by a snake.The snake is eaten by a hawk.
An example of a food web is: Trees produce acorns, which is food for mice and insects.
Because there are many mice, weasels and snakes have food.
The insects and the acorns also attract birds, skunks, and opossums.
With the skunks, opossums, weasels and mice in that area, hawks, foxes, and owls can have food.
What factors limit the size of a population?~
One limiting factor is food. If one animal can't get enough food, then it can die out, then the next consumer can't get enough to eat because the other animals died out, and etc. Also, if the main consumer dies out, then the smaller animals will overrun the population, and because there are so many of them, their food, may run out, then they may die out too. Water is another limiting factor, because if they can't get enough water, they will die. Competition is another. Cheetahs, lions, tigers, leopards, hyenas, and wild dogs all compete for the same food sources, which can limit both sides. The consumers, and their food. Predation can cause some animal populations to go down, and some to go up. If there aren't enough predators to deer, then the deer population will expand to a great extent. Disease is another problem. If one food source catches a disease, other animals could catch it too, or the population could die out, and then there wouldn't be enough food.
An example of behavioral adaptation
is that snakes automatically know, by instinct, to go under rocks to escape the heat of the sun.
An example of structural adaptation is a polar bear has big feet which allows them to swim in the water, and being able to swim, they can hunt for food.
How do living and nonliving factors interact and influence an ecosystem?~
Biotic factors are important because that includes things like soil, plants, and animals. Soil is important, because it helps plants grow. When plants grow, herbivores and omnivores can get food to eat, and when they have food, their population will grow bigger, which means more food for the carnivores. Abiotic factors are important too, because that includes things like water, the sun, and air. Water helps plants grow, and animals need water to live. The sun helps plants grow too. We need air, because without air everything would be dead.
What considerations should be made when setting up a habitat?~
You need to take into consideration the amount of sunlight and darkness needed. Also, you need to know how much food and water they need.With the food and the water you need to know what kind you need. You need to figure out if you need an open habitat, an aquarium, or a closed in habitat. You should know if you need anymore biotic or abiotic factors. Also, you should do some careful research, and find out the exact things you need.
How can we predict an organism’s phenotype from its genotype?~ You can use punnet square. You write one parents genotype across the top, and the other across the side. You bring down or across each letter, and put it in the box's below or to the side of it. If you anlyze the dominant and recessive phenotypes. The genotypes is physical, and uses letters. Phenotypes are the observable traits about an organism, like hair, weight, and eye color.
What variations did the larkey populations have?~ The variations were leg length, fur pattern, eye color, and tail, whether it was bushy or bare.
How might the variation of an organism affect its survival?~ Variation means something changes. If the the predators die out they would become over populated. But then, since there are so many of them, their food might run down. But if their predators population grew, then their population would go down.
Full transcript
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Modeling of a Mobile Device Antenna
Electrical components in wireless communication systems are designed to be small and light for portability and productivity while maintaining decent performance and efficiency. Antennas are essential components in mobile devices and are required to fit in the limited space allowed by industrial specifications. To fulfill this requirement, a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) is common and a ...
Finding the Impedance of a Coaxial Cable
Monopole Antenna Array
It is possible to shape the radiation pattern and steer the beam from an antenna array by controlling the relative phases and magnitudes of the input signal. This example shows how to design an active electronically scanned array (AESA) using arithmetic phase progression on each antenna element.
Connecting a 3D Electromagnetic Wave Model to an Electrical Circuit
A model built with the RF Module can be connected to an electrical circuit equivalent, if there is some structure outside of the model space that you wish to approximate as a circuit equivalent. In this model, the 3D model of a coaxial cable is connected to a voltage source, in series with a matched impedance, and sees a load, also of matched impedance.
Coaxial to Waveguide Coupling
Feeding a waveguide from a coaxial cable is a straightforward way to achieve electromagnetic waves inside a waveguide. Due to its small size and circular shape, the cable contributes significantly to the overall size of the problem. It is therefore necessary to keep the cable as short as possible. This model shows how to the Port boundary conditions to feed a rectangular waveguide.
Substrate Integrated Waveguide Leaky Wave Antenna
Substrate Integrated Waveguides (SIW) can be used in antenna applications. Leaky waves from a slot array on the top surface of the SIW in this model generate a beam in a certain direction that can be steered by choosing a different operating frequency.
Computing the Radar Cross Section of a Perfectly Conducting Sphere
Second Harmonic Generation of a Gaussian Beam
Parameterized Circulator Geometry
A lossy ferrite circulator at 3GHz is modeled. Geometrical design parameters are varied to match the impedance for minimal reflection of the fundamental TE10 rectangular waveguide mode.
Notch Filter Using a Split Ring Resonator
A split ring resonator (SRR) has a band-stop frequency response that rejects a certain range of frequency. This type of SRR structure is popularly used as a resonator itself and can be combined periodically to build artificial meta-materials. In this model, a printed SRR on a dielectric substrate is coupled to a microstrip line. The entire circuit behaves as a notch (band-stop) filter, which ...
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Relative Merits Of Processes For Waste Water Treatment Biology Essay
Published: Last Edited:
Waste water disposal and treatment is a necessary utility for the civilised world. The earliest recorded evidences of waste water disposal systems are from the Bronze Age i.e. the Indus valley civilization. They had a fully functional running water and underground sewage system. The Romans had an open sewer system and the structures still exist as an evidence of human endeavours to supply safe water, remove wastes from water, and to protect public health.
Fig-1 Early Sewer systems. Courtesy-
It was only after Antony Von Leeuwenhoek and his rudimentary microscope, that the field of microbiology was born. Microorganisms and their roles were studied with great interest. Modern Biotechnology and its applications including sewage treatment, owe a lot to such humble beginnings in science. In 1850, the first comprehensive sewage system was laid out in the city of Chicago. Since then, the field of waste water management has come a long way with technological advancements and a relative comprehensive knowledge of the microbial life involved.
Modern definition of sewage treatment is that it's the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff (effluents) and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. Its objective is to produce a waste stream (or treated effluent) and a solid waste or sludge suitable for discharge or reuse back into the environment.
Usually domestic sewage refers to the effluent from households and it contains human excreta along with other waste water from day to day household activities. Whereas, Industrial sewage refers to the unwanted effluent from any industrial process. Most industries have an in-house water treatment facility that can effectively remove chemical and biological contaminants. This enables the industries to recycle the water back for their own needs.
Waste water is rich in organic nutrients and when it accumulates, it can become a rich source of medium for microorganisms to grow on. This eventually leads to decomposition and foul gases being emitted. The most dangerous consequence of all is the accumulation and propagation of pathogens that can lead to dangerous epidemics.
Every year hundreds of billions of gallons of untreated sewage flow into our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Cases of sewage water contaminating fresh water resources are numerous and have resulted in serious health consequences in the local population. In the USA alone, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA estimates that over 7 million people suffer from mild to moderate illnesses caused by untreated sewage every year. Another ½ million get seriously ill. This is just a conservative estimate considering the fact that many cases go unreported. A recent study found that up to 1.5 million people get gastroenteritis at beaches in two counties in California each year. If this is the case, the number could be much higher. If this is the case in one of the most developed countries in the world, the plight of developing and underdeveloped countries can only be imagined. Epidemics like Cholera have wiped out thousands of lives over the years due to poor sanitation. These epidemics can be very sever in countries with already existing problems like malnourishment, high HIV incidence and so on.
Algal bloom is another tragic consequence of untreated water. The most common pathogens in sewage are bacteria, parasites, and viruses.
Acute Effects
Chronic or Ultimate Effects
Legionella pneumoniae
Fever, pneumonia
Elderly: death
Helicobacter pylori
Ulcers and stomach cancer
Vibrio cholerae
Vibrio vulnificus
Skin and Tissue infection
Death in those with liver problems
Death: Guillain-Barré syndrome
Reactive arthritis
Reactive arthritis
Reactive arthritis
Potential Cancer
Fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, vomiting
Weil's Disease, kidney damage, liver failure, death
Immunocompromised: death
E.coli 0157:H7
Death, Hemolytic Uremic syndrome
Fig-2 List of some of the pathogens commonly found in Sewage.
The usage of a septic tank is a tried and tested domestic sewage solution. The septic tank and soak away system is a time-honoured one that originated in France in the 18th century (the reason it's often referred to as French drain). It relies on natural bacterial processes for its successful operation. There is no external energy input and therefore no 'running cost'. It is widely in use in many parts of the world with varying differences in their functionalities. The problem with septic tanks is the increasing concentration of chemicals like caustic soda, sulphuric acid and other bleaching agents that are increasingly found in domestic effluents due to the use of household chemicals/cleaning agents. These chemicals are harsh on microorganisms that are supposed to naturally degrade the organic nutrients in the sewage, thereby effectively sabotaging the natural principle behind a septic tank. Nowadays, septic tanks are increasingly used as storage tanks in many developing nations, where there is no access to a centralised drainage system. From the storage tanks, trucks are used to transport the sewage to disposal sites.
Conventional large scale wastewater treatment processes typically follow the stage wise procedure outlined above. Waste sludge drawn from these operations is thickened and processed for ultimate disposal, usually either land application or landfilling. Chlorination of raw feed is sometimes done to combat odour and also to improve settling characteristics of suspended solids.
An aerial view depicts a typical wastewater treatment plant supporting primary and secondary treatment. Visible in this photograph are flocculation basins (rectangular), primary settling tanks (foreground), and secondary trickling filters (background).
The main objective of a waste water treatment process is to safely dispose domestic and industrial effluents with no harm to public health and the environment. Reuse of the water purified from sewage is also an essential parameter in the context of sustainability. The most appropriate wastewater treatment to be applied before effluent use in agriculture is that which will produce an effluent meeting the recommended microbiological and chemical quality guidelines both at low cost and with minimal operational and maintenance requirements (Arar 1988). Pathogen removal has very rarely been considered an objective but, for reuse of effluents in agriculture, this must now be of primary concern and processes should be selected and designed accordingly (Hillman 1988).
Conventional waste water treatment processes involve a combination of physical, chemical and biological methods in varying frequencies. But all of them follow a stage wise approach to water treatment.
Preliminary treatment
Preliminary treatment involves the removal of coarse solids and other large particles. The objective of preliminary treatment is the removal of coarse solids and other large materials often found in raw wastewater. Most of often physical equipment like a comminutor is used to pulverise the solids found in the feed. Grit chambers are used, through which the feed water is gushed with considerable velocity to remove grit. Grit removal is not done in smaller water treatment plants. Other types of physical equipments can also be used for such screening. Flow and other parameter measurements are taken at this juncture.
Primary treatment
Primary treatment is used to remove settle able organic and inorganic solids using sedimentation and skimming. BOD (Biological oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) play a crucial role in determining the amount of organic/inorganic content of the feed. The BOD is reduced by 25% to 50% , while the TDS (total suspended solids) is reduced by 50% to 70 %. Some organic nitrogen, organic phosphorus, and heavy metals associated with solids are also removed during primary sedimentation. The effluent from primary sedimentation units is referred to as primary effluent. The below table provides information on primary effluent from three sewage treatment plants in California along with data on the raw wastewaters.
Secondary treatment
Secondary treatment is used to remove the residual organic material and suspended solids. In most cases biodegradation is achieved by an aerobic biological treatment process. This effectively metabolises the organic matter in the waste water, resulting in the propagation of much needed degrading microorganisms and organic end products. Common processes include the activated sludge processes, trickling filters or biofilters, oxidation ditches, and rotating biological contactors (RBC). A combination of two of these processes in series (e.g., biofilter followed by activated sludge) is sometimes used to treat municipal wastewater containing a high concentration of organic material from industrial sources.
i. Activated Sludge
ii. Trickling Filters
iii. Rotating Biological Contactors
Quality parameter (mg/I except as otherwise indicated)
Plant location
Trickling filters
Activated sludge
Chino Basin MWD (No. 1)
Chino Basin MWD (No. 2)
Santa Rosa Laguna
Montecito Sanitary District
Biochemical oxygen demand, BOD5
Chemical oxygen demand
Suspended solids
Total nitrogen
Total phosphorus
pH (unit)
Electrical conductivity dS/m
Total dissolved solids
Sodium adsorption ratio
Boron (B)
Alkalinity (CaCO3)
Total Hardness (CaCO3)
Fig-5 Source: Asano and Tchobanoglous (1987)
Tertiary and/or advanced treatment
Tertiary or advanced treatment is used to remove unwanted toxic constituents that are hitherto not removed during the conventional process. Individual These maybe nitrogen, phosphorus, additional suspended solids, refractory organics, heavy metals and dissolved solids. Because advanced treatment usually follows high-rate secondary treatment, it is sometimes referred to as tertiary treatment. However, advanced treatment processes are sometimes combined with primary or secondary treatment (e.g., chemical addition to primary clarifiers or aeration basins to remove phosphorus) or used in place of secondary treatment (e.g., overland flow treatment of primary effluent).
Disinfection is normally done using chlorination in a chlorine contact basin. It is cost-effective. Other methods like Ozone and UV irradiation can also be used.
Natural biological treatment systems
Natural biological systems are a low cost and innovative way to treat wastewater. These processes are land intensive, but more then make up for this inadequacy in terms of being cost effective and non reliance of any high tech equipment. They are most effective at removing pathogens. The most commonly used systems are,
1. Wastewater stabilization ponds
Wastewater stabilization pond systems are essentially ponds with three different stages for different forms of treatment. A primary facultative pond is used to treat weaker waste water. Effluent from the primary pond is sent into a secondary treatment pond for further treatment. If the water contains pathogens, a tertiary maturation pond is used for the purpose of decontamination.
2. Overland treatment of wastewater
Suspended and colloidal organic materials in the wastewater are removed by sedimentation and filtration through surface grass and organic layers. Removal of total nitrogen and ammonia is inversely related to application rate, slope length and soil temperature. Phosphorus and trace elements removal is by sorption on soil clay colloids and precipitation as insoluble complexes of calcium, iron and aluminium. Overland flow systems also remove pathogens from sewage effluent at levels comparable with conventional secondary treatment systems, without chlorination. A monitoring programme should always be incorporated into the design of overland flow projects both for wastewater and effluent quality and for application rates.
3. Macrophyte treatment
These essentially use maturation ponds that use emergent aquatic plants for treating effluents. Macrophytes take up large amounts of inorganic nutrients (especially N and P) and heavy metals (such as Cd, Cu, Hg and Zn) as a consequence of the growth requirements and decrease the concentration of algal cells through light shading by the leaf canopy and, possibly, adherence to gelatinous biomass which grows on the roots.
4. Nutrient film technique
The nutrient film technique (NFT) uses the hydroponic plant growth system in which plants are grown directly on an impermeable surface to which a thin film of wastewater is continuously applied. Root production on the impermeable surface is high and the large surface area traps and accumulates matter. Plant top-growth provides nutrient uptake, shade for protection against algal growth and water removal in the form of transpiration, while the large mass of self-generating root systems and accumulated material serve as living filters.
Figure 10: Nutrient film technique variation of hydroponic plant production systems (Jewell et al. 1983)
Flow rates are highly variable in a waste water treatment plant. These variations are primarily observed in municipal sewage treatment plants where the bulk of the feed comes from domestic sources. These short term variations in flow rate follow a diurnal flow pattern. Logically flow rate is at its highest during the late morning peak usage in domestic households and gradually decreases as the day progresses. It peaks again in the evening followed by another decreasing pattern. The magnitude of peaks depends on the local population, demographics and other social factors but it does follow a diurnal pattern. Municipal sewage plants are designed to meet these kinds of requirements. Small communities with small sewer systems have a much higher ratio of peak flow to average flow than do large communities. These variations, especially in smaller communities can make it impossible for the recycled water to be used for irrigation, as this involves varying levels of water purifications, which makes its use for agriculture impractical.
The science of wastewater treatment has come a long way from its humble beginnings of open sewer systems. Conventional methods, especially those on a large scale use a combination of physical, chemical and biological methods which is the most logical way to go about. But, in this entire quest for advanced technologies, have we lost our focus on simple naturally available purification mechanisms? The humble septic tank was a simple and effective way for treating domestic sewage. Due to rapid urbanisation and limited land availability it has become impractical in the larger cities. But, smaller municipalities and rural organisations are increasingly adopting urban ways of waste management which is unsustainable. Biogas method is an environmental friendly and sustainable approach to domestic waste management. It doesn't require much expertise and a valuable by-product is obtained, which can be used for household cooking needs. Industrial waste water treatment is regulated and monitored strictly in the developed countries, but the situation is abysmal in developing and under developed countries. Heavy metal pollution of ground water resources is the biggest hazard facing many developing countries. In Bangladesh, high levels of toxic arsenic can be found in underground drinking water resources. There is light at the end of the tunnel with newer biotechnological advancements in the field of bioremediation. Developments like nanostructure silica that can effectively remove any kind of toxic metals from water are being developed. But the problem is with the access to these kinds of cutting edge technologies for countries in need of it. This is where I feel the UN can play a major role in technology transfer to countries in need with considerable subsidies.
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Do wild birds give you campylobacteriosis?
Blackbird, Turdus merula. Photo from Flickr under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
There is magic in large numbers. Most often we scientist – regardless if we are field scientists or lab rats – struggle with acquiring sufficiently large sample sizes for the statistical tests we have set out to do. There are ways to deal with sparse data, but nothing beats a good-looking huge dataset if you want to test your hypothesis with confidence. Moreover, given that every biological system we measure has a degree of uncertainty, so called noise, means that if we are to find effects that are small we need to collect a lot of data.
Earlier this year, I co-authored a publication on Campylobacter epidemiology that really took advantage of large numbers. In this case, Cody et al. investigated if people get campylobacters from wild birds. This is something that has been suspected given the huge impact domestic poultry has – the single largest source of human campylobacteriosis – but not really proven. Over the years, the lab in Oxford has collected an enormous dataset on the occurrence of Campylobacter jejuni in patients in Oxfordshire, UK. Not only is there a lot of data, each and every clinical case is associated with a genotyped bacterial isolate. That is an awesome treasure trove to investigate.
In this study, 5628 genotyped clinical isolates from Oxfordshire were run in a STRUCTURE analysis to try to associate each isolate with a putative source. The rationale here is that there are distinct sets of C. jejuni genotypes in different types of animals, especially in different species of birds. And as campylobacteriosis is a zoonotic infection with little to non human-to-human transmission such an analysis can indicate the degree of relevance of different sources for human epidemiology.
Did that sound awfully advanced? Perhaps. It really is quite simple. Consider you make a row of bins. Each bin gets a name, such as ‘chicken’, ‘cattle’, ‘goose’, ‘blackbird’ etc. Then you take each bacterial isolate in your hand, scrutinize it and put in a bin that you think it fits best in. A little bit like a sorting box for children. Starshaped objects go into the starshape hole, square objects in the square hole, etc. Except that it in this case it is the degree of resemblance at the genetic level that decides whether an isolate should be grouped with a particular source. The second thing is that you let the computer rerun this procedure over and over again until you get a probabilistic assignment to each bin.
The principle of STRUCTURE analysis.
In this paper, it was shown that the proportion of clinical isolates from Oxfordshire attributed to wild birds was 2.1%-3.5% each year. That is way lower than the values for chicken products, but given the very high incidence of campylobacteriosis in the human population it still means a large number of actual infections caused by bacteria that normally are found in wild birds. Which wild birds, you may ask. Primarily thrushes, is the answer – at least in Oxfordshire. The blackbird and the song thrush are two common garden birds that like to live close to us humans. Looking at the seasonal variation, the analysis showed that wild bird associated campylobacteriosis cases was more common during the warmer months of the year. This makes sense, as it is in summer when we loiter around in our gardens, and in nature, eating fruits and vegetables potentially contaminated with bird feces.
There is magic in large numbers, for sure.
Link to the paper:
Cody, A.J., McCarthy, N.D., Bray, J.E., Wimalarathna, H.M.L., Colles, F.C., Jansen van Rensburg, M.J., Dingle, K.E., Waldenström, J. & Maiden, M.C.J. 2015. Wild bird-associated Campylobacter jejuni isolates are a consistent source of human disease, in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Environmental Microbiology Reports 7: 782-788.
What are the effects of influenza virus sampling on ducks?
In our research we capture and sample birds. Many, many birds – as in several thousands of birds over the years (2002 up to now). The reason we do this is to be able to connect individual birds with a test result. Is this duck infected or not with influenza? If, so what was its age, sex, and body condition at the time of sampling? This information helps us understand the disease dynamics in the mallard – virus system; how viruses affect the birds, and how birds affect virus evolution through their immune system.
We like to think that our meddling with the ducks is rather mild. The normal procedure includes the actual capture in the duck trap, the ringing and measuring of the bird, and the biological sampling procedure – normally a fecal or cloacal sample, but also feather samples or blood samples are sometimes taken. At times we have also used different loggers to collect data on movements, ranging from local stopover to migratory flights.
Given the questions we address in our research, we of course want the effects to be as small as possible. We haven’t formally investigated this ourselves. Fortunately, a recent publication, in the journal Ibis, used data from a similar influenza A virus surveillance scheme in France to investigate whether sampling incurs a cost or not. The authors focused on blood and cloacal swab sampling, and primarily analyzed survival and re-encounter rates.
They investigated four different duck species: Tufted duck, Pochard, Mallard and Teal. By comparing sets of ducks that only differed in which sampling type that had be taken (no sampling, cloacal sampling, blood sampling) the authors could use capture-mark-recapture analysis and logistic regression to test the hypothesis that sampling affected survival and re-encounter rates. To cut a long story short, they did not find any support for a negative effect on survival for any of the duck species tested due to sampling. Furthermore, re-encounter rates did not differ for three of the species, but did so for Teals (suggesting trap avoidance in this species).
This is a very good initiative, and I hope more researchers follow up their analysis. In my group, we have a lot of capture-mark-recapture data plus data on ring recoveries and we should be in a good position to look at these types of questions in the future, too. The results from the French paper corroborate my general gut feeling and some early preliminary analyses we conducted years ago. But it is good to get reliable, peer-reviewed data on this. Not the least given that surveillance schemes in Europe and North America have included sampling of hundred thousands of birds in the search for highly pathogenic H5N1 and H5N8.
Link to the article:
Guillemain, M., Champagnon, J., Gourlay-Larour, M-L., Cavallo, F., Brochet, A-L., Hars, J., Massez, G., George, T., Perroi, P-Y., Jestin, V. & Caizergues, A. 2015. Blood and cloacal swab sampling for avian influenza monitoring has no effect on survival rates of free-ranging ducks. Ibis 157: 743-753.
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On April 10, 1777, the Continental Congress held a lottery...
April 10, 1986
On April 10, 1777, the Continental Congress held a lottery to raise funds, offering as prizes Treasury bank notes payable in five years.
In 1790, Congress passed the first patent law in the U.S.
In 1841, Horace Greeley published the first issue of the New York Tribune.
In 1849, Walter Hunt of New York received a patent for the safety pin.
In 1852, work began on the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad.
In 1872, America`s first Arbor Day observance was held in Nebraska.
In 1945, American soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, Germany, in World War II.
In 1946, Japanese women were given the right to vote.
In 1953, the first 3-D feature-length movie in color, ``The House of Wax,`` premiered in New York.
In 1961, Adolf Eichmann was put on trial in an Israeli court as a Nazi war criminal. On the same day, Gary Player of South Africa became the first foreigner to win the Masters golf tournament at Augusta, Ga.
In 1963, it was disclosed that the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Thresher had failed to surface after a dive in the Atlantic, killing all 129 crewmen.
In 1971, a team of U.S. table-tennis players arrived in China to participate in exhibition matches.
In 1972, the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed an agreement banning biological warfare.
In 1973, a chartered British airliner crashed during a blizzard in Switzerland, killing 107 people.
In 1974, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir announced her resignation.
In 1979, 60 people were killed and more than 800 injured when tornados struck northern Texas and southern Oklahoma.
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Sunday, 7 August 2011
Brenda Aloff - 'Aggression In Dogs.' (Section 3.)
SECTION 3: Pathways of Aggression
15Classification *
'Labels are detrimental to modifying behaviour if you use them to characterize the animal or allow them to limit your thinking. Labels can follow an individual long after they have outlived their usefulness. Labels themselves do not solve a problem and may cloud the real issues. [...] Classifying behaviour can serve a purpose, as long as those classifications are used thoughtfully and accurately and are not overused. If the classification is used as a short way to describe observable behaviour, then it may expedite your thinking and note-taking.' (p93)
'Vacuum Activity is a response in the absence of the stimulus that usually produces it. If the animal does not have a response or coping mechanism for a particular context, a "vacuum" is created. The dog will "fill" this vacuum with an activity that is often inappropriate. Aggression is one of those responses a dog may fall back on if he is stressed or frustrated and does not have a previously conditioned behaviour to fill the void.' (p94)
'One aspect of classifying behaviour involves determining whether the dog is "normal" or "abnormal" [...] A general definition of "normal" is a spectrum of behaviour that is exhibited by the vast majority of dogs, or at least by most dogs of a given breed (normal for that breed). More specifically, a normal dog has behaviours that are within the range of typical dogs and also has a typical ability to learn new behaviours and habituate to new environments. Normal dogs, by virtue of both their genetics and their socialization, are, most importantly, chemically normal . . . though they may have some undesirable behaviours, they will be able to learn new, better behaviours at a reasonable rate.' (p94)
Classifications of Aggression:
'- Developmental Stages - Lack of Socialization, Interspecies
- Developmental Stages - Lack of Socialization, Intraspecies
- Excessive Breed Tendencies, or Lack of These
- Human Selection for Aggression in Dogs
- Control Conflict Aggression
- Dog-to-Dog Aggression . . .
- Fear Aggression
- Idiopathic Aggression
- Learned Aggression
- Maternal Aggression
- Neophobia
- Pain-Related Aggression
- Play Aggression
- Possessive Aggression
- Possessive Aggression - Food Related
- Predatory Aggression
- Protective Aggression
- Redirected Aggression
- Territorial Aggression' (p96)
'Lack of Socialization - Intraspecies
Lack of experience with a dog's own species leads to fearful behaviour and, possibly, defensive aggression directed toward its own species in a general, blanket manner [...] This is commonly seen in dogs who are removed from their mother and littermates at 2 to 6 weeks of age.' (p96-97)
'Lack of Socialization - Interspecies
Lack of experience with a wide variety of humans leaves many dogs fearful (therefore opening the door for aggression) toward humans wearing hats, walking with crutches, or even of different races than they have been exposed to. For some animals, any human that they do not know well is suspect and is treated with extreme caution or fear. [...] For these dogs, any human, other than those well-known, is immediately considered a threat, as is any body language people exhibit that the dog is not familiar with.
This category has the easy solution: education should provide the "fix," provided the dog is able to habituate (has normal adaptive behaviour).' (p97)
'Excessive Breed Tendencies, or Lack of These
Excessive breeding created dogs who were bred for a specific original purpose. . . . The highest percentage of purebred dogs will fall in a middle range for these traits. Because of genetic variation, however, there are individuals who possess either a lack of these breed-specific traits or excessive breed tendencies. [...]
Because your dog is of a particular breed is NOT a valid reason for dangerous behaviour. . . . People who use the breed as an excuse for lack of socialization and lack of education for their dog are a major source of dog problems.' (p97-98)
'Human Selection for Aggression in Dogs
Some breeds have been specifically selected for high intensity, frequency, and duration of aggression with low thresholds for stimulation of defensive or guarding behaviours.
These traits also occur in breeding programs where the owners carelessly bred undesirable-temperamented dogs because they have desirable physical traits.' (p98)
'Control Conflict Aggression
[...] The animal who discretely fits into this category is indeed abnormal. These animals are obsessive about rank order, and seem to think of almost nothing else. . . . The dogs classified under this heading are constantly on the lookout for some "slight" to their authority or status - control freaks to the nth degree - and are ready to do battle over it each and every time. Their immediate response to most social situations is to use aggression or assertive behaviour . . . to maintain status. [...] This behaviour stems from a dog being maladaptive and insecure and who is struggling to cope with this innate insecurity.' (p99)
'Fear Aggression
This classification depends on the intensity of the aggressive behaviour and the context in which it occurs. It is normal for dogs to bite if they are extremely frightened. However, some dogs have suc a low threshold for fear that they become defensive and bite even when the threat is negligible or non-existent.
Fear-based aggression is often accompanied by urination and defecation while the dog is behaving in a defensive manner.' (p101)
'Idiopathic Aggression
Idiopathic means "for no reason." [...]
- Extreme force and violence.
- Extremely unpredictable. . . .
- May attack humans, dogs or inanimate objects.
- Usually does not show aggressive tendencies at other times.
- May look confused with glazed eyes (sympathetic nervous system response) just prior to attack.
- 1-3 years of age.
There is documented prevalence in English Springer Spaniels, American Cocker Spaniels and St. Bernards.' (p102)
'Dog-to-Dog Aggression
[...] Dog-to-Dog aAggression is a very generalized category to designate dogs who are socially not just inept, but who are actively "looking for" trouble with other dogs. Aggression is a consistent response to other dogs,a nd this dog will use aggression, ignoring signals from other dogs. This aggression occurs in absence of threat behaviour from the other dog; in fact, the other dog may be socially appropriate in every way, and this dog will still use aggression.' (p102-103)
'Learned Aggression
As soon as an animal learns that aggression leads to a successful outcome, aggression is readily accessed. [...] When using learned aggression as one classification, 99% of the time there is an additional classification used to describe the specific triggers: Fear aggression, Possessive aggression, etc.' (p103)
'Maternal Aggression
Hormonal changes or inherited temperament tendencies may cause a new mother to launch intense attacks on strangers (dog or human) who approach her puppies.' (p103)
These dogs react to EVERY new situation, location or object with behaviour that ranges from cautious to terrified. The dog will exhibit intense avoidance behaviours, verging on and sometimes extending into panic. It is as if these dogs have no "rebound" or ability to adapt to anything unfamiliar to them. This is definitely an abnormality because the lack of ability to habituate is at the root of this classification. . . . Dogs unable to habituate are clearly maladaptive in some way.' (p104)
'Pain-Related Aggression
Grading pain in an animal who cannot speak is difficult at best. Some animals are incredibly stoical and some just the opposite . . . pain is variable and subjective, not just among different individuals, but even within the same animal. [...]
Any animal who is injured may become defensive or bite if you attempt to approach, especially if you are manipulating her body and it increases the pain. . . . Some animals show aggression when they anticipate pain.' (p104-105)
'Play Aggression
These dogs begin interacting with others by exhibiting obvious play behaviours. However, once a certain threshold of stimulation is exceeded, the dog's behaviour begins to escalate rapidly into intense threatening actions. [...]
To fall into this category, the dog must consistently display an intent to harm in circumstances where normally dogs would display play behaviours without losing sight of the fact that it is "play." . . . Aggression may also be directed toward humans who are playing with the dog, once certain stimulation thresholds have been exceeded in the dog.' (p105-106)
'Possessive Aggression
[...] The dog will actively and consistently use agonistic display and confrontational behaviour to obtain or retain a valued object is. The resource importance is:
- defined by the dog
- not related to status issues.' (p106)
'Possessive Aggression - Food Related
These dogs typically guard a food bowl (which may generalize into guarding the location where the food bowl is kept) or special food treats such as pig ears.' (p107)
'Predatory Aggression
Hunting is normal behaviour for dogs. Selective breeding has given us a wide array of predatory behaviours. [...]
For dogs who are to be used for any original purpose (excepting breeds like the toy, non-sporting and drafting breeds), a high degree of predatory behaviour specific to that breed is desirable. . . . Predation can be expressed in a variety of ways: chasing bikes or joggers, chasing a ball, and carrying a fuzzy toy are all forms of predation. [...]
Because dogs are domestic animals, selecting human children or adults as targets for predation by exhibiting stalking or other predatory-type behaviours is abnormal. . . . [This refers to] dogs who are seriously looking at toddlers or infants as "wounded" because of the way they are moving and are intensely honing in on them. It appears as though, in the face of certain stimuli, the dog is unable to distinguish the difference between inappropriate and appropriate prey and unable to exert control over his behaviour. [...]
Predatory aggression is quiet aggression, not the normal snarling, growling kind of stuff that is preceded by stiff-legged posturing. Prey behaviours can include intense stares, quiet approaches, body-lowering, tail-twitching, salivating, stalking. Dogs in prey move will silently and quickly approach their target. One fierce, very hard, full-mouth bite accompanied by shaking the selected target is a common indicator of predatory behaviour. The dog is focused so intently on his prey that interrupting the behaviour is extremely difficult. [...]
Predatory Drift can occur dog-to-dog. In this case, under normal circumstances, the dogs would coexist just fine, but certain stimuli trigger a limbic response where one dog begins to see the other dog as prey. This is prevalent in the terrier breeds and is also seen in herding breeds, particularly the herding/guarding types, such as Malinois or GSD's.' (p107-108)
'Protective Aggression
A third-party approach will provoke an aggressive response, even though the approaching party is clearly not threatening. This would be a consistent response to third-party approaches or at least a predominant response. [...]
Often people don't even realize that the dog is exhibiting subtle guarding behaviours, and so they don't do anything about it until the dog, taking the person's non-reactive as permission, begins to exhibit more intense displays.' (p109-111)
'Redirected Aggression
Redirected aggression is aggression that is consistently displayed toward a third party when the dog is interrupted or prevented from directing the agonistic behaviour toward the original target. The dog, when excited or aroused, no matter the original cause, will turn and "unload" the aggression onto the closest or most available target.' (p111)
'Territorial Aggression
Establishing and defending territory are basic behaviours in the majority of species. A boundary (determined by the dog) will be actively defended against all parties that the dog decides are intruders. [...]
Territorial aggression in particular becomes a problem for dogs who are unsupervised and allowed to practice the behaviour frequently unchecked by their humans. This also becomes a problem for dogs who take the job overly seriously when people are entering territory, such as through your front door.' (p112)
16Stuff That Drives Your Dog Crazy
'Entrapment transpires when you ask for or encourage the dog to behave in a certain way, and then the behaviour is punished when it does occur.' (p116)
'Frustration results when the dog is prevented from fulfilling a desire or accomplishing a purpose. Frustration causes a dog to become aroused and over-reactive. Extreme frustration may certainly result in the aggression being redirected from the original source or arousal to whatever or whomever is next to the dog at the time.' (p116)
'All dogs get "fired up" over something. These are two components to observe when you are evaluating high states of arousal:
- Some dogs become aroused very easily (reactive under low stimuli).
- Some dogs have extremely slow recovery - they take a long time to return to a calm, rational state.' (p117)
'Conflict can occur in varying degrees and, of course, not all permutations of conflict will cause an organism to behave in a maladaptive way.' (p119)
'A dos displays active defensive behaviour because he doesn't think he has any choice. Once this occurs a few times (or, in some instances, there is one-trial learning) the response becomes habit - the behaviour the dog accesses FIRST when presented with a particular stimulus.' (p120)
* - There is a lot more information (such as topographies of certain forms of aggression) in the book.
An English Shepherd said...
You do see quite a lot of dogs with fear aggression :-(
rocy + indiana said...
Thank goodness for city libraries (and their obscene stash of books). My copy should get here in a week or two! I'm very excited to read more — particularly about the types of aggression, given Indy's ~appetite~ for trouble.
And keep up the book-bits. I love them, and you're helping me expand my re:dog book shelf!
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Document Type
Publication Date
Fall 2015
Imagine something as simple as your favorite coffee cup, that unassuming object can tell a story about who you. An old, small bowl can also tell a story but about the artists and people of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya often placed offerings in the tombs of the dead as a way of providing for the deceased in the afterlife. One of the most common offerings was a ceramic vessel that contained special food or drinks. To better understand Classic period non-royal Maya ceramic vessels, this paper addresses a small clay-bowl (Vessel 19) in the off exhibit collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) Pre-Columbian Collection acquired in 1972 as part of a 19-piece assemblage (Accession #72.42.109[19]) (Fig. 1). The accession sheet provided by the museum states that the piece is a hand-built, black ceramic bowl that stands five inches tall with a diameter of 6 inches, and dates to between A.D. 600 to 700 (2015 File). Although, the piece was acquired without official provenience, SAMA suggests that the piece could be from anywhere in the Maya Region of Alta Verapaz to the Guatemalan Valley, which I do not dispute. Vessel 19 is an example of a Classic Maya vessel from the Guatemalan highlands, but it does not correspond to most examples of Maya ritual vessels from this region. As a monochrome slipped vessel, it can offer more insight into an area of Maya ceramics overlooked in favor of more elite objects.
Winner of a $100 prize
Course: ANTH 3335-1 Pre-Columbian Art -- Mesoamerica
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Passion and art: the story behind Faust
The story so far is this. Johann Wolfgang (not yet von) Goethe, the prodigiously talented son of a prosperous Frankfurt citizen, startles his compatriots with a furious and rambling play, Götz von Berlichingen (1771), which effectively inaugurates modern drama in Germany. He then writes The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), a melancholy novel in letters, and becomes an immensely influential European figure, a provoker of fashions in dress and suicide, a sort of Byron before Byron. He is 25.
Troubled by this success in print - Götz was published to great acclaim but not staged for some time - Goethe seeks a different public and a different relation to the world. He moves to Weimar in 1775, where he becomes confidential adviser and then minister and privy councillor to the Duke. He is made a baron in 1782. Weimar at this time is a city of 6000 inhabitants, compared with Frankfurt's 36,000. But Weimar is also the centre of a duchy, which includes the territories of Jena, Eisenach and Ilmenau. It is a little world but it is a world.
Goethe occupies himself with mines, politics, the development of the University of Jena. He starts several lengthy writing projects but finishes few, although at this time as at all times he writes remarkable poems in many genres. He becomes frustrated, both by the burdens of office and by the stranglement of what appears to have been a long Platonic affair with a married court lady, Frau von Stein. He longs to travel in Italy, a journey he has often imagined, and which he postponed when he came to Weimar. Finally, in 1786, he asks for and is given a leave of absence and takes off for the better part of two years, visiting Verona, Padua, Venice and Naples, and staying for some time in Sicily and (twice) in Rome.
He finds a new life among German artists in Italy - 'artists' here means painters and sculptors, but Goethe, and Schiller soon after him, convert the word to something like its modern meaning, where it includes writers and film-makers, for example. 'I have found myself again,' Goethe writes to the Duke, 'but as what? - As an artist!' This is a declaration of independence of sorts, but Goethe knows he can't stay in Italy. He returns to Weimar, works again on his Faust, finishes other plays (Iphigenia in Tauris, Egmont, Tasso), elaborates an early version of his novel Wilhelm Meister, and publishes his Collected Works in eight volumes.
He also grieves extensively for the warm, permissive South and his lost artist colony in Rome, but realises, on a brief return trip to Venice, that his future lies in Germany. Italy had been paradise, or rather a proof that paradise exists and can be abandoned. Goethe is happy with the sterner North, or says he is. 'The Duchess is well and contented,' he writes of his employer's mother's homecoming from her Italian trip, 'as one is when one returns from paradise. I am now used to it, and this time I was quite happy to leave Italy.' Used to his return, he means, and used to the absence from paradise. The words I have just quoted are the last words of the first volume of Nicholas Boyle's biography of Goethe. The date is June 1790, and other things have been happening in Europe, to which Boyle immediately turns in his new book.
Germany at this time was far from a nation state - it was a confusion of duchies and principalities and free cities, shadowed by the rising power of Prussia and the continuing presence of Austria at the centre of a slightly rickety Holy Roman Empire - but it was full of national feeling, of stirrings and reachings towards a shared culture.
Thought and literature travelled fast, and Boyle expertly evokes their journeys. He is emphatic that Goethe doesn't reflect or resemble his age; but equally emphatic that the writer and his age can be understood only if we look at them together. '"The Age of Goethe" is simply the series of literary and intellectual temptations which, as it happens, Goethe resisted.' Not so simply, perhaps; and certainly not just 'as it happens'. Boyle says at the outset of his first volume that 1749 to 1832, the period of Goethe's life, is not one age but several. 'To think otherwise is to diminish the man and to misrepresent the time - his time, and ours.'
This must be true in the long run, and presumably will be seen to be true in Boyle's completed work. But his first volume, and even the second, show us a Goethe rather more associated with his age than not. It's true there are 29 years to go.
Meanwhile, loyal to his overall idea but scrupulous about individual historical moments, Boyle keeps offering modest disclaimers. Werther has a 'uniquely close relationship to its public'. 'Goethe's personal experience at this time' - 1773 - 'was... approximating to, and becoming symbolically representative of, that of a whole generation'; 'Goethe at this time in his life, as never again, spoke directly from and to the situation of his contemporaries'; 'He was very soon seen as the most prominent representative of a movement. For once, this was not wholly a misapprehension.' Boyle's general argument seems to be that Goethe was quite different from his contemporaries, but more German than they were - or more attuned to German possibilities, inventor and citizen of a Germany that never quite happened.
'If Werther is the moment of his nearest identity with his public, Urfaust is the first major work in which he establishes the initial distance of his own subjectivity from that of his contemporaries which will be characteristic of all his subsequent writing.' Goethe is becoming Goethe as Boyle sees him, and 'initial distance' is the phrase which establishes the room for manoeuvre. Weimar allowed Goethe to live 'on the edge of centrality', and he settled there because 'with the unconscious sureness of a sleepwalker, perhaps, he was finding his way to the one place where he could bring the centre of gravity of his own life as close as possible to the political centre of gravity of what was destined to be the nation, while retaining the generously broad and multifarious conception of nationhood of his Strasbourg and Frankfurt years'.
Quite apart from the edgy combination of 'sureness' and 'perhaps', this is an extraordinary proposition, less an explanation of Goethe's behaviour than an exposition of what the name 'Goethe' means, but none the less valuable for that. Goethe's 'universal genius', in this perspective, means not that he was a talented painter and wrote poems, plays, novels, satires, libretti, an autobiography, studies of plant life and a theoretical treatise on colour, having also effectively run a small country, directed a theatre, and established a university, but that he knew how to make the edge of centrality a centre of gravity. A mixed metaphor, but the mixture was his gift.
Boyle calls his first volume The Poetry of Desire because a terrific yearning marks all Goethe's best work of this period. 'None but the lonely heart' is the traditional translation of 'Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt', a song Goethe gives to his character Mignon in Wilhelm Meister. Boyle calls this poem a 'half-strangled cry', and his literal version begins 'Only he who knows yearning', but even 'yearning' can't catch the world-emptying force of Sehnsucht, a longing which is more like a disease than a feeling, and whose very existence seems to deny the possibility of fulfilment. Italy complicated this emotion for Goethe, since it showed him that fulfilment, sexual and otherwise, was possible.
The place that Mignon dreams of, in another song, 'the land where the lemon trees bloom, the golden oranges glow amid the dark leaves, a gentle wind blows from the blue sky, the myrtle stands motionless and the bay tree tall' (Boyle's translation), really does exist, is not just a Northerner's fantasy. What Goethe now denies is not the fulfilment of desire but the desirability of fulfilment. It is important in this perspective that satisfaction should actually be possible, just as sexual chances need to exist for celibacy to be a moral option rather than a plight. What Goethe learned in Italy, Boyle says, was 'where his true spiritual home lay - not, after all, in Mignon's Vicenza but in a land where only those who knew yearning could know what he suffered'. Not in Italy but in Germany, that is, though both places have become allegories of desire, and strange, exclusive ideas crowd into the very thought of the nation. What you need to be a German is not a passport but a proper sense of Sehnsucht.
Read more >>>
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Ionospheric Connection Explorer – Far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph
The FUV instrument on the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission is designed to measure daytime thermospheric and nighttime ionospheric density profiles. The purpose of NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission is to explore how both terrestrial and space weather affect conditions in the ionosphere, the region of plasma forming the boundary between Earth and space. The ionosphere is energetically coupled to the thermosphere through collisions between ions, electrons, and neutral gas. These interactions often show extreme temporal and spatial variability, which can be very disruptive to global positioning satellites (GPS) and radio communications.
SDL’s contributions to the FUV instrument included designing, fabricating, and testing two CCD camera systems, camera electronics, and the electronics for turret control. SDL is also leading the payload integration and test (I&T) efforts for the mission, including the MIGHTI and EUV instruments.
SDL is part of the UC Berkeley-led team, who released the following video about the ICON mission.
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Scientists have pinpointed the brain circuits essential to the aggressive motivations that build up as animals prepare to attack. (Credit: Emilio Garcia/Flickr)
This brain region motivates us to violently attack
The ominous behaviors that often precede violent acts—stalking, bullying, and possibly sexual aggression—are tied to a distinct part of the hypothalamus, the brain region that also controls body temperature, hunger, and sleep in mammals, new research shows.
“Our study pinpoints the brain circuits essential to the aggressive motivations that build up as animals prepare to attack,” says study senior investigator Dayu Lin, assistant professor at the Neuroscience Institute at New York University Langone Medical Center.
[Scientists turn violent rage on and off in mice]
Mean mice
[Feeling ‘hangry’ is a signal from your brain]
While past studies have linked aggressive actions to this part of the brain, the current study specifically tracked the premeditated, motivational aspect of the behavior to the VMHvl.
Nerve cell activity in the VMHvl also increased by as much as tenfold during the initial seconds after the weaker target mice appeared. Genetically stopping VMHvl activity ceased nearly all aggressive motivations in mice, but did not inhibit other learned behaviors, such as nose poking for access to a treat.
The National Institute of Mental Health, the Ester A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund, Whitehall Foundation, Sloan Foundation, and McKnight Foundation funded the work.
Source: NYU
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How Much Water is Enough?
How Much Water Is Enough?
We’ve all heard the old saying:
Drink eight 8 oz glasses of water a day.
But recent research has shown that this is an arbitrary number and that eight glasses of water a day isn’t really necessary.
Or is it?
There are a lot of factors to consider when trying to figure out how much water or fluids you need to drink on a daily basis.
If you go online and search for the answer to the water questions, you’ll get a variety of different answers. For example, the Mayo Clinic website states (in a nutshell) that you need to take into account all of the fluids you drink on a daily basis plus how much you exercise and how many fruits and vegetables you eat (most of which contain 80-90 percent water). You also have to consider where you live (the type of climate) and your current weight/size.
WebMD says essentially the same thing, but goes on to suggest that one should drink about .5 oz to 1 oz for each pound of body weight. So an individual weighing 205lbs (such as myself) should drink 102.5 oz to 205 oz of water a day (give or take).
However, after 21 years in the medical field, I’ve found there are quite a few more factors to consider when trying to determine how much water your body needs on a daily basis.
Yes, you should consider your current weight, activity level and location as well as your current level of fluid intake and dietary consumption of fruits and veggies. But there are a number of other things you need to consider including:
1. Frequency and intensity of exercise.
2. Any supplements you may take.
3. Any medications you may take.
4. Other beverages you consume (including coffee, tea etc.).
5. Health Conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, Sjogren’s syndrome)
Let’s look at each of these individually.
Frequency and Intensity of Exercise
Hopefully, when you workout, you get a good sweat. That means you’re challenging your body. But it also means you’re using up your water reserves and need to replenish them.
If you exercise on a daily basis, you’ll need to drink extra water before, during and after each workout, to compensate.
But you also need to consider intensity. For example, if you’re a marathon runner, you probably should drink a sports drink like Gatorade, that contains sodium so that you also replenish your electrolytes as well as your fluids.
Many people don’t consider supplements important, but they are. While they aren’t as dangerous as prescription medications, they still have an effect on the body and affect your fluid levels. For example, vitamin C is a diuretic, meaning it forces the kidneys to produce more urine, which rids the body of excess fluid. This means you’ll need to drink more water to compensate for the extra fluid loss.
Prescription Medications
There are so many prescription medications that affect the body’s water levels, albeit not as dramatically as exercise. These include:
• Diuretics (including but not limited to hydrochlorothiazide, triamterene, furosemide, bumetanide, spironolactone, methazolamide, neptazane, acetazolamide)
• Opiate Pain Killers (hydrocodone, tramadol)
• ACE inhibitors (enalapril, verapamil)
• Beta Blockers (metoprolol, atenolol, bisoprolol)
• Alpha Blockers (terazosin, doxazosin)
• Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (losartan, valsartan)
• Alpha agonists (clonidine, methyldopa)
• Direct Renin Inhibitors (Tekturna)
• NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, ketorolac)
The above list is not exhaustive, but it does include some of the most commonly prescribed medications that affect water balance. All of the above medications, with the exception of the opiate pain killers, affect kidney function either by decreasing kidney function (as in the NSAIDs and beta blockers) which means you’ll need less water, or increasing kidney function (as in the diuretics) which means you’ll need more water.
The opiate painkillers such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and even tramadol have side effects including diaphoresis (excessive sweating) and xerostomia (dry mouth). Obviously, diaphoresis is going to cause you to become dehydrated more quickly if you don’t drink enough water to compensate. However, xerostomia can make you feel dehydrated when you really aren’t, which can lead to too much water consumption that causes an imbalance in which the kidneys can’t rid the body of the excess water fast enough.
Although very rare, too much water consumption can cause hyponatremia (low sodium) which in turn can cause a variety of neurological problems termed water intoxication, a condition which can be fatal.
While various beverages can be helpful in reaching your hydration goals, some beverages can affect your hydration adversely including:
• Coffee
• Tea
• Energy Drinks
• Juice (specifically fruit)
• Alcohol
Coffee, tea and energy drinks are typically consumed for the caffeine, which is actually a diuretic as well as a stimulant. This is why you have to run to the bathroom more frequently when you drink them. This is also what causes dehydration.
Juice, especially those that you buy at the grocery store, contain a lot of sugar, and the kidneys flush excess sugar (that isn’t stored as fat) from the body through urine, which is why diabetics tend to be urinate frequently and feel thirsty constantly.
Most people know that alcohol causes dehydration because that is what causes the hangover the next morning. The brain becomes dehydrated and you end up with a pounding headache that is directly proportional to how much you drank the night before. The best way to beat a hang over? You guessed it. Drink lots of water.
So, How Much Water Should You Drink?
It’s actually a difficult question to answer. How much liquid (ie: tea, coffee etc.) do you drink throughout the day? Do you put anything in them (ie: sugar, cream)? How many veggies do you eat? How much do you exercise? How intensely?
There is no one right answer. Personally, I have tried to increase my water consumption to about 67 – 84 oz a day (that’s four to five 16.9 oz water bottles). But one of my coworkers drinks a gallon (128 oz) of water a day!
Honestly, I don’t think I could drink that much. I have a hard enough time getting in 67 oz on days I don’t workout!
The truth is, eight 8 oz glasses of water (which is actually 64 oz) a day is actually a good rule of thumb, considering our bodies are made up of 80 percent water. If you happen to drink an 8 oz cup of tea without anything in it, you can count that toward your goal. If you put sugar in it, you might want to drink some extra water.
The best way to gauge your hydration? Take a look in the toilet. If your urine is a dark yellow, you’re dehydrated. If it’s pale yellow, or clear you’re drinking enough water. But if you take a lot of supplements, it’s going to change the color of your urine and throw off this “gauge.”
So bottom line?
Eight 8 oz glasses of water is a good rule of thumb.
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Deserts, the water issue.
Extracts from this document...
Desert, term applied to regions on the earth that are characterised by less than about 250mm of annual rainfall, and, in many cases an evaporation rate that exceeds precipitation, and a high average temperature. Because of the lack of moisture in the soil and the low humidity in the atmosphere, most of the sunlight penetrates to the ground. Daytime temperatures have reached 57.8 Degrees Celsius on the 13th of September 1922, this was the highest ever recorded in Libya. On the other hand at night the temperature can drop to near freezing. Deserts are found in ever continent throughout the globe from Africa to the cold plains of Northern China. Hot deserts extend all around the world in two belts, to the north and south of the tropical zone around the world's equator. Further from the equator, north and south are the cold deserts, and even further are the ice-covered polar deserts. Some deserts receive almost no rainfall, for example in southern Egypt, there are many years when rainfall is at an absolute zero. However when it does rain the downpour can be torrential. Thunderstorms quickly dampen the soil surface, then further water runs off the wet surface, creating flash-floods. ...read more.
When it rains, Cacti plants suck in huge amounts of water and swell up like huge balloons. The organ-pipe cactus, which grows 3 times taller than an average person, can hold up to 380 litres in its stem. This is enough to fill 6 standard bath tubs. This amount of water, can get the Cacti through 4 months of drought. Plants don't have to be large to be good at surviving through dry periods. For example, the wild tulips of the deserts of central Asia live through most of the year as small underground bulbs. When the spring rain comes, the bulbs quickly send up leaves and flowers. The bulbs store enough food and water to last until next spring. Preventing water loss Once a plant has built up a good store of water, it needs to prevent water loss. However no plant can avoid losing some water- it's a part of the way they keep themselves alive. All plants give off water vapour into the air. Most of the water vapour escapes through tiny pores (Holes) in the leaves, which plants have to keep open to survive. ...read more.
Some animals can break dry ground with their "Hooves", if they are horses to get some small amounts of water from the surface. Animals lose water when they urinate to get rid of the waste products in the body. To reduce water loss, camels and other desert animals have very concentrated urine. Surviving hot and cold Many deserts are very hot during the day, but at night the temperature can plummet to freezing. To avoid the heat during the days small animals shelter under rocks. Some animals only come out at night when it's cooler. Sometimes it gets too cold to go out at night, therefore animals like the Kangaroo rat come out of their shelters mainly at dawn and dusk, when the temperature is most comfortable. The western Diamondback has little pits under its eyes that can detect infrared radiation (Heat). This helps it see its prey, normally warm blooded rodents in the dark. Cold blooded animals, such as snakes don't need to keep their bodies at a steady temperature. They can spend most of their time cold and inactive using very little energy, because of this, reptiles can live with a tenth of the food mammals and birds need. This gives an advantage in deserts when food is scarce. ...read more.
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What does it mean when a recipe calls for "hulling strawberries"?
Hull is another word for core‚ to "hull" a strawberry is to leave it whole but remove the core. There are two easy ways to hull a strawberry: use a paring knife or a strawberry huller. When using a paring knife, lift the leaves up away from the fruit, insert the tip of the knife at the outside edge of the small cone-shaped core and cut it and the leaves out in one motion.
Watch our video to see various techniques for hulling strawberries.
A strawberry huller is an inexpensive kitchen tool with a sharp jagged edge that cuts into the fruit around the core. It may look like a vegetable peeler with serrated cutting edges (as in the video), or a small metal tube with a jagged bottom which gets inserted into the core. When not simply using a paring knife, I prefer the tube-shaped hullerfor its ease of use.
For some seasonal strawberry recipes, see 7 Ways with Strawberriesand Sensational Stawberry Desserts.
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Apr 16 - 22, 20
The middle class is generally defined as 'poorer than the rich, but richer than the poor'. The simplest definition of the middle class is a group of people in a society who are neither rich nor poor. The middle class has always been considered vital to a country's political stability and economic growth. The rich and the poor simply distrust each other too much to let the other govern.
A growing middle class is typically associated with brighter growth and economic prospects for a country and has significant economic as well social and political implications. Asian middle class growth is a development with global significance and has been described as once in a generation investment opportunity.
Nations with large middle class populations find it easier to reach consensus on sustaining good, democratic governance. The middle class is supposed to be good for a country, at least the economists agree on that. In terms of absolute numbers in millions of people, China and India are naturally the biggest contributors to the rising population of Asia's middle class that is driving increasing consumption. They are followed by Indonesia and Pakistan vying for the third place.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, the size of the middle class was very small when it came into existence, and the country was dominated by a small powerful feudal elite created by the British rulers to sustain their colonial rule. And, the urban middle class remained small for decades. The situation has, however, finally begun to change in the last decade of 2001-11 with a combination of increasing urbanization and faster economic expansion that fueled significant job creation in the industrial and services sectors to enable middle class growth.
Pakistan needs to take leapfrog from large-scale industrialization and focus on services sector as participation of middle class is contributing much more towards country's growth. Countries with larger proportion of middle class have achieved exceptional economic growth despite the recent global recession in national economies throughout the world.
For any country in the world, middle class is the driving force of change and growth and in Pakistan's case middle class is playing a pivotal role in progress of the country. Trend and ratio of acquiring higher education in middle class of the country is much higher as compared to India and Bangladesh and in order to tap this advantage private sector of Pakistan can play its role.
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Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) study explained that middle class is predominantly an urban phenomenon who lives and works in cities.
Recent global trends that indicate that middle income countries are now drivers of global growth such as India and China, who have grown at a very faster pace. Higher income has led to higher household consumption in these countries where one sees a relative shift away from necessity items and towards choice-driven consumption.
Declining growth rate in Pakistan is resulting into unemployment whereas no physical and intellectual space is available to middle class.
Measures are needed for infrastructure and social sector governance, legal and judicial reforms for inclusive markets, and efficiency of public expenditure through result-based management. Middle class is the largest tax payee in the country and proving backbone of the country in growth. The government should provide sound base and do structural legislation for more opportunities for middle class.
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Quora answer: What is software architecture?
There are quite a few good books about Software Architecture. So I think the literature defines Software Architecture well. But what you are really asking about is where the Architect fits into the Software Development Team. With the change over from Agile and Scrum approaches to Software Development the architecture and requirements seems to be left out of account in most of the agile process models and so it seems that the architect role and requirements role have been eclipsed and we seem to think that architecture and requirements are no longer needed and systems can accrete, but of course this leads to Technological Debt. So what I would like to address is the agile at scale where the project is big enough to need the differentiation of requirements and architecture to produce a coherent product.
Now the problem seen with Architecture and Requirements is that they produce documents that are not executable, and thus get out of date, and are not kept up throughout development, and thus are seen as waste from a lean perspective. And as you say all developers have a view of the whole system they are working on in their heads, so why do we need architecture? I am going to try to address that question.
We should recognize that Design itself is applicable at all levels of System and Software development. Thus developers who do not consider themselves or are not considered “architects” are doing design when ever they create something new or different in software. We have software patterns, but the combination and adoption of the patterns is still a design task, even if we do not have to make up new patterns. Design is ubiquitous in development and no one has exclusive access to design within software development, and especially if we adopt agile methods, we should realize that everyone owns the design, and autocratic approaches that give design rights to one developer over others may be expedient but in the long run is harmful, because everyone on the team needs to share the architectural design of the product they are developing together. We know how to share implementation, but we are not as good at group self-organization of the architecture. But the self-organization of the team should reflect the self-organization of the architecture.
I would like to mention that I have just done my dissertation on Emergent Design and what I am going to say is based on that research See http://about.me/emergentdesign
The problem is with agile (scrum) type methods is that although they espouse self-organization of the team there is no real theory of self-organization upon which they are based. Therefore I would like to offer a model of self-organization upon which I will base my remarks.
See http://www.mediafire.com/?jfkjoe2bkddky6a
See also http://www.mediafire.com/?y122wwv7d89qp5u
I have constructed a model of software process based on this model in my book Wild Software Meta-systems. http://works.bepress.com/kent_palmer/
So given that context let me begin by saying that self-organization can be seen in the nature of knots that are organized against themselves by their own self-interference. So we have a very precise model of self-organization in knot theory. Knot theory is a new discipline, and probably one if the youngest of the mathematical disciplines. The best work on this is that of Louis Kauffman http://www.math.uic.edu/~kauffman/ whose work I follow. Particularly because he is interested and takes seriously the work of G. Spencer Brown in Laws of Form. http://www.lawsofform.org/
Self-organization is related to self-production which is Autopoiesis, and we are talking about teams that produce these complex systems in most cases so that means that we have reflexive autopoietic systems exhibiting this self-organization. Self-organization of the team, and the organization of the product developed by the team are two different but deeply related matters. What we need to understand better is how the alleopoietic organization of the product of the team reflects the self-organization of the team.
In other words we are arguing that requirements and design are intrinsic to the self-organization of the team, and that this is reflected in the requirements and architectural design of the product produced by the team. So let us consider what requirements and how they relate to functions. Requirements have to be developed in relation to a functional model of the system. This is because without the functional model you would not know whether the requirements set is complete, consistent, or clear or balanced, or fully describes the intended system. Requirements are ideally Godellian statements of the hypothetical emergent properties of the system that is desired. I like the statement that I read somewhere that the requirements carry the customer value of the system being developed, and allow us to keep our focus on that during the development process. But Requirements are un-ordered, they are axiomatic statements.
The physical and functional architecture are related to the Agent and Functional viewpoints on the realtime system which are partially ordered. But those partially ordered viewpoints ultimately have to yield embodiment in spacetime as eventdata computation that is fully ordered. Thus the relation of requirements, design, and implementation are determined by what Klir in Architecture of Systems Problem Solving, the methodological distinctions with respect to the ordering of variables in the system.
At the highest level we have unordered requirements, and then at the next level we have partially ordered functions and agents, then at the next leve we have either partial order with distance or linear order without distance which are duals of each other. Finally we have full order with distance which is the condition that is necessary for computation and full implementation. So when we say organized, there are different levels of order that we may be alluding to.
Now what is fascinating is that once we realize that the methodological distinctions orders determine the level of organization which is present in the system being developed and that there is a duality in this lattice between linear order without distance or partial order with distance. These two duals have the kind of duality that exists in the minimal methods. The minimal methods are the information order that is necessary to capture the relations between viewpoints. Since there are four viewpoints on a realtime system there are six different transformations between these viewpoints. Interestingly these more or less correspond to what exists as methods in UML and SysML. Functions were taboo in the original UML specification but this minimal method has been added back in with SysML. The only difference between object oriented and functional dataflow minimal methods is whether you are looking at data from the point of view of function or function from the point of view of data.
Now once we understand the minimal methods as bridges between the viewpoints on a real time design we can start thinking about this in both allopoietic and autopoietic ways in order to relate the self-organization of the team and the alleopoietic organization of the architecture of the system.
My own research led me to create the Integral Software Engineering Methodology (ISEM) which was a domain specific language to give a model based description of software architectural designs. Recently I gave a paper on how this might be updated to work at the Systems Design level based on the research in my dissertation. This paper can be seen at http://kentpalmer.name which is my resume page. But at the bottom you can see my CSER paper on the changes that I have made to my design language to make it easier to do Systems Design.
First I advocate using Domain Specific Languages to express design. You can see why in my critique of SysML: http://holonomic.net/sml01a03.pdf.
The key idea that instead of diagrammatic visualization that we get in UML and SysML we should express designs in text like we express code. This way as text we can keep it like the code and even put it within the code as comments. It could act as constraints on the code structure and thus be part of the execution strategy when we build the code or even be the basis of code generation. The problem with UML and SysML is that they are semantically weak being composed of only relations.
So let us go back to the question at hand, which is how the self-organization of the team is related to the organization of the structure of the software. Architecture can be seen as a protocol for organizing team coordination over the structure of the product being built. In other words the team provides a reflexive social meta-system within which individual team members function together and coordinate their development work. But part of the information they have to convey to each other and preserve is about the internal structure of the application that they are building. Requirements and Architectural Design is part of the protocol for communicating about the structure of the program that is based on the self-organization of the team. In other words the team is producing an intersubjective synthesis. The production process is structured and that allows the product to be structured at the macro level. But this means there must be a protocol which will allow the team to develop different parts of the system without working against each other or stepping on each others work, such that the whole system works together when integrated, verified and validated.
If we see requirements and architectural design as this communication protocol that holds the macro synthesis together then it is possible to see how architecture and requirements are nothing different from the value stream of the team by which the emergent properties sought are projected into Being. If one is doing software within some predetermined framework then the framework is giving the order to the whole application that the various team members are contributing to. But if the application has a unique structure that needs more than the framework then we will need an architecture that is designed to give a macro structure to coordinate work.
Posted September 12, 2011 by kentpalmer in Uncategorized
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Book Reviews
Water Beds
Sleeping in the Ocean
Reviewed by
Bedtime stories are meant to quiet the mind and relax the body and they only enhance the experience when they are also educational. “Sleeping in the Ocean” aims both to provide a transition into dreams as if the child is “floating on gentle waves all night long” (preface) and allow the child to think outside herself and her environment. It is common to see how people as well as those familiar domestic animals one comes in contact with sleep but the question of how sea animals sleep in a world so unlike ours is addressed elegantly in Karwoski and McLennan’s book.
The story begins by addressing a “little person” tucked in a “warm dry bed” who is surrounded by stuffed animals in the shape of sea animals. “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sleep in the deep deep sea?” the book asks the main character who though called “little person” is drawn as a young boy. Holding a stuffed animal dolphin the boy then follows a path of sleeping sea mammals from various whales (including Orca Humpbacks and Beluga) and seals (including Harbor Elephant and Northern Fur) to other mammals like dolphins manatees walruses and sea otters.
This journey is the basis for a soothing instruction of marine mammal sleep habits delivered in a simplified but accurate manner. And as is usual for Sylvan Dell Books the story is not all; an additional section at the end offers information and activities “For Creative Minds.” Youngsters can learn more about mammal facts and draw and create their own mammal by learning how each part of the body helps them survive.
The illustration is beautiful and rich with movement and color. McLennan confidently uses burnt yellow purples and reds to contrast the myriad of greens and blues traditionally associated with the sea and as a result deepens the images with possibility and imagination. The animals seem to have personalities even with eyes closed and each component of the sea world appears benevolent and safe.
It’s even more unsettling then in the midst of this loving watery world to in each scene see the boy depicted next to the animals as also asleep—but underwater. Since it is impossible for humans to sleep as such the boy often appears dead especially with the walruses where he is suspended in a neck flotation device with his eyes closed. Karwoski and McLennan make the unsignaled leap that the boy is no longer awake and listening to this bedtime story in the rest of the book as he is on page one but especially since in our dreams our dream-self is awake it is even more jarring.
Overlooking the boy’s appearance which does upset some of the soothing calm the story and quality of the illustrations largely achieve in concept and substance it is a smart book that successfully bridges a child’s imagination and growing understanding of the physical world.
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During the design process of new products, engineers often use various rendering tools that provide photo-realistic visualizations. These renders will evolve in the new product development process into real products that consumers can purchase and use. With proper skill and tool, we are able to get great renders that seem to be taken with high-end cameras. These photos are so realistic that most people don’t realize that they are not real at all. Photorealistic, computer-generated products are essential in any product design. There are ideas and concepts that we need to improve before they can exist in physical forms. Rendering can also be used after the product is released, such as for usage instructions. Before the age of computer, it would be quite arduous to create a cutaway or exploded view of specific prototypes.
In your R&D process, rendering is essential and it’s a process of creating images of model, prototype, or final product using software. Rendering is used in many industrial purpose, such as architecture, car production and entertainment. Product visualization with rendering can be used throughout the design process and even after the product is launched and well received by consumer. Rendering is useful for communicating early concepts and we will also be able to assess responses from stakeholders. Even if we are still in the conceptualization stage, everyone will already be able to know about the final appearance of the product. Rendering specialists should know how to apply affects such as motion blurs, reflections, shadows, texture mapping and shading to deliver photo-realistic results. The whole process can be made faster thanks to hardware acceleration and better rendering algorithm. Many small businesses can still obtain high-end rendering capability using standard desktop computers, although it means that the rendering time is a bit longer.
Today, many designers and engineers are already proficient in rendering techniques and they embrace all the available tools. Rendering has always be a part in any product development process and it has essential marketing purposes. We should make sure that rendering will fit into our own product development process. Marketers and salespeople understand the value of CAD models both in 2D and 3D formats as visual assets that can help them in sales floor, such as in showroom and trade events. With proper tools, we are able to sketch any detail quickly and directly to create the intended 3D object. Even for a comprehensive 3D rendering, it may only take days to complete, instead of weeks. It should be quite easy to create multiple versions of the rendering. Designers can modify the rendering with different feel, look and color to give people proper perspective on the product. The final look of the rendering should be approved by the engineering team before it can be used for development purposes.
Rendering should be updated during the product development process, especially if new features will be added continuously throughout the lifetime of the product. Clients and consumer would love to get high-fidelity rendering, because they are more interested with visual aspect, instead of getting a long specs sheet. Using CAD and other rendering method should be a smart move. Stakeholders should understand how changes will affect current products in terms of physical appearance. When choosing a rendering tool, we should make sure that it provides enough flexibility. As an example, we shouldn’t do a lot of work to move over a component or two in the design. It’s a real pain to start everything from scratch and having to redo all steps.
For many small companies, it is not possible to get enough computing resources to obtain quick rendering performance. Rendering highly detailed model will require significant computing resources and the task can be performed in remote data center. It means that small businesses don’t need to purchase high-end hardware. Manufacturers and product development firms in China are highly proficient in the use of 2D and 3D rendering techniques. China Assured makes sure that traders obtain full-featured rendering service in China for product development purposes.
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Philosophy and Opinions
We are living in a civilization that is highly developed. We are living in a world that is scientifically arranged in which everything done by those who control is done through system; proper arrangement, proper organization, and among some of the organized methods used to control the world is the thing known and called "PROPAGANDA."
Propaganda has done more to defeat the good intentions of races and nations than even open warfare.
Propaganda is a method or medium used by organized peoples to convert others against their will.
We of the Negro race are suffering more than any other race in the world from propaganda - Propaganda to destroy our hopes, our ambitions and our confidence in self.
When a man is a slave he has no liberty of action; no freedom of will, he is bound and controlled by the will and act of others; as of the individual, so of the race.
Slavery is not a condition confined to any one age or race of people. Slavery has been since man in the different distribution of himself, scattered here, there and everywhere, has grown and developed, wherein one race will become strong and the other race remains weak. The strong race has always reduced the weak to slavery. It has been so in ages past, it is so now in certain parts of the world, and will be so until the end of time.
The great British nation was once a race of slaves. In their own country they were not respected because the Romans went there, brutalized and captured them, took them over to Rome and kept them in slavery. They were not respected in Rome because they were regarded as a slave race. But the Briton did not always remain a slave. As a freed man he went back to his country (Britain) and built up a civilization of his own, and by his self-reliance and initiative he forced the respect of mankind and maintains it until today.
The powers opposed to Negro progress will not be influenced in the slighest by mere verbal protests on our part. They realize only too well that protests of this kind contain nothing but the breath expended in making them.
They also realize that their success in enslaving and dominating the darker portion of humanity was due solely to the element of FORCE employed (in the majority of cases this was accomplished by force of arms.)
Pressure of course may assert itself in other forms, but in the last analysis whatever influence is brought to bear against the powers opposed to Negro progress must contain the element of FORCE in order to accomplish its purpose, since it is apparent that this is the only element they recognize.
To be learned in all that is worth while knowing. Not to be crammed with the subject matter of the book or the philosophy of the class room, but to store away in your head such facts as you need for the daily application of life, so that you may the better in all things understand your fellowmen, and interpret your relationship to your Creator.
You can be educated in soul, vision and feeling, as well as in mind. To see your enemy and know him is a part of the complete education of man; to spiritually regulate one's self is another form of the higher education that fits man for a nobler place in life, and still, to approach your brother by the feeling of your own humanity, is an education that softens the ills of the world and makes us kind indeed.
Many a man was educated outside the school room. It is something you let out, not completely take in. You are part of it, for it is natural; it is dormant simply because you will not develop it, but God creates every man with it knowingly or unknowingly to him who possesses it - that's the difference. Develop yours and you become as great and full of knowledge as the other fellow without even entering the class room.
Some of the men of the Negro race aggravate the race question because they force the white man to conclude that to educate a black man, to give him opportunities, is but to fit him to be a competitor for the hand of his woman; hence the eternal race question.
But not all black men are willing to commit race suicide and to abhor their race for the companionship of another. There are hundreds of millions of us black men who are proud of our skins and to us the African Empire will not be a Utopia, neither will it be dangerous nor fail to serve our best interests, because we realize that like the leopard we cannot change our skins.
The men of the highest morals, highest character and noblest pride are to be found among the masses of the Negro race who love their women with as much devotion as white men love theirs.
Prejudice of the white race against the black race is not so much because of color as of condition; because as a race, to them, we have accomplished nothing; we have built no nation, no government; because we are dependent for our economic and political existence.
You can never curb the prejudice of the one race or nation against the other by law. It must be regulated by one's own feeling, one's own will, and if one's feeling and will rebel against you no law in the world can curb it.
Prejudice can be actuated by different reasons. Sometimes the reason is economic, and sometimes political. You can only obstruct it by progress and force.
"Radical" is a label that is always applied to people who are endeavoring to get freedom.
Jesus Christ was the greatest radical the world ever saw. He came and saw a world of sin and his program was to inspire it with spiritual feeling. He was therefore a radical.
George Washington was dubbed a radical when he took up his sword to fight his way to liberty in America one hundred and forty years ago.
All men who call themselves reformers are perforce radicals. They cannot be anything else, because they are revolting against the conditions that exist.
Conditions as they exist reveal a conservative state, and if you desire to change these conditions you must be a radical.
I am, therefore, satisfied to be the same kind of radical, if through radicalism I can free Africa.
Government is not infallible. Government is only an executive control, a centralized authority for the purpose of expressing the will of the people.
Before you have a government you must have the people. Without the people there can be no government. The government must be, therefore, an expression of the will of the people.
A hellish state to be in. It is no virtue. It is a crime.
To be poor, is to be hungry without possible hope of food; to be sick without hope of medicine; to be tired and sleepy without a place to lay one's head; to be naked without the hope of clothing; to be despised and comfortless. To be poor is to be a fit subject for crime and hell.
The hungry man steals bread and thereby breaks the eighth commandment; by his state he breaks all the laws of God and man and becomes an outcast. In thought and deed he covets his neighbor's goods; comfortless as he is he seeks his neighbor's wife; to him there is no other course but sin and death. That is the way of poverty. No one wants to be poor.
Power is the only argument that satisfies man.
Except the individual, the race or the nation has POWER that is exclusive, it means that that individual, race or nation will be bound by the will of the other who possesses this great qualification.
It is the physical and pugilistic power of Harry Wills that makes white men afraid to fight him.
It was the industrial and scientific power of the Teutonic race that kept it for years as dictator of the economic and scientific policies of Europe.
It is the naval and political power of Great Britain that keeps her mistress of the seas.
It is the commercial and financial power of the United States of America that makes her the greatest banker in the world. Hence it is advisable for the Negro to get power of every kind. POWER in education, science, industry, politics and higher government. That kind of power that will stand out signally, so that other races and nations can see, and if they will not see, then FEEL.
Man is not satisfied or moved by prayers or petitions, but every man is moved by that power of authority which forces him to do even against his will.
Humanity everywhere is struggling toward political freedom and economic opportunity. In this struggle we are confronted with the rivalry of the keenest minds of the age; each race and nation seeking to present its best to the world.
So much is expected of each by the different rivals, that it becomes impossible to reach an amicable settlement and to establish universal confidence.
It can be plainly seen that no one race or nation trusts the other. There is a UNIVERSAL SUSPICION that hovers over the conduct of every great leader representative of his race or nation. It is this suspicion that limited the Washington Four pact Treaty; it is this suspicon that caused the failure of the Genoa Conference; it is this suspicion that is going to wreck ultimately many of the nations and empires of today, thereby throwing into obscurity many of the races that now dominate the affairs of men. We as a race, are called upon to play our part, and we must do it well.
In the spread of this universal suspicion that causes nation to distrust nation, and race to distrust race, we also have our distrust which makes it impossible for us to believe in anyone else but ourselves.
Some Negro leaders have advanced the belief that in another few years the white people will make up their minds to assimilate their black populations; thereby sinking all racial prejudice in the welcoming of the black race into the social companionship of the white. Such leaders further believe that by the amalgamation of black and white, a new type will spring up, and that type will become the American and West Indian of the future.
This belief is preposterous. I believe that white men should be white, yellow men should be yellow, and black men should be black in the great panorama of races, until each and every race by its own initiative lifts itself up to the common standard of humanity, as to compel the respect and appreciation of all, and so make it possible for each one to stretch out the hand of welcome without being able to be prejudiced against the other because of any inferior and unfortunate condition.
The white man of America will not, to any organized extent, assimilate the Negro, because in so doing, he feels that he will be committing racial suicide. This he is not prepared to do. It is true he illegitimately carries on a system of assimilation; but such assimilation, as practised, is one that he is not prepared to support because he becomes prejudiced against his own offspring, if that offspring is the product of black and white; hence, to the white man the question of racial differences is eternal. So long as Negroes occupy an inferior position among the races and nations of the world, just so long will others be prejudiced against them, because it will be profitable for them to keep up their system of superiority. But when the Negro by his own initiative lifts himself from his low state to the highest human standard he will be in a position to stop begging and praying, and demand a place that no individual, race or nation will be able to deny him.
God placed man on earth as the lord of Creation. The elements - all nature are at his command - it is for him to harness them subdue them and use them.
Edison harnessed electricity. Today the world reflects the brilliancy of his grand illumination.
Stephenson, through experiments, has given us the use of the steam engine, and today the railroad train flies across the country at a speed of sixty miles an hour.
Marconi conquered the currents of the air and today we have wireless telegraphy that flashes news across the continents with a rapidity never yet known to man.
All this reveals to us that man is the supreme lord of creation, that in man lies the power of mastery, a mastery of self, a mastery of all things created, bowing only to the Almighty Architect in those things that are spiritual, in those things that are divine.
In the fight to reach the top the oppressed have always been encumbered by the traitors of their own race, made up of those of little faith and those who are generally susceptible to bribery for the selling out of the rights of their own people.
As Negroes, we are not entirely free of such an encumbrance. To be outspoken, I believe we are more encumbered in this way than any other race in the world, because of the lack of training and preparation for fitting us for our place in the world among nations and races.
The traitor of other races is generally confined to the mediocre or irresponsible individual, but, unfortunately, the traitors among the Negro race are generally to be found among the men highest placed in education and society, the fellows who call them selves leaders.
For us to examine ourselves thoroughly as a people we will find that we have more traitors than leaders, because nearly everyone who essays to lead the race at this time does so by first establishing himself as the pet of some philanthropist of another race, to whom he will go and debase his race in the worst form, humiliate his own manhood, and thereby win the sympathy of the "great benefactor", who will dictate to him what he should do in the leadership of the Negro race. It is generally "You must go out and teach your people to be meek and humble; tell them to be good servants, loyal and obedient to their masters. If you will teach them such a doctrine you can always depend on me to give you $1,000 a year or $5,000 a year for the support of yourself, the newspaper or the institution you represent. I will always recommend you to my friends as a good fellow who is all right." With this advice and prospect of patronage the average Negro leader goes out to lead the unfortunate mass. These leaders tell us how good Mr. So and So is, how many good friends we have in the opposite race, and that if we leave everything to them all will work out well.
This is the kind of leadership we have been having for the last fifty years. It is nothing else but treachery and treason of the worst kind. The man who will compromise the attitude of his country is a traitor, and even so the man who will compromise the rights of his race can be classified in no other way than that of a traitor also.
Not until we settle down as four hundred million people and have let the men who have placed themselves in the lead of us realize that we are disgusted and dissatisfied, and that we shall have a leadership of our own and stick by it when we get it, will we be able to lift ourselves from this mire of degradation to the heights of prosperity, human liberty and human appreciation.
Philosophy & Opinions of Marcus Garvey, edited by Amy Jacques Garvey (Atheneum, New York 1977).
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Treble vs. triple
Where treble has to do with threes, there is no substantive difference between it and tripleTreble is favored in a few specific contexts (in the game of darts, for instance), but triple is generally favored everywhere else. Even in British English, where treble is most common, triple appears approximately three times for every instance of treble. In American English, treble is almost unheard of except in relation to sound and music.
The proposal made public Tuesday more than triples the area proposed as critical habitat for the Mississippi gopher frog. [Houston Chronicle]
The desert nation plans to more than treble annual gas output to 230 billion cubic metres (bcm) by 2030. [Reuters]
Triple-check that the arm holes are large enough and positioned properly for your little trick-or-treater. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
I always treble-check my passport after going to Las Vegas to do a BBC programme a couple of years ago. [Telegraph]
Twitter’s ad revenues are expected to triple this year. [Forbes]
Onslow, where the population is expected to treble, will receive a $250 million package. [Sydney Morning Herald]
Check Your Text
1. David Bandel says:
Treble is also used in legal speak. Ex: The plaintiff is seeking treble damages.
2. grammarwise says:
triple is an adjective.
eg. You score triple points by…
treble is a verb.
eg. You can treble your points by…
End of discussion.
3. @grammarwise triple and treble both work as a verb, adverb. adjective and even a noun (source Chambers ED) . The use of them in your example is one I personally prefer as well, and one that the Minster Guide to English Usage (1979) claims is more usual but not prescriptive. It also mentions treble also being the preferred noun and triple having the addtional meaining of threefold. . It remains personal and the two words remain synonyms as the original post suggests. I think saying “treble zero” in a phone number, for example, sounds better than “triple zero”. On a related matter, in American English i am suprised by the number of speakers who use “two-times” instead of twice; something that I think would never be heard this side of the pond.
4. reardensteel says:
One should always say treble crochet when referring to the yarn maneuver.
5. reardensteel says:
Maybe the struggle arises from the words double and quadruple.
People just can’t decide whether to go with the b or the p.
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Islamic Law and Society
First Published: Sep 08, 1990
Shari‘ah (Islamic law) has been the dominant moral and legal code of Muslim societies for the greater part of their history. During the early centuries of Islam, Shari’ah facilitated the social growth and development of the Muslims, growth that culminated in the establishment of a vast empire and an outstanding civilization. By the close of the fifth century of Islam, however, Shari’ah began to lose its role as the guiding force that inspired Muslim creativity and ingenuity and that nurtured the growing spirit of the Muslim community (Ummah). Consequently, the Ummah entered a period of stagnation that gradually gave way to intellectual decline and social decadence. Regrettably, this painful trend continues to be more or less ‘part of the individual consciousness and collective experience of Muslims.
This paper attempts to trace the development of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, and to assess the impact of Shari‘ah on society. It argues that the law ceased to grow by the sixth century of Islam as a result of The development of classical legal theory; more specifically, law was put on hold, as it were, after the doctrine of the infallibility of ijma’ (juristic consensus) was articulated. The rigid principles of classical theory, it is contended, have been primarily induced by the faulty epistemology employed .by sixth-century jurists.
Shari’ah, or Islamic law, is a comprehensive system encompassing the whole field of human experience. It is not simply a legal system, but rather a composite system of law and morality. That is, Islamic law aspires to regulate all aspects of human activities, not only those that may entail legal consequences. Hence, all actions and relationships are evaluated in accordance with a scale of five moral standards.
According to Shari’ah, an act may be classified as obligatory (wajib), recommended (mandub), permissible (mubah), reprehensible (makruh), or prohibited (haram).’[1] These five categories reflect the varying levels of moral demand placed on human acts by Divine Will. Acts that fall in the categories on the two opposite extremes are strictly demanded, whereas acts falling in the two categories around the neutral center of the scale are not as solemnly demanded, and hence their violation, though discouraged, is not condemned. To put it differently, while the individual is morally obliged to follow the commands of the first and last categories — i.e., the obligatory and prohibited —he is only encouraged to observe the commands of the second and fourth— i.e., the recommended and reprehensible.
It should be emphasized, however, that even the absolute commands of the law have essential moral, or more accurately religious, implications, and thus are not necessarily under state sanction. For instance, the pilgrimage to Makkah once in a lifetime is obligatory (wajib) for every Muslim who is physically and financially capable of performing this duty. Yet the state, according to Shari’ah, may not compel the individual to fulfill this personal obligation.
Notwithstanding the inextricable association between law and morality in Shari’ah, Muslim jurists conveniently differentiate between private and public morality—or, using Islamic-law vocabulary, haq Allah (rights of God) and huquq al ‘ibad (rights of humans) — and hold that only the latter may be subject to legal sanctions. Private morality includes purely religious activities pertaining directly to the spiritual relationship between a human being and God, labeled as ‘ibadat (services). Since ‘ibadat, or services, do not have, for the most part, any social consequences, the individual, it is argued, is answerable to God for fulfilling them, not to society. Public morality, on the other hand, encompasses those patterns of behavior that have social consequences, appropriately labeled mu‘amalat (transactions). Because of the direct implications mu‘amalat activities have on society’s ability to maintain public peace and order, their regulation may be legally enforced by the state. The division of individual obligations and duties into categories of public and private is, nonetheless, more apparent than real; for, according to Islamic theory, all human activities, regardless of whether they are public or private, are subject to ethical judgment, because all human beings are ultimately accountable to God for their actions.
Law and morality, though interrelated, are perceived by most Western lawyers to be two distinct and separate spheres. Positive law theories predominant in Western society insist that law is only one of a number of social mechanisms—including religion, morality, education, etc.—employed in society to ensure individual conformity to social norms. This means that the ability of Western law to regulate social behavior is limited by, and contingent on, the performance of other social institutions. Only when the ideals and values promoted by other social institutions are compatible with those of the legal system can the law function effectively. Addressing the question of the impact of law on individual and social development, Iredell Jenkins argues that
law is not an effective instrument for the formation of human character or the development of human potentialities. It has a very limited power to make men into acceptable social members or to help them become accomplished individuals. Furthermore, law can set minimum standards and define broad guidelines to assure that institutions do in fact provide the services and promote the purposes for which they acknowledge obligation and claim credit. Though law cannot secure the essential similarities that are necessary to a sound society, it can eliminate gross dissimilarity among individuals and groups, and it can prevent serious nonfeasance or misfeasance on the part of other institutions.[2]
In contrast, the impact of Islamic law on society is pervasive and far-reaching, for Shari’ah is an all-inclusive system combining both the legal and moral realms. Shari‘ah has guided the development and performance of not only legal institutions, but also those of other institutions and agencies of society, including governmental, business, and educational institutions. This aspect of Islamic law can partially explain to us the success the law had in transforming heterogeneous and incongruent societies into one relatively homogeneous political community during the early centuries of Islam.
The Purpose of Shari’ah
According to Islamic theory, Shari’ah was revealed to provide a set of criteria so that right (haq) may be distinguished from wrong (bati1). By adhering to the rules of law, the Muslims would develop a society superior in its moral as well as material quality to societies which fail to observe the revealed will of God. Shari’ ah, as a comprehensive moral and legal system, aspires to regulate all aspects of human behavior to produce conformity with Divine Law. According to the faqih (Islamic jurists), adhering to the rules and principles of Shari’ah not only causes the individual to draw closer to God, but also facilitates the development of a just society in which the individual may be able to realize his or her potential, and whereby prosperity is ensured to all. In other words, while religion, as a set of values and beliefs, establishes the goals and ideals which society must strive to attain, Islamic law furnishes the code of conduct that should be observed by Muslims if they are to achieve the desired goals.
Islamic Law (Shari’ah) is closely intertwined with religion, and both are considered expressions of God’s will and justice, but whereas the aim of religion is to define and determine goals (justice or others) the function of law is to indicate the path (the term Shari’ah indeed bears this meaning) by virtue of which God’s justice and other goals are realized.[3]
The purpose of Shari’ah, therefore, is to provide the standards and criteria that would gain the ends prescribed by revelation. According to Islamic legal theory, justice, as the ultimate value that justifies the existence of law and as the ultimate criterion for the evaluation of social behavior, cannot be realized apart from the understanding of the purpose of human existence. Such understanding cannot be discovered by human reasoning, as natural law theory asserts. It must be acquired by direct exposure to Divine Will through revelation. Therefore, justice may only be fully realized when Divine Law is recognized and implemented by society.
Justice can be defined either as material or substantive (the goals and ideals that law intends to further), or as formal or procedural (the procedures and standards that must be observed to realize the ends of law). Substantive justice is the set of ideals that depict the best Islamic society, which in the end Shari’ah endeavors to achieve. Procedural justice is the standards and patterns of behavior that must be adhered to if a just society is ever to be realized.
The Development of Shari’ah
Classical legal theory was developed over the first five centuries of Islam. Initially, the Prophet was the sole legislator of the community (Ummah). Community affairs were regulated by Qur’anic statements revealed in a piecemeal fashion to instruct Muslims regarding the appropriate patterns of behavior in relation to the various problems and questions that confronted the first community.
The early verses of the Qur’an, revealed in Makkah before the establishment of the Islamic city-state of Medina, consisted of general statements concerning divine attributes, as well as mans mission and destiny. With the establishment of the first Islamic state in Medina, the Qur’anic verses began to include injunctions and statements concerning the characteristics of the just society, along with sporadic legal enunciations. In addition to his principal mission as the bearer and verbalizer of revelation, the Prophet served as the head of the community and the interpreter of the Qur’an; he was always available both to clarify the intent of the Qur’anic verses and to respond to inquiries on issues and questions of which the Qur’an was either silent or ambiguous. The personal judgments made by the Prophet were later referred to as the Sunnah or Hadith, to distinguish them from the Qur’an.[4]
Initially the term Sunnah was used in reference to the practice of the Prophet and early Muslim Ummah as they attempted to apply the injunctions of the Qur’an to daily life. As such the Sunnah was the living tradition of the community. The term Hadith, on the other hand, was used in connection with the utterances of the Prophet as they were circulated within the community and narrated by the Prophet’s companions to relate his practices and directives to other Muslims. Gradually, however, the whole of the Sunnah, the living tradition, was reflected in the Hadith, and the two terms became completely consubstantial by the fifth/eleventh century.[5]
With the death of the Prophet and the emergence of new circumstances and issues never before addressed by the Qur’an or the Sunnah, the question arose as to how the Shari’ah would subsequently be known. The answer was in the exercise of juristic speculation (ijtihad), a practice that had already been approved by the Prophet. However, a juristic opinion (ra’y) arrived at by the exercise of ijtihad could lead only to tentative conclusions or conjunctures (zann). Such judgments were thus considered by jurists as subject to abrogation and refutation. But when juristic opinions arrived at through ijtihad were subjects of general agreement by the jurists (fuqaha), they were considered incontrovertible, and hence binding for the entire community. The juristic speculation of individual jurists (ijtihad) and their consensus (ijma’) became, after the death of the Prophet, additional sources of Shari’ah, and new methods to define Divine Law.
Al-Shafi’i, an eminent classical jurist and the founder of one of the four major schools of law in the history of Islam,[6] presented in the second/seventh century the first discourse on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), which was later compiled by his students in a book entitled Al-Risalah (The Discourse). Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, al-Shafi’i recognized the four major principles of usul al-fiqh: the Qur’an, the Sunnah (tradition of the Prophet), ijma’ (consensus), and ijtihad (juristic speculation). He, however, redefined the last three principles.
Before al-Shafi’i presented his thesis in Al-Risalah, Muslim jurists by and large regarded the Sunnah, whether in the form of the living tradition of the community or the circulated narratives of the Hadith, as the practical application of the Qur’anic injunctions as they were understood by the Prophet and his companions. As such, the Sunnah was used by jurists to gain insight into the meanings and practical application of Qur’anic principles. Furthermore, early jurists accepted a Hadith only when it was supported by the Islamic principles established by the Qur’an, and they did not hesitate to reject it when it conflicted with generally accepted rules.[7] However, al-Shafi’i insisted that the Hadith, being divinely inspired, could not be abrogated by the Qur’an, and thus the community was obliged to abide by its injunctions.[8]
As a result of al-Shafi’i’s insistence on the intrinsic and independent authority of the Hadith, the Sunnah and Hadith were vested with superseding authority; for although the Qur’an continued, in theory, to be regarded as the primary source of law, the Hadith for all practical purposes was given predominance in formulating legal rulings. The Hadith was used not only to interpret the Qur’an, but also to limit its application and occasionally abrogate its injunctions.[9]
The third source of law in al-Shafi’i’s legal theory was consensus (ijma). To him, ijma’ was not the consensus of the jurists but that of the community at large. Al-Shafi’i perceived two interrelated problems in the identification of ijma’ with the consensus of the jurists. First, consensus of the jurists was used to perpetuate the living tradition of the various schools of law, preventing thereby the unification of Islamic law. Second, and probably the most crucial problem from the Shafi’i perspective, the consensus of jurists was used to reject the Hadith whenever the latter contradicted the prevailing doctrines of a particular school of law.’[10]
Indeed, al-Shafi’i was quite successful in making the Hadith an incontrovertible source of law, the second principal source after the Qur’an. Yet the triumph of al-Shafi’i’s thesis did not come without opposition. It was strongly resisted even by eminent jurists and supporters of the Hadith. Ibn Qutayba, for instance, continued to hold that the Hadith could be rejected by the consensus of the jurists, thereby giving ijma’ priority over the Hadith: ‘We hold that ijma’ is a surer vehicle of truth (or right) than the Hadith, for the latter is subject to forgetfulness, neglect, doubts, interpretations, and abrogation. . . . But ijma’ is free from these contingencies.”[11]
The final recognized source of law, according to al-Shafi’i, was ijtihad. Before al-Shafi’i, ijtihad was a comprehensive concept involving any method that employed reasoning for defining the Divine Law. Al-Shafi’i, however, confined juristic speculation (ijtihad) to the process of extending the application of established rules to new questions by analogy (qiyas).”[12] Analogical reasoning, in classical theory, required that the efficient cause (‘ila) of the divine command be determined so that the application of the command may be extended to other objects sharing the same effect. For example, the jurists determined that the ‘ila for prohibiting the consumption of wine was its intoxicating effect. By analogy, the jurists decided, therefore, that any substance that possessed the same effect must also be prohibited, even though it may not have been explicitly forbidden by the letter of the Qur’an or Sunnah.
By limiting juristic speculation (ijtihad) to analogical reasoning (qiyas), al-Shafi’i hoped that he could render the former more systematic and, consequently, ensure the unity of law, while opposing the efforts of those who would be tempted to usurp the law for their own personal ends. Analogy (qiyas), nonetheless, continued to be considered by a significant number of jurists as only one of several methods through which the principle of ijtihad could be practiced. The followers of the Hanafi and Maliki schools of law, for instance, employed the principles of juristic preference (istihsan) and public good (istislah) respectively, regarding them as appropriate methods to derive the rules of Shari’ah. Apparently, the former method was employed by the Hanafi jurists to counteract the Shafi’i jurists’ attempts to limit the concept of juristic speculation to the method of reasoning by analogy. Istil.2san (juristic preference) was an attempt to return to the freedom of juristic opinion (ra’y) that permitted jurists to make legal rulings without relying solely on analogy. For the more systematic jurists, however, rulings rendered through the application of istihsan were nothing more than arbitrary rulings or, as al-Shafi’i put it, “innama al-istihsan taladhudh” (istihsan is ruling by caprice).[13]
Istislah (consideration of public good) was another approach employed by Maliki, and to a lesser extent by Hanafi, jurists to escape the rigid form into which the Shari’ah was gradually cast by more conservative jurists (primarily the Shafi’i and Hanbali). The jurists who advocated the use of the ist4l&~z method argued that the principles of Shari’ah aimed at promoting the general interests of the community; therefore “public good” should guide legal decisions wherever revelation was silent with regard to the question under consideration.[14]
Classical Legal Theory
Despite the restrictions placed by al-Shafi’i and other scholars, Shari’ah continued to grow in terms of both its methodology and the body of new rules formulated in response to the concerns of a growing society. By the close of the fifth/eleventh century, however, the science of law began to decline, while the law itself was firmly cast into a rigid mold. It was during this advanced period of the history of Islamic legal thinking that the classical legal theory was formulated. But although the theory itself was the culmination of a long process of accumulation and growth, stretching over five centuries, its historical development was not reflected in the theory itself and was completely ignored by subsequent classical jurists.
Among the prime factors that contributed to the rigidity of law was the doctrine of the infallibility of ijma’. The principle of ijma’ was defined first as the agreement of the early community, and was employed to substantiate the fundamental doctrines of the faith. With the establishment of the schools of law during the first two centuries, ijma’ was redefined as the consensus of jurists on rulings originally established through juristic speculation (ijtihad).
The principle of the consensus of jurists was first designed as a means to substantiate the speculative judgments of individual jurists, and hence confer on them a higher degree of certainty and authority. Gradually, however, the theory of the infallibility of ijma’ was advanced, thereby turning the early pragmatic authority of the legal rulings which enjoyed consensus of the jurists into theoretical absoluteness.
According to the theory of the infallibility of ijma’, a juristic consensus on an issue should be considered as the final step toward understanding the “truth” of that issue. The doctrine of the infallibility of ijma’ was supported by a Hadith in which the Prophet was reported to have said: “My community shall never agree on an error?”[15] As a result of this new definition of ijma’, jurists were discouraged from reexamining decisions or judgments on which consensus had been reached, for such reexamination was, according to classical theory, pointless and unnecessary. Thus, it was only a matter of time before jurists came to the conclusion that “all essential questions had been thoroughly discussed and finally settled, and a consensus gradually established itself that from then on no one could have the necessary qualifications for independent reasoning in law.”[16]
Henceforth, ijtihad ceased to be one of the functions of the jurist, let alone a source of law. For one thing, ijtihad was perceived to be senseless after Shari’ah was completed and the essential questions answered. But in addition, “the qualifications for ijtihad were made so immaculate and rigorous and were set so high that they were humanly impossible.”[17] Gradually the principle of ijtihad was replaced by that of taqlid (imitation), whereby the jurist was supposed to master the official doctrine of his school and apply it to new situations. This meant that “the doctrine had to be derived not independently from the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus, but from the authoritative handbooks of the several schools.”[18]
Clearly, the theory of the infallibility of ijma’ was decisive in casting Islamic law into a rigid mold, for it mystified the relationship between the ideal and historical elements of law, that is, it confused law as a volatile and abstract ideal with the concrete rules derived from it and captured in the historical experience of a specific social organization.
The question arises here as to what extent can Shari’ah be regarded, as the classical theory insists, as the manifestation of the Divine Will? To answer this question we need first to distinguish the levels of meaning that separate the ideal from the existential in Islamic legal thought. In this connection the term Shari’ah or law may refer to any of the following four meanings:
First, law may be perceived as the eternal set of principles which reflect the Divine Will as it is related to the human situation; that is, those principles that relate to the purpose of human existence and the universal rules that must be observed by men to achieve that purpose.
Second, law could be regarded as the revelationary verbalization of the eternal principles in the form of a revealed word or message that discloses Divine Will to mankind. The Qur’an, the manifestation of Divine Will, consists of two categories of rules: universal rules (ahkam kulliyah) embodied in general Qur’anic statements, and particular rules (ahkam far‘iyah) revealed in connection with specific instances, which hence may be considered as concrete applications of the universal rules.
Third, law may be viewed as the understanding of revelation as reflected in jurists’ oral and written statements. The Qur’an was revealed over a 23-year period in piecemeal fashion in response to the various questions and problems facing the evolving Muslim community. In order to define Divine Will on new situations never before addressed by revelation, Muslim jurists had to develop a legal theory that spelled out the Shari’ah, and establish the methods of deriving and applying its rules. The jurists had to define the overall objectives of Shari’ah, and, using inductive reasoning, rediscover the fundamental principles underlying the formulation of the rules of Shari’ah. Classical jurists had also to develop the appropriate method that could be used to define the ~fundamental principles of Shari’ah and expand their application to new situations.
Finally, law could be seen as the positive rules derived from the theoretical principles of Shari’ah and used to regulate social and individual behavior. These rules are collected in major encyclopedic works, as well as in numerous handbooks used by the several schools of law. It is this very specific and concrete meaning of law which usually comes to mind when the term Shari’ah is pronounced.
Evidently, the classical legal theory failed to distinguish the general and abstract ideals of Shari’ah from the specific and concrete body of doctrine. That is, it confused the ideals embodied in the Qur’an and the practice of the early Muslim community with the ideologies developed later by jurists. In fact, this confusion did not occur at the early stages of the development of Shari’ah, but only at a later stage, after the four schools of law began to take shape during the third and fourth centuries, and finally with the formulation of the classical theory of law.
Earlier jurists, including the founders of the major schools of law, recognized the difference between the ideal and doctrinal elements of law, for they did not hesitate to reject previous legal theories and doctrines, replacing them with others. It was this distinction that ensured the dynamism of Shari’ah and its growth during the early centuries of Islam. By constructing new theories, and modifying the old legal theories, the connection between the ideal and existential was maintained and Shari’ah was thus flexible enough to respond to the concerns of a developing society. However, when the prevailing doctrine of the fifth century was idealized, Shari’ah lost its flexibility, and the relationship between law and society was gradually severed. Henceforth, the efforts of the jurists were directed towards resisting any developments that would render social practices incompatible with the existing legal code, instead of modifying legal doctrines so that new social developments could be guided by Islamic ideals.
The four levels of meanings that separate the ideal from the existential elements of law enable us to see the fatal epistemological error that the proponents of the classical legal theory commit when they insist on the infallibility of the principle of ijma’. The classical legal theory mistakenly asserts that the ideals which the law aspires to realize have been captured, once and for all, in the legal doctrines expounded by early jurists, and that classical legal doctrines, substantiated by ijma’, have attained absolute universality. Implicit in this assertion is the assumption that as legal decisions move from the domain of the individual to that of the community, they give up their subjectivity and specificity. When they finally become the subject of juristic consensus, legal decisions acquire complete objectivity and universality.
Such a perception is manifestly faulty, for it could be true only if we ignore the historical evolution of the human experience. As long as the future state of society, be it in the material conditions or social organization, is concealed and, uncertain, law must keep the way open for new possibilities and change. It should be emphasized here that the relationship between the third and fourth meanings of Shari’ah (i.e., law as interpretation and as positive rules) is dialectical, and must be kept that way if law is to be able to function more effectively. Because in order for the ideal to have positive effect, its universality and objectivity must become embodied in a specific and concrete doctrine. Only when the universal ideal is reduced into particular and local rules and institutions can it begin to transform the human world. However, the embodiment of the ideal in a concrete rule or institution should always be regarded as tentative, and the possibility for future reevaluation or modification should likewise be kept open.[19]
The positive rules of Shari’ah as well as the legal doctrines that have been formulated by Muslim jurists are therefore tentative, because they have been formulated by fallible human beings situated in specific historical moments. The consensus (ijma’) cannot confer universality or absoluteness on rules or decisions agreed upon by any particular generation. All that ijma’ can do is to make the rules more objective for a specific community situated in a specific time and space. The claim that the positive rules of Shari’ah (or more accurately the rules of fiqh) and Divine Will are identical is erroneous and ill-founded, for it ignores the historical significance of the legal doctrine and the human agency that has been responsible for its development.
Islamic Law and Society
The development of the classical legal theory by the fifth/eleventh century marked the beginning of a long process in which law was gradually detached from society. Up to that point, the divergence between rules of law and social practices was confined to the political arena, as the development of political institutions, namely the establishment of hereditary rule, ceased, after the fourth successor (Caliph) to the Prophet, to correspond to the principles laid down by constitutional theory. Despite the fact that the Islamic political system (caliphate) had become a hereditary system after the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty, it was never sanctioned or recognized by Muslim jurists (fuqaha’) as such. They maintained that the ruler (imam) could be either elected (ikhtiyar) or designated (‘ahd) and that the selected head of the community should meet certain physical, moral, and intellectual requirements. Al-Mawardi (d. 450/1058), for instance, predicated these two modes of selection on the practice of the Muslim community during the rightly guided caliphate. He based the election (ikhtiyar) of the Imam on “the precedent of the choice of Abu Bakr (the first caliph) by election and that of ‘Umar (the second caliph) by nomination.”[20] AI-Mawardi also required that the Imam should receive confirmation (bay‘ah) of the community (Ummah) or their representatives as it was practiced during the early caliphate, a practice that was modeled after the bay‘ah of al-Aqaba, in which people expressed their allegiance to the Prophet and acknowledged his commission and leadership.[21]
To resolve the contradiction between the de jure requirements of involving the community (Ummah) or their representatives in the selection of the Imam and de facto hereditary rule, classical jurists (fuqaha’) divided the selection process into two stages: nomination (ikhtiyar) and confirmation (bay‘ah). While most leading jurists and schools of law agreed that the ruler (imam) may be nominated by one or two competent individuals, they differed as to what constitutes confirmation; though the widely accepted proposition was that it was the right of the community, through their local leaders (ahl al-hal wal ‘aqd) and scholars (‘ulama), to confirm the ruler.
The jurists’ failure to have any impact on the actual procedure through which the ruler was selected is reflected in the idealistic nature of the classical constitutional theory; the theory is primarily concerned with defining substantive rights and duties, while failing to address the procedures needed for securing these rights and duties.
The doctrine of the caliphate did not offer any adequate means of identifying the persons empowered to choose and install the Caliph, or, if necessary, depose him, nor did it indicate the process by which they should come to decisions. A wrongdoing ruler should be deposed if this will not invite anarchy, but the doctrine is silent on who is to decide this, or how.[22]
After the fifth century, however, law began to lose touch with reality, not only in the political realm, but also in the social and economic, or, using Islamic vocabulary, in the sphere of mu‘amalat. Furthermore, with the idealization of the fifth-century legal code, the law became increasingly rigid, unable to respond to the growing needs of society. To mitigate the rigidity of law in subsequent centuries, many jurists employed legal devices (hiyal shar'iyah) through which “an act may seemingly be lawful in accordance with the literal meaning of the law, but could hardly be in conformity with the spirit or the general purposes of the law?’[23] Indeed, by the eighth century, law became primarily concerned with procedural and technical matters, while ignoring substantive questions. This meant that classical jurists in later centuries had virtually subordinated substantive justice to procedural justice.
Despite the efforts to make Shari’ah flexible through the use of legal devices, Shari‘ah’s ability to respond to social concerns continued to diminish, while the gap between the rules of law and social practices broadened.
This trend continued until the collapse of the traditional sociopolitical order by this century, which was the result of the European colonization of the Muslim world. The European invasion of Muslim lands was the blow that shook Muslim civilization. As a result, Muslim jurists and scholars were faced with the challenge of explaining how, in the scheme of things, the Western world, which after all did not have the privilege of being ruled by Shari’ah, was able to attain military and scientific superiority over the Muslim community. One of the early responses was advanced by Jamal al Din al Afghani, who attributed Muslim decline to the deficient outlook promoted by classical legal theory and its proponents. It is not revelation, al Afghani proclaimed, that should be held responsible for Muslim decadence, but the faulty interpretations of classical jurists. Afghani was alarmed by the jurists’ obsession with procedural and technical matters to the neglect of substantive questions. He thus accused classical jurists of wasting time and energy on trivial matters, occupying their minds with minutiae and subtleties, instead of addressing important problems facing the Muslim community.[24] Like Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, a leading modern jurist, asserted that Shari’ah would affect prosperity only when its objectives were properly understood, and its principles correctly interpreted and implemented.
The Shari’ah is designed by God to bring worldly as well as spiritual success to man. Its social prescriptions are assumed to assure the best and most prosperous of earthly communities, provided that they are properly observed.[25]
Islamic legal theory asserts that law can only be established by an impartial legislator who has full knowledge of the purpose of human existence. By necessity, therefore, God must be the ultimate lawgiver of society. According to Islamic legal theory, Shari’ah is revealed to provide a set of criteria so that right may be distinguished from wrong. By adhering to the rules of law, Muslims are assured to develop a society superior in its moral as well as material quality to other societies that fail to observe revelation.
Because revelation ceased upon the death of the Prophet, the community lost its direct access to Divine Will. Hence the question arose as to how Divine Law was to be known. The answer was in the practice of juristic speculation (ijtihad), whereby jurists resorted to the use of independent reasoning (ray) to discover the principles embodied in revelation and then extends their application to new situations never before addressed by revelation. Because of the speculative nature of independent reasoning, jurists introduced the principle of juristic consensus (ijma’) to confer a higher degree of certainty and authority on their judgments.
In the fifth century, the doctrine of the infallibility of ijma’ was introduced, whereby rulings that were subject to juristic consensus were considered to be incontrovertible. Jurists concluded that essential questions had been thoroughly discussed, and were therefore settled once and for all. Henceforth, law (rules of fiqh) lost its earlier flexibility and was cast into a rigid mold from which it has not emerged. Jurists could no longer consult the original sources of law, but had to derive new rules from the fifth-century legal code, which was idealized and codified in the handbooks of the several schools of law.
Clearly, the rigidity of law has been the result of the faulty epistemology of the classical legal theory, and more specifically the doctrine of the infallibility of juristic consensus. For the theory fails to distinguish between the various levels of meaning of the law, namely, the difference between the abstract ideals of law, and the concrete body of rules and doctrines. In other words, the classical theory mistakenly asserts that the ideals that the law aspires to realize have been permanently captured in the legal doctrines expounded by early jurists. As such, the classical theory has certainly been instrumental in hindering the development of Muslim societies and bringing Islamic civilization to ruin. After the theory assumed prominence in legal circles, the efforts of the jurists were directed toward resisting any development that would render social practices incompatible with the existing legal code, instead of modifying legal doctrines so that new social development could be guided by Islamic ideals.
After the fifth century, classical legal theory became the dominant paradigm around which Islamic law evolved. The theory was handed down unchallenged from one generation to another until the turn of this century, when Muslims underwent a devastating defeat at the hands of European powers. The defeat was overwhelming, indeed, for it exposed Muslims—who were still convinced that they were on the top of the world—to a superior mode of civilization, thereby compelling them to reevaluate their assumptions. The Muslims’ humiliating defeat by outside forces was the anomaly that violated the central premise of the classical theory, for it became quite apparent that Shari’ah had ceased to produce the superior society it once created and sustained.
[1] Abd al-Wahab Khalaf, ‘Jim Usul al-Fiqh, 8th ed. (Dar al-Kuwaitiyah, 1388/1978); Fazlur Rahman, Islam, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), p. 84.
[2] Iredell Jenkins, Social Order and Limits of Law: A Theoretical Essay (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1980), p. 35.
[3] Majid Khadduri, The Islamic Concept of Justice (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), P. 135.
[4] Fazlur Rabman, pp. 37-38.
[5] Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Sarakhsi, Usid al-Sarkhasi, Vol. 1 (Beirut: Dar a1-Ma‘arifah,
1393/1973), pp. 114-15; Abdul Karim Zaydan, Madkhal li-Dirasat al-Shari‘ah a1-Islamiyah, 5th ed. (Mu’assasat al-Risalah, 1397/1976), pp. 108-18; and Abd al-Majid Mahmiid, Al-Madrasah al-Fiqhiyah li-al-Muhadithin (Cairo, Egypt: Dar al-Shabab, 1972), pp. 4-5. See also Faziur Rahman, pp. 56-61.
[6] There are four major schools of law in the Sunni branch of Islam: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali.
[7] See Ibrahim bin Musa al-Shatibi, Al-Muwafaqat fi UsuI al-Shari‘ah, Vol. 4 (Cairo:
Al-Maktabah a1-Tijariyah, n.d.), Pp. 6-7; Taqi al-Din bin Taymiyah, Raf‘ al-Mallam ‘an al-A’immah al-A‘kam (Damascus: Al-Maktab aI-Is1~mi, 1382), pp. 49-52; and Al-Sarakhsi, pp.
[8] Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafi’i, Al-Risalah, 2nd ed. (Cairo: Dar al-Turath, 1399/1979), pp. 88-92.
[9] See al-Shatibi, AI-Muwafaqat, Vol. 4, pp. 8-9. A1-Shafi’i does not permit the abrogation of the Qur’an by the Hadith, nor the Hadith by the Qur’an; see AI-Risalah, pp. 110-13. And for a discussion of the rules of naskh (abrogation) see Saleh bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Mansur, Usul al-Fiqh wa Ibn Taymiyah, 1400 (1980).
[10] See A1-Shafi’i’s Al-Risalah, pp. 401-403, 471-72, 531-35; N. J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1964), p. 59; and Joseph Schacht, The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (Oxford, 1950), p. 64.
[11] “Quoted in Fazlur Rabman, p. 14; Al-Shatibi, vol. 3, pp. 19-21; and ‘Abd al-Malik bin Abdullah al-Juayni, Al-Burhan fi Usul al Fiqh (Cairo: Dar al-Ansar, 1400), pp. 624-25, 599-611.
[12] Al-Shafi’ i, Al-Risalah, p. 505.
[13] Ibid., p. 507; see also Malcolm Kerr, Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1966), p. 90; Coulson, p. 40.
[14] Al-Shatibi, Al-Muwafaqat, Vol. 2, PP. 8-22.
[15] Fazlur Rahman, p. 78.
[16] Schacht, p. 73.
[17] Fazlur Rahman, pp. 78-79.
[18] Schacht, p. 73.
[19] For further discussion on this point see Jenkins, pp. 333-35.
[20] Haroon Khan Sherwani, Studies in Muslim Political Thought and Administration (Philadelphia: Porcupine Press, 1977), pp. 102-3.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Kerr, p. 10
[23] Khadduri, p. 151; see also Coulson, p. 140.
[24] Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, “The Benefit of Philosophy;’ in An Islamic Response to Imperialism, ed. Nikki R. Keddie (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988), pp.
[25] Quoted in Kerr, p. 114.
Published in American Journal Of Islamic Social Sciences (September 1990), Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 177-91.
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Dualism Essay Research Paper Dualism
СОДЕРЖАНИЕ: Dualism Essay, Research Paper Dualism I believe that the popular or “ghost in the machine” form of substance dualism best solves the mind body problem. My views in this area have
Dualism Essay, Research Paper
been influenced by my twelve years of Catholic education. The soul, or mind,
depending on your level of belief, was a complete and separate entity and was
the center of a human being. The body was an ambulatory device that the soul
directed. The idea that the mind is a separate entity and that it is
independent of the physical body is the central point of substance dualism.
Churchland explains that substance dualism claims that the mind is
a distinct nonphysical thing, a complete nonphysical entity that is independent
of any physical body to which it is temporarily attached. Any and all mental
states and activities, as well as physical ones, originate from this unique
entity. Substance dualism states that the real essence of you has nothing to do
with your physical body, but rather from the distinct nonphysical entity of the
mind. The mind is in constant interaction with the body. The body’s sense
organs create experiences in the mind. The desires and decisions of the mind
cause the body to act in certain ways. This is what makes each mind’s body its
The popular or “ghost in the machine” form of substance dualism
states that a person is a “ghost in a machine”, the ghost being the mind or
spirit and the machine is the body. Within this description, the mind/spirit
controls the body and is in intimate contact with the brain. The brain would be
the nexus between the mind and body.
The popular form of substance dualism was adopted after the
difficulties of Cartesian dualism could not be overcome. Rene Descartes stated
that the nonphysical and the physical could not interact. this became a problem
in dualism since the nonphysical mind needed to interact with the physical body.
These difficulties provided a motive for the move to popular substance dualism.
The first major argument for substance dualism is religion. Each
of the major religions place belief in life after death; that there is an
immortal soul that will survive death. This very closely resembles substance
dualism. The mind can be substituted for the immortal soul. In fact the two
are almost interchangeable. This argument is primarily the basis for my own
belief in substance dualism. My personal experiences as a religion student give
me insight into this argument.
The second major argument for substance dualism is irreducibility.
this points to a variety of mental phenomena that no physical explanation could
account for what is going on. An example would be the quality and meaningful
content of human thoughts and beliefs. These things cannot be reduced to purely
physical terms, hence irreducibility. This is also another good argument that I
can understand from personal experiences. I cannot reduce my reactions and
feelings toward how a steak tastes to a mathematical equation. This is the same
The final argument for substance dualism is parapsychological
phenomena. Mental powers such as telepathy, precognition, telekinesis, and
clairvoyance are all near impossible to explain within the boundaries of physics
and psychology. These phenomena reflect the nonphysical and supernatural nature
that dualism gives to the mind. Because I believe in these phenomena, it seems
logical to me that parapsychology is an excellent argument for substance dualism.
These arguments give a good basis for a philosopher to believe in
substance dualism. However there are also serious arguments against it
The first major argument against dualism is simplicity.
Materialists state that because their view is simpler (they only believe in one
thing- that which is physical) it is more rational to subscribe to their view.
The materialist point of view is also easier to prove because there is no doubt
that physical matter exists, while nonphysical matter is currently a hypothesis.
This argument seems very illogical to me. Philosophical views should be chosen
because one makes more sense to you, not because one has a smaller number of
ideas within it.
The second major argument against substance dualism is explanatory
impotence. Materialists can explain anything physical through scientific study,
whereas dualists can explain nothing because no theory has ever been formulated.
Churchland says, “…dualism is less a theory of mind than it is an empty space
waiting for a genuine theory of mind to be put in”. I see one flaw with the
materialist theory here. The mind in the dualist theory may use a form of
energy transfer not yet discovered by science. Centuries ago, undiscovered
forms of science were refuted and called “magic”. In the future, The mind may
become completely understood by science.
The third argument against substance dualism is neural dependence.
That the mental capacities depend on the brain’s neural activities. The
materialists show that the mind is altered when the brain is altered by drugs or
injuries. I would explain this by saying that since the mind is a separate
nonphysical entity and cannot interact with physical matter, it needs a focal
point to control the body from. This focal point is the brain. The mind and
the brain are so intimately intertwined any disruption of the brain will affect
the mind.
The Final argument against substance dualism is evolutionary
history. The materialist states that human beings have been incrementally built
up from simpler physical creatures. This is evolution. Because this is a pure
physical process and the simpler creatures we were constructed from had no
nonphysical mind, there is no way to account for our mind. This is a difficult
argument to win. The only rebuttal I can give is that because we are a pinnacle
of evolution, we developed the nonphysical mind along with free-will and our
level of intelligence. This may be an extremely arrogant and proud view, but it
is the only one I can think of.
I believe that the strength of dualism’s positive arguments
outweighs is detractions.
Works Cited
Churchland, Paul M. Matter and Consciousness. Massachusetts: The MIT Press,
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(The following article is a chapter from the book Final Warning: A History of the New World Order by David Allen Rivera)
In 1826, Captain William Morgan, a journalist and stonemason from Batavia, New York, who was a high degree mason in a local Masonic lodge, wrote an expose' of the Masonic Order in a book called Illustrations of Masonry, which revealed many of their secrets concerning the first three degrees. Shortly afterward, he was arrested and charged with stealing and indebtedness, and put in jail. The Illuminati tried him in absentia, convicted him of treason, and ordered five men, led by Richard Howard, an English Illuminist, to execute him. When he was released from jail, he was warned about the plot, and he attempted to flee to Canada. Howard caught him at the border, and took him to Fort Niagara, where he was held for a couple of days. The Freemasons that accompanied Howard, carried him off in a boat, and drowned him in the Niagara River.
This event was verified by the sworn statement of Avery Allen (said to be on file at the New York City Archives), who heard Howard give a report of the incident at a meeting of the Knights Templar at St. John's Hall in New York City. One of the three men who carried out the assassination, confessed on his deathbed in 1848.
Masonic leaders refused to cooperate with the lengthy investigation, which didn't get anywhere, since many of the police officers were Masons. The general consensus was that Morgan drowned himself in Lake Ontario. However, the press, religious leaders, temperance and anti-slavery groups, united to condemn the apparent murder. The murder caused over half of the Masons in the northeastern United States to break off their alignment with the Illuminati. The incident led to the creation of the country's first third party movement, the Anti-Masonic Party (1826-33) in New York. They wanted to stop the aristocratic conspiracy, and prevent all members of Masonic organizations from public service. Anti-Masonic candidates were elected to the New York Assembly in 1827.
A State Convention in Massachusetts in 1828 saw the establishment of a committee "to inquire how far Freemasonry and French Illuminism are connected." The Committee reported at a meeting at Faneuil Hall in Boston (December 30, 31, and January 1, 1829), and passed the following resolution: "Resolved, on the report of the Committee appointed to inquire how far Freemasonry and French Illuminism are connected, that there is evidence of an intimate connection between the high orders of Masonry and French Illuminism."
A National Convention was held in 1830 in Philadelphia, and another in Baltimore in 1831, where they nominated William Wirt, former U.S. Attorney General (under Monroe and John Quincy Adams, 1817-1829), as a Presidential candidate. They were represented by 116 Anti-Masonic delegates from 13 states. The movement caught on mainly in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Even though they won quite a few Congressional seats in 1832, Wirt only carried the State of Vermont, while Andrew Jackson, a Mason, won big.
The Party was phased out in 1836, because the anti-slavery movement began to overshadow their activities. They merged with the Whig Party (1834-60) in 1838. The Whig Party later assimilated themselves into the Democratic Party, the Liberty Party (1840-48), the Free Soil Party (1848-54), and the Republican Party.
Fifty years after Morgan's disappearance, Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), owner of the Rochester Telegraph, and Editor of the influential Albany Evening Journal (from 1830-1863), who helped found the Anti-Masonic Party, published information about Morgan's death. His grave was discovered in 1881 at Pembroke, in Batavia County, in New York. In the grave was a piece of paper that had the name John Brown written on it. Brown was said to be one of the people involved in the killing. A statue was erected in memory of Morgan in Batavia in 1882.
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Earls Palace in Kirkwall
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Eaarls Palace ruins in Kirkwall
Earl's palace in Kirkwall is an amazing antiquity, buried in ruins, which lies within the archipelago of northern Scottish Orkney. Palace of the Earls is standing right in the center of Kirkwall, next to the Cathedral St Magnus which represents the heart of the Scottish town. Opposite the ruins of the castle is another landmark of the village - the bishops palace.
For the people of Orkney, the palace of the Earls in Kirkwall is considered a monument to what can be described as one of the darkest episodes in the history of Orkney - the power and the rule of the Earls Stewart, who left Scotland the history of their gory exploitative manner.
Robert Stewart, first Earl of Orkney and his son Patrick are known as the most tyrannical Earls of Scotland. They built their palace in Kirkwall and in Birsay at the cost of slave-like labor by many locals. Even the land on which these estates were built was acquired largely unfairly by force.
Earl's palace in Kirkwall is central to the city, was built in 1600 by Earl Patrick Stewart. Every stone which was erected for the castle suggests the human tragedy, as told by locals. The end result, looking at it in terms of architecture, was overwhelming. In the heart of the city appears a palace, which even then was recognized as one of the best examples of French renaissance architecture in Scotland.
Earl's palace in Kirkwall was built on two floors, on the ground Are cellars and the kitchen. Once the main entrance of the mansion was a real miracle of architecture and was accompanied by a column of heraldic panels. On the ground floor a large staircase leads to the first floor, where were located living rooms and apartments and the great hall with its wonderful painted decorations. That's what was the most important room in the castle. Its size reaches 16 meters long and has two huge fireplaces and wonderful, generous ornate high arched windows.
As of 1615 the majority of the palace is ready, but then the owner Stuart was in jail and the Palace of the Earls became the property of the Bishop of Orkney. As the seat of the bishops the castle was used until 1688 when it became the property of the monarch. Gradually, the mansion was abandoned and by 1705 is in total disrepair. In the mid-18th century the Earl's palace in Kirkwall remains without its roof, which even today is so.
(4 Votes)
Earls Palace in Kirkwall map, location and contact details
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Technique Improves Blurry Images
Called Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Microscopy, ISAM can do for optical microscopy what magnetic resonance imaging did for nuclear magnetic resonance, and what computed tomography did for X-ray imaging, the scientists say.
While other methods of three-dimensional optical microscopy require the instrument's focal plane to be scanned through the region of interest, ISAM works by utilizing light from the out-of-focus image planes, Ralston said. "Although most of the image planes are blurry, ISAM descrambles the light to produce a fully focused, three-dimensional image."
ISAM effectively extends the region of the image that is in focus, using information that was discarded in the past. "We have demonstrated that the discarded information can be computationally reconstructed to quickly create the desired image," Marks said. "We are now applying the technique to various microscopy methods used in biological imaging."; Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Tracking Millennial Spending
How does the age of technology affect the way the “millennial” generation spend their money?
Millennial ShoppersEach generation is raised differently and therefore, taught different ways of living and spending money. The media has a lot of influence on this, but so do the spending habits of their parents, as children will often model what they see as they observe how their parents spend money.
The millennial generation is usually considered to be the children who were born between 1984 and 2002 and are usually the children of the younger baby boomers. These are the young adults and high school students today who take their ear buds and laptops everywhere they go. They will also often have a smart phone or music player and all of the rest of the latest technology. Millennial is considered to be the most technologically advanced generation yet to be born in our society.
Researchers have discovered some interesting spending habits that have evolved with this generation. Some of them are good and some of them will be detrimental for generations to come. Research has found that children who are not quite teens spend more than 40 billion dollars a year and hear about new products on popular websites or from their friends. Almost every teenager is a member of Facebook and many teens do most of their shopping on websites such as Amazon.
Another trend that the millennial generation shows toward shopping is this move from the smaller more traditional grocery stores to the larger super centers such as Target or Wal-mart and trendy stores such as Trader Joes or Whole Foods. They rarely shop alone and love to visit the deli sections of the stores. Millennials often depend on the opinions of their friends when making decisions about where to shop, eat, or what to wear. Their choices of shopping locales are often considered to be more child friendly and offer exotic food options and ample samples of new food.
Unfortunately, the skill of managing their money is not one that is common within this generation because they often share the opinion that they can buy whatever they want now and pay for it later. This leads to putting many of their purchases on credit cards. Many are then not able to pay their credit card bills on time, which in turn leads to difficulty buying a home, a new car, and have higher bills due to the many late fees. This is different thinking from their baby boomer parents who learned how to save and live frugally during the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Trends in technology have made a difference in each generation as times are always changing and technology is always improving. It is great to shop in various types of stores, to have this advanced technology, and spending time with friends, but spending money that they don’t have will lead to problems for future generations who only model what they see in the generation before.
Kathleen Hubert is a blogger who writes on a variety of different sites. Check out more of her work at car loans.
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Old Tagalog versus New
Old Tagalog, ancient Tagalog, deep Tagalog, all these for words and expressions this generation finds "weird", "uncool", or simply "Greek". In the Philippines, there are more students in public schools than in private schools. But if students in private schools are the target users of English to Tagalog translation, an orientation is at hand. Students in private schools speak more English than the average public school student.
Most teenagers studying in well-funded institutions use accessible stream players to watch their favorite Hollywood sci-fi films, American or British television series, interactive Japanese anime, and the most recent game. Recently, "Korea-novelas" dubbed in Tagalog have become popular, but this TV fare has a niche audience.
Curiously, when studying Filipino, most students request their tutors or mentors to translate into English. For example, in learning about "Panghalip" a student sometimes learns more easily if told that this means "Pronoun."
Private tutors make the mentoring student friendly when they give in and translate lessons into English whenever necessary. While they can resort to this informal back translation in teaching concepts, they will find it difficult to translate vocabulary or concepts, say, from Tagalog literature.
In their subject "Filipino", students are routinely assigned to read and do exercises using books such as Florante at Laura and Ibong Adarna. These two are Tagalog epic poems written at the time of the Spanish occupation. As they are both poetry, the words become even more challenging. Teens meet their teacher's assignments with grudging compliance, after all, outside the classroom they speak a kind of "techno-cono" Taglish.
Of course, the rich, old Tagalog in these epics needs to be appreciated, but parents and tutors have probably forgotten Florante at Laura, and their only clue about Ibong Adarna is the old local movie starring the late Filipino comedy king, Dolphy.
A way to make kids appreciate old Tagalog
In the five stanzas here from Florante at Laura, a fourteen year old identifies at least ten words which he does not understand. He frowns as he reads and becomes completely detached and bored. But with an informal translation into Filipino and a tip in appreciating the music of Filipino poetry, his eyes can be opened, and he will have more fun with his subject.
In translating literature for children and teens belonging to the upper middle class, translators may not always use old Tagalog words, for example, not "upang" but "para" (for); not "subali't" but "pero" (but); not "maaari" but "puwede" (can); not "lilisan" but "aalis" (to leave); not "pinid" but "sara" (close). This does not mean that the "old Tagalog" cannot be used at all, but rather, it must be used discriminately.
When the target user is identified, translators must seek to use the language that will cater to that specific user. Simply doing the language transfer with an indifferent attitude towards the limitations of the target user will defeat the purpose of translation.
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As a quick summary, options are financial derivatives that give their holders the right to buy or sell a specific asset by a specific time at a given price (strike price). There are two types of options: calls and puts. Call options refer to options that enable the option holder to buy an asset whereas put options enable the holder to sell an asset.
Speculation, by definition, requires a trader to take a position in a market, where he is anticipating whether the price of a security or asset will increase or decrease. Speculators try to profit big, and one way to do this is by using derivatives that use large amounts of leverage. This is where options come into play.
Options provide a source of leverage because they are quite a bit cheaper to purchase in comparison to the actual stock. This allows a trader to control a larger position in options, compared with owning the underlying stock. For example, suppose a trader has $2,000 to invest, and an XYZ stock costs $50 and an XYZ call option (with a strike price of $50 that expires in six months) costs $2 each. If the trader buys all stock, then he will have a position with 40 shares ($2,000/$50). But if he takes a position with all options, he effectively controls a position of 1,000 shares. In these cases, all gains and losses will be magnified by the usage of the options. In this example, if the XYZ stock drops to $49 in six months, in the all stock scenario, the trader's position is $1,960, whereas in the all option situation his total value will be $0. All the options would be worthless then, because no one would exercise the option to buy at a price that is greater than the current market value.
The speculator's anticipation on the asset's situation will determine what sort of options strategy that he or she will take. If the speculator believes that an asset will increase in value, he or she should purchase call options that have a strike price that is lower than the anticipated price level. In the event that the speculator's belief is correct and the asset's price does indeed go up substantially, the speculator will be able to close out his or her position and realize the gain (by selling the call option for the price that will be equal to the difference between the strike price and the market value). On the other hand, if the speculator believes that an asset will fall in value, he or she can purchase put options with a strike price that is higher than the anticipated price level. If the price of the asset does fall below the put option's strike price, the speculator can sell the put options for a price that is equal to the difference between the strike price and the market price in order to realize any applicable gains.
To learn more about options, see Options Basics Tutorial, Trading A Stock Versus Stock Options - Part One and The Four Advantages Of Options.
1. How do I change my strike price once the trade has been placed already?
Learn how the strike prices for call and put options work, and understand how different types of options can be exercised ... Read Answer >>
2. When is a put option considered to be "in the money"?
Learn about put options, what they are, how these financial derivatives operate and when put options are considered to be ... Read Answer >>
3. Are put options more difficult to trade than call options?
Learn about the difficulty of trading both call and put options. Explore how put options earn profits with underlying assets ... Read Answer >>
4. Why are options very active when they are at the money?
Stock options, whether they are put or call options, can become very active when they are at the money. In the money options ... Read Answer >>
5. How are call options priced?
Learn how aspects of an underlying security such as stock price and potential for fluctuations in that price, affect the ... Read Answer >>
6. What happens to my call options if the underlying company is bought out?
Typically, the announcement of a buyout offer by another company is a good thing for shareholders in the company that is ... Read Answer >>
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Home / Tips / Easy Tricks to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables
Easy Tricks to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables
kid eating vegetablesWe know that vegetables are good for the body. Children, adults are encouraged to eat vegetables in each meal time. But sometimes we get confused when our child does not want to eat vegetables. Have you ever wondered why most of the children do not like vegetables?
In order for children want to eat vegetables, you are required to be more creative in cooking and serve the vegetables.
Experts also suggest that you give a cool name for these vegetables. Children will be more interested in eating vegetables if the vegetables they consume are given a name that sounded cool in the child’s ear. For example, X-ray broccoli, ultra power carrot, rainbow cauliflower etc. Children will feel entertained by these names so that children will eat more vegetables because it is fun.
So, if your child is reluctant to eat vegetables, try a cool name for the food that will be served.
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Richard Strauss
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• Topic: Opera, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner
• Pages : 3 (872 words )
• Download(s) : 196
• Published : June 10, 2011
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Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was born in Munich, Germany on June 11, 1864. He was an accomplished conductor and composer who began composing in the late Romantic era. Richard Strauss received his musical education from his father, Franz, who was also an accomplished musician and composer. Franz played several instruments but primarily the French horn. Richard wrote his first music at the age of six. As a child he attended Munich Court Orchestra rehearsals and also got private lessons from the assistant conductor there. At the age of ten Richard Strauss heard his first opera by Richard Wagner, who was also a German Composer, among other things, and was known for his operas. Strauss was very intrigued with his works which were considered to be progressive and Strauss’s father, who was a very conservative man, forbade him to study it, although it would eventually influence Strauss and his works. At the age of eighteen he went to Munich University and studied Philosophy and Art History, but oddly enough not music. He only stayed there for one year before going to Berlin. While in Berlin he became the assistant conductor to Hans von Bulow. Strauss learned to conduct just by watching Bulow in rehearsals. When Bulow resigned in 1885 from the Meiningen Orchestra he made Strauss the conductor.
Before the age of twenty, Strauss already had major premiers of two symphonies and a violin concerto. At age twenty six he began to write programmatic orchestral tone poems including Don Juan. This was influenced by the work of Richard Wagner, who he had admired in his younger years. A tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a movement, where a poem, novel or painting is illustrated. Its intent is to inspire listeners to imagine scenes, images or moods. The first theme represents the Don’s first adventure. This is followed by a lyrical melody which marks his first love scene. At the age of thirty Strauss married the love of his life, Pauline de Ahna and they...
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Pallas Athene versus Minerva. Speaks of the differences
Essay by Anonymous UserJunior High, 9th gradeA-, August 1996
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The Goddess Athena has been an incredibly well-liked mythological character for centuries because of her complex personality and the values which are taught through her actions. The powerful Goddess has been generally thought of as being the same person in both Greek and Roman stories alike, but this is not true. Athena was looked upon and spoken of very differently in Roman and Greek myths, though she remains with the same basic personality traits in both cultures.
Rome acquired it's stories of mythology and religion from the Italians (who
derived their beliefs from the Greeks), and therefore most of the myths of deities were the same as the Greeks', but with a few changes. The Italians also gave the Romans stories of Diana, Hercules, Venus, and a few minor characters. The Greeks came about with their Gods from past ancient cultures, weaving in some of their own characteristics as time went on.
Pallas Athena (the name Pallas being that of her best friend, whom she accidentally killed while practicing with spears) in both cultures is the patron Goddess of arts and crafts, weaving, the olive tree, overseer of Athens, and especially of Wisdom/War. Because the Greek culture was one of intelligence, sophistication and knowledge, Their version of Athena was mainly of a logical and sensible person, who would avoid a fight if possible. The Romans, who were a society of warlike men, focused on Minerva's war capabilities and short temper. Both cultures focused on the parts of the Gods which were most like themselves and best suited their needs.
For the Greeks, the Gray-Eyed Goddess was not associated with specific people except for Her rivals. The Romans, however, formed a group of Immortals into the Capitoline triad, consisting of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. These three assumed...
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Page 1
HAND MADE - HIGH TECH 1 American Football Helmet
Concept 2 Trainers
Rowing Oars
First created in 1915 – which were made out of leather. During the World War I harder leather were used to make helmets. Not long after fabric cushions were added to soften the collision of players.When John Tate Riddell’s company started creating helmets in 1939 made out of plastic, this led to redesigning the whole helmet. Adding straps to be fixed around the chin instead of the neck. Holes for ventilation or airflow for hygiene purposes and on field communication.
Basketball trainers by APL is designed to give players boost on their vertical jump. The Load ‘N Launch™ Technology makes all this possible. The Goldston brothers basketball fans, college graduate and loves jumping higher. The brothers designed the basketball trainer like a diving board. When you walk on it, its like normal surface but when you put a downward force/pressure on to it, the board propels you up. Its an instant advantage. Using less energy to jump higher. Basically improve performance..
In rowing, are used to propel the boat. Oars differ from paddles in that they use a fixed fulcrum to transfer power from the handle to the blade, rather than using the athlete’s shoulders or hands as the pivot-point as in canoeing and kayaking.
What is it made out of? (current NFL helmets) + Made out of Poly-carbonate plastic (Plastic pellets) + padding (vinyl and foam) + face guard (plastic coated steel) + chin strap (polyester)
1 poly-carbonate pellets are melted and moulded 2 Robot/machine transfers it to a conveyor 3 Human clips off excess plastic 4 Robot/machine drills holes for precission 5 Human collects helmet for sanding, priming, painting 6 Skewered and leave to dry to harden paint. Giving extra durability 7 Adding the foam to the helmet 8 Impact testing 9 Finish by adding the face guard and chin straps
What is Poly-carbonate plastic?
A type of a thermo-plastic polymer that is used for commodity and engineering plastic.
Why Poly-carbonate plastic?
Because of their strength and weight and their properties to be easily formed and thermoformed. Its feature includes temperature resistance, impact resistance and optical properties. Main transformation techniques for polycarbonate resins: + extrusion into tubes, rods and other profiles including multiwall + extrusion with cylinders (calanders) into sheets (0.5–20 mm (0.020–0.79 in)) and films (below 1 mm (0.039 in)), which can be used directly or manufactured into other shapes using thermoforming or secondary fabrication techniques, such as bending, drilling, routing, laser cutting etc.
The Design
The Launch Pad is where the Load and Launch is located. And it is by the forefoot where we put more pressure/force when jumping. High-density collar padding on the interior is designed to maximize comfort comfort and return of energy during jumps. The new herringbone outsole features a high grip tread pattern designed to optimize traction, maximize surface contact area and the user gain the full benefit of the APL Load’ N Launch technology. Maximize comfort comfort and return of energy during jumps. The new herringbone outsole features a high grip tread pattern designed to optimize traction, maximize surface contact area and the user gain the full benefit of the APL Load’ N Launch technology. The aerodynamics of the shoe creates an optimal drag coefficient and helps position the foot to be able to realize the full benefit of the patent-pending Load ‘N Launch technology. The two-piece synthetic carbon fiber upper molds to your foot using minimal seams and stitch lines to provide superior comfort and a high-performance fit. Integrated flow vents placed in strategic locations combine with an open air mesh tongue to allow cool air to come in and heat to flow out.
+ Thermoplastic polyurethane is any of a class of polyurethane plastics with many useful properties, including elasticity, transparency, and resistance to oil, grease and abrasion. Technically, they are thermoplastic elastomers consisting of linear segmented block copolymers composed of hard and soft segments. (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) + Springs is an elastic object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of spring steel. + Carbon Fibre is a material consisting of fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber. The crystal alignment gives the fiber high strength-to-volume ratio (makes it strong for its size).
What’s Inside
+ High Pressure thermoplastic urethane shank (helps stabilise the foot and efficiently transfering energy to make a leap. Gives the trainers its stiffness, ensuring plenty of support but less the weight.) + 4 layer insole high rebound EVA + 8 coiled springsMaterials
The Design
Macon blade – Became popular in the late 1950’s. Symmetrical and elliptical with a ridge-line running down the centre of the blade. + Symmetric “tulip” shape + Central spine + No Vortex Edge Fat2 Blade – a new variation of the cleaver design. + Designed to give emphasis to different stages of rowing action. Thus maximising the positive actions in the rowing shakes and minimises negative ones. + Greatest taper at tip of blade + Has the largest surface area for Vortex “sticky spoon” action
How it’s made
The shaft and blade are baked and moulded from carbon material cutting them precisely using machine + Shafts are cut into right size + Assembling the parts and gluing them together + Then undergoes a quality test + final inspection, final measurements of pitch, length, inboard and blade orientation are confirmed.
Back in the 13th century Oars were made out of wood. They were cut and carved from one chunk of a wood. Later when machines were able to cut into pieces it was them made from small chunks of wood and glued together, and more recently carbon fibre.
2 main types:
+ Macon blades + Cleaver/Big blades (new: Fat2 Blade) Blades made this way are: + Zero slip perpendicular to the blade surface. + No resistance to movement in line with the shaft; in other words, it would glide. + The ability to rotate in the water. We will define the point of rotation as the point where the blade and shaft join.
MATERIALS 2 These are the materials that I classify as unusual. The materials are innovative as they have many uses and can be manipulated in terms of dimensions and shapes. Also would be very good to experiment with the materials i don’t normally use for my practice. Like what Lawrence Lek said during an interview for Designers in Residence, materials that he uses are economical rather than using materials for their aesthetic, as it is a necessity. It is a good way of knowing your limitations basing on the costs and process of it.
Properties Optical fibre + Malleable + Hair thin (durable glass) + Light follows the structure of the material (light travelling through glass) + Conductor of energyf Wax +Malleable + Can be melted and will have low viscosity + Insoluble in water but soluble in organic + Corrosion resistance Plywood + Stiff (But can be bend by soaking into water as seen on Lawrence Lek’s Unlimited Edition Project. See below) + Can be cut into desired shapes + Smooth surface (can be made into canvas) + Can be glued and stacked to make it more durable by alternating the grain + Flexible
Processes Being able to be bundled with loads of fibres and can let light pass trough it, it can be made into a wearable material. As Lawrence Lek’s project is depiceted one piece doesnt mean anything until you join them together.
The most common property of wax that i noticed is that it can be melted and turn into a liquid state and can be molded, as well as sculpting because of its softness when near melting point.
A very good property of plywood thst I just discovered is how it cn be bend by soking it in water. Yet hardens back again once dried and retins its shape. Can be used with laser cutting to cut intricate shpes. Combinging wax with plywood it will proveide the mold base for the wax. Cutting it into desired shapes as a base.
The Godfather by Jeff Feligno Made from Castilene which is a wax and clay mix
Wax is a class of chemical compounds that are plastic (malleable) near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, it melts above 45 degree Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents. All waxes are organic compound, both synthetic and naturally occurring. Again, a kind of material that we see or have used many times.
Sneaker Head by Aske Sicksystems Synthesizes elements of Soviet era cubism, constructivism and futurism through vector art into semi-sculptural works of art.
Plywood is a manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. A material that can be cut into. And can be processed, have many potential outcome. It has characteristic of either being flexible or soft, and stiff or hard.
Unlimited Edition by Lawrence Lek Optical fibre is a flexible transparent fibre made of glass (silica) or plastic. Almost the diameter of the human hair. It has a unique property called “Total Internal Reflection”, where it can bend light. The source of light travels straight until it hits the interface between the material and air. Other interesting properties of the optical fibre is that its malleable. Hair thin yet durable when bundled together. allows the light to follow its structure or shape.
Lumi Tops by Lumigram Taking advantage of the fibre optics’ thread like property and creating it into a wearable object.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 3 The material that I decided to research and experiment more is wax. It has many interesting characteristic and potential outcomes when mixed with more different substances like flours, salt, and bicarbonate soda. I have mixed this things together to make an outcome and even a new material to be developed into something else. These experiments lead me to gain more knowledge about wax and how simple properties can be applied and combined with different things. And how transformation of the wax affect the other material being applied to.
Collected Works Duffle Backpack A Kickstarter project that has inspired me to research more about wax canvas and its process. By allowing th e wax to impregnate into the fabric makes the fabric water repellent.
DESIGN OUTCOME 4 After the series of experimentation with candle wax I have come up with a design solution. The Duffle bag by Collected Works Co. has really inspired me to create this water repellant material. I thought if I could use the wisdom that I learned from Lawrence Lek I would use paper rather than fabric. In this way I am not just creating or showing how to make a wax canvas but making a different material. Using the same process of impregnating the wax into the fabric. A property of a wax that I just completely took for granted is that melted wax is liquid. In this form the wax can go inside the paper and settles inside thus making it not just water repellant but also water proof. On Lek’s Unlimited Edition project his process of making the prototype of his modular plywood objects is by using paper and forming them. For this design outcome paper would be perfect as it is easy to manipulate the shapes or form of the paper and has stiffness quality making it perfect for folding. The design outcome is recreating objects that are water repellant by using the new material or objects that we think it should be water repellant or waterproof. These things are the everyday objects we see and use. And in the UK we all know how very unpredictable the weather can be and having this water repellant can be very helpful.
Potential Use
The material I used for this one is a candle wax, 300 gms sheet of card, and a blow dryer. To impregnate the card melt the wax using the blow dryer and spread it on the paper. At first lump of wax is going to gather on the paper, I just use the dryer to blow it on another direction. After the impregnation stage, I used a paint roller, with a foam like texture to it, to spread the wax evenly and making the texture smoother. THis also allows the roller to soak up the excess wax.
The examples shown in this board is just the simple solutions of everyday things that we use everyday. The potential shapes of the paper and stitching can be done trough a laser cutter and an automatic sewing machine. The availability of the materials used is very economical making it very affordable to make. And by mixing the wax into the paper the new material is sturdier and water repellent making it useful during rainy season.
The chocolate brown card with the wax applied to it gives it this leather look to the material. By applying super glue and stitching, helps seal all the gaps of the card.
Thie idea of the book cover is to have a solution on comuters where sometimes they use books as an umbrella from the rain. Having this book cover, not only protects the user from the rain but also the book from being damage
Handmade HighTech - Design Museum
A brief for the Design museum in london.
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P.J. Proudhon on Democrats and Authority (1846)
Proudhon, who was born in 1809, was a French philosopher, metaphysician, anarchist, free thinker, economist, and the father of an alternative economic Weltanschaung. Proudhon, who is highly underrated, is one of a few thinker who really influenced my Weltanschaung. Proudhon was highly intelligent, that’s one reason, next to many others more sinister, why his ideas did not succeed, many simply could not conceive his theories. Fallowing Proudhon, social and economical chaos is the only reason for the existence of government, in the dissolution of economical contradictions, the cause for the economical chaos and it’s social consequences, Proudhon saw the mean to arrive at social justice and in extension stability.
Proudhon believed in a direct relationship between reason; available intelligence in relation to the capacity to make use of it, and liberty, fallowing Proudhon, liberty may only be attained and increased in a sustainable way in harmony with reason, the amount of liberty attainable, in individual and social context, is determined by the absolute level of reason, an increase in reason connected with an increasing capacity for liberty; “summa lex summa libertas” (the fullness of liberty lies in the fullness of reason)
Proudhon was a very outspoken critic of communism, Marx wrote “The Misery of Philosophy” as answer to Proudhon’s “The Philosophy of Misery”.
Part from Proudhon’s “The Philosophy of Misery”.
by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon 1809-1865, French Philosopher, Economist
In the system of authority, whatever its origin, monarchical or democratic, power is the noble organ of society; by it society lives and moves; all initiative emanates from it; order and perfection are wholly its work. According to the definitions of economic science, on the contrary, — definitions which harmonize with the reality of things, — power is the series of non-producers which social organization must tend to indefinitely reduce. How, then, with the principle of authority so dear to democrats, shall the aspiration of political economy, an aspiration which is also that of the people, be realized? How shall the government, which by the hypothesis is everything, become an obedient servant, a subordinate organ? Why should the prince have received power simply to weaken it, and why should he labor, with a view to order, for his own elimination? Why should he not try rather to fortify himself, to add to his courtiers, to continually obtain new subsidies, and finally to free himself from dependence on the people, the inevitable goal of all power originating in the people?
It is said that the people, naming its legislators and through them making its will known to power, will always be in a position to arrest its invasions; that thus the people will fill at once the role of prince and that of sovereign. Such, in a word, is the utopia of democrats, the eternal mystification with which they abuse the proletariat.
But will the people make laws against power; against the principle of authority and hierarchy, which is the principle upon which society is based; against liberty and property? According to our hypothesis, this is more than impossible, it is contradictory. Then property, monopoly, competition, industrial privileges, the inequality of fortunes, the preponderance of capital, hierarchical and crushing centralization, administrative oppression, legal absolutism, will be preserved; and, as it is impossible for a government not to act in the direction of its principle, capital will remain as before the god of society, and the people, still exploited, still degraded, will have gained by their attempt at sovereignty only a demonstration of their powerlessness. ..
When I see the democracy, socialistic but yesterday, continually asking for capital in order to combat capital’s influence; for wealth, in order to cure poverty; for the abandonment of liberty, in order to organize liberty; for the reformation of government, in order to reform society, — when I see it, I say, taking upon itself the responsibility of society, provided social questions be set aside or solved, it seems to me as if I were listening to a fortune-teller who, before answering the questions of those who consult her, begins by inquiring into their age, their condition, their family, and all the accidents of their life. Eh! miserable sorceress, if you know the future, you know who I am and what I want; why do you ask me to tell you?
Likewise I will answer the democrats: If you know the use that you should make of power, and if you know how power should be organized, you possess economic science. Now, if you possess economic science, if you have the key of its contradictions, if you are in a position to organize labor, if you have studied the laws of exchange, you have no need of the capital of the nation or of public force. From this day forth you are more potent than money, stronger than power. For, since the laborers are with you, you are by that fact alone masters of production; you hold commerce, manufactures, and agriculture enchained; you have the entire social capital at your disposition; you have full control of taxation; you block the wheels of power, and you trample monopoly under foot. What other initiative, what greater authority, do you ask? What prevents you from applying your theories?
Surely not political economy, although generally followed and accredited: for, everything in political economy having a true side and a false side, your only problem is to combine the economic elements in such a way that their total shall no longer present a contradiction.
Nor is it the civil law: for that law, sanctioning economic routine solely because of its advantages and in spite of its disadvantages, is susceptible, like political economy itself, of being bent to all the exigencies of an exact synthesis, and consequently is as favorable to you as possible.
Finally, it is not power, which, the last expression of antagonism and created only to defend the law, could stand in your way only by forswearing itself.
Once more, then, what stops you?
If you possess social science, you know that the problem of association consists in organizing, not only the non-producers, — in that direction, thank heaven! little remains to be done, — but also the producers, and by this organization subjecting capital and subordinating power. Such is the war that you have to sustain: a war of labor against capital; a war of liberty against authority; a war of the producer against the non-producer; a war of equality against privilege. What you ask, to conduct the war to a successful conclusion, is precisely that which you must combat. Now, to combat and reduce power, to put it in its proper place in society, it is of no use to change the holders of power or introduce some variation into its workings: an agricultural and industrial combination must be found by means of which power, today the ruler of society, shall become its slave. Have you the secret of that combination?
But what do I say? That is precisely the thing to which you do not consent. As you cannot conceive of society without hierarchy, you have made yourselves the apostles of authority; worshippers of power, you think only of strengthening it and muzzling liberty; your favorite maxim is that the welfare of the people must be achieved in spite of the people; instead of proceeding to social reform by the extermination of power and politics, you insist on a reconstruction of power and politics. Then, by a series of contradictions which prove your sincerity, but the illusory character of which is well known to the real friends of power, the aristocrats and monarchists, your competitors, you promise us, in the name of power, economy in expenditures, an equitable assessment of taxes, protection to labor, gratuitous education, universal suffrage, and all the utopias repugnant to authority and property. Consequently power in your hands has never been anything but ruinous, and that is why you have never been able to retain it ..
Thus power, the instrument of collective might, created in society to serve as a mediator between labor and privilege, finds itself inevitably enchained to capital and directed against the proletariat. No political reform can solve this contradiction, since, by the confession of the politicians themselves, such a reform would end only in increasing the energy and extending the sphere of power, and since power would know no way of touching the prerogatives of monopoly without overturning the hierarchy and dissolving society. The problem before the laboring classes, then, consists, not in capturing, but in subduing both power and monopoly, — that is, in generating from the bowels of the people, from the depths of labor, a greater authority, a more potent fact, which shall envelop capital and the State and subjugate them. Every proposition of reform which does not satisfy this condition is simply one scourge more, a rod doing sentry duty, virgem vigilantem, as a prophet said, which threatens the proletariat.
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~ by metadave on February 8, 2008.
One Response to “P.J. Proudhon on Democrats and Authority (1846)”
1. Good read!
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Hogarth, Töpffer, and Political Cartoonists: They’re Not So Different
In our last class we began talking about the history of comics. I found the diverse examples of possible origins of comics very interesting, and particularly, I was intrigued by William Hogarth’s, A Harlot’s Progress. It occurred to me that comics have an immense capacity to go far beyond the realm of “funny” or just simple entertainment. Comics have the ability to evoke feelings of nostalgia, cheerfulness and humour, but they also have the potential to elicit feelings of disagreement, anger, and even hatred toward the artist who drew the comic.
Comics have long been used to express opinions or perspectives on particular topics. Hogarth’s A Harlot’s Progress addresses topics such as witchcraft and the Moll’s fate through symbols while depicting a dark and cynical vision of 18th century London.
Fast-forward to the late 1800s where Impressionism is on the rise, and people are criticizing the art of Renoir, Manet, and Monet through the medium of comics. Seeing comics as a way to get your point across very clearly and even with a jab of humour is still prevalent today.
"The Impressionist Landscape" 1897
“The Impressionist Landscape” 1897
In class we talked about how powerful the art of cartooning is, with the example of Rudolphe Töpffer’s The Nose Defines the Man. I was fascinated by the idea that something as seemingly insignificant as a character’s nose shape can sway the reader’s opinion on that character. You can cut straight to the core of a character and depict them as upper class, lower class, smart, stupid, cruel, kind, or selfish with the use of something as surface-level as eyes, nose, or jaw shape.
So, with the knowledge that cartooning is a podium where one can use devices (such as nose shape and symbols) to convey their worldview or opinion, the artist has a tremendous amount of power to make statements. These concepts are what make political cartoons so effective. The artist has something to say, and knows how to manipulate the image, so it helps to reinforce their statement.
The Palin supporter behind Obama is made to look even more irrational and uneducated by the way he is illustrated
– Mackenzie Strang
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6 Responses to Hogarth, Töpffer, and Political Cartoonists: They’re Not So Different
1. trinachan says:
You have some great ideas there Mackenzie! I just wanted to elaborate a bit more on your last topic about using cartoons as a device for conveying world opinion. Comics have become a great medium to bring awareness to current events in the world. They use a combination of satire and wit to bring attention to very serious issues occurring in our society, and are used with the intent to shame individuals or society itself, in hopes of bringing about change in these issues. Comics not only provide entertainment for people, but they become a tool for personal opinion and expression about issues that occur in our daily lives. I find that the satirical comics posted in the newspaper always revolve around current world events, and this real-time factor influences how effective the comic is in conveying the issue to the reader. The success of satirical political comics also requires the readers to have background knowledge about the current events in society. Without this knowledge, the comic cannot fully convey its message, nor does it have the same comedic or witty effect on the subject matter itself.
2. leejnelson says:
The class discussion in question and your article posted reminded me of a book I picked up last year, Comics Art Propaganda. You can find it here>>>>http://www.amazon.ca/Comic-Art-Propaganda-Graphic-History/dp/0312596790
Fascinating book and a great addition to any coffee table! This book goes through different eras and examines how comics were employed to convey political and social messages to the readers.
I found one of the most interesting sections of the book to focus on the comic art that was employed as propaganda during the Holocaust, something that might pique the interests of readers of Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Personally, I have always enjoyed reading political cartoons as I have often felt that they made some of the subject matter more easily discussed and approachable.
Thanks for your post and I hope you check out my suggested reading!
3. nadim says:
the thing i love about political comics is how the author can create very one sided arguments with their comics. Simple designs can make anyone who doesn’t necessarily agree with the authors political opinion look ridiculous, simply based on simple design choices as to how the nose is shaped.
4. Andrew Yu says:
It seems like artists of the times, like Hogarth, seem to reflect the acceptable cultural norms of their eras. One artist that comes to mind is a early Canadian artist Cornelius Krieghoff. He was a Dutch painter who tried to sell paintings in Canada but was not very successful at first. But he used lithography to mass produce his paintings to make profit and became quite successful, so instead of selling individual paintings for much higher prices, he sold many copies at much lower prices, very much like how comics are sold. His paintings reflected early Canadian life and have become quite famous in Canada today. His depictions of French Canadians shows the catholic religion and stereotypes, and his paintings of English Canada was quite different than the French ones.
5. mackenziestrang says:
@trinachan: Yes, that definitely builds on the idea that comics are more than purely entertaining. The fact that they can be used as a driving force to make changes in the world proves that. It’s interesting that you pointed out that without background knowledge, the satirical political comic loses its effectiveness. This makes me think that the comic’s success depends just as much on the reader as it does the author. In some ways, this rule applies to many types of comics. Different comics will speak to different people in different ways.
6. mackenziestrang says:
@leejnelson: Interesting! That fits in perfectly with this topic. Thanks for the suggestion. I love the connection you made between the use of propaganda and Spiegelman’s Maus.
@Andrew Yu: Fascinating. In that way, art is a vessel that holds the past; because it depicts what was socially acceptable and the norm of the time, there is no censorship on beliefs or perspectives. That’s neat how you related Krieghoff’s method for selling his art to the way that comics are sold.
Leave a Reply
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Companion Biological Fungicide
For Turf and Professional Landscape use for Prevention and Control of Soil and Foliar Diseases
Companion® Biological Fungicide Q & A
(Contains Bacillus subtilis GB03)
Q. What is Bacillus subtilis?
A. Bacillus subtilis (pronounced "bah-SILL-us SUH-tuh-liss") is a naturally occurring, rod-shaped bacteria found in soils all over the world.
Q. Where does the strain of Bacillus subtilis found in Companion come from?
A. The strain (GB03) of Bacillus subtilis contained in Companion was first discovered in Australia in the 1930s.
Q. How do Bacillus subtilis GB03 survive in the soil?
A. If conditions are unfavorable, the Bacillus subtilis do not die, but rather form spores (go into dormancy). They re-emerge when favorable conditions are re-established.
Q. Under what conditions are Bacillus subtilis most active?
A. Bacillus subtilis are active in temperatures between 45 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
Q. Where do Bacillus subtilis live once they are applied?
A. In the soil, Bacillus subtilis GB03 bacteria establish colonies around the root hairs of the plant.
Q. What do Bacillus subtilis eat?
A. The main food sources for Bacillus subtilis are 1) the sugars being released by the plant roots and 2) carbon from dead root cells.
Q. On which plant materials can Companion be used?
A. Companion can be safely and effectively used on ALL plant materials.
Q. Can Companion be used in high stress situations like heat and drought?
A. Absolutely! In such situations, Companion's microbes begin working immediately, protecting, feeding, and stimulating new root development.
Q. Is it true that Bacillus subtilis improves the root system of the plant?
A. Yes. By cleaning up old and dead roots, the Bacillus subtilis actually function as root "cleaners". They also produce hormones that have been shown to increase root branching, mass, and length.
Q. What other benefits does Bacillus subtilis GB03 provide to the plant?
A. You'll have stronger, healthier plants ("from the root up"). Plants with a healthier root system are better able to take up and use nutrients.
Q. What effects does Bacillus subtilis GB03 have on nutrients in the soil?
A. Bacillus subtilis GB03 produce enzymes that help free up minor elements in the soil, making them available for plant uptake.
Q. What are the environmental benefits of using Companion?
A. Because its ingredients are 100% natural, Companion has no level of phytotoxicity. It also reduces chemical and fertilizer salts, and improves soil quality.
Q. How often should Companion be applied?
A. Under normal conditions, Companion should be applied every 2-4 weeks at a rate of 4 oz./1000 square feet. This keeps a high population of beneficial microbes in the soil, so pathogens are forced to go elsewhere.
Q. Can Companion be applied through irrigation systems?
A. Yes. Companion can be applied without fear of clogging through even the most sensitive irrigation equipment.
Q. Is Companion compatible with other technical materials?
A. Yes. Companion may be tank mixed with almost all other technical materials.
Q. What is the shelf life of Companion?
A. More than two years, thanks to a special patented formula.
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Blogs about science books for children
Here is an activity page for this book. Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A handy list of my math picture books
Since starting to “tweet” I can see how useful it is to create blog posts about a very specific topic. The “math phobia” #mathchat last week also was an inspiration. Without further ado, here are my math picture books with a summary and a link to each book’s page on my web site:
George the quarter starts at the mint, becomes change in a cash register, is used to buy a balloon, falls out of a pocket, is saved in a piggy bank, and has many other adventures as he travels through the economy.
Miss Prime and her students learn about fractions in five short stories, starting with simple geometric shapes and objects such as half a glass of milk. Scenarios such as how to divide food evenly for a lunch or how far to discount lemonade for sale in wintertime show how fractions are used in real life.
Who is the best at making graphs, Gonk the toad or Beezy the lizard? With Chester the snail as judge, they set about collecting data and making bar graphs, pie charts, Venn diagrams, and quantity graphs. Rocks, bathing suit patterns, cookies, and flowers are some of the items that wind up being grouped and displayed in colorful visual form.
Lisa’s dog Penny is the focus of her homework assignment about probability. Lisa predicts the likelihood of events such as whether Penny will see a shark, dig up a buried treasure, or turn into a cat, then records the actual results.
Mapping Penny’s World
This time Lisa needs to make maps, so she starts with a floor plan of her room, complete with symbols, a key, a compass rose, and a scale. Other maps include Penny’s treasures, her favorite places, and a trip around the world Penny might take some day.
Lisa needs to measure something for her homework, so she chooses her dog Penny and a few of her doggie friends at the park. Lisa uses both standard and nonstandard units to measure tails, paws, noses, as well as how high the dogs can jump and many other characteristics.
When a town’s numbers vanish one day, everyone discovers how difficult a world without math would be. If nobody can count, add, subtract, make phone calls, use a computer, or buy anything then life becomes impossible, so hopefully a local detective can crack the case.
Miss Prime explains the basics of addition, then her students venture out into the world to add up scores, tally up their pets, sell things at a garage sale, and write word problems.
When a young monster and a girl want to join The Monster Club, they must earn money to pay dues, help add up the group funds, and figure out what to spend it on.
Seeing Symmetry is a concept book with dozens of examples of line and rotational symmetry. From horses to hubcaps and bugs to boots, symmetry is all around us!
Subtraction Action
In seven short stories, Miss Prime’s students watch a magic show, put on a play, run an obstacle course, and try to win a prize by making things disappear.
In six short stories, silly Halloween characters such as ghosts, black cats, bats, and skeletons demonstrate the multiplication facts from 0 X 0 = 0 all the way to 5 X 5 = 25.
Whew, have I really made 12 math books?
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Twitter hashtags about children’s books, writing, publishing, and education
We can officially add Twitter to the list of Things-I-Said-I’d-Never-Do-But-Now-I-Am. Since I’ve only been tweeting for a couple of weeks, it may be premature to compile this list, but what the heck.
Hashtags are the way people index their tweets, which allows anyone searching on a hashtag to find info about, say #ebooks or #elemed (elementary education) or #math. Here’s an example from fellow I.N.K. blogger, Vicki Cobb:
"Before you cobble together free reading material for your kids, read this: http://bit.ly/b02i0o #education #edweeklive #literacy."
I’m not sure what #edweeklive is, will have to check it out, might be a conference. The shortened URLs are obtained at bit.ly or some other service for free. If there are tweet buttons on the blog, the post's URL is automatically shortened for the tweet.
By the way, I’m tweeting under @LoreenLeedy, so hope to see you there. The tags in bold are the ones I use the most…without any further ado, here are the tags:
#amediting from people who are editing
#amwriting from people who are writing
#arted art education
#artsed arts education
#askagent agent questions and answers
#bookapps book-like apps for iPad, Android, etc.
#ece early childhood education
#edapp educational app
#edtech education technology
#edubk books about teaching
#elemed elementary education
#ellchat english language learners
#ePrdctn electronic production (e.g. book designers)
#esl english as a second language
#hsc homeschool
#innochat innovation
#kedu kindergarten education
#kidlit children’s literature
#kidlitPRchat marketing children's books
#mglitchat middle grade literature chat
#mlearning mobile device learning, e.g. phones, tablets, etc.
#nanowrimo national novel writing month
#NFforKids nonfiction for kids
#ntchat new teacher chat
#pblit picture book literature
#pblitchat picture book literature chat
#pubtip publication tips
#SCBWI re the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator
#storyappchat chat for book app authors, illustrators, developers, and users
#titletalk librarians talking about specific book titles
#tlchat teacher-librarians
#webfic web fiction
#weblit web literature
#wip work in progress
#writequote quotations about writing
#writetip writing tip
#writingtips writing advice
#yalitchat young adult literature chat
Tags that end with -chat are discussions held at a scheduled time such as once a week, but some people seem to put them on tweets at any time.
My source for some of these is here: Daily Writing Tips and here: Cybraryman. The rest I cribbed from reading various tweets, of course.
[Update Feb. 20, 2012: Added and deleted some tags. Suggestions are welcome!]
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Saturday, July 28, 2012
Agapito Flores
[Taken from a Book:]
Agapito Flores: Filipino Inventor
by Nila B. Cay
Edison died leaving the electric bulb, among other things, to light the world. But the light was a warm yellow glow and to produce a white light, a consumer had to buy a high-watt bulb and use more electricity.
This set a poor man from Tondo thinking. He thought of devising another bulb that could produce a bright light that was easy on the eyes and on the pocket. He brought a tube-like bulb to show his president. President Manuel L. Quezon listened to him and examined his invention. The man plugged it on, and it radiated a blush-white light that was cool to the eyes but as bright as day.
President Quezon was impressed and more was his guest who an official from the French government. He had been observing the demonstration all along. He sent the electrician to Paris where he was given a patent. Nobody could imitate his invention without the Filipino inventor's permission.
The General Electric company in the United States heard of this. It lost no time buying the poor man's invention. It reproduced the bulb in millions and sold them all over the world. This is the popular fluorescent bulb which gives off a bright light with minimum electric consumption.
That man was Agapito Flores, the thrifty, industrious, inventive man from Tondo who knew what he wanted and, undeterred, got it.
--- Reading Journey 5
First, let's talk about the life of Agapito Flores:
Agapito Flores was born in Guiguinto, Bulacan, Philippines on September 28, 1897. Because of poverty, he did not finish his high school. He worked as an apprentice in a machine shop, and later moved to Tondo, Manila. He took an Electric Course from a vocational school. After a couple of months, he applied for a job.
He conducted experiments about light and its common uses, typically at night. He wanted to discover a type of light that shines like the sun.
Agapito Flores died on 1943.
The above story is real - it did happened, but the main case why I enlisted him here is the story that he invented the fluorescent light which is not true. Below are the more predate inventors of the fluorescent light.
• Edmund Germer (1901 - 1987) who invented a high pressure vapor lamp, also invented an improved fluorescent lamp. In 1927, Edmund Germer co-patented an experimental fluorescent lamp with Friedrich Meyer and Hans Spanner.
• Source:
Lilia B. Fontanilla. Values Education Living a Valuable Life. St. Augustine Publication, Inc. 2005
You may also visit:
Pedro Flores
Karaoke: Made in the Philippines?
My Way Curse
The Yamashita Treasure
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Forest utilization
Xem 1-20 trên 104 kết quả Forest utilization
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• Biologicalmicroorganismsare important tomaintainaproductive soil.Energy cropsusually supportamorediversemicrobialpopulationthantypicalagriculturalrowcrops.Somestudies suggestthatenergycropschangetheagriculturallandbiotatotheonesquitesimilartoforest environment.Increasedsoilcarbon,moreconsistentsoilmoisture,lowersoiltemperature(due topropercover)helpintherestorationoftheagriculturallandbiota.
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• The 1998 Census of Aquaculture reports that the northeast region has 2,698 acres of freshwater devoted to aquaculture production. A wide variety of fingerling and food fish are grown. Various sport and game fish were grown on 37 farms including fingerling largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, and sunfish. About 107 acres of channel catfish were in production. Records do not show the quantity or value of pond-raised fish sold into northeastern recreational markets.
pdf52p loixinloi 08-05-2013 14 2 Download
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• Tuyển tập những bài báo cáo nghiên cứu khoa học hay nhất được đăng trên tạp chí JOURNAL OF FOREST SCIENCE đề tài: Utilization of digital photogrammetry in forestry mapping...
pdf9p toshiba3 09-09-2011 23 5 Download
• The sensory networks that transduce information starting with the capture of a photon into a suite of downstream responses are well known. Historically these pigments were postulated to control various aspects of plant growth and development, particularly germination, phototropic movements and the transition between vegetative and reproductive growth. Long before the genes and proteins were identified and characterized, a tremendous body of work produced evidence of their activities and effects on physiology. Light quality effects on germination were examined by Lewis H.
pdf480p conquynho32 15-09-2012 30 5 Download
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• Finally, and perhaps most crucial from a strategic viewpoint, profits produce a short-term managerial focus. Rising earnings can easily disguise a decline in shareholder value because earnings ignore the future implications of current activities. For example, earnings can quickly be boosted by cutting advertising or customer service levels. In the short run this is beneficial, but in the long run it will erode the company’s market share, future earnings and shareholder value.
pdf47p lenh_hoi_xung 21-02-2013 28 5 Download
• Secondary diamond sources are deposits that have been removed from the primary source (a kimberlite or lamproite pipe) by natural erosion and eventually deposited in riverbeds, along shorelines, in glaciers and on the ocean floor. They are also known as alluvial deposits. Although alluvial deposits account for only 10-15 percent of the world’s diamonds, they are generally higher-quality stones given that they retain more volume after polishing; they therefore command a higher price. The location of the diamond deposits determines the mining method that producers use (see.
pdf116p lenh_hoi_xung 21-02-2013 15 5 Download
• Voted by the European Parliament in November 2010, the AIFM Directive covers all alternative sectors such as hedge funds, real estate and private equity, as well as traditional sectors where the fund products are not registered as UCITS.1 AIF products are generally reserved for professional investors, but may also be marketed to retail investors. Today, investors access alternative investment products primarily through national private placement channels; for European investors and products, the AIFM marketing regime will replace these.
pdf0p lenh_hoi_xung 01-03-2013 17 5 Download
• Facing the rapidly changing global business and different cross-country customer cultures, luxury can be understood as a special transnational type of culture. It represents a system of tangible (clothing, cars, buildings, etc.), as well as intangible components comprising ideals, expected behaviors, and beliefs in a group specific value system. In a global marketplace, there is no understanding of luxury conceivable which is nationally or regionally bound. However, it has to be stated that to some extent ethnocentrism and ―country-of-origin‖ effects may interfere.
pdf20p nhacchovina 22-03-2013 16 5 Download
• Teaching silent film courses on a regular basis, I’m one of the first to admit that the advent of DVDs has made my job easier. Trying to con- vince students that the film they are watching is not only a cinema clas- sic, but also as sophisticated and modern as any film made in the sound era, is a particularly hard sell when the print in question is a ‘dupey, ’ fifth-generation 16mm reduction from the 35mm nitrate original, and dead silent to boot.
pdf21p khanhchilam 01-04-2013 22 5 Download
• If you really want to make more money, you can. But not everyone wants to make more. Some people can live very meagerly. As long as they can pay their bills, and have enough left over for a movie once a month, and maybe a night out at a decent restaurant, they’re happy. These individuals will have absolutely no use for information on how to make more money. But if you’re the type of salesperson who likes “things”, this is the program for you.
pdf69p hongphuocidol 03-04-2013 22 5 Download
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Epilepsy Genetics Initiative
Ambry is a proud partner of the Epilepsy Genetics Initiative (EGI), which launched on April 27, 2015. Learn more here.
What is EGI?
The Epilepsy Genetics Initiative (EGI) is a research program sponsored by the Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE). EGI is a database that contains genetic information about people with epilepsy that can be used for research purposes, with the goal of understanding genetic causes of epilepsy.
If a person with epilepsy has a specific genetic test, called exome sequencing, at a testing (diagnostic) laboratory that does not find the cause of his/her epilepsy, the results/data from their exome sequencing test can be securely transferred to EGI so epilepsy researchers can further study it. Anything EGI finds that is relevant to a diagnosis is reported back to the person’s doctor.
Who is eligible to be part of EGI?
Anyone with any type of epilepsy that has had exome sequencing done in a diagnostic laboratory can be part of EGI. People of any age, or in any country, can be a part of EGI. Participation in EGI is completely optional.
Why would I want to be a part of EGI?
Two out of three people with epilepsy don’t know the specific cause (or causes) of their condition. Advances in genetics are helping to improve that. To speed up the process of discovery, exome data from many people with epilepsy must be studied together. Finding the genes that cause epilepsy could lead to improved treatments and potentially a cure.
For more information about CURE’s epilepsy genetics initiative (EGI) enrollment, please visit: http://www.cureepilepsy.org/egi/index.asp
For questions about Ambry’s exome sequencing and EGI, please contact Amanda Bergner at [email protected]
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Find out more
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Planning your garden
Choosing plants
Choosing low-maintenance plants will make things easier if you go on holiday or into hospital, or if don’t feel up to gardening for a while. Plants like elephant’s ears, cranesbill, lavender and periwinkle backed by shrubs such as barberry, escallonia, senecio and viburnum can take care of themselves for long periods once their roots are deep in the soil.
Create a wildlife area using wildflower seeds, which don’t usually need tending. This is also good for bringing wildlife into your garden.
There are a number of books and websites on low-maintenance gardening which will suggest plants that don’t need a great deal of attention.
Paths and beds
It's a good idea to have firm paths alongside beds and borders, especially if you find it difficult to keep your balance on uneven ground, so you can tend to most of the area without having to step onto the soil. Non-slip paving slabs make safe paths and they can be used for shallow steps where the ground level changes. Wooden handrails alongside steps are also helpful.
The beds should be quite narrow so you can reach the middle and back without stretching.
If you find it difficult to bend to ground level or need to work from a wheelchair, a raised bed would be helpful. If you have a sloping garden, you can make a terrace by building a low wall and filling behind with soil, which has the effect of making a raised bed. Even raising the soil level a small amount will make the bed easier to manage.
If you need a wheelbarrow, choosing one with two wheels and a bar-type handle can be helpful. The weight of the contents rests mainly on the axle rather than on your arms. This type of barrow is more stable and easier to empty without bending down or twisting.
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Do rabbits eat insects?
We found this answers
So what do insects eat? Like us, insects must have a balanced diet containing carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, water, vitamins, and minerals. - Read more
What Do Rabbits Eat? Rabbits are very popular as pets, especially among children. Although these cuddly creatures are a delight to watch, their diet needs to be ... - Read more
Discussion about this question
Do rabbits eat insects? resources
What Do Insects Eat? - Yukozimo
What do other species of insects eat? Below is a list of insects that I have not mentioned in the article above and you can read more about their specific diets.
Do Rabbits Eat Petunias? | eHow
Do Rabbits Eat Petunias?. Wild rabbits such as cottontails will eat petunias or Petunia x hybrida. When petunias are planted in outdoor gardens, wild rabbits cause ...
What Do Rabbits Eat? - Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food
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What Do Rabbits Eat?. Part of the series: Exotic Pets. Rabbits eat many times during the day because they have a slow digestive process.
Rabbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wild rabbits do not differ much in their ... vitamins and proteins that are necessary to the rabbit's health. Rabbits eat these to meet their ... Insects; Lamb and ...
What Do Rabbits Eat | What Do Bunnies Eat
Isn't it a daunting task to figure out what do rabbits eat and what do bunnies eat? Well, it isn't if you can go through this article where I've embedded some of the ...
What Do Rabbits Eat | How To Raise Rabbits
What Do Rabbits Eat . Do you want to care for a fuzzy bunny of your own? Then, you should know what rabbits eat.
How Much Food do Rabbits Eat?
When Do Rabbits Eat? In the wild rabbits tend to eat most of their food in the early morning at late evening because it is the best time to avoid predators.
What Do Rabbits Eat - An A-Z Guide To What Do Rabbits Eat
An A-Z list of what do rabbits eat. Find out what vegetables, fruits and plants your bun can and can't eat.
INSECTS | - Fact Monster: Online Almanac ...
WHAT DO INSECTS EAT? Insects eat a huge range of foods. Around half are plant-eaters, feeding on leaves, roots, seeds, nectar, or wood.
What Do Rabbits Eat - Want to Know it
Rabbits are small mammals that live in most places in the world. But what do rabbits eat? This post will answer that question, and then look at some interesting facts ...
What Do Rabbits Eat - Find out what's the best lettuce to ...
So, What Do Rabbits Eat? There is a variety of nutritional foods you can choose from to feed your friend. Looking to buy some healthy treats?
Bunny Care Guide: What To Feed Your Bunny Rabbit / What Do ...
How to Entertain and Play With a Pet Rabbit; Do Rabbits Eat Herbs? Lionhead Bunny Rabbits - All About these Cute and Unusual Bunnies;
What Do Wild Rabbits Eat? - Health Guidance
What Do Wild Rabbits Eat? Like us on Facebook | Google+ Page I support SOS Children's Villages. Can we help you find something? SEARCH: Main Page; View Authors;
Rabbit Proof Plants - Plants Rabbits Won't Eat
Rabbits can do a lot of damage to gardens. Like most animals, they have their favorite plants and those they tend to avoid. Here are lists of both, but be forewarned ...
What do Hawks Eat? - Buzzle
What do Hawks Eat? The eating habits of a hawk are influenced by several factors, including the species in question, native habitat, availability of prey, and so on.
What Animals Do Rabbits Eat |
What Animals Do Rabbits Eat Topic List Page "What Animals Do Rabbits Eat" Landing Page. Rabbits: ... What Insects Do Rabbits Eat What Do Wild Rabbits Eat?
What do insects eat? -
What do insects eat? - There are about a million different known species of insects in the world, and many of them have their own favorite foods!
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What do rabbits eat? Rabbits are herbivores, meaning that the answer to the question, 'What do rabbits eat?,' is plants. Rabbits have a very complex digestive system ...
What do rabbits eat? Healthy care and feeding of pet rabbits
What do rabbits eat - learn a healthy variety of ways to feed rabbits. Gain confidence with caring for rabbits by knowing what rabbits should eat and how to feed
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plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease sufferers, University of
Manchester researchers have revealed.
They believe the herpes simplex virus is a significant factor in
developing the debilitating disease and could be treated by antiviral
other diseases caused by the herpes virus. Another future possibility is
vaccination against the virus to prevent the development of the disease in
the first place.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterised by progressive memory loss
and severe cognitive impairment. It affects over 20 million people
despite enormous investment into research on the characteristic
abnormalities of AD brain - amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles -
the underlying causes are unknown and current treatments are ineffectual.
(GARY NULL claims he cured a totally gone victim, made her normal!)
Professor Ruth Itzhaki and her team at the University's Faculty of Life
Journal of Pathology.
antiviral agents to stop progression of the disease."
POSTER's NOTE: Gives new meaning to the phrase #*&(@* our brains out
as humans most easily get Herpes from sexual contact, though a careless mom
changing a baby's diapers could transfer her cold sore from her saliva being on her fingertips to baby's bottom. It would take years for baby's immune system to get
so compromised that cold sores or genital herpes would 'bloom'
"The team discovered that the HSV1 DNA is located very specifically in
in the formation of amyloid deposits and plaques, abnormalities thought by
many in the field to be major contributors to Alzheimer's disease.
The team had discovered much earlier that the virus is present in
genetic factor, there is a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
The team's data strongly suggest that HSV1 has a major role in
Alzheimer's disease and point to the usage of antiviral agents for treating
acyclovir reduces the amyloid deposition and reduces also certain other
Professor Itzhaki explains: "We suggest that HSV1 enters the brain in
the elderly as their immune systems decline and then establishes a dormant
immunosuppression, and various infections.
"The ensuing active HSV1 infection causes severe damage in brain cells,
most of which die and then disintegrate, thereby releasing amyloid
aggregates which develop into amyloid plaques after other components of
dying cells are deposited on them."
Her colleague Dr Matthew Wozniak adds: "Antiviral agents would inhibit
major cause of the disease irrespective of the actual damaging processes
involved, whereas current treatments at best merely inhibit some of the
symptoms of the disease."
further, enabling them to investigate in detail the effect of antiviral
agents on the Alzheimer's disease-associated changes that occur during HSV1
located within Alzheimer's disease amyloid plaques. The Journal of
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Benefits for the environment
So far commercially available chitosans worldwide are generated exclusively from chitin isolated from shrimp and crab shell waste biomass using rather harsh chemical procedures requiring high energy input and employing i.a. concentrated acid and alkali solutions leading to the generation of large volumes of salt effluents and to a high use of freshwater which in turn require sophisticated and expensive waste-water treatments. Nano3Bio aims at changing this by developing chitosans which will be produced more efficiently, with less resource use and environmental pollution.
Along the Nano3Bio project comprehensive life cycle assessments of the novel biotechnologically produced chitosans will be performed, to ensure environmental criteria are considered right from the start of technology development. This will contribute to the overall objectives of the transition to a bio-economy, namely reduced energy input, reduced environmental burden, and concomitantly improved product quality and increased consumer safety.
The ocean as the classical source of chitosans raw materials
Up to now the ocean has been the main source of raw materials for chitosans.
To top
Why chitosans now?
Consumers asks for eco-products:
Chitosans are consumer-safe, non-toxic, non-allergenic, biodegradable and biocompatible.
Industry asks for biopolymers:
Chitosans are versatile and bioactive basic substances with superior material and functional properties.
Society asks for sustainability:
Chitosans are derived from the abundant renewable resource chitin available from different waste materials.
Science asks for challenges:
Chitosans are naturally polydisperse materials with complex functionalities and high potentials.
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Central California Biographies A memorial and biographical history of the coast counties of Central California : illustrated : containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future, illustrations and full-page portraits of some of its eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers, and prominent citizens of to-day (1893) Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company Author: Barrows, Henry D; Ingersoll, Luther A Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm JASPER H. TWITCHELL, of San Juan, California, is ranked with the forty-niners. He left McDonough county, Illinois, in the spring of 1848, and came overland to this coast with a company. After crossing the Missouri river, the company was organized in divisions of fifty wag- ons each. Mr. Twitchell was chosen captain of a division. The first brush they had with the Indians was on Elkhorn river, where the savages tried to stampede their cattle. Two of the party were wounded in the encounter. Mr. Twitehell's wife died while on the way, at the place called Chimney Rock. If anything would try a man's soul it is to bury the companion of his life in the wild West. As they arrived at the sweet water, their cattle were poisoned by drinking the water, and twenty-nine of their oxen died from the effects. They continued dying after that until they had an insufficient number to move their wagons all together, being obliged to leave some behind and go back after them. They were so detained that they could not cross the mountains that winter, and were obliged to build cabins and camps where Ogden now stands. They left in the early spring of 1849 to cross the mountains. The next trouble they had with Indians was on Humboldt river, where the Indians captured one of their work oxen. They took one of the Indians a prisoner and car- ried him on a day's journey. They gave him victuals to eat and kept him under guard. Mr. Twitchell called the camp to order to know what they should do with him. The parties that had lost their ox wanted to hang him, but Mr. Twitchell would not allow it. There was in the company at the time an old mountaineer who could speak the Indian tongue, and they told him to tell his people to let the emigrants pass in peace over their land and not to molest them or their animals and they would do them the same. He bowed assent to this. They then tied him up a little "grub," gave him his bow and arrows and his pony, and told him to go. They had no further trouble for a while. They came on to the sink of the Humboldt, where they had a forty-mile sandy desert to cross. They camped there for a few days for their animals to recruit up. Mr. Twitchell then called the camp to order to ascertain the best time to cross the desert. He was of the opinion that the night time was the best, but was overruled by older men. They started next morning by daybreak. It happened, as Mr. Twitchell thought it would, many of the cattle dropped down in the middle of the day; and during the cool of the night they all came through to water. They had no further trouble till they came to Carson valley and at the mouth of Carson canon they camped three or four days. In the meantime another company came up, who had had a difficulty, and joined Mr. Twitchell's party. Mr. Twitchell had made up his mind to build a bridge across the Carson river, which was so high and swift that it was impossible to cross it at that place. The new party said they would help to build a bridge if Mr. Twitchell would allow them to tear it away when all had passed over, but to this Mr. Twitchell did not agree. Some distance above they found a difficult crossing, where by using ropes they finally got the wagons across. There were three crossings to make, and it took them three days to cross them. Then they had no more trouble till they reached the first range of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where one of their oxen was killed by Indians. With great difficulty they got over the first mountains and camped in the valley. The next morning Mr. Twitchell and two other men volunteered to go and ascertain where they could find the next camping, place. They were gone two days and one night, without any provision or blankets, and it rained and snowed all the while! and when they returned to the camp they found that some of the company was on starvation. Captain Twitchell called the company together to ascertain the situation of all, and found that one man had with him five or six barrels of flour. He told him he wanted him to let those who were entirely destitute have some of his flour. He objected at first, and Mr. Twitchell told him to do it willingly, and that he should have his pay for it. They then started and crossed the mountain, and camped at a lake now called Tahoe. They had no more trouble until they reached the bank of the Sacramento river, where Sacramento city is now. Camping there, they put up tents and cloth houses. Mr. Twitchell then built a cloth shed to work under and commenced working at his trade, wheelwrighting. The great flood that followed some time after buried his tools and timber, under six feet of water and he was forced to have his family boated to higher land, east of Sutter's Fort, where he built a house and a wheelwright shop, and opened a hotel. It was impossible for teams to get into the city. All provisions had to be boated up the slough near his place. Finally the water dried up so as to permit teams and travel in the city, and our subject's business became slack. Then he was forced to go to the mines. Hearing of rich diggings near a place called Yreka, he struck nothing there worth while to remain for and he went to the north fork of Scott river, beginning with fine prospects, but suffered an injury to his spine. While there he found an old acquaintance by the name of Barr, who had lived in Hancock county, Illinois. When Mr. Twitchell first knew him lie was a doctor by occupation. His company had left him to die with mount- ain fever, with nothing to eat or to cover him. Our subject at once took charge of him. He continued to get better. Mr. Twitchell abandoned the mines and started for home. The journey over Trinity mountains outdid the doctor and brought the fever on him worse than ever. He then begged Mr. Twitchell to leave him alone to die, which of course he would not do; but when they camped at night he thought he would have to abandon him, after all. In looking over his medicines he found a piece of champhor gum; thinking it might do the suffering man some good he gave him a strong dose. He watched over him and soon he began to brake out in a perspiration. Next morning our subject asked him how he was. He said the fever had left him and that he was very weak. He accused him of giving him some powerful medicine. Mr. Twitchell told him No; he had only given him some camphor. He then said that Mr. Twitchell was a doctor. He grew better and they started on their journey. At night they camped on the head of Clear creek, where the Indians killed four pack men within half a mile of them and took their provisions and mules! But such was life in the wild West, where all was excitement over the gold fever. Men lost all hu- manity in those days. After Mr. Twitchell reached home he moved his shop into the city and had a good business there till the city burned down. Then he became discouraged and left that part of the country and came to San Juan, San Benito county, California, in the year 1853. This was then a flourishing business place. He built the first shop in the town, and took a quarter section of land in the valley, which at that time was considered , government land, but it was afterward found to be covered with the San Justo grant. Mr. Twitchell was forced to leave it and all his improvements. He then moved to his present location, at the head of San, Juan creek. He had purchased his place from a settler in 1858, and in a few years it was covered with the Gabilan grant, and he had to buy it from the grant. He now owns 1,000 acres of fine farming and grazing land, abundantly watered. He moved his family there in 1867. Mr. Twitchell is a native of Ohio, born in Meigs county, September 1, 1820, son of Joshua and Ursula (Knight) Twitchell, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Massachusetts. His grandfather, Joshua Twitchell, Sr., also a Vermonter, served seven years in the Revolutionary war. In 1830 Joshua Twitchell, Jr., located with his family in McDonough county, Illinois, from which point the subject of this sketch started West. His brother, Silas, has for many years been a resident of San Juan, and another brother, Loranzo, lives in San Luis Obispo county. Mr. Twitchell has been twice married, wedding his present companion, nee Emeline Hopper, in 1849, and they have three sons and five daughters.
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