Datasets:

ServiceNow

/

fwe3-sample

like 0

Follow

ServiceNow 446

AS SURVIVORS along the coasts devastated by the tsunami on 26 December start to clear the debris, the world's attention is turning to how these communities are going to rebuild their towns and villages. When the unthinkable happens again, will they be any better prepared? "When you think of the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been lined up, there is a real chance that we simply rebuild the risky circumstances that we had before," warns Reid Basher of the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) in Bonn, Germany. "This is often the case in earthquake situations. The rebuilding reinstates the risk in the big rush to get everything going again." But rebuilding also gives communities an opportunity to prepare for future tsunamis, and at little extra cost. The nations that border the Pacific, which are in most danger from earthquake-triggered waves, have pioneered ways to protect themselves. ... To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42791000

AN ILLUSION device that makes one object look like another could one day be used to camouflage military planes or create "holes" in solid walls. The idea builds on the optical properties of so-called metamaterials, which can bend light in almost any direction. In 2006, researchers used this idea to create an "invisibility cloak" that bent microwaves around a central cavity, like water flowing around a stone. Any object in this cavity is effectively invisible. Now a group of researchers has gone a step further. "Invisibility is just an illusion of free space, of air," says Che Ting Chan, a physicist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a co-author of the study. "We are extending that concept. We can make it look like not just air but anything we want." Instead of bending light around a central cavity, the team has worked out ... To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42792000

The CRCT is designed to measure how well students acquire the skills and knowledge described in the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) and the Quality Core Curriculum (QCC). The assessments yield information on academic achievement at the student, class, school, system, and state levels. This information is used to diagnose individual student strengths and weaknesses as related to the instruction of the GPS/QCC, and to gauge the quality of education throughout Georgia. Students in grades one through eight take the CRCT in the content areas of reading, English/language arts, and mathematics. Students in grades three through eight are also assessed in science and social studies. Dr. Carl Skinner Director of Testing, Research, and Evaluation (770)-787-1330 ext. 1216 NCSS CRCT Scores Georgia Department of Education CRCT Information

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42799000

A User's Guide to Electrical PPE: Based on NFPA 70E® |Item # RES28208| Analyze risks and work smart! Every electrician on the job needs the User's Guide to Electrical PPE. This full-color manual to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is a "must" for the practicing electrical contractor or electrician. Based on NFPA 70E®: Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace® and written by Ray Jones, the top ranking expert in electrical safety, A User's Guide to Electrical PPE helps workers and supervisors competently analyze risks and take the action needed to avoid electrical contract injuries. Be sure you can choose equipment that will reduce or eliminate the risk of shock and electrocution, arc flash, arc blast, and other hazards. PPE goes beyond voltage-rated gloves, shoes, and boots. In fact, author Ray Jones contends that any equipment used to help recognize or evaluate a hazard is also Personal Protective Equipment. In this must-have Guide, easy-to-understand text explains potentially life-saving concepts such as: - How protective clothing and tools work together to create a barrier between workers and the identified jobsite hazards - How NFPA 70E and OSHA rules help employers and safety directors comply with today's worker safety requirements An abundance of full-color photographs illustrate equipment in a wide variety of work environments. (Softbound, 156 pp., 2008) |CUSTOMERS ALSO BOUGHT| |YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE|

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42800000

The Brown Hare This comprehensive, indispensable guide to the Brown Hare covers all aspects of the biology, ecology and conservation of the species, and is complete with colour photos, illustrations and maps. It contains detailed information on the status and distribution of the species as well as field signs, social and breeding behaviour, reproductive performance and the all-too-common threats, from predators and diseases through to the human impact. Features of the Lagomorpha General appearance of Britain's hares and rabbits Status and distribution of the brown hare Diet and feeding habits The farmland ecology of hares Social and breeding behaviour Mortality - disease Mortality - predation Mortality - hunting, coursing, shooting and poaching References and further reading View other products from the same publisher There are currently no organisations listed for this subjectIf you are involved in a scientific, conservation or environmental organisation and would like to be listed, please see our NHBS-Xchange information page.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42801000

You are here The Museum's Ethnographic Collection is composed primarily of artifacts produced by Utah Native American groups: Goshute, Navajo, Paiute, Shoshone and Ute, or are from neighboring tribes that had significant ties with the indigenous people of Utah. The earliest artifacts were collected in the 1890s and the most recent addition includes a modern Navajo basket collection acquired in 2009. Unlike archaeological collections that are obtained from excavation and survey, the ethnographic collections have grown through generous donations and the acquisition of significant private collections. Beaded regalia and moccasins are perhaps the best known objects in the ethnographic collection. Other objects include blankets, rugs, clothing, masks, basketry, jewelry and historic pottery. Ethnographic collections are valuable not only as examples of modern material culture, but also as examples of continuity, or lack of continuity, between the prehistoric past and present-day Native American traditions. Important examples of continuing traditions include the Southwestern Kachinas, objects decorated with beads, pottery, basketry and many other important ethnographic pieces. *Ethnology is the study of living or contemporary cultures, a branch of anthropology.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42802000

Arsenic-based medicine, Wm. R. Warner & Co., about 1900 Arsenic was widely used as a medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries. The development of forensic toxicology coincided with the spread of mass-produced and commercially distributed medicines and poisons (sometimes the same thing), and an associated rise in murders and suicides involving those substances. National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42806000

National Park Service Mission ...to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation Area Outreach Education is committed to: Creating an awareness and fostering an appreciation for the mission of the National Park Service and the natural, cultural, and historic resources of Curecanti National Recreation Area and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. EDUCATION LESSON PLAN Curriculum enhancing activities designed to complement national and state content standards across a variety of disciplines. Title: Black Canyon Habitats (Field Trip) Grade level: First Grade Time length: 2-4 hours, depending on number of students Subject areas: Science, Reading and Writing, Visual Arts, Physical Education Teacher: 2-4 NPS Education Specialists plus classroom teachers and chaperones (1 adult per 7students) Colorado Content Standards: Science: (1) Students understand the processes of scientific investigation and design, conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations. (3.1) Students know and understand the characteristics of living things, the diversity of life, and how living things interact with each other and with their environment. (5) Students know and understand interrelationships among science, technology, and human activity and how they can affect the world. Reading and Writing: (1) Students read and understand a variety of materials. (2) Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences. Visual Arts: (2) Students know and apply elements of art, principles of design, and sensory and expressive features of visual arts.Physical Education: (1) Students demonstrate competent skills in variety of physical activities and sports. Theme: Black Canyon is home to many kinds of plants and animals. Sometimes we see them, sometimes we don’t. Each plant and animal is important and helps others survive. NPS focus: Public Law 39-535 (Organic Act), Public Law 95-250 (Redwood National Park Expansion Act), Vail Agenda Education Committee Report (Strategic Goal #2; Action Plan 16)and (Strategic Goal #3; Action Plan 52,62), Curecanti and Black Canyon Themes: Natural Resources/Wildlife Environmental concepts: Everything is connected to everything else (interrelationships). Everything must fit how and where it lives (adaptations). Materials: video; Who Goes There animal clues (bird nest, track, scat, feather, etc.); National Park Service ranger booklet; paper and pencils; clipboards; toilet paper rolls (1 per student); markers; double-sided tape; ranger clothes and hat x 2 (one set for child, one set for ranger); I. INSTRUCTIONAL OUTCOMES Knowledge level: Students will be able to list the different components of a habitat. Students will be able to name three animals that live at the Black Canyon. Students will be able to describe how plants are used by people and by animals. Students will be able to tell their families and friends about national park rangers and list three of their jobs. Comprehension level: Students will be able to point out various components of the habitat for specific animals at the Black Canyon. II. ANTICIPATORY SET Rangers will meet the school bus at the South Rim visitor center. Ranger should board the bus (or if it’s not too busy, have the kids get off the bus and gather together inside or outside) and provide an enthusiastic WELCOME to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Explain why this national park is very important (special canyon and rock formations, home to many plants and animals, wilderness area below the canyon rim). Touch on main rules, incorporating Leave No Trace (leave what you find-don’t pick plants or take anything home; put garbage in the cans; respect the animals, plants, and other visitors; no running, walk on trails unless told otherwise). Explain that we’ll divide into four groups, and each group will get to rotate through four “centers.” Briefly explain the activity that they’ll do at each center. III. TEACHING PROCEDURE/METHODOLOGY Location: hike from South Rim Visitor Center (VC) on Oak Flat trail toward the rock outcropping and back to VC Leader: 1-2 Rangers Activity: Habitat Hike During this activity, the students will follow a ranger on a scavenger hunt hike focusing on local animals and their habitats. At the beginning, the ranger will show “clues” that animals have left behind, such as feathers, fur, scat, bones, antlers, etc. Students can use their powers of investigation to determine which animal left each clue behind. Briefly discuss the components of a habitat. Each student will receive a worksheet and a crayon. The worksheet is divided into four sections, each devoted to one animal: bird, fox, insect, and squirrel. Students will follow the ranger along the trail, looking for objects that these animals need to survive (food, water, shelter, space). Look for clues the animals have left behind, as well. If you find one of the objects, show the ranger. Then circle it on your paper. If you find all the things an animal needs to survive, then that animal probably lives here! If there is time remaining at the end of this activity, students can color their pictures at the visitor center. Location: back porch of VC Leader: 1 Ranger Activity: Ranger Rules The job of a National Park Service Ranger will be highlighted in various ways at this station. First, gather the students in a circle on the back porch of the visitor center. Ask them what they imagine a National Park Service Ranger does. Some probable answers will be: take care of the animals; protect the plants; help visitors; fight forest fires; etc. Engage the students in dialogue for a few moments, and then read aloud the Park Ranger coloring book, which describes the duties of a park ranger. Provide paper, pencils, and crayons to the students, and encourage them to write a story (a few sentences) about themselves as a ranger, or draw themselves doing the job of a ranger. Choose two volunteers to dress up as a ranger, as fast as they can. The winner competes against the ranger in a timed race (clothing items=vest, shirt, pants, boots, hat, windbreaker, etc.). If there’s time, lead a short walk down to the Gunnison Point overlook, having each student pretend that they’re a park ranger. LUNCH BREAK – all students travel via school bus to Warner Point picnic area and eat lunch (30 minutes). Provide time for students to release some of their energy by doing a guided game that involves lots of movement and silliness. Afterwards, all students and teachers return to VC. Location: other side of VC parking lot, Rim Rock Trail (or switch locations with station 2) Leader: 1 Ranger Activity: Plant Scopes The ranger will lead a short discussion about plants, encouraging students to name some different types of plants (trees, bushes, flowers, mosses, show examples or pictures of each). Ask students why plants are useful, and let them discuss this question for a couple of minutes. (Take notice if they mention human uses or animal uses.) Ranger will hold up various objects for the students to see (pg 36 PLT) like a small branch, pencil, wooden toy, paper, etc. and ask where each one comes from (trees!). Talk a little bit more about how humans use trees and other plants. Ask the students if they think that animals use plants, too. Discuss the uses/benefits of plants that the students mention, and show pictures of animals using plants-beaver dam, beaver chewing branch, butterfly on flower, deer scraping antlers, bird nest in tree, bird or squirrel in hollow tree/log, etc. After the discussion, have the students make a tree telescope (pg. 71 PLT) using a toilet paper roll and decorating it with markers, double sided tape, leaves, twigs, and their creativity. Next, have the students kneel down in their own space and use their scopes to look for examples of animals using plants (insect galls, chewed leaf, scat, etc.) Gather briefly and allow a time for students to share their discoveries (either through words or by showing the actual discovery). Ranger should conclude by emphasizing the importance of plants for both people and animals, and that plants and animals are interdependent. Flowers depend on insects for pollination, trees depend on animals to eat their seeds and deposit them elsewhere, animals rely on plants as a source of food, etc. Location: South Rim VC Leader: VC personnel or a classroom teacher Activity: In the VC theater, show an educational video which ties together wildlife, plants, and habitats. Leader should have each student sit in a chair, keep their hands to themselves, and quietly watch the movie. Introduce the movie briefly and encourage the students to pay attention to the ways that the plants and animals interact. After the movie, have the students remain seated and ask some review questions to determine what the students learned. Have the students line up and quietly exit the VC, or if there’s time, students may be allowed to look at the exhibits (must be supervised). Movie possibilities: prairie dog movie, CO endangered species, etc. IV. CHECK FOR STUDENT UNDERSTANDING Ask several review questions after completion of each station. V. GUIDED PRACTICE See section III. VI. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE Students should be encouraged to use their plant scopes at home to search for plant/animal interactions. They can look for wildlife and habitats around their home, and make a list of each animal they see and what they think it needs to survive. Gather all the students on the bus, divide bus into 2 teams and ask several review questions. Show students the Jr. Ranger booklet and badge and tell them that they can earn their badge if they return another day and fill out the booklet. Thank the students for visiting the Black Canyon and tell them that we hope they will bring their families to visit someday soon. Give a program evaluation to the teacher. Indicate what you judge to have been the strengths of the lesson, what changes you made during the lesson and what changes you would make if you were to teach the unit again. IX. REFERENCES CITED X. RELATED WWW SITES

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42814000

A retired school teacher who taught elementary school with an emphasis in environmental education, Peg Mohar doesn’t have the mien of a revolutionary. But when Mohar spoke last Saturday at a Gibson Woods Wild Ones meeting, she talked about a simple way to restore and rejuvenate our environment in her presentation titled “Go Native: Soothe Your Soul and Save the World." “If everyone planted natives, we’d be able to repair our ecosystems,” said Mohar, a former executive director, board member, volunteer, and part time employee as land assistant for the Shirley Heinze Land Trust as well as a volunteer guide for Mighty Acorns and a former Dunes Learning Center board member. “We can pay reparations for the damage to ecosystems we have incurred through human activity by turning parts of our yards into the native landscapes we replaced. Plant, and they will come! Native gardens attract the native bugs, birds, and butterflies once populating our area.” Mohar said her talks about native plants and nature have evolved over the years, but she has been greatly influenced by "Bringing Nature Home" (Timber Press, $27.95), a book by Doug Tallamy, chairman of the department of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, about how gardeners can slow the rate of extinction by planting natives in their yards. To prove his point, Tallamy cites studies that connect habitat destruction with species loss. Locally, the impact can be seen with the decline and near disappearance of the delicate Karner Blue Butterfly. Just 30 years or so ago, the duneland woods might have seemed blue with the large population of the Karner Blues that feed on wild lupine, but as the lupine disappears, the Karner Blues do, too. “We humans as a species have waged an undeclared and unintentional war on the millions of other species with which we share this planet,” Mohar said. “The unintended consequences of our turning the native landscapes to our purposes has been to reduce the numbers or remove completely many species of plants and animals. Bringing back native ecosystems — starting with planting of native plants — is a simple but effective step everyone can take to give back.” Gibson Woods Wild Ones is a local chapter of Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes, a nationwide group formed more than a decade ago with the mission of educating people about the benefits of using native plants. Such groups, and educators like Mohar and Tallamy, want to help others understand that gardens brimming with lilies, hydrangeas and rosebushes don’t provide nourishment to insects, birds and butterflies. Indeed, Tallamy points out in his book that butterfly bushes only benefit adult butterflies, because they like the flower’s nectar, but their larvae can’t eat it. “They might as well be plastic,” said Tallamy about certain ornamental plants that fall in the “not in our backyard” category. But natives doesn’t have to mean a garden of taupe and brown. Instead, pretty patches of phlox — which comes in several different colors — can feed eight species of butterflies. Mohar credits her love of the outdoors to growing up on a family farm in Central Illinois. “The diversity of wild flowers on our family farm was not nearly as large as what’s here in Northwest Indiana," she said. "That’s the interesting thing about The Region, with its smokestack industries and the dunes and its amazing biodiversity.” Mohar lives in a wooded area near Chesterton. “We were fortunate to find land that was biodiverse and hadn’t been over-grazed,” she said. “We have an unfolding of flowers starting in March and going on until the frost. On our property I have found over 200 native species.” To illustrate her talk, Mohar showed photos of local winners of the 2011 Shirley Heinze Land Trust "Bringing Nature Home" awards, such as Jay Gallagher, developer of the green and sustainable East Edge Homes in Miller, who uses native grasses, dune grasses and native prairie flowers like black-eyed Susans, goldenrod and lupine instead of a lawn; the Taltree Arboretum native plant garden overseen by Patty Stimmel; the restoration of a cattail marsh led by Susan Mihalo and Gerry Lehmann at Long Lake Marsh in Ogden Dunes; and Franklin Academy Native Landscape in East Chicago sponsored by BP Whiting. “This year Spencer Cortwright was awarded a BNH award in the individual category,” Mohar said. “He has turned his Valparaiso lawn into a prairie planting.” Gallagher says that once established, the maintenance requirements of a native garden are very low. “This area was a natural prairie and it wants to return to that,” he says. “All we have to do is help it along a bit and it will do quite well. The water that it would take to support a traditional lawn would be wasteful, not to mention that the chemicals needed to keep a lawn green would be constantly leaching into the groundwater and eventually into the lake.” It’s all about returning native plants to where they belong and they in turn will nurture the soil and give nourishment to insects which in turn become bird food. The birds then pollinate the plants creating an interconnected loop and one that saves our resources and is good for our earth.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42824000

- The U.S. is committed to working together with China to tackle current energy challenges the world faces, including cultivating sufficient investment, the development and deployment of new energy technologies, and addressing greenhouse gas emissions from producing and using energy. - Our cooperation spans power generation, efficient buildings, sustainable transportation, emissions-free nuclear power, and clean fossil fuels. - The U.S. and China are the world's largest energy consumers and are expected to remain the top two oil consumers in the world for the foreseeable future. China is likely to experience very large growth rates for both its economy and energy consumption over the next two decades. The U.S. continues working with China to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy use. - The actions of the U.S. and China matter for global energy demand, for global environmental quality, and for the challenge of global climate change. - Our governments need to take positive action to reduce uncertainty in the market and encourage investment. Only by providing clear signals to the energy industry can we secure our future energy needs. Our governments should work together to increase energy security through: - Fostering transparent and efficient energy markets; - Lowering trade barriers, particularly for clean energy and other environmental goods and services; - Supporting measures to increase energy efficiency; and, - Providing consistent policies for investment in oil, gas, coal, and renewables. The U.S. and China's Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) Action Plans: - The U.S. and China's five Action Plans - developed under the SED Ten Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework - are critically important. DOE took the lead in working with China to develop the two energy-related action plans under the Ten Year Framework, one on Clean, Efficient and Secure Electricity Production and Transmission and the other on Clean and Efficient Transportation. - Under these Action Plans, the U.S. and China will build on past cooperation, such as our work in promoting biofuels production and its use in transportation and in improving energy efficiency through industrial efficiency assessments. - The Action Plans also take us in important new directions, such as helping China to achieve low sulfur fuels for both gasoline and diesel engines and the introduction of more stringent emission standards in China for the transportation sector. - The U.S. continues to work with China through the Strategic Economic Dialogue, Energy Policy Dialogue, Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate and other bilateral and multilateral forums towards confronting our global energy challenges, including building efficiency, transportation, electricity, renewable and alternative energy sources and energy diversification, in a collaborative, environmentally effective, and economically sustainable approach. Examples include conducting on-site industrial energy assessments, energy training at the Mayors Training Center, building codes, and sustainable reconstruction in earthquake zones. Past, Current and Future U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Collaboration: - U.S. DOE and the Beijing Municipality worked closely to promote use of clean energy technologies at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. DOE provided expert technical and policy assistance. - The Olympic Village was approximately 50 percent more energy efficient than similar buildings in Beijing. DOE worked with the developer and the US Green Building Council (GBC) to submit the entire Olympic Village as a USGBC Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Building under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, receiving a Gold LEED certification. This is the first Olympic Village to receive such recognition. In addition, the Olympic Welcome Center is a near zero energy building, also called a Micro-Energy Building. - DOE technical support provided a variety of energy efficiency technologies to reduce the heating and cooling loads, improve lighting efficiency, save water and serve as models of what the next generation of housing could be in China. - DOE continues to work with its Chinese counterparts to conduct energy efficiency assessments of buildings and industry factories, among others, to improve energy use and cut greenhouse gas emissions; to expand cooperation on biofuels production and use; and to promote large-scale deployment of electric-drive and fuel cell technologies for transportation. - DOE is now working with Chinese officials to prepare an Action Plan on energy efficiency in the latest development under the SED Ten Year Framework. - Through U.S. - China partnerships and discussions, the two countries will continue to make progress in all of these areas while sustaining economic growth. The Path Forward: - The world needs more energy supplies of all types. We need more hydrocarbons now and in the near future. Over time, the role of renewable energy will continue to grow. Diversity of supplies, suppliers and supply routes is a key component to enhancing global energy security. - U.S. - China partnerships and bilateral discussions will drive progress toward reducing energy consumption and cutting greenhouse gas emissions and promoting more efficient energy markets. Healy Baumgardner, (202) 586-4940

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42835000

Tahiti - Description Of Tahiti ( Originally Published 1921 ) Description of Tahiti—A volcanic rock and coral reef—Beauty of the Scenery—Papeete the center of the South Seas—Appearance of the Tahitians. TAHITI was a molten rock, fused in' a subterranean furnace, and cast in some frightful throe of the cooling sphere, high up above the surface of the sea, the seething mass forming into mountains and valleys, the valleys hemmed in except at their mouths by lofty barriers that stretch from thundering central ridges to the slanting shelf of alluvial soil which extends to the sand of the beach. It is a mass of volcanic matter to which the air, the rain, and the passage of a million years have given an all-covering verdure except upon the loftiest peaks, have cut into strangely shaped cliffs, sloping hills, spacious vales, and shadowy glens and dingles, and have poured down the rich detritus and humus to cover the coral beaches and afford sustenance for man and beast. About the island countless trillions of tiny animals have reared the shimmering reef which bears the brunt of the breaking seas, and spares their impact upon the precious land. These minute beings in the unfathomable scheme of the Will had worked and perished for unguessed ages to leave behind this monument of their existence, their charnel-house. Man had often told himself that a god had inspired them thus to build havens for his vessels and abodes of marine life where man might kill lesser beings for his food and sport. Always, in the approach to the island in steamship, schooner, or canoe, one is amazed and transported by the varying aspect of it. A few miles away one would never know that man had touched it. His inappreciable structures are erased by the flood of green color, which, from the edge of the lagoon to the spires of La Diademe, nearly eight thousand feet above the water, makes all other hues insignificant. In all its hundred miles or so of circumference nature is the dominant note —a nature so mysterious, so powerful, and yet so soft-handed, so beauty-loving and so laughing in its indulgences, that one can hardly believe it the same that rules the Northern climes and forces man to labor in pain all his days or to die. The scene from a little distance is as primeval as when the first humans climbed in their frail canoes through the unknown and terrible stretches of ocean, and saw Tahiti shining in the sunlight. A mile or two from the lagoon the fertile land extends as a slowly-ascending gamut of greens as luxuriant as a jungle, and forming a most pleasing foreground to the startling amphitheater of the mountains, darker, and, in storm, black and forbidding. Those mountains are the most wonderful examples of volcanic rock on the globe. Formed of rough and crystalline products of the basic fire of earth, they hold high up in their recesses coral beds once under the sea, and lava in many shapes, tokens of the island's rise from the slime, and of mammoth craters now almost entirely obliterated by denudation—the denudation which made the level land as fertile as any on earth, and the suitable habitation of the most leisurely and magnificent human animals of history. A thousand rills that drink from the clouds ever encirclingthe crags, and in which they are often lost from view, leap from the heights, appearing as ribbons of white on a clear day, and not seldom disappearing in vapor as they fall sheer hundreds of feet, or thousands, in successive drops. When heavy rains come, torrents suddenly spring into being and dash madly down the precipitous cliffs to swell the brooks and little rivers and rush headlong to the sea. Tahiti has an unexcelled climate for the tropics, the temperature for the year averaging seventy-seven degrees and varying from sixty-nine to eighty-four degrees. June, July, and August are the coolest and driest months, and December to March the rainiest and hottest. It is often humid, enervating, but the south-east, the trade-wind, which blows regularly on the east side of the islands, where are Papeete and most of the settlements, purifies the atmosphere, and there are no epidemics except when disease is brought directly from the cities of America or Australasia. A delicious breeze comes up every morning at nine o'clock and fans the dweller in this real Arcadia until past four, when it languishes and ceases in preparation for the vesper drama of the sun's retirement from the stage of earth. Typhoons or cyclones are rare about Tahiti, but squalls are frequent and tidal waves recurrent. The rain falls more than a hundred days a year, but usually so lightly that one thinks of it as liquid sunshine. In the wet quarter from December until March there are almost daily deluges, when the an seems turned to water, the land and sea are hidden by the screen of driving rain, and the thunder shakes the flimsy houses, and echoes menacingly in the upper valleys. Papeete, the seat of government and trade capital of all the French possessions in these parts of the world, is a sprawling village stretching lazily from the river of Fautaua on the east to the cemetery on the west, and from the sea on the north to half a mile inland. It is the gradual increment of garden and house upon an aboriginal village, the slow response of a century to the demand of official and trading white, of religious group and ambitious Tahitian, of sailor and tourist. Here flow all the channels of business and finance, of plotting and robbery, of pleasure and profit, of literature and art and good living, in the eastern Pacific. Papeete is the London and Paris of this part of the peaceful ocean, dispensing the styles and comforts, the inventions and luxuries, of civilization, making the laws and enforcing or compromising them, giving justice and injustice to litigants, despatching all the concomitants of modernity to littler islands. Papeete is the entrepot of all the archipelagoes in these seas. The French, who have domination in these waters of a hundred islands and atolls between 8° and 27° south latitude, and between 137° and 154° west longitude, a stretch of about twelve hundred miles each way, make them all tributary to Papeete ; and thus it is the metropolis of a province of salt water, over which come its couriers and its freighters, its governors and its soldiers, its pleasure-seekers and its idlers. From it an age ago went the Maoris to people Hawaii and New Zealand. Papeete has a central position in the Pacific. The capitals of Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and California are from two and a half to three and a half thousand miles away. No other such group of whites, or place approaching its urbanity, is to be found in a vast extent of latitude or longitude. It is without peer or competitor. in endless leagues of waves. Yet Papeete is a little place, a mile or so in length and less in width, a curious imposition of European houses and manners upon a Tahitian hamlet, hybrid, a mixture of loveliness and ugliness, of nature savage and tamed. The settlement, as with all ports, began at the water-front, and the harbor of Papeete is a lake within the milky reef, the gentle waters of which touch a strip of green that runs along the shore, broken here and there by a wall and by the quay at which I landed. Coral blocks have been quarried from the reef and fitted to make an embankment for half a mile, which juts out just far enough to be usable as a mole. It is alongside this that sailing vessels lie, the wharf being the only land mooring with a roof for the housing of products. A dozen schooners, small and large, point their noses out to the sea, their backs against the coral quay, and their hawsers made fast to old cannon, brought here to war against the natives, and now binding the messengers of the nations and of commerce to this shore. Where there are no embankments, the water comes up to the roots of the trees, and a carpet of grass, moss, and tropical vegetation grows from the salt tide to the roadway. Following the contour of the beach, runs a fairly broad road, and facing this original thoroughfare and the sea are the principal shops of the traders and a few residences. French are some of these merchants, but most are Australasian, German, American and Chinese. France is ten thousand miles away, and the French unequal in the struggle for gain. Some of the stores occupy blocks, and in them one will find a limited assortment of tobacco, anchors, needles, music-boxes, candles, bicycles, rum, novels, and silks or calicos. Here in this spot was the first settlement of the preachers of the gospel, of the conquering forces of France, and of the roaring blades who brought the culture of the world to a powerful and spellbound people. Here swarmed the crews of fifty whalers in the days when "There she blows!" was heard from crows'-nests all over the broad Pacific. These rough adventurers, fighters, revelers, passionate bachelors, stamped Tahiti with its first strong imprint of the white man's modes and vices, con-tending with the missionaries for supremacy of ideal. They brought gin and a new lecherousness and deadly ills and novel superstitions, and found a people ready for their wares. An old American woman has told me she has seen a thousand whalemen at one time ashore off ships in the harbor make night and day a Saturnalia of Occidental pleasure, a hundred fights in twenty-four hours. As more of Europe and America came and brought lumber to build houses, or used the hard woods of the mountains, the settlement pushed back from the beach. Trails that later widened into streets were cut through the brush to reach these homes of whites, and the thatched huts of the aborigines were replaced by the ugly, but more convenient, cottages of the new-comers. The French, when once they had seized the island, made roads, gradually and not too well, but far surpassing those of most outlying possessions, and contrasting advantageously with the neglect of the Spanish, who in three hundred years in the Philippines left all undone the most important step in civilization. One can drive almost completely around Tahiti on ninety miles of a highway passable at most times of the year, and bridging a hundred times the streams which rush and purl and wind from the heights to the ocean. The streets of Papeete have no plan. They go where they list and in curves and angles, and only once in a mile in short, straight stretches. They twist and stray north and south and nor'nor'west and eastsou'east, as if each new-comer had cleft a walk of his own, caring naught for any one else, and further dwellers had smoothed it on for themselves. I lost myself in a maze of streets, looked about for a familiar landmark, strolled a hundred paces, and found myself somewhere I thought a kilometer distant. Everywhere there are shops kept by Chinese, restaurants and coffee-houses. The streets all have names, but change them as they progress, honoring some French hero or statesman for a block or two, recalling some event, or plainly stating the reason for their being. All names are in French, of course, and many are quaint and sonorous. As the sea-wall grew according to the demands of defense or commerce the sections were rechristened. The quai des Subsistances tells its purpose as does the quai de l'Uranie. The rue de l'Ecole and the rue de la Mission, with the rue des Remparts, speak the early building of school and Catholic church and fortifications. Rue Cook, rue de Bougainville and many others record the giant figures of history who took Tahiti from the mist of the half-known, and wrote it on the charts and in the archives. Other streets hark back to that beloved France to which these French exiles gaze with tearful eyes, but linger all their years ten thousand miles away. They saunter along the rue de Rivoli in Papeete, and see again the magnificence of the Tuileries, and hear the dear noises of la belle Paris. They are sentimental, these French, patriots all here, and overcome at times by the flood of memories of la France, their birthplaces, and their ancestral graves. Some born here have never been away, and some have spent a few short months in visits to the homeland. Some have brown mothers, half-islanders; yet if they learn the tripping tongue of their French progenitor and European manners, they think of France as their ultimate goal, of Paris their playground, and the "Marseillaise their himene par excellence. One might conjure up a vision of a tiny Paris with such names in one's ears, and these French, who have been in possession here nearly four-score years, have tried to make a French town of Papeete. They have only spoiled the scene as far as unfit architecture can, but the riot of tropical nature has mocked their labors. For all over the flimsy wooden houses, the wretched palings, the galvanized iron roofing, the ugly verandas, hang gorgeous draperies of the giant acacias, the brilliant flamboyantes, the bountiful, yellow allamanda, the generous breadfruit, and the uplifting glory of the cocoanut-trees, while magnificent vines and creepers cover the tawdry paint of the facades and em-bower the homes in green and flower. If one leaves the few principal streets or roads in Papeete, one walks only on well-worn trails through the thick growth of lantana, guavas, pandanus, wild coffee, and a dozen other trees and bushes. The paths are lined with hedges of false coffee, where thrifty people live, and again there are open spaces with vistas of little houses in groves, rows of tiny cabins close together. Every-where are picturesque disorder, dirt, rubbish, and the accrued wallow of years of laissez-aller; but the mighty trade-winds and the constant rains sweep away all bad odors, and there is no resultant disease. "My word," said Stevens, a London stockbroker, here to rehabilitate a broken corporation, "if we English had this place, would n't there be a cleaning up ! We 'd build it solid and sanitary, and have proper rules to make the bally natives stand around." The practical British would that. They have done so in a dozen of their far-flung colonies I have been in, from Singapore to Barbadoes, though they have failed utterly in Jamaica. Yet, I am at first sight, of the mind that only the Spanish would have kept, after decades of administration, as much of the simple beauty of Papeete as have the Gauls. True, the streets are a litter, the Government almost unseen as to modern uplift, the natives are indolent and life moves without bustle or goal. The republic is content to keep the peace, to sell its wares, to teach its tongue, and to let the gentle Tahitian hold to his island ways, now that his race dies rapidly in the spiritual atmosphere so murderous to natural, non-immunized souls and bodies. Many streets and roads are shaded by spreading mango-trees, a fruit brought in the sixties from Brazil, and perfected in size and flavor here by the patient efforts of French gardeners and priests. The trees along the town ways are splendid, umbrageous masses of dark foliage whose golden crops fall upon the roadways, and which have been so chosen that though they are seasonal, the round mango is succeeded by the golden egg, and that by a small purple sort, while the large, long variety continues most of the year. Monseigneur Jaussen, the Catholic bishop who wrote the accepted grammar and dictionary of the Tahitian language, evolved a delicious, large mango, with a long, thin stone very different from the usual seed, which occupies most of the circumference of this slightly acidulous, most luscious of tropical fruits. Often the pave is a spatter of the fallen mangos, its slippery condition of no import to the bare-footed Tahitian, but to the shod a cause of sudden, strange gyrations and gestures, and of irreverence to-ward the Deity. Scores of varieties of fruits and flowers, shade-trees, and ornamental plants were brought to Tahiti by ship commanders, missionaries, officials, and traders, in the last hundred years, while many of the indigenous growths have been transplanted to other islands and continents by those whose interests were in them. The Mutiny of the Bounty, perhaps the most romantic incident of these South Seas, was the result of an effort to transport breadfruit-tree shoots from Tahiti to the West Indies. It is a beautiful trait in humankind, which, maybe, designing nature has endowed us with to spread her manifold creations, that even the most selfish of men delight in planting in new environments exotic seeds and plants, and in enriching the fauna of far-away islands with strange animals and insects. The pepper- and the gum-tree that make southern California's desert a bower, the oranges and lemons there which send a million golden trophies to less-favored peoples, are the flora of distant climes. Since the days of the white discoverers, adventurers and priests, fighting men and puritans, have added to the earth's treasury in Tahiti and all these islands. Walking one morning along the waterfront, I met two very dark negresses. They had on pink and black dresses, with red cotton shawls, and they wore flaming yellow handkerchiefs about their woolly heads. They were as African as the Congo, and as strange in this setting as Eskimos on Broadway. They felt their importance, for they were of the few good cooks of French dishes here. They spoke a French patois, and guffawed loudly when one dropped her basket of supplies from her head. They were servants of the procureur de la Republique, who had brought them from the French colony of Martinique. Many races have mingled here. One saw their pigments and their lines in the castes; here a soupcon of the French and there a touch of the Dane; the Chileno, himself a mestizo, had left his print in delicacy of feature, and the Irish his freckles and pug, which with tawny skin, pearly teeth, and the superb form of the pure Tahitian, left little to be desired in fetching and saucy allurement. Thousands of sailors and merchants and preachers had sowed their seed here, as did Captain Cook's men a century and a half ago, and the harvest showed in numerous shadings of colors and variety of mixtures. Tahiti had, since ship of Europe sighted Orofena, been a pasture for the wild asses of the Wanderlust, a paradise into which they had brought their snakes and left them to plague the natives. There were phonographs shrieking at one from a score of verandas. The automobile had become a menace to life and limb. There were two-score motorcars in Tahiti; but as the island is small, and most of them were in the capital, one met them all the day, and might have thought there were hundreds. Motor-buses, or "rubberneck-wagons," ran about the city, carrying the natives for a franc on a brief tour, and, for more, to country districts where good cheer and dances sped the night. A dozen five- and seven-passenger cars with drivers were for hire. Most nights until eleven or later the rented machines dashed about the narrow streets, hooting and hissing, while their carefree occupants played accordions or mouth-organs and sang songs of love. Louis de Bougainville, once a French lawyer, and afterward soldier, sailor, and discoverer and a lord under Bonaparte, had a monument in a tiny green park hard by the strand and the road that, beginning there, bands the island. He is best known the world about because his name is given to the "four-o'clock" shrub in warm countries, as in Tahiti, which sends huge masses of magenta or crimson blossoms climbing on trellises and roofs. I walked to this monument from the Tiare along the mossy bank of a little rivulet which ran to the beach. It was early morning. The humble natives and whites were about their daily tasks. Smoke rose from the iron pipes above the houses, coffee scented the air, men and women were returning from the market-place with bunches of cocoanuts, bananas, and bread-fruit, strings of fish and cuts of meat in papers, Many of them had their heads wreathed in flowers or wore a tiare blossom over an ear. The way in which one wears a flower supposedly signifies many things. If one wore it over the left ear, one sought a sweetheart; if over the right, it signified contentment, and though it was as common as the wearing of hats, there were always jokes passing about these flowers, exclamations of surprise or wishes of joy. "What, you have left Terii?" "Aue! I must change it at once." Now, really there was no such idea in the native mind. It was invention for tourists. The Tahitian wears flowers anywhere, always, if he can have them, and they do express his mood. If he is sad, he will not put them on; but if going to a dance, to a picnic, or to promenade, if he has money in his pocket, or gaiety in his heart, he must bloom. Over one ear, or both, in the hair, on the head, around the neck, both sexes were passionately fond of this age-old sign of kinship with nature. The lei in Hawaii around the hat or the neck spells the same meaning, but the flood of outsiders has lost Hawaii all but the merest remnant of its ancient ways, while here still persisted customs which a century of European difference and indifference has not crushed out. Here, as there, more lasting wreaths for the hat were woven of shells or beads in various colors. As I strolled past the houses, every one greeted me pleasantly. "la ora na," they said, or "Bon jour!" I replied in kind. I had not been a day in Tahiti before I felt kindled in me an affection for its dark people which I had never known for any other race. It was an admixture of friendship, admiration, and pity—of affection for their beautiful natures, of appreciation of the magnificence of their physical equipment, and of sympathy for them in their decline and inevitable passing under the changed conditions of environment made by the sudden smothering of their instinctive needs in the sepia of commercial civilization. I saw that those natives remaining, laughing and full of the desire for pleasure as they were, must perish because unfit to survive in the morass of modernism in which they were sinking, victims of a system of life in which material profits were the sole goal and standard of the rulers. The Tahitians are tall, vigorous, and superbly rounded. The men, often more than six feet or even six and a half feet in height, have a mien of natural majesty and bodily grace. They convey an impression of giant strength, reserve power, and unconscious poise beyond that made by any other race. American Indians I have known had much of this quality when resident far from towns, but they lacked the curving, padded muscles, the ease of movement, and, most of all, the smiling faces, the ingratiating manner, of these children of the sun. The Tahitians' noses are fairly flat and large; the nostrils dilated ; their lips full and sensual ; their teeth perfectly shaped and very white and sound; their chins strong, though round ; and their eyes black and large, not brilliant, but liquid. Their feet and hands are mighty —hands that lift burdens of great weight, that swing paddles of canoes for hours; feet that tread the roads or mountain trails for league on league. The women are of middle size, with lines of harmony that give them a unique seal of beauty, with an undulating movement of their bodies, a coordination of every muscle and nerve, a richness of aspect in color and form, that is more sensuous, more attractive, than any feminine graces I have ever gazed on. They have the forwardness of boys, the boldness of huntresses, yet the softness and magnetism of the most virginal of their white sisters. One thinks of them as of old in soft draperies of beautiful cream-colored native cloth wound around their bodies, passed under one arm and knotted on the other shoulder, revealing the shapely neck and arm, and one breast, with garlands upon their hair, and a fragrant flower passed through one ear, and in the other two or three large pearls fastened with braided human hair. The men never wore beards, though mustaches, copying the French custom, are common on chiefs, preachers, and those who sacrifice beauty and natural desires to ambition. The hair on the face is removed as it appears, and it is scanty. They abhor beards, and their ghosts, the tupapau, have faces fringed with hair. The usual movements of both men and women are slow, dignified, and full of pride.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42843000

We propose a new metamaterial with a gradient negative index of refraction, which can focus a collimated beam of light coming from a distant object. A slab of the negative refractive index metamaterial has a focal length that can be tuned by changing the gradient of the negative refractive index. A thin metal film pierced with holes of appropriate size or spacing between them can be used as a metamaterial with the gradient negative index of refraction. We use finite-difference time-domain calculations to show the focusing of a plane electromagnetic wave passing through a system of equidistantly spaced holes in a metal slab with decreasing diameters toward the edges of the slab. © 2007 Optical Society of America Original Manuscript: January 19, 2007 Revised Manuscript: July 2, 2007 Manuscript Accepted: July 5, 2007 Published: September 6, 2007 Photonic Metamaterials (2007) JOSA A Anatoliy O. Pinchuk and George C. Schatz, "Metamaterials with gradient negative index of refraction," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 24, A39-A44 (2007)

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42852000

How Options Work How You Can Use Options > Options are the most versatile trading instrument ever invented. Since options cost less than stock, they provide a high leverage approach to trading that can significantly limit the overall risk of a trade or provide additional income. Simply put, option buyers have rights and option sellers have obligations. Option buyers have the right, but not the obligation, to buy (call) or sell (put) the underlying stock at a specified price until the 3rd Friday of their expiration month. There are two kinds of options: calls and puts. Call options give you the right to buy the underlying asset. Put options give you the right to sell the underlying asset. It is essential to become familiar with the inner workings of both. Every strategy you learn from this point on depends on your thorough understanding of these two kinds of options. There are no margin requirements if you want to purchase an option because your risk is limited to the price of the option. In contrast, option sellers receive a credit in their account for selling an option and get to keep this amount if the option expires worthless. However, option sellers also have an obligation to buy (put) or sell (call) the underlying instrument if their option is exercised by an assigned option holder. Therefore, selling an option requires a healthy margin. To trade options, you must be acquainted with the select terminology of the option market. The price at which an underlying stock can be purchased or sold if the option is exercised is called the strike price. Options are available in several strike prices above and below the current price of the underlying asset. Stocks priced below $25 per share usually have strike prices at 2 dollar intervals. Stocks priced over $25 usually have strike prices at $5 dollar intervals. The date the option expires is referred to as the expiration date. A stock option expires by close of business on the 3rd Friday of the expiration month. All listed options have options available for the current month and the next month as well as specific future months. Each stock has a corresponding cycle of months available for options. There are three fixed expiration cycles available. Each cycle has a - January, April, July and October - February, May, August and November - March, June, September and December The price of an option is called the premium. An option's premium is determined by a number of factors including the type of option (call or put), the current price of the underlying asset, the strike price of the option, the time remaining until expiration, and volatility. An option premium is priced on a per share basis. Each option on a stock generally corresponds to 100 shares. Therefore, if the premium of an option is priced at 2, the total premium for that option would be $200 (2 x 100 = $200). Buying an option creates a debit in the amount of the premium to the buyer's trading account. Selling an option creates a credit in the amount of the premium to the seller's trading account: Example: Jane wants to buy a house. After a few weeks of searching, she discovers one she really likes. Unfortunately, she won't have enough money for a substantial down payment for another six months. So, she approaches the owner of the house and negotiates an option to buy the house within 6 months for $100,000. The owner agrees to sell her the option for $2,000. Scenario 1: During this 6-month period, Jane discovers an oil field underneath the property. The value of the house shoots up to $1,000,000. However, the writer of the option (the owner) is obligated to sell the house to Jane for $100,000. Jane buys the house for a total cost of $102,000; $100,000 for the house plus the $2,000 premium paid for the option. She promptly turns around and sells it for a million dollars for huge profit of $898,000 and lives happily ever after. Scenario 2: Jane discovers a toxic waste dump on the property. Now the value of the house drops to zero and she obviously decides not to exercise the option to buy the house. In this case, Jane loses the $2,000 premium paid for the option to the owner of the property. How Options Work Review - Options give you the right to buy or sell an underlying instrument. - If you buy an option, you are not obligated to buy or sell the underlying instrument; you simply have the right to do so. - If you sell an option and the option is exercised, you are obligated to deliver the underlying asset (call) or take delivery of the underlying asset (put) at the strike price of the option regardless of the current price of the underlying asset. - Options are good for a specified period of time, after which they expire and you lose your right to buy or sell the underlying instrument at the specified price. - Options when bought are done so at a debit to the buyer. - Options when sold are done so by giving a credit to the seller. - Options are available in several strike prices representing the price of the underlying - The cost of an option is referred to as the option premium. The price reflects a variety of factors including the type of option, the current price of the underlying asset, the strike price of the option, the time remaining until expiration, and - Options are not available on every stock. There are over 3,000 stocks with tradable options, as well as dozens for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Most equity options represent 100 shares of the underlying stock or ETF. How You Can Use Options >

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42853000

Workers may be at risk of crushing injuries due to contact with falling or rolling objects [29 CFR 1915.156]; as well as punctures from sharp objects. Additional hazards include contact with: Figure 1: Worker with foot protection. Hierarchy of Controls - Engineering Controls - Administration Controls - Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Injuries may be prevented by the use of appropriate footwear. - Electrical or electricity - Molten metals - Hot surfaces - Wet or slippery surfaces |Use and Selection of Foot Protection Back to Top Workers may be exposed to injuries including: Requirements and Example Solutions: - Crushing from falling objects, - Crushing from rolling cylinders, - Punctures from sharp objects, - Burns or shocks from electrical hazards, - Burns from molten metal or hot surfaces, - Skin contact or burns from chemicals, or - Slips and falls from wet or slippery surfaces. - Workers must wear protective footwear when working in areas where there is a danger of falling or rolling objects or objects piercing the sole. [29 CFR 1915.156(a)] Examples include: - Impact injuries from carrying or handling materials such as equipment, objects, parts, or heavy tools which could be dropped or from objects that may fall during work activities. - Compression injuries from work activities involving forklifts, gas cylinders, and heavy pipes, which could roll onto worker's feet. - Puncture injuries from sharp objects such as nails, screws, staples, scrap or sheet metal, which workers may step on. - Protective footwear must meet ANSI Z41 or equivalent design requirements [29 CFR 1915.156(b)]. - Safety shoes or boots may be required to provide special electrical conduction or insulation to prevent electric shock or static electric spark. - Chemical-resistant boots may be required to provide protection from caustic, reactive, toxic, or corrosive materials during cleaning, or surface preparation. - Slip-resistant soled shoes should be worn when working on slippery

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42860000

Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is one of the oldest forms of medicine on the planet dating back to 200 BCE. Chinese Warriors are thought to be one of the first practitioners of acupuncture. They used acupuncture to stay strong, balanced and to help heal their wounds from battle. For years in the United States acupuncture has been viewed as an alternative treatment for pain. November 1997 the National Institute for Health (NIH) recognized acupuncture as a viable therapy for some pain disorders such as: pain from surgery, nausea from pregnancy or chemotherapy, tennis elbow and carpal tunnel. In the area of sports performance the use of acupuncture for the prevention and care of athletic injuries, has been slow to be recognized as a viable and effective branch of sports medicine. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is one of the main regulating bodies for athletic trainers and sports performance in the United States. In their material and text books I have not yet come across the acknowledgment, recommendation or the reference of the effectiveness of acupuncture in sports. It is time that that changes and for acupuncture to take its place among the other sports medicine modalities. In other countries Acupuncture has been accepted as an effective form of treatment for athletes. In the winter Olympics of 1998, the Austria downhill skier Hermann Maier was treated with acupuncture after a devastating fall only to come back and win two gold metals. In China at the summer Olympics of 2008 acupuncture was available and used by the athletes. I have been practicing acupuncture for over 25 years and have had the opportunity to treat all kinds of athletes. I have treated recreational, competitive and elite athletes. I have had the privilege to treat successfully a three time Olympic Biathlon Skier, a National College Rodeo finalist bronco rider, College NCAA Division 1 woman’s basketball player, world-class swimmers, skiers, runners, bicyclists and tennis players. Some of the injuries I see include trauma, and overuse, such as sprains, strains, tendonitis, bursitis, tennis elbow and carpal tunnel. Acupuncture is not only effective for pain it also helps with insomnia, anxiety, and digestive problems, which can sometimes affect an athlete’s performance ability. Athletes have told me that they feel an increased clarity, an inner calmness and more centered after an acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture is a drugless form of medicine and with elite athletes having to be drug tested for their sport; acupuncture can be an optimum treatment for them.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42870000

I've been starting plants indoors for several years and I've found it's a great way to get a head start on the growing season. I can gain 4 to 8 weeks by setting out seedlings rather than planting seeds in my garden. It's also a way to insure that I will have just the variety and color of the plants I need as well as any unusual or heirloom plants on my list. Here are some tips to help you get started: Soil - A key to success is using a loose, fertile, disease-free soil mix. I find the packaged potting soil easy to use. Containers - You can start seeds in almost any container; it doesn't have to be fancy. I've used plastic flats, trays, clay pots, compressed peat pellets, and even a make-you-own-paper cup from recycled newspaper with a little gadget called an N. Viropotter. Cut-off milk cartons or plastic jugs, and egg cartons can also be used to start seeds. Last season's flats, trays, and pots should be cleaned and disinfected before use. Wash the containers in soapy water, and then disinfect them in a solution of one part chlorine bleach and nine parts water. Be sure to add holes in the bottom of the containers to allow for drainage. Timing - Find out when your area is likely to have its last frost. You'll find this information in gardening books or check with your county cooperative extension service or local garden center. Next, look on the back of the seed packet and find out how long it will take the seeds to sprout. Mark the last frost date on a calendar then count back the number of weeks needed for sprouting. That's the date to start the seeds. If you want the seedlings to be larger, start earlier. The time varies from plant to plant. Peppers require 7 to 8 weeks and tomatoes 5 or 6 to grow to transplanting size, while squash and cucumbers require only 2 to 3 weeks. Seedlings are ready to transplant when they have the first set of true leaves. Seed Size - Usually smaller seeds require less soil to cover them than larger seeds. Check on the back of the seed packet for the proper seed depth. Seed size also determines the size of container and sowing method. Fine seeds, such as begonias and petunias, are typically sown in flats or trays. After germination, the seedlings are transplanted into individual containers. Large seeds, such as marigolds and tomatoes, can also be germinated in flats. However, they are often sown directly into individual containers, thereby eliminating the need to transplant the seedlings before planting outside. Temperature - Soil temperature is important. Cool soil retards germination. I use an electric grow mat under my trays to make sure the soil is around 75 degrees or so until seedlings have emerged. Provide an air temperature of 70 to 75 degrees during the day and night temperature of at least 60 to 65 degrees. Water and Light - After seeding, water the soil gently until water drains out the bottom of the container. Just be careful not to wash seeds away. Place containers in plastic bags or cover the soil surface with plastic film until the first sign of the seeds' emergence. Then remove the plastic cover and be sure the container gets maximum exposure to light. Most seeds do not require light to germinate, but seedlings need full light exposure as soon as they emerge.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42873000

Monoclonal Antibodies for Cancer Treatment Why It Is Used Bevacizumab is used to treat cancer, including colorectal and lung cancers. It is also used for brain tumors and kidney cancer. Bevacizumab may be used to treat cancers that are continuing to grow despite other treatment (treatment-resistant), cancers that have spread to other organs (metastasized), or cancers that have come back (recurrent). Cetuximab and panitumumab are used to treat cancer, such as metastatic colorectal cancer. Cetuximab may also be used to treat skin cancer. |By:||Reference Healthwise Staff||Last Revised: September 5, 2012| |Medical Review:||Reference E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine Reference Kenneth Bark, MD - Surgery, Colon and Rectal

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42874000

How to Make Child-Size Crop Circles Directions Aliens with flashlights Crop "circles" are generally intricate and complex geometric patterns that seem to mysteriously appear overnight primarily in English farm fields. Most crop circle are sizable patterns formed by flattening sections of a field of wheat, maize, barley, or rye. Farmers generally do not appreciate aliens invading their fields and ruining their crops, so we recommend creating crop circle in safer environments such as in your yard, driveway, on the beach or school playground. If you are fortunate enough to have tall grass or a cooperative farmer to create your child-size cropcircle, great. Make Child-Sized Mysterious "Alien" Crop Circles Aliens with flat wooden planks - Alien Masks (for a disguise) - large, flat surfaces (fields of wheat) - wooden or metal stakes - planks of wood - knotted ropes - moonlight (or a few of really good flashlights). You can make child-sized crop circle easily. Ingredients for creating child size crop circles are pretty simple. All you need are a few good aliens and these simple tools listed here: Aliens with knotted ropes Instead of intruding upon or destroying valuable wheat fields, and gathering heavy planks of wood and rope, you can substitute these: - Chalk, white and/or colored - Asphalt or concrete playground surface - Freshly fallen snow or sandy beach - A lawn in need of a good mowing - A skein of string or yarn - Shoeboxes (instead of planks) snowshoes or heavy cardboard fitted to the child's feet - Broad daylight - Tent stakes or strong dowels Pound the tent stake (or dowel) into the ground, tie the string or yarn to the stake. Have the child or children walk in circle with the plank of wood in front of them. Press the grass or vegetation (or snow, sand) down with the plank of wood as they walk. Soon they will have a perfectly round circle to experiment with further.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42877000

When you arrive in Honduras for the first time, having heard about its recent political upheaval, you might expect to see a country that looks a little tired and rough around the edges. In fact, you would find something very different during your daily excursions in Central America’s rising star. Hope and progress aren’t just slogans for a country like Honduras. These are guiding principles for a population that is constantly working on a better life for now and in the future. Their optimism and enthusiasm for quality in life reminds many visitors of those halcyon days when life seemed simpler – a nostalgia familiar to most living in Europe and North America. Honduras’ nationwide movement forward to bigger things is proven by its continued growth in industry, real estate and tourism. Honduras is a country full of promise and opportunity, with the natural and historical attributes to back up its ambitions. The narrow mouth of the country’s Pacific coast is a glory of volcanic islands and secret beaches, its sights only rivaled by the longer Caribbean coast. That northeast coastline boasts extraordinary marine life and the lure of island living on the Bay Islands, just off the mainland. The interior of the country is an exciting patchwork of mountains, jungles, and cloud and pine forests crisscrossed by huge rivers. Honduras’ cities and towns have retained most of their historic architecture and ways of life, unlike some of their Central American neighbors. Though it’s not always the first to spring to mind when considering exotic destinations, the country matches others in the region for its dedication to wilderness protection, cultural preservation and continual progress. Hope and enthusiasm are a strong presence in the daily life of local people – both Honduran born and Honduran by choice. As a tourist or an expatriate, it’s impossible to resist the overwhelming feeling that good things are happening in Honduras, and being there is one of them. - Major Cities: Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula - Capital City: Tegucigalpa - Boundaries: Caribbean Sea to the North, Guatemala and El Salvador to the West, Gulf of Fonseca and Nicaragua to the South - Population: 8.14 million (July 2011) - Languages: Predominantly Spanish. Some English is spoken along the Northern coast and on the Caribbean Bay Islands. Several indigenous Amerindian languages and Garífuna (a mixture of Afro-indigenous languages) also spoken. - Diversity: 90% mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European), 7% other Amerindian, 2% black, 1% white - Official Religions: Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant minority 3% - Government: Democratic constitutional republic - Currency: Lempira (HNL) - Gross National Income (GNI) per capita: $1,649 - Population using Improved Drinking Water Sources: 86% - Time Zone: GMT-6 (Central Time). Daylight saving time begins second Sunday in March and ends first Sunday in November. - Country Calling Code: +504 - Climate: Tropical to subtropical, depending on elevation. Subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains. View Real Estate for Sale in Honduras

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42879000

Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees photo: meddygarnet Happiness is, by nature, a subjective quality with a definition like a moving target. There is scant evidence — qualitative or quantitative — to lend convincing support to those life variables most critical in determining individual happiness, which is likely why past researchers committed to the scientific method rarely tried to tackle the subject. This is changing. Psychological ("personality") Types According to Jung's theory of Psychological Types we are all different in fundamental ways. One's ability to process different information is limited by their particular type. These types are sixteen. You've likely heard that body language accounts for up to 55% of how we communicate, but reading non-verbal cues isn't just about broad strokes. The same gesture can indicate a number of different things depending on context. In this post, we're going to take a look at three common situations in which non-verbal cues are especially important—detecting lies, going on a date, and interviewing for a job—then explain how to interpret body language more accurately so that you can read between the lines when a person's words aren't necessarily conveying the way that they honestly feel. We lie a lot. When having a conversation with a stranger, chances are we'll lie in the first ten minutes . by David Johnson Like death and taxes, there is no escaping color . It is ubiquitous. Yet what does it all mean? Interesting Info -> Lying Index -> How to Detect Lies Become a Human Lie Detector (Part 1) Warning: sometimes ignorance is bliss.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42893000

11/27/2010 - International delegates Saturday adopted new protections for seven species of shark in the Atlantic Ocean but rejected restrictions for bluefin tuna and swordfish, leaving the future of some of the world's most imperiled marine predators uncertain. Matt Rand, who directs global shark conservation for the Washington-based Pew Environment Group, said in a phone interview from Paris the decisions show that policymakers are responding to the criticism they received this spring after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora failed to adopt a single measure restricting the global trade of species such as oceanic whitetip and various types of hammerhead. Rand said the votes demonstrate "fisheries managers around the world are paying attention to shark issues," although he added that it still means only a tiny fraction of the sharks that swim in the Atlantic now are protected from fishing vessels. "It's a good step forward but far short of what is needed to save the world's sharks," Rand said. Read the full article Sharks Get New Protections Amid Severe Declines; Bluefin Tuna Safeguards Rejected on The Washington Post's Web site.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42902000

Dr. Giuseppe MAZZA Journalist - Scientific photographer Family : Myrtaceae Text © Pietro Puccio English translation by Mario Beltramini This species is native to southern Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo), where it grows in the humid coastal forests on mainly sandy soils. The genus was dedicated to the memory of the general, diplomat and patron Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736); the Latin name of the species, “brasiliensis” = of Brazil, refers to its origin country. Common names: Brazil-cherry, Brazilian plum, grumichama, Spanish cherry (English); cerisier du Brésil, jambosier du Brésil (French); grumixama, grumixa- meira (Portuguese); cereza brasileña (Spanish); Brasilianische Kirschmyrte (German). The Eugenia brasiliensis Lam. (1789) is an erect, rather slow-growing, evergreen tree, up to about 10 m tall, with greyish bark which, with the age, gets fissured and peels in papery strips, and thick foliage. The leaves, on an about 1 cm long petiole, are opposite, obovate or elliptic with curved, entire margins, coriaceous, 8-15 cm long and about 5 cm broad, of a glossy dark green colour on the upper page, pale green below; the young buds have a dark purple colour. The flowers, of about 2,5 cm of diameter on a short peduncle, usually solitary of in groups of 2-3 at the axil of the leaves of the young buds, have four green sepals, four white petals and a hundred of white stamina; in the countries of origin it may sporadically flower again during the year. The fruits, which ripen quickly, in a month from the flowering, are globular berries of 1,2-2,5 cm of diameter, with persistent sepals at the extremity, of colour going from dark purple to almost black when ripe and pale pulp, with a taste similar to that of the cherries, usually containing one to three greyish seeds; there are varieties with yellow and red fruit. It usually reproduces by seed which germinates in about one month; the fructification begins starting from the fourth-fifth year of age. Recourse is done to the cutting and layering in the case you wish to reproduce a particular variety. It is a species adding to great landscape value, due to its luxuriant foliage, the production of fruit with a pleasant taste, suitable for zones with humid subtropical climate and, marginally, warm temperate, where it can resist to decreases in temperature to about -3 °C for a short time. It prefers an exposure in full sun, but it adapts to a slight shade, and deep soils, sandy, rich of organic substance, possibly acidic, and availability of water all over the year, as it does not bear dry periods; it is therefore to be regularly irrigated is cultivated in climates having little or not at all rainy summers. It may be utilized as isolated specimen in parks and gardens or for creating barriers, also as windbreak. The fruits are consumed fresh or employed in sweets, ice creams and for preparing jams. Synonyms: Myrtus dombeyi Spreng. (1825); Eugenia bracteolaris Lam. ex DC. (1828); Myrtus grumixama Vell. (1829); Eugenia filipes Baill. (1895); Eugenia ubensis Cambess. (1832); Stenocalyx brasiliensis (Lam.) O.Berg (1857); Stenocalyx ubensis (Cambess.) O.Berg (1857); Eugenia dombeyi Skeels (1912). The photographic file of Giuseppe Mazza

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42908000

Uranus from Hubble WFC3 on December 25, 2011 Filed under pretty pictures, amateur image processing, Uranus, Hubble Space Telescope, atmospheres Astronomers exercised a "Hubble Target of Opportunity" to image Uranus when ground-based photos revealed that bright storms had blossomed in its midlatitudes. Processed image copyright Ted Stryk, raw data courtesy STScI / Heidi Hammel The storms are more visible when viewed through longer-wavelength filters at 889 and 906 nanometers, where methane gas is strongly absorbing. Where there are clouds containing condensed methane droplets, they appear bright against the very dark planet. STSCI / Heidi Hammel / Emily Lakdawalla Dark and bright spots on Uranus These images are composed of two views of Uranus taken through methane band filters at 889 and 906 nanometers. In the right-hand image, a yellow circle shows the location of a dark spot with a companion bright spot. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License to request publication permission from the copyright holder. Original image data dated on or about December 25, 2011

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42910000

With the world’s attention focused on the creation of the new country of South Sudan, the Khartoum government’s continued oppression of the Sudanese has flown under the radar. South Sudan’s independence does nothing to stem Khartoum’s human rights violations against its own people. As a wave of regime change sweeps Africa and the Middle East, continued support and pressure – both domestic and international – needs to remain on authoritarian leaders like Sudan President Omar al-Bashir. They need to help stop the ethnic cleansing that has been endemic to his 22 year tenure and help bring about additional needed reforms. In 2009, Sudan’s gender policy came into focus when the government arrested journalist, and former United Nations employee, Lubna Hussein and her associates for wearing pants at an outdoor café in Khartoum and charged them with violating decency laws. The punishments varied for the 12 women, as some pleaded guilty and were subjected to 10 lashes immediately, while others, like Hussein, fought the case. While Hussein was not flogged, she did go to jail for refusing to pay the fine. More recently, Sudan’s security forces were accused of rape. Two journalists were sentenced to jail time for covering the story. This has prompted the UN to publicly denounce the arrests and draw attention to the silence that often surrounds acts of sexual violence. Not only does this highlight the disregard for women’s rights in the country, it is also contrary to the national constitution that proclaims a free press. The press, however, has routinely come under attack for exercising their right to free speech, especially when newspapers are critical of the regime. Opposition newspapers are being confiscated and the government is placing restrictions on who can and cannot be hired by newspapers, in an effort to ensure that journalists who are critical of the government are sidelined. The government has also been violently oppressing the Sudanese people. This is once again being played out in South Kordofan, where it has resulted in at least 200,000 displaced persons. The fighting, which began in June, has escalated and drawn international attention. The conflict is rooted along ethnic and political lines. The state, which borders on South Sudan, is home to South Sudan loyalists, who supported the SPLM (South Sudan’s ruling party) during the civil war. Their current political party SPLM-N is considered illegal as it is seen as an extension of a foreign political entity. The current fighting, which erupted when the government attempted to forcibly disarm the SPLM-N loyalists, has since spread to what some have described as ethnic cleansing of the Nuba people. The UN is investigating the conflict for war crimes and crimes against humanity; meanwhile mass graves continue to be unearthed. Al-Bashir has just signed a two-week ceasefire to assess the situation. South Sudan may have gained its independence, but the situation in northern Sudan is far from peaceful. The continued oppression of the people and violation of rights needs to remain in the public eye. Without continued oversight and international pressure, crimes are going to escalate and rights are going to continue to erode. Photo Credit: UN Multimedia

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42916000

Lithium-ion batteries work by stacking active ingredients in layers. In your laptop and phone, the layers are stacked into a block, but a new process could make that seem quaint: spray-paint the necessary layers onto any surface like paint, to make an instant battery anywhere. Scientists at Rice University tested out different paints until they found a set that could work as the necessary components for a lithium-ion battery: two current collectors, a cathode, an anode, and a polymer separator. The layers can be airbrushed on and the resulting battery is fully rechargeable. To test it out, researchers put it on steel, glass, ceramic bathroom tiles, and (why not?) a beer stein. Batteries on the bathroom tiles were able to send out a steady 2.4 volts--enough to power light-emitting diodes that spelled out "Rice" for a full six hours. Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42922000

More than 36 million Americans have a disability. Improving the health of this large segment of the population is a central concern for public health. This chartbook presents information about the health of adults with disabilities in Oregon. The information in this book can be used by people with disabilities, their family members, policy makers, health professionals, disability service providers, and others interested in the health and well-being of people with disabilities. The information in this book came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS is a telephone survey that asks about health, behaviors that affect health, and access to health care. The survey is random, meaning that any resident might be called. However, some groups of people are not included. Children under age 18 and people who are in an institution, such as a jail or nursing home, are not included in the survey. People who have no telephone or only have a cell phone are not included. Those who do not speak English or Spanish are not included. Some people who have a disability may not be included because they do not understand the questions, cannot get to the phone in time, or use a special telephone that sounds to the caller like a fax machine. The BRFSS survey is done every year by each state or territory health department. The information used for this book was collected in Oregon in 2008. What do we mean by “disability”? In the BRFSS survey, people are considered to have a disability if they answer “Yes” to one or both of the following questions: - Are you limited in any way in any activities because of physical, mental, or emotional problems? - Do you now have any health problem that requires you to use special equipment, such as a cane, a wheelchair, a special bed, or a special telephone? Disability in Oregon How many people in Oregon have a disability? About 746,663 Oregon adults age 18 and older have a disability. This is a little more than one quarter (25.7%) of the adult population of Oregon in 2008. What age groups are most impacted by disability? Disability becomes more common as people age. In the 18-39 age range, 15.1% of Oregon adults have a disability. Among 40-59 year olds, 27.1% have a disability and among 60-79 year olds, 36.7% have a disability. Among Oregon adults age 80 or older, 47.1% have a disability. How much education do people with disabilities have? Over seven percent (7.6%) of people with disabilities have less than a high school education, 27.2% have a high school education only, 34.7% have attended some college or technical school, and 30.5% of people with disabilities are college graduates. Of people without disabilities, 9.2% have less than a high school education, 27.0% have a high school education only, 27.8% have attended some college or technical school, and 36.0% are college graduates. How many people with disabilities are employed? Among people with disabilities, 31.8% are employed for wages, 7.9% are self-employed, 3.6% have been out of work for more than a year, 4.1% have been out of work for less than a year, 6.7% are homemakers, 4.2% are students, 26.9% are retired, and 14.9% are unable to work. In contrast, 56.3% of people without disabilities are employed for wages, 10.2% are self-employed, 1.6% have been out of work for more than a year, 3.4% have been out of work for less than a year, 8.3% are homemakers, 4.7% are students, 15.0% are retired, and 0.5% are unable to work. What is the annual household income of people with disabilities? Twelve percent (12.2%) of people with disabilities have a household income of less than $15,000 per year, 21.8% have an income between $15,000 and $25,000, 15.7% have an income between $25,000 and $35,000, 15.7% have an income between $35,000 and $50,000, and 34.6% have an annual income of $50,000 or more. Only four percent of people without disabilities have a household income of less than $15,000 per year, 15.0% have an income between $15,000 and $25,000, 13.0% have an income between $25,000 and $35,000, 16.5% have an income between $35,000 and $50,000, and over half (51.5%) have an annual income of $50,000 or more. How satisfied are people with their lives? About 31.6% of people with disabilities are very satisfied with their lives, 55.9% are satisfied, and 11.7% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Among people without disabilities, 51.8% are very satisfied, 46.8% are satisfied, and 1.8% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Excerpted from: Oregon Office on Disability and Health. (2010). Disability in Oregon: 2010 Annual Report on the Health of Oregonians with Disabilities. Portland, OR: Center on Community Accessibility, Oregon Institute on Disability & Development, Oregon Health & Science University. Copyright © 2010—Oregon Institute on Disability & Development—Center on Community Accessibility.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42925000

What do Presbyterians believe about The Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit (3 Views) Reprinted from the September 1985 issue of Presbyterians Today "God's Presence With and in Us" By Arnold B. Come There are five main emphases about the Holy Spirit in the Reformed tradition, as found in Calvin, the Westminster Confession, Karl Barth, and the Confession of 1967. 1. The Holy Spirit is God. That is to say, the Holy Spirit is understood strictly in Trinitarian terms. The Trinity is a doctrinal way of referring to the three ways God has of being God — all three simultaneously, and each always in active relation with the other two. This means that our experience of God as Holy Spirit always involves also our relation to God as Creator (Father) and to God as Mediator-Savior (Son). God as Holy Spirit comes into our lives in and through and with God's creation of Israel and its history, in and through and with the coming of the Word of God in the "flesh" of Jesus of Nazareth. No matter how profound is our sense of the immediate spiritual presence of God in our lives, that awareness is always initiated, given substance and definition, corrected, and sustained in and through and with our being encountered by the eternal Word of the Creator — finally and decisively by that Word incarnate in the life-death-resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The Holy Spirit moves within us, but there is no merging and loss of identity in the union of Holy Spirit and human spirit. 2. The Holy Spirit is God's most intimate, powerful and mysterious presence with and in us. God as Creator gives us our very existence and life, and sets the context and course in which we are to live it out. But this working of God is hidden, at a level not open to our discovery or direct awareness. God as Word speaks to us through the wonders of nature and the discoveries of science, through the proclamations of prophets and the great events of history, and ultimately reveals the very being of God and God's will for our lives through Jesus the Christ. But all this remains somehow external, outside of us. We may know the way we should go, but lack the will to follow it. We need a deeper, inward helping. So the God who created us, and who when we lost our way took the step to come after us in Jesus Christ in order to open the way to eternal life, now takes a further step. He invades our inmost central being by the power of his love, enabling us to see that all that he has done and is doing in Christ is for us, out of love and compassion for us. Even Barth finally said, "The being and activity of Jesus Christ has essentially and necessarily the form ... in which he turns precisely to the single human being, to you and to me, ... in which he makes common cause with a particular one precisely in that one's loneliness, in which his Holy Spirit speaks just to that one's spirit." And only by the power of this divine love are we enabled, freely, to respond in love, to accept the fact that we are accepted. 3. How does such an experience come to each of us? In a blinding, overwhelming, mystical sense of being caught up into oneness with God? Not in the Reformed tradition. God's love does not obliterate our own free struggle. God honors too much "the dignity, truth and actuality which belong to the individual Christian subject as such" (Barth). Every major expression of the Reformed tradition agrees that the shape or form that this experience of God as Holy Spirit takes is faith, a relationship in which God takes the initiative to make it possible and the person accepts and responds with the heart. It is faith that saves us, not because of our response but because it unites us with Jesus Christ, from whom new life flows into us. As Calvin says, Christ remains an object of "cold speculation . . . at a great distance from us" unless and until we are united with him. And "it is only in the Spirit that he unites himself with us ... Only through faith does he lead us into the light of the gospel." 4. The Reformed tradition clearly asserts that this event of faith is a profoundly mysterious, even mystical, one. But it also asserts that it cannot be known or seen directly, consciously. It happens, but it is invisible, unanalyzable, indescribable. The truth of this event therefore comes to us in its effects. The concrete shape of faith-union with Christ, of the coming of God as Holy Spirit, is twofold. It is the experience of forgiveness, the qualitative change in our relation with God (justification, reconciliation). It is also the experience of the newness of life, the gradual permeation of our entire life and being by the spirit of Christ (sanctification, but not perfection). 5. The coming of God as Holy Spirit into our lives is always and simultaneously both individual and corporate. There is no such thing as a lone Christian, living in his or her own relation with God in splendid isolation. The Holy Spirit always comes to us and works within us through and with the Scriptures, the sacraments, and the communal worship and work of the Christian koinonia (church). And individual Christians find the fulfillment of faith in that work as it carries them beyond the church in order to shed the love of God abroad into the lives of God's children who are lost and lonely, hungry and oppressed, naked and in prison — The Rev. Arnold B. Come, formerly president of San Francisco Theological Seminary, now retired and living in Greenbrae, Calif. "The Spirit Could Turn Us Around" By Cecilio Arrastia For many followers of John Calvin, the Trinity has been reduced to two Persons. We have some definitions of the function and the character of God as Father, we have some clarity when it comes to the role of the Son, but we are very imprecise when we talk about the reality of the Holy Spirit and his function in the Christian equation. The Book of Confessions provides some answers to the question, What do — or should — Presbyterians believe about the Holy Spirit? The work of the Spirit of God is characterized both in relation to the individual Christian and to the church as a community: The Scots Confession says, "We confess that the Holy Ghost does sanctify and regenerate us, without respect to any merit proceeding from us, be it before or be it after our regeneration" (3 :12). The Westminster Confession of Faith is more detailed and specific. First of all, it tells us what the Spirit deserves and expects from believers: The Spirit is "to be believed in, loved, obeyed and worshiped, throughout all ages." This means that the Spirit is on the same level of dignity and majesty as that of the Father and the Son. The Westminster Confession goes on to enumerate those gifts that the Spirit grants to the believer: "He is the Lord and Giver of life, ... the source of all good thoughts, pure desires, and holy counsels." The connection between our ethics and the work of the Spirit is clear and non-negotiable. The writing of the Holy Scriptures and the proclamation of God's message by the prophets are the results of the work of the Spirit. "The dispensation of the gospel is especially committed to him." In the central matter of redemption, nothing happens without the direct participation of God's Spirit. The Spirit is "the only efficient agent in the application of redemption." His actions are very well delineated: He is to regenerate men [and women] by his grace, to convict them of sin, to move them to repentance, to persuade and enable them to embrace Jesus Christ by faith, and to unite the believers, dwell in them and give them the spirit of adoption and prayer. The Church is the outcome of the work of the Spirit, who unites believers to Christ and to one another. The Spirit also deals with the whole area of vocation: "He calls and anoints ministers for their holy office ... By Him the Church will be preserved, increased, purified, and at last made perfectly holy in the presence of God." This controversial doctrine has been abused and deformed, and has been the cause of many divisions and heretical positions. The fact that our church often functions like a secular corporation and not like the mystical Body of Christ may be explained by the negation of the real presence and work of the Spirit in the life of the Christian community. According to the Biblical narrative there were three moments in which the Spirit was given to the apostolic community. The first took place in Jerusalem in the days of Pentecost (Acts 2). This experience enabled the apostles to present the gospel to the wide community of dispersed Hebrews. It brought about unity in diversity, community without any interference, and it was the total reverse of Babel. On Pentecost there were many languages but a clear process of communication. The second incident, described in Acts 10, is also very revealing. We read that "while Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word." The traditional, orthodox Jewish believers were "amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles." Here we have the breaking of frontiers, the widening of the horizon of the Christian mission. Baptism becomes a privilege also of those who are "Gentiles." The universality of the gospel is dramatized. The Second Israel is according to God's grace, not according to genes or history or culture or tradition. Again the Spirit unites those God intends to bring together. It is a breaking down of classes within the Christian family. The third vignette comes from the very corrupt and paganized city of Ephesus. Paul is explaining the difference between the baptism of John, by water, and the baptism of Jesus, by the Spirit (Acts 19). "On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them." The Spirit is given to evangelize another family of Gentiles, the Greeks. The entire city of Ephesus is impacted by the proclamation of the gospel. Its economic, religious, cultural and emotional life is touched in a dramatic way. There is turmoil--riot and revolution. And there is the destruction of some old myths and the acceptance of a new way of life--"the Way" of the Lord. In each instance, the Spirit is given for the fulfillment of a missionary task, to preach to the Diaspora community, to the Romans and to the Greeks. The giving of the Spirit is positive, and he is personal but social too. The Spirit consolidates the Christian family, and then sends its members out to proclaim and share the gospel, the good things that God has done in them, for them, with them. If the Presbyterian Church, with its decreasing membership and number of overseas fraternal workers, could grasp this perception of the Spirit and this experience of his transforming, sending power, the Spirit could turn around our denomination ad majorem Dei gloriam ("for the greater glory of God"). Church growth would be a reality as a sign of the coming of the Kingdom, evangelism would not be a suspect word, and every day the Lord would add to the church those who are being saved. — The Rev. Cecilio Arrastia, at the time of the original printing of this artical, was associate for Hispanic church development in the Congregational Development Program Office of the Program Agency. "Giver of Light And Life" By Melicent Huneycutt "Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs / Because the Holy Ghost over the bent / World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings." With these lines Gerard Manley Hopkins captures the fresh Genesis images of the Holy Spirit as Creator, brooding over the waters and nurturing them into light and life, and as the Breath of God, breathing personhood into the potent human clay. Most Biblical images vivifying the person and work of the Spirit are images of life. The Spirit is life-giver, life-nurturer, the life surging in the creation and growth of human personality. Paraclete, the Greek name by which Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit, who was to walk beside and dwell within believers, is translated to express warm and growth-enhancing qualities: Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, Helper, Partner. As Comforter, the Spirit first comes into our lives to show us that we were created to be like God; we were chosen before the foundation of the world to "be holy and blameless before him" (Ephesians 1:4). The Spirit helps us understand that our self-dissatisfaction grows out of awareness that we fall short of the glory God designed us for, and then as Comforter the Spirit leads us to hope in Christ, who yearns to be the Healer of our brokenness. Making us one with Christ, the Spirit becomes one with us, filling us with newness of life. As "the One beside us," the Paraclete nurtures us while we discover our new selves in Christ. The Counselor guides and encourages us toward healthy attitudes and choices, the Advocate intercedes for and stands up for us, the Helper pours into us strength to live true to our new personhood, and the Partner shares in our struggles and our victories. The Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in us. Like an iris springing from a dull, dry tuber, we are transformed by the Spirit's life surging into us. Some of us blossom overnight, while others grow slowly like a century plant — we each grow according to the God-seed planted in us and our healthy response to the Spirit's nurture. Slow growers may experience "being filled with the Spirit" as a process; they may give to God level after level of themselves, being filled always with increasing joy and power to serve. Others may experience a sudden spurt of growth, a sense of God rushing into their persons and their lives in such a dramatic way that they try to find a special word for this event. Whatever the name we give to this transforming power, whatever the description of the process, we know that somehow we have been enabled to put ourselves out of the way so that the Spirit has become free to urge us to our full potential. The evidence that we have been "filled with the Spirit" is not often a supernatural gift such as speaking in tongues, which some mistakenly see as the only "proof." Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 13 that the Spirit expresses life in us by fruit rather than by gifts. Love, joy, peace, courtesy ripen in those who yield themselves to the inflowing life of God through the Spirit. As unconsciously as trees bear their fruit, stretching their branches to the sunlight and drawing life into their abiding roots, the people of God as they mature delightedly and unself-consciously bring forth graces in their relationships. By these fruits, the indwelling Spirit is made known--and the true joyous self of each believer fulfilled. The Spirit gives gifts even to the immature: the love to reach out to others, helpful hands-on service, communication with power. The purpose of gifts, however, is not so much to enhance the growing individual but to be the life of God in the whole body of God's people. Just as the Spirit brings to full personhood each one who welcomes the life of God, so the Spirit brings us into oneness with each other in Christ and surges in our common life to fulfill God's dreams for us as the Body of Christ. Because the gift each of us brings to the Body is a channel for the flowing of God's love and healing power, believers have the responsibility for discovering, developing and using their gifts. Otherwise the life of the Spirit is stifled in one area or another. Fruitful folk are often those whose gifts are also most prodigally shared. The greatest fruit, love, is also the greatest gift. Since our life in the Spirit is a life in God, and God is love, all the gifts we have are offered to the Body in the context of love and of delight in the healthy growth of the whole Church. The Creator Spirit who works in each one of us, often futile and fragile people, to fill our lives with love and our beings with joy, creates an even greater miracle. Somehow that same Spirit infills thousands, millions of other equally frustrated folk and makes us together one living, fruitful, giving organism: the Church of the Living God, the Bride of Christ. What beauty there is when we move in perfect harmony, responsive to the Life of the Spirit that makes us one! — Melicent Huneycutt, a former Christian educator and PCUS missionary to Korea and associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Evanston, 111.; at the time of the original printing of this article she was active in the Covenant Fellowship of Presbyterians and a member of the Joint Task Force to Write a New Directory for the Service of God. Four Tasks Dealing With Our Belief By James G. Kirk Four specific endeavors that deal with what Presbyterians believe are under way in the PC(USA): 1. The Task Force on the Confessional Nature of the Church. Confessions are the church's witness to what it believes. They guide the church in its proclamation, offer content for education and directions for pastoral ministry and mission, and give opportunity in worship to offer God praises and thanksgiving. They thereby shape the life of the church. It is not always clear what being a confessional church means in practice. The Task Force is seeking answers to such questions as: What were the issues that prompted the earlier confessions? What issues are crucial today? How did writers in times past confess their faith in response to the Holy Spirit's guidance, and what lessons can we learn from their witness? How did Scripture inform and reform the church's doctrine and teaching, and what faithful response are we to make in our day? 2. The work of the Special Assembly Committee to Write a Brief Statement of Reformed Faith will provide opportunities for Presbyterians to look afresh at their own faith and practice as well as that of the church catholic and ecumenical. The Committee will seek to learn from the Word of God what Presbyterians are to think, say and do in this particular time, situation and place in which God calls them to confession. It will explore concretely and specifically the theological, personal, economic and social issues the Word of God is calling the PCUSA to address as it shapes its mission efforts. 3. The Directory for the Service of God will provide opportunities to translate confessional heritage into the common work of praising and worshiping God. The Directory will be guided by that heritage that frees us to resist imposed forms but constrains us to obey God's Word in matters of worship, to be informed by our Reformed confessions, to be catholic rather than sectarian in scope and orientation, to be open to the richness of traditional and cultural ways of responding to God's grace, to assure an openness to the Holy Spirit's creativity, which is spontaneous and yet orderly, and to recognize that as we faithfully worship God, the Holy Spirit sends us to bear witness to Jesus Christ in the world. 4. In relation to the design for a Reformed and Presbyterian educational ministry familiar themes emerge: It will be reformed by the Word of God, Biblically grounded, historically informed, ecumenically involved, socially engaged, and communally nurtured. To be reformed by the Word of God is to study both Scripture and the contemporary world for the sake of authentic worship and responsible mission. To be historically informed is to approach with appreciation the historic faith as evident in the confessions, linking us with the communion of saints through the ages. To be ecumenically involved is to be led by the Holy Spirit into becoming more aware of the oneness of the church, and to participating in mission with other denominations and in other countries. To be socially engaged is to follow obediently as God in Christ transforms the world, forms the church, inaugurates the New Age, and calls the church to participate in the liberating, reconciling work of the Spirit in the world. To be communally nurtured is to grow in the knowledge of God and obey Christ's call as we care for one another and serve those who are "outside the camp.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42931000

Friday, May 24, 2013 Melissa Healy / Los Angeles Times Don’t be fooled by some of the jargon of biomedical research: People who respond strongly to placebo medications are not dummies. A new study finds they tend to be people you would describe in much more favorable terms: straightforward, tough in the face of difficulty, and willing to lend others a hand. Maybe the people who don’t respond well to placebos are the dummies: Angry, hostile and prone to negativity, these people seem far less capable of harnessing their minds to the task of healing their bodies, says the new research. In clinical trials, a placebo is a “dummy” therapy, a sham version of the real thing. It helps give researchers a basis for comparison. If an experimental drug or treatment works far better than the placebo, its effect is presumed to be “real.” The “placebo effect” was long dismissed as an improvement that is “all in your head”: imagined, ephemeral, the response of the gullibly hopeful. The problem is that the placebo effect is often very real, a powerful testament to the mind’s influence over physical pain, infection and disease. The belief that a treatment will work can help mobilize the immune system, blunt pain and promote healing. For doctors, knowing who is most, and least, responsive to the placebo effect can be a useful clue to which patients are primed to heal and which may need more aggressive therapy. And for researchers trying to disentangle a treatment’s direct effects from those supplied by the study participant, it would be helpful to know which subjects would probably respond irrespective of whether they get the real thing or the sham. Now, both have their answer, published this month in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. About 50 volunteers at the University of Michigan completed assessments that nail down personality traits known to stay stable across most people’s life spans. In addition to gauges of altruism and empathy, they completed measures of neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The volunteers then had infusions of two forms of saline solution into their jaw muscles: one that was expected to cause pain and another that should not. They sometimes got a real pain reliever, and at others got a placebo, never knowing what combination of conditions they were getting. Not only did participants rate their pain and their pain relief regularly; their levels of the stress hormone cortisol — a good gauge of discomfort — were tested and the activity levels of their body’s own painkilling response in the brain were measured. Those who experienced pain relief from the fake analgesic didn’t just report it; their brain showed that their body’s pain suppression mechanisms — the natural release of opioid-like chemicals in the brain — snapped into high gear. And when researchers looked to see which subjects responded most strongly to the placebos, they saw people who rated highly on measures of altruism and the capacity to withstand and overcome stressors. They also tended to be highly straightforward: more direct and frank in their approach to others, less guarded and not manipulative. “People with those factors had the greatest ability to take environmental information — the placebo — and convert it to a change in biology,” said University of Michigan psychiatrist Dr. Jon-Kar Zubieta, the paper’s senior author and an expert on the placebo effect.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42933000

A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective. See also strategy. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. For spatial or planar topologic or topographic sets see map. Plans can be formal or informal: - Structured and formal plans, used by multiple people, are more likely to occur in projects, diplomacy, careers, economic development, military campaigns, combat, or in the conduct of other business. In most cases, the absence of a well-laid plan can have adverse effects: for example, a non-robust project plan can cost the organization time and money. - Informal or ad-hoc plans are created by individuals in all of their pursuits. The most popular ways to describe plans are by their breadth, time frame, and specificity; however, these planning classifications are not independent of one another. For instance, there is a close relationship between the short- and long-term categories and the strategic and operational categories. It is common for less formal plans to be created as abstract ideas, and remain in that form as they are maintained and put to use. More formal plans as used for business and military purposes, while initially created with and as an abstract thought, are likely to be written down, drawn up or otherwise stored in a form that is accessible to multiple people across time and space. This allows more reliable collaboration in the execution of the plan. Other articles related to "formal": ... Formal methods, mathematically-based techniques for the specification, development and verification of software and hardware systems Formal ... ... Formal theory can refer to Another name for a theory which is expressed in formal language ... by symbols and its operators Formal theory from political science, the theoretical modeling of social systems based on game theory, dynamical systems theory, among ... ... Students are not required to wear gowns at formal halls, with exception of at certain college feasts ... In special formal meals such as Matriculation Dinner or Scholars' Feast the Master usually raises a toast, first to The Queen and then to “Sir Winston" ... In other formal halls this is usually made by a senior student once the fellows have left ... ... Individuals are deemed undesirable in urban space because they do not fit into social norms, which causes unease for many residents of certain neighborhoods ... This fear has been deepened by the Broken Windows Theory and exploited in policies seeking to remove undesirables from visible areas of society ... ... solely to the final year, it may be described as a Ball, School Formal, or simply Formal ... a Dinner-dance, Leavers' Dinner or Debutante Ball but is also commonly called a School Formal or "Formal" ... have a Valedictory Dinner, which is like the formal but has students, parents and teachers instead of students and dates ... Famous quotes containing the words plans and/or formal: “A father ... knows exactly what those boys at the mall have in their depraved little minds because he once owned such a depraved little mind himself. In fact, if he thinks enough about the plans that he used to have for young girls, the father not only will support his wife in keeping their daughter home but he might even run over to the mall and have a few of those boys arrested.” —Bill Cosby (20th century) “That anger can be expressed through words and non-destructive activities; that promises are intended to be kept; that cleanliness and good eating habits are aspects of self-esteem; that compassion is an attribute to be prizedall these lessons are ones children can learn far more readily through the living example of their parents than they ever can through formal instruction.” —Fred Rogers (20th century)

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42937000

Science - June 11, 2004 "With clarity and precision, Marcus, a developmental psychologist at New York University, lays to rest the rumors of a gene shortage and also rebuts the argument that minds are too complex to have been designed over evolutionary time by the process of natural selection" -- Clark Barrett Department of Anthropology Metapsychology - April 30, 2004 " a wonderful book which I heartily recommend to any interested readers who want to explore either genomics or the workings of the mind/brain" -- Lloyd Wells, MD, PhD About half of the estimated 30,000-odd genes in the human genome are expressed in the brain. Among these genes is hidden the explanation for our unique human cognitive abilities, and for many of the differences between individual people. Developmental neurobiology is the essential bridge for connecting genome to behavior, but despite its obvious importance, there has not yet been a popular book devoted to this subject. The Birth of the Mind is an ambitious attempt to fill this gap ... a concise and very readable introduction to the field ... as clear an account as I have ever seen of the nature versus nurture "debate"... Einstein famously advised that everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Marcus takes this to heart... ... I have no hesitation recommending it to students, scientists from other disciplines, or lay readers wanting to learn something about this fascinating and fast-developing field. Executive Editor of the Nature Research Journals. -- Anthony Monaco Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics University of Oxford -- Therese Littleton "[written] in a down-to-earth style about an out-of-this-world subject matter ... this awe-inspiring book shows the intricate relationship between our genes and our thinking patterns and learning styles." "The Birth of the Mind [is] totally mind-boggling... a page-turner that is all nonfiction" "interesting and accessible ... progress in genomics means that we are now ready to learn about the mind by understanding how genes build the brain." "A lucid, pleasing chronicle of how genes construct the human mind." " Marcus' upbeat, friendly writing style ... makes even the most arcane genetics principles a joy to read." "a rare and delicate balance of scientific detail and layperson accessibility "

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42943000

Myth, Symbol, and Meaning in Mary Poppins Published November 22nd 2006 by Routledge – 224 pages The Mary Poppins that many people know of today--a stern, but sweet, loveable, and reassuring British nanny--is a far cry from the character created by Pamela Lyndon Travers in the 1930's. Instead, this is the Mary Poppins reinvented by Disney in the eponymous movie. This book sheds light on the original Mary Poppins, Myth, Symbol, and Meaning in Mary Poppins is the only full-length study that covers all the Mary Poppins books, exposing just how subversive the pre-Disney Mary Poppins character truly was. Drawing important parallels between the character and the life of her creator, who worked as a governess herself, Grilli reveals the ways in which Mary Poppins came to unsettle the rigid and rigorous rules of Victorian and Edwardian society that most governesses embodied, taught, and passed on to their charges. Giorgia Grilli teaches children's literature at the University of Bologna. She has published four books on children's literature in Italian.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42944000

Series: Routledge Studies in Linguistics This book starts from three observations. First, the use of humour is a complex, puzzling, and idiosyncratically human form of behaviour (and hence is of scientific interest). Second, there is currently no theory of how humour works. Third, one useful step towards a theory of humour is to analyze... Published October 15th 2003 by Routledge

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42945000

I have chosen to study the history of stone walls in the town of Thompson, Conn. Many of the stone walls have a historical perspective behind them, and to know how they were built can be interesting. Many were used as lines of demarcation, and still stand in their original form today. Stone walls are the boundaries in fields built by the first settlers in the area. Fields were cleared of trees; many were plowed and planted, and "rockpicked." (Connecticut Past and Present, prologue) Wherever we see a stone wall today, there had to have been a field. These stone walls stand as evidence that many people lived off the rocky land in New England. According to one author, Curtis Fields, the following steps should be considered in the careful construction of stone walls: Many of the stonewalls which were built have markings with initials, and these initials, usually on a square stone, tell who built them and in what year (McGee 87). A great amount of human strength went into the building of these walls. "The early craftsman took thirty minutes to drill a hole through a stone and hundreds of hammer blows on a three-foot, star-pointed iron drill, turning the drill with a slight twist of the wrist between blows." (McGee 86. Each stone wall was prepared by a trench a foot wider than the top stones, and two feet deep for the foundation. These stone walls would not be standing today if it were not for these underground bases. A good stone wall is said to last a couple of hundred years. Many of the stone walls are two feet wide at the top and five feet high in some places. Many were built by Civil War veterans in the 19th century. "Some of the stone walls in Connecticut towns contain, it has been estimated, over six thousand tons of rock, averaging forty inches wide and rise as high as six feet to form an even surface without mortar in its entire length, with each stone used as fitting tightly, most of the stones having been cut to size and shape in a quarry." (McGee 87) Thompson contains many packets of swampland and wetlands, and these swamp areas are said to be a product of the last "ice-age." (McDonough 18) Glacial ice sheets wore down hills and left mounds of debris which blocked drainage and formed the wetlands. The glacial sheets also were known to have stripped away much of the topsoil, and left behind what is known as "glacial till." "Till is a chaotic mixture of sand, clay, silt and --most notably-- rocks of all sizes and description." (McDonough 18). It is this glacial debris that has been held responsible for bent plows, and curses over the last three centuries. A nineteenth-century journalist, John Warner Barber, describes Thompson's soil in this manner: "There is a great supply of valuable stone for walls and buildings..." (McDonough 19) Another historian gave the opinion that the town's fields were so burdened with stone that cultivation was seen as impossible. (McDonough 19). As I began my journey investigating the stone walls in Thompson, I found it fascinating to see the different widths and heights of these walls. The set of stone walls in Rte. 200 were used as a trail-guide, for it was these walls that settlers followed into neighboring towns in Massachusetts. These stone walls I found to be in excellent shape, and I found from talking to local townspeople, many folks have contributed to keeping them rebuilt. I began to notice different types of stone used depending upon where the wall was built. Many of the stone walls built around farms seemed to be made from rounded stones, and the ones around the center of town were flatter. The old town library was mostly made from round stones, and the foundation was flat stones. The stone walls built around farms were also narrow, and most were not very high. I found a few walls in the woods that were quite wide, and built mostly of flat stones. In this one section, the walls seemed to divide at one point, and then rejoin. I was disappointed not to find as much historical information as I had anticipated. I enjoyed this study, and enjoyed both the research and the picture taking involved. Click on Any Thumbnail Below Fields, Curtis, The Forgotten Art of Building a Stone Wall Maine: Yankee Books, 1971. Mc Donough, Mark, Townside Historical and Architectural Survey of Thompson, CT. July 1986. Mc Gee, Donald J. Towers of Brick, Walls of Stone: A History of the Textile industry in New England with Thompson CT. as a Prism of the Factory Town. New York: Vintage Press, 1991. Shepard, Odell, Connecticut Past and Present. Canada: Ryerson Press, 1939. Click Here to Go Back...

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42954000

ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. Teacher Resources by Grade |1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th| |5th - 6th||7th - 8th| |9th - 10th||11th - 12th| Lesson Plans See All Lesson Plans We have hundreds of standards-based lesson plans written and reviewed by educators using current research and the best instructional practices. Find the perfect one for your classroom. Standard Lessons See All Standard Lessons These lessons are designed to offer three to five classroom sessions with step-by-step instructions. Grades K – 4 | Lesson Plan A read-aloud of Patricia Polacco’s Thank You, Mr. Falker helps promote deeper comprehension through questioning to achieve personal connections and discussions of character and theme. Grades 5 – 12 | Lesson Plan Today's students love chatting online with friends. This lesson combines that love with literature. Students form literature circles and have meaningful online discussions about a literary work. Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan Tell me about it in your own words! If students can paraphrase the information they have read, then you—and they—can be confident that they understand it. Every lesson plan on ReadWriteThink has been aligned not only to the IRA/NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts but to individual state standards as well.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42967000

- Conditional culture - F W Preece, Adelaide, 1938 Conditional culture is the manifesto of the Jindywoorobak position. Here, Ingamells saught to 'free Australian art from whatever alien inlfuences trammel it'. This involved a 'recognition of environmental values', a de-Europeanising of artistic language and an incorporation of Aboriginal cultural forms into the European-Australian understanding of land. 'Commentary' by Ian Tilbrook follows Ingamell's essay.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42972000

Tapping the Liquid Gold WATER BATTLE SITES Central Plains Water scheme: involves taking water from the Rakaia and Waimakariri rivers and storing it in a reservoir in the dammed Waianiwaniwa Valley. The water will be used to irrigate 60,000ha bounded by the rivers, SH1 and the Malvern foothills. Red Zones: Environment Canterbury has labelled many blocks of land as red zones areas that have no more groundwater allocation to spare for irrigation. But farmers keep fighting for more water through legal challenges. Project Aqua: The lower Waitaki River was the site where Meridian abandoned a bid to build six new power stations by diverting two-thirds of the river through channel alongside the river. Canterbury has 78,162 kilometres of rivers and 4753 lakes with a surface area of 702 square kilometres, an area the size of greater Christchurch. The Canterbury region has 70 per cent of the country’s irrigated land and generates 24% of the nation’s power through hydroelectricity. The aquifiers on the Central Plains are fed by seepage from the rivers and by rainfall. They supply almost all the water for irrigation and for human use. The groundwater of the Canterbury Plains is a large continuously flowing body of water within layers of silts, sands and gravel down to a depth of 500m. The Waimakariri River is the source of Christchurch’s pristine untreated drinking water through the underground aquifer system. It’s also one of the largest and best examples of a braided river in New Zealand. (c) 2008 Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42976000

Charles Edward Stuart’s Flight Charles Edward Louis Philippe Casimir Stuart was born on 20 December 1720. Supported by Jacobite adherents, he attempted to regain the throne of his father, who, according to Jacobite beliefs, was the legitimate successor of James II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In the end, Charles Edward Stuart’s attempts to reclaim his father’s throne led to devastating losses on the part of the Jacobites who mainly consisted of Scottish clansmen, when the Highlanders encountered the Hanoverian army at Culloden Moor. The Battle of Culloden went down in history as a cruel and brutal strike against the Highland army that destroyed many clans. From there, he marched towards Edinburgh with the gradually increasing Highland army whose nucleus consisted of Macdonalds of Clanranald and Keppoch, and Lochiel’s Camerons. Panic stricken as it was, Edinburgh offered no resistance, although the castle could not be conquered. After the successful Battle of Prestonpans they reached London marching through Carlisle and Manchester. There he was out of luck as the Highland army refused to encounter the three-thousand men strong Hanoverian army lying at Finchley to defend London. The Highlanders went back to Scotland on behalf of Lord George Murray, the Prince’s lieutenant-general, who overruled the Prince together with others. Nevertheless, after a small victory at Falkirk they advanced to Inverness, followed by the Hanoverian army led by the Duke of Cumberland, who had taken command of it in the north. Put under pressure, and nearly starved to death because of bad supplies, the Jacobites mustered quickly to encounter their enemies at Culloden Moor on 16 April 1746. On account of terrible bodily conditions caused by hunger and strain, they eventually lost the extremely bloody battle, struck by the merciless Hanoverian army. When Bonnie Prince Charlie, that is what he was and still is called among his adherents in present times, realised his failure, he took refuge at the farm of Balvraid near Culloden Moor, from where his long and confusing flight began. Today, several massive gravestones spread over Culloden Moor remain in silent remembrance of hundreds of Scottish clansmen who lost their lives in the dreadful Battle of Culloden. When the Prince perceived that all hope to win the battle in Culloden Moor had vanished, he left the battlefield together with some companions for the farm of Balvraid from which his long flight began. In the early afternoon after the battle, the Prince and his party headed southwards to the Ford of Faillie, which was near the River Nairn, to reach the house of Lord Lovat, one of his kinsmen, who had sent his son to support the Prince. After some glasses of wine, the Prince had to leave the house as Lord Lovat’s hospitality was rather curt at that time. As the battle was over quicker than expected, nobody knew where to meet and how to reorganise. Thus, the Prince sent message to his men to avoid total confusion and to attain a re-mustering at Fort Augustus. Early next morning, he reached Invergarry Castle, which unfortunately was already burnt down by the Duke of Cumberland, who had led the Hanoverian army against the Highlanders in the Battle or Culloden. Passing Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig, the Prince and his fellows arrived at Achnacarry House, which was Cameron of Lochiel’s residence. He was one of the first clansmen to join the Prince in his venture, but now he lay helpless and wounded in the burnt ruins of his house. Still lacking any considerable support, the Prince took a rough path along the north shore to Kinloch Arkaig where Donald Cameron of Glen Pean’s residence was located. Together with only three remaining fellows which were Captain O’Sullivan, Father Allan Macdonald, and Ned Burke, whose occupation it was to carry one end of a sedan chair in Edinburgh, he stayed there overnight to wait for possible messages from his men. And indeed, a letter from Lord George Murray, the Prince’s lieutenant general, arrived in the late afternoon of the 18th April. Having slowed down the Prince’s reckless venture earlier, he was now furious about the devastating result of the battle, which he considered to be on account of Captain O’Sullivan’s incompetence and the Prince’s support of it. As a consequence, Lord George Murray offered the resignation of his commission. This letter is supposed to be the reason for the Prince’s further steps on his flight because the re-mustering at Fort Augustus failed and by then it was clear that Scotland could only be won with help of France. Heading for the coast to probably charter a ship to France, they had to march through rough Highland areas again, passing the braes of Morar and the small glen of Meoble south of Loch Morar to reach Borradale on the north shore of Loch nan Uamh. There, where the Sound of Arisaig is opened up, the Prince had disembarked his brig Doutelle only nine month ago. At Borradale, many survivors of the battle sought refuge, so he could recover from the exhaustive march through the amazing landscape of the Scottish Highlands as well. Still planning to re-muster his Highland army, he wanted help from the great lairds of the Isle of Skye, MacDonald of Sleat and McLeod of Macleod, but only almost seventy-year-old Donald McLeod, tenant of Gualtergill on Loch Dunvegan in Skye and a seaman, came to help the lost Prince. Supported now by a good seaman who knew the Hebridean seas and a little more save, as Cumberland’s troops headed to St. Kilda where they thought the Prince sought refuge, they left the main land for Benbecula on Long Island in the Outer Hebrides. O’Sullivan, O’Neil, Father Allan MacDonald, Ned Burke, Donald MacLeod, and 7 boatmen were with him and they went against Donald McLeod’s advice to wait for better weather. Luckily, they survived this desperate voyage through the Cuillin Sound and disembarked the ship on 27th April 1746. For his new venture to re-muster the Highland army and to get money, he met several important clansmen amongst them Clanranald, his brother MacDonald of Boisdale, and Donald Campbell, who all offered their help. They indeed chartered a boat for the Prince, but none of their plans prevailed in the end because the islanders were suspicious and there was already a reward of £ 30,000 on Charles’ head. The ever remaining danger of the Hanoverian army which still searched all possible places for Charles and the terrible hunger convinced him to be more careful. On 28th June, after he rode up and down the islands anxiously and in constant danger of being captured by the English, he crossed to Skye in a very unconvincing disguise and the brave company of Flora MacDonald, the daughter of Ranald MacDonald of Milton in South Uist. He was dressed up as Flora MacDonald’s maid Betty Burke. When they landed on the shore of Skye, the Prince had to stay near the shore because the local militia was near by. They decided to take the Prince to MacDonald of Kingsburgh’s house where to they had to walk through the heather. This appeared to look odd as the Prince walked like a man and when they reached Kingsburgh’s house, his wife Mrs MacDonald was apparently shocked by the appearance of Betty Burke, whom she described looking “odd muckle trallop of a carlin” (Maine 1972:139). However the Prince had to leave Kingsburgh’s house soon, for it was too dangerous for him to stay too long at one particular place. Although he left in women’s clothes again, he soon changed into a respectable Highland ensemble which he got from Mrs MacDonald’s son-in-law because his disguise was not convincing at all. Passing Raasay, Nicolson’s Rock, Sligachan, and Loch Ainort, they reached Elgol, this time with the Prince in disguise of a servant called Lewie Caw, from where they embarked a ship heading for the main land of Scotland. Now they were about to meet some other clansmen, amongst them Clanranald and Glenaladale, who would hopefully be able to help them. In the early morning of the 5th of July, when they landed at Mallaig, they couldn’t find shelter for a couple of days, which forced the small group, now consisting of different men than before, to ride up and down, back and forth to finally seek refuge at Meoble where they unfortunately were surrounded by enemies, still not able to get in contact with any supporters. Pursuit by an advancing enemy, they were now forced to find a way to Fort Augustus. Luckily, they met Donald Cameron of Glen Pean for whom they had already searched desperately because he was thought of being able to help them breaking through towards Fort Augustus. And indeed, he knew something about their enemy that would probably help them. Threatening enough, the enemy had established camps from the head of Loch Eil to the top of Loch Hourn at intervals of half a mile and soldiers were regularly patrolling. Always walking up and down the local hills to stay as secure as possible, they passed camp by camp sometimes near enough to hear the redcoats talking to eventually reach Glenshiel in the proximity of Shiel Bridge, which they later crossed to reach Poolewe where the Prince hoped to find a French ship. However, the Prince’s hope was disappointed again and they were guided by Donald MacDonald, who was also on the flight and who took them to Glenmoriston. Although the Prince was in constant danger of being captured by the redcoats (the English), he was not threatened by betrayal as he encountered a group of loyal Scotsmen who, although they could have easily earned the reward of £ 30,000 for Charles Stuart, swore allegiance according to Highland customs. “That their backs should be to God and their faces to Devil; that all the curses the Scriptures did pronounce might come upon them and all their posterity if they did not stand firm to help the Prince in his greatest dangers” (Linklater 1965: 129). Throughout the Scottish history, one thing has always been for sure–a Scotsmen who had sworn an oath stood firmly against any possible threat to answer his duties no matter what that meant for him. Guarded and guided by the most loyal men, the Prince took shelter in caves along his way and decided to send men to Poolewe again to finally find a French ship. Meanwhile it was August and he arrived at the most northerly point of his wanderings, Beinn Acharain, which is north-west of Invercannich. There the Prince got message from Poolewe that a French ship had indeed been there, but that it had also already left again. However, two officers of the ship were now about to meet the Prince at Lochiel’s country, which was located in the south. He met the French officers who had nothing of importance to tell amongst other men who joined the Prince on his further way. Amongst them was Cameron of Clunes, also called Cluny, who was “the only person in whom he could repose the greatest confidence” (Linklater 1965: 136). By now, the Duke of Cumberland and the main body of Lord Albemarle’s army had also gone, leaving only some companies to watch the region. The last journey took the Prince through the Ben Alder Forest, Glen Roy, and Achnacarry to Borradale where he eventually embarked the ship L’Heureux to France. Cluny was left in Scotland to prepare for the Prince’s return, but although eight years passed, the Prince did never return to Scotland. - “Prince Charles and Lochiel” (pp. 135-137), “Skye Boat Song” (p. 137), “Prince Charlie in Flight” (pp. 138-140), and “Prince Charles and Flora Mcdonald”(pp.195-197), in A Book of Scotland by G.F. Maine - Maine, G. F. A Book of Scotland. Collins Clear-Type Press. London and Glasgow: 1972.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42979000

Adapting pediatric psychology interventions: lessons learned in treating families from the middle East. ABSTRACT Pediatric psychologists are increasingly called upon to treat children from non-Western countries, whose cultures may contrast with a Western medical setting. Research on cultural adaptations of evidence-based treatments (EBTs), particularly for individuals from the Middle East, is sparse. To address this need, we discuss clinical issues encountered when working with patients from the Middle East. Synthesis of the literature regarding culturally adapted EBTs and common themes in Middle Eastern culture. Case vignettes illustrate possible EBT adaptations. Integrating cultural values in treatment is an opportunity to join with patients and families to optimize care. Expectations for medical and psychological treatment vary, and collaborations with cultural liaisons are beneficial. Critical next steps include systematic development, testing, and training in culturally adapting EBTs in pediatric medical settings. Increased dialogue between clinicians, researchers, and cultural liaisons is needed to share knowledge and experiences to enhance patient care.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42987000

Familiarity plays an important role in face processing. The importance of familiarity is increased when facial form cues are degraded, so that a person must rely primarily on movement (dynamic) information to identify someone. It is, however, unclear which dynamic cues are used for face recognition of both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Furthermore, little work has been done on dynamic self-face recognition, and none has focused on the type of movement that facilitates this process. The current study used motion capture cameras to record and isolate facial movements in order to test recognition of self, familiar and unfamiliar faces. Participants completed a 2AFC same/different face-matching task involving point-light displays of natural motion (i.e. both rigid and non-rigid motion), rigid motion only (e.g. nodding/shaking), non-rigid motion only (e.g. mouth/eyebrow motion) and still images to determine whether differences in familiarity resulted in the use of different movement cues. The manner (style) in which someone is speaking may also impact on whether they can be easily identified from dynamic cues. Consequently, speech style was either matched or mismatched between video clips. We found that matching performance was more accurate overall when speech style was matched than mismatched. Familiar face matching appears to use rigid, non-rigid and natural movement cues equally, but unfamiliar and self-face matching are more accurate for rigid than natural motion when speech style differs between clips. These results are discussed in relation to previous research on dynamic face recognition, and possible implications for current face processing models. Copyright 2009 by the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. Publisher version archived with the permission of the Editor, ASCS09 : Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. This copy is available for individual, non-commercial use. Permission to reprint/republish this version for other uses must be obtained from the publisher.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42988000

Karuk Tribe: Learning from the First Californians for the Next California Editor's Note: This is part of series, Facing the Climate Gap, which looks at grassroots efforts in California low-income communities of color to address climate change and promote climate justice. This article was published in collaboration with GlobalPossibilities.org. The three sovereign entities in the United States are the federal government, the states and indigenous tribes, but according to Bill Tripp, a member of the Karuk Tribe in Northern California, many people are unaware of both the sovereign nature of tribes and the wisdom they possess when it comes to issues of climate change and natural resource management. “A lot of people don’t realize that tribes even exist in California, but we are stakeholders too, with the rights of indigenous peoples,” says Tripp. Tripp is an Eco-Cultural Restoration specialist at the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources. In 2010, the tribe drafted an Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan, which aims to manage and restore “balanced ecological processes utilizing Traditional Ecological Knowledge supported by Western Science.” The plan addresses environmental issues that affect the health and culture of the Karuk tribe and outlines ways in which tribal practices can contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change. Before climate change became a hot topic in the media, many indigenous and agrarian communities, because of their dependence upon and close relationship to the land, began to notice troubling shifts in the environment such as intense drought, frequent wildfires, scarcer fish flows and erratic rainfall. There are over 100 government recognized tribes in California, which represent more than 700,000 people. The Karuk is the second largest Native American tribe in California and has over 3,200 members. Their tribal lands include over 1.48 million acres within and around the Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests in Northwest California. Tribes like the Karuk are among the hardest hit by the effects of climate change, despite their traditionally low-carbon lifestyles. The Karuk, in particular have experienced dramatic environmental changes in their forestlands and fisheries as a result of both climate change and misguided Federal and regional policies. The Karuk have long depended upon the forest to support their livelihood, cultural practices and nourishment. While wildfires have always been a natural aspect of the landscape, recent studies have shown that fires in northwestern California forests have risen dramatically in frequency and size due to climate related and human influences. According to the California Natural Resources Agency, fires in California are expected to increase 100 percent due to increased temperatures and longer dry seasons associated with climate change. Some of the other most damaging human influences to the Karuk include logging activities, which have depleted old growth forests, and fire suppression policies created by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1930s that have limited cultural burning practices. Tripp says these policies have been detrimental to tribal traditions and the forest environment. “It has been huge to just try to adapt to the past 100 years of policies that have led us to where we are today. We have already been forced to modify our traditional practices to fit the contemporary political context,” says Tripp. Further, the construction of dams along the Klamath River by PacifiCorp (a utility company) has impeded access to salmon and other fish that are central to the Karuk diet. Fishing regulations have also had a negative impact. Though the Karuk’s dependence on the land has left them vulnerable to the projected effects of climate change, it has also given them and other indigenous groups incredible knowledge to impart to western climate science. Historically, though, tribes have been largely left out of policy processes and decisions. The Karuk decided to challenge this historical pattern of marginalization by formulating their own Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan. The Plan provides over twenty “Cultural Environmental Management Practices” that are based on traditional ecological knowledge and the “World Renewal” philosophy, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of humans and the environment. Tripp says the Plan was created in the hopes that knowledge passed down from previous generations will help strengthen Karuk culture and teach the broader community to live in a more ecologically sound way. “It is designed to be a living document…We are building a process of comparative learning, based on the principals and practices of traditional ecological knowledge to revitalize culturally relevant information as passed through oral transmission and intergenerational observations,” says Tripp. One of the highlights of the plan is to re-establish traditional burning practices in order to decrease fuel loads and the risk for more severe wildfires when they do happen. Traditional burning was used by the Karuk to burn off specific types of vegetation and promote continued diversity in the landscape. Tripp notes that these practices are an example of how humans can play a positive role in maintaining a sound ecological cycle in the forests. “The practice of utilizing fire to manage resources in a traditional way not only improves the use quality of forest resources, it also builds and maintains resiliency in the ecological process of entire landscapes” explains Tripp. Another crucial aspect of the Plan is the life cycle of fish, like salmon, that are central to Karuk food traditions and ecosystem health. Traditionally, the Karuk regulated fishing schedules to allow the first salmon to pass, ensuring that those most likely to survive made it to prime spawning grounds. There were also designated fishing periods and locations to promote successful reproduction. Tripp says regulatory agencies have established practices that are harmful this cycle. “Today, regulatory agencies permit the harvest of fish that would otherwise be protected under traditional harvest management principles and close the harvest season when the fish least likely to reach the very upper river reaches are passing through,” says Tripp. The Karuk tribe is now working closely with researchers from universities such as University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Davis as well as public agencies so that this traditional knowledge can one day be accepted by mainstream and academic circles dealing with climate change mitigation and adaptation practices. According to the Plan, these land management practices are more cost effective than those currently practiced by public agencies; and, if implemented, they will greatly reduce taxpayer cost burdens and create employment. The Karuk hope to create a workforce development program that will hire tribal members to implement the plan’s goals, such as multi-site cultural burning practices. The Plan has a long way to full realization and Federal recognition. According to the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act and the National Environmental Protection Act, it must go through a formal review process. Besides that, the Karuk Tribe is still solidifying funding to pursue its goals. The work of California’s environmental stewards will always be in demand, and the Karuk are taking the lead in showing how community wisdom can be used to generate an integrated approach to climate change. Such integrated and community engaged policy approaches are rare throughout the state but are emerging in other areas. In Oakland, for example, the Oakland Climate Action Coalition engaged community members and a diverse group of social justice, labor, environmental, and business organizations to develop an Energy and Climate Action Plan that outlines specific ways for the City to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a sustainable economy. In the end, Tripp hopes the Karuk Plan will not only inspire others and address the global environmental plight, but also help to maintain the very core of his people. In his words: “Being adaptable to climate change is part of that, but primarily it is about enabling us to maintain our identity and the people in this place in perpetuity.” Dr. Manuel Pastor is Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California where he also directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and co-directs USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. His most recent books include Just Growth: Inclusion and Prosperity in America’s Metropolitan Regions (Routledge 2012; co-authored with Chris Benner) Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future (W.W. Norton 2010; co-authored with Angela Glover Blackwell and Stewart Kwoh), and This Could Be the Start of Something Big: How Social Movements for Regional Equity are Transforming Metropolitan America (Cornell 2009; co-authored with Chris Benner and Martha Matsuoka).

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-42993000

Local optometrist Dr. John Breiwa considers eyes to be windows. "You can actively see the body functioning," he said. Sometimes he sees patients with eye diseases that result from diabetes at Drs. Breiwa, Jeskie and Tucker Eyecare. Some patients don't think about how the disease -- where the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to change sugar, starches and other foods to energy -- can affect their vision. "They think, 'My sugar is high.' The worse-case scenario is that you can go blind," he said. "Diabetes is the third-most common cause of blindness in the nation. Kentucky is one of the top states for diabetes." There are two types of diabetes. In Type 1 diabetes, the body doesn't produce insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, the body makes insulin but is unable to respond to it, said Megan Givan, a diabetes coordinator at the Warren County Health Department and registered and licensed dietitian. Symptoms include frequent urination, excessive thirst, unexplained tiredness, slow-healing wounds and extreme eating without gaining weight -- which happens more frequently with Type 1, but doesn't happen in Type 2. "People with Type 1 diabetes use insulin shots or pumps. Some are diagnosed at birth or in their teens or early 20s," she said. "People with Type 2 diabetes can control it with diet and exercise, and then that may lead in to prescriptions. Sometimes they need a combination of pills and insulin." The risk factors for diabetes include age, ethnicity, family history and weight, Givan said. Older people are more at risk. Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and African-Americans are some of the ethnic groups with the highest risk. Weight plays a part, particularly in Type 2 diabetes. Also at high risk are women with gestational diabetes, which happens during pregnancy, or who give birth to babies weighing more than 9 pounds. Diabetic eye diseases Breiwa sees include cataracts, which is the clouding of the eye's lens; glaucoma, an increase in fluid pressure inside the eye that leads to optic nerve damage; and diabetic retinopathy, damage to the blood vessels in the retina that, if left to advance, can turn into proliferative retinopathy, where new blood cells grow on the retina and can bleed into the eye. "The walls bulge out and eventually pop. We see them as large blood vessels in the eye," he said. "There can be blood floating around in the eye. It's hard to see through that." Laser treatment can be done on the retina to stop the growth of the blood vessel. There is also an injection in the eye that can reduce fluid retention. "The blood is reabsorbed back in the body," he said. If things are bad, Breiwa sends patients to a different type of doctor. "When we're seeing a lot of little hemorrhages, a retina care specialist gets a hold of them," he said. Breiwa recommends that diabetics have a dilated eye exam a minimum of once a year and, in some cases, every six months. "There can be changes in vision," he said. "They tend to become nearsighted, but I have seen people go the other way." Regular exams can help detect the diabetic eye diseases earlier and prevent more eye damage. "We generally don't find (more severe) problems unless they've been diabetic for a while," he said. Other complications that can be caused by diabetes include heart disease, stroke, heart attack, kidney disease and nerve damage. The health department has recently been hosting free diabetes self-management classes that discuss complications that can be caused by diabetes, sick day management and treatments, nutrition, medication and exercise. "We talk about when to call the doctor and what foods you can eat if you can eat," she said of the sick day plan. "We talk about counting carbohydrates." Exercise helps with weight control and blood sugar control. "The body will be more insulin sensitive if you exercise every 24 hours or so," Givan said. Breiwa urges diabetic patients to take of their overall health as well as their eyes, which includes getting a proper diet and doing things in moderation. "People shouldn't blow that off," he said. ©2011 the Daily News (Bowling Green, Ky.) |Cold and Flu| |Hair, Skin, Nails|

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43004000

Physical Activity in Communities RWJF Priority: Increase physical activity by improving the built environment in communities When children have safe places to walk, bike and play in their communities, they’re more likely to be active and less likely to be obese. Communities can increase opportunities for physical activity by building new sidewalks, bike paths, parks, and playgrounds—and by improving those that already exist. To encourage families to use these resources and facilities, communities can implement traffic-safety measures and neighborhood watch programs, so children are safe when playing outside. Such measures are especially important in underserved communities, where residents often face high crime rates, dangerous traffic patterns, and unsafe sidewalks. The resources below, from RWJF grantees and partners, highlight recent efforts to identify the most promising solutions for promoting physical activity in communities.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43012000

Definition of Microtubule motor protein Microtubule motor protein: A protein that plays a role in spindle assembly and function or in chromosome movement during meiosis or mitosis. See: Dynein; and Kinesin.Source: MedTerms™ Medical Dictionary Last Editorial Review: 10/9/2012 Drug Medical Dictionary of Terms by Letter Medical Dictionary Term: Find out what women really need.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43015000

If you are able to impress the examiner you are likely to improve your grades. This App contains simple and powerful tips to get the examiner onside and boost your grades during the all important exams. You need to know your numbers really well - you can be certain that numbers will come up more than once in your exams. In the following exercise, read the speech bubble and then click on the winning sequence in the strip above: You need to be able to talk about yourself, say where you come from and what nationality you are. This exercise will help you to see whether you are confident in the basic phrases you need to talk about yourself. Look at the dialogue below. Some words have been missed out. Click and drag on the correct word and place it in the correct place in the dialogue. Watch out - there are some extra words! There is a lot of vocabulary in this topic - family members, description, characteristics, colours, nationalities... We all like talking about other people, so this is a really useful topic to know when you talk to German-speaking people - it will also gain you loads of marks in the exams! You may need to write about yourself - your family, pets. How much do you know? This letter contains lots of essential words and structures. Click on the correct words and drag them into the correct space. Watch out - three of the words won't be used! In German, it is a little different. When you look up a word in a dictionary,you will see the plural in brackets next to the word, so you know what todo. For example, if you look up the word for 'dog' you will find 'der Hund (-e)'. The "-e" in brackets means that you add an "e" to the word Hund if you want to say you have more than one dog. For Example: 'I have two dogs' = 'Ich habe zwei Hunde'. There are other plurals in German. Look at the list below. Make sure you know what to do when you use a dictionary: |der Hund (-e)||dog||Hunde| |der Vogel (")||bird||Vögel| |das Meerschweinchen (-)||guinea pig||Meerschweinchen| |Der Hamster (-)||hamster||Hamster| In this exercise, complete the sentence by typing in the correct plural word. Mark your answer before moving on to the next question. Ich habe zwei Hunde.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43017000

Science of Breath, by Yogi Ramacharaka, pseud. William Atkinson, , at sacred-texts.com The Science of Breath, like many other teachings, has its esoteric or inner phase, as well as its exoteric or external. The physiological phase may be termed the outer or exoteric side of the subject, and the phase which we will now consider may be termed its esoteric or inner side. Occultists, in all ages and lands, have always taught, usually secretly to a few followers, that there was to be found in the air a substance or principle from which all activity, vitality and life was derived. They differed in their terms and names for this force, as well as in the details of the theory, but the main principle is to be found in all occult teachings and philosophies, and has for centuries formed a portion of the teachings of the Oriental Yogis. In order to avoid misconceptions arising from the various theories regarding this great principle, which theories are usually attached to some name given the principle, we, in this work, will speak of the principle as "Prana," this word being the Sancrit term meaning "Absolute Energy." Many occult authorities teach that the principle which the Hindus term "Prana" is the universal principle of energy or force, and that all energy or force is derived from that principle, or, rather, is a particular form of manifestation of that principle. These theories do not concern us in the consideration of the subject matter of this work, and we will therefore confine ourselves to an understanding of prana as the principle of energy exhibited in all living things, which distinguishes them from a lifeless thing. We may consider it as the active principle of lifeVital Force, if you please. It is found in all forms of life, from the amoeba to manfrom the most elementary form of plant life to the highest form of animal life. Prana is all pervading. It is found in all things having life, and as the occult philosophy teaches that life is in all thingsin every atomthe apparent lifelessness of some things being only a lesser degree of manifestation, we may understand their teachings that prana is everywhere, in everything. Prana must not be confounded with the Egothat bit of Divine Spirit in every soul, around which clusters matter and energy. Prana is merely a form of energy used by the Ego in its material manifestation. When the Ego leaves the body, the prana, being no longer under its control, responds only to the orders of the individual atoms, or groups of atoms, forming the body, and as the body disintegrates and is resolved to its original elements, each atom takes with it sufficient prana to enable it to form new combinations, the unused prana returning to the great universal storehouse from which it came. With the Ego in control, cohesion exists and the atoms are held together by the Will of the Ego. Prana is the name by which we designate a universal principle, which principle is the essence of all motion, force or energy, whether manifested in gravitation, electricity, the revolution of the planets, and all forms of life, from the highest to the lowest. It may be called the soul of Force and Energy in all their forms, and that principle which, operating in a certain way, causes that form of activity which accompanies Life. This great principle is in all forms of matter, and yet it is not matter. It is in the air, but it is not the air nor one of its chemical constituents. Animal and plant life breathe it in with the air, and yet if the air contained it not they would die even though they might be filled with air. It is taken up by the system along with the oxygen, and yet is not the oxygen. The Hebrew writer of the book of Genesis knew the difference between the atmospheric air and the mysterious and potent principle contained within it. He speaks of neshemet ruach chayim, which, translated, means "the breath of the spirit of life." In the Hebrew neshemet means the ordinary breath of air, and chayim means life or lives, while the word ruach means the "spirit of life," which occultists claim is the same principle which we speak of as Prana. Prana is in the atmospheric air, but it is also elsewhere, and it penetrates where the air cannot reach. The oxygen in the air plays an important part in sustaining animal life, and the carbon plays a similar part with plant life, but Prana has its own distinct part to play in the manifestation of life, aside from the physiological functions. We are constantly inhaling the air charged with prana, and are as constantly extracting the latter from the air and appropriating it to our uses. Prana is found in its freest state in the atmospheric air, which when fresh is fairly charged with it, and we draw it to us more easily from the air than from any other source. In ordinary breathing we absorb and extract a normal supply of prana, but by controlled and regulated breathing (generally known as Yogi breathing) we are enabled to extract a greater supply, which is stored away in the brain and nerve centers, to be used when necessary. We may store away prana, just as the storage battery stores away electricity. The many powers attributed to advanced occultists is due largely to their knowledge of this fact and their intelligent use of this stored-up energy. The Yogis know that by certain forms of breathing they establish certain relations with the supply of prana and may draw on the same for what they require. Not only do they strengthen all parts of their body in this way, but the brain itself may receive increased energy from the same source, and latent faculties be developed and psychic powers attained. One who has mastered the science of storing away prana, either consciously or unconsciously, often radiates vitality and strength which is felt by those coming in contact with him, and such a person may impart this strength to others, and give them increased vitality and health. What is called "magnetic healing" is performed in this way, although many practitioners are not aware of the source of their power. Western scientists have been dimly aware of this great principle with which the air is charged, but finding that they could find no chemical trace of it, or make it register on any of their instruments, they have generally treated the Oriental theory with disdain. They could not explain this principle, and so denied it. They seem, however, to recognize that the air in certain places possesses a greater amount of "something" and sick people are directed by their physicians to seek such places in hopes of regaining lost health. The oxygen in the air is appropriated by the blood and is made use of by the circulatory system. The prana in the air is appropriated by the nervous system and is used in its work. And as the oxygenated blood is carried to all parts of the system, building up and replenishing, so is the prana carried to all parts of the nervous system, adding strength and vitality. If we think of prana as being the active principle of what we call "vitality," we will be able to form a much clearer idea of what an important part it plays in our lives. Just as in the oxygen in the blood used up by the wants of the system, so the supply of prana taken up by the nervous system is exhausted by our thinking, willing, acting, etc., and in consequence constant replenishing is necessary. Every thought, every act, every effort of the will, every motion of a muscle, uses up a certain amount of what we call nerve force, which is really a form of prana. To move a muscle the brain sends out an impulse over the nerves, and the muscle contracts, and so much prana is expended. When it is remembered that the greater portion of prana acquired by man comes to him from the air inhaled, the importance of proper breathing is readily understood.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43020000

Studies in Islamic Mysticism, by Reynold A. Nicholson, , at sacred-texts.com Pensando al bel ch età non cangia o verno. One of the deepest differences between Arabs and Persians shows itself in the extent and character of the mystical poetry of each people. As regards Persia, the names of Sanáí, Aṭṭár, Jaláluddín Rúmí, Sadí, Hafiz, and Jámí are witnesses enough. Whether quantity or quality be considered, the best part of medieval Persian poetry is either genuinely mystical in spirit or is so saturated with mystical ideas that it will never be more than half understood by those who read it literally. When we turn to Arabic poetry of the period subsequent to the rise and development of Ṣúfisim, what do we find? No lack of poets, certainly, though few of them reach the first rank and their output is scanty compared with the opulent genius of their Persian contemporaries. But from Mutanabbí and Maarrí down to the bards unknown in Europe who flourished long after the Baghdád Caliphate had fallen, it is remarkable how seldom they possess the note (as Newman would say) of mysticism. The main reason, I think, lies in racial endowment. The Arab has no such passion for an ultimate principle of unity as has always distinguished the Persians and Indians 1. He shares with other Semitic peoples an incapacity for harmonising and unifying the particular facts of experience: he discerns the trees very clearly, but not the wood. Like his art, in which "we everywhere find a delicate sense for detail, but nowhere large apprehension of a great and united whole 2," his poetry, intensely subjective in feeling and therefore lyrical in form, presents only a series of brilliant impressions, full of life and colour, yet essentially fragments and moments of life, not fused into the substance of universal thought by an imagination soaring above place and time. While nature keeps Arabian poetry within definite bounds, convention deprives the Arabic-writing poet, who is not necessarily an Arab, of the verse-form that is most suitable for continuous narrative or expositionthe allegorical, romantic, or didactic mathnawíand leaves him no choice but to fall back upon prose if he cannot make the qaṣída or the ghazal answer his purpose. Both these types of verse are associated with love: the ghazal is a love-lyric, and the qaṣída, though its proper motive is praise, usually begins "with the mention of women and the constantly shifted habitations of the wandering tribesmen seeking pasture throughout the Winter and Spring; the poet must tell of his love and its troubles, and, if he likes, may describe the beauty of his mistress 3." Thus the models of Arabic mystical poetry are the secular odes and songs of which this passion is the theme; and the imitation is often so close that unless we have some clue to the writer's intention, it may not be possible to know whether his beloved is human or divineindeed, the question whether he himself always knows is one which students of Oriental mysticism cannot regard as impertinent. Ibnu l-Arabí, a great theosophist rather than a great poet, deserves to be mentioned amongst the few Arabs who have excelled in this ambiguous style 1; but its supreme master is Sharafuddín Umar Ibnu l-Fáriḍ, a native of Cairo, who was born seventeen years after Ibnu l-Arabí and died five years before him (a.d. 1182-1235) 2. The two seem never to have met. The description of Ibnu l-Arabí as Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's teacher (ustádh) rests upon a far-fetched interpretation of the verse, [paragraph continues] Here N. detects an allusion to Ibnu l-Arabí, who belonged to the Ṭayyi tribe 3. It rarely happens that the outward lives of mystics are eventful. The poet's chief biographerhis grandson, Alíhas much to say about his personal beauty, his ecstatic temperament, his generosity and unselfishness, his seclusion from the world, and the veneration in which he was held by all 4. As his name declares, he was the son of a notary (fáriḍ). In his youth he practised religious austerities on Mt Muqaṭṭam near Cairo, returning at intervals to attend the law-courts with his father and study theology. One day he encountered a saint in the guise of an old greengrocer, who told him that the hour of his illumination was at hand, but that he must go to the Ḥijáz to receive it. Accordingly Ibnu l-Fáriḍ set out for Mecca, where the promise was fulfilled. Many of his odes celebrate the hills and valleys in the neighbourhood of the [paragraph continues] Holy City, scenes endeared by the visions and ecstasies which they recalled to his mind. After fifteen years absence from Egypt he heard the voice of the saint, who was then on his deathbed, bidding him return to Cairo, in order to pray over him and bury him. Ibnu l-Fáriḍ obeyed, and having performed this pious duty settled in Cairo for the rest of his life, lodging (it is said) in the mosque al-Azhar, as his father had done. The biographer Alí, whose mother was a daughter of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ, mentions two sons of the poet, Kamáluddín Muḥammad and Abdu l-Raḥmán, who were invested with the khirqa 1 by the famous Ṣúfí, Shihábuddín Abú Ḥafṣ Umar al-Suhrawardí on the occasion of his meeting with Ibnu l-Fáriḍ at Mecca in a.d. 1231. The Díwán, first edited by the aforesaid Alí from a manuscript in the author's handwriting, is a thin volume comprising about twenty qaṣídas and qiṭas together with some quatrains (rubáíyyát) and enigmas (algház). The longest ode, the Naẓmu l-sulúk or "the Mystic's Progress," generally known as the Táiyyatu l-kubrá 2, has been omitted from the Marseilles edition, which is otherwise complete. Owing to its expository and descriptive character this poem stands apart from the purely lyrical odes, and I have treated it as an independent work. The Wine Ode (Khamriyya) and several other pieces have been published with a French prose translation in the Anthologie arabe of Grangeret de Lagrange (Paris, 1828), and a few more will be found in De Sacy's Chrestomathie arabe. Italy possesses a prose rendering of the minor poems by P. Valerga (Firenze, 1874). There is nothing in English except some fragments which hardly amount to a hundred lines in all 3. I hope to persuade my readers that the Díwán of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ, though it will not please every taste, is too curious and exquisite to be left on one side by those who take an interest in Oriental poetry. Concerning the subtle quality of his thought no less than of his style, it would be hard to better what a French critic wrote ninety years ago: Lintelligence parfaite de ses productions ne peut être que le fruit dune étude longue et approfondie de la poésie arabe. Deux causes principales les rendent dun difficile accès. La première, cest quil arrive souvent à ce poëte de quintessencier le sentiment; et alors ses idées sont si subtiles, si déliées, et, pour ainsi dire, si impalpables, quelles échappent presque aux poursuites du lecteur le plus attentif: souvent même elles disparoissent dès quon les touche pour les transporter dans une autre langue. On voit quil a pris plaisir, par un choix de pensées extraordinaires, et par la singularité des tours, à mettre à lépreuve la sagacité de ceux qui étudient ses ouvrages. Au reste, les lettrés de lOrient pensent quun poëte est sans génie et sans invention, ou bien quil compte peu sur leur intelligence, quand il na pas soin de leur ménager des occasions fréquentes de faire briller cette pénétration qui sait découvrir les sens les plus cachés. Il faut donc que le poëte arabe, sil veut obtenir les suffrages et ladmiration des connoisseurs, noublie pas de porter quelquefois à lexcès le raffinement et la subtilité dans ses compositions, daiguiser ses pensées, et de les envelopper de telle sorte dans les expressions, quelles se présentent au lecteur comme des énigmes, quelles réveillent son attention, piquent sa curiosité, et mettent en jeu toutes les facultés de son esprit. Or, il faut convenir qu Omar ben-Fâredh na point manqué à ce devoir prescrit aux poëtes arabes, et quil na point voulu que ses lecteurs lui reprochassent de leur avoir enlevé les occasions de montrer leur sagacité 1. This describes very well a general and obvious feature of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's style, a feature which is entirely absent both from pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry, although since the time of Mutanabbí, who first brought it into prominence, it has maintained itself, not merely as a local or temporary fashion but with all the force of a fixed and almost universally accepted tradition. While Ibnu l-Fáriḍ has nothing in common with the imitatorum seruum pecus, he neither attempted nor desired to swim against the stream; and it is probable that only his mysticism saved him from the worst excesses of metaphysical wit. In him, as in Meleager and Petrarch, "the religion of love is reduced to a theology; no subtlety, no fluctuation of fancy or passion is left unregistered 1." If his verse abounds in fantastic conceits, if much of it is enigmatic to the last degree, the conceits and enigmas are not, as a rule, rhetorical ornaments or intellectual conjuring tricks, but like tendrils springing from a hidden root are vitally connected with the moods of feeling which they delineate. It may be difficult to believe, what is related on the testimony of his most intimate friends, that he used to dictate his poems at the moment when he came out of a deep ecstatic trance, during which "he would now stand, now sit, now repose on his side, now lie on his hack, wrapped like a dead man; and thus would he pass ten consecutive days, more or less, neither eating nor drinking nor speaking nor stirring." His style and diction resemble the choicest and finest jewel-work of a fastidious artist rather than the first-fruits of divine inspiration. Yet I am not inclined to doubt the statement that his poetry was composed in an abnormal manner 2. The history of mysticism records numerous instances of the kind. Blake said that he was drunk with intellectual vision whenever he took a pencil or graver in his hand. "St Catherine of Siena," we are told, "dictated her great Dialogue to her secretaries whilst in the state of ecstasy 3." "When Jaláluddín Rúmí was drowned in the ocean of Love he used to take hold of a pillar in his house and set himself turning round it. Meanwhile he versified and dictated, and people wrote down the verses 4." Since the form of such automatic composition will largely depend on materials stored within the mystic's brain, and on the literary models with which he is familiar, we need not be surprised if his visions and revelations sometimes find spontaneous utterance in an elaborately artificial style. The intense passion and glowing rapture of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's poetry are in keeping with this account of the way in which it was produced 1. That he may have written it while not under the influence of ecstasy, I can conceive 2; but that he wrote it in cold blood, for the sake of those who might enjoy sharpening their wits upon it, seems to me incredible. The double character of Islamic mystical poetry makes it attractive to many who are out of touch with pure mysticism. Ibnu l-Fáriḍ would not be so popular in the East if he were understood entirely in a spiritual sense. The fact that parts of the Díwán cannot be reasonably understood in any other sense would not, perhaps, compel us to regard the whole as spiritual, unless that view of its meaning were supported by the poet's life, the verdict of his biographers and commentators, and the agreement of Moslem critical opinion; but as things are, we can declare, with Nábulusí, that "in every erotic description, whether the subject thereof be male or female, and in all imagery of gardens, flowers, rivers, birds and the like he refers to the Divine Reality manifested in phenomena, and not to those phenomena themselves 3." This Reality, i.e. God (or, in some places, Mohammed conceived as the Logos) is the Beloved whom the poet addresses and celebrates under many namesnow as one of the heroines of Arabian Minnesong, now as a gazelle or a driver of camels or an archer shooting deadly glances from his eye; most frequently as plain He or She. The Odes retain the form, conventions, topics, and images of ordinary love-poetry: their inner meaning hardly ever obtrudes itself, although its presence is everywhere suggested by a strange exaltation of feeling, fine-drawn phantasies in which (as the same French critic remarks) the poet is rapt "au-delà des bornes de la droite raison," mysterious obscurities of diction and subtle harmonies of sound. If Ibnu l-Fáriḍ had followed the example of Ibnu l-Arabí and written a commentary on his own poems, it might have added considerably to our knowledge of his mystical beliefs, but I am not sure that it would have had much greater interpretative value than the work of his commentators, who profess to explain the esoteric meaning of every verse in the Odes. While such analysis may be useful within certain limits, we should recognise how little it is capable of revealing. An eminent scholar came to Ibnu l-Fáriḍ and asked permission to write a commentary on his masterpiece, the Naẓmu l-Sulúk. "In how many volumes?" "Two." The poet smiled. "Had I wished," said he, "I could have written two volumes of commentary on every verse of it 1." The more interpreters, the more interpretations, as those who have given time and labour to the study of mysticism well know. Poetry of this kind suggests more than it says, and means all that it may suggest. We cannot do without the commentators, however, and they will help us a good deal if we learn to use them discreetly. When they handle their text like philologists and try to fasten precise mystical significations upon individual words and phrases, the process is as fatal to poetry as the result is likely to be far from truth. Against this, they have the immense advantage of being Ṣúfís, that is to say, of knowing through tradition and their own experience what Europeans can only acquire by study and perceive by sympathy. They are the poet's fellow-citizens in the ideal world from which he drew his inspiration; they have dreamed his dreams and travelled on his path towards his goal; they do not miss the main drift of his allegory even though they err in some of the details. Any one who has read the Díwán of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ in [paragraph continues] Arabic will admit that while a complete rendering into English verse would be a quixotic enterprise, some entire odes and not a few passages in others are suitable for that form of translation. Therefore, instead of confining myself to prose, I have sought here and there to capture the shadows at least of things that no prose version can reproduce. The following ode, though characteristically subtle, presents no special difficulties: After reading a little of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's poetry, one can take a general view of the whole. All his odes are variations on a single theme, and the variations themselves have a certain interior uniformity. Not only do the same "leitmotifs" recur again and again, but the same metaphors, conceits and paradoxes are continually reappearing in new dress. Although translators must regret this monotony, which they cannot make other than tedious, I think most of them would agree that the poet has triumphed over it by means of the delicacy of his art, the beauty of his diction, and the "linkèd sweetness" of his versificationpowerful spells to enchant those who read him in his own language. The Díwán is a miracle of literary accomplishment, yet the form would be cold and empty without the spirit which it enshrines. Like Sidney, Ibnu l-Fáriḍ looked into his heart before he wrote. His verse is charged with the fire and energy of his inmost feelings. In exquisite contrast with this high-wrought prelude is another passage of the same ode, describing the mystic's vision of the Divine beauty revealing itself in all things beautiful. Here the Moslem commentator, startled for a moment out of his lucubrations on syntax and rhetoric, pauses to pay a tribute of admiration to the poet, a tribute which is the more noteworthy because in these six verses Ibnu l-Fáriḍ comes as near as he ever does to the modern European conception of what poetry should be. Unadorned simplicity is the antithesis of his style. For our taste, he has far too much of the gift of [paragraph continues] Holofernes: he plays with sound and sense alike, though in the daintiest and subtlest fashion imaginable. Concerning his verbal euphuism a treatise might be written. One versean extreme instance, no doubtwill serve as a sample of many: His extravagant flights of fancy are generally accompanied by an equal exaltation of feeling and sustained by the fiery element in which they move; at times, however, they sink into something very like the "sweet smoke of rhetoric," e.g., They said, "Thy tears flowed red." I answered, "They flowed from causes which are small in comparison with the greatness of my desire: I slaughtered sleep on my eyelids to entertain my phantom-guest and therefore my tears flowed bloody over my cheek 3." The following examples are more typical: O thou who didst treacherously take my heart away, how didst not thou let follow it the rest of me that thou sparedst? Part of me is made jealous of thee by part of me, and my outward envies my inward because thou art there 5. To affirm that lovers and mystics delight in paradox is only to acknowledge that in states of spiritual enthusiasm we enter a region where the logic of common experience is perceived to be false. This alta fantasia moulds the language of the Odes, imposing its own laws and revelling in its power to transcend contradictions which, for the intellect, are final. Tis Love! Keep thy heart safe. Passion is no light thing, and he that is wasted thereby chose it not when he was sane. And live fancy-free, for love's joy is sorrow: its beginning a sickness and its end a slaying; Yet, methinks, death owing to love-desire is a life that my loved one bestows upon me as a boon 3. If separation be my guerdon from you, and if there be no (real) distance between us, I regard that separation as union. Repulse is nothing but love, so long as it is not hate; and the hardest thing, excepting only your aversion, is easy to bear. Delicious to me is the torment which ye inflict; and the injustice which Love ordains that ye do unto me is justice. And my patience, a patience both without you and with you 4its bitterness seems to me everlastingly sweet 5. Besides the two protagonists, Arabian love-poetry introduces several minor figures, who play a helping or hindering part in the idyll. Ibnu l-Fáriḍ, of course, uses them allegorically. One of them is the "watcher" (raqíb), who prevents the lover from approaching. The "slanderer" (wáshí) represents the logical and intellectual faculty, which cannot pierce beyond the outward forms of things. More important than either of these (to judge by the frequent passages of description and dialogue in which he appears), and more dangerous, because of his greater plausibility, is the "blamer" (láim) or "railer" (láḥí), a type of the Devil, suggesting evil and inspiring doubt, of sensual passion, and of all that lures the soul away from Divine contemplation. It is a favourite paradox of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ that reproof bears a message of love, and that the "railer" deserves to be thanked and praised. But I found thee in one way my benefactor, albeit thou wouldst have hurt me by the scorch of thy rebuke, had I obeyed thee. Thou didst me a kindness unawares, and if thou wroughtest ill, yet art thou the most righteous of wrong-doers. The phantom that visits me in the hour of blame 2 brings the Beloved, though he dwell afar, close to the eye of my waking ear. And thy reproof is, as it were, my Loved One's camels which came to me when my hearing was my sight 3. Thou tiredst thyself and I was refreshed by thy mention of him, so that I regarded thee as excusing me for my passion. Marvel, then, at a satirist lauding with the tongue of a thankful complainant those who blame him for his love 4! The hyperfantastic strain in Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's poetry is surprisingly relieved by a poignant realism, of which there is no trace in the work of his Persian rivals. They have, what he reserves for his great Táiyya, the power of lifting themselves and their readers with them into the sphere of the infinite and eternal, The Arabic odes, on the contrary, are full of local colour and redolent of the desert; and the whole treatment of the subject is intimately personal. Jaláluddín Rúmí writes as a God-intoxicated soul, Ibnu l-Fáriḍ as a lover absorbed in his own feelings. While the Persian sees a pantheistic vision of one reality in which the individual disappears, the Arab dwells on particular aspects of the relation of that reality to himself. Some of the finest passages are inspired by the author's recollection of the years which he spent in the Ḥijáz, where (he says) he left his heart behind when his body returned to Egypt 1. From many such passages I select one that is characteristic, because it illustrates Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's habit of seeking his imagery in Nature, as seen by Bedouins 3, and also his sense of the poetic value of proper names. It needs but a slight acquaintance with Ibnu l-Fáriḍ to discover that he fully possesses a gift which the Arabs have always prized in their rulers no less than in their poets and oratorsthe power of terse, striking, and energetic expression. He depicts the lover wasted by suffering, An exceeding great love hath hewn my bones, and my body is vanished, all but the two least parts of me 3. I felt such passion for you that if the strengths of all who love had borne half the burden thereof, they would have tired. My bones were hewn by a desire twice as great as that of my eyelids for my sleep or of my weakness for my strength 4. Any one of the Odes will furnish examples of this Arabian eloquence which has its roots deep in the structure of the language and defies all attempts to transplant it. In his famous Wine Ode (Khamriyya) Ibnu l-Fáriḍ develops a symbolism which elsewhere he only uses incidentally. His sparing use of it may perhaps be attributed to his respect for the Mohammedan religious law, just as the antinomian bias of some Persian mystics seems to express itself in the freedom of their bacchanalian imagery. According to Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's custom, the symbolism is precise and circumstantial, so that its interpretation is far more baffling than in Persian odes of the same kind, where large and simple ideas carry the reader easily along. I hope that the literal translation given below, together with the notes accompanying it, will make the meaning tolerably clear, though we may doubt whether the poet would always have accepted the interpretation given by his commentator, Abdu l-Ghaní al-Nábulusí, who not only explains too much but brings in philosophical theories that belong to Ibnu l-Arabí rather than to Ibnu l-Fáriḍ. Into this question, however, I need not enter now. (1) In memory of the Beloved we quaffed a vintage that made us drunk before the creation of the vine 2. (2) Its cup the full-moon; itself a sun which a new moon causes to circle. When it is mingled (with water), how many stars appear 3! (3) But for its perfume, I should not have found the way to its taverns; and but for its resplendence, the imagination would not have pictured it 4. (4) Time hath preserved of it but a breath: it is unseen as a thing hidden in the bosom of the mind 1. (5) If it be mentioned amongst the tribe, the tribesmen become intoxicated without incurring disgrace or committing sin 2. (6) It oozed up from the inmost depths of the jars (and vanished), and in reality nothing was left of it but a name 3. (7) If it ever come into the mind of a man, joy will abide with him and grief will journey away. (8) And had the boon-companions beheld the sealing of its vessel, that sealing would have inebriated them without (their having tasted) the wine 4; (9) And had they sprinkled with it the earth of a dead man's grave, his spirit would have returned to him, and his body would have risen; (10) And had they laid down in the shadow of the wall where its vine grows a man sick unto death, his malady would have departed from him; (11) And had they brought to its taverns one palsied, he would have walked; and at the mention of its flavour the dumb would speak; (12) And had the breath of its aroma floated through the East, and were there in the West one that had lost the sense of smell, he would have regained it; (13) And had the palm of one touching its cup been stained red thereby, he would not have gone astray at night, the lodestar being in his hand; (14) And had it been unveiled in secret (as a bride) to one blind from birth, he would have become seeing; and at the sound of its (decanting into the) strainer the deaf would hear; (15) And had a party of camel-riders set out for the soil that bore it, and were there amongst them one bitten by a snake, the venom would not have harmed him; (16) And had the sorcerer inscribed the letters of its name on the brow of one smitten with madness, the writing would have cured him; (17) And had its name been blazoned on the banner of the host, that blazon would have intoxicated those beneath the banner. (18) It corrects the natures of the boon-companions, so that those who lack resolution are led by it to the path of resolution, (19) And he whose hand was a stranger to munificence shows himself generous, and he who had no forbearance forbears in the hour of wrath. (20) Had the dullest-witted man in the tribe kissed its fidám, his kissing it would have endued him with the real inwardness of the wine's qualities 1. (21) They say to me, "Describe it, for thou art acquainted with its description." Ay, well do I know its attributes: (22) Pure, but not as water; subtle, but not as air; luminous, but not as fire; spirit, but not (joined to) body. (23) The (Divine) discourse concerning it was eternally prior to all existing things (in the knowledge of God), where is no form nor any external trace 2; (24) And there through it all things came into being because of a (Divine) providence whereby it was veiled from every one that lacketh understanding. (25) And my spirit was enamoured of it in such wise that they (my spirit and the wine) were mingled together and made one, not as a body pervades a body 3. (26) There is a wine without a vine, when Adam is a father to me; there is a vine without a wine, when its mother is a mother to me 4. (27) The (essential) subtlety of the vessels (forms) depends in truth on the subtlety of the realities; and by means of the vessels the realities increase 1 (28) After division has occurred, so that, while the whole is one, our spirits are a wine and our bodies a vine. (29) Before it is no "before" and after it is no "after"; it is the "before" of every "after" by the necessity of its nature 2. (30) Its grapes were pressed in the winepress ere Time began, and it was an orphan although the epoch of our father (Adam) came after it 3. (31) Such are the beauties that lead its praisers to laud it, and beautiful is their prose and verse in its honour. (32) And he that knows it not thrills at the mention of it, like the lover of Num when her name is spoken. (33) They said, "Thou hast drunk the draught of sin." Nay, I have only drunk what, in my judgment, twere the greatest sin to renounce. (34) Health to the people of the Christian monastery! How often were they intoxicated by it without hawing drunk thereof! Still, they aspired 4. (35) In me, ere I was born, it stirred a transport that abides with me for ever, though my bones decay. (36) Take it pure! but if thou wish to temper it, the worst wrong is thy turning aside from the water of the Beloved's teeth 1. (37) Seek it in the tavern, and there to the accompaniment of tuneful notes bid it display itself, for by means of music it is made a prize 2. (38) Wine never dwelt with Care in any place, even as Sorrow never dwelt with Song; (39) And, though thy intoxication with it have but the life of a moment, thou wilt regard Time as a slave obedient to thy command. (40) Joyless in this world is he that lives sober, and he that dies not drunk will miss the path of wisdom. (41) Let him weep for himselfhe whose life is wasted without part or lot in wine! The Khamriyya forms a link between the love-lyrics and the great Ode in which Ibnu l-Fáriḍ describes his own mystical experience and puts it forth (excepting, however, the highest stage of all) as a doctrine for others. This Ode, the author's masterpiece, bears a plain and appropriate title, Naẓmu l-sulúk, "The Poem of the Mystic's Progress"; the meaning of the name al-Táiyyatu l-kubrá, by which it is commonly known, has been explained above 3. The Táiyya, with its 760 verses, is nearly as long as all the minor poems together, if we leave the quatrains and enigmas out of reckoning. It was edited in 1854 by Joseph von Hammer and may be studied in the fully vocalised text which he copied from an excellent manuscript in his possession. To transcribe is one thing, to translate is another; and as "translation" of a literary work usually implies that some attempt has been made to understand it, I prefer to say that Von Hammer rendered the poem into German rhymed verse by a method peculiar to himself, which appears to have consisted in picking out two or three words in each couplet and filling the void with any ideas that might strike his fancy. Perhaps, in a sense, the Táiyya is untranslatable, and certainly it offers very slight encouragement to the translator whose aim may be defined as "artistic reproduction." On the other hand, it seemed to me that a literal prose version with explanatory notes would at least enable the reader to follow the course of the poem and become acquainted with its meaning, while any one who ventured on the Arabic text would profit by the labours of a fellow-student and would not be so likely to lose heart, [paragraph continues] Though formally an ode (qaṣída), the Táiyya is addressed to a disciple, so that its prevailing tone is didactic and descriptive, the exposition being only now and then interrupted by strains of pure lyric enthusiasm. Not that the poem is deficient either in beauty or in power; much, if not most of it, combines these qualities, and in the following version I have tried to preserve some traces of them. Ibnu l-Fáriḍ is here illustrating the doctrine that phenomena are merely the illusory medium through which the soul acts in the world. For this purpose he compares the soul to the showman of the shadow-lantern who throws his puppets on a screen, keeping himself out of sight while he manipulates them 1. The passage beginning describes the various scenes and incidents of the shadow-play and the emotions aroused in the spectators. Regard now what is this that lingers not Before thine eye and in a moment fades. All thou beholdest is the act of one In solitude, but closely veiled is he. Let him but lift the screen, no doubt remains: The forms are vanished, he alone is all; And thou, illumined, knowest that by his light Thou findst his actions in the senses night 1. Ibnu l-Fáriḍ more often reminds us of Dante than of Lucretius, but these verses may be compared with a passage in the De rerum natura (2, 323 foll.) where the author illustrates "the perpetual motion of the atoms going on beneath an appearance of absolute rest" by a picture "taken from the pomp of human affairs and the gay pageantry of armies": "The truth and fulness of life in this passage are immediately perceived, but the element of sublimity is added by the thought in the two lines with which the passage concludes, which reduces the whole of this moving and sounding pageant to stillness and silence A similar and perhaps even more striking effect is produced when Ibnu l-Fáriḍ, after having brought before his readers the spectacle of restless life and strife which fills the world, at once transforms it into a vision of eternal order and harmony All thou beholdest is the act of One. In reading the Táiyya it is a rare pleasure to meet with. even ten or twenty consecutive lines like these, which require no commentary to interpret them. Yet the poem, as a whole, is not unduly cryptic in expression. Those who blame a writer for obscurity ought to ask themselves whether his meaning could have been given more clearly; and if so, whether he can allege good and sufficient reasons for his default. On these counts I think Ibnu l-Fáriḍ will secure an acquittal, if we remember that he was bound by the poetic forms and fashions of his day. The obscurity does not lie in his style so much as in the nature of his subject. While his symbolism may have served him at times as a mask when plain speaking would have been dangerous 1, he generally uses it as the only possible means of imparting mystical truth; and in his own circle, no doubt, it was understood readily enough. We, on the other hand, must begin by learning it and end with recognising that no intellectual effort will bring us to the stage whence an initiated Mohammedan sets out. What makes the interpretation of the poem especially uncertain is that the author's account of his religious and mystical experience is psychological in character and throws but a faint light on his theological position. Was he really a pantheist, or was he an orthodox mystic whose feeling of oneness with God expressed itself in the language of pantheism? Does the Táiyya reflect the doctrines of Ibnu l-Arabí, as its commentators believe? Although such questions cannot be ignored by any one who attempts to translate or explain the poem, they are not easy to answer definitely. I have followed Káshání in the main; nevertheless I regard his interpretation as representing a point of view which is alien to Ibnu l-Fáriḍ. Logically, the mystical doctrine of ittiḥád (Einswerden) leads to the pantheistic monism of Ibnu l-Arabí; but those who find in the Táiyya a poetical version of that system are confusing mysticism with philosophy. In some passages, however, we meet with philosophical ideas 2 and may draw inferences from them. While they do not appear to me to support the view that Ibnu l-Fáriḍ was a follower of Ibnu l-Arabí, they imply pantheism and monism on the plane of speculative thought, where commentators and theologians [paragraph continues] (not poets and mystics) are accustomed to dwell. I consider, therefore, that K.'s interpretation, false as it is to the spirit of the poem, places it in a medium intelligible to us and conveys its meaning in a relatively adequate form. And my readers will see at once how the mystical content of the Táiyya as well as its philosophical implications are illustrated by the foregoing essay on the Insánu l-Kámil. Was Ibnu l-Fáriḍ consciously a pantheist? I do not think so. But in the permanent unitive state which he describes himself as having attained, he cannot speak otherwise than pantheistically: he is so merged in the Oneness that he identifies himself now with Mohammed (the Islamic Logos), now with God, whose attributes he assumes and makes his own. Many of these passages are such as no medieval religion but Islam would have tolerated, and we cannot wonder that he was charged with heresy. His opponents accused him of holding the doctrine of incarnation (ḥulúl) and of pretending to be the Quṭb. He disavows hula l and shows how it differs from his own doctrine (vv. 277 foll.). As regards the Quṭb, the most explicit reference occurs in vv. 500-1: Here is another suspected verse (313): Evidently the poet declares himself to be one with the spiritual Quṭb (the Logos), whom in v. 501 he distinguishes from the terrestrial Quṭb (the head of the Ṣúfí hierarchy). The latter presides over the visible world. On his death he is succeeded by one of the three saints known as Awtád, who are next to him in dignity and have themselves risen from the ranks of the forty Abdál or Budalá 1. The dominion of the spiritual Quṭb, the real Pole (al-Quṭbu l-ḥaqíqí), extends over the created things of both the visible and invisible worlds. He has neither predecessor nor successor, for he is the Spirit of Mohammed, i.e., the essence of Man and the final cause of creation 2. Ibnu l-Fáriḍ, then, does not profess this heretical doctrine (quṭbiyya, quṭbániyya) in the sense which Ṣúfís ordinarily assign to it. His "Poleship" is not the temporal vicegerency delegated by Mohammed to the supreme saint of every age, but a pure consciousness of being one with the Spirit, who as the perfect image of God encompasses all things with his knowledge, power and glory. My translation covers three-fourths of the poem 3. The omitted passages are generally unimportant, but I have given a summary whenever I thought it would be of use. 162:1 I have used the following editions and commentaries: (a) Díwán of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ, ed. by Rushayyid b. Ghálib al-Daḥdáḥ (Marseilles, 1853). This contains the minor poems, with a grammatical commentary by Ḥasan al-Búríní as well as extracts from the mystical commentary of Abdu l-Ghaní al-Nábulusí. (b) The Táiyyatu l-kubrá, with the commentary of Abdu l-Razzáq al-Káshání bearing the title Kashfu l-wujúhi l-ghurr li-maání naẓmi l-durr (Cairo, a.h. 1319). (c) The Táiyyatu l-kubrá, with the commentary of al-Nábulusi entitled Kashfu l-sirri l-ghámiḍ fí sharḥi Díwán Ibni l-Fáriḍ (Ms. in the British Museum, Add. 7564-5 Rich.). The commentary on the Táiyya begins at f. 176 of the first volume. (d) The Táiyyatu l-kubrá, ed. with a German verse-translation by Hammer-Purgstall (Vienna, 1854). Concerning the Italian translation of the Táiyyatu l-kubrá by Sac. Ignazio Di Matteo (Rome, 1917) and the valuable notice of it by Prof. Nallino which appeared in Rivista degli studi orientali, vol. VIII (Rome, 1919), some remarks will be found in the preface to this volume. The abbreviations Díwán, K. and N. refer to (a), (b) and (c) respectively. 163:1 Even Zoroastrianism does not exclude the monistic principle. It seems to be uncertain whether Ormuzd and Ahriman stood in direct and equal antagonism to each other, or whether Aṅra Mainyu (Ahriman), the evil spirit, and Spenta Mainyu, the good spirit, were conceived as opposite emanations of One (Ormuzd) who is above them both. In any case, the struggle between Ormuzd and Ahriman ends with the complete destruction of the latter. 163:2 Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, tr. by J. S. Black, p. 20. 163:3 Sir Charles Lyall, Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. xix. 164:1 The present writer has edited and translated a collection of mystical odes by Ibnu l-Arabí, entitled Tarjumán al-Ashwáq, in the Oriental Translation Fund, New Series, vol. xx (London, 1911). 164:2 The date of his birth is usually given as a.d. 1181, but see Nallino, op. cit., p. I, note 3. 164:3 Díwán, p. 4, 1. 13 foll. and p. 75, 1. I foll. 164:4 The Life of Ibnu l-Fáriḍ by his grandson has been printed as an introduction to the Díwán (pp. 3-24). A shorter notice, extracted from my Ms. of the Shadharátu l-dhahab, was published in the JRAS. for 1906, pp. 800-806. See also Ibn Khallikán, No. 511 (De Slane's translation, vol. n, p. 388 foll.). 165:1 See p. 22 supra. 165:2 I.e. the Greater Ode rhyming in t. It is so named in order to distinguish it from the Táiyyatu l-ṣughrá, i.e. the Lesser Ode rhyming in t (Díwán, p. 142 foll.). 165:3 See Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia, vol. 11, p. 504; my Literary History of the Arabs, p. 397 fol., and The Don and the Dervish, pp. 105-9. A Latin version of one entire ode (Díwán, p. 306 foll.) is given by Sir William Jones in his Poeseos Asiaticae commentarii (Works, ed. by Lord Teignmouth, vol. VI, p. 74). 166:1 Grangeret de Lagrange, Anthologie arabe, p. 128. 167:1 J. W. Mackail, Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology, p. 34. 167:2 Preface to the Díwán, p. II, 1. 20. 167:3 Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, p. 352. 167:4 Introd. to Selected Poems from the Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz, p. XL. 168:1 Of course these remarks do not apply to many passages in the Táiyyatu l-kubrá, which in respect of its didactic purpose bears the same relation to the minor odes as the Masnaví of Jaláluddín Rúmí to his Díwán. 168:2 Prof. Nallino (op. cit. p. 17) points out that at a later period the Odes were often chanted in the musical concerts of the Ṣúfís and suggests that they were composed for this purpose. 168:3 Díwán, p. 52, l. 8 foll. Búríní (ibid. p. 202, 12 foll.) asserts that Ibnu l-Fáriḍ's poetry is not invariably mystical. The two verses which he cites might bear an allegorical sense as easily as many of a similar kind in the Song of Solomon; and, in any case, they are extracted from rubáís. The fact that Ibnu l-Fáriḍ is known to have written one amatorious epigram (Díwán, p. 549, 9 fol. Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. II, p. 389), and that he may have written others, proves nothing against those who find mysticism in every line of the Odes. 169:1 Preface to the Díwán, p. 11, l. 1 foll. 170:1 Díwán, p. 263 foll. Prof. Browne has given a translation of this ode in his Literary History of Persia, vol. ii, p. 504. 170:2 A valley with fountains and date-palms in the neighbourhood of Medina. 170:3 The dream-form (khayál) of the Beloved in the poet's fancy (khayál). 171:1 Díwán, p. 230 foll. 172:1 Literally, "if thy everlastingness (baqá) demands my passing-away (faná)." 172:2 According to N. the words "those who beheld thee" refer to the Light of Mohammed, which emanated from the Light of God. 173:1 A veil covering the lower part of the face. 173:2 "Within thy borders": literally "within thy preserve (ḥimá)." The Divine Essence is preserved (made inaccessible) by the spiritual and sensible forms in which it veils itself. As the Bedouin poet brags about himself in order to assert the dignity of his tribe, so when the Mohammedan saints boast of the unique endowments which God has bestowed upon them, it is not self-glorification, but thanksgiving to Him "from whom all blessings flow." 173:3 Real Being is manifested in phenomena, just as the light of the sun is reflected by the moon. 173:4 See Kor. 6, 76 foll. "And when the night overshadowed him, he saw a p. 174 star, and he said, This is my Lord; but when it set, he said, I like not gods which set. And when he saw the moon rising, he said, This is my Lord; but when he saw it set, he said, Verily, if my Lord direct me not, I shall become one of the people who go astray" (Sale's translation). 174:1 In this verse there is an untranslatable play on the double meaning of Badr, which signifies (I) a place between Mecca and Medina where the Prophet won his memorable victory over the Meccan idolaters in a.d. 624; (2) a full moon. Thus the ahlu Badr are to Moslems more than what of οἱ μαραθωνομάχαι were to the Greeks of Plato's time, while the phrase also suggests the perfect illumination reserved for adepts in mysticism. Irish politics of forty years ago would provide an exact parallel, if the Moonlighters were regarded as national heroes and saints. The poet says that the men of Badr, i.e., the noble company of mystics, journey not so much in the light which phenomena derive from Reality as in the light of Reality itself. 174:2 Material beauty is not worthy to be loved except in so far as it is one of the ideas (attributes and manifestations) of Absolute Beauty. 174:3 When God withdraws Himself (from the inward eye of the mystic), He still lays His commands on the soul, so that it performs its predestined good and evil works. 174:4 Divine Love sweeps away the conventional standards of truth and right and honour. 176:1 Díwán, p. 331 foll. 176:2 Ibid. p. 347, 1. 6 foll. Cf. Shelley, Epipsychidion: 177:1 Ibid. p. 173. It is true, as Prof. Nallino has observed (op. cit. p. 16), that some odes are less artificial in style than others. 177:2 Ibid. p. 467. 177:3 Ibid. p. 165. 177:4 Ibid. p. 108. 177:5 Ibid. p. 278. 178:1 Díwán, p. 410. 178:2 Ibid. p. 384. 178:3 Ibid. p. 391 foll. 178:4 "Patience without you," i.e. in bearing your separation from me; "patience with you," i.e. in bearing the pain which you, as the object of my love, cause me to suffer. 178:5 Díwán, p. 402. 179:1 The poet was rapt in contemplation of the Beloved and could not bandy words with his critic. 179:2 I.e. by convincing my "blamer" of the error of his ways I acquired as much religious merit as by making the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is meritorious to combine the greater pilgrimage (ḥajj) with the lesser pilgrimage (umra). 179:3 Rajab is the seventh and al-Muḥarram the first month of the Mohammedan year. 179:4 I.e. inconstancy. 179:5 Díwán, p. 179 foll. The last verse alludes to the manna and quails which dropped from heaven upon the Israelites (Kor. 2, 54). In the original there is a double word-play: mann (separation), mann (manna), salwat (forgetfulness), salwá (quails). 180:1 Díwán, p. 443 foll. 180:2 I.e. the image or vision of the Beloved which appears when his name is pronounced by the "blamer." 180:3 As camels bring the beloved to the lover's eye, so reproof brings him to the lover's ear. 180:4 Díwán, p. 275 foll. Cf. p. 346, l. 5, and p. 429, l. 27p. 420, l. 6. 181:1 Ibid. p. 370, 1. 22. 181:2 The Arabic word for rocks (ṣafá) is also the name of a peak near Mecca, and this may be its meaning here. 182:1 Reading with the commentator ḥayá instead of ḥibá. 182:2 Díwán, p. 297 foll. 182:3 This is quite different, of course, from the pictorial treatment of desert life and scenery which we find in the pre-Islamic odes. 182:4 Reading . 183:1 Díwán, pp. 429-441. 183:2 Ibid. p. 6. 183:3 Ibid. p. 70. "The two least parts" are the heart and the tongue. 183:4 Ibid. p. 160, l. 24 foll. 184:1 Díwán, p. 472 foll. 184:2. The soul was intoxicated with the wine of Divine Love (i.e. was rapt in contemplation of God) during its pre-existence in the eternal knowledge of God before the body was created. 184:3 The full-moon is the Perfect Man, i.e. the gnostic or saint in whom God reveals Himself completely and who is, as it were, filled with Divine Love. The new moon is the gnostic veiled by his individuality, so that he manifests only a part of the Divine Light, not the whole; he causes the wine of Love to circle, i.e. he displays and makes known to others the Names and Attributes of God. When the wine is watered, i.e. when pure contemplation is blended with the element of religion, the seeker of God obtains spiritual direction and is like a traveller guided by the stars in his night-journey. 184:4 N.'s commentary on this verse is characteristically recondite. He interprets "its perfume" as the sphere of the Primal Intelligence, whence emanate all created things; "its taverns" as the Divine Names and Attributes; "its resplendence" as the human intellect, which is a flash of the Primal Intelligence. Divine Love, being of the essence of God, has no form except in the imagination. 185:1 "Time," i.e. the world of change. The second hemistich may be rendered literally: "tis as though its occultation were a concealment in the breasts of (human) minds." 185:2 "The tribesmen," i.e. mystics capable of receiving illumination. 185:3 This verse describes the gradual fading of ecstasy from the heart of the mystic. 185:4 I need not trouble my readers with the detailed allegorical analysis to which the commentator subjects this and the next nine verses. They explain themselves, if taken as a fanciful description of the miracles wrought by Divine Love. 186:1 The fidám is a strainer placed over the mouth of the bottle, so that the wine may run clear. 186:2 Vv. 23-30 are wanting in the commentary of Búríní and may have been inserted in the poem by a copyist. See Nallino, op. cit. p. 31, note I. Divine Love, as the eternal source of all created things, is logically prior to them, although it does not precede them in time, which itself is created. 186:3 Inasmuch as real being belongs to God alone, mystical union cannot be likened to the permeation of one body by another, as when water is absorbed by a sponge. 186:4 This enigmatic verse refers to Being under its two aspects. Wine signifies pure being, vine phenomenal being. In so far as man is related to the Divine Spirit (here identified with Adam, whom God "created in His own p. 187 image"), he is pure reality; but in so far as he belongs to Nature, he is unreal. "Its mother" is the mother of wine, i.e. the vine, which is a symbol for the material world. 187:1 The "vessels" are the phenomenal forms by which real being is manifested. They are "subtle," i.e. spiritual, because every such form is the veil of a reality. These realities "increase," i.e. appear as the Many, by means of the forms which our senses perceive. 187:2 Absolute Being or God or Divine Loveall these terms are the same in essenceis not conditioned by time. 187:3 I.e. it was an orphan before the beginning of fatherhood. This, I think, is merely a paradox indicating the timeless nature of reality. The word "orphanhood" (yutm) may allude to Mohammed (cf. note on the Táiyya, vv. 288-9). In this case the meaning will be that Mohammed (as the Logos) existed before the creation of Adam. According to N., Absolute Being is made an " orphan " by the passing-away (faná) of the spirit in man. Universal Spirit or Reason, the first emanation, may be said to "die" when its essence (the human spirit) is mystically re-united with the Absolute; and its "death" leaves the Absolute, i.e. the phenomenal world regarded as the other self of the Absolute, "an orphan in the bosom of its mother Nature." 187:4 Moslems associate with Christianity the beverage forbidden by their own religion. When their poets describe a wine-party, the scene is often laid in the neighbourhood of a Christian monastery (dayr). Ibnu l-Fáriḍ says that the Christians became intoxicated without having drunk, i.e. their doctrine that God reveals Himself in Christ is only a glimpse of the truth, p. 188 which is fully realised by Moslem saints, that God reveals Himself in every atom of existence. Cf. the Táiyya, v. 730 foll. and p. 140 supra. 188:1 I.e. seek to contemplate the Divine Essence alone, or if you must seek anything besides, let it be the first and highest manifestation of that Essence, namely, the Spirit or Light of Mohammed, which is figuratively called "the water of the Beloved's teeth." 188:2 The Ṣúfís have always known the value of music as a means of inducing ecstasy. Cf. The Mystics of Islam, p. 63 foll.; D. B. Macdonald, Emotional Religion in Islam as affected by Music and Singing in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1901, pp. 195 foll. and 748 foll., and 1902, p. 1 foll. 188:3 P. 165, note 2. 189:1 See v. 679 of the prose translation infra. 190:1 "The forms of things," i.e. the puppets, typify phenomena, which in themselves are lifeless and passive: all their life and activity is the effect of the manifestation in them of the actions and attributes of Reality. 190:2 The Greek fire to which Von Hammer finds an allusion here is, I think, an ignis fatuus. 190:3 The genies (Jinn) are described as ethereal creatures, endowed with speech, transparent (so that they are normally invisible), and capable of assuming various shapes. 191:1 Táiyya, vv. 680-706. 192:1 W. Y. Sellar, The Roman poets of the Republic, p. 403. I give Munro's translation: "Again when mighty legions fill with their movements all parts of the plains, waging the mimicry of war, the glitter then lifts itself up to the sky, and the whole earth round gleams with brass, and beneath a noise is raised by the mighty trampling of men, and the mountains stricken by the shouting re-echo the voices to the stars of heaven, and horsemen fly about and suddenly wheeling scour across the middle of the plains, shaking them with the vehemence of their charge. And yet there is some place on the high hills, seen from which they appear to stand still and to rest on the plains as a bright spot." 192:2 Táiyya, v. 489. 193:1 Táiyya, vv. 395-6. 193:2 E.g. emanation (fayḍ) in vv. 403-5. The spiritual and sensible worlds derive their life from Universal Spirit and Universal Soul (v. 405; cf. v. 492). In v. 455 the Ḥallájian terms, láhút (divinity) and násút (humanity) are used in the same way as by Ibnu l-Arabí, to denote the inward and outward aspects of the Being with whom the "unified" mystic is one (cf. Massignon, Kitáb al-Ṭawásín, p. 139). Allusions to the pre-existence of the soul occur in vv. 41, 257-8, 428, 670 and 759. Unlike Jílí, Ibnu l-Fáriḍ shows no sign of acquaintance with Ibnu l-Arabí's philosophical terminology or, so far as I have observed, of being directly influenced by him in any considerable degree.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43021000

At the end of September 2007, my husband, Evans Starzinger, and I were in the Îles Gambier, at the southeastern edge of French Polynesia, aboard our 47-foot aluminum Van de Stadt Samoa, Hawk. We were about to embark upon a 3,400-nautical-mile passage to Canal de Chacao, the narrow channel that leads to Puerto Montt, at the north end of the channels in Chile. The passage would take us across three of the global wind systems: the southeast trades, the variables, and the westerlies of the Roaring 40s. During what turned out to be a 24-day (and 3,800-nautical-miles-sailed) passage, we relied upon the weather information derived from Gridded Binary Files to help us pick our way through the complex weather systems we encountered. By sharing the exact information we had at our disposal, we hope to help others understand these valuable forecasting tools and how we make use of them to benefit from or avoid weather systems. The Îles Gambier are located in the belt of southeast trade winds that extends to around 30 degrees S. To avoid beating dead into the trade winds for several hundred miles, the traditional sailing route between French Polynesia and the Chilean coast calls for vessels to sail as close to due south as they can manage through the southeast trades and the variables until reaching the westerlies of the Roaring 40s. Here, voyagers turn east and run to Chile. To avoid being becalmed in the Southern Hemisphere summer (December through February), vessels may need to drop below 45 degrees S to remain in the westerly flow of winds under the semi-permanent high-pressure system centered around 30 degrees S, in the vicinity of Easter Island. In the early Southern Hemisphere spring, when we were about to embark, the South Pacific high would be expected to be north of its summer position and not yet fully established. Low-pressure systems with strong westerly flows would be tracking as far north as 30 degrees S, which we hoped would allow us to sail more directly to our destination. When departing on a long passage, we start with the assumption that we will follow the conventional sailing directions, but two weeks before our departure we start watching how systems are actually tracking and whether we should modify our route. Because we were coming to the end of the trade-wind season, low-pressure systems had begun tracking across the Gambiers from the north and west, out of the subtropics, pushing easterly winds ahead of them. Since the South Pacific high wasn’t yet established, both lows and highs from the Roaring 40s regularly rolled northward into the variables; these, too, brought easterly winds well above 35 S. Taking the traditional route with these weather patterns would mean many days of beating into easterlies and the likelihood of several easterly gales or even storms. By mid-September and our departure, it was becoming increasingly apparent that we’d have to modify the traditional route to avoid a significant percentage of strong headwinds. During this passage, we’d download GRIBs once a day. When determining where we’d be on each successive time period in the GRIBs, we assumed an average of 150 nautical miles per day. Here’s a look at four 120-hour GRIB files we downloaded during our trip, how we interpreted them, and how the actual weather systems played out. For much of this passage, we felt like a pinball ricocheting between the various low-pressure and high-pressure systems, but by using the GRIBs, we never experienced sustained winds of more than 40 knots or headwinds of more than 20 knots true. Few passages are this complicated, and those that are rarely work out so well. But in this case, the GRIBs made for a much easier passage than we would’ve had if we’d followed the conventional sailing route.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43022000

Print version ISSN 0256-9574 SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.100 no.3 Cape Town Mar. 2010 Indoor and outdoor allergens Our knowledge of disease is often added to incrementally. In his editorial, Potter1 notes that two papers published in this issue of SAMJ2,3 add to the growing body of published information on allergens and allergies in southern Africa. Seedat et al.2 studied indoor and outdoor allergen sensitisation in the Free State. They identified sensitisation to a previously unrecognised outdoor allergen (the spider mite, Tetranychus urticae) in the region and also found that the sensitisation rate to house-dust mites in patients with allergic rhinitis is a significant 46% for Dermatophygoides pteronyssinus and 44% for D. farinae. High levels of sensitisation to the spider mite have also been reported from the Hex River Valley. Since many subjects sensitised to spider mite are simultaneously polysensitised to other outdoor and indoor allergens, the clinical significance of this finding has yet to be studied, and there are no vaccines available to desensitise patients to spider mites. Allergic subjects in the Free State who had previously lived at the coast were significantly more likely to be sensitised to mites than those who had not. Sinclair et al.3 studied house-dust mite species in Bloemfontein and unexpectedly found mites in 50% of the homes investigated. They found that in some homes high levels of mites are attained as a result of indoor microclimate factors that raise indoor humidity, such as en-suite bathrooms. These studies suggest that the relationship between exposure, sensitisation and the expression of clinical allergic disease to house-dust mites is not a simple one and may depend not only on level of exposure but age of exposure and context of exposure. Danger of air in the wrong places Two short contributions graphically illustrate the potential danger of pneumopericardium and tension pneumothorax. Sun and colleagues4 describe the successful outcome of a case of pneumopericardium resulting from a stabbed chest. Cardiac tamponade secondary to air is rare, and in adults blunt trauma is the main cause of pneumopericardium. The primary management of tension pneumopericardium is relief of the cardiac tamponade to restore haemodynamic stability. Management options include percutaneous catheter drainage, open drainage by pericardiotomy, or open drainage and repair by sternotomy/thoracotomy. Tiemensma et al.5 report on sudden death on an aeroplane as a result of a pneumothorax. The subject had been on repeat treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis, and her medical history included drainage of pneumothoraces and pleural effusions. She experienced shortness of breath and pain soon after take-off and died shortly thereafter. A tension pneumothorax was not diagnosed despite medical practitioners being on board. The onus rests on the passenger with special needs to obtain a medical information sheet from the airline and have it completed by a medical doctor. Attending physicians are advised to inform their patients about medical conditions that may make air travel dangerous, and the authors provide the recommendations of the British Thoracic Society Standards of Care for air travel after pneumothorax. Herpes zoster ophthalmicus: Hutchinson's sign in HIV-positive patients Varicella zoster virus (VZV) causes two distinct viral syndromes. VZV is a common and usually benign childhood infection, manifesting as chickenpox. Herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) is a potentially devastating visual disease with variable presentation caused by the re-activation of a latent infection of the trigeminal ganglion by the VZV. John Hutchinson first described the relationship between involvement of the external nasal nerve and increased likelihood of intra-ocular involvement in 1865. Van Dyk and Meyer6 report on of patients presenting with HZO. Delays in treatment and inadequate medical therapy for herpes zoster are associated with more severe ocular complications and visual loss in HZO disease. The 6 - 15-fold increase in the incidence of HZO in HIV-positive patients compared with the general population suggests that HIV is the most common cause of VZV re-activation in the population at risk. Their findings confirmed that a positive Hutchinson's sign in an HIV-positive patient with HZO is a specific predictor of intra-ocular involvement and that HZO in young patients may be the presenting sign of HIV positivity. The CD4 count was not found to be a significant predictor of ocular involvement. They recommend that all patients with HZO should be seen by an ophthalmologist. Factors associated with smoking cessation Reductions in the prevalence of smoking in South Africa have been mainly attributed to higher cigarette prices. Ayo-Yusuf and Szymanski report on data concerning smoking from the 1998 South African Demographic and Health Survey.7 Of those who attempted to quit smoking, only 14.1% succeeded. They recommend clinical interventions, targeting alcohol-dependent smokers, and policies that boost smoke-free homes and increase knowledge of harmful effects of smoking. 1. Potter PC. Indoor and outdoor allergens in Bloemfontein. S Afr Med J 2010; 100: 155. [ Links ] 2. Seedat RY, Claasen J, Claasen AJ, Joubert G. Mite and cockroach sensitisation in patients with allergic rhinitis in the Free State. S Afr Med J 2010; 100: 160-163. [ Links ] 3. Sinclair W, Coetzee L, Joubert G. House-dust mite species in Bloemfontein, South Africa. S Afr Med J 2010; 100: 164-167. [ Links ] 4. Sun GR, Goosen J, Florizoone M. Cardiac tamponade secondary to tension pneumopericardium from penetrating chest trauma. S Afr Med J 2010; 100: 150. [ Links ] 5. Tiemensma M, Buys P, Wadee SA. Sudden death on an aeroplane. S Afr Med J 2010; 100: 148-149. [ Links ] 6. Van Dyk M, Meyer D. Hutchinson's sign as a marker of ocular involvement in HIV-positive patients with herpes zoster ophthalmicus. S Afr Med J 2010; 100: 172-174. [ Links ] 7. Ayo-Yusuf OA, Szymanski B. Factors associated with smoking cessation in South Africa. S Afr Med J 2010; 100: 175-180. [ Links ]

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43033000

June 8, 2007 Concerned that current methods for making computer chips might become stymied as components keep shrinking, many engineers are looking for circuit building blocks with improved electrical properties. Among the most promising are stringy carbon nanotubes that capably form transistors to switch current on and off. But the nanotubes tend to grow with unpredictable kinks and bends that could cause bad wiring connections. This week at the Design Automation Conference in San Diego, a group of Stanford engineers will present a way to design circuits that should work even when many of the nanotubes in them are twisted and misaligned. "The question is what's next in chip technologies," says Subhasish Mitra, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. "That's why nanotechnology is important. But you want to make sure that you are not in a lab making something that chip designers cannot actually use." To prevent that, he and electrical engineering Professor H.-S. Philip Wong, working with chemistry Professor Chongwu Zhou at the University of Southern California, have been looking closely at how nanotubes end up resting on the surfaces of experimental chips. "It's not as bad as a plate of noodles," Mitra says. "You want to create transistors out of these things, and hook up these transistors and make them turn on and off independently. But if twisted carbon nanotubes, for example, short out the circuit, you lose the opportunity to do that." Making messy workable What Mitra, Wong and graduate students Nishant Patil and Jie Deng have realized is that if nanotubes are always going to be somewhat askew, engineers will have to design circuits that can work regardless of where and how the tubes lie. They started by coming up with a single circuit element, a NAND gate, that was immune from the vagaries of its underlying nanotube layout. From that single element that could function despite misalignments, they abstracted and generalized the math to come up with an algorithm that can guarantee a working design for any circuit element, Mitra says, even when a large number of nanotubes are misaligned. Using simulations developed by Wong and Deng, the group has been able to show that not only do the algorithm's designs work, but they also don't appear to exact a significant financial, speed or energy price compared to traditional designs, Mitra says. The key to determining whether a circuit element is immune to nanotube misalignment is breaking up each circuit element into a fine grid that can be analyzed mathematically. Doing this in the abstract with models allows engineers to determine which grid squares nanotubes must pass through and which they shouldn't traverse to make a design work correctly. To eliminate unwanted connections, nanotubes in so-called "illegal" regions can then be either chemically etched away or rendered electrically irrelevant in other ways. The Stanford algorithm takes this all several steps further, applying sophisticated mathematics to automatically determine where the legal and illegal regions should be in the design of a circuit element with a particular function. "You not only determine whether something is immune or not, but can automatically generate circuit designs that are guaranteed to be immune," Mitra says. While the algorithm can overcome all the bad connections that errant nanotubes make, it cannot guarantee that a nanotube will always make a desired connection. Nanotubes also have other problems that remain unsolved, Mitra points out. Some, for example, always conduct electricity instead of switching on and off like a semiconductor should. The group's next step is to move beyond simulation to build and test real circuit elements according to the algorithm's output. While more work is necessary to deliver the promise of nanotube technology, solving the misalignment problem would be a significant step. "Carbon nanotube transistors show great promise as extensions to silicon transistors due to their fast speed, small size and lower energy consumption," Patil says. "Using this technique, we can make larger and more complex circuit blocks with them." Wong speculates that the advance could eventually spill over from chips to assist engineers facing analogous challenges. "A similar methodology can be applied to many emerging technologies," he says. "The concept of not having to define everything with high precision is germane to engineering robust systems." The Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation supported the research. Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University. The original article was written by David Orenstein, Communications and public relations manager at the Stanford School of Engineering.. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above. Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43036000

June 10, 2008 Researchers in Sweden and Japan report development of a new type of paper that resists breaking when pulled almost as well as cast iron. The new material, called "cellulose nanopaper," is made of sub-microscopic particles of cellulose and may open the way for expanded use of paper as a construction material and in other applications, they suggest. In the new study, Lars A. Berglund and colleagues note that cellulose -- a tough, widely available substance obtained from plants -- has potential as a strong, lightweight ingredient in composites and other materials in a wide range of products. Although cellulose-based composites have high strength, existing materials are brittle and snap easily when pulled. The study described a solution to this problem. It involves exposing wood pulp to certain chemicals to produce cellulose nanopaper. Their study found that its tensile strength -- a material's ability to resist pull before snapping -- exceeded that of cast iron. They also were able to adjust the paper's strength by changing its internal structure. Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above. - Henriksson et al. Cellulose Nanopaper Structures of High Toughness. Biomacromolecules, 2008; 9 (6): 1579 DOI: 10.1021/bm800038n Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43037000

Aug. 14, 2009 Edith Hessel and colleagues, at Dynavax Technologies Corporation, Berkeley, have identified the reason that humans and rodents respond differently to a molecule that is being developed to treat allergic diseases. Molecules that trigger the protein TLR9 are being developed as a potential therapeutic for allergic diseases. While they have been shown to be safe and well-tolerated when inhaled by people, they cause severe lung inflammation and toxicity when inhaled by rodents. In the study, the toxicity of one of the molecules under development was found to depend on TLR9 and the soluble immune molecule TNF-alpha in mice. Importantly, TLR9 is expressed on many immune cell types in the mouse (monocyte/macrophage cells, B cells, and pDCs) and only on B cells and pDCs in humans. The toxicity in mice was found to be independent of B cells and pDCs, meaning that other immune cells expressing TLR9 were responsible for TNF-alpha production. As human TLR9-expressing cells did not produce TNF-alpha in response to stimulation by the molecules under development, the authors conclude that the differential pattern of TLR9 expression is important in determining the nontoxicity of molecules that target TLR9 in humans and that toxicity in rodents is a result of TNF-alpha production. Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above. - Hessel et al. CpG-containing immunostimulatory DNA sequences elicit TNF-alpha%u2013dependent toxicology in rodents but not in humans. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2009; Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43038000

June 9, 2010 Three-dimensional imaging is dramatically expanding the ability of researchers to examine biological specimens, enabling a peek into their internal structures. And recent advances in X-ray diffraction methods have helped extend the limit of this approach. While significant progress has been made in optical microscopy to break the diffraction barrier, such techniques rely on fluorescent labeling technologies, which prohibit the quantitative 3-D imaging of the entire contents of cells. Cryo-electron microscopy can image structures at a resolution of 3 to 5 nanometers, but this only works with thin or sectioned specimens. And although X-ray protein crystallography is currently the primary method used for determining the 3-D structure of protein molecules, many biological specimens -- such as whole cells, cellular organelles, some viruses and many important protein molecules -- are difficult or impossible to crystallize, making their structures inaccessible. Overcoming these limitations requires the employment of different techniques. Now, in a paper published May 31 in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, UCLA researchers and their collaborators demonstrate the use of a unique X-ray diffraction microscope that enabled them to reveal the internal structure of yeast spores. The team reports the quantitative 3-D imaging of a whole, unstained cell at a resolution of 50 to 60 nanometers using X-ray diffraction microscopy, also known as lensless imaging. Researchers identified the 3-D morphology and structure of cellular organelles, including the cell wall, vacuole, endoplasmic reticulum, mitrochondria, granules and nucleolus. The work may open a door to identifying the individual protein molecules inside whole cells using labeling technologies. The lead authors on the paper are Huaidong Jiang, a UCLA assistant researcher in physics and astronomy, and John Miao, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy. The work is a culmination of a collaboration started three years ago with Fuyu Tamanoi, UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics. Miao and Tamanoi are both researchers at UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute. Other collaborators include teams at Riken Spring 8 in Japan and the Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, in Taiwan. "This is the first time that people have been able to peek into the 3-D internal structure of a biological specimen, without cutting it into sections, using X-ray diffraction microscopy," Miao said. "By avoiding use of X-ray lenses, the resolution of X-ray diffraction microscopy is ultimately limited by radiation damage to biological specimens. Using cryogenic technologies, 3-D imaging of whole biological cells at a resolution of 5 to 10 nanometers should be achievable," Miao said. "Our work hence paves a way for quantitative 3-D imaging of a wide range of biological specimens at nanometer-scale resolutions that are too thick for electron microscopy." Tamanoi prepared the yeast spore samples analyzed in this study. Spores are specialized cells that are formed when they are placed under nutrient-starved conditions. Cells use this survival strategy to cope with harsh conditions. "Biologists wanted to examine internal structures of the spore, but previous microscopic studies provided information on only the surface features. We are very excited to be able to view the spore in 3-D," Tamanoi said. "We can now look into the structure of other spores, such as Anthrax spores and many other fungal spores. It is also important to point out that yeast spores are of similar size to many intracellular organelles in human cells. These can be examined in the future." Since its first experimental demonstration by Miao and collaborators in 1999, coherent diffraction microscopy has been applied to imaging a wide range of materials science and biological specimens, such as nanoparticles, nanocrystals, biomaterials, cells, cellular organelles, viruses and carbon nanotubes using X-ray, electron and laser facilities worldwide. Until now, however, the radiation-damage problem and the difficulty of acquiring high-quality 3-D diffraction patterns from individual whole cells have prevented the successful high-resolution 3-D imaging of biological cells by X-ray diffraction. Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: - H. Jiang, C. Song, C.-C. Chen, R. Xu, K. S. Raines, B. P. Fahimian, C.-H. Lu, T.-K. Lee, A. Nakashima, J. Urano, T. Ishikawa, F. Tamanoi, J. Miao. Quantitative 3D imaging of whole, unstained cells by using X-ray diffraction microscopy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1000156107 Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43039000

Jan. 7, 2013 Cleaning up mercury pollution and reducing prenatal exposure to the neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) could save the European Union €10,000 million per year, finds a new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health. New estimates suggest that between 1.5 and 2 million children in the EU are born each year with MeHg exposures above the safe limit of 0.58µg/g and 200,000 above the WHO recommended maximum of 2.5µg/g. While some mercury occurs naturally in the environment for example from volcanic eruptions or forest fires, most is generated by burning fossil fuels. Marine and fresh water species bioconcentrate MeHg; consequently the main source of exposure for humans is from eating fish. A team of researchers from across Europe used the DEMOCOPHES study of exposure to environmental chemicals to assess the impact of MeHg on humans. Hair samples of child-mother pairs, collected from 17 European countries, demonstrated that, as a lower estimate, 1,866,000 children are born in Europe exposed to toxic levels of MeHg. 232,000 of these are exposed to hazardous levels, five times higher. But not every child in Europe is equally at risk. When analysed per country, children born in Portugal and Spain were the most exposed to MeHg, and Hungary the least. Exposure to MeHg in humans affects brain development, resulting in a lower IQ, and consequently a lower earning potential. The long term cost to society can be calculated as lifetime earning loss per person, although this estimate does not take into account other aspects of brain toxicity or risks of cardiovascular disease in adults. Prof Philippe Grandjean explained, "If we convert the effects of MeHg on developing brains into IQ points then the benefits of controlling MeHg pollution equates to 700,000 IQ points per year and monetary benefits of €8,000 to €9,000 million per year for the whole of the EU. Exposure abatement would mainly benefit southern Europe ." Once MeHg is formed, it cycles though the environment for thousands of years, exposing humans and other species to potentially toxic levels for generations. Commenting on the research Dr Elsie Sunderland said, "Mitigating the harm caused by methylmercury requires global-scale cooperation on policies and source reductions. Negotiations by the United Nations Environment Program are currently underway to address mercury emission levels." Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: - Martine Bellanger, Céline Pichery, Dominique Aerts, Marika Berglund, Argelia Castano, Mája Cejchanová, Pierre Crettaz, Fred Davidson, Marta Esteban, Karen Exley, Marc E Fischer, Anca Elena Gurzau, Katarina Halzlova, Andromachi Katsonouri, Lisbeth E Knudsen, Marike Kolossa-Gehring, Gudrun Koppen, Danuta Ligocka, Ana Miklavcic, M Fátima Reis, Peter Rudnai, Janja Snoj Tratnik, Pál Weihe, Esben Budtz-Jørgensen, Philippe Grandjean. Economic benefits of methylmercury exposure control in Europe: Monetary value of neurotoxicity prevention. Environmental Health, 2013; 12 (1): 3 DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-12-3 - Elsie M Sunderland, Noelle E Selin. Future trends in environmental mercury concentrations: implications for prevention strategies. Environmental Health, 2013; 12 (1): 2 DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-12-2 Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43041000

Web edition: June 20, 2012 Animal herders living in what was a grassy part of North Africa’s Sahara Desert around 7,000 years ago had a taste for cattle milk, or perhaps milk products such as butter. Researchers have identified a chemical signature of dairy fats on the inside surfaces of pottery from that time. Dairy products played a big part in the diets of these ancient Africans, even though they did not live in farming villages as the earliest European milk users did, reports a team led by biogeochemists Julie Dunne and Richard Evershed, both of the University of Bristol in England. Dairying may have spread from the Middle East and nearby areas — where farming emerged around 10,000 years ago — to Africa and Europe within a couple thousand years, the scientists propose in the June 21 Nature. Chemical evidence shows that cattle milked in the ancient Sahara ate plants from both cool, wet areas and hot, dry expanses. “Animals were being moved around the landscape between different ecosystems containing different plants, possibly as a result of seasonal variations in available pastures,” Evershed says. Researchers generally assume that North Africans domesticated cattle, sheep and goats before growing crops. Previously excavated bones of domesticated animals date to roughly 8,000 years ago in North Africa. Rock paintings in the region depict cattle herding and a few instances of milking, but no reliable dates exist for these artworks. An early date for dairying in North Africa “implies that one of the reasons local African peoples adopted cattle was for their milk products,” says anthropologist Diane Gifford-Gonzalez of the University of California, Santa Cruz. A 2008 pottery study led by Evershed placed the origins of cattle milking in what’s now northwestern Turkey at about 9,000 years ago. Farming, raising animals, dairying and making pottery all apparently spread across Europe at the same time, says anthropologist Kevin Gibbs of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. In contrast, the new study shows that Saharan herders adopted cattle and dairying into a nomadic lifestyle after having made pottery for several thousand years. Some African groups possess genetic mutations that enable milk drinking without nausea and other unpleasant reactions to lactose, a sugar found in milk. These mutations commonly appear in Europeans, whose farming ancestors used milk at least 6,000 years ago (SN: 2/1/03, p. 67). “We could be looking at multiple origins for dairying,” remarks bioarchaeologist Oliver Craig of the University of York, England. Dunne and Evershed’s group identified different forms of carbon in small, ground-up samples taken from 81 pottery fragments previously found at a Libyan rock shelter and mostly dating to between 7,200 and 5,800 years ago. Each specimen contained carbon with a distinctive signature found in milk fats. Further chemical comparisons to milk fats from grazing animals now living in Africa showed that ancient Saharans milked cattle, but not goats or sheep.Large amounts of dairy fat on the African pottery reflect either good preservation in arid conditions or the use of fat-rich products such as butter that store well and can be digested by lactose-intolerant individuals, Craig says. J. Dunne et al. First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium BC. Nature, Vol. 486, June 21, 2012, p. 390. doi:10.1038/nature11186. [Go to] B. Bower. Dairying pioneers: Milk ran deep in prehistoric England. Science News, Vol. 163, February 1, 2003, p. 67. Available online to subscribers: [Go to] R. Evershed et al. Earliest date for milk use in the Near East and southeastern Europe linked to cattle herding. Nature, Vol. 455, September 25, 2008, p. 528. doi:10.1038/nature.07180. Abstract available: [Go to] D. Gifford-Gonzalez and O. Hanotte. Domesticating animals in Africa: Implications of genetic and archaeological findings. Journal of World Prehistory, Vol. 24, March 2011, p. 1. doi:10.1007/s10963-010-9042-2. Abstract available: [Go to] More on archaeological chemistry: [Go to] Richard Evershed’s website: [Go to]

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43044000

Web edition: May 27, 2011 It took no time in December for critics to cast doubt on the remarkable claim that a bacterium force-fed with arsenic incorporated some of the poison into its cells and even its DNA. As soon as the Science paper by Felisa Wolfe-Simon and colleagues was published, critics took to the airwaves and the blogosphere; there was even coverage of the coverage. The debate over whether an organism could substitute a normally toxic substance, arsenic, for phosphorus, one of life’s six elemental building blocks — and whether Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues demonstrated an instance that substitution — continues with a formal octet of criticisms published online today in Science. And you can take a look for yourself at the whole thing, because the journal has made the papers freely available. Some of the objections are with the science done (or not done) by the research team. The growth medium for example, in which the microbes known as strain GFAJ-1 were cultured, contained some phosphorous, one researcher notes. Others take issue with the math with which the data was analyzed. Other scientists cast doubt on the claims not because of the nitty-gritty of the lab work, but because the report challenges a lot of known science, such as the chemical reactions that go into building a DNA molecule and how that might work — or not work — if arsenic were swapped for phosphorous. Science also published a response by Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues, in which they address the presented critiques. And so this scientific version of Clue continues: Was it GFAJ-1, in the lab, with the arsenic? That still isn’t clear, but as Science notes in its introduction to the debate, science is proceeding as it should.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43045000

Though ancient Egyptians are famous for their mummies, Americans — South Americans — practiced the preservation method first. In a desert coastal region of what is now northern Chile and southern Peru, the Chinchorro people began mummifying their dead about 7,000 years ago. Now scientists have proposed an explanation for how this practice got its start: The Chinchorro were just copying nature. The ancient South Americans buried corpses in shallow graves in the desert. There, the arid climate would have dried out the dead bodies, preventing their decay. When the Chinchorro population grew, more villagers probably started to see these bodies in the desert. They were inspired to mimic the natural process and start mummifying the dead, scientists report in a new study published in August. Seven millennia ago, the Chinchorro population was booming. The growth was probably fueled by readily available water and food. According to climate records, rainfall had been increasing, giving more people access to freshwater. Scientists have also unearthed fishing tools, including hooks and harpoons, from the same time period. Those suggest the Chinchorro were eating plenty of fish and seafood then. In the new study, scientists propose that this population boom led the ancient people to develop complicated customs, such as mummification. More people would have meant more permanent settlements and more corpses — and more frequent sightings of naturally preserved bodies sticking out of shallow graves. At some point, a light bulb went off and a new tradition of preserving the dead began. “Environmental changes are usually associated with the collapse of complex societies,” Pablo Marquet told Science News. “But if resources are abundant, environmental change can provide fertile ground for cultural evolution,” or change. Marquet, the study’s leader, is an ecologist at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. He studies the interaction between societies and their environments. The Chinchorro may have viewed mummification as a religious practice. Other researchers have found that some ancient tribes believed that if a body were not fully decomposed, then the person would never completely disappear. So mummification may have been seen as a way to keep the dead among the living. The Chinchorro mummified their dead for about 2,600 years. The practice appears to have stopped after rainfalls diminished greatly and the tribe’s population dropped. Although Marquet’s team’s explanation for mummification might be accurate, scientists will need to find more supporting evidence for the idea, says anthropologist Daniel Sandweiss of the University of Maine in Orono. “Perhaps someone who encounters Marquet’s article will be inspired to innovate a new way to test his hypothesis, just as encountering natural mummies in the Atacama Desert may have led Chinchorro people to create artificial mummification,” Sandweiss told Science News. mummification Preservation of a dead body to prevent all of the tissues from disappearing due to decay. anthropology The study of humankind. arid Dry, as in a desert landscape, where the air and ground lack much moisture. culture The customs, arts, social institutions and achievements of a particular nation, people or other social group. population All the inhabitants of a particular region.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43046000

WHAT IS SCIENTOLOGY? Scientology Definiton: Scio (Latin) “knowing, in the fullest sense of the word,” logos (Greek) “study of.” Thus Scientology means “knowing how to know.” Developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature and one’s relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being. Scientology addresses the spirit—not the body or mind—and believes that Man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes. Scientology comprises a body of knowledge which extends from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these are: Man is an immortal spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized. THE CREED OF THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY The Creed of the Church of Scientology was written by L. Ron Hubbard shortly after the Church was formed in Los Angeles on February 18, 1954. After Mr. Hubbard issued this creed from his office in Phoenix, Arizona, the Church of Scientology adopted it as its creed because it succinctly states what Scientologists believe. Within the vast amount of data which makes up Scientology’s religious beliefs and practices there are many principles which, when learned, give one a new and broader view of life. Knowing the Tone Scale, for instance, a person can see how best to deal with a grumpy child, mollify an upset friend or get an idea across to a staid employer. These principles amount to a huge area of observation in the humanities. It is a body of knowledge there for the learning. There is nothing authoritarian in it. It is valuable purely as a body of knowledge. WHO WAS L. RON HUBBARD? L. Ron Hubbard was an author, philosopher, humanitarian and Founder of the Scientology religion. He was born March 13, 1911, in Tilden, Nebraska, and passed away January 24, 1986. His long and adventurous road to discovery began at an early age. Under the tutelage of his mother, a thoroughly educated woman, he was reading well beyond his years: Shakespeare, Greek philosophy and an array of later classics. Yet his early years were far from bookish and with his family’s move to Helena, Montana, he was soon breaking broncos with the best of the local wranglers. As an inquisitive youth in what was then still a rough and tumble American West, he was also soon befriending indigenous Blackfoot Indians—learning tribal lore and legend from a local medicine man and so achieving that very rare status of blood brother. By the age of 13 he had further distinguished himself as the nation’s youngest Eagle Scout, and represented American scouting to US President Calvin Coolidge. Yet what most distinguished the young L. Ron Hubbard was an insatiable curiosity coupled with an innate desire to better the human condition. L. RON HUBBARD QUOTE: “I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days. “These shadows look so thick to him and weigh him down so that when he finds they are shadows and that he can see through them, walk through them and be again in the sun, he is enormously delighted. And I am afraid I am just as delighted as he is.”

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43049000

Screenshot via MBARI video The newly discovered carnivorous "harp sponge." Candelabra-shaped and carnivorous, a newly discovered sea creature — the "harp sponge" — has been found clinging to the ocean floor off Monterey Bay. Armed with "Velcro-like barbed hooks," the sponge — first observed via remote vehicle by a Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) team in 2000 — lives about two miles under the sea and feeds on crustaceans, reports Our Amazing Planet. Velcro-like barbed hooks cover the sponge's branching limbs, snaring crustaceans as they are swept into its branches by deep-sea currents. Once the harp sponge has its meal, it envelops the animal in a thin membrane, and then slowly begins to digest its prey. Two sponges were collected off the coast of California by researchers; 10 others were filmed. The largest observed specimen was about 14 inches tall, and the sponges varied in structure. Scientists believe the sponge evolved a multi-pronged shape, in part, to cover more food-grabbing surface area.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43057000

The gorgeous looking Earth is home to a diverse range of birds and animals. This indeed adds to the majesty and magnificence of this planet. The diversity that this planet has makes it brilliant and facilitates the ecosystem to function in the positive manner. As the world speeds towards rapid development, the desires to accomplish numerous goals of human beings also increase proportionately. This leads to various disturbances in the natural cycle and environmental conditions. This has also resulted into destroying the natural habitats of various species of birds and animals. Some of them include tigers, elephants and dolphins. The reckless, irresponsible and inattentive behavior of mankind has affected the natural functioning of the ecosystem greatly. With that and disturbance to the territories of various creatures, many species have become rare and for that matter even extinct. Elephant Protection in India has recently started with the objective of protecting the rare species. Elephant Protection is very important and significant for the healthy and wholesome operation of nature and natural cycle. With this objective, there are numerous governments as well as non government organizations that strive to work effectively towards elephant protection in India. Through laws, acts, campaigns and movements, various groups and organizations have been working towards spreading awareness in this direction. Elephant Protection in India is now carried out on a serious basis. With the purpose of maintaining an eco-friendly nature, various movements have been initiated. Regulated trade in wildlife is one of the very important projects in this direction. With the objective of safeguarding creatures and maintaining harmony with nature, such steps are taken by groups, big and small. Elephant Protection in India is also carried out by setting up numerous national parks and sanctuaries. Some of them include Ranthambore National Park, Kaziranga National Park, Chandaka wildlife Elephant Sanctuary, Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and others. Other initiatives taken by the government and various non government agencies include Project Tiger and Project Elephant. These projects safeguard nature by conserving various endangered species. This results in maintaining an ecological balance. Elephant Protection is a significant step in this direction. Some of the other projects include Asiatic Lion Conservation, Dolphin Conservation and Lion Protection. Working in an efficient manner, these programmes significantly help in the smooth working of nature. The flora and fauna also affects the climate change and environment of a place. Such conservation practices help to maintain proper flourishing environmental and climatic conditions.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43068000

Fighting a war isn't all about big, strong men in uniform. It's about training, training and more training to do the job you're assigned. It's about making correct on-the-spot decisions, including while in combat. Women have been warriors across the ages and are now in nations from Canada to New Zealand. American women already have fought and died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as they have since the Revolutionary War. Women in the five U.S. military services work as hard as men, but the absence of battlefield experience often hinders their ability to rise in rank and pay. But now that top leaders have deemed them fit for fighting if they prove themselves so, doors will open for women to advance just as men do now. It's a huge leap forward. But, sadly, it's not surprising that, for many Americans, the thought of a woman in full battle rattle fighting alongside men is anathema. The naysayers talk about men's need to protect women, about possible sexual relations or sexual violence and about how soldiers relieve themselves in the field. And these things aren't happening now? Such arguments don't sway former Utah congressional candidate Donna McAleer, a West Point graduate who served as a platoon leader and military policewoman, among other assignments, in the U.S. Army. "What this is about is readiness, retention and recruitment," she says. "Women are not going to flood infantry and armor [divisions]." They, like their male colleagues, must meet physical and mental standards, she says. "It should be [about] the job, not the gender." You train, just as anyone in any job does, to become the best you can be, no matter your sex. This change is also about choice; women now will be able to compete with men and one another for the jobs they want. That's what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concluded after seeing women in action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dempsey told The New York Times his story about boarding a Humvee in Baghdad and slapping the leg of the turret gunner. "Who are you?" he asked. "I'm Amanda," the soldier replied. It was then that Dempsey decided things had to change, and he and Panetta who also had talked with women warriors recently announced the policy shift. Predictably, you could hear howls from some men and some women who think all women are too weak to endure a long march, a mortar barrage or a firefight. To McAleer, that's a specious argument and a nonissue. No one, she says, is suggesting a lower physical standard. Man or woman, a soldier must, for example, be able to throw a grenade 30 meters. It's about setting a standard and ensuring the model is consistent for everyone. That may exclude women from the Navy SEALs or the Army's Delta Force, Rangers and Green Berets, but few men make it into those ranks either. The bottom line is women already are fighting and dying in combat. One day, a woman will be secretary of defense or chair of the Joint Chiefs. Either one, or both, would be an epic victory for all of us. Even better: a woman as commander in chief. Peg McEntee is a news columnist. Reach her at [email protected], facebook.com/pegmcentee and Twitter, @pegmcentee.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43086000

All fuel-burning equipment and appliances create the risk for carbon monoxide, including water heaters, gas furnaces, wood and gas fireplaces, generators and automobile engines. But at its worst, exposure to carbon monoxide can be fatal. In 2008, exposure to carbon monoxide resulted in at least 47 U.S. deaths, according to data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System. Those deaths only account for those reported to or managed by a poison center. The American Association of Poison Control Centers offers these tips for combating carbon monoxide during cold times: Never use a charcoal or gas grill inside a house, garage, closed-in porch or tent. Have your furnace inspected and adjusted before every heating season. Never use a generator inside your home -- not even in the garage or porch. Keep it outside, far from the house. Never use a gas stove or oven to heat the house. Never leave a car running inside a garage, even if the garage door is open. Never sleep in a parked car while the engine is running. If you have a working fireplace, make sure the flue is open and the chimney is not blocked when burning wood or gas logs. Have your chimney, fireplace, and wood stoves, and flues inspected before every heating season. Never use charcoal in the fireplace. Get a carbon monoxide detector, with a battery back-up system, for your home. If you have a big house, get more than one detector. If your carbon monoxide detector sounds, take your cell or cordless phone and leave the house immediately. Call 911 or the fire department from outside the home. Remember you can't smell or see carbon monoxide, so an alarm may be your only warning. Source: American Association of Poison Control Centers The American Association of Poison Control Centers supports the nation's 60 poison control centers in their efforts to prevent poisoning. Poison centers offer free and confidential services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you believe you've been exposed to a poison or have questions about whether a substance is poisonous, call your local poison control center at 800-222-1222.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43099000

Latest News About Stars and Galaxies Stars are giant, luminous spheres of plasma. Galaxies consist of stars, stellar remnants, dust, gas, and dark matter, bound together by gravity. Learn more about stars and galaxies. NASA's NuSTAR mission will peer through the dust and gas to see what what lies in the centers of other galaxies. NASA's Kepler Mission, a space-based telescopic camera, has discovered planets orbiting stars beyond our Sun. Though an Earth-like planet in the "Goldilocks Zone" hasn't yet been positively identified, astronomers believe it's just a matter of time. The new photo captures perhaps 1 percent of our galaxy's stars. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is designed to study objects in infrared light. The new image shows more than 200,000 galaxies that each contains billions of stars. The globular cluster at the center of our galaxy contains stars twice as old as the sun. New observations support the idea that galaxies expel gas and then suck it back in to create baby stars. A new survey of distant galaxies provides new clues about how these cosmic objects evolved. This cool space wallpaper shows a massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The Hercules cluster is unlike many other neighboring galaxy groups. This stunning space wallpaper reveals the natural-color image of the galaxies was taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. Infrared observations of the Orion nebula show young stars as they mature into adulthood. These outflows could shape the growth of black holes and dictate star formation in their host galaxies. This mind-bending look at our day and night sky – including some auroras – was cut together by Randy Halverson (Dakotalapse.com). The score was composed by Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, Eureka, etc.). The galaxies are said to be in a smooth, curved line making them appear to be connected in a chain. The extremely bright X-ray source in the Andromeda galaxy was first detected in late 2009. The Carina nebula is home to several of the brightest and most massive known stars.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43101000

full title · Ender's Game author · Orson Scott Card type of work · Novel genre · Science fiction language · English time and place written · Begun in 1975 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the story was published in 1977 as a short story and completed in novel form in 1985. date of first publication · 1977 (as a short story); 1985 (as a book) publisher · Tom Doherty narrator · Omniscient narrator climax · The climax of the novel occurs when Ender fights what he thinks is his final test in Command School but what is actually the last battle of the Third Invasion. protagonist · Ender Wiggin antagonist · Mostly Peter Wiggin, but also the adults in the book setting (time) · The future setting (place) · The book starts on earth, and quickly moves into space, although earth plays a prominent role until the end. point of view · Most of the book is presented from Ender's point of view, although we are occasionally allowed inside the head of a few other characters. falling action · Ender finds the landscape that the buggers created for him and follows it to the message they left him—the last remaining bugger queen, still a mere pupa. tense · Immediate past foreshadowing · Each chapter starts with a conversation between two adults, usually members of the I.F. high command, and their discussion foreshadows the events of the chapter. tone · The tone is increasingly urgent as the book progresses. symbols · Ender as good; Peter as evil themes · Games; the role of children; compassion; ruthlessness motifs · Friend/enemy; humanity Readers' Notes allow users to add their own analysis and insights to our SparkNotes—and to discuss those ideas with one another. Have a novel take or think we left something out? Add a Readers' Note!

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43104000

Niskayuna Supervisor Joe Landry surveys the area surround the berm constructed at the town’s water plant on Friday, Sept. 2. Photo by John Purcell. Niskayuna’s water plant was in danger as the Mohawk River rose during Tropical Storm Irene, but town employees devised a plan to prevent damage. Town officials started mobilizing town employees around 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28, after initial reports came in on possible flood levels following heavy rain. There were six dump trucks, front-end loaders, excavator and bulldozers at the town’s water plant working into the night. There was another crew stationed north of plant at the town landfill with an excavator and a front-end loader to gather dirt for the circular barrier. “Initial reports we were getting was it was going to be 7 to 8 feet above the 100-year flood, which was over those windows (four inches above),” said Supervisor Joe Landry. “There is no way we could have built a berm as high as that building … we were able to accommodate the modified numbers.” The 100-year flood is a way to rate the probability of a flood reaching a certain level, which is once every 100 years. Although, this doesn’t mean the flood level can’t be reached more than once in 100 years. Town employees worked long hours, maxing out at 18 hours, said Matt Yetto, a civil engineer for the town. Highway Department employees teamed up with Water and Sewer Department employees to prevent flood damage. “At one point we had everyone in the Water and Sewer Department working either at (the water plant) or preventing flooding in the sewer system,” said Yetto. The berm around the plant took around 15 hours to build after Superintendent of the Water and Sewer Department Richard Pollock designed the plans. “At one point when we were doing the sandbags you looked and you just saw a sea of green, everyone was wearing a green shirt,” said Yetto. “Everything seemed to go very smoothly and well organized.”

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43109000

Last weekend, we traveled to Johannesburg as our Bing Cultural Excursion and visited the South African Constitutional Court, among other sites of memory. Our Johannesburg visit made me feel surprisingly heavy – I’d thought I’d been fortified by what we’d already seen in Cape Town the prior five weeks. Walking through the Women’s Jail and Building Number 4 was an experience like no other I’ve had. While I understand American mass incarceration as our greatest current civil rights issue, the history of political imprisonment and mistreatment in South Africa was a phenomenon completely new to me. It was remarkable to me that a country could memorialize and reincorporate its oppressive past by building the foundation of its Constitutional Court and Constitutional Hall upon the bricks and walls of its old prisons. Even though the Constitutional Court is the equivalent of the United States Supreme Court, its design and presentation could not be more different than our hallowed American building of marble and looming columns. The court sits on the site of an old high-security prison that housed thousands of political dissidents and prisoners of all races – including Gandhi. Half of the walls of the chamber itself were built from the bricks of the old prison walls. Inside, the public sits elevated, looking down on the justices and lawyers. And outside the chambers, built upon the old prison bricks is a display in neon letters that reads: “A LUTA CONTINUA” or “THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.” On the entrance to the building, each of the 27 basic rights and principles of the South African Constitution is carved into a wood panel in each of the country’s 11 official languages and sign language. One of the most interesting things about studying in South Africa has been encountering how the state addresses the history and legacy of apartheid. This experience has been especially interesting in contrast to my perceptions of the United States and its treatment of indigenous and black populations, among other historically oppressed groups. Watching South Africa – the most unequal country in the world – confront its social issues, I have grown interested in the notion of refounding a country. Our visit to the Court inspired me to read through South Africa’s Constitution to get a better sense of those 27 principles. The preambles of the Constitution begins with an acknowledgment of past suffering:“We, the people of South Africa, Recognise the injustices of our past; Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.“ In its founding provisions, the Constitution establishes that the state is founded on the following values:“a Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. b Non-racialism and non-sexism. c Supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. d Universal adult suffrage, a national common voters roll, regular elections and a multi-party system of democratic government, to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness.“ The combination of these clauses stands in stark contrast to the “All men are created equal” and “We the people of the United States” that so glaringly excluded the majority of those living on “American” land. Yet, as we discussed in class this week, what does it mean to those South Africans who are in the worst material conditions, those who suffer from racism or sexism, those who do not have adequate housing, etc. that their constitution guarantees them the opposite of what they experience? Is that any better or worse than living in the United States (for example) where such promises are not explicit? I’m of the mind that being unambiguous about past injustices and present (and future) goals gives the people more to demand of their government, and the government more to be accountable to. The United States should acknowledge that (to use Obama’s words from this year’s State of the Union address), “the basic bargain that built America” was one of structural inequality and injustice towards indigenous Americans, blacks, women and unpropertied men. Beyond this fundamental recognition, we also need to admit that those injustices and inequalities continue through today, that our ideals of liberty, justice and freedom are yet unachieved, and that we as a nation need to commit ourselves to the lifelong pursuit of realizing these goals. As it stands, our veneration of the founding figures, documents, institutions, and values as holy blinds us to the structural injustice all around us. Just as monuments to Cecil Rhodes (the great exploiter of Africa) and Jan Smuts (the architect of apartheid) stand tall and plentifully around South Africa, so too do these American institutions remain unabashed and taunt us of past and present oppression. While my instinct has often been “We need to tear this stuff down,” watching South Africa change through its transition and reconciliation process has shown me that we cannot hide our troubled pasts, but must commemorate how we have failed and use that memory to inspire future action. Instead of demolishing the statue of Cecil Rhodes in the University of Cape Town’s Upper Campus, a plaque noting his role in crafting the mining labor and land exploitation that haunts South Africa even today would provide a more nuanced and educational experience than leaving the monument as is or than having nothing present at all. A luta continua Instead of leaving the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, Department of Justice, Department of Education, Liberty Bell, National Constitution Center, etc. etc. standing as they are in their pristine, (white) marble glory – some commemoration of the role of all of these institutions in nearly every internal injustice of the last 200+ years would be a step in the right direction. A luta continua Without changing our perspective, we will continue to perpetrate and perpetuate crimes against women, against ethnic minorities, against the poor – not only in South Africa or America, but around the world. A luta continua.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43114000

A lock failure would hurt U.S. farmers who use the waterways to ship their products and also U.S. consumers who eventually buy those products. In addition, farmers and consumers would see prices for fuel and coal increase. Visit http://www.unitedsoybean.org/americas-locks-dams-a-ticking-time-bomb-for-agriculture/ to view a map that shows what a lock failure could do to farmers in your area. The new, interactive map was recently developed by the soy checkoff to make information about this critical issue more accessible as well as more specific to local areas. That information was compiled recently in soy-checkoff-funded research that shows the importance of the U.S. inland waterway system to U.S. soybean farmers. According to the checkoff's most recent study, U.S. waterways make a staggering impact on U.S. farmers' bottom lines as well as on the price U.S. consumers pay for food. The new, interactive map shows the effect a failure at each of five locks on the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers would have on U.S. soybean and corn prices.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43116000

An impulse engine consists of one or more nuclear fusion reactors connected to exhaust vents that generate thrust to accelerate the ship. The thrust generated by an impulse engine is typically tiny compared to the actual mass of the ship, but the use of "mass lightening" technology (involving subspace fields) reduces the effective mass of the ship enough for the thrust to provide considerable acceleration. Because impulse engines include fusion reactors, they are typically the ship's secondary power source, outpowered only by the warp core. Impulse engines are capable of powering a ship for short journies at FTL speeds (assuming the ship has a functioning warp drive), but doing so drains fuel rapidly. The Enterprise nearly exhausted the fuel for its impulse engines in just 14 hours of interstellar travel when the warp core was inoperable due to "burning out" the ship's dilithium crystals. Trekkie PicardAlpha's estimate of acceleration from Federation impulse engines.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43117000

There are literally thousands of books on WW2, ranging from D-Day to the Hiroshima Bombing to the Nazis and the Airbourne forces. They all give the reader an extensive knowledge of what happened. Literature was never a bad thing and never will be. It's safe to say that because of WW2, there has been a very valuable and interesting addition to the world of books. There are not as many movies and t.v. shows on WW2 then books but nonetheless, a lot. T.V. shows like Band of Brothers are about WW2. Movies like Saving Private Ryan are about WW2. They may not have been historically accurate but they portray WW2 wonderfully and give insight into the horrors of the Great War. In the gaming picture, WW2 was an important part of it. There have been numerous board games and war games about WW2. Even more is video games. One of the earliest FPS games was around WW2. There are so many games about it to try and capture the emotions and feelings of what it felt like to be fighting in WW2. To conclude, WW2 did have a big impact in these areas and they were all positive, helping the economy. [continues] Cite This Essay (2011, 04). History Ww2. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 04, 2011, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/History-Ww2-653848.html "History Ww2" StudyMode.com. 04 2011. 04 2011 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/History-Ww2-653848.html>. "History Ww2." StudyMode.com. 04, 2011. Accessed 04, 2011. http://www.studymode.com/essays/History-Ww2-653848.html.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43123000

Hope for spinal-injury victims Canterbury University research is aimed at giving people with spinal-cord injuries improved movement and stability. PhD student Cindy Allison plans to draw on the work of Israeli physicist Moshe Feldenkrais to develop a group programme for disabled people that would be accessible and affordable. The Feldenkrais method aims to restore the sensory system through specific movements and attention to sensory feedback, with research showing it could reduce pain, fatigue, stress and medical costs, while improving mobility, stability, co-ordination and breathing. Allison said Kevin Hitchcock, a former director of news at Channel Ten in Sydney, was told he would be paralysed from the neck down for the rest of his life after a diving accident, but had made an almost full recovery using the Feldenkrais method. American Molly Hale broke her neck in 1995 and was told she would be paralysed from the shoulders down, but this year was able to walk unassisted for the first time since her accident. Irene Lober, of Germany, was able to ski, despite being told she would need a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Most disabled people who used the method did so individually. "Working in a group setting, you get the added benefit of inspiration and frequent humour from others in the group, she said. "They also get a bit of an understanding of the method so they can do things on their own during the week." - © Fairfax NZ News Would you like to see a bike-share scheme in Christchurch?Related story: Free bikes plan for Christchurch

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43124000

John Langley Howard was a revolutionary regionalist painter known for depicting labor and industry in California as well as his reverence for the natural world. Howard took a strong stance on social and environmental issues and used his art to communicate his strong emotional response toward each of his subjects. Table of Contents John Langley Howard was born in 1902 into a respected family of artists and architects. His father, John Galen Howard relocated the family to California in 1904 to become campus architect of the University of California, Berkeley. It was only after attending the very same campus his father helped to create, that Howard suddenly decided he wanted to pursue a career as an artist and not an engineer as previously planned. Following this decision, Howard enrolled in the California Guild of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and then transferred to the Arts Students’ League in New York City. At the school, he met Kenneth Hayes Miller who supported Howard’s attitude because the “taught the bare rudiments of painting and composition, and stressed the cultivation of the ultra-sensitive, intuitive approach” (Hailey 56). After saving his money, Howard travelled to Paris for six months to seek out his own artistic philosophy. However, it quickly became apparent to Howard that he placed more value on pure talent than professional training. In 1924, Howard left art school to pursue his career and marry his first wife, Adeline Day. He had his first one-person exhibition at the Modern Gallery in San Francisco in 1927. Shortly after, he attempted portraiture. Following the start of the Depression, Howard found himself appalled by the social conditions and began to follow “his own brand of Marxism.” Howard and his wife began to attend meetings of the Monterey John Reed Club, discussing politics and social concerns. Soon, the artist became determined to communicate society’s needs for the betterment of the future. His landscapes began to include industry and its effects to the surrounding region. In 1934, Howard was hired through the New Deal Public Works Art Project to create a mural for the inside of Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco depicting California industry. The project called for twenty-seven artists to be hired to paint frescos inside the newly erected monument funded by philanthropist Lillie Hitchcock Coit. Each artist was to depict a scene central to California living, including industry, agriculture, law, and street scenes of San Francisco. Howard’s completed fresco drew notorious attention for showing an unemployed worker reading Marxist materials, a gathered group of unemployed workers, and a man panning for gold while watching a wealthy couple outside of their limousine. In a nearby mural by Bernard Zakheim (1896-1985), Howard himself was used as a model. He is shown crumpling a newspaper and grabbing a Marxist book from a library shelf. This soon led to the artists being linked to a local group of striking dock workers. They were accused of attempting to lead a Communist revolution. Howard’s murals as well as the work of Clifford Wight (1900-1960) and Zakheim became highly scrutinized, and the uproar over the works led to a delay in opening Coit Tower. In order to protect their work from being defaced or completely destroyed, the muralists chose to sleep outside the tower. The SF Art Commission ultimately cancelled the opening of Coit Tower as a result of the controversy and did not open it until months later. During this time, Howard relocated his family to Santa Fe, New Mexico citing his son’s health concerns for almost two years before returning to Monterey in 1940. Following the onset of World War II, he had a renewed interest in landscape and soon ceased to include social commentary within his work, thus removing the human figure from his paintings. The artist divorced his first wife in 1949. In 1951, Howard’s art took another turn when the artist painted The Rape of the Earth which rallied against the destruction of nature by technology, making Howard one of the first “eco-artists.” During the same year he also married sculptor Blanche Phillips (1908-1976). He began illustrating for Scientific American Magazine and used this medium to refine his technique. Howard’s landscapes began turning to “magic realism” or “poetic realism” as Howard preferred to call it. This method is described as the use of naturalistic images and forms “to suggest relationships that cannot always be directly described in words” (Aldrich 184). His aim was to communicate a poetic and spiritual connection with the landscape depicted. Overall, Howard lived in more than 20 different locations during his career. In 1997, Howard attended the dedication of Pioneer Park at Coit Tower and was the only surviving member of the twenty-seven muralists included in the original project. The murals were restored by the City of San Francisco in 1990 after water damage and age dictated the need for restoration. Howard died at the age of 97 in his sleep at his Potrero Hill home in 1999. II. AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARTIST'S WORK “I think of painting as poetry and I think of myself as a representational poet. I want to describe my subject minutely, but I also way to describe my emotional response to it…what I’m doing is making a self-portrait in a peculiar kind of way.” – John Langley Howard John Langley Howard was widely considered a wanderer and a free spirit. While Howard did receive academic training from the California Guild of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and the Arts Students’ League in New York City, he chose to align himself with instructors whose opinions of art education matched his predetermined beliefs. These teachers included Kenneth Hayes Miller (1876-1952) who valued an analytical, bare bones approach to art instruction and supported greater personal development of intuitive talent. Howard expressed this viewpoint stating that: “I want everything to be meaningful in a descriptive way. I want expression and at the same time I want to control it down to a gnat’s eyebrow. I identify with my subject. I empathize with my subject” (Moss 62). In the 1920s, Howard became known as a Cezanne-influenced landscape artist and portraitist. Tempera, oil, and etching became his primary media while his subject matter turned to poetic and often spiritually infused imagery which would resurface later in his career. Earth tones and very small brushstrokes were utilized, allowing Howard to refine his images. Howard exhibited frequently with his brothers Charles Howard (1899-1978) and Robert Howard (1896-1983). Critic Jehanne Bietry wrote of their joint Galerie Beaux Arts show that: “of (the Howard brothers), John Langley is the poet, the mystic and the most complex…there predominates in his work a certain quality, an element of sentiment that escapes definition but is the unmistakable trait by which one recognizes deeper art” (Hailey 60). It is significant that a critic would accurately take note of Howard artistic aims at such an early stage because what Bietry describes ultimately became the primary focus of Howard’s career. Howard experienced a dramatic change in medium when he was commissioned to paint a mural for the Coit Tower WPA project in 1934. The project was Howard’s first and only mural and provided the artist with an outlet for his newly discovered Marxist social beliefs. While Howard supported a political agenda rather explicitly in his image, his focus on deeper subject matter permeates throughout the work. Most important to Howard is “the idea of human conflict that [he] pictorializes and deplores – man’s tragic flaw manifest again in this particular situation” (Nash 79). Howard’s work had progressed steadily into the realm of social realism until the backlash against the Coit Tower murals led him in a new direction. Howard abandoned explicit statements of social commentary and returned to his roots as a landscape painter. However, this did not prevent the artist from illustrating important issues because he then became one of the first “eco-artists.” Through his painting, Howard investigated the role of technology on the environment and used the San Francisco Bay Area as well as Monterey to demonstrate his point of view. He continued following his original artistic tendencies by delving into “magic realism” or “poetic realism” which utilized the spiritual connection that Howard sought to find within his work. Art critic Henrietta Shore recognized the balance that Howard achieved within his work, stating that he “is modern in that he is progressive, yet his work proves that he does not discard the traditions from which all fine art has grown” (Hailey 65). Overall, Howard’s career presents a unique portrait of individual expression and spiritual exploration. 1902 Born in Montclair, New Jersey 1920 Enrolls as an Engineering major at UC Berkeley 1922 Realizes he wants to be an artist 1923-24 Attends Art Students’ League in New York 1924 Leaves art school 1924 Marries first wife, Adeline Day 1927 First one-person exhibition held at The Modern Gallery, San Francisco 1928 First child, Samuel born 1930 Daughter Anne born 1934 Commissioned to Paint Coit Tower mural, San Francisco 1940 Studies ship drafting and worked as a ship drafter during World War II 1942 Serves as air raid warden in Mill Valley, CA 1949 Divorces his first wife 1950 Teaches at California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco 1951 Marries second wife, sculptor Blanche Phillips 1951 Moves to Mexico 1951 Paints The Rape of the Earth communicating his eco-friendly stance 1953-1965 Illustrates for Scientific American magazine 1958 Teaches at Pratt Institute Art School, Brooklyn, NY 1965 Moves to Hydra, Greece 1967 Moves to London 1970 Returns to California 1979 Blanche Phillips dies 1980 Marries Mary McMahon Williams 1999 Died in his sleep at home San Francisco, California California Palace of the Legion of Honor, CA City of San Francisco, CA IBM Building, New York, NY The Oakland Museum, CA The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA Security Pacific National Bank Headquarters, Los Angeles, CA Springfield Museum of Fine Arts University of Utah, UT 1927 Modern Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1928 Beaux Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1928 East-West Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1928-51 San Franciso Art Association, CA 1935 Paul Elder Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1936 Cincinnati Art Museum, OH 1936 Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Treasure Island, CA 1939 Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 1941 Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA 1943 Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C. 1943 M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA 1946-47 Whitney Museum, NY 1947 Rotunda Gallery, City of Paris, San Francisco, CA 1952 Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA 1956 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA 1973 Capricorn Asunder Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1974 Lawson Galleries, San Francisco, CA 1976 de Saisset Art Gallery and Museum, CA 1982 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1983 California Academy of Sciences, CA 1983 Monterey Museum of Art, CA 1986 Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1987 Martina Hamilton Gallery, NY 1988 Oakland Museum, CA 1989 Tobey C. Moss Gallery, CA 1991 M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA 1992 Tobey C. Moss Gallery, CA 1993 Tobey C. Moss Gallery, CA California Society of Mural Painters’ and Writers’ and Artists’ Union Carmel Art Association Club Beaux Arts San Francisco Art Association Society of Mural Painters Marin Society of Artists Monterey John Reed Club Anne Bremer Memorial Award for Painting, San Francisco Art Association First Prize, Pepsi-Cola Annual “Portrait of America” First Prize, San Francisco Art Association Award, City of San Francisco Art Festival Citation for Merit, Society of Illustrators, New York - 1. Aldrich, Linda. “John Langley Howard.” American Scene Painting: California, 1930s and 1940s. Irvine, Westphal Publishing: 1991. - 2. Hailey, Gene. “John Langley Howard…Biography and Works.” California Art Research Monographs, v. 17, p.54-92. San Francisco: Works Progress Administration: 1936-1937. - 3. Moss, Stacey. The Howards, First Family of Bay Area Modernism. Oakland Museum: 1988. - 4. Nash, Steven A. Facing Eden: 100 Years of Landscape Art in Bay Area. University of California Press: 1995. IX. WORKS FOR SALE BY THIS ARTIST

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43129000

Insects and Fumigation "The Best Way to Avoid Both is to Make Sure Seeds Are Cooled Down Before They Can heat up" No one enjoys a pleasant 75- or 80-degree fall harvest season more than a producer bringing in a bountiful crop - no one, that is, except those species of insects which infest stored grain. Warm grain temperatures provide ideal conditions for insects that feed on stored grain, notes North Dakota State University extension entomologist Phil Glogoza. Some grain insect pests, like the lesser grain borer, red flour beetle, flat grain beetles and Indian meal moths, are common across the Upper Midwest, he notes, and will fly from storage site to storage site. Other insects, such as granary weevils, the saw-toothed grain beetle, mealworm beetle and spider beetle, pose the biggest threat when new grain is stored in bins that were previously infested and then not adequately cleaned. Glogoza and NDSU ag engineer Ken Hellevang encourage close monitoring of grain conditions to prevent insect problems. "Check the surface of the grain; then use a probe to check the moisture and temperature at a variety of locations. Pay attention to the look, smell and feel of the grain. Your senses can tell you a lot about its condition," Hellevang remarks. Frost or condensation on the inside of bin roofs is a clear indication of excess moisture in the grain, Hellevang notes. He suggests examining samples under good light (perhaps on a light-colored cloth) to make insect identification easier. Bringing cold samples into a heated area will increase insect activity and thus facilitate Temperature is the key to controlling insects in stored sunflower and other grains, Hellevang emphasizes. As noted in the accompanying article, insect reproduction slows once the interior bin temperature drops below 70 degrees F. By 60 degrees, reproduction has ceased; at 50 degrees the insects become dormant - and most will die if the bin temperature falls to freezing and remains there for an extended period. Contributing to the threat of insect infestation is grain's proficiency as an insulator. Cereal grains have an R-value of one per inch, meaning "grain at the center of an 18-foot bin is insulated in excess of R-100," Hellevang notes. That compares to an R-20 insulation rating for a typical North Dakota home. While sunflower's insulation rating is less than that of cereal grains, it is still substantial. Fumigation - traditionally touted as the standard method of eliminating insect infestations in stored grain - is not effective or economical in many instances, Glogoza and Hellevang advise. Here's why: * Fumigants do not work well once grain temperatures drop below 60 degrees F. For a fumigant to work, it must volatilize and spread throughout the storage structure; and temperatures must be above 60 degrees for that to occur. Also, the entire bin must be at or above that temperature, Hellevang adds. "If you have a pocket that's at 80 or 90 degrees and the rest of the bin is at 40, the fumigant will volatilize in that pocket," he explains, "but insects in cooler areas of the bin won't be hit nearly as hard." An important related point: having the warm temperatures required for effective fumigation runs counter to other basic management strategy, i.e., cooling the grain to avoid insect and mold problems. * Fumigants are expensive, a hassle - and product options are very limited. (Phostoxin is essentially the only alternative left, Hellevang says.) For a fumigant to work properly, the bin must be tightly sealed to avoid leaks. * If temperatures are too cold during fumigation, remnants of the fumigant could remain in the grain. Along with making the grain dangerous to handle later on, detectable amounts of fumigant could result in rejection of the grain at the elevator. The best strategy, Glogoza and Hellevang emphasize, is to avoid situations under which insect populations can develop. Even if the binned crop is cooled over winter, a large population of dormant insects will be prepared to "explode" upon the arrival of warmer spring temperatures. Cooling the binned grain down as quickly as possible after being placed into storage is the most effective way to keep the troublesome bugs at bay. Back to Harvest/Storage Stories Back to Archive Categories

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43132000

Short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides are obtained from sugar beet, by means of an enzyme produced by Aspergillus niger, a microscopic fungus widely used in the food industry. The effects of short-chain oligosaccharides have been demonstrated in over 150 scientific and medical studies, which have investigated the effects of daily consumption of 2.5 g. ¤ Fructo-oligosaccharides selectively nourish the bifidobacteria that benefit intestinal flora. A notable positive effect on the proliferation of these bacteria was observed at a dose of 2.5 g fructo-oligosaccharides a day, an effect which increased with doses up to 10 g a day. The bifidogenic effect is apparent after only four days of taking fructo-oligosaccharides. ¤ Fructo-oligosaccharides : - improve digestive health : - promote a healthy colon and digestive system. Taking fructo-oligosaccharides stimulates production of short-chain fatty acids, particularly butyrate, the fuel' of the colon. By increasing butyrate levels from intestinal fermentation, fructo-oligosaccharides help maintain a healthy intestinal mucous membrane. They also have a tendency to reduce the colon's pH, linked to the production of short chain fatty acids. This decrease in pH helps maintain the colon in a healthy state ; - after 6 weeks' consumption, abdominal pain was reported to have decreased significantly. 96% of subjects observed a noticeable improvement in their digestion and 83% reported an improvement in their general well-being, - taking 5 g fructo-oligosaccharides a day over six week reduced the intensity and occurrence of digestive problems, improving the digestion and quality of life of 105 volunteers with mild intestinal problems; - a dose of 8 g a day has a beneficial effect on the lipid profile ; - 10 g a day boosts magnesium and calcium absorption ; several studies have shown that it increases the absorption of isoflavones in food and improves bone mineral density. ¤ A number of studies have demonstrated a beneficial effect on the immune system, with a strengthening effect on the intestinal barrier and a reduction in potentially pathogenic bacteria in the intestinal system. By modulating intestinal flora and fermentation, they have a major effect on resistance to diseases such as cancer or inflammatory disorders. They - reduce colonisation of the intestines by potentially pathogenic bacteria ; - interact with the intestinal immune system ; - modulate important cellular events in order to prevent cancer. With a very similar structure to that of saccharose, fructo-oligosaccharides has the same sweet taste and texture. Their sweetening ability is around a third of that of saccharose but they have only 2 calories per gram, half that of sugar.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43136000

Today’s market demands require the balancing of many competing priorities. Specifically, in dealing with the interior furnishings of both residential and commercial projects, there are many factors to consider when selecting the most appropriate decorative panel, including price-point, durability, cutting edge design and overall sustainability. The selection of surface materials is one key to making all of this happen. This continuing education course will guide you through the evolution of decorative surface materials to help you navigate and select the best engineered overlay for any commercial and residential application. PART 1: A Revolutionary Evolution No introduction to decorative surface materials would be complete without paying homage to the technological history of plastic laminates and the stage that has been set for future advances. THE MACHINE AGE [ROUGHLY 1905-1945] During the Machine Age scientists around the world were working to develop synthetic plastics. They came to understand that plastic is an amorphous solid consisting of long-chain molecules known as polymers, which do not break apart when flexed and are usually made from artificial resins. Plastics were defined as thermosets and thermoplastics, and both would be used to engineer decorative surface materials. In the early 1900’s the first plastic laminate material was made by impregnating kraft paper (similar to brown bag paper) with phenolic resin and compressing it under high temperatures and pressure in a process called thermosetting that irreversibly cured the resin. The resulting material was resistant to heat, water, chemicals and electrical current. Originally it was used as an insulator for industrial products, but designers soon recognized the material’s uniform character and durability and started using it for other applications such as radio exteriors. The Machine Age also saw the emergence of high-speed printing presses and large-scale roduction machinery. In the 1920’s, décor papers (printed with solid colors, woodgrains, natural and abstract designs) were added on top of kraft paper before thermosetting to give the finished plastic laminate product different visual effects. Phenolic resins are known for their hardness, durability and resistance to moisture, but they are also dark in color. So in the 1930’s a resin called melamine, which produces a clear surface, was developed. In contemporary manufacturing of plastic laminate (commonly referred to as high-pressure laminate or HPL), the top two layers, typically a transparent wear layer and décor paper design, are impregnated with melamine resin, and the bottom kraft layers use phenolic resins. During this same period industrial chemists were also developing thermoplastic plastics. These turn into a liquid when heated, and solidify when sufficiently cooled. They include polyethylene polymers such as vinyl (PVC), which is flame, water and corrosion resistant – characteristics that made it an excellent insulating material for the wires on U.S. military ships. Despite vinyl’s practical beginnings, one of its most remarkable characteristics has proven to be its versatility, making it the second largest selling plastic in the world today. For the production of thermoplastic decorative surface materials, a thin sheetof PVC film is membrane vacuum pressed or profi le wrapped to a substrate. PVC films can be solid color or carry printed designs such as wood grains and abstracts. THE ATOMIC AGE [ROUGHLY 1945-1985] From their inception, decorative surface materials derived from plastics offered designers excellent performance. As the visual design offerings improved so did the markets for these materials. By the 1950’s, HPL plastic laminate was a popular decorative surface material for everything from cruise ships and soda fountains to high-end kitchens and furniture. Vinyl products, with their characteristic low-cost versatility, were specified for tabletops, seating upholstery and wall coverings, as well as carpets, textiles, plastic wrap and pipes. The early part of this period reflects the end of wartime and the promise of a brighter future built on mankind’s ingenuity and collective work. This philosophy, combined with the ever-evolving palette of available building materials and decorative surfaces, gave architects and designers more room to dream. One result of this was Googie architecture. Though the space age motifs and giant tiki’s of Googie faded away by the mid-1960’s, the movement itself stretched the imagination of design professionals and consumers alike. Around the same time that Googie lost its luster, advances in printing technology brought a new standard of consistency and realism to décor printing. Rotogravure printing is the historical printing process of choice for fine art and photography reproduction due to its remarkable color density light to dark gradient. It is also the industry standard for décor printing. One of the advantages of using decorative surface materials is the infinite design possibilities of décor printing, which can be done on paper of varying thickness (typically with water-based pigments) or on plastic films (typically with solvent-based inks). The photorealistic quality of gravure printing allows designers to replicate natural designs with great fidelity. At the same time, the process makes it possible to create décor papers and films with patterns and dimensionality that do not exist in nature. Rotogravure printing involves engraving the design image onto an image carrier, which in the case of rotary printing is a cylinder. The development of electro-mechanical cylinder engraving in 1968 greatly increased the fidelity of the engraved designs. During the gravure process, the engraved cylinder is partially submerged into an ink fountain, which then fills the recessed cells with ink. The rotational motion of the cylinder draws the ink out of the fountain, and a doctor blade scrapes the excess color from the non-printing areas of the cylinder before it makes contact with the paper, which is generally fed through the press from large rolls rather than sheets. The paper (or plastic film) is sandwiched between the gravure cylinder and an impression roller, which applies the force that transfers the ink to the paper. This method ensures maximum saturation of ink. Each color in a design requires its own printing unit (engraved cylinder). The paper goes through a dryer to make sure it is completely dry between color units. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the performance of laminated surfaces was getting more attention during this period. HPL countertops offered consumers a viable option to solid wood (which was said to crack, warp and hold bacteria) and stone (which was said to be heavy, costly and porous). Kitchens decked out in HPL and vinyl furniture, cabinets and counter tops were the height of fashion. Often these materials were intended to look like what they were, which is to say plastic. While this was initially considered futuristic and cutting edge, it soon would appear dated. THE INFORMATION AGE [ROUGHLY 1985 UNTIL EARLY 2000’s] This early part of this time frame might be characterized as the pre-pubescence of laminated decorative surface materials. It was a time of great growth and opportunity, as well as some awkwardness and misunderstanding. New techniques were developed to expand the usage of decorative surface materials. Some of them improved the performance of plastic laminates, such as the 20-fold increase of durability that evolved with the introduction of laminate flooring products. A classic example is vertical surfaces. HPL is an extremely high performance product. It is perfect for usage in horizontal work surface and high-traffic areas. “Value-engineered” new products were designed and introduced to meet the needs of similar applications with lower manufacturing costs. A good example of this is thermally fused melamine (TFM), which is essentially the top layers of HPL (décor paper impregnated with melamine resins), thermally fused to particleboard or MDF forming a stand-alone decorative panel. As these derivative products emerged they were not always specified based on the value of their performance, but often purely on cost. This had a negative effect on the perception of laminated decorative surfaces and the term “laminate” took on the connotation of a low quality imitation product, an unfortunate misconception. In a sense, engineered products were victims of their own genius, particularly considering how quickly technology advanced in the information age. But all was not lost, and savvy professionals knew that to maximize the use of any material it was important to understand its strengths and limitations. This explains the resurgence of design interest in the potential of laminated decorative surface materials. In addition to specialized performance, decorative surfaces were undergoing a paradigm shift in visual realism during this period. Computers and digital scanning technology now allow décor designers to replicate any material with unprecedented fidelity and dimensionality. Imaging software has made it possible to bring any design that can be imagined into being. Laser engraving of rotogravure cylinders enables sharper contrast and more subtle tonal gradients than was previously possible. It has also expedited the process of décor development and sampling. New digital ink-jet printing technologies are driving décor development to move beyond commodity designs and into experimental boutique fashions and customized surfaces such as logos and murals. Advanced surface treatments and overlay technologies also play important roles in the development of decorative surface materials, enhancing both the visual and tactile qualities of the products. One technique uses engineered press plates to create embossed texture “in register” with the décor paper design. This can include ticking that matches wood grain, or variations in gloss levels to enhance geometric or stone designs. Another method for adding interest to decorative surfaces is the addition of a transparent overlay called an “inclusion” that is embedded with fibers or particles. Inclusions of metal filings, organic materials (such as banana fibers and coffee beans) and textiles are all used to add an extra layer of interest on top of solid or printed décor papers. THE CONNECTED AGE [EARLY 2000’s TO PRESENT] According to web technologist Anna Zelenka, “the defining characteristic of the information age is the creation and management of information to produce knowledge goods. The subtle shift into the connected age is the use of web-based communication tools to create and manage relationships across knowledge goods, hardware and people.” This seemingly subtle shift in technology is manifested in one of the most important developments in decorative surface material manufacturing: cross product matching programs. After a quick and revolutionary history over the past 100 years, we’re now seeing decorative designs available across a broad range of surface materials and manufacturers thanks to these matching programs. This allows designers to value-engineer end products based on the specific performance demands of each component, ensuring the highest quality in design, value and durability. For example, matched materials can be used to construct a desk that incorporates printed papers in drawer and cabinet interiors, TFM or printed paper for the vertical exterior panels, HPL on the high-wear horizontal work surface and 3DL for contoured drawer fronts. Despite each of these materials’ unique performance characteristics, they share the same visual. Matching programs make it easier for design professionals to maximize performance and cost without sacrificing design integrity. The next age is hard to predict, but it starts with a better understanding of the basic materials in use today. Complete a questionnaire to receive a complimentary 1-year subscription to Surface & Panel, the only magazine focused exclusively on the design, manufacture and marketing of panel-based furniture and casegoods. fill out the questionnaire

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43137000

<philosophical terminology> branch of philosophical ethics concerned with developing theories that determine which human actions are right and which are wrong. It is useful to distinguish normative theories according to the way in which they derive moral value from duties or rights: deontological theories hold that actions are intrinsically right or wrong, while consequentialist theories evaluate actions by reference to their extrinsic outcomes. Virtue ethics theories locate the highest moral value in the development of persons. Recommended Reading: William K. Frankena, Ethics (Prentice Hall, 1973); Stephen Darwall, Philosophical Ethics (Westview, 1998); The Blackwell Guide to Ethical Theory, ed. by Hugh Lafollette (Blackwell, 2000); and Normative Ethics, ed. by Shelly Kagan, Keith Lehrer, and Norman Daniels (Westview, 1997). [A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names] Try this search on OneLook / Google

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43139000

Observing the rock 2012 DA14 flying past the Earth on 16 February 2013 The path of asteroid 2012 DA14 across the south-west sky as seen from Sydney on the morning of Saturday 16 February 2013. The times indicated are in AEDT while the positions with relation to the horizon are calculated for 5:00 am. Diagram Nick Lomb On the morning of 16 February 2013 (Australian time) 2012 DA14, a piece of space rock the size of a large city building, will hurtle past the Earth at a speed of about 28,000 km per hour. Its closest distance to the surface of the Earth will be about 27,700 km, which is closer than any other similar object in modern times. That closest approach is within the paths of the geosynchronous communication satellites that circle at 35,800 km above the equator. However, there is no likelihood of 2012 DA14 hitting the Earth and little chance of a collision with a satellite. An illustration showing how 2012 DA14 will pass by the Earth and its system of artificial satellites. Courtesy NASA It will be possible to see and photograph this rare close approach, but from Sydney it will be a little tricky. As the rock is heading for its closest approach rendezvous at 6:26 am AEDT and brightening as it comes closer, the Sydney sky is also brightening with the coming of dawn and sunrise. Any view of the space rock or asteroid is likely to be lost after nautical twilight at 5:34 am when the object’s predicted brightness is 8.2 mag (see discussion on magnitudes below). At closest approach, which almost coincides with sunrise in Sydney, the prediction is for a relatively bright 6.9 mag. Those who fancy a trip to Adelaide or even to Perth will have a better opportunity to see the flypast at its closest for the Sun rises later there. Of course, as usual with astronomical events the best viewing is from a dark sky site, away from city lights. For those not familiar with the magnitude scale used by astronomers, it is a measure of the brightness of stars and other objects in the sky. It works in reverse to what you may expect in that the fainter a star the greater its magnitude. Venus, for example, can be magnitude -4, the brightest star has a magnitude of about -1, the faintest star visible from a suburban location maybe magnitude 4, the faintest star visible from a dark location maybe magnitude 6 and with binoculars from a dark sky magnitude 9 maybe visible. Those in a dark sky should be able to see 2012 DA14 with a pair of binoculars just before dawn. From Sydney suburbs a Go To telescope could be sent to the exact celestial coordinates of the object courtesy of JPL’s Horizons service: 4:00 am AEST RA 10 08 34.75 Dec -76 18 35.2 4:30 am AEST RA 10 29 03.10 Dec -69 26 18.5 5:00 am AEST RA 10 43 14.02 Dec -59 11 15.1 5:30 am AEST RA 10 53 41.53 Dec -43 38 41.4 6:00 am AEST RA 11 01 43.36 Dec -21 21 32.2 For most people though the best way to attempt observation is to set up a camera on a tripod, or better still, a tracking mount pointing in the region of the sky below the Southern Cross and take time exposures during the period between 5:00 and 5:30 am from Sydney (or until local nautical twilight at places to the west of Sydney). If the exposures are long enough the space rock may appear as a faint streak longer than the shorter streaks from stars. The observations and imaging may not work, but it is still worth trying if the sky is clear. It is a long wait until the next such close pass that we know about, which is that of the asteroid Apophis on 14 April 2029, again in the morning sky. What have you to lose? Only a little bit of sleep! Update 12 February 2013: the time of closest approach to Sydney is at 6:14 am AEDT when the asteroid is 30,678 km away from the city.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43140000

Chemical engineers who changed the world Handheld electronics and gadgets – from mobile phones to laptops – have transformed the way we live over the past decade or so. But the revolution led by Steve Jobs and his slightly less famous compatriot, Adam Osborne (the inventor of the laptop), would not have been possible without high-power rechargeable batteries, and they were brought to market thanks to a chemical engineer. Like many engineers, Yoshio Nishi is not a household name but frankly he should be, for he led the team that turned the lithium ion battery from a research concept into practical, commercially viable reality. Nishi, who studied solid physical chemistry at the engineering department of Keio University in Tokyo, spent a lifetime working for Sony. In the mid-1980s he was appointed general manager of the lithium ion battery development team. Lithium ion batteries promised to overcome the environmental problems associated with nickel-cadmium batteries, and also had a much greater energy density. Even so in the early stages of development many thought that lithium was too dangerous, the technology too risky and the whole concept premature. One of the biggest challenges was making the battery safe even when subjected to serious abuse. The team devised vents to prevent overpressure, introduced a porous membrane separating anode and cathode that would become impermeable in the event of a temperature spike, added elements with a positive temperature coefficient to prevent thermal runaway, and designed a mechanical link that would disconnect the cathode lead if pressure built up inside the battery. Even so, lithium ion batteries have caused many phones and laptops to spontaneously combust over the years, triggering huge product recalls. Nishi blames price competition putting pressure on engineers to use cheaper materials and other shortcuts, and device designers ignoring the battery’s usage specifications. His advice: Engineers have a duty to ensure management understands the safety implications of cost cuts, and not to compromise easily on what they believe is important. The secret of soda Not all chemical engineers would have called themselves by that name. Indeed, for some that term did not exist. No that that changes the nature of their work. Take Nicholas Leblanc, for example. Born in 1742 near Orleans, during the reign of Louis XVI, Leblanc’s official profession was that of a surgeon to the Duke of Orleans. That afforded him a laboratory, some spare time, and a reasonable supply of money – enough to indulge his interest in chemistry and crystallisation. When the French Academy of Sciences in 1783 offered a prize of 2400 livres to whoever might develop an economically viable process for the production of soda ash (sodium carbonate) from sea salt, Leblanc could not resist. Leblanc, like other researchers looking to solve the challenge, began by heating sea salt in the presence of a source of sulpur (in this case, sulphuric acid) to produce sodium sulphate. His breakthrough was mixing the sodium sulphate with charcoal and adding calcium carbonate, at a temperature of 1000°C. This reaction yields sodium carbonate and sodium sulphate, which are fairly easy to separate. The king was delighted. The neighbours less so: Leblanc had not just created one of the earliest industrial chemical processes but also one of the first major pollution problems. Per ton of soda ash, the process produces 7 t of calcium sulphate waste and 5.5 t of hydrogen chloride, which was released straight to the atmosphere, killing trees and blighting the landscape for miles around. In the UK, where Leblanc’s process saw widespread use, this resulted in one of the earliest pieces of air pollution regulation – the Alkali Act of 1863. Leblanc, alas, did not get to enjoy the fruits of his labour. The French revolution intervened, and Leblanc had to reveal the details of his process, which was used to set up competing factories. His own sole soda factory was seized, his paymaster, the Duke of Orleans, executed, and Leblanc and his family evicted from their home. Of the 2400 livres for developing the process he only ever saw 60. Leblanc eventually committed suicide in 1806. His legacy lives on though: Leblanc soda plants laid the foundation to chemical sites near Glasgow and Liverpool, and the production of soda ash was the key driver of the nascent chemical industry in the mid-19th century. Getting to the bottom of it What do you do when your employer, a big consumer goods company, has just acquired several paper mills and now has more paper than it knows what to do with? Well, obviously, you dream up a new and revolutionary product that just so happens to use huge quantities of paper. For Victor Mills, head of the exploratory products division of Procter & Gamble, the brainwave came courtesy of his family. Mills had just become a grandfather, and was painfully reminded of just how much he detested washing nappies. The idea was born: what if you could create a nappy consisting mostly of shredded absorbent paper which could simply be thrown away after use? Many hours of experimenting with different types of paper and nappy designs, all with the help of a trusted ‘team’ of Betsy Wetsy toys (a brand of ‘realistic’ urinating doll popular in the 1950s) followed. Further product testing followed on a family holiday, where Mills took his by now three grandchildren on many long drives. The nappies proved to be a full success, now all they needed was a name: Tads? Solos? How about Larks? None seemed right. Eventually, P&G settled on Pampers. And the world’s best-known disposable nappy was born. Despite questions of the sustainability of the throw-away nappy, the reality is that some 90% of babies in the industrial world wear them. Globally, the market is worth some US$29b/y. Of course today the paper filling of the early nappies has long since been replaced by superabsorbers, making the nappies much thinner while increasingly leak-proof. And Victor Mills, rather than sinking into the obscurity afforded to most chemical engineers, remains one of P&G’s best-remembered innovators. To this date, the company runs the ‘Victor Mills Society’, an elite club reserved for its most accomplished scientists and innovators. Full article published in: tce 839, May 2011 The great outdoor revolution Wilbert and Robert Gore As everyone knows, polymers are flexible. So much so that in one case, what started out as plumbers’ joint-sealing tape has revolutionsed the world of camping, fishing, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. The material in question of course is Gore-Tex, developed by a family of chemical engineers-cum-innovators – specifically, the father-and-son team Bill and Bob Gore. Wilbert ‘Bill’ Gore had spent 16 years working for DuPont, during which time he’d become involved with the company’s fluorochemicals business, where he was working on PTFE – commonly known as Teflon. Bill was convinced that Teflon had potential beyond non-stick frying pans. PTFE has outstanding electrical properties and can withstand extreme temperatures without getting brittle, so Bill, working after hours in his basement, developed it as an electrical wire insulator. The product worked, Bill quit his job, and the resulting Multi-Tet cable was so useful in the early computer industry it even made it to the Moon landings. PTFE’s transformation from spacefaring insulator to fisherman’s friend came courtesy of Bill’s son Bob, who was trying to stretch extruded polymer to create a material fit for the aforementioned plumbing tape. The material refused to cooperate, no matter how carefully Bob tried to stretch it. The breakthrough came when Bob gave it a fast, hard yank – perhaps out of frustration – and much to his surprise found it had stretched by a factor of 1,000. Quite accidentally, he had created microporous PTFE, a honeycomb-like material which, because it contains 70% air, is a first-rate insulator. Not only that but its fine pores created a fabric that was wind- and waterproof and yet remained breathable. Once the inevitable teething troubles were straightened out, Gore-Tex was set to become the ubitquitous outdoor material it is today, found in everything from all-weather clothing for skiing, golfing or dogwalking to surgical implants and even dental floss and guitar strings. Full article published in: tce 840, June 2011 Driving units and progress Arthur D Little If chemical engineering is the application of science to industry, then one of its most influential pioneers was Arthur D Little. Founder of the international consultancy that bears his name, Little’s achievements stretch much further: he developed the concept of unit operations – still a cornerstone of the profession – and used it to define the role of chemical engineering in industrial chemistry. He was also one of six founding members of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the driving force behind the creation of the chemical engineering practice school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1920. Little was far ahead of his time in recognising the importance of long-term industrial research. The turn of the century saw rapid industrial development and process design, but corporate R&D remained an intermittent and hap-hazard affair, stopping and starting on a project-by-project basis. Little was an early and vociferous proponent of organised, longterm R&D, both within companies and at universities, which he lambasted for failing to provide adequate equipment for industrial research. The consultancy he set up was one way of filling this gap. Little and the people he hired applied themselves tirelessly to improving processes and perfecting products. Their tenacity paid off: within five years of its foundation in 1905, the Arthur D Little consultancy had made a name for itself and ran specialised departments covering fuel engineering, forest products, textiles and more. To the profession, his most lasting legacy is the concept of unit operations. He explained: “Any chemical process, on whatever scale conducted, may be resolved into a coordinate series of what may be termed ‘unit operations’, as pulverising, dyeing, roasting, crystallising, filtering, evaporation, electrolysing and so on.” He added that the number of different unit operations is quite finite – the great complexity of chemical engineering is the result of the variety of conditions under which these unit operations are carried out. Almost 100 years later, his analysis remains as accurate as ever. Charles Edward Howard and Norbert Rillieux The background of Charles Edward Howard and Norbert Rillieux could have scarcely been more different – Howard the younger brother of the Duke of Norfolk, and Rillieux the son of a slave. Yet both in the early 19th century made crucial improvements to the important process of sugar refining, making important contributions to the pre-history of chemical engineering. The sugar plantations in North and South America and the Caribbean were a major business at the time, and one that could only be operated with a significant investment in slave labour. Harvested cane had to be processed within two days in a process that was so backbreaking and dangerous that on average it cost one slave life per two tons of sugar. Juice was extracted from the cut cane by crushing it in a three-roller mill, initially driven by mules and later by steam engines. A wooden gutter would transport the juice into the boiling house, where it entered a series of flat-bottomed copper kettles of decreasing size (the so-called Jamaica train), in which the juice was repeatedly boiled to produce a thick syrup. Milk of lime and ox blood were added to clarify the solution, and slaves would skim off the impurities, before the syrup was poured into pots to set into semi-refined sugar. Howard’s contribution was to replace the open Jamaica train with a vacuum pan and filter units. Reducing the pressure meant that the sugar juice could be boiled at much lower temperatures, cutting the risk of burns and reducing caramelisation and allowing the evaporation step to continue till the sugar crystallised, resulting in much better, purer sugar. Rillieux improved Howard’s vacuum pans further by using the hot steam from the first evaporator to heat the second and so on. This improved the energy of the process so drastically that the installation of Rillieux’ improved multi-effect evaporator paid for itself within a year. Both Howard and Rillieux saw the success of their innovations during their lifetime though Rillieux, because of his colour (he was one quarter black), occasionally found it difficult to enjoy the fruits of his labour. As for slaves, the improvement in their lot was only temporary: while the improved evaporators made processing sugar safer and less arduous, the increased capacity of the processing plants meant that ever-more sugar had to be planted and harvested – equally backbreaking and dangerous work. But vacuum evaporation and multiple-effect evaporators are still very much with us today. From calculator to flat-screen TV We owe a greater debt to pocket calculators than we might think – for every flat-screen LCD (liquid crystal display), be it the TV at home, the mobile phone in your pocket or the computer monitor in the office, is essentially the grandchild of a pocket calculator launched by Japan’s Sharp Corporation in 1973. The EL-805 calculator (no prizes for a catchy name) was the first commercial electronic device to use an LCD screen. The 1960s and 70s saw the so-called ‘calculator wars’ – a period of fierce price competition between manufacturers of early pocket calculators. One of the main problems of early pocket calculators was their power consumption – the fluorescent display tubes or light-emitting diodes they used required a lot of battery power, resulting in a very heavy calculator that worked for little more than an hour before it needed new batteries. By chance, the Japanese TV channel NHK broadcasted a science documentary featuring an experimental LCD display developed by George Heilmeier at Princeton University. Among those watching it was Tomio Wada, a chemical engineer working for Sharp. Wada instantly realised that LCD displays could be the solution he’d been looking for. But liquid crystals were a scientific curiosity that had seen very little use outside the science lab. Nobody at Sharp knew anything about them, the scientific literature was sparse to say the least, and it was not even known which compound Heilmeier had used in his display. Despite this, Sharp decided that LCD screens were the way to go. A 20-strong team was assembled under Wada’s leadership and given the hugely ambitious goal to have a calculator with a working LCD screen on the market within 18 months. The team tested 3,000 different liquid crystals and 500 mixtures; overcame regulatory hurdles, developed a new photolithographic etching process from scratch, to name but a few of the challenges. The team succeeded: Within 17 months, the EL-805 was ready for launch. Weighing in at 200 g and only 2.1 cm thick it would fit in any shirt pocket – unlike the competition’s 25 cm alternative, weighing in at a full 25 kg. Upping the octane To many an engineer the phrase “It cannot be done” is like a red rag to a bull. Vladimir Haensel, process research coordinator with UOP, was no exception. Haensel was working on petroleum cracking and looking for ways of increasing the octane rating of the resulting fuels – at the time, in 1941, an octane rating of 65 RON was the norm. Such a low octane rating makes a fuel very likely to combust prematurely, causing serious engine knock – which in turn makes it impossible to use efficient high-compression engines. Haensel was looking for a suitable catalyst for the cracking process and was convinced that platinum would be perfect for the job. Except, of course, that platinum was extremely rare and prohibitively expensive – “it cannot be done” was the received wisdom. But what, thought Haensel, if he could make do with a vanishingly small quantity of platinum? What if on top of that he could regenerate any fouled catalyst in situ, allowing him to – in theory at least – run the process indefinitely? His refusal to accept conventional wisdom led to the creation of a heterogeneous alumina-supported platinum catalyst that would very effectively dehydrogenate the hydrocarbons in the C6–C10 paraffins and transform the resulting unsaturated hydrocarbons into nice aromatic rings. By working with a highly-dispersed catalyst with extremely small platinum particles, Haensel managed to reduce the platinum content in the catalyst to as little as 0.01%. The so-called ‘platforming’ (platinum reforming) process was born. The first platforming unit started up in 1949 and is still very much with us – some minor improvements aside. Today the vast majority of our fuels are produced through a platforming process. Without Haensel’s determination, we could say goodbye to today’s supercars and hello to the backfiring smoke-belching cars of the 1930s. Reginald Gibson, Eric Fawcett, Michael Perrin and Dermot Manning Polyethylene (PE) is everywhere. From shopping bags to Tupperware boxes, from plastic toys to water pipes and even hip replacements, it’s PE’s versatility that makes it the world’s most common plastic. Its commercial success came courtesy of two ICI chemists, Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett, who in 1933 experimented with ethylene and benzaldehyde at high pressure. The reaction yielded a mysterious waxy solid but the reaction was fickle – attempts to reproduce it would as often as not result in a very loud bang and a mixture of hydrogen and carbon. Nobody could work out initially why the experiment would result in these quite spectacular failures, and ICI eventually decided to stop the research before someone came to serious grief. It later transpired that the key to making the experiment work was oxygen: if there’s too little, nothing happens, too much and the mixture explodes. It had been pure luck that some of the ethylene bottles used in the early experiments had been contaminated with just the right amount of oxygen. With high-pressure chemistry still in its infancy, there was little off-the-shelf equipment, and it fell to the team’s resident engineer, Dermot Manning, to design and build most of the reaction vessels. A key problem was sealing the vessels, as the standard lens ring would not hold gas at pressures above 300 atm – and ICI wase working at well over 1,000 atm here. Manning devised a self-sealing wave ring, which used the rising internal pressure to seal the wavy circumference of the ring into its seat, which overcame the problem. Full-scale production of PE started the very day Germany invaded Poland, and a polymer that had been destined for telecommunications cable was used to insulate airborne radar instead. This proved to be an important advantage, as it enabled the British forces to create a radar system that was light enough to place on fighter planes, which helped their supply ships avoid German submarines. Vote now for your favourite on https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/changedtheworld2011. Votes close 9 January 2012. Pfizer’s penicillin pioneers Jasper Kane and John McKeen Sometimes it’s not the innovation itself that matters – it’s making it available in quantity and at the right time. Scale-up, in other words. Ensuring that there was sufficient penicillin to treat the hundreds of thousands of soldiers that took part in the D-Day landings during World War II was not the work of Alexander Fleming; it was chemical engineers who made that happen. While many worked on scaling up production of penicillin, it was Pfizer chemist Jasper Kane and chemical engineer John McKeen who arguably made the biggest contribution. The two cracked the problem of production via deep-tank fermentation. Since penicillin requires air to grow, the biggest problem was designing an aerated, stirred tank that would reliably and efficiently produce quantities of the notoriously fickle drug. War-time materials shortages forced Pfizer to take a huge commercial gamble on producing the drug: with no means of acquiring extra reactors, Pfizer had to re-configure units producing tried and tested cash products. Factory manager John Smith was reluctant. “The mould is as temperamental as an opera singer, the yields are low, the isolation is difficult, the extraction is murder, the purification invites disaster and the assay is unsatisfactory. Think of the risks and then think of the expensive investment in big tanks – think of what it means if you lose a 2000-gallon tank against what you lose if a flask goes bad. Is it worth it?” It is to the credit of Kane that he did not back down, and convinced his bosses to do the right thing and take the commercial gamble. And it is to the credit of McKeen and his team, who worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, to complete the scale-up in just six months. The D-day landings alone saw 150,000 soldiers treated with penicillin, and 90% of the doses supplied were supplied by Pfizer. Full article published in tce 824, February 2010 Feed the world Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch Since the start of the 20th century, the Earth has been experiencing an unprecedented population explosion. Where for the thousands of years of human existence before, global population only crept up very slowly, growth since the late 1800s has been exponential. Of course many factors have contributed to this. But one of the most fundamental drivers has been our ability to grow more food. Hunger and famine were once commonplace in the western world and a major cause of death. Today, obesity is well on the way to becoming our biggest killer. This would not have been possible without the advent of modern fertilisers. And that, in turn, is the work of industrial chemist Fritz Haber and chemical engineer Carl Bosch. The Haber-Bosch process, quite possibly the best-known chemical process in the world, captures nitrogen from the air and converts it to ammonia. Breaking the remarkably stable triple bonds of atmospheric nitrogen in order to make it available for ammonia production was Haber’s work, who developed a high-temperature high-pressure process for the task. It fell to Bosch, chemical engineer at BASF, to scale up the process. Not only did Bosch have to find a cheaper way of producing hydrogen, he also needed t find a practical new catalyst (a task his assistant, Alwin Mittasch, is still fondly remembered for) and he had to develop a reactor that would withstand both the high temperatures and high pressures of the reaction, at a time when high-pressure chemistry was still in its infancy and suitable equipment (reactor vessels, pipes, instrumentation etc) was not readily available. It is testament to Bosch’s work that over 100 years later, his process is still in use everywhere around the world, and practically unchanged. Full article published in tce 825, March 2010 Fuelling a way of life Donald Campbell, Homer Martin, Eger Murphree and Charles Tyson Modern life runs – quite literally – on the products of a fluid catalytic cracking unit. Our cars run on petrol, the planes on jet fuel, we pick up our food from the supermarket (or bring it from home) wrapped in polyethylene film and wash it down with drinks from a polycarbonate bottle, while standing on a polypropylene carpet. Yet this ubiquitous feedstock of modern life in all its aspects would be a lot rarer – not to mention a great deal more expensive – if it wasn’t for the workhorse of the refining industry, the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit. Some 400 FCC units are in operation around the world today. And each and every one of them can trace its ancestry back to one such unit, the Model I FCC, which started up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on 25 May 1942. The 17,000 bbl/d unit was largely the brainchild of four chemical engineers, known as “the four horsemen”, working for the New Jersey company Standard Oil. They were Donald Campbell, Homer Martin, Eger Murphree and Charles Tyson. The four developed today’s modern FCC process largely because their employer (and several other companies) did not want to pay the hefty $50m licensing fee for another early catalytic cracking process, developed by the French engineer Eugene Houdry and the pharmacist EA Prudhomme. But while the Houdry process was a semi-batch process using a fixed-bed catalyst, the real breakthrough for the “four horsemen” (and their advisors at MIT) was to realise that under certain circumstances, a powdered catalyst could behave like a liquid. This paved the way for the continuous process that was so efficient that it not only rapidly outcompeted the Houdry process, but remains in continuous use 60 years on. Full article published in tce 826, April 2010 Rubber, PVC and bubblegum Like so many innovations, the success of PVC – the world’s second most-used plastic, after polyethylene – is down to an accidental discovery. Waldo Semon, a young chemical engineer a few months into his first proper job with rubber producer BF Goodrich, had meant to find an adhesive that would bond rubber to metal. Semon decided to work with polyvinyl chloride, a brittle polymer universally thought to be totally useless. In an attempt to remove the chlorine, Semon solvated the PVC with a high-boiling solvent before treating it with zinc or a strong organic amine. “Imagine my surprise when I found that the solvated PVC was flexible, resilient and would bounce!,” he later said. “When I later found that the plasticised PVC would resist alkaline, strong acids and most solvents it seemed to me that it would have quite a range of commercial possibility.” Convincing the management of this potential would prove a challenge in its own right, solved through a canny combination of PVC-coated (and therefore waterproofed) curtains, a vice president fond of camping (but tired of leaking tents) and an ad-hoc demonstration involving a bulging in-try and a decanter of water. Today, PVC is the material of choice for two out of three water pipes and three quarters of the world’s sanitary sewers, with other applications ranging all the way from credit cards and window frames to electrical insulation tape. Semon, meanwhile, didn’t rest on his laurels: he went on to develop a process and formula for synthetic rubber – a highly sought-after commodity during World War II, considering that the war had cut off supplies of natural rubber from Asia and Germany would not reveal the secret of producing “Buna-S”, the only other known synthetic rubber at the time. Through hard work and determination, Semon and his team developed the Ameripol rubber process, which by 1944 saw the US produce twice as much synthetic rubber as the world’s production of natural rubber had totaled before the war. Full article published in tce 827, May 2010 Engineering the sexual revolution George Rosenkranz, Luis Miramontes and Carl Djerassi Not all of chemical engineering’s contributions revolve around heavy industry, chemicals and refining. In pharmaceuticals, too, they have made their mark – and one of their contributions to the pharma industry has had social consequences that could hardly have been more profound. If you’re a modern woman, who takes it for granted that women can expect the same sort of career path as men and who revels in the liberty of being able to choose if and when to have children, then you, too, owe a debt to George Rosenkranz, Luis Miramontes and Carl Djerassi. The three – two chemical engineers and one chemist, two Jewish refugees from Europe and one local Mexican – were responsible for synthesising the first synthetic progesterone, which would go on to be used in the contraceptive pill. Building on a process discovered by the maverick chemist Russel Marker, who synthesised progesterone from sapogenins, natural steroids found in Mexican yams, Rosenkranz, Miramontes and Djerassi created a synthetic variant that not only was a lot more active, but would also survive absorption through the digestive tract. Not that anyone thought of using it as a contraceptive, at least to begin with; initial target indications were menstrual disorders and, ironically, infertility. Even once its contraceptive effect became known, fear of religiously-motivated boycotts caused companies to veer away from the drug. Rosenkranz says: “I went around Europe and the world offering the contraceptive, but nobody wanted it.” A sustained campaign by women’s rights campaigners Margaret Sanger and Katharine Dexter McCormick, backed up by deep pockets and research funding, changed all that. Today, the Pill is used by over 100m women ever day. The freedom to choose and time when to have children has allowed women to claim equality in the workplace, and the sharp drop in birth rates in countries wherever the Pill is easy to obtain is arguably chemical engineering’s greatest-ever contribution to sustainability. Full article published in tce 828, June 2010 From fuel hero to climate zero Not everyone who changed the world did so in a way we’d celebrate. And sometimes, it takes the benefit of hindsight to realise the true impact of an apparently beneficial innovation. That certainly is the case for Thomas Midgley – mechanical engineer, chemist and chemical engineer – who during his lifetime was celebrated as a prolific inventor with a can-do attitude who had solved the longstanding and damaging problem of engine knock and gifted the world affordable and safe coolants for refrigerators and air conditioning units, as well as a universal safe propellant for aerosols. Today, he is described, in a much less reverential tones, as the man who “had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth’s history.” Midgley’s innovations? Tetraethyl lead and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Midgley had, by all accounts, a brilliantly inventive mind, untroubled by received wisdom and undaunted by even the most complex tasks. When his scientific reasoning sent him in the wrong direction, strokes of sheer luck would deliver the unexpected breakthrough, such as in the discovery of TEL. Though his hands-on pragmatic attitude makes for chilling reading for today’s engineers, especially when it comes to the conditions found in the early TEL production plants and Midgley’s cheerful dismissal of the warnings he received about TEL’s poisonous side-effects. While there were some early indications of the dangers of TEL (even if they were downplayed and dismissed at the time), it would take much longer for the side effects of Midley’s second innovation to become known. For thirty years, CFCs – particularly Midgley’s innovation, Freon – were the workhorse of the refrigeration industry and the propellant of choice in just about any hairspray, deodorant or insecticide spray. Unlike the available alternatives, Freon was neither toxic, flammable nor explosive. At the time of Midgley’s untimely death at the age of 55, he was highly celebrated and decorated, holder of numerous awards and prestigious offices. His legacy stayed with us for many years more, though perhaps not in the way he and his contemporaries might have anticipated. Full article published in tce 829/30, July/August 2010 Carl von Linde and William Hampson The liquefaction and separation of air is one of those processes that many engineers worked on over the years, but only one – or rather two – would succeed at. Two very similar processes for the liquefaction of air were independently developed in Germany and the UK and patented within weeks of each other; the first by the mechanical engineer Carl von Linde, the second by a hitherto unknown, classics graduate and barrister William Hampson. Both used air itself as a refrigerant, exploiting the Joule Thompson effect, which describes how gas gets colder as it expands. The effect is even more pronounced if the gas was previously compressed and chilled. Harnessing the effect in a virtuous cycle, by allowing compressed cooled air to expand in a counter-current heat exchanger so it cools the incoming compressed air to ever-lower temperatures, both inventors eventually cooled the air to -190ºC: the point at which it turns liquid. It might have taken von Linde three days of running increasingly cold air through an incredibly long steel tube which he’d packed in wool for insulation, but on 29 May 1895, he eventually got there: “With clouds rising all around it, the pretty bluish liquid was poured into a large metal bucket,” he writes in his autobiography. “The hourly yield was about three litres. For the first time on such a scale air had been liquefied, and using tools of amazing simplicity compared to what had been used before.” Where von Linde was an engineer, industrialist and already an expert in refrigeration before he started, Hampson was a complete unknown, with no relevant training and no record of what might have perked his interest in sciences and engineering. Nevertheless, his process was both simpler and more efficient than von Linde’s, liquefying air in a mere 20 minutes compared with the three days of von Linde’s early attempts. The Hampson-Linde cycle gave rise to the modern industrial gases industry, provided pure gases for countless industrial processes and paved the way for the discovery of several rare gases. Full article published in tce 831, September 2010 Degrees of separation There are those who have hailed chromatography as one of the most significant developments of the 20th century, and yet few people outside a chemistry lab would have any understanding of what chromatography is, or what it is used for. A classic ‘behind the scenes’ technology, chromatography is the workhorse of analytical chemistry, and finds extensive use in healthcare, quality control, and drug discovery to name but a few fields. Pharmaceutical companies use it to isolate active ingredients and ensure accurate dosing, hospitals use it to identify poisons or drugs in patients’ blood; environmental laboratories rely on it to check for contaminants; forensic scientists apply it to analyse samples from a crime scene; industrial chemists rely on it to determine the composition of petroleum oil, check the level of additives in foods, monitor pesticide contamination, and so on. Key to making the process widely applicable was the adaptation of gas chromatography to liquids. This opened up its use for the separation of organic and biological molecules, many of which are involatile and too fragile for vaporization. That achievement goes to the Hungarian born chemical engineer, Csaba Horváth, the father of modern high performance liquid chromatography. Horwath took an early interest in separation sciences and – unusually for a chemical engineer during the 1960s – in biochemical engineering. Adapting recent advances in gas chromatography to the nascent science of liquid chromatography, Horváth dramatically speeded up throughput and ramped up sensitivity while reducing the size of the equipment. Today, HPLC is so sensitive that the characteristic patterns of peaks not only identify different molecules in a sample, but – thanks to very subtle differences in production processes and batch chemistry that give chemicals a very unique “fingerprint” also the production plant they came from. Csaba Horváth may not be a household name, but without him, the world would be a much scarier place. Full article published in tce 832, October 2010 Man of steel If the industrial revolution was built on steel, then the father of the industrial revolution was Henry Bessemer. It was the Bessemer process that made steel available in industrial quantities at an affordable price. Patented in 1855, the Bessemer process reduced the cost of steel from £50–60/t to £6–7/t and was accompanied by vast increases in scale and speed of steel production. Steel girders for bridges, buildings, railroads, skyscrapers – all were unimaginable before Bessemer. The same goes for modern steel ships, steel wire, high-pressure boilers (and with them, the steam engine), not to mention turbines for power generation. Bessemer was a prolific inventor. Despite no university education, he patented innovations in fields as diverse as pigment production and ship building. During his experiments with steelmaking, he discovered that contact with hot air would turn pig iron into steel, prompting Bessemer to take the – at the time highly counter-intuitive – step of forcing air directly through the molten iron. He was lucky that the resulting reaction, which was extremely violent, did not permanently damage to his workshop. But at least after just 20 minutes of mild explosions, violent eruptions and showes of red-hot slag, Bessemer was left with a converter full of steel. Once he had convinced himself that there was no way of toning down the violence of the reaction, Bessemer channelled his efforts into developing a reactor vessel designed to contain the violent inferno with some degree of reliability and safety. The result: the Bessemer Converter. This in turn prompted the rise of steel as a ubiquitous construction material, driving the second industrial revolution, and made Henry Bessemer a very, very wealthy man indeed. Full article published in tce 833, November 2010

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43154000

Photographs by Ken Richardson Diagnostics for All, a nonprofit in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is making a test for liver damage that could cost just pennies. It consists, remarkably, of a stamp-size square of paper with wells that change color when a drop of blood is applied. The test could provide an enormous benefit in poor countries, where liver damage is widespread as a side effect of drugs administered to HIV and tuberculosis patients. (As many as one-fourth of people taking antiretroviral drugs in the poor world develop liver problems—five times the rate elsewhere.) The liver function tests administered regularly in the developed world require tubes of blood, lab equipment, and electricity. The paper chip from Diagnostics for All needs none of that. The test uses patterned channels and wells to allow for filtering and multistep reactions; the technology originated in the lab of Harvard chemist George Whitesides, who pioneered this method, and was licensed from Harvard (see “Paper Diagnostics”). The paper absorbs sample fluids and uses capillary action to convey them to the test wells imprinted on it. These wells are spotted with chemicals that change color when they react with certain markers in a liquid. The chip is meant to work simply with little additional equipment, making it suitable for the poorest regions. “This is a world in which there are very few resources—that is to say, almost no money, very few doctors, no electricity in many places, no refrigeration,” Whitesides says. “The conditions are such that it’s very difficult to imagine how you deliver even pretty straightforward health care.” Five years after the company was formed, Diagnostics for All, which is led by biotech executive Una Ryan and sustained by grants from the Gates Foundation and others, is moving toward a viable product. The first trial of the liver test is in progress on HIV patients at a hospital in Vietnam. Funding, manufacturing, and distribution models are still being worked out, but the company can make between 500 and 1,000 tests per day at its Cambridge facility and hopes to obtain regulatory approvals so that the liver test can reach patients by 2014, says Jason Rolland, who leads engineering efforts as the company’s senior director of research. DFA (as the company is known) is working on other paper-based diagnostics: an assay that detects antigens for multiple diseases, including malaria and dengue fever; a test for preëclampsia in pregnant women; and even nucleic-acid tests to detect pathogens in blood. The company is also developing tests that farmers could use to check for foodborne toxins. In all cases, results can be interpreted by a clinician or a smartphone app, after which test patches can be incinerated. They are, after all, just paper. Paper is printed with wax to define zones for 55 tests. Each test measures two liver enzymes. Finished tests include a sandwich of two such sheets. The sheets are baked for 30 seconds at 130 °C to allow the wax to melt completely through the paper’s 0.2-millimeter thickness. The test wells are wax-free circles two millimeters across. Measured amounts of the reactant chemicals are deposited on each of the two sheets. The first sheet gets reagents that react with enzymes. The second sheet (shown here) gets dyes that change color if exposed to products released by the first reactions. The two sheets are fused together with adhesives in a press. An adhesive sheet with circular blood filters is prepared. Later, this sheet is affixed to the fused paper sheets. Only plasma reaches the paper layers. In a final step, a protective laminate is affixed to the top of the package. The completed tests are cut into individual squares. A drop of blood first encounters a plasma filter. The plasma then wicks through test wells on the two layers of paper. Test results take about 15 minutes to appear. At left is the back of an unused test; at right, one activated with blood. The results (right) show that the blood has normal enzyme levels, as indicated by the color in the top wells. The other four wells are controls that tell whether the test worked properly. The scale in this guide offers a way to gauge the level of enzymes present. Clinicians could use this information to change a drug regimen or order additional tests.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43159000

To coax the most out of the human body during training or actual performance, there are certain principles, or building blocks that must be present. Good breathing, proper nutrition, hydration and intensity are just a few of these principles. But, at the top of the list is good posture. Proper posture extends performance, reduces injury, speeds healing, builds more muscle and increases efficiency. Good posture also releases more energy to the primary muscles of the task at hand by not having to engage “secondary” postural muscles. What is Good Posture? For the purpose of this article, the focus will be on postural alignment from the side. Normal, neutral posture is present when a plumb line passes through five anatomical landmarks: Center of the ear, center of the shoulder, greater trochanter, center of the knee and just in front of the ankle. This is illustrated in the picture on the left. Notice how straight the black plumb line is. The most common abnormal posture profile is illustrated on the right. The head sits forward of the shoulders, the upper back has drifted backward and the pelvis has tipped forward. This is commonly known as Forward Head Posture (FHP). Notice the straight plumb line we expect to see in good posture now has a substantial curve in FHP. It’s been estimated that 80% of the general population has varying degrees of FHP. Why Forward Head Posture Is Detrimental to Athletic Performance First and foremost, FHP places an abnormal stress on every core muscle. For example, in FHP the pelvis tips forward, causing the hamstrings in back to stretch and pre-load. This tilting also causes the Quads in front to shorten and become weak. Here’s an illustration of that. The hamstring muscles attach to the bottom of the pelvis, the ischial tuberosity. The Quads attach to the front of the pelvis. When the pelvis tilts forward in Forward Head Posture, it causes the hamstrings to stretch and the quads to shorten. Physiology of the body tells us that a muscle that is stretched and held in that position for a long period of time becomes weak (Stretch Weakness). Conversely, a muscle that is shortened and held in that position also becomes weak (Short Weakness). Having these two things happen to antagonistic muscle groups is quite detrimental to performance. If one only focused on the effects of FHP on the hamstrings and quads, the need to identify FHP in the athlete becomes apparent. However, due to compensatory changes in the spine and other areas, these kinds of muscle changes occur up the entire kinetic chain, causing compromises in the integrity of the low back, changes in breathing, changes in shoulder positioning, range of motion deficiencies, and instability of the neck motor unit. As far as the professional athlete and weekend warrior is concerned, there is nothing good about bad posture. The Posture Reprogramming SystemTM Forward Head Posture can be corrected. Recognizing FHP is the first step in correction. While a quick visual check to see if the head is resting over or in front of the shoulder can provide a visual clue of the presence of FHP, it cannot quantify the full extent of the problem and it can’t be used to track progress. To do that, you need a method of capturing and measuring posture. The Posture Reprogramming SystemTM developed by the author utilizes a software program called Posture ProTM to analyze static posture and to track progress over time. By capturing digital images of static posture and using the Posture Pro software to plot screen coordinates that represent anatomical landmarks known to be either level or plumb in neutral posture, the operator can establish baseline posture. Future exams can then track progress by comparing to the baseline values. Posture Pro has several methods of tracking progress. One of the most effective methods is to create a plot graph of all the exams. Yes, You Can Change Posture in as Little as Four Weeks The author has found the profession’s biggest hesitation to focus on posture is the lack of posture correction education, either in or out of school. For the past ten years, thousands of doctors of chiropractic around the world have been changing posture using a three-fold approach. First, is spinal mobilization. This is a general spinal manipulation of the spine and pelvis to ensure joint mobility in advance of the changes about to happen in the muscles. Second is the patient performing a specific set of exercises and stretches to target the muscles involved in FHP. These maneuvers were developed by John Christman, Ph.D., and refined by the author. The third protocol is the prescription of a set of Posture BlocksTM (Patent Pending). These foam cushion shapes are designed to use the weight of the body, the pull of Gravity and the resistance of the foam to stretch and relax different areas of the FHP target area. Using spinal mobilization techniques, specific muscle stretches and exercises and utilizing a special therapeutic cushion at home, the muscles attached to the pelvis, shoulders, spine and head can be reprogrammed back to their original neutral positions. In a healthy, motivated person, this can mean a return to neutral posture in about four weeks. Reimbursement for Posture Reprogramming Although there is an ICD-10 code for Abnormal Posture (R29.3), third-party reimbursement for abnormal posture is rare and is generally considered an out of network service. Most insurance companies will allow its use as a compound or complicating code. This essentially means that Posture Reprogramming is a cash-based service. The fee is based on the results of the posture exam. The Posture Pro software will generate a Posture NumberTM, which is the accumulation of deviations from normal. The general fee guideline is $50 for every Posture Number unit of deviation. For the average patient, that would be in the $500-$1,000 range for the Posture Reprogramming. Using the Posture Reprogramming System, a doctor of chiropractic can market this service to health clubs and high school, college or professional sports departments, as well as private athletes, as a method of performance screening and enhancement. Joseph Ventura D.C. is the owner of VenturaDesigns a private company specializing in Chiropractic Consulting services and software development, He is the developer of the Posture Reprogramming System, His full bio can be found at www.posturepro.com/bio2.htm. He can be reached at

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43174000

Hyena Cichlid (Nimbochromis polystigma) From The Aquarium Wiki You can contribute to the Aquarium Wiki by expanding this article. Dont be shy!. 283,905.884 mL 283.9 Litres (75 US G.) 9.055 in 20-23 cm (7.9-9.1") 7.5 - 8.5 533.07 °R 298.15 K 536.67 °R23 -25 °C (73.4-77°F) - Hyena Cichlid - Much like its counterpart, the Venustus, the Nimbochromis Polystigma displays similar patterns and colors. The male is generally of a blue appearance with a more prominent blue on the head and gills. It may have slight yellow coloring around the abdomen with a Giraffe pattern throughout. Generally there is a bright yellow patch that will span from the fish's upper lip through to the front of the dorsal fin. The rear tip of the males dorsal fin has a very sharp tapering. The Female is typically less flamboyant in coloring. She has the same giraffe patterns but they are usually more prominent markings than the male. There is no blue on the female but a shiny silver with gold pearlecent coloring all over the body and the head is usually a more vibrant yellow than the rest of the fish. the female's dorsal fin is rounded towards the tail. - Polystigma will happily live among most African Cichlids. The males can be aggressive when territory is opposed but generally one of the more placid of the Cichlidae family. - This species is a predatory hunter and is best known for burying itself into the substrate and waiting for a smaller fish to swim by where it then will actively attack that fish. - Once to twice daily - Polystigma prefer a smaller grit substrate - Polystigma are (like most Cichlids) an aggressive predator fish, they generally like to hunt for their food but will accept commercial fish foods. There aggressive behaviour is generally only seen to smaller less aggressive fish. They can also become very aggressive if there is not a good ratio of female to male's in the tank. Generally it is recommended a 1:4 ratio (being 1 male 4 females)in any colony. - This fish can be easily identified by its bright Giraffe pattern (in females) and its bright blue with yellow markings (in the male) they are easily confused with Nimbochromis Venustus but posses slightly different characteristics.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43175000

In England, a 1360 statute authorized justices of the peace to restrain, arrest and imprison rioters. The first modern Riot Act was proclaimed in 1714. Until 1829, parish constables were responsible for maintaining public order, but they were so few and so poorly trained that army troops had to be called out to repress serious riots. The London Metropolitan Police was created in 1829 to help prevent, rather than repress, public disorders, and in 1856 the Police Act was passed, with specific military functions distinguished from those of the police and of the magistrates. Following the acquisition of ACADIA in 1713 and Canada in 1760, the British army garrison troops in BNA replied to requests for ACP in accordance with their military regulations. In 1868 Canadian laws concerning the police, illegal assembly and riots were enacted, and the MILITIA ACT authorized calling out Canadian troops in ACP. British practice generally remained the model. Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Militia replaced the British ones in 1870. In 1924 the power of calling out troops was moved from local authorities to provincial attorneys general. From 1796 to 1870 British troops, occasionally helped by local militiamen, provided ACP roughly 100 times. Since then Canadian troops have helped maintain or restore public order 140 times and have helped repress penitentiary riots 20 times. Half the former occurred before 1900, usually because of absence, shortage or improper training of police. Since 1933, troops have not been involved in strikebreaking except under the War Measures Act, and all callouts except one have taken place in Ontario and Québec, which are the only provinces not policed by the RCMP. Over half the penitentiary callouts have occurred since 1962, and in most cases the army did not have to use force. Recent research has helped to prove that Canadian history has witnessed violence; at the same time, military interventions have not usually resulted in the use of undue force. See also ARMED FORCES : MILITIA AND ARMY; OCTOBER CRISIS. Author JEAN PARISEAU

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43180000

Pitching Stride Drill By Steven Ellis, former Chicago Cubs pitching pro The importance of a pitcher’s stride is often overlooked in developing proper pitching mechanics. There are several drills which can help the pitcher develop a proper stride which will allow them maximum velocity, and minimum injury. A pitcher’s stride length should be about 100% of their overall their height. This length allows for maximum extension on the throw. The stride should also replicate a straight line towards home plate. Directing the body on either side of the line will force the pitcher to compensate one way or the other, causing extra stress on the arm. If a pitcher is stepping over the line glove side, it will cause his arm to fly open and the hand will drag causing the ball to sail high, and tail inside. If a pitcher is stepping over the line hand side, he will have to crank his hips at an awkward angle to compensate for the mistake, forcing a lot of strain and making the outside corner very hard to locate. The first stride length drill a pitcher should practice involves just the pitcher’s mound. The pitcher should draw a line in the dirt parallel to the pitching rubber at a distance equal to his height. Then, connect the two parallel lines with a straight line which should be equal to his height, creating an "I" shape. The pitcher can now practice his stride length by throwing with or without a ball with an optional catcher. The main goal of the drill is to make sure the pitcher is stepping even with the dashed line down the center of the mound, as well as planting close to the drawn parallel line (his body length). Mastering these concepts will allow the pitcher to maximize the use of his legs, and take a lot of strain off the arm. Related Pitching Materials Want to learn more baseball pitching drills and practice tips? Arm yourself with the most innovative and up-to-date baseball pitching training available. These related pitching materials from former Chicago Cubs pitching pro Steven Ellis are guaranteed to help you or the players you coach pitch better and reach the next level faster!

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43181000

As the world edged into financial crisis, there were repeated warnings that we were headed for disaster. In the end, disaster struck. In many ways, the challenge of climate change has a similar feel, and the alarm bells are ringing just as loudly. But while it was possible to bail out the banks and to stimulate economic recovery with trillions of dollars of public finance, it will not be possible to bail out the climate—unless we act now. Yet even when the basic science of climate change has been accepted by almost all scientists, many others still seem to think that it is unfounded, and that the world has more important questions to address. Reducing poverty, increasing food production, combating terrorism, and sustaining economic recovery are seen as more deserving of our attention. But this is a false choice, for climate change is not an alternative priority to all of these; it is in fact a "risk multiplier," a factor that will undermine our ability to achieve any of these things. For example, ending poverty so that every person has the opportunity to lead a good life is already a hugely challenging ambition, and rapid climate change will make it more so. Several studies have set out how climatic change will threaten economic development, especially in the most vulnerable and poorest countries. This will, in turn, damage programs to reduce poverty. Food security is already at risk because of soil erosion and the volatility of oil and gas prices that sustain industrial farming, while demand is rising because of population growth and changing diets. Climate change will exacerbate this squeeze. According to a United Nations Environment Program projection, agricultural productivity could drop by up to 50 percent in many developing countries by 2080—not least because of changed patterns of rainfall. These environmental stresses are likely to heighten social tensions. If in the future it becomes clear that the world's big polluters knew but did little or nothing about these problems, a whole new generation of resentment might be born. With this in mind, it seems to me that we need to adopt a new approach. Surely the starting point must be to see the world as it really is, and perhaps to accept that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nature and not the other way around. Nature is, after all, the capital that underpins capitalism. The world's tropical rainforests provide a powerful case in point. These incredible ecosystems harbor more than half the earth's terrestrial biodiversity, on which, whether we like it or not, human survival depends. They generate rainfall; they are home to many of the world's indigenous peoples; and they help meet the needs of hundreds of millions of other people. They also hold vast quantities of carbon. But they are being cleared and burned at a rate of about 6 million hectares per year. In addition to hastening a mass extinction of species—many of which could hold the answer to the treatment of human diseases as well as the key to new technologies based on mimicking Nature's genius—this is causing massive greenhouse-gas emissions, accounting for about a fifth of the total. This is precisely why my Rainforests Project has expended so much effort during these last two years to help facilitate a consensus on increasing international cooperation to cut deforestation. Back in April, I was able to host a meeting of world leaders at St. James's Palace in London, in the margins of the G20 summit, where it was agreed to establish a new informal working group to look at how rates of deforestation could be slowed as rapidly as possible. The group came back with recommendations just a few weeks ago, and it is enormously heartening to see the degree of partnership that has developed between countries, environmental groups, and companies that are determined to work together toward implementing the proposals for dealing with the underlying economic root causes of deforestation. Through providing countries with financial rewards for their positive performance in cutting deforestation (or for not starting it in the first place), we would make it possible for rainforest nations to implement strategies for sustainable development more quickly and without having to rely so heavily on the kind of economic activities that cause deforestation. By using—in addition to public-sector finance—innovative, long-term investment instruments, perhaps facilitated by the multilateral development banks, we could restore vast areas of already degraded land to increase food output. At the same time, money would be available for new health and education programs, as well as genuinely integrated rural-development models. In return, the world would sustain the vital ecosystem services upon which we all rely for our economic, physical, and spiritual survival. The idea that the world should pay in some way for the essential utility services provided by the rainforests (after all, we already pay for our water, gas, and electricity) is not a new one. But there does, at last, appear to be agreement that this is one way we can quickly begin to reduce emissions and, thus, buy urgently needed time in the battle against catastrophic climate change. Through a constructive process, countries have been able to find a mutually agreeable approach that I hope, in the months ahead, will lead to the kind of international cooperation that could make a decisive difference. While initiatives like this will need to be a part of the solution, they are not, I believe, the whole answer. In some ways the climate challenge is not first and foremost due to an absence of sound policy ideas or technology, but more a crisis of perception. As we have become progressively more separate from Nature, and more reliant on technological inventiveness to solve our problems, we have become less able to see our predicament for what it really is—namely as being utterly out of balance, having lost any sense of harmony with the earth's natural rhythms, cycles, and finite systems. The fact that we generally regard economics as being separate from Nature is just one, albeit quite fundamental, sign of this imbalance. Forging a reconnection with Nature and reintegrating our societies and economies with her capacities is, as far as I can see, the real challenge to which we must rise. The Copenhagen summit will, I hope, contribute to a shift at this deeper level, as well as set out the plan for transition to a low-carbon economy based on official targets, policies, and technologies. As things stand, the world is not short of all these—what it does lack, however, is a mindset fit for the situation we face. While time may not be on our side, our ability to cooperate and innovate to find solutions appears to be with us still. We have in the past faced huge challenges and prevailed. This time the challenge seems greater than ever before, but I hope with all my heart that in Copenhagen we will be able to exploit these very human attributes to the full. It is the very least we can do for future generations.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43184000

Reflections: the effects of September 11 are still being felt by educators and students a year later. Here some of your colleagues share their feelings about the repercussions of this event.The events that unfolded on September 11 last year were nearly beyond comprehension. We can all remember how every hour, or sometimes every minute, our perception changed on what was happening, who may have did it, and to the impact it would have on us and the rest of the country. While the year since has clarified many of these issues, in some ways the bigger picture remains as changeable as the events of that day. Just as it was hard to measure our shock, grief and outrage, so has it been hard to measure the loss of innocence for some children, the loss of loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl for others, and the near overwhelming desire of children to be able to understand an event that most adults are still sorting out. What is undeniable, though, is that the events of last year did bring changes. The most obvious ones may lie in the textbooks your district has, or will soon buy. Of the four major textbook publishers, each has a few paragraphs on the event, and the picture of the firefighters raising the flag at Ground Zero Raising the Flag at Ground Zero is a photograph by Thomas E. Franklin of The Bergen Record, taken on September 11, 2001. The picture shows three firefighters raising the American flag at ground zero of the World Trade Center following the September 11, 2001 attacks. . But for many, these mentions don't come close to explaining, or making sense of, the events of that day. Help is available for educators in a variety of ways. A new survey taken in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. about the effects of September 11 show that girls are more likely to experience psychological problems than boys; the fourth- and fifth-graders were more affected than older children, and about 75,000 of the city's 1.1 million students have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme psychological stress, such as that encountered in war or resulting from violence, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, or serious accident. . The study, "Effects of the World Trade Center Attacks on NYC NYC New York City NYC New York City Public School Students," suggests that districts expand existing mental health services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract within schools, and develop a citywide system for routine screening and referral for major mental health problems. San Francisco State University • • [ created a professional development program, called Understanding the World After September 11, for teachers. And Brown University created a five-day curriculum on terrorism, which more than 1,000 high schools say they will follow, according to according to 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a report in The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times. What follows are the thoughts of educators around the country on the fallout from that day, how it has impacted their lives and school district policies. Shelley Harwayne Superintendent, Community School District No. 2, New York City Collector of works for Messages to Ground Zero: Children Respond to September 11th (Heinemann, 2002) In any district you have trauma and tragedy ... the loss of a parent, a teacher getting ill. To have a situation with such big numbers swept us off our feet.... I think it has caused us to reexamine re·ex·am·ine also re-ex·am·ine tr.v. re·ex·am·ined, re·ex·am·in·ing, re·ex·am·ines 1. To examine again or anew; review. 2. Law To question (a witness) again after cross-examination. all our safety plans, our crisis teams, our environmental issues. District 2 is a district where instructional issues are on our front burner Noun 1. front burner - top priority; "the work was moved to the front burner in order to meet deadlines" precedence, precedency, priority - status established in order of importance or urgency; "... . This has been a year where we've had to add other things to our agenda. We had to get very good at taking care of all aspects of children's lives. ... [We realized] how important it is to have smart people at the helm of every school. I have smart principals who are not only brilliant but brave. I think [the Messages to Ground Zero book] will be a powerful closure. The section on hope is important. It would be a lovely book to read aloud on September 11--to tell kids what the children close to Ground Zero were thinking. People all over the country have asked me to talk about what I've learned. Kids need art more than ever. We can't ever eliminate the arts from our schools. So many children couldn't talk about their reactions, but they could [express through art and words] what they were feeling. When I looked at the [messages sent to New York City children] from all over the country, kids were using writing for so many more reasons than we thought possible. Clearly our New York City kids were writing to bear witness. I think it was incredible to see that children could write to lift others' spirits. These were not fill-in-the-blank stories. Kids had important things to say, and they had the voice to say it. Joanne McDaniel Director for the Center for Prevention of School Violence Raleigh, N.C. In some ways, the terrorism of September 11 was less of a shock to school districts across the country than it was to others. With Columbine columbine, in botany columbine (kŏl`əmbīn), any plant of the genus Aquilegia, temperate-zone perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), popular both as wildflowers and as garden flowers. and other violent incidents prompting districts to pay attention to physical security prior to September 11, the new national emphasis on such security required districts to revisit and update security plans rather than create new ones. Importantly, many districts tried to balance physical security with the provision of learning environments that communicated a sense of normalcy nor·mal·cy Noun 1. normalcy - being within certain limits that define the range of normal functioning normality and safety. Many districts did take actions to ready themselves to handle bioterrorism and similar types of threats. Christie Winkelmann Kyrene District Spokeswoman Kyrene Elementary School elementary school: see school. District 28 Phoenix, Ariz. area After 9/11, a subsequent bomb threat affected several of our schools simultaneously. Kyrene took several more steps to ensure the safety of its schools. These additional efforts involved a parent working committee, two safety audits and a written agreement for how schools and police departments will work together in the event of a crisis. First, the Kyrene Safety Committee--a group of parents that assisted district schools in developing more comprehensive emergency communication plans--was created. Parents on this committee provided feedback about how they would like to be kept informed in a crisis. The committee recommended district-wide emergency communication parameters that were later accepted and implemented in all schools as well as in the district's athletic and on-site childcare programs. David Weiss There are several individuals of note named David Weiss, including: Obviously the events of 9/11 have created a new focus in the classroom. We find that students are very interested in learning more about the Mideast and Arab world “Arab States” redirects here. For the political alliance, see Arab League. The Arab World (Arabic: العالم العربي; Transliteration: al-`alam al-`arabi) stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the . As a department, [we may] develop an elective for students that would deal with the influence of the Muslim or the Arab world.... Of the 31 workshops scheduled [at NSSSA's convention in November], at least five of them are going to deal directly with the aftermath of 9/11. [The terrorist attacks have also] provided social studies teachers with the vehicle to [teach] tolerance. Our country was ready for rejuvenation Rejuvenation in extreme old age, restored to youth by Medea. [Rom. Myth.: LLEI, I: 322] apples of perpetual youth by tasting the golden apples kept by Idhunn, the gods preserved their youth. [Scand. Myth. in that area. We'd become a very cynical nation, into our own world and not the greater world and the greater good. [In U.S. history,] the focus has not been on the influence of the Arab world in our country. Now it will. When the curriculum gets to the period immediately following World War II, we can take a look at the me of Israel. The students can see how that one event has implications 50 years later. I started teaching in the late '60s--those were tough times.... It wasn't cool [for students] to be patriotic. I am a Vietnam veteran This article is about veterans of the Vietnam War. For the French psychedelic musical group, see Vietnam Veterans. Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. . Students now have a clear focus. They understand why our country has done things in the past. Why was there a Vietnam? Why did our country get involved? They can see [that] through terrorism, our country has now become vulnerable. They see it's imperative that our country unites again--to understand that we are a country of many. From many come one, e pluribus unum E Pluribus Unum (ē plr`ĭbəs y`nəm) [Lat. . Mary Minner Former school counselor A school counselor is a counselor and educator who works in schools, and have historically been referred to as "guidance counselors" or "educational counselors," although "Professional School Counselor" is now the preferred term. Rosemary Hills Primary School, Silver Spring, Md. In my experience of being with children who have felt stressed in a variety of circumstances, including 9/11, I've seen how important it is to teach them how to be "quiet on the inside." [This] is a feeling of calmness no matter what is going on.... Fear can become an emotion that overcomes and overwhelms us. Crisis can be an opportunity to see what we're thinking about. What we think about grows. And we become what we think about." Genie Stowers Associate Dean, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, San Francisco State University Organizer of "Understanding the World After September 11," a summer academy for K-12 teachers Terrorism] certainly is a current event, but I think it's going to go beyond that. Students want to understand what they're hearing in the media everyday. [It's] really pointing out the importance of understanding social studies. The approach we took [with the academy] was interdisciplinary. We [had] people from a variety of different disciplines come and speak. This cannot really be understood from the point of view within one discipline. Kenneth Roy Director of Science and Safety, Glastonbury (Conn.) Public Schools Several years ago, districts fell victim to their own form of domestic-type terrorism--Columbine. With this event, we developed terrorist action and workplace violence protocols. After the tragedy of 9/11, workplace safety/security was again addressed and upgraded; e.g., security audits to determine weaknesses in facilities, employee security training, security drills in the form of lockdowns and evacuations, and ID badges for all employees and students, to name a few. Safety/security of the four walls with the future inside is our mission. Gregory Thomas Executive Director of the Student and Safety Prevention Services division New York City's Board of Education. As the events unfolded on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, students and staff in schools across New York City were forced to make split-second decisions to ensure their safety. That we were successful in safely evacuating over 9,000 students and hundreds of staff from eight schools in the vicinity of the World Trade Center complex and were able to reunite re·u·nite tr. & intr.v. re·u·nit·ed, re·u·nit·ing, re·u·nites To bring or come together again. [-niting, -nited the other students in New York City to their families, is a credit to all of the administrators and students and to proper planning at the school level. While no school district can ever imagine or plan for a disaster of this magnitude, a very important lesson was learned in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of going through this experience; proactive planning and creativity are essential elements in ensuring the safety of staff and students during an emergency. Stanley Teitel Principal, Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School, commonly referred to as Stuy, is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. (located three blocks from Ground Zero) Our south windows faced the twin towers. Many of the students witnessed things on the morning of 9/11 that weren't pleasant. We evacuated just before the second tower collapsed. After that, we had to vacate To annul, set aside, or render void; to surrender possession or occupancy. The term vacate has two common usages in the law. With respect to real property, to vacate the premises means to give up possession of the property and leave the area totally devoid of contents. the building for four weeks. The result is that some students have had difficulty coping with day-to-day living. The same is true for some of the staff. For example, a fire alarm went off late in the spring, and three students ended up in the guidance office very upset. It was a false alarm, but they were shaken. We've had counselors come in and meet with individual students and talk to groups. We've also established new security measures Noun 1. security measures - measures taken as a precaution against theft or espionage or sabotage etc.; "military security has been stepped up since the recent uprising" security . Now all students must present a photo ID to enter the building in the morning. We've put security cameras on every door to monitor the comings and goings of every one in the building.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43193000

"Let us Reason Together" Lyndon Johnson, Master Legislator This issue of "Bill of Rights in Action" concludes the series on America's basic governmental and political institutions with a historical and contemporary look at the legislative branch. This article traces Lyndon Baines Johnson's political career and rise to power through the arts of compromise and persuasion. Discussion questions, a link to a related resource, and an activity are also included. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Civics, History, United States Government, United States History Activity, Curriculum support, Lesson plan, Literature, Serial Constitutional Rights Foundation

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43195000

The Geological Perspective On Global Warming: A Debate Dr Colin P. Summerhayes, Vice-President of the Geological Society of London Dear Dr Peiser, In the interest of contributing to the evidence-based debate on climate change I thought it would be constructive to draw to your attention the geological evidence regarding climate change, and what it means for the future. This evidence was published in November 2010 by the Geological Society of London in a document entitled “Climate Change: Evidence from the Geological Record”, which can be found on the Society’s web page. A variety of techniques is now available to document past levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, past global temperatures, past sea levels, and past levels of acidity in the ocean. What the record shows is this. The Earth’s climate has been cooling for the past 50 million years from 6-7°C above today’s global average temperatures to what we see now. That cooling led to the formation of ice caps on Antarctica 34 million years ago and in the northern hemisphere around 2.6 million years ago. The cooling was directly associated with a decline in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. In effect we moved from a warm “greenhouse climate” when CO2, temperature and sea level were high, and there were no ice caps, to an “icehouse climate” in which CO2, temperature and sea level are low, and there are ice caps. The driver of that change is the balance between the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere from volcanoes, and the mopping up of CO2 from the atmosphere by the weathering of rocks, especially in mountains. There was more volcanic activity in the past and there are more mountains now. Superimposed on this broad decline in CO2 and temperature are certain events. Around 55 million years ago there was a massive additional input of carbon into the atmosphere – about 4 times what humans have put there. It caused temperatures to rise by a further 6°C globally and 10°C at the poles. Sea level rose by some 15 metres. Deep ocean bottom waters became acid enough to dissolve carbonate sediments and kill off calcareous bottom dwelling organisms. It took over 100,000 years for the Earth to recover from this event. More recently, during the Pliocene, around 3 million years ago, CO2 rose to levels a little higher than today’s, global temperature rose to 2-3°C above today’s level, Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf melted, and sea level rose by 10-25 metres. The icehouse climate that characterised the past 2.6 million years averaged 9°C colder in the polar regions and 5°C colder globally. It was punctuated by short warm interglacial periods. We are living in one of these warm periods now – the Holocene – which started around 11,000 years ago. The glacial to interglacial variations are responses to slight changes in solar energy meeting the Earth’s surface with changes in: our planet’s orbit from circular to elliptical and back; the position of the Earth relative to the sun around the Earth’s orbit; and the tilt of the Earth’s axis. These changes recur on time scales of tens to hundreds of thousands of years. CO2 plays a key role in these changes. As the Earth begins to warm after a cold period, sea ice melts allowing CO2 to emerge from the ocean into the atmosphere. There it acts to further warm the planet through a process known as positive feedback. The same goes for another greenhouse gas, methane, which is given off from wetlands that grow as the world warms. As a result the Earth moves much more rapidly from cold to warm than it does from warm to cold. We are currently in a cooling phase of this cycle, so the Earth should be cooling slightly. Evidently it is not. The Geological Society deduced that by adding CO2 to the atmosphere as we are now doing, we would be likely to replicate the conditions of those past times when natural emissions of CO2 warmed the world, melted ice in the polar regions, and caused sea level to rise and the oceans to become more acid. The numerical models of the climate system that are used by the meteorological community to predict the future give much the same result by considering modern climate variation alone. Thus we arrive at the same solution by two entirely independent methods. Under the circumstances the Society concluded that “emitting further large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere over time is likely to be unwise, uncomfortable though that fact may be.” Dr Colin P. Summerhayes Vice-President Geological Society of London and Emeritus Associate Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge. 8 February 2013 Professor Robert Carter and Professor Vincent Courtillot respond: Dear Dr Peiser, Thank you for your invitation on behalf of the Foundation to reply to Dr Summerhayes’ letter about geological evidence in relation to the hypothesis of dangerous anthropogenic global warming (DAGW) that is favoured by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We are in agreement with many of Dr Summerhayes’ preliminary remarks about the geological context of climate change. This reflects that a large measure of scientific agreement and shared interpretation exists amongst most scientists who consider the global warming issue. Points of commonality in the climate discussion include: * that climate has always changed and always will, * that Earth has often been warmer than it is today, and that its present climatic condition is that of a warm interglacial during a punctuated icehouse world, * that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and warms the lower atmosphere (though debate remains as to the magnitude and timescale of the warming), * that a portion of human emissions are accumulating in the atmosphere, * that a global warming of around 0.5°C occurred in the 20th century, but that there has been no global temperature rise over the last 16 years. The first two points are rooted in geological evidence (as discussed in more detail by Dr Summerhayes), the third is based upon physical principle and the last three are mostly matters of instrumental measurement (i.e. observation). Despite the disparate scientific disciplines involved, all these points are relevant to achieving a quantitative understanding of climate change, together with several other disputed scientific matters such as those that we discuss below. One of the disputed scientific matters is represented by Dr Summerhayes’ assertion that cooling over the last 34 million years “was directly associated with a decline in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere”. The word “associated” is ambiguous. It may simply mean that temperature and CO2 were correlated, in the sense that their trends were parallel. But as everyone knows correlation is not causality and whether one drives the other, or the two are driven by a third forcing factor, or the correlation is the result of chance, requires careful analysis and argument. Though it may be true that a broad correlation exists between atmospheric CO2 content and global temperature, at least on some timescales, it remains unclear whether the primary effect is one of increasing CO2 causing warming (via the greenhouse effect) or of warming causing CO2 increase (via outgassing from the ocean). We are familiar with the argument that the currently decreasing carbon isotope ratio in the atmosphere is consistent with a fossil fuel source for incremental CO2 increases, and therefore with the first of these two possibilities, but do not find it compelling because other natural sources (soil carbon, vegetation) also contribute isotopically negative carbon to the atmosphere. A second area of uncertainty, related to the point just discussed, is the rate, scope and direction of the various feedbacks that apply during a natural glacial-interglacial climatic cycle. Dr Summerhayes provides a confident, and perhaps plausible, account as to how changing insolation (controlled by orbital change), melting sea-ice and increasing CO2 and CH4 jointly drive the asymmetrical glacial-interglacial cycles that have characterised recent planetary history. However, our knowledge of the climate system and its history currently remains incomplete; some of the forcing mechanisms and feedbacks may not be known accurately, or even at all. For example, we do not yet know whether clouds exert a net warming or cooling effect on the climate. Similarly, variations in ultraviolet radiation and high-energy particle emission from the Sun, in atmospheric electricity and in galactic cosmic rays may all play larger roles in controlling climate change than is currently assumed, yet these effects are absent from most of the current generation of deterministic computer models of the future climate. The temperature projections made by these models may well be affected by our ignorance of the magnitude, the sign, or even the existence of some of the forcings and feedbacks that are actually involved. Thirdly, Dr Summerhayes also briefly discusses the issue of sea level change. He quotes an estimated increase of 15 m in sea level associated with a temperature increase of 6–10°C 55 million years ago. He then quotes a range of 10–25 m rise for a 2–3°C warming 3 million years ago. To this we might add the further examples of the 125 m sea level rise that has accompanied the 6°C temperature rise since the last glacial maximum, and the 0.2-m rise associated with the ~0.5°C 20th century warming. It appears from these examples that a 1°C temperature rise can be associated with a sea level rise of as little as 0.4 m or as much as 8 m, and all values in between! This indicates an uncertainty in our understanding of the temperature/CO2/sea-level connection that surely lessens its value for contributing to policy formulation. Figure 1. Temperature curve reconstructed from oxygen isotope measurements in a Greenland ice core over the last 10,000 years (Lappi 2010 after Alley,2000). Fourth, and last, Dr Summerhayes says that because orbitally-forced climate periodicity is currently in a cooling phase “the Earth should be cooling slightly. Evidently it is not”. The statement is tendentious, because whether Earth is seen to be cooling or warming depends upon the length of climate record that is considered. Trends over 1, 10, 100 or 1000 years are not the same thing, and their differences must be taken into account carefully. We reproduce two figures that may be used to demonstrate that Earth is currently not warming on either the longer-term millennial timescale (Figure 1) or the short-term decadal/meteorological timescale (Figure 2). We note also that on the intermediate centennial timescale (1850–2010) the temperature trend has been one of a slight (0.5°C) rise. In assessing which of these timescales is the “proper” one to consider in formulating climate policy, we observe that the results conveyed in Figure 2 have little scientific (and therefore policy) meaning unless they are assessed in the context of the data in Figure 1. Figure 2. Mean temperature of lower atmosphere: HadCRUT4 annual means 1997-2011 We acknowledge that the data in Figure 1, which are drawn from a Greenland ice core, represent regional rather than global climate. But a similar pattern of Holocene long-term cooling is seen in many other records from around the world, including from Antarctic ice cores. Also, evidence for a millenial solar cycle has been accumulating over the past years, and, representing that rhythm, the Medieval Warming (also called Medieval Climatic Optimum) appears to have been both global and also warmer than today’s climate. Regarding Figure 2, the data demonstrate that no warming has occurred since 1997. In response, some leading IPCC scientists have already acknowledged that should the temperature plateau continue, or turn into a statistically significant cooling trend, then the mainstream IPCC view will need revision. It is noteworthy, too, that over the 16 years during which global temperature has remained unchanged (1997-2012), atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased by 8%, from 364 ppm to c.394 ppm. Given a mixing time for the atmosphere of about 1 year, these data would invalidate the hypothesis that human-related carbon dioxide emissions are causing dangerous global warming. In any case, observed global temperatures are currently more remote than ever from the most recent predictions set out in IPCC AR4. The areas of uncertainty in the prevailing argument over DAGW are therefore not only geological but also instrumental and physical. Current debate, which needs to be resolved before climate policy is set, centres on the following three issues: * whether any definite evidence exists for dangerous warming of human causation over the last 50 years, * the amount of net warming that is, or will be, produced by human-related emissions (the climate sensitivity issue), and * whether the IPCC’s computer models can provide accurate climate predictions 100 years into the future. In assessing these issues, our null hypothesis is that the global climate changes that have occurred over the last 150 years (and continue to occur today) are mainly natural in origin. As summarised in the reports of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), literally thousands of papers published in refereed journals contain facts or writings consistent with this null hypothesis, and plausible natural explanations exist for all the post-1850 global climatic changes that have been described so far. In contrast, no direct evidence exists, and nor does the Geological Society point to any, that a measurable part of the mild late 20th century warming was definitely caused by human-related carbon dioxide emissions. The possibility of human-caused global warming nonetheless remains, because carbon dioxide is indubitably a greenhouse gas. The major unknown is the actual value of climate sensitivity, i.e. the amount of temperature increase that would result from doubling the atmospheric concentration of CO2 compared to pre-industrial levels. IPCC models estimate that water vapour increases the 1°C effect that would be seen in a dry atmosphere to 2.5-4.5°C, whereas widely cited papers by Lindzen & Choi (2011) and Spencer & Braswell (2010) both describe empirical data that is consistent with negative feedback, i.e. sensitivity less than 1°C. The conclusion that climate sensitivity is significantly less than argued by the IPCC is also supported by a range of other empirical or semi-empirical studies (e.g., Forster & Gregory, 2006; Aldrin et al., 2012; Ring et al., 2012). Gathering these various thoughts together, we conclude that the risk of occurrence of damaging human-caused global warming is but a small one within the much greater and proven risks of dangerous natural climate-related events (not to mention earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and landslides, since we are dealing here with geological topics). Moreover, the property damage and loss of life that occurred in the floods in the UK in 2007; in the 2005 Katrina and 2012 Sandy storms in the USA; and in deadly bushfires in Australia in 2009 and 2013 all attest that even wealthy and technologically sophisticated nations are often inadequately prepared to deal with climate-related hazard. The appropriate response to climate hazard is to treat it in the same way as other geological hazards. Which is to say that national policies are needed that are based on preparing for and adapting to all climate events as and when they happen, and irrespective of their presumed cause. Every country needs to develop its own understanding of, and plans to cope with, the unique combination of climate hazards that apply within its own boundaries. The planned responses should be based upon adaptation, with mitigation where appropriate to cushion citizens who are affected in an undesirable way. The idea that there can be a one-size-fits-all global solution to deal with just one possible aspect of future climate hazard, as recommended by the IPCC, and apparently supported by Dr Summerhayes on behalf of the Geological Society, fails to deal with the real climate and climate-related hazards to which all parts of the world are episodically exposed. Professor Robert (Bob) Carter Professor Vincent Courtillot 14 February 2013 Aldrin, M. et al. 2012. Bayesian estimation of climate sensitivity based on a simple climate model fitted to observations on hemispheric temperature and global ocean heat content. Environmetrics, doi:10.1002/env.2140. Alley, R.B. 2000. The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from central Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 19: 213–226 Forster, P.M. & Gregory, J.M. 2006. The climate sensitivity and its components diagnosed from Earth radiation budget data. Journal of Climate 19, 39-52. Lappi, D. 2010. 65 million years of cooling Lindzen, R.S. & Choi, Y-S. 2011. On the observational determination of climate sensitivity and its implications. Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 47, 377-390. Ring, M.J. et al. 2012. Causes of the global warming observed since the 19th century. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences 2, 401-415. Spencer R. W. & Braswell, W.D. 2010. On the diagnosis of radiative feedback in the presence of unknown radiative forcing. Journal of Geophysical Research 115, D16109.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43196000

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Google has open sourced its Zopfli data compression algorithm. Google encourages its engineers to work on personal projects as part of their "20 percent time" and occasionally some of those are made public and open sourced for third party developers. That's why the firm has open sourced its Zopfli data compression algorithm, claiming it produces three to eight percent smaller files compared to zlib. Google's Zopfli algorithm is based on the Deflate algorithm but has been optimised to produce smaller file sizes at the expense of compression speed. The firm said the compression library, written in C, is based on iterative entropy modelling and a shortest path algorithm, adding that it is bit-stream compatible, meaning that it can be used with gzip, Zip and most importantly HTTP requests. Lode Vandevenne, a software engineer on Google's Compression Team who implemented the Zopfli algorithm said, "Due to the amount of CPU time required - two to three orders of magnitude more than zlib at maximum quality - Zopfli is best suited for applications where data is compressed once and sent over a network many times." Ultimately Vandevenne's algorithm might be costly when it comes to CPU cycles for compression - he claims there is no performance hit in decompression - but the fact is that CPU cycles are significantly cheaper than network bandwidth. Developers such as Opera have worked hard on web compression to speed up webpage rendering in markets where 3G connectivity is patchy or non-existent. Source code for the Zopfli data compression library is available here. µ Companies need to rate limit posts based on keywords, warns Trend Micro Uses 20 percent less power than traditional systems Sign up for INQbot – a weekly roundup of the best from the INQ

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43201000

Using short, self-assembling bio-degradable protein nanofibres impregnated with a blood-vessel growth factor, scientists have been able to prevent some of the negative changes that occur in the heart following a heart attack and boost cardiac recovery. Writing in Science Translational Medicine, Yi-Dong Lin and his colleagues at the Academica Sinica in Taiwan made a biochemical cocktail containing the growth factor VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), which promotes the growth of new vessels, and some artificial protein sequences called oligopeptides which plait themselves into short, biocompatible nanofibres when exposed to the salt solution found in body fluids. The idea was to inject this mix into regions of the heart injured by a heart attack. These fibres would then behave like a slowly-squeezed sponge, steadily releasing the VEGF to boost the blood supply to the damaged area while also providing structural support. A group of heart-attack afflicted rats were injected with the nanofibre-growth factor mixture at the injury sites in their hearts. A second group of control rats received just VEGF or saline injections without any protein nanofibres. A month later, the nanofibre-VEGF-treated animals had significantly better cardiac function, showing fewer signs of heart failure, smaller injury sites and less pathological deposition of fibrous tissue compared with the controls. Repeated on pigs, a much closer correlate to humans, the results were the same. The sustained release of VEGF, the team found, was promoting the formation of nourishing arteries, while the nanofibre structures themselves were encouraging stem cells, both from the blood and from elsewhere in the heart, to migrate into and persist within the heart attack site, helping to promote vessel formation, enact repair and prevent the deposition of harmful fibrous tissue. According to the team, the nanofibres create a three-dimensional vascular niche that captures circulating cells capable of promoting repair and also provides a scaffold, stabilising the development of new small arteries, to nourish the site. The nanofibres themselves, the team found, breakdown slowly as the heart repairs itself. About 70% of the injected material still remained one month after injection. "In conclusion," they say, "NFs are able to create an in-vivo microenvironment for cardiovascular regeneration and also provide positive therapeutic effects after MI in both small and large animals..."

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43207000

Chinese orbital docking starts long march to space station US commie hunt jumpstarted taikonaut takeoff China has successfully launched an unmanned capsule into orbit and is beginning to maneuver it into place for the nation’s first orbital docking. State media reports that a Shenzhou-8 capsule successfully blasted off from China’s launch platform in the Gobi desert atop an upgraded Long March-2F rocket, watched by Chinese vice premier Zhang Dejiang. It was successfully inserted into its planned orbit, and ground control is now beginning to shift it into position to dock with the Tiangong-1 – "Heavenly Palace-1" – module that has been in orbit since September. If all goes to plan, the capsule will perform China’s first space docking in two days’ time, 343km above the planet’s surface. After a number of practice docking maneuvers, the capsule will then return to earth for examination and testing. Successful docking will be crucial if China is to reach its goal of putting a space station into orbit by 2020. Under the plans that are currently public, the station will be a small affair in comparison to the International Space Station or the de-orbited Soviet Mir platform – but out of tiny acorns mighty oak trees grow. In pure technology terms, the Chinese space program looks relatively unsophisticated. After all, US astronaut Neil Armstrong managed the first space docking in 1966 during the Gemini 8 mission. The Soviets managed it in 1969, and by 1975 the two countries were docking with each other’s crafts. It wasn’t until 1970 that China even got a satellite into orbit – although it’s now been selling orbital delivery to other countries for over 25 years. The Middle Kingdom wouldn’t have made it this far if it hadn’t been for the 1950s McCarthy-era panic over communist infiltration in America. Qian Xuesen, one of America’s foremost rocket engineers in the 1930s and 1940s, and cofounder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US, was arrested in the US after visiting his parents on mainland China in 1950. Accused on the flimsiest of evidence of being a communist, and despite the strong efforts of his university, Caltech, Qian was deported to China in 1955. Qian, who died at the age of 98 in 2009, is hailed as the father of Chinese rocketry, and was his country's first – and originally only – rocket engineer. He built a group of engineers on his return to China, and helped develop a variety of military systems, including the Silkworm anti-ship missile, as well as building China’s successful Long March boosters. ®

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43217000

KALMOT (also called Khera Kalmot), village 18 km northwest of Anandpur (31°14`N, ^G^l`E) in Ropar district of the Punjab, was in 1700 the scene of a clash between the Sikhs and the local GujjarRarighars who challenged Guru Gobind Sihgh while out on a chase. The Sikhs defeated the Rarighars and occupied the fortress. The Rarighars tried to seize the fortress by night but were repulsed. The fortress is no longer in existence. The shrine established on the site on top of a hillock west of the village was reconstructed in 1975. The twostoreyed building of Gurdwara Patshahi Dasviri, as it is called, has on the ground level a mosaicfloored hall with a verandah in front. The Gurdwara is maintained by the local sangat. 1. Gian Singh, Giani, Twartkh. Gurdunridn. Amritsar, n.d. Gn.S.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43222000

Watch our video above to explore the programs we offer to help your students understand and act on the world's greatest challenges. We'll help you connect your classroom to the world! Offered by TakingITGlobal and the Centre for Global Education, the Global Encounters program brings together students from across the world through live video conferences that explore global issues and the potential youth have to shape a better common future. These exciting events connect youth to expert guest speakers who share their experiences with students on the topics of human rights, climate change, HIV/AIDS, and more. With lots of events being offered for high school and middle school classes on a variety of global issues, there's sure to be an event for your class. Sign up today! Register for free collaborative tools! Participate in a community of global educators Access online resources and learning activities

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43238000

DENSON SPRINGS, TX DENSON SPRINGS, TEXAS. Denson Springs is by Dream Lake on State Highway 294 eighteen miles southeast of Palestine in southeastern Anderson County. The site was settled before the Civil War and named for a Mrs. Denson, a member of the Bradshaw family that owned a land grant near the community site; the Bradshaws were among the early settlers in the area. An early school was located near the community on the land of a settler named Grayson and was called Grayson School. Before the Civil War the school was one of the largest in the county, and its building was also used as a Baptist church. In 1887 the school was moved to the site of present Denson Springs. Denson Springs post office operated from 1893 to 1918. In 1896 the community had a general store run by Wortham and Company, and in 1901 it had three businesses, a doctor's office, a gin and mill, a church, and the school. By 1914 the population was estimated at 100, and the community had two general stores and a cotton gin. In 1934 the Denson Springs school had forty-six pupils and two teachers, and in 1936 the school and several dwellings were still at the site. The school was consolidated with the Slocum schools by 1955, and by 1982 Denson Springs consisted only of a cemetery and several scattered dwellings. In 2000 the population was 100. Anderson County Herald, July 5, 1901. Thomas Paul Jones, The Reorganization of the Public Schools of Anderson County, Texas (M.Ed. thesis, University of Texas, 1934). The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Mark Odintz, "DENSON SPRINGS, TX," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrd56), accessed May 19, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43268000

Many turtles involved in traumatic accidents like a hit by car, chewed by dog, or mowed by lawn mower present to Turtle Rescue Team with broken bones. Because every case is a little different, we assess each individual patient to determine the best course of treatment. Every turtle with a broken leg will get a radiograph (X-Ray). This allows us to better assess the fracture. A cleanly fractured bone (i.e. a bone that broke into only two pieces) is preferred over a bone that fractured into a lot of smaller pieces because it is easier to fix. In the case of a clean fracture, we will insert a metal rod or pin through the broken bones to realign the segments. Then, the broken leg will be placed in a cast to give extra stability while the bones heal. If the bone can not be fixed, the leg might be amputated. Turtles with only three legs can still move around quite easily and are releasable animals.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43270000

A Hot Paper for Warm Weather: Research on Fire and Climate Change Honored When the weather warms up in the American West, most people are just enjoying the blooms and greenery. But fire-watchers know the lush landscape will turn into tinder when temperatures soar. And the more plant material there is, the more flammable the countryside will become. One researcher watching the fire seasons with particular attention is UC Merced’s Tony Westerling, jointly appointed in the School of Engineering and the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. Westerling’s 2006 paper about large wildfires and climate change, published in the journal “Science,” was cited by Thomson Scientific’s ScienceWatch.com as the Fast-breaking Paper of the Month in geosciences for February 2008. The paper was in the top 1 percent of papers in the geosciences in terms of being cited by other scientists in their publications. It also showed the largest percentage increase in citations in the past few months of any highly -cited paper in the geosciences. Westerling’s paper gained national attention on its publication, with articles appearing in newspapers nationwide. The new assistant professor even found himself a guest on National Public Radio’s Science Friday before starting work at UC Merced in July 2006. He and his colleagues at the University of Arizona published a statement in 2007 following severe fires in Southern California clarifying what kinds of fires their research had successfully linked to global climate change. The Southern California chaparral fires were not among the group – their research focused on forest fires. This 2007 statement also gained widespread notice in the media. ScienceWatch.com has published commentary by Westerling about the 2006 paper and his own background and experience. The site also plans a podcast interview with him. In the commentary, Westerling noted that the increase in forest fires “has been very large, in terms of the number of large forest wildfires, total area burned in these fires, the length of the fire season, and the length of time individual fires burn.” “This research is the first to conclusively link the increase in wildfire to trends toward warming and earlier springs, implying that global warming will tend to increase wildfire in forest ecosystems where snow plays an important role in the hydrology,” he said.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43276000

Most boiling water canning containers are made of aluminum or porcelain-covered steel. They have fitted lids and removable racks that are either perforated or shaped wire racks. The canner must be deep enough so that at least one inch of briskly boiling water will be over the tops of jars during processing. Some boiling water canners do not have completely flat bottoms. A flat bottom must be used on an electric range. Either a flat or ridged bottom may be used on a gas burner. To ensure uniform processing of all jars with an electric range, the canner should be no more than four inches wider in diameter than the element on which it is heated. (When centered on the burner or element, the canner should not extend over the edge of the burner or element by more than two inches on any side.) This 15 step-by-step guide teaches the basics about boiling water canning, including: - Basic preparation - How to clean and sterilize glass jars. - How to properly storage jars. If you have ever wanted to learn the basics of boiling water canning methods, this excellent guide will prepare you just in time for your garden’s yields!

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43280000

We farm fish and we certainly farm fruits and vegetables. Insects are full of protein and while Americans don't eat them, many other cultures do, so why not farm them? In the future, we may do just that (unless they get too powerful--in which case we'll probably shoot them down and eat the roadkill). Raising cows, pigs and sheep uses up 2/3 of the world's farmland and produces 20% of all the greenhouse gases that are changing our climate. The UN wants us to eat less meat, so a natural alternative is insects. global warming. As a result, the United Nations and senior figures want to reduce the amount of meat we eat and the search is on for alternatives. In the August 1st edition of the Guardian, Damian Carrington quotes entomologist Arnold van Huis as saying, "There is a meat crisis. The world population will grow from 6 billion now to 9 billion by 2050 and we know people are consuming more meat. If we continue like this we will need another Earth." On the PopSci website, Paul Adams writes: "Tons of edible, sustainable protein swarms all around us, free for the taking. Farming edible insects like mealworms and crickets would produce far less greenhouse gas--10 times less methane and 100 times less nitrous oxide--than the large mammals we currently farm. Insects are metabolically much more efficient, which makes them far cheaper to feed and raise and since they're so biologically different from humans, they are less subject to contagious disease scares like mad cow. They are high in protein and calcium, and with over 1,000 edible species, offer plenty of delicious variety." BBC quotes Huis as saying, "Most of the world already eats insects. It is only in the western world that we don't. Psychologically we have a problem with it. I don't know why, as we eat shrimps, which are very comparable." WHERE ELSE are you going to read a story like this? Here at unknowncountry.com, we always tell you the truth about everything (and everything else). You can support the hard work we do if you subscribe today! To learn more, click here and here. Art credit: Dreamstime.com NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43290000

The Age of Reason, as it was called, was spreading rapidly across Europe. In the late 17th century, scientists like Isaac Newton and writers like John Locke were challenging the old order. Newton's laws of gravity and motion described the world in terms of natural laws beyond any spiritual force. In the wake of political turmoil in England, Locke asserted the right of a people to change a government that did not protect natural rights of life, liberty and property. People were beginning to doubt the existence of a God who could predestine human beings to eternal damnation and empower a tyrant for a king. Europe would be forever changed by these ideas. In America, intellectuals were reading these ideas as well. On their side of the Atlantic, Enlightened ideas of liberty and progress had a chance to flourish without the shackles of Old Europe. Religious leaders began to change their old dogmatic positions. They began to emphasize the similarities between the Anglican Church and the Puritan Congregationalists rather than the differences. Even Cotton Mather, the Massachusetts minister who wrote and spoke so convincingly about the existence of witches advocated science to immunize citizens against smallpox. Harvard ministers became so liberal that Yale College was founded in New Haven in 1707 in an attempt to retain old Calvinist ideas. This attempt failed and the entire faculty except one converted to the Church of England in 1722. By the end of the century, many New England ministers would become Unitarians, doubting even the divinity of Christ. New ideas shaped political attitudes as well. John Locke defended the displacement of a monarch who would not protect the lives, liberties, and property of the English people. Jean-Jacques Rousseau stated that society should be ruled by the "general will" of the people. Baron de Montesquieu declared that power should not be concentrated in the hands of any one individual. He recommended separating power among executive, legislative, judicial branches of government. American intellectuals began to absorb these ideas. The delegates who declared independence from Britain used many of these arguments. The entire opening of the Declaration of Independence is Thomas Jefferson's application of John Locke's ideas. The constitutions of our first states and the United States Constitution reflect Enlightenment principles. The writings of Benjamin Franklin made many Enlightenment ideas accessible to the general public. The old way of life was represented by superstition, an angry God, and absolute submission to authority. The thinkers of the Age of Reason ushered in a new way of thinking. This new way championed the accomplishments of humankind. Individuals did not have to accept despair. Science and reason could bring happiness and progress. Kings did not rule by divine right. They had an obligation to their subjects. Europeans pondered the implications for nearly a century. Americans put them into practice first.

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43305000

Main Subject Area: Mathematics Duration of Lesson: 45 minutes Additional Subject Area Standard(s): Students will match coins to different amounts. Precut shapes with different numeric values (1, 5, 10, 15, etc.) – these should be the same shapes used in the lesson “Stamping Coins” Blank precut shapes (these should be the same shapes used in the lesson “Mixing Coins”) for each student 1 large die-cut shape for the class (this should be the same shape used in the lesson “Stamping Coins”) Coins Used in Lesson: Grade Level(s): K-2 2. Model the game for the students. They will take turns matching the appropriate shapes (listing coin values) to those with numerical values listed on them. When students are successful, they win a blank shape for their collection. 3. Monitor the students to see if they are counting correctly. 4. Students can write their name on and decorate the blank shapes in their collection. 5. Create a bulletin board within or outside of the classroom that relates to the story read at the beginning of this unit. It should be covered with the students decorated shapes and could be titled, “For Sale!” Assessment / Evaluation: Differentiated Learning Options:

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43306000

What are the different types of modems? Modems are distinguished from one another by their architecture, that is, where the processing takes place: in the modem or in the PC. A hardware modem is a "Controller-based" modem, and it does all of the work. This type of modem provides the best power and performance, and it does not utilize the PC's processing power. All three components (MCU, DPU, and DAA) are in the modem itself. It can work with many operating systems, and functionality may be upgradeable through ROM uploads. Controllerless or Winmodems Controllerless modems (or Winmodems), as the name implies, do not have an onboard Microcontroller. As a result, data compression and the generation of AT commands are performed by the PC. Since most PCs sold today run the Windows operating system, the microcontroller program is usually written specifically for Windows, hence the name "Winmodem." They are useful in laptops, as they tend to use less power. Winmodems are usually software upgradeable. Softmodems are, quite simply, Software Modems. All processing is done by the PC, and the "modem" is little more than an interface to plug in the phone jack. These modems require the PC to do all of the work, and they will only run in the Windows Operating System. Many PC makers put Softmodems in the PCs that they sell to consumers, as they are extremely inexpensive. They are upgradeable. What kind of modems are available?

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43307000

Q. The top of my oleander is turning yellow and dying. Will the plant recover if I prune out the affected branches? A. Removing the dying branches from your oleander will improve its appearance for a while, but this will not restore the plant’s health. Your oleander will probably die in a few years if it has oleander leaf scorch. This fatal disease is caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. The bacteria grow inside and soon plug the plant’s xylem tissue, which transports water from the roots to the leaves. The upper foliage initially turns yellow and may droop on one or more branches. Unfortunately, by the time these symptoms appear, the bacteria have already spread to other parts of the plant that appear healthy. As the disease progresses, more branches are affected and the plant eventually dies. All oleanders (Nerium oleander) are susceptible to the disease although some cultivars may express symptoms to lesser degrees and live longer when infected. Oleander leaf scorch is spread primarily from plant to plant by an exotic sap-feeding insect, the glassy-winged sharpshooter. Spraying oleanders with insecticide does not adequately protect plants from sharpshooter feeding and possible infection. The bacterium does not persist in the soil when a plant dies. Another oleander could be planted in the same location, but this is not recommended since the new plant could also become infected when sharpshooters feed on the plant. The best permanent solution is to replace dying oleanders with a different ornamental. Some possible substitutes are lemon bottle brush (Callistemon citrinus), purple hop bush (Dodonaea viscosa ‘Purpurea’), American arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), and lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia). Additional plants suggested by four landscape designers are listed in an article, “Good Bets for Hedges to Replace Dying Oleanders” at: Q. My oranges look ripe, but they taste sour. Do I need to fertilize the tree to make the fruit sweet? A. Fertilizing an orange tree in winter will not make the fruit sweeter. To develop sweet fruit, orange trees need a full canopy of foliage, a sunny location, warm weather and time. You cannot tell when oranges are ready to eat by the color of their rind. Both navel and Valencia oranges color in fall as the temperature cools, but this does not mean the fruit has enough sugar and is ready to pick. You may have to wait until February for navels to be sweet enough. Valencias are not usually ready to pick until July. Both oranges will hold on the tree for several months after they are ripe. Mature citrus (5 years and older) should be given a fertilizer high in nitrogen in February and again in April. Nitrogen should not be applied in summer since this will make the rinds thicker and cause Valencias to re-green. Do not apply nitrogen in fall because too much can delay fruit maturity and increase the acid content of the juice. Vincent Lazaneo is an urban horticulture adviser emeritus with the University of California Cooperative Extension. Send questions for “Plants & Pests” to [email protected]

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43315000

Ban on Bottled Water Spearheaded by CAS Students When the campus-wide effort to end bottled water sales at UVM began four years ago, it was spearheaded by the Vermont Students Toward Environmental Protection (VSTEP), a student-run, non-profit organization created in 1988 to expand UVM’s recycling program and address environmental issues on Vermont campuses. Marlee Baron ’11, a VSTEP president, was among the initial group of students who wanted to address the bottled water issue and started planning “Bring Your Own Bottle” days and informational tabling events. Baron, a double major in environmental studies and Spanish who wrote her senior thesis on “Creating a Sustainable Beverage System at UVM,” worked with Rubenstein School student Mikayla McDonald ’10, to draft the bottled water resolutions that were eventually passed by the SGA. Marlee, who lives in her hometown of Chicago and works for the Chicago Park District doing planning, outreach and volunteer recruitment around habitat restoration work and other natural resource projects, says that hearing the NPR report in January, “was a really exciting and strange experience. After an arduous struggle, it was affirming to have the significance of this achievement broadcast so widely: that as the first public university in the US to ban bottled water, UVM is making a loud statement to the beverage industry, as well as illuminating the path for other large institutions to follow the lead of a growing number of bottled-water free schools. At the same time, it was strange to not be on campus to hear reactions, see the infrastructural updates taken on by the university in replace of bottled water, and most importantly to celebrate with all of those dedicated students, faculty and staff who came together continuously to make this happen. “Also I couldn't ignore the fact that while we can see this as an accomplishment, it should not be viewed as the end of the line. The elimination of bottled water was only one goal within a much broader Sustainable Beverage System vision which included measures to increase the social responsibility of beverage providers, increase the locality of beverages consumed, and make a much larger impact to waste reduction through eliminating as many single-use beverage containers as possible—not just bottles with water.” VSTEP’s next president Greg Francese ’12, a double major in political science and geography, also assisted in the effort by helping to collect more than 1,200 signatures from students in support of a resolution calling for a sustainable beverage system, surpassing the 10 percent requirement for an SGA resolution. Student efforts to reduce the usage of bottled water were already paying off as sales of flat, unflavored water dropped from 362,000 bottles in 2007 to 235,000 in 2010. The SGA formally voted to approve the end of bottled water sales in the fall of 2011. Reflecting on his involvement in the ban, Greg says, “I'm still pretty proud of the work I was involved with at UVM—and certainly proud of UVM for going through with the ban. Also, I can't remember when I last bought bottled water.” Currently, Greg is a graduate student studying urban and regional planning at the University at Albany (SUNY). His concentration is in bicycle and pedestrian planning and his dream job would be working on the development of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure for a city. He is also the City of Albany's sustainability intern, which means for the past four months he has been going around Albany documenting the location of every single bike rack. He will also be assisting in the development of criteria for safe streets for cyclists in Albany. Last modified February 19 2013 04:50 PM

fwe2-CC-MAIN-2013-20-43318000