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Patients frequently come into the Urgent Care clinic for problems related to neck pain. It can be caused by a number of different factors including ligament or muscle strain, arthritis or a “pinched nerve.” It is quite common, and in fact 10% of adults have neck pain at any one time. Most patients recover with conservative therapy regardless of the cause of the pain. Understanding neck pain is much easier if you have a good knowledge of the structural anatomy of the neck. Brief description of the anatomy is outlined below: 1) Cervical vertebrae: Seven small bones the make up the cervical spine of the neck 2) Spinal canal: The structure through which the spinal cord (nerves) flow which is made from the cervical vertebrae as well as the supporting ligaments and overlying neck muscles. 3) Cervical discs: Between the neck bones, these tiny shock absorbers cushion one bone from another. The inner part of the disc contains a gelatin-like material and when excessive pressure on the disc occurs, this gelatin-like material can protrude and cause what we call a “herniated disc.” Causes: There are several causes for neck pain, some of which are mentioned here: 1) Whiplash injury: A traumatic event that causes sudden forward/backward movement of the cervical spine. A motor vehicle accident is the most common cause. 2) Cervical strain: Injury to muscles of the neck that cause spasm of the neck and upper back muscles causes this type of pain. It can be a result of physical stresses of everyday life including poor sleep habits, muscle tension from psychological stress, or poor posture. 3) Diffuse skeletal hyperostosis: Also called (DISH) is when there are abnormal calcifications in the ligaments and tendons along the cervical spine. 4) Cervical spondylosis: Abnormal wear and tear causes gradual narrowing of the disk space and loss of normal bone structure which often leads to bone spurs. These spurs can increase the pressure on surroundings areas. 5) Cervical discogenic pain: The intervertebral discs of the neck function as shock absorbers that cushion the neck bones from one another. If there are structural changes in these discs, it can cause pain. 6) Cervical facet syndrome: Pain involving the facet joints is common in people who repeatedly extend the neck (tilt the head backwards). The facet joints are on the left and right of the vertebrae. 7) Cervical radiculopathy: When disk or neck pass pushes on or irritates a nerve root, this can cause pain, weakness or numbness/tingling of the neck and/or arm. 8) Cervical spondylotic myelopathy: This is narrowing of the spinal canal inside the bones of the neck, and is usually caused by either damage to the disks or degeneration from arthritis. Testing: In order to determine the cause of the pain, your healthcare provider will examine your neck and look at the movement or range of motion to the neck and observe posture of the neck and shoulders. In some cases there may be a radiological study such as an x-ray, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or CT scan (computed tomography) ordered. The need for on of these tests depends on the patient’s history and physical examination. Treatment: The individual treatment is tailored to the patient to help treat the underlying cause of pain. Some possible treatments may include: 1) Medications: Ibuprofen, naproxen or Tylenol may be prescribed. Other medications such as muscle relaxants or narcotics may also be prescribed depending on the circumstances. 2) Heat: Can be helpful for decreasing the muscle spasm in the neck. Moist heat (from a shower, hot tub, or moist towel warmed in a microwave or with warm water) seams to work best 3) Ice: Can reduce the pain in many people. Ice is applied directly to the painful area. A bag of ice, frozen peas or a ice cubes in a plastic bag is often used, but avoid applying the blue ice that is used for coolers/camping to the skin as this can cause freezer burn. 4) Massage: By applying pressure on both sides of the neck and upper back, the neck muscles may be relaxed. This is usually most helpful if done by a professional massage therapist. 5) Stretching exercises: Do not attempt exercises without being evaluated by a healthcare provider as they can actually make the problem worse if performed incorrectly. Exercises can be performed to relieve stiffness and improve range of function. 6) Stress reduction: Neck tension can be increased due to emotional stress and can delay the recovery process. To help with stress reduction, breathing exercises, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, prayer or self-hypnosis are helpful for some patients. 7) Posture: It’s important to avoid extreme ranges of motion or positions that cause constant tension. Avoid sitting in the same position for extended periods of time. Also avoid placing backpacks, over-the-shoulder purses, or children on the shoulders. Do not perform overhead work for prolonged periods of time. Hold your head up and keep shoulders back and down to maintain a good posture. Sleep with your neck in a neutral position by sleeping with a small pillow under the nape of your neck (while laying on your back). Carry heavy objects close to your body rather than with outstretched arms. 1) Osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT)– physically manipulating the muscles, soft tissues and joints can help with neck pain 2) Trigger Point Injection: A local anesthetic such as lidocaine can be injected into an area of muscle spasm 3) Accupuncture: A needle placed into the proper body area by a healthcare professional who is trained in accupunture therapy can be helpful 4) Electrical stimulation: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a treatment that uses a mild electric current that is applied to the skin to decrease pain and increase mobility and strength. Some people have found TENS helpful. 5) Cervical traction: The use of weights to pull the spinal column into alignment have been helpful for some people in the short term, however clinical studies have shown no long term benefits. 6) Surgery: Surgery has a role in relieving symptoms related to a pinched nerve in some cases. Usually these patients have tried all prior treatment options before proceeding with surgery. To find an Osteopathic physician in your area, the American Osteopathic Association has a useful website: http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/find-a-do/Pages/default.aspx This document is for informational purposes only, and should not be considered medical advice for any individual patient. If you have questions please contact your medical provider. I hope that you have found this information useful. Wishing you the best of health, Scott Rennie, DO

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June 3, 2011 KevinMD had a guest blogger who questioned the value of needing to treat one million strep throat infections with antibiotics to save one patient from rheumatic fever and heart disease. Typically, we only need to treat a particular strain of strep called Group A beta-hemolytic Strep (GABHS), which produces a particular type of toxin and antigen. However, non-GABHS is often treated with antibiotics, as well as for a significant number of viral throat infections. This practice is based on studies in the 1940 and 1950s showing that the rate of rheumatic fever in children can be cut 50% from 2% to 1%. Currently, the rate of rheumatic fever in the US is 1 per 1 million people with strep throat. On the other hand, one million courses of antibiotics can cause 2,400 cases of significant allergic reactions including anaphylactic reactions, 50,000 to 100,000 cases of diarrhea and 100,000 cases of skin rash. Here’s another article that states that strep throat risks are greatly exaggerated. There’s a lot of merit in what Dr. Lundberg has to say, but when I reviewed the symptoms of rheumatic fever, I was shocked to see how all the symptoms sounded like an acute episode of obstructive sleep apnea. Let me explain: Rheumatic fever typically occurs in children, and usually presents about 2-3 weeks after a strep infection. Children will naturally have large tonsils. If inflamed for whatever reason (virus, bacteria, allergies, etc.), they’ll get larger by definition. Having large tonsils all of a sudden will close off your throat suddenly, preventing you from breathing properly at night while sleeping. This sudden onset of sleep apnea can cause a number of systemic symptoms which are very similar to the classically described symptoms of rheumatic fever: - painful, tender, red and swollen joints - heart palpitations - chest pain - shortness of breath - skin rashes - severe fatigue - skin nodules. You may be thinking, how do these symptoms relate to sleep apnea? If you have any type of infection, you’ll also have fever. Also, having sudden breathing pauses will cause vasomotor symptoms which can also produce fever, chills, hot flashes and night sweats (similar to menopause). There are numerous reports of rheumatoid arthritis resolving completely with sleep apnea treatment. Obstructive sleep apnea, by definition causes systemic inflammation, which can even affect your joints. Not breathing well at night can stimulate your heart, causing palpitations. This can also cause shortness of breath. Numerous dermatologic conditions have also been linked to sleep apnea. Many people report that their psoriasis or eczema improves after sleep apnea treatment. Sleep apnea causes a hyper-coagulable state. This can cause micro-strokes or throw small clots to the most remote parts of the body (skin). Sudden onset of sleep-breathing problems can initiate an intense autoimmune response, since sudden stress can stimulate your immune system. Granted, toxins from a strep infections can aggravate many of these problems. However, heart valve biopsies in patients with rheumatic fever only sometimes show inflammation and scarring, similar to what we may see with autoimmune conditions. Bacteria or toxins are usually not found. I have to say that there are certain situations where strep must be treated, but the vast majority of people who have strep don’t actually have a true infection, and even if they do test positive on a culture, they could be one of the 15% of normal carriers, who just happened to have a viral infection, or reflux. The words strep throat is definitely over-used these days—oftentimes people with any degree of throat pain will say they have strep throat. Furthermore, since most adults will have much smaller tonsils, your risk of having heart complications will probably be much lower compared to children’s risks. To date, I’m not aware of any solid prospective evidence-based study what supports our current guidelines for routine treatment for strep, especially for adults. I suspect a new study in the future will completely reverse the current management of strep. Unfortunately, even if such a study does surface, it’ll be very difficult for physicians to change their ways. How often do you test positive for strep? If so, how often are you prescribed antibiotics even if it comes back negative? Click here for a follow-up discussion about the dangers of Strep throat over-treatment. January 5, 2011 Believe it or not, your skin is considered an end organ, meaning that it’s at the outermost reaches of your blood supply. It’s also a part of your body which can be deprived of blood flow if you’re under stress, similar to what happens to your digestive or reproductive systems. Psoriasis is a common skin condition that affects about 34 million Americans, or about 3% of the population. It’s characterized by red, scaly patches of skin covered by white flakes. It’s thought to be a chronic autoimmune condition, where your body’s immune system can attack or damage your own tissues. I’ve written before about strong links between psoriasis and obstructive sleep apnea, but here are a series of studies that further solidifies this connection. Some of the studies I’ve cited before. Others are new: Metabolic syndrome (Syndrome X) is a combination of high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and high cholesterol levels. Having all three conditions has been shown to significantly increase your risk of heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. Numerous studies show that people with metabolic syndrome can also have obstructive sleep apnea. In fact, syndrome Z has been described as all the features of Syndrome X plus obstructive sleep apnea. A study published in Archives of Dermatology showed that patients with psoriasis had a higher chance of having metabolic syndrome compared to people who didn’t (40% vs. 23). I’ve written in the past about how chronic physiologic stress due to sleep apnea causes diversion of blood flow and nutrients to the bowels, reproductive organs, and the skin, since they’re considered “low priority” organs. Low blood flow causes a relative hypoxia, creating oxidative stress, and along with a heightened immune system, so it’s not surprising that the skin can show psoriatic plaques. Here’s a study showed that women who drank more than two alcoholic beverages per week had a significantly higher risk of psoriasis. Alcohol relaxes your throat muscles, aggravating sleep apnea. Researchers from harvard showed that comorbid conditions such as cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, obesity, and hyperlipidemia all increased over time. Not too surprising if you already have sleep apnea. Pregnant women with psoriasis were found by Harvard and Mass General researchers to have higher risk of pregnancy-related complications, including spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, preeclampsia, placenta previa, and ectopic pregnancy. Gaining weight can aggravate sleep apnea. Studies show that CPAP can help with preeclampsia. People with psoriasis were found to have increased risk of depression (39%), anxiety (31%) and suicidal thoughts (44%). Sleep apnea can cause structural, metabolic, and biochemical changes in your brain due to hypoxia. And lastly, young adults who are obese were found to have a higher risk of developing psoriatic arthritis later in life. Obesity is a major risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea. Perhaps psoriasis should be placed on the ever-growing list of complications of obstructive sleep apnea. What do you think? December 26, 2010 Women who drink 2 or more times per week, particularly nonlight beer, are found to have a higher risk of developing psoriasis. This study out of Harvard University showed that the risk increased by 1.72 times normal. One hypothesis that was proposed was that non-light beer is made from wheat products, and that wheat contains gluten, which is a common component that provokes an autoimmune response in Celiac disease. I’ve written before about how sleep apnea could cause psoriasis in men, and this situation can apply to women as well. Sleep-breathing problems at night, whether or not they’re apneas, can cause a low-grade physiologic stress response which heightens your immune system. When your body’s immune system is in a constant state of stress, it can easily attack normal tissues or proteins. Furthermore, when your body is under stress, certain parts of your body (like your skin, digestive or reproductive organs) will be deprived of blood flow and nervous innervation. Hypoxic states can cause oxidative stress, which has been shown to be linked to autoimmunity, atherosclerosis and even cancer. Knowing how prevalent obstructive sleep apnea is in our population, this connection is not surprising. Is there anyone reading this blog that had their psoriasis go away completely after your sleep apnea was treated? August 16, 2010 How is psoriasis connected to obstructive sleep apnea? You may think I'm crazy for even making the suggestion, but if you look at the studies, the results don't lie—you just have to connect the dots. I've always wondered about this link, since almost every known medical condition is proven to be or possibly associated with obstructive sleep apnea. I was reminded about this connection when I read about golfer Phil Mickelson's psoriatic arthritis. I already commented on the association between sleep apnea and arthritis, and this time, I'm going to show you that psoriasis may be connected as well. First of all, numerous studies have shown that people with psoriasis have a much higher chance of having cardiovascular disease. There are other reports that psoriasis is associated with an increased incidence of cancer, lymphoma, obesity, metabolic syndrome (also known as "Syndrome X"), autoimmune diseases (Crohn's disease and diabetes, etc.), psychiatric diseases (such as depression and sexual dysfunction), psoriatic arthritis, sleep apnea, personal behavior issues, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). If you have severe psoriasis, the likelihood that you'll have a heart attack is 3 times normal. Your chance of dying overall is almost doubled than if you didn't suffer from this condition. Average life expectancy is about 3 to 5 years shorter for someone with psoriasis. We also know that obstructive sleep apnea can cause metabolic syndrome, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, inflammation, heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Your risk of dying early increases 45% if you have severe obstructive sleep apnea. There's even a case report of someone with severe psoriasis who was completely cured after undergoing gastric bypass surgery for obesity. Here's my take on the connection between obstructive sleep apnea and psoriasis: The chronic stress response and repeated episodes of hypoxia deprives the skin of vital blood flow and nutrients. Sympathetic activity overload preferentially shuts down certain parts of the body that are considered unessential, such as the digestive system, reproductive system, and the skin. In addition, chronic low-grade stress also causes your immune system to overreact and cause inflammation, inducing various self-destroying tendencies that are common with autoimmune conditions. What do you think about this possible connection? I'd like to hear your opinion. March 19, 2009 Skin disease is one area that I haven’t covered so far, but data from three large clinical trials suggests that having psoriasis significantly raises your risk for heart disease and stroke. Looking at this issue through my sleep-breathing paradigm, it all makes sense. Not being able to achieve deep efficient sleep can cause a low-grade physiologic stress response, which does two things: It constricts blood vessels going to end organs and parts of the body that you don’t need when you’re running from a tiger. This includes the bowels, the reproductive organs, and the skin. Less blood flow in general leads to poor healing and poor functioning. Chronic low-grade stresses can also ratchet up your immune system which ends up attacking it’s own body parts. In light of these possibilities, it’s not surprising at all that people with psoriasis have increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Web Search Strategies in Plain English 2 (2 Likes / 0 Dislikes) The Web may seem like a vast ocean when it comes to finding something you need. Thankfully, search engines can help turn oceans of information into small pools that make finding information easier. This is Web Search Strategies in Plain English. Before we dive in, Let's talk a bit about how search works on the Web. Search engines go out and try to account for every word on every web page. All this information is then organized for easy reference. When you search for a word, the search engine finds all the pages where the word appears, and displays them in the search results. Usually, the pages that appear highest in the search results have lots of other web pages linking to them. Each link acts as a vote to say, "This may be a good resource." The problem is that there are often too many results. You need a way to reduce the number of results so you can find what you need. Let's look at how this works. Say you're looking for a specific kind of fish, and these represent all the websites on the Web. Searching for FISH doesn't help much. There are way too many results. You need to be more specific. Try to imagine the exact fish and describe it in the search box. You'll see that each word you use gets you closer to what you need. You can do this for any website by imagining the website that has your answer. What's the title of the page? What words appear on it? If you put those words in the search box, you'll get closer to finding answers. But to be a smart searcher, you should know some basic shortcuts. Let's say you're looking for words that appear together, like a phrase or a quote. An example is a search for information on sand sharks. If you search for it like this, the search engine looks for pages with SAND and SHARKS. To get better results, put quotes around the words like this. It limits the results to the exact phrase. Here's another shortcut. Words often have multiple meanings. Consider the word MULLET, which is both a fish and a hairstyle. A search for MULLET may give you a number of results about the hairstyle, but fewer about the fish. To remove the results about hair place a hyphen or minus sign just before the word you want to exclude, which means, "show me the pages about mullet, but take away results relating to hair." By being specific, and using words and symbols that remove useless information, you can find exactly what you need, and keep the Web from swallowing you whole. I'm Lee LeFever and this has been Web Search Strategies in Plain English on the Common Craft Show. The Common Craft Store now offers downloadable versions of our videos for use in the workplace. Find them at CommonCraft.com/store. Duration: 2 minutes and 50 seconds Country: United States Producer: Common Craft, LLC Director: Lee LeFever Posted by: leelefever on Sep 23, 2008 A short video designed to help you get the most out of web searches. Sign In/Register for Dotsub to translate this video.

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Drill pipe is an industrial tubular used to drill into the ground. There are three major industries that use drill pipe. The most common application of drill pipe is in the oil and gas industry. Another industry that uses drill pipe is the underground construction industry, or more specifically, the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) industry. And finally, the water well drilling industry also uses drill pipe. Drill pipe accounts for more than half of all product sales for E&M Specialty Co., who proudly serves all three of these major industries. At E&M, we have the largest selection of drill pipe for sale in the Gulf region, which makes us the #1 drill pipe supplier. The oil and gas industry is where drill pipe is used the most. In 1987, E&M Specialty Co. began as a drill pipe supplier for oil and gas drilling contractors. Each 31ft length of drill pipe is screwed together one by one, and collectively they are known as the drill string. Drill collars and heavy-weight drill pipe are also parts of the drill string. At the bottom of the drill string is the drill bit, which does the actual boring into the earth. Initially all oilfield drill pipe is drilled into the ground vertically by the drilling rig. Then, depending on the proposed location and orientation of the oil well, the direction of the drilling is sometimes changed to horizontal. In comparison to other industries that use drill pipe, oilfield drill pipe is made to withstand the toughest working conditions. This is mainly due to the extreme depths it is used and the extreme conditions of the earth at those depths. For example some drill string lengths are in excess of 30,000ft. Another industry that uses drill pipe is the underground construction industry, or more specifically, the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) industry. E&M Specialty began supplying drill pipe to the HDD industry in the mid 1990’s. This industry utilizes drill pipe to bore tunnels underneath waterways, major roadways, and generally any place where trenching is not acceptable. The resulting bore is used for various utility pipelines such as: fiber optic, water, electricity, and oil and gas. HDD drilling rigs are very different from oilfield drilling rigs in that they are almost completely laying flat or horizontal. Most of the larger (Maxi) HDD rigs use exactly the same drill pipe that the oilfield uses. The water well drilling industry uses drill pipe also. Water wells are very shallow compared to oil wells, so the drill pipe and drilling rigs are lighter duty. E&M Specialty has served the water well drilling industry since the late 1980’s.

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M J K THAVARAJ^ The Concept of Asiatic Mode of Production: Its Relevance to Indian History MARX was preoccupied with the discovery of the laws of social development. Explorations into historical materialism led Marx to analyse not only the nature of transition from feudalism to capitalism in his immediate European environment but also into the identification of earlier socio-economic formations especially of Asia. In this he had to rely on the writings of ever so many political thinkers, economists and historians from Aristotle to Hegel as well as the accounts given by European travellers and missionaries. Most c^f these sources were Euro-centric. Marx was particularly influenced by the writings of Richard Jones (political economist), Hegel (philosopher) and Bernier (traveller). His ideas, however, were evolving over three decades since the Communist Manifesto. Marx made several references to Asiatic Community, Oriental Despotism, historic forms of property etc, in his articles on India and China, Capital, Volume III and letters exchanged by Marx and Engels amongst themselves and with others. Asiatic Mode of Production (AMP) as a distinct historical category first appeared in his Economic Manuscripts of 1857-1859 and was confirmed in his Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy of 1859. Though modified with additional historical material like Morgans Ancient Society which influenced both Marx and Engels, the vagueness and geographic particularism which shrouded the concept gave rise to genuine methodological and epistemological problems for Marxist historiographers on the one hand and ammunition for ideological and political controversies on the other. The academic debate on the concept has waxed and waned but cannot be said to have ended. AMP as Defined by Marx While outlining the AMP in the Economic Manuscripts, Marx underlined the communal ownership of property. It is the community which produces and reproduces itself by living labour. Only insofar *Professor of Financial Administration, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.

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Finding Data Citing data DSS lab consultation schedule *No appts. necessary during walk-in hrs. Note: the DSS lab is open as long as Firestone is open, no appointments necessary to use the lab computers for your own analysis. Interpreting Regression Output This guide assumes that you have at least a little familiarity with the concepts of linear multiple regression, and are capable of performing a regression in some software package such as Stata, SPSS or Excel. You may wish to read our companion page Introduction to Regression first. For assistance in performing regression in particular software packages, there are some resources at UCLA Statistical Computing Portal. Brief review of regression Remember that regression analysis is used to produce an equation that will predict a dependent variable using one or more independent variables. This equation has the form where Y is the dependent variable you are trying to predict, X1, X2 and so on are the independent variables you are using to predict it, b1, b2 and so on are the coefficients or multipliers that describe the size of the effect the independent variables are having on your dependent variable Y, and A is the value Y is predicted to have when all the independent variables are equal to zero. In the Stata regression shown below, the prediction equation is price = -294.1955 (mpg) + 1767.292 (foreign) + 11905.42 - telling you that price is predicted to increase 1767.292 when the foreign variable goes up by one, decrease by 294.1955 when mpg goes up by one, and is predicted to be 11905.42 when both mpg and foreign are zero. Coming up with a prediction equation like this is only a useful exercise if the independent variables in your dataset have some correlation with your dependent variable. So in addition to the prediction components of your equation--the coefficients on your independent variables (betas) and the constant (alpha)--you need some measure to tell you how strongly each independent variable is associated with your dependent variable. When running your regression, you are trying to discover whether the coefficients on your independent variables are really different from 0 (so the independent variables are having a genuine effect on your dependent variable) or if alternatively any apparent differences from 0 are just due to random chance. The null (default) hypothesis is always that each independent variable is having absolutely no effect (has a coefficient of 0) and you are looking for a reason to reject this theory. P, t and standard error The t statistic is the coefficient divided by its standard error. The standard error is an estimate of the standard deviation of the coefficient, the amount it varies across cases. It can be thought of as a measure of the precision with which the regression coefficient is measured. If a coefficient is large compared to its standard error, then it is probably different from 0. How large is large? Your regression software compares the t statistic on your variable with values in the Student's t distribution to determine the P value, which is the number that you really need to be looking at. The Student's t distribution describes how the mean of a sample with a certain number of observations (your n) is expected to behave. For more information on the t distribution, look at this web page. If 95% of the t distribution is closer to the mean than the t-value on the coefficient you are looking at, then you have a P value of 5%. This is also reffered to a significance level of 5%. The P value is the probability of seeing a result as extreme as the one you are getting (a t value as large as yours) in a collection of random data in which the variable had no effect. A P of 5% or less is the generally accepted point at which to reject the null hypothesis. With a P value of 5% (or .05) there is only a 5% chance that results you are seeing would have come up in a random distribution, so you can say with a 95% probability of being correct that the variable is having some effect, assuming your model is specified correctly. The 95% confidence interval for your coefficients shown by many regression packages gives you the same information. You can be 95% confident that the real, underlying value of the coefficient that you are estimating falls somewhere in that 95% confidence interval, so if the interval does not contain 0, your P value will be .05 or less. Note that the size of the P value for a coefficient says nothing about the size of the effect that variable is having on your dependent variable - it is possible to have a highly significant result (very small P-value) for a miniscule effect. In simple or multiple linear regression, the size of the coefficient for each independent variable gives you the size of the effect that variable is having on your dependent variable, and the sign on the coefficient (positive or negative) gives you the direction of the effect. In regression with a single independent variable, the coefficient tells you how much the dependent variable is expected to increase (if the coefficient is positive) or decrease (if the coefficient is negative) when that independent variable increases by one. In regression with multiple independent variables, the coefficient tells you how much the dependent variable is expected to increase when that independent variable increases by one, holding all the other independent variables constant. Remember to keep in mind the units which your variables are measured in. Note: in forms of regression other than linear regression, such as logistic or probit, the coefficients do not have this straightforward interpretation. Explaining how to deal with these is beyond the scope of an introductory guide. R-Squared and overall significance of the regression The R-squared of the regression is the fraction of the variation in your dependent variable that is accounted for (or predicted by) your independent variables. (In regression with a single independent variable, it is the same as the square of the correlation between your dependent and independent variable.) The R-squared is generally of secondary importance, unless your main concern is using the regression equation to make accurate predictions. The P value tells you how confident you can be that each individual variable has some correlation with the dependent variable, which is the important thing. Another number to be aware of is the P value for the regression as a whole. Because your independent variables may be correlated, a condition known as multicollinearity, the coefficients on individual variables may be insignificant when the regression as a whole is significant. Intuitively, this is because highly correlated independent variables are explaining the same part of the variation in the dependent variable, so their explanatory power and the significance of their coefficients is "divided up" between them.

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Thunderf00t’s YouTube Video on the recent outbreak of swine flu. And this is Thnderf00t’s comment to the video. Basic health procedures from the World Health Organization. How can I protect myself from getting swine influenza from infected people? In the past, human infection with swine influenza was generally mild but is known to have caused severe illness such as pneumonia For the current outbreaks in the United States and Mexico however, the clinical pictures have been different. None of the confirmed cases in the United States have had the severe form of the disease and the patients recovered from illness without requiring medical care. In Mexico, some patients reportedly had the severe form of the disease. To protect yourself, practice general preventive measures for influenza: •Avoid close contact with people who appear unwell and who have fever and cough. •Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly. •Practice good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active. If there is an ill person at home: •Try to provide the ill person a separate section in the house. If this is not possible, keep the patient at least 1 meter in distance from others. •Cover mouth and nose when caring for the ill person. Masks can be bought commercially or made using the readily available materials as long as they are disposed of or cleaned properly. •Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after each contact with the ill person. •Try to improve the air flow in the area where the ill person stays. Use doors and windows to take advantage of breezes. •Keep the environment clean with readily available household cleaning agents. If you are living in a country where swine influenza has caused disease in humans, follow additional advice from national and local health authorities.

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CloudSat samples the atmosphere, taking the tiniest vertical slices of clouds and haze and dust and smoke and creating a profile of all that stands between us and space. This vertical sampling is possible because the satellite carries a radar instrument similar to those used to track storms on the ground, but more than 1,000 times more sensitive. The profiles reveal the hidden structure of clouds and their distribution and abundance. It is rare, however, for the satellite to fly directly over the center of a tropical cyclone. On August 11, 2013, CloudSat did exactly that, capturing a perfect profile of the category 4 Super Typhoon Utor approaching the Philippines. Since its launch in April 2006, CloudSat has directly intersected the eye of a storm of this intensity and size only a handful of times. The view of the storm at the top of this page comes from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, which flies in formation with CloudSat and acquired this image a few minutes before the CloudSat overpass. The red line shows the footprint of the CloudSat radar observation displayed in the lower image. The CloudSat observation is about 10 kilometers east of the center of the storm, taking in the structure of the eye and eye wall. At the time, Utor had winds estimated at 115 knots (132 mph) and a minimum pressure of 937 millibars. This overpass reveals many unique features of a well-defined and intense typhoon, including a distinct eye, bands of rain separated by cloud-free areas, and extremely heavy rain. The dip in the center of the profile shows an outward sloping eye and strong eyewall. The lack of a data signal below five kilometers (ten kilometers close to the eye) is due to heavy precipitation, since the radar pulse loses power traveling through intense rain. The strong signal elsewhere points to large amounts of ice and liquid water spread throughout the storm. Dark stripes are rain bands, and these are separated by moats (cloud-free areas) beneath the cirrus canopy. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using CloudSat FirstLook data provided courtesy of the CloudSat team at Colorado State University. Caption by Natalie D. Tourville and Holli Riebeek. - CloudSat - CPR

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We are excited to display the preliminary results of our modeling research using eBird data. These maps, which are called STEM (Spatio-Temporal Exploratory Model) maps, use eBird stationary and traveling count checklists that report all species. The location of each checklist is associated with remotely-sensed information on habitat, climate, human population, and demographics generating a suite of approximately 60 variables describing the environment where eBird searches take place. By relating these environmental variables to observed occurrences, STEM is used to make predictions at unsampled locations and times. Models are trained one species at a time. Following model training, the expected occurrence for that species is predicted on each of 52 days, one per week throughout 2009, at some 130,000 locations sampled throughout the conterminous US. This massive volume of information is then summarized on maps, which in many cases reveal novel information about the annual cycles of North American birds. These maps showcase the power of eBird – year-round, continental-scale monitoring of all species. Obviously, these maps show only the Lower 48 United States. This is because the landscape and climatic variables used to model the bird occurrence are only available for the Lower 48. The Lab and its partners are engaged in ongoing research to find and incorporate satellite-sensed data that will be applicable worldwide and at least allow us to expand these maps to Canada, Central America, and South America. Each species map is displayed with a text overview of the broad-scale migration patterns, along with an interesting biological story to consider. Of course, every map has many more stories to tell, and we invite you to provide your comments and reactions on the eBird blog.

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What is in this article?: - Forensic Casebook: The Case of the Missing Ground Wire - SIDEBAR:Electrical Circuit Phenomena Grounding problems on utility pole lead to death of a cable television technician. SIDEBAR:Electrical Circuit Phenomena Because the ground wire was not connected to ground and cut in two places, the connection between the end of the ground wire above the cut section and the ground was through the wood pole. The dry wood (the weather was dry at the time of the accident) in the pole presented a high resistance to electric current so that very little current flowed via this path. In other words, not enough current flowed to cause the protective devices that protected the power circuit to trip and interrupt the current. Thus, the arc between the phase conductor and the ground wire could have continued indefinitely. Had the ground wire not been cut in two places, it would have provided a safe path to ground and should have tripped protective devices. As shown in the first Figure, when the victim contacted the energized ground wire above the cut sections and the grounded cable support wire at the same time, the current flowed into his hand touching the energized ground wire, through his body, out his other hand to the cable TV support cable, and then through the cable TV ground wire to ground. The burn marks on his hands confirmed this path. The resistance of the human body for electrical safety purposes is considered to be about 1,000 ohms, according to IEEE Std 80-2000. Before the switch is closed in the above circuit, simulating a person contacting the energized ground wire while being grounded through the cable TV support cable, the voltage across the resistance representing the wood pole is about 880V, as measured by the electric utility. When the switch is closed, the body resistance shorts out the wood pole resistance, because it is so much smaller in value, which allows current to flow through the body. When this happens, the voltage across the body resistance will drop from whatever the open-circuit voltage on the ground wire was (880V or higher) to a lower value due to the higher current flow from the source through the body resistance (click here to see Figure). It only takes about 70mA to 300mA of current to kill a human. Thus, it only takes about 70V to 300V to cause a potentially fatal current to flow in the body.

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Alan B. Krueger is an economist at Princeton. Voting is usually considered the domain of political scientists, but economists are also interested in voter behavior for at least three reasons. First, it is a seemingly irrational decision for any individual to vote, as the chance that a single voter influences an election outcome is vanishingly small in a statewide election while there are (small) costs to voting. Second, politicians use their limited resources to try to maximize their vote totals, which is inherently an economic allocation problem. Third, the field of “political economy” studies how political institutions and governance structures influence the economy, and vice versa. Shortly before the last presidential election, I wrote an Economic Scene column for The Times on the cost-effectiveness of various strategies to increase voter turnout. My column relied heavily on a fascinating book by the Yale political scientists Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber, “Get Out the Vote!” (Brookings Institution Press). For a decade the duo has used controlled experiments conducted as part of actual election campaigns to learn how leafleting, robocalls, TV ads and other strategies affect voter turnout. They concluded that it is expensive to increase voter turnout. Door-to-door canvassing, though expensive, seemed to yield the most votes per dollar spent. TV ads did not seem very effective. Back in 2004, I encouraged Mr. Green to make a forecast of voter turnout for the presidential election. Based on his research, he estimated that roughly every $50 spent on mobilization would result in about one additional vote. We guessed that the campaigns and their supporters would spend $200 million more on voter turnout in 2004 than in 2000. Based on these ballpark figures, we predicted that turnout in the presidential election of 2004 would have been 4 million votes (or 2 percent of eligible voters) higher than in 2000, but below the 1992 rate. We were too low. Professor Michael McDonald of George Mason University provides comprehensive voting statistics at this Web page. Voter turnout in 2004 was 60.1 percent of eligible voters, 5.9 points higher than in 2000 and 2 points higher than in 1992.

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What is the nature of mathematics? Becoming a mathematician in the 1960s, I swallowed hook, line, and sinker the Platonistic philosophy dominant at the time, that the objects of mathematics (the numbers, the geometric figures, the topological spaces, and so forth) had a form of existence in some abstract ("Platonic") realm. Their existence was independent of our existence as living, cognitive creatures, and searching for new mathematical knowledge was a process of explorative discovery not unlike geographic exploration or sending out probes to distant planets. I now see mathematics as something entirely different, as the creation of the (collective) human mind. As such, mathematics says as much about we ourselves as it does about the external universe we inhabit. Mathematical facts are not eternal truths about the external universe, which held before we entered the picture and will endure long after we are gone. Rather, they are based on, and reflect, our interactions with that external environment. This is not to say that mathematics is something we have freedom to invent. It's not like literature or music, where there are constraints on the form but writers and musicians exercise great creative freedom within those constraints. From the perspective of the individual human mathematician, mathematics is indeed a process of discovery. But what is being discovered is a product of the human (species)-environment interaction. This view raises the fascinating possibility that other cognitive creatures in another part of the universe might have different mathematics. Of course, as a human, I cannot begin to imagine what that might mean. It would classify as "mathematics" only insofar as it amounted to that species analyzing the abstract structures that arose from their interactions with their environment. This shift in philosophy has influenced the way I teach, in that I now stress social aspects of mathematics. But when I'm giving a specific lecture on, say, calculus or topology, my approach is entirely platonistic. We do our mathematics using a physical brain that evolved over hundreds of thousands of years by a process of natural selection to handle the physical and more recently the social environments in which our ancestors found themselves. As a result, the only way for the brain to actually do mathematics is to approach it "platonistically," treating mathematical abstractions as physical objects that exist. A platonistic standpoint is essential to doing mathematics, just as Cartesian dualism is virtually impossible to dispense with in doing science or just plain communicating with one another ("one another"?). But ultimately, our mathematics is just that: our mathematics, not the universe's.

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In a Scientific American blog post Deep thought is dead, Long live deep thought, a bioinformatics analyst broods on the question, ‘Where are these jobs that will require such rapid “searching, browsing, assessing quality, and synthesizing the vast quantities of information?" and decides quiet a lot of information can be gained by this type of superficial processing of large quantities of material. "Our ability to produce data is outstripping our ability to understand it. In fact, the need to make sense of these mountains of information is so great that it’s given rise to one of the hottest interdisciplinary fields on the market: data mining and predictive analytics." Perhaps it's a trade-off. A lot can be gained from slowly and deeply reading a dense but wise text, but a different sort of knowledge (and equally legitimate) can be arrived at by superficial processing of large quantities of material. This more superficial processing may be particularly well suited to inductive problems where principles may be extrapolated from different examples or instances. researchers in Neuroimage found that the striatal-thalamic regions (blue left) were important for the extrapolation step in inductive problem solving. This is all very interesting because of the association of striatal structures with curiosity and novelty. One wonders whether strong caudate learners should be considered as a distinct learning style - novel, curiosity driven, inductive learners who learn best by engaging primary or direct experiences- then reasoning back to first principles. We see many of these types of learners in high tech / computer engineering fields - and that probably also jives with the video gamers have bigger brains (caudates) research.

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Last year as we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the social studies class in my grandson’s middle school discussed the man and his ideas. However, it never once came up that Dr. King was a Baptist minister and his religious beliefs, as well as his philosophical beliefs, were the driving force behind his actions. Included in Dr. King’s Christian beliefs were the biblical teachings about angels. He took courage in the knowledge that angels were helping those who worked for justice. He wrote, “The universe is under the control of a loving purpose, and that in the struggle for righteousness man has cosmic companionship (angels). Behind the harsh appearance of the world there is a benign power.” Dr. King and his wife discussed two incidents where angels played an important part in their journey. Dr. King himself had a life-altering experience when he was in the depths of despair. From his description of the incident, it seems likely that angels were present in his humble kitchen at the time. His wife, Coretta Scott King, was also certain that an angel saved her life and the life of their child at another time. The first incident occurred one night when Martin Luther King was agonizing over the price his activities might exact against himself, Coretta, and their baby daughter, Yolanda, called Yoki. The decision to continue fighting for civil rights was not an easy one. It all came to a head one night in what Martin Luther King would later call his own “Gethsemane experience.”

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An Adjustment removes the interference to the body’s central nervous system, causing the body to function normally. An adjustment can help with anything from a common headache to improving your body’s energy and overall health. How Does An Adjustment Work? Throughout history, adjustments, or spinal manipulations, have been performed to help relieve people of back and neck pain. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, utilized spinal manipulation in his practice 2,500 years ago. For more than 100 years Chiropractors have been the specialists in spinal adjustments. About 95% of all spinal adjustments today are performed by Chiropractors. Doctors of Chiropractic are highly trained and skilled in the art of adjustments and manipulations. What Is An Adjustment? Adjustments and manipulations are techniques used to restore motion to joints that have lost their ability to move normally. To fully understand, we must first learn about normal joint mechanics. All joints have an active and passive range of motion. Active range of motion is the movement a joint makes using only your muscles. Move a finger back and for the and notice how far it moves. At the end of its motion you can push on your finger and it will move a little farther. This extra motion is the passive range of motion. The joint should give or spring as you push it into the passive range. At the end of the passive range of motion is an area called the paraphysiological zone. The goal of adjustments is to move the joint beyond the passive range of motion and into the paraphysiological zone. As the joint is moved into this special zone a popping sound is usually heard. This requires great speed and skill and should only be done by someone who has had extensive training. Adjustments may be used on any joint of the body that has lost its normal join motion. Doctors of Chiropractic are specialists in performing adjustments. What Makes The Popping Sound? When a joint is adjusted the two surfaces of the joint separate. The popping sound is not made from the bones, but is the collapse of a gas bubble formed in the joint fluid as the joint is separated. It takes approximately 20 minutes for the joint surfaces to return to their previous position and pressure. This is why many patients fell “loose” after an adjustment. Adjustments allow the joint to have more freedom and a greater passive range of motion. How Do Adjustments Work? The effects of adjustments are very broad. They include various mechanical, or direct, and reflex, or indirect, mechanisms. These include: |~||Increasing joint motion (mechanically) which causes a decrease of pain (reflex). You have different types of nerves that sense different types of sensations. The nerves that sense motion, heat, cold, and vibration will override the nerves that sense pain. This is why people will feel okay while they are active, but when they sit down and relax their pain may come back. As the brain receives information about movement and other sensations, it closes the gate on the nerves that sense pain. |~||Stimulating a joint with an adjustment (mechanical) causes relaxation of the muscles around the joint (reflex). |~||Chronic pain results in decreased joint mobility, shortening of joint tissues, and the formations of adhesions. Adjustments stretch shortened tissues and break joint adhesions. This results in increased joint motion causing the reflexes noted above. |~||Sometimes a tag of joint tissue will become trapped in neck or back joints. This may cause irritation in both the affected and neighboring joints, which leads to muscle spasms and a locked neck or back. Adjustments can release these joint tags (mechanical). |~||Spinal adjustments stimulate the autonomic nervous system (reflex), which regulates the function of the organs. Some of the effects include changes in blood circulation, skin temperature, blood pressure, blood chemistry, and the diameter of the pupils. |~||Correcting abnormal joint mechanics provides relief of chronic nerve compression and irritation. Some patients have a combination of stenosis, or narrowing of the canals that the nerves pass through, and decreased joint motion. Adjustments will increase joint motion and relieve compression of the nerves, resulting in reflex effects that reduce pain and muscle dysfunction. Chiropractors have sometimes been criticized throughout the past century for their use and claims of the benefits of spinal adjustments. Every Chiropractor has witnessed “miracles” in his or her office. Patients not only describe relief of pain but also changes in their vision, bowels, amount of dizziness, breathing, and sleeping. The list goes on and on. Each year there are more research studies being done to explain these dramatic results. In the 1980′s, there was an explosion of research on the treatment of back and neck pain; specifically concerning the effectiveness of spinal adjustments. These research studies have been used to establish US and UK clinical guidelines for the management of low back pain. These government sponsored multidisciplinary guidelines recommend spinal adjustments, over-the-counter drugs, and hot or cold treatments as the only proven treatments for acute low back pain. The US guideline recommends against most traditional, and unproven, medical treatments including muscle relaxers and prescription drugs, bed rest, traction, TENS units, ultrasound, and various injections. Chiropractic was once considered unorthodox and simply a placebo. Today, research has proven Chiropractic to be the treatment of choice for many conditions. Tomorrow’s research will only tell how far reaching spinal adjustments can be.

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“The ground-plan of a typical Auvergnese church was developed from the early Christian basilica plan. Transept-arms and a choir give it the cruciform shape; the long nave is flanked by aisles; the primitive projecting narthex is replaced by a vestibule which is included behind the main façade; and the apse is encircled by chapels. This was the plan characteristic of those Northern Romanesque styles from which the Gothic styles were to spring. But in Auvergne the structure raised upon this plan was distinctively Southern in idea, and at the same time distinctively local in treatment. The aisles of Notre Dame du Port like those in Poitou and Provence, are much taller than the old basilican aisles which, with great triforia and clearstories above them, were retained in Northern Romanesque and in Gothic art. Once again this increase in altitude is explained by the desire for high-palced lateral vaults as buttresses for the long barrel-vault of the nave. But the Auvergnese aisle is not so very lofty as are those of Poitou and Provence, and its service as a buttress is performed in a different way. In Poitou and Provence the aisle-vault is the half of a barrel-vault,—continuous, and in section the quarter of a circle,—and it meets the nave-wall at so high a point that in Provence this wall gives space only for a range of very small clearstory windows, and in Poitou for no openings at all. But in Auvergne the less lofty aisle is covered by a series of rectangular intersecting vaults. These support a triforium gallery. The ceiling of this gallery is not of wood, as are those of the triforia of Romanesque churches in the North, but is a second series of intersecting vaults. Above these is thrown the actual buttressing vault, which like the aisle-vault proper in Poitou and Provence, is half of a barrell-vault. Thus that safe construction of stone ceilings above the broad nave, which in all Southern provinces was achieved much earlier than at the North, was most elaborately and scientifically compassed in Auvergne, and also most beautifully.”—Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, “... if from the examination of the general features we proceed to the details of the building, every one who understands construction will be amazed to see what numberless precautions are resorted to in the execution,—how the prudence of the practical builder is combined with the daring of the artist full of power and inventive imagination; while in examining the mouldings and the sculpture we remark the use of reliable methods, a scrupulous adherence to principles, a perfect appreciation of effect, a style unequaled in purity by modern art, an execution at the same time delicate and bold, quite free from exaggeration, and owing its merit to the study and love of form.”—Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, Regarding Notre Dame de Paris in Discourses on Architecture, 1860 “The introduction of the pointed arch in vaulting construction first gives the Gothic architect the chance to carry out his aspiration for a building with taut sinews and pliant members, and without any superfluous flesh or any superfluous mass. For the much slighter lateral thrust of ogival vaulting per mits a higher and more slender treatment of the supporting pillars, and thus first makes possible that thorough breaking up of the static construction, and that expression, consonant with Gothic demands, of delicate, flexible, and unencumbered action. It is as if, now—with the introduction of the pointed arch—a great selfconsciousness went through the building. The cue seems to be given that lets its pent-up need of activity, its predisposition to express pathos, take the stage. The whole building strains itself in the joyous consciousness of being freed at last from all material weight, from all terrestrial limitations. The pillars grow high, slender, and supple; the vaulting loses itself in dizzy heights. And yet everything is subservient to this vaulting carried far aloft. For its sake only the building seems to exist. The vaulting already begins at the foundation of the building, as it were. All the great and small vaulting-shafts, which spring up from the floor and like living forces invest the pillars, appear both structurally and aesthetically as mere preparation for the vault. With lithe strength they fly up from the floor to fade away gradually in an easy movement. The movement pressing on from both sides is unified in the crown of the vault by a keystone, which, in spite of the actual weight demanded by its structural function as abutment, makes no aesthetic impression of weight and appears, rather, a natural termination, light as a flower.”—Wilhelm Worringer, Form Problems of the Gothic, 1918 “Without staying to examine the whole structure of a basilica, the reader will easily understand thus much of it: that it had a nave and two aisles, the nave much higher than the aisles; that the nave was separated from the aisles by rows of shafts, which supported, above, large spaces of flat or dead wall, rising above the aisles, and forming the upper part of the nave, now called the clerestory, which had a gabled wooden roof.”—John Ruskin,

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Level: B1/Intermediate and up Skills: Reading, speaking, listening and writing Language: nouns and adjectives (e.g. happy/happiness, grateful/gratitude) The lesson starts with a short text to introduce the topic and get the students thinking about how people recognise and celebrate gratitude in their cultures. It then moves onto the video, where students watch two people visiting a friend and reading aloud a letter they have written , thanking them for what they have done. There is some focus on vocabulary, and some useful phrases that students could use themselves to say thank you. Finally, the students are asked to write their own thank you letter, which they may or may not choose to actually deliver. Secrets of a long and happy marriage Level: Pre-Int/strong A2 upwards Skills: Listening and speaking (giving advice) Language: idioms connected with love and marriage, imperatives to give advice The lesson starts with some discussion about marriage before students are asked to give their ‘top tips’ for a successful marriage. They then watch the video and compare Selma and Kenny’s advice with their ideas. The video is quite easy to follow, though the couple do talk over each other at times (there is a transcript). It’s funny and quite touching. There is then a focus on idioms connected with love and marriage, and then we look at some of the ways Selma and Kenny use imperatives to give advice. Students can then use this language to reformulate their original pieces of advice. A good deed Level: PreIntermediate/A2 – Upper Intermediate/B2 Skills: Listening (audio not video), speaking (telling a narrative) Language: Narrative tenses (simple past and past perfect) The lesson starts with a short text giving some background to the Depression of the 1930s, and invites students to think about parallels with the situation in some countries today and what can, or should be done by individuals and governments. Students then listen to the audio, which is quite short and simple, listening both for gist and specific information. There is then a focus on narrative tenses, specifically simple past and past perfect. This could work as part of an introduction to past perfect, or as a review at higher levels. Students then try to retell Virginia’s story, using tenses appropriately, before going on to tell their own ‘good deed’ stories. Try something new for 30 days Skills: Listening, Speaking Language: Present Perfect for experience (Have you ever + past participle) and idioms. The lesson starts with a quick review of present perfect for experience: Have you ever + past participle? Students then watch the video (3 minutes), which is quite simply and clearly expressed, looking at what challenges Matt carried out, and the impact these challenges had on his life. There is a focus on some idiomatic language, and then the lesson concludes by asking students to think of some challenges they’d like to do themselves (and that they’d like to set for the teacher!) Skills: Listening, Writing (self-descriptions) Language: Collocations to describe facial features (thick hair, full lips etc) The lesson is based around the recent Dove advertisement, showing the huge difference between women’s views of their looks and how other see them. The lesson starts by focusing on collocations to describe facial features, such as thick hair, full lips and so on. Students then watch the video and discuss some of the issues raised, including self -esteem, the role of the media,and differences between men and women. More language to describe physical appearance is ‘pulled out’ of the video, and the lesson ends with students writing detailed descriptions of themselves. An optional extra that might work well to lighten the class a little is a very funny spoof video, where some men find out that they are actually much uglier than they think they are! The link is in the accompanying notes. Q & A Level: B2/Upper Int+ (good intermediate class could cope) Skills: Listening (inferring meaning), Reading, Speaking Joshua, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, interviews his mother, giving us insights into what it’s like for him to be different from others, and the loving relationship between the two of them. Great for raising awareness of Asperger’s and of bullying, and very touching. The lesson involves listening and inferring meaning, plenty of discussion, and also has a focus on ellipsis, where words are omitted because the meaning is clear. The Science of Smiling Level: B1+ Int+ (suitable for lower level IELTS students as well as General English) Skills: Listening, Reading (summary completion), Speaking Language: Idioms to describe emotions (e.g. fly off the handle) This lesson is about why smiling, even when we don’t feel much like it, can actually make us happier. The lesson starts with a short video, demonstrating the impact of smiling on the ‘miserable’ people of Edinburgh. After some brief discussion, the students go on to read a text about the various scientific findings about the emotional impact of smiling. The text and task (summary completion) would be suitable for students preparing for IELTS, especially at a lower level, but is suitable for a General English class as well. Finally, the lesson looks at a lexical set of idioms to describe emotions, and the students are asked to discuss how different situations might make them feel. The Icing on the Cake Level: A2+/Pre-Int + (adaptable for higher levels) Skills: Listening and Speaking Language: Impersonal pronouns/adverbs (something, anyone, everywhere,nobody etc) and vocabulary to describe positive qualities (ambitious, patient, kind etc) The lesson is based around another wonderful animated true story from http://www.storycorps.com. The conversation between a mother and daughter looks back on the family’s struggles as poor immigrants to the US, and how the daughter was inspired by her mother’s determination. It would work very well with groups of students who have experienced something similar, but is suitable for anyone. The lead-in task asks students to predict, using pictures of key incidents in the story. The use of pictures makes it suitable for lower level learners, and it could also be done with learners who have literacy issues, by making the follow up questions oral. After watching and listening, students are asked to think about whether they admire the parents in the story (or not), which should lead to some interesting discussion about immigration, the necessity of working versus spending time with children and so on. Then there is a focus on impersonal pronouns/adverbs (something, anything, everyone.nowhere etc) and a discussion task which brings in more vocabulary to describe qualities we’d like to pass onto our children. Again, this could be adapted to lower and higher levels through the choice of vocabulary. The Chicken Nugget Experiment Level: At two levels A2+/Pre-Int+ and B2+/Upper Int + Skills: Listening and Speaking Language: Vocabulary to discuss junk food (nutritious, saturated fat, obesity). Lower level: Giving opinions, agreeing/disagreeing. Higher Level: Contrast markers (despite, even though, although, however etc) After a video lead-in, the lesson is based around a video of British chef, Jamie Oliver, demonstrating exactly what does go into cheap chicken nuggets to a group of American children. It’s pretty revolting, but the children reckon it’s ‘awesome’..and there’s a surprise at the end. The lesson is at two levels, Lower Intermediate (A2+) and Upper Intermediate (B2+). The video is quite easy to follow even if students don’t understand everything that’s being said. Both versions introduce a set of vocabulary for talking about junk food, and both have a variety of discussion tasks and questions. The lower level version also introduces some functional language for giving opinions and agreeing and disagreeing, while the higher level version looks at how to use contrast markers, although, even though, despite etc. To R.P. Salazar, with love. Level: B1/Intermediate + Skills: Listening and Speaking Language: Different uses of ‘like’, including ‘slang’ uses and ‘would’ and ‘used’ to for past habits. The lesson uses an authentic recording from http://www.storycorps.com, which has also been animated. The lesson focuses on vocabulary and grammar from the recording, and asks students to think about the role of luck or fate in our lives, and whether there really is someone for everyone. The lesson finishes with a speaking activity where students can tell the tale of how they and their partner (or a couple they know) met. Living without Money Level: B2/Upper Int + (because of the authentic reading text) Skills: Reading and speaking Language: Vocabulary from the text, related to money and to different roles. Note that the lead-in video is in German, and students should use the subtitles. After the lead-in, students work on vocabulary from the authentic text, related to money and different roles in life. They then look in detail at the reading text before being invited to consider their opinions about Heidemarie’s lifestyle, and the bigger question of whether society is too materialistic and whether (and how) it should change. Pay it Forward Level: At three levels, see below. Skills: Reading, speaking, writing Language: Relative pronouns and defining relative clauses (for higher level also omiting relative pronoun when it’s an object, and reduced relative clauses) This lesson starts with a short reading text about a recent event at a coffee shop in Canada, where some-one’s kindness in paying for the person behind them led to 288 people passing on the favour to the next in line. The lesson then uses the video above (no words, just music) to extend the idea, before focusing on defining relative clauses. There are three different versions, so that you can either choose the most appropriate for your students, or use all three with mixed level classes. The lesson rounds off by asking students to complete a story, imagining their own chain of events. Level: Upper Intermediate + Adults and Teens Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing With a reading text about a real-life Secret Millionaire, who wanted to give something back, this lesson introduces a range of idioms to talk about wealth and poverty and gets students thinking about the gap between rich and poor, the responsibilities of those who are better off, and what it means to have someone who believes in you. There is a focus on strategies for skim reading and the lesson finishes with a writing activity where students write to someone who made a difference in their lives.

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Henry Way Kendall (December 9, 1926 – February 15, 1999) was an American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990 jointly with Jerome Isaac Friedman and Richard E. Taylor "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics." |This scientist article is a stub. You can help Wikiquote by expanding it.| - While science and technology play critical roles in sustaining modern civilization, they are not part of our culture in the sense that they are not commonly studied or well comprehended. Neither the potential nor the limitations of science are understood so that what can be achieved and what is beyond reach are not comprehended. The line between science and magic becomes blurred so that public judgments on technical issues can be erratic or badly flawed. It frequently appears that some people will believe almost anything. Thus judgments can be manipulated or warped by unscrupulous groups. Distortions or outright falsehoods can come to be accepted as fact. - Henry Way Kendall (2000). A distant light: scientists and public policy. Springer. p. 4. ISBN 0387988335.

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Georg Eberhard Rumphius |This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2013)| Georg Eberhard Rumphius (originally: Rumpf; baptized c. November 1, 1627 – June 15, 1702) was a German-born botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company in what is now eastern Indonesia, and is best known for his work Herbarium Amboinense. In addition to his major contributions to plant systematics, he is also remembered for his skills as an ethnographer, and his frequent defense of Ambonese peoples against colonialism. Rumphius was the oldest son of August Rumpf, a builder and engineer in Hanau, and Anna Elisabeth Keller, sister of Johann Eberhard Keller, governor of the Dutch-speaking Kleve (Cleves), at that time a district of the Electortel (Kurfürstentum) of Brandenburg. He was baptized Georg Eberhard Rumpf in Wölfersheim, where he grew up. He went to the Gymnasium in Hanau. Though born and raised in Germany he spoke and wrote in Dutch from an early age, probably as learned from his mother. He was recruited, ostensibly to serve the Republic of Venice, but was put on a ship (The Black Raven) in 1646 bound for Brazil where the Dutch and Portuguese were fighting over territory. Either through shipwreck or capture he landed in Portugal, where he remained for nearly three years. Around 1649 he returned to Hanau where he helped his father's business. Merchant of Ambon A week after his mother's funeral (December 20, 1651) he left Hanau for the last time. Perhaps through contacts of his mother's family, he enlisted with the Dutch East Indies Company (as Jeuriaen Everhard Rumpf) and left as a midshipman, December 26, 1652, aboard the ship Muyden for the Dutch East Indies. He arrived in Batavia in July 1653, and proceeded to the Ambon archipelago in 1654. By 1657 his official title was "engineer and ensign", at which point he requested a transfer to the civilian branch of the company and became "junior merchant" on Hitu island, north of Ambon. He then started to undertake a study of the flora and fauna of these Spice Islands. Eventually, Joan Maetsuycker, the governor-general in Batavia, gave him dispensation from his ordinary duties to complete this study. He would become known as Plinius Indicus (the Pliny of the Indies). Rumphius is best known for his authorship of Het Amboinsche kruidboek or Herbarium Amboinense, a catalogue of the plants of the island of Amboina (in modern-day Indonesia), published posthumously in 1741. The work covers 1,200 species, 930 with definite species names, and another 140 identified to genus level. He provided illustrations and descriptions for nomenclature types for 350 plants, and his material contributed to the later development of the binomial scientific classification by Linnaeus. His book provided the basis for all future study of the flora of the Moluccas and his work is still referred to today. Despite the distance he was in communication with scientists in Europe, was a member of a scientific society in Vienna, and even sent a collection of Moluccan sea shells to the Medicis in Tuscany. After going blind in 1670 due to glaucoma, Rumphius continued work on his six-volume manuscript with the help of others. His wife and child were lost to an earthquake and tsunami on February 17, 1674. In 1687, with the project nearing completion, the illustrations were lost in a fire. Persevering, Rumphius and his helpers first completed the book in 1690, but the ship carrying the manuscript to the Netherlands was attacked by the French and sank, forcing them to start over from a copy that had fortunately been retained. The Herbarium Amboinense finally arrived in the Netherlands in 1696. However, "the East India Company decided that it contained so much sensitive information that it would be better not to publish it." Rumphius died in 1702, so never saw his work in print; the embargo was lifted in 1704, but then no publisher could be found for it. It finally appeared in 1741, thirty-nine years after Rumphius's death. Much of the natural history in Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën ("Old and New East-India") by François Valentijn was by Rumphius and they were close friends. - Herbarium Amboinense. 1747. - Amboinsche Rariteitkamer (Amboina Curiosity Cabinet, 1705) - Amboinsche Historie (Amboina History) - Amboinsche Lant-beschrijvinge (a social geography) - Amboinsch Dierboek (Amboina animal book, lost) - Merrill, Elmer D. (1 Nov 1917). An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense (Digitised, online, via biodiversitylibrary.org). Publication No. 9. Manila, Philippines: Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Bureau of Science. pp. 1–595. Retrieved 13 Nov 2013. (cited in Monk,, K.A.; Fretes, Y.; Reksodiharjo-Lilley, G. (1996). The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd. p. 4. ISBN 962-593-076-0.) - Monk,, K.A.; Fretes, Y.; Reksodiharjo-Lilley, G. (1996). The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd. p. 4. ISBN 962-593-076-0. - "Author Query for 'Rumph.'". International Plant Names Index. - Wehner, U., W. Zierau, & J. Arditti The merchant of Ambon: Plinius Indicus, in Orchid Biology: Reviews and Perspectives, pp 8–35. Tiiu Kull, Joseph Arditti, editors, Springer Verlag 2002 - Georg Eberhard Rumpf and E.M. Beekman (1999). The Ambonese curiosity cabinet - Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, Yale University Press (New Haven, Connecticut): cxii + 567 p. (ISBN 0300075340) English translation preceded by an account of his life and work and with annotations. - Media related to Georg Eberhard Rumpf at Wikimedia Commons

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Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary |Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve| |Location||Lake Huron, Alpena County, Michigan USA| |Nearest city||Alpena, Michigan| |Area||448 square miles (1,160 km2)| |Governing body||Michigan Department of Natural Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration| The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary on Thunder Bay, part of Lake Huron, within the U.S. state of Michigan. The 448-square-mile (1,160 km2) sanctuary and underwater preserve protects an estimated 116 historically significant shipwrecks ranging from nineteenth century wooden side-wheelers to twentieth century steel-hulled steamers. The Thunder Bay is the thirteenth National Marine Sanctuary designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was established in 2000. The landward boundary of the sanctuary extends from the northern boundary of Alpena County near Middle Island, to its southern boundary near South Point. The sanctuary extends east from the lakeshore to longitude 83 degrees west. Alpena is the largest city in the area. There are a great many wrecks in the sanctuary, and their preservation and protection is a concern for national policy makers. Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center Tied to the sanctuary is the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, 500 W Fletcher St, Alpena, MI 49707 (989) 356-8805. The museum features exhibits about local ship wrecks and the Great Lakes, an auditorium, an archaeological conservation lab and education areas. - Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve NOAA - Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center NOAA - Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve Michigan Underwater Preserve Council |This Michigan museum-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|

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The handfishes are a poorly known lophiiform family containing four described species in two genera: Brachionichthys and Sympterichthys. Handfishes are restricted to dispersed inshore marine habitats off southern Australia and primarily Tasmania. Like most other shallow-dwelling lophiiforms, they are exclusively benthic. Several species in the family are of conservation concern and listed as vulnerable to extinction by the Australian government (Last et al., 1983). Australia's CSIRO has produced a QuickTime clip that outlines the conservation status of the spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus) and demonstrates the tetrapod-like locomotion of brachionichthyids. No one has provided updates yet.

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What is Nanotechnology? The term nanotechnology refers to research and technology development conducted with particles and materials in the size range of approximately one to one hundred nanometers in any dimension (i.e., nanoscale). A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, approximately one hundred thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Nanotechnology refers to the intentional engineering or manufacture of nanoscale particles. However, nanoscale materials can also be produced unintentionally, from various human and natural processes (e.g., particulates produced from fuel combustion, volcanic ash, viruses). Nanotechnology holds great promise for creating new materials with enhanced properties and attributes. For example, greater catalytic efficiency, increased electrical conductivity, and improved hardness and strength, derive from the larger surface area per unit of volume of nanoscale materials as well as special physical properties (i.e., quantum effects) that occur at nanoscale dimensions. Nanoscale materials are already being used or tested in a wide range of products such as sunscreens, composites, medical and electronic devices, and chemical catalysts. Nanotechnology Applications for the Environment Nanoscale materials have potential beneficial applications for future environmental remediation or as detectors. For example, nanosized cerium oxide has been developed to decrease diesel emissions, and iron nanoparticles can remove contaminants from soil and ground water. Nanosized sensors hold promise for improved detection and tracking of contaminants in the environment. In these and other ways, nanotechnology presents an opportunity to improve how we measure, monitor, manage, and reduce contaminants in the environment. EPA is interested in the potential benefits of nanotechnology and charged with regulating its disposal. A challenge for environmental protection is to help fully realize the societal benefits nanotechnology while identifying and minimizing any adverse impacts to humans or ecosystems from exposure to nanoscale materials. EPA is working to gain a better understanding of how to best apply nanotechnology for pollution prevention in current manufacturing processes and in the manufacture of new nanoscale materials, as well as in environmental detection, monitoring, and clean-up of waste sites. This understanding will come from scientific information gathered by environmental research and development activities conducted by government agencies, academia, and the private sector.

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Everyone can play their part in preserving our nation's water resources. With the simple steps and informational tools below, you'll find that it's easier than ever. You've purchased some WaterSense labeled products and started down the road to savings, but don't stop there. There are lots of things you can do in your own home to reduce water use and get more from less. Just follow our simple tips below to get started! Here, there, and everywhere: - Fix a Leak: Small household leaks can add up to gallons of water lost every day. That's why WaterSense reminds Americans to check their plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems each year in March during Fix a Leak Week. In the bathroom—where over half of all water use inside a home takes place: - Turn off the tap while shaving or brushing teeth. - Showers use less water than baths, as long as you keep an eye on how long you've been lathering up! - Learn tips on how to Shower Better here! In the kitchen- whip up a batch of big water savings: - Plug up the sink or use a wash basin if washing dishes by hand. - Use a dishwasher; and when you do, make sure it's fully loaded! - While you're at it, scrape that plate instead of rinsing before loading it into the dishwasher. - Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of letting the faucet run until the water is cool. - Thaw in the refrigerator overnight rather than using a running tap of hot water. - Add food wastes to your compost pile instead of using the garbage disposal. In the laundry room—where you can be clean AND green: - Wash only full loads of laundry or use the appropriate water level or load size selection on the washing machine. Of the estimated 29 billion gallons of water used daily by households in the United States, nearly 7 billion gallons, or 30 percent, is devoted to outdoor water use. In the hot summer months, or in dry climates, a household's outdoor water use can be as high as 70 percent. In the yard—be beautiful and efficient: - Create a water-smart landscape that is both beautiful and efficient to give your home the curb appeal you desire. - Timing is everything! Knowing when and how much to water allows you to keep a healthy landscape. - Upgrade to a WaterSense labeled controller if you have an in-ground irrigation system. - Find a certified irrigation professional to install, maintain, or audit your irrigation system to ensure it is watering at peak efficiency. - Take a look at the Landscape Photo Gallery for inspirational examples of beautiful, water-smart landscapes from across the country. Other outdoor uses—drop that hose and keep it covered: - Sweep driveways, sidewalks, and steps rather than hosing off. - Wash the car with water from a bucket, or consider using a commercial car wash that recycles water. - If you have a pool, use a cover to reduce evaporation when pool is not being used. Take the Pledge, Be for Water Use this simple calculator to estimate how much water, energy, and money you can save by installing WaterSense labeled products in your home or apartment building. For everything, there is a season... ...to be more water efficient! During the course of the year, our daily activities will change and so will our water use. Here's your "to-do" for savings this season! Click on the image to the right or the images below to learn more helpful hints for being water-efficient all year round. *Copyright Eric Vance 2010, All Rights Reserved. Reproduction rights granted to USEPA

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de Andrade, Rafael Barreto and Barlow, Jos and Louzada, Julio and Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Zagury and Souza, Mateus and Silveira, Juliana M. and Cochrane, Mark A. (2011) Quantifying responses of dung beetles to fire disturbance in tropical forests:the importance of trapping method and seasonality. PLoS ONE, 6 (10). -. |PDF - Published Version | Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (392Kb) | Preview Understanding how biodiversity responds to environmental changes is essential to provide the evidence-base that underpins conservation initiatives. The present study provides a standardized comparison between unbaited flight intercept traps (FIT) and baited pitfall traps (BPT) for sampling dung beetles. We examine the effectiveness of the two to assess fire disturbance effects and how trap performance is affected by seasonality. The study was carried out in a transitional forest between Cerrado (Brazilian Savanna) and Amazon Forest. Dung beetles were collected during one wet and one dry sampling season. The two methods sampled different portions of the local beetle assemblage. Both FIT and BPT were sensitive to fire disturbance during the wet season, but only BPT detected community differences during the dry season. Both traps showed similar correlation with environmental factors. Our results indicate that seasonality had a stronger effect than trap type, with BPT more effective and robust under low population numbers, and FIT more sensitive to fine scale heterogeneity patterns. This study shows the strengths and weaknesses of two commonly used methodologies for sampling dung beetles in tropical forests, as well as highlighting the importance of seasonality in shaping the results obtained by both sampling strategies. |Journal or Publication Title:||PLoS ONE| |Additional Information:||© 2011 Andrade et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.| |Uncontrolled Keywords:||RAIN-FOREST ; COLEOPTERA SCARABAEIDAE ; INSECT CONSERVATION ; RECURRENT WILDFIRES ; PLANTATION FORESTS ; AMAZONIAN FORESTS ; BIODIVERSITY ; DIVERSITY ; ABUNDANCE ; ASSEMBLAGES| |Departments:||Faculty of Science and Technology > Lancaster Environment Centre| |Deposited On:||05 Dec 2011 16:59| |Last Modified:||19 Sep 2013 14:53| Actions (login required)

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An illustration of Geoffrey Chaucer as a Canterbury pilgrim. Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400?) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin.

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Ballistics is also used to describe the process of identify ing a firearm through test firings and careful examination of spent casing s and bullet s from those firings. It is a process used daily by law enforcement personnel all over the world, as well as by those designing and testing new (or restored) firearms. More in line with Webster1913's definition, it (in another incarnation) is the study of the flight and energy transfer of projectiles, usually from firearms, for purposes other than identification. For example, hunting (in many nations/states/provinces) is regulated as to the type of ammunition that is permitted for use against various targets. The reasoning is fairly straightforward; you wish to ensure that the hunter is safely employing a weapon; one that (when properly wielded) will kill the target quickly and cleanly, without causing it painful and debilitating (but not fatal) injury. There are reasons other than strict humanitarianism for this. For one, it helps to ensure that a minimum number of animals are destroyed per hunter. For another, it helps to ensure the safety of people and property; for example, while hunting for fowl with a shotgun and shot shells is quite sensible, hunting for those same creatures with a rifle is foolhardy. Not only are your chances of success much reduced, but a rifled bullet (especially when aimed in an upward direction as it would be when hunting birds) will carry an enormous distance - miles, in many cases. When it strikes the ground it will not be going as quickly as it did leaving the gun, due to friction, but it will be going fast enough to cause fairly severe damage to anyone or anything that it hits. Round shot packed into a shell, with lower pressure and more chaotic flight patterns, will fall harmlessly to the ground in as little as a hundred feet. (WARNING: Don't stand in front of them to check.) In any case, the desire to ensure a clean kill overlaps to some degree (actually, sometimes is a complete Boolean OR) with military ammunition design. Due to various treaties and agreements, there are limitations on the types of bullet that can be used in an antipersonnel weapon such as the rifle, carbine or pistol. These are not always designed to reduce the 'cleanliness' of the shot, or increase damage, as might be assumed. The ideal disposition of an enemy soldier is not, in fact, dead. Rather, the ideal outcome (from a military standpoint) is to succeed in incapacitating as many enemy soldiers through injury as possible, without killing them. The reasoning is fairly simple; a dead soldier consumes no resources, whereas a wounded one (assuming policy calls for it) will occupy the time and supplies required to transport, protect and heal him or her back to fighting condition. So, in the guise of humanity, one example of a convention on ammunition is the specification for all military wartime ammo to have a full metal jacket. This not only allows it to travel through light obstructions without slowing appreciably, but ensures that when it hits it is more likely to bore a hole than to fragment and transfer all of its energy to the target. This is directly opposite the ideal self-defense or law enforcement pistol ammo, which ideally transfers all its energy to the target without passing through and harming anything or anyone behind said target. In addition to protecting bystanders, this means that the target in question is more likely prevented from doing harm to the shooter or anyone else. Anyhow, as one might imagine, the amount of energy a bullet carries (measured in joules) can be quite important to hunters, policemen, military planners ,and private firearm owners, if for differing reasons. That energy is determined by two factors - the mass of the bullet and the muzzle velocity with which it leaves the gun. With that in mind, here are some rough energy levels for some of the more popular bullet types and calibers. Cartridge Caliber/mm Bullet mass (g) Muzzle Velocity Muzzle Energy (joules) .45 ACP .45 16.8 g 259 m/sec 850 fps 540 joules 9mm Parabellum 9mm 7.5 g 366 m/sec 1,200 fps 475 joules Centerfire Hornet .22 3.0 g 820 m/sec 2,690 fps 1,009 joules Remington NATO .223/5.56mm 3.6 g 1,006 m/sec 3,301 fps 1,822 joules M1 Carbine .30 7.1 g 607 m/sec 1,991 fps 1,308 joules Winchester .30-30 9.7 g 728 m/sec 2,388 fps 2,560 joules Soviet AK-47 7.62mm 8.0 g 715 m/sec 2,346 fps 2,045 joules Lee-Enfield .303 11.7 g 770 m/sec 2,526 fps 3,469 joules Winchester,NATO,FN .308/7.62x51mm 11.7 g 3,744 joules Winchester .458 Magnum 33.0 g 643 m/sec 2,110 fps 6,822 joules (1) Dakota .450 Magnum 32.4 g 747 m/sec 2,451 fps 9,040 joules (2) Weatherby .460 Magnum 32.4 g 793 m/sec 2,602 fps 10,187 joules (3) Browning MG .50 caliber 46.7 g 857 m/sec 2,812 fps 17,149 joules (4) (1) Used for big game hunting, known as the 'Africa' round (2) This is a custom cartridge for the Dakota 76 Rifle, a hunting piece (3) Weatherby makes hunting rifles only, in various Magnum calibers from .224 to .460 (4) Used in the Browning 50-cal machine gun (as well as recent sniper rifles like the Barrett 50-cal). First developed in 1921 by John Moses Browning. As you can see, there is a wide variety of power available in ammunition. Note that the higher the energy delivered to the bullet, the more punishing the recoil on the shooter, as well (ameliorated somewhat by the mass of the gun). Final note: the study of the energy transfer from the gun/cartridge to the bullet, and the resulting trajectory, is sometimes called initial ballistics. This is as opposed to terminal ballistics, which is concerned with the interaction between the bullet at the target (or whatever it hits) and the consequences for both. This includes shock damage, penetration, deformation of the bullet, etc. For an example of how this can be applied, see this manufacturer's propaganda: Sources and recommended reading: - Ballistics calculator at: http://www.zvis.com/bvjtools.shtml - Hartink, A.E. Encyclopedia of Rifles and Carbines. Rebo Productions, 1997: Lisse, The Netherlands. - Remington Rimfire Ballistics at: http://members.dandy.net/~billc/10_22stuff/remdata.htm - Rinker, Robert A. Understanding Firearm Ballistics. Mulberry House, 1999: Apache Junction, Arizona (not kidding). - Pejsa, Arthur. Modern Practical Ballistics. Kenwood Publishing, 1991: Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Il-62 (Ильюшин Ил-62, NATO code name "Classic ") was the first long-range jet transport built in Russia , borrowing heavily from the four-rear-engine design of the British Vickers VC-10 . Even today, it remains the most successful Eastern bloc attempt at an intercontinental airliner. Its first flight was in January of 1963. Aeroflot became the first airline to operate the Il-62, putting it into service between Moscow and Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk, and Tashkent in 1968. The original Il-62's, however, were very inefficient in comparison to comparable Western aircraft like the Boeing 707. Ilyushin announced an upgrade, the Il-62M, in 1970, which used newer engines, avionics, and thrust reversers. The model remained in production until 1993, and flew for a wide variety of airlines, including Air-India, CSA, Interflug, LOT, and Tarom. Il-62's are interesting beasts. They carry a five-man flight crew: back during Soviet days, Aeroflot would send a mechanic out on board each Il-62 flight, so that Western technicians would never have to touch the plane. You can tell an Il-62 from a VC-10 by the bullet-shaped pylon at the top of its tail, or, more often, by the Cyrillic letters on the side. Aeroflot, Cubana, Air Koryo, Domodedovo Airlines, Khabarovsk Air, and other airlines in the former Soviet bloc continue to operate Il-62's. Several CIS governments and North Korea use the type as a VIP transport. Il-62 (1963) Il-62M (1970) Wingspan: 141'9" (43,2 m) 141'9" (43,2 m) Length: 174'4" (53,1 m) 174'4" (53,1 m) Height: 40'6" (12,4 m) 40'6" (12,4 m) Ceiling: 39,000' (1,3 km) 39,000' (1,3 km) Range: 4,190 mi (6.700 km) 5,000 mi (8.000 km) Empty: 146,400 lb (66.400 kg) 156,200 lb (71.000 kg) Loaded: 356,400 lb (162.000 kg) 363,000 lb (165.000 kg) Engines: Four Kuznetsov NK-8 Four Soloviev D-30KU Speed: 580 mph (933 kph, Mach 0.68) 595 mph (950 kph, Mach 0.69) Capacity: 186 passengers in all-coach 198 passengers in all-coach

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Beware of what you add to Your Compost! Posted: April 29, 2011 by Andy Beck, Penn State Extension, Schuylkill and Berks Counties A grower recently called my extension office describing symptoms of herbicide damage that appeared on his tomatoes transplants. The plants were grown from seed during the winter months and then transplanted into the soil under a heated plastic hoop house. After examining the plant material it was evident that some type of herbicide had caused the damage. However, the grower claimed no herbicide was applied to the plants at any point during the growing process. In fact, the only application made was a mixture of composted horse manure and hay incorporated into the soil a few months prior to planting. Composted horse manure containing dried hay, is often considered a valuable nutrient resource for its soil amending characteristics. Knowing what herbicides have been used to manage weed populations is crucial before using it as a soil amendment. Herbicides that contain pyridine carboxylic acid (aminopyralid, clopyralid, fluroxypyr, picloram, and triclopyr) can remain active in manure piles, unworked compost piles, and forages which are dried and baled. As you can see from the picture, it’s doubtful these tomatoes will provide adequate yields this summer.

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It’s National Severe Weather Preparedness Week “Know your risk, take action, and be a force of nature” by taking proactive preparedness measures and inspiring others to do the same during National Severe Weather Preparedness Week. Last April, tornadoes raked the central and southern United States, spawning more than 300 tornadoes and claiming hundreds of lives. That devastating, historic outbreak was only one of many weather-related tragedies in 2011, which now holds the record for the greatest number of multi-billion dollar weather disasters in the nation’s history. The country has already experienced early and destructive tornado outbreaks in the Midwest and South this year over the last two months, including a significant number of tornadoes last weekend. May is the peak season for tornadoes, so it is important to take action now. You also may remember the fake tornadoes that struck Fairfax County in March. Or the real floods that affected us last September. “One of the lessons we can take away from the recent tornado outbreaks is that severe weather (of any kind) can happen anytime, anywhere,” said Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate. “While we can’t control where or when it might hit, we can take steps in advance to prepare and that’s why we are asking people to pledge to prepare, and share with others so they will do the same.” To “be a force of nature,” FEMA, NOAA and Fairfax County encourage you to prepare for extreme weather by following these guidelines: Know your risk: - The first step to becoming weather-ready is to understand the type of hazardous weather that can affect where you live and work, and how the weather could impact you and your family. Check the weather forecast regularly and sign up for alerts. Severe weather comes in many forms and your shelter plan should include all types of local hazards. - Develop an emergency plan based on our local weather hazards and practice how and where to take shelter. Create or refresh an emergency kit for needed food, supplies and medication. Post your plan where visitors can see it. Learn what you can do to strengthen your home or business against severe weather. Obtain a NOAA Weather Radio. Download FEMA’s mobile app so you can access important safety tips on what to do before and during severe weather. Understand the weather warning system and become a certified storm spotter through the National Weather Service. Be a force of nature: - Once you have taken action, tell your family, friends, school staff and co-workers about how they can prepare. Share the resources and alert systems you discovered with your social media network. Studies show individuals need to receive messages a number of ways before acting – and you can be one of those sources. When you go to shelter during a warning, send a text, tweet or post a status update so your friends and family know. You might just save their lives, too. For more information on how you can participate, visit www.ready.gov/severeweather.

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Newborns and young infants can't easily raise their heads, so they need special protection from suffocation. But small children are at risk, too. Protecting Kids From Suffocation Protect kids from the dangers of suffocation by following these rules: - Never place an infant face-down on soft surfaces such as a waterbed, comforter, sheepskin rug, or mattress cover. - Never put an infant in a crib or on a bed with soft bedding, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, or plush toys. - Avoid pillow-like bumpers and consider removing crib bumpers altogether. - Never put an infant down on a mattress covered with plastic or on or near a plastic bag. - Make sure your baby's crib mattress is the right size and fits snugly in the crib. This keeps a baby from getting caught between the mattress and the crib sides. - Make sure your baby's crib sheet fits snugly on the mattress to keep it from coming off and getting wrapped around your baby's head. You also can buy crib sheet holders to keep sheets in place. - Don't put an infant to sleep on an adult bed. If you practice cosleeping, be sure to follow the safety rules. - Infants should not bed share with other children. - Promptly dispose of plastic shopping bags and plastic dry-cleaning bags. Tie several knots in each bag before throwing it out. - Keep all plastic bags, including garbage bags and sandwich-style plastic bags out of the reach of young kids. - When cleaning up after a birthday or holiday party, pay special attention to all plastic bags from packaging. Collect them and throw them out immediately. - Keep balloons, including uninflated balloons, out of reach and immediately pick up and safely dispose of pieces of broken balloons. If you're expecting a baby or already have a child, it's a good idea to: - Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the Heimlich maneuver. - Keep the following numbers near the phone (for yourself and caregivers): - toll-free poison-control number: 1-800-222-1222 - doctor's number - parents' work and cell phone numbers - neighbor's or nearby relative's number (if you need someone to watch other children in an emergency) - Make a first-aid kit and keep emergency instructions inside. - Install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Maintaining a Safe, Kid-Friendly Environment To check your childproofing efforts, get down on your hands and knees in every room of your home to see things from a child's perspective. Be aware of your child's surroundings and what might be potentially dangerous. Completely childproofing your home can be difficult. If you can't childproof the entire house, you can shut the doors (and install doorknob covers) to any room a child shouldn't enter to prevent wandering into places that haven't been properly childproofed. Doorknob covers and childproof locks for sliding doors are also great for keeping little ones from leaving your home. Of course, how much or how little you childproof your home is up to you. Supervision is the very best way to help prevent kids from getting injured. However, even the most vigilant parent can't keep a child 100% safe at all times. Whether you have a baby, toddler, or school-age child, your home should be your little one's haven for safe exploration. After all, touching, holding, climbing, and exploring are the activities that develop a child's body and mind. Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD Date reviewed: February 2010 © 1995-2012 The Nemours Foundation/KidsHealth. All rights reserved. Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.

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Before the invention of the thermometer, our ancestors had no objective comeback to such snappy repartee as, “Cold enough for ya?” Before the invention of the thermometer, our ancestors had no objective comeback to such snappy repartee as, “Cold enough for ya?” Temperature was subjective, measured only by the Goldilocks and the Three Bears scale: too hot, too cold, just right. Hot and cold, in fact, were thought of as two independent properties, rather than a thermodynamic continuum. Then along came Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), a German physicist who spent much of his life creating precision meteorological instruments. Fahrenheit fashioned his first thermometer 300 years ago, in 1709; it was filled with alcohol rather than mercury (an innovation Fahrenheit introduced five years later). At least by some accounts, it was also 300 years ago—during the brutal winter of 1708-1709—when Fahrenheit took the measure of what would become zero on his temperature scale in 1724. Like most inventors, Fahrenheit built on earlier ideas. In ancient Alexandria, both the philosopher Philo and the mathematician Hero observed that the expansion and contraction of air with changing temperature caused the level of a liquid in a tube to rise and fall. In the early 11th century, the Persian scientist Avicenna developed a device based on this principle. And none other than Galileo is often identified as the inventor of the thermometer, though his innovation was actually a thermoscope—lacking a scale or standard to compare temperature from one place or device with another. Galileo’s gizmo, which wasn’t sealed against changes in air pressure, was as much barometer as thermometer. Another Italian, Santorio (aka Sanctorius), is credited with the first thermometer scale, as early as 1612. But Santorio’s device was also vulnerable to changes in air pressure—a problem solved in 1654 by yet another Italian, Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The duke crafted the first thermometer using a liquid (alcohol) sealed in a tube, the familiar form of thermometers today. Despite suggestions from scientists ranging from Christian Huygens to Isaac Newton, however, the successful combination of a sealed thermometer and an accurate temperature scale took another 60 years. Not merely a physicist, Fahrenheit was also a skilled craftsman capable of manufacturing thermometers of a previously unknown precision. His 1714 invention of the modern mercury thermometer enabled still more-accurate measurements and in turn made possible his eponymous scale in 1724. Several competing stories explain how Fahrenheit wound up with the freezing and boiling points of water at, respectively, 32 and 212 degrees. He drew upon the earlier work of Ole Christensen Rømer (1644-1710), who’d created a scale using a thermometer filled with red wine. But Fahrenheit wanted to avoid Rømer’s need for negative numbers—hence his measurement of an especially cold winter in his hometown of Danzig (later part of Poland). Fahrenheit was blissfully unaware of temperatures in places such as North Dakota that would extend his scale “below zero.” He later confirmed this low temperature in the lab with a mixture of ice, salt and water. Fahrenheit then set an upper point based on his body temperature, and divided the scale between by 12 and again by 8 to reach 96 degrees. (The scale was later recalibrated so human body temperature averages 98 degrees.) This gave him a freezing point for water at 32 degrees and a boiling point at 212. Other versions have him using the blood temperature of horses or the melting point of butter as the basis for 100 degrees. In any case, Fahrenheit’s scale became the basis for measuring temperature in most English-speaking countries until the 1960s, and remains standard in the United States. Other countries adopted the “centigrade” scale created by Swedish scientist Anders Celsius (1701-1744), which allotted 100 degrees to the difference between boiling and freezing. Celsius’ original scale ran backwards, with 100 as the freezing point; taxonomic pioneer Carl Linnaeus, a contemporary of Celsius, suggested flipping the scale to its current form. In 1948, the Ninth General Conference on Weights and Measures changed “degrees centigrade” to “degrees Celsius,” much like “degrees Fahrenheit.” But the 10th such conference, convened in 1954, selected the scale invented in 1848 by William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (1824-1907), as the metric measure of thermodynamic temperature. Kelvin’s scale uses the same degrees as Celsius’ (nine-fifths of a Fahrenheit degree), but assigns zero to absolute zero, the point at which a substance has no heat energy and its molecules don’t move (equal to minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit). Kelvin got a further posthumous honor at the 13th conference in 1967, which eliminated the word degree: The freezing point of water could now be referred to, for instance, as “273.15 Kelvin.” Nonetheless, at least in the United States, when the weatherman says the temperature will be zero, he doesn’t mean the freezing point of water (zero degrees Celsius) or—thank goodness!—absolute zero (zero Kelvin). He’s referring to zero degrees Fahrenheit, pretty much as Herr Fahrenheit himself measured it, 300 years ago.

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Lean forward when you are going up a hill on a mountain bike. This will create more even weight distribution and ensure the front wheel remains on the ground. Leaning back adds more resistance on the back wheel and makes it harder to pedal. Exercising to tone up your body is only the first step. You must also fuel your body with nutritious foods. If you do things like body building, you'll need to consume different things when compared to someone losing weight. While working on your biceps, ensure that your technique is sound. IF you don't do this, you risk straining your muscles. The way to do biceps curls is with the wrists bent backward just slightly. When done, transfer to normal positioning slowly. This builds biceps the right way. When using a workout machine, always begin by testing the pads by pressing onto the seat or back cushion. Be sure that the wood under the padding is not able to be felt; if it is, move on. Machines with inadequate padding are less supportive than their fully padded counterparts, and they may cause bruises or soreness. If you are a smoker, you must quit as soon as possible to not only prevent early death, but to increase your health overall. No matter how old you are, it's not too late to quit smoking. You reduce the risk of heart attacks and you tend to increase your lifespan, too. Treat yourself right and quit smoking. Your run should consist of three parts. Begin running slowly, and work gradually up to the pace at which you usually run. Push your pace up as high as you can get it during the last part of your run. This helps increase your endurance and eventually, you should be able to start running longer every time you run. Before you start a weight lifting program for your arms, define the goals that you wish to achieve. Heavier weights are the key to building more muscle mass. Sculpting your arms can be done by doing more reps with lighter weights. Signing up for volunteer work can help you to get moving while helping others in need. There are a lot of labor-intensive jobs that call for volunteers. It'll let you get your blood pumping and help others at the same time. Aerobic exercises are a great way to get those rock hard abs you desire. Try to do weight training two or three days per week and cardio for about 30 or 45 minutes three times per week. Do a full body workout and work on your abs every other day. Decide on a fitness plan that matches your needs plus your interests. If you choose something you enjoy, you'll be excited to work out. Before you use machines at a gym, clean them. People leave germs on the equipment so it's best to keep this in mind. You went to the center to feel better, not to get sick. Do not do more than an hour of weight training. Muscle wasting also becomes a problem if you exercise for more than an hour. Be sure to keep your weight workouts under 60 minutes. You must ice the area in which you develop a muscle sprain. This will help reduce swelling and redness in the area. Additionally, if you can, elevate the injured area so blood can get to it quickly and help the injury heal faster. It is important that you wrap the ice in a towel so it doesn't come in direct contact with your skin. Comfortable shoes are an important part of getting fit. Instead of shopping for shoes in the afternoon or morning, shop for them in the evening, when your feet have become larger. There should always be about 1/2 inch of room between your shoe and toes. It should be possible to move your toes. Dive bomb push ups can make regular push ups seem like child's play. Have an arched back with your hands and feet on the floor to perform dive bomb pushups. Next, bend your elbows while moving your body forward and downward. Then, return your torso to the starting point. A dive bomb push-up is used to strengthen pectoral muscles. Even though it takes a lot of work to hit your goals, the end results are worth it. When you get fitter, you will look better and help your health and overall well-being too. Getting fit is a great way to live life to its fullest and helps you accomplish tasks more easily.

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Sesame Workshop's Best Practices Guide for Children's App Development is now available for download. In addition to insight from the organization's more than 40 years of children's media testing, the paper, highlighted on Monday by All Things D, includes more than 50 touchscreen studies conducted by Sesame Workshop. Those tests found that the most intuitive gesture for children is a simple tap on the screen. Kids also like to trace and draw on the screen but have a hard time not lifting their finger, so Sesame Workshop recommends that developers make their applications support partial completion. Children also find swiping a tablet screen intuitive if there are visual indications on where to swipe. Children can also drag items onscreen but tend to have difficulty with "finger-on-screen continuity," so supporting partial completion is recommended. On an iPad, children tend to have more trouble with maneuvers such as pinching, tilting or shaking the device, multi-touch, and double tapping. The best interactive applications for children include a character or friendly adult who greets them once the application is opened. Instructions are then presented up front, while developers are recommended to use time-outs in order to suggest to children what to do next. The studies also found that children tend to hold iPads in landscape mode and rest their palms at the bottom of the device. As a result, developers are not recommended to place icons at the bottom of the screen, where they are likely to be accidentally pressed. It's also recommended that children be required to listen to the text on a page in its entirety before the features on the page are enabled. This prevents the child from becoming distracted by selectable options on the page. Children and schools have become an important market for Apple's iPad, which is the dominant product in the worldwide tablet market. Recent data shows that the iPad is definitively replacing sales of traditional PCs to the education market.

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How to assign Swap Space on Linux PC While installing many of we ignore Swap space. It does not matter what Linux Distro you are using. It can be the last Mint or Ubuntu or any older Debian based operating system. Swap space place a vital role in your systems performance. You cannot just ignore that. I had tested two systems. Both are working on latest Linux Mint Maya. The only different among them was the Swap space. System A has a dedicated partition of 20GB as swap space and System B does not have any swap space. There are major changes in performance observed. When I open YouTube using Opera in System a, it worked smoothly. I had downloaded some software on the same hand, played music files, etc. In system monitor the ram usage was clear and it showed that with Swap space Linux manages the performance. But in System B, when same process was repeated it started freezing at some point. Though there was 50% physical memory available. It looks that some part of ram is kept reserved. The explorer takes time to open and files were listed slowly. The same if done in Windows, then this is a disaster. Swap space is same as Page File in Windows. In simple word a Page file is memory management tool which is used by resource intensive application to perform well. Many time in Task Manage you can see the virtual memory usage. Swap space is similar to that. Your hard drive has ample of free space. You can assign an empty partition as Swap space and continue with your work. Linux do not format that partition but uses its empty space to fulfill the memory requirement. This is very important for every system. Swap space can improve the systems output. Do not ignore the same while installation. To understand how Swap space work, lets learn about Page file. Here is a very common example. Let’s assume that you have two desks in front of you. The first desk is filled with objects like pager, computer, printer, etc. The second desk is partially filled. Now to arrange a set of paper you need some empty space. For temporary basis you can use the second desk. You can move the papers on it and then pickup them back on your desk. Page File is somewhat similar to that. In a computer you have two types of memories. First is Physical memory, what you called RAM and the second is Virtual memory which is actually your empty hard drive storage space. Operating system needs physical memory (RAM) to initiate various functions. But when the limit is crossed, then they work on special algorithm (supported by hardware) which helps them to use the empty hard drive space as ram. For example when you open a web browser, it needs RAM to keep those all stuff on your screen, the buttons, the window, etc. But when you open more than 1 tab more memory is consumed. In order to maintain the performance virtual ram is used. The data is divided into small parts inside memory. Those small parts are known as pages. When the physical memory is out of stock, those pages are transferred to your empty partition for some time. Swapping consist of process where those parts are actually moved to a hard drive partition which is configured as Swap space. Combination of physical and swap space makes the virtual memory. The more you have the better system works. Today’s applications are designed features point of view because of which they need more memory power. The same is mostly applicable to web browser. You can find simply how much ram they consume when you check in System Monitor. The last test that I did, when I open around 7 videos in different opera tab. The maximum ram it was eating was 292 mb. Now you can considered what would your operating system if a major part of resource is consumed so instantly. It will freeze or lag. But the best part of Linux Distros is that they do not simple go black. In Windows if this thing happen, the screen just zombify. Nothing happens, no mouse movement, app stucked in between, no keyboard reaction, etc. But in Linux after little time, things went back to normal. Swap is needed in every system. It makes your process smoother. Swap helps the system by providing more memory to those applications which are resource intensive. Because of which you do not find any difference on your screen, but in the background this all process are carried out. In some case swap fails. There is a reason for that. Linux mostly work on two different type of swap space. Among which one is dedicated to swap partition assigned by you and second is the swap file which works inside the file system. Re: How to assign Swap Space on Linux PC Why Swap Space does not work or fails? Swap space is a process of providing more memory power to software’s. Now that extra memory power is taken from your current hard drive. Compared to RAM the Hard disk is slower unless you have a SSD. Hard drive works much slower than RAM. So if swapping occurs continuously in the background, your system can appear more slow or even crash sometime. At that point the best thing you can do is add more RAM stick. This happens in exception case only. It does not mean every system is prone to this issue. I am talking about slow system. For example you are trying to run 3D model application on Dual Core pc with 1GB or lesser ram. This type of application needs good processing power and virtual memory. If your system fails to meet the need, the application freezes on your screen. It is not terminated automatically as your operating system still tries to open it. Every system either Windows or Linux are vulnerable to this. Swapping just helps the system to run some apps. It can be a temporary fuel. You cannot assign 80GB partition as swap space and then wonder I have the fastest system. Every piece of hardware on your motherboard works with appropriate co-ordination. Here this article is based on assigning swap space to Linux Distro. Let’s take Linux Mint Maya under test. There are two conditions for assigning a swap space. First doing that at the time of installation and second after installation Linux Mint. Both the ways are fine. The condition to assign a swap is that you need a separate partition. I will not recommend you to play with the same if there is any data. You can shrink the partition size also. With a simple command you simply find out what is the actual swap space of your existing system. For that in terminal type swapon -s. You can see se the listed swap partition in terminal itself. If you cannot see it then there is no space assigned. I had tested my 8GB usb a number of times to use it as a Swap partition and it have helped a lot. Maximum Size of Swap File: If you are confused that how big must be your swap file, then here is answer for the same. Actually you do not need really a very large size. The system when run out of memory the swap partition is then used to give you more performance. You just need a proper disk space for that. I will not recommend installing Linux Mint type of os without swap file. What you can benefit from new distribution is that, the more new the lesser requirement of swap files and better memory management. While in older system the same demand is quiet higher. Your swap space must be double the size of your ram. That is the most common assumption I can give you. If you have 1GB ram in your system then you can add 2 or 3GB swap space which is quiet enough. How to assign Swap space A partition which is marked as swap will only be used as swap space. Luckily there are post installation methods that can be used to for this. First let’s begin with adding extra swap space. For that type this in terminal --- fdisk -l /dev/hdb (do not put the starting hyphens). You can see the output of partition which already has a swap space. I am showing you the way here to extend it. If in the result in terminal there is on swap marked then you have to do that before extending the partition. Assigning swap space will wipe out your partition. Your all data will be lost, so be preparing before going for this. Now to make a swap space you need to use mkswap command. You just need to provide the hard drive reference after that. Like mkswap /dev/hdb1. The process will only be successful if you do not face any kind of error after running the command. You can again check back by typing swapon -s to see the partition is actually marked as swap or not. For more advance process you can read a swapfaq on official sites of Mint or Ubuntu. You can also use Gparted tool. For that restart your pc with bootable Mint disc and run Gparted. Format a partition and assign it as the default swap space. |Tags: linux, linux mint, swap space| |Thread Tools||Search this Thread| |Similar Threads for: "How to assign Swap Space on Linux PC"| |Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post| |Sharing the CentOS 5.5 Swap partition with any other Linux OS||Pawna||Operating Systems||5||04-05-2011 10:51 AM| |Reducing Swap Size in Linux Mint 10||Rufta||Operating Systems||4||13-01-2011 09:24 AM| |Where to put swap partition in Linux||foraman||Operating Systems||4||02-01-2011 06:47 AM| |In Linux 2.6.31 kernel scheduler how to assign threads in each core?||SaleemJI||Windows Software||6||25-09-2010 04:55 PM| |Why do i need a SWAP partition for linux?||Windows7er||Operating Systems||3||17-11-2009 10:45 AM|

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Audio | view transcript In a talk delivered to teacher-training students, Sangharakshita tells the story of the Buddha's life, shows that there is no place for God in Buddhism, and explains the Noble Eightfold Path to Enlightenment. An excellent general introduction to Buddhism. N.B. Poor original recording. Talk given in 1966. |1.||Returning from India (5:05)| |2.||Understanding your religion in relation to other religions (4:48)| |3.||The word 'Buddha'; the early life of the Buddha (3:44)| |4.||The Four Sights (7:42)| |5.||Going Forth; attaining enlightenment (4:23)| |6.||The Buddha as an Enlightened human being; theistic and non-theistic religions (11:29)| |7.||What Buddhism is concerned with; The Noble Eightfold Path: i. Right understanding; ii. Right aspiration; iii. Right speech; iv. Right action (13:38)| |8.||v. Right means of livelihood; vi. Right effort; vii. Right mindfulness; viii. Right concentration; the Buddhas as signposts (9:52)| |9.||Come and see for yourself: tolerance and the freedom to grow; Buddhism and other faiths (10:24)| Total running time: 1:11:05

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Jump ducks on small waters. Stock ponds, creeks, drainage ditches, and sloughs hold ducks until the water freezes. Sometimes you can spot and stalk birds, but often you'll have to crawl on your belly to the water's edge, jump to your feet, and hope ducks flush in range. If you spook a big flock of ducks off a pond or marsh, don't shoot. Hide. They should return in twos and threes. Float a river in a canoe or duck boat. Early in the season, hunting pressure quickly scatters local ducks off the marshes. Drape some camo burlap over the bow, stay low, and use a short paddle. As you come around a bend, hug the inside shoreline, and you'll float right up on ducks resting in the slower current. Hunt big water. Puddle ducks raft up on lakes and reservoirs. Use a spread of 50 to 150 decoys. Set them in a cove, leave a landing area, and extend one long leg of the spread out into open water to attract cruising ducks. Hunt where the ducks are. Weather patterns and water levels can divert main flights off their usual migratory corridors. Last year's hotspot will be a dry hole if the ducks are on the other side of the state. Also, ducks migrate in advance of severe storms and cold fronts. Hunt on a flight day and you'll see a sky full of new birds arriving from the north: They'll be unfamiliar with these new surroundings and eager to plop down and rest with other ducks. Tired, migrating ducks make anyone look like a world champion. Scout in cyberspace. What seperates us from lower life forms? The Internet, of course. The online service Waterfowler.com carries scouting reports and alows you to share information with hunters across your state. Let your fingers do the scouting. Most state and federal refuges run a duck count once a week; call the refuge offices to keep tabls on duck concentrations. Hit the back roads. Ducks disappear early in the season after they've been chased off the marshes. Scout ponds, sloughs, and creeks. Talk to bowhunters, who often hang stands near the secluded backwaters where ducks hide out during the early season doldrums. Keep a hunting log. Certain spots on a lake or marsh draw ducks year after year. If your records tell you ducks throng a particular hole on days with, say, a northwest wind, that's the place to hunt under those conditions. Go on tornado watch. If you see a cloud of ducks swirling over a grainfield in the morning, they will probably return to feed in the afternoon and again the next morning. Too many hunters overlook field shooting, but who wouldn't like to take a limit of ducks without getting their feet wet? Get in line. Often, ducks are intent on landing in one hole. On a public marsh you may be better off waiting for a party in the hotspot to limit and leave and then claim it yourself, rather than hunt where the birds don't want to land. Get their attention. The highball or hail call isn't meant to sound like a duck; it's supposed to grab a flock's attention. Only use the hail call at long range (400 to 500 yards). Call to "tips and tails." Don't call to ducks that are coming at you. If, however, you can see one wing tip and the tail, or both wings and the tail, the duck isn't looking your way and it's safe to blow the call. Don't blow them away. Point your call down so the sound reflects off the water. Blowing loudly right at ducks may scare them. Three heads are better than one. Three callers can sound like a whole flock of ducks. One leads with quacks; the other two make feed calls. Don't shoot over the target. Decoying ducks are losing altitude quickly. Be sure to shoot below them. You can't compete with real ducks. If you find that ducks are landing out of range nearby, move your decoys and set up where the ducks want to be. You can't outcall live ducks on the water. Choke up. Despite what youve heard about steel, it doesn't necessarily pattern tighter than lead. A Modified choke works well for shooting over decoys. Think big. In steel, 2s and 3s make the best pellets for decoying ducks. BBs and 1s work well at long range. In bismuth and tungten polymer or tungsten matrix, try 3s, 4s or 5s. Three strikes and they're out. If ducks don't land after three swings over your decoys, odds are they probably won't. Give incoming ducks three chances, four at the most, then take them when you can. Think carefully about where the duck will fall. Only shoot at ducks that will drop where you can retrieve them. Better yet, bring them down in open water where you can shoot again if they're still moving. Shoot the heards of cripple immediately with steel 6s or 7s. Wear a camo facemask. Even when you've done everything else right, looking hopefully skyward never hurts. Just don't let the ducks see you doing it.

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Disability Resource Center More Alike Than Different What is a Learning Disability? Learning Disability is defined as a persistent condition of presumed neurological dysfunction which may exist with other disabling conditions. This dysfunction continues despite instruction in standard classroom situations. To be categorized as learning disabled, a student must exhibit: - average to above-average intellectual ability; - severe processing deficit(s); - severe aptitude-achievement discrepancy(ies); - measured achievement in an instructional or employment setting. Indicators of a Possible Learning Disability: Return to the DRC Learning Skills Laboratory All college information or academic materials are available in alternate media upon request at (408) 848-4865. For more DRC information, call 408-848-4865 or TTY at 408-846-4924.

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February 28, 2007 GCRIO Program Overview Our extensive collection of documents. Archives of the Global Climate Change Digest A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion Published July 1988 through June 1999 FROM VOLUME 9, NUMBERS 10-11, OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1996 CANADIAN GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAM All publications except the first (which is still in preparation) are available at no charge from the CGCP Secretariat, as is the CGCP quarterly Canada and the State of the Planet, M. Keating, Ed., approx. 100 pp., expected Mar. 1997. This major information project launched by the CGCP will be an annual brief on the planet's vital signs, including electronic versions with a site on the Internet. The report will include not only environmental trends, but also the social and economic forces behind them, and will summarize compactly vast amounts of information now spread though many national and international reports. For information on this project contact Michael Keating, Project Director and Editor, 10 Astor Ave., Toronto ON M4G 3M2, Can. (tel: 416 423 2425; fax: 416 425 0019; e-mail: 103362.75@CompuServ. COM). Change ProgramAnnual Report 1995-1996, July 1996, 20 pp.; ...Five Year Plan, late 1996; Promoting Informed Action Through Sound Advice on Global Change: A Strategy for the Canadian Global Change Program in its Second Decade, 12 pp., 1995. The first two publications illustrate how the CGCP has been and will continue to be implementing the strategic plan laid out in the third. Changing Planet: An Overview of Global Change Research in Canada, 49 pp., Explains in non-technical language how Canadian researchers are contributing to and benefiting from international research on global change, in diverse scientific disciplines and in the study of human dimensions. Gives current estimates of federal funding for global change research, and profiles seven important Canadian research projects. Canada of Recent IPCC Assessment Reports, 21 pp., 1996. Published jointly with the Canadian Climate Program Board, this summarizes portions of the 1995 Second Assessment Report and the 1994 Special Report of the IPCC, and follows them with comments specific to Canada. Involvement in International Global Change Activities: A Compendium (CIGA), 101 pp., 1996. Concerning Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategies, Apr. 1996. Published jointly with the Canadian Climate Program Board, this urges actions to reduce emissions and the impacts of climate change, particularly recommending energy efficiency measures. Global Change for Human Health, 1995. Contact Canadian Global Change Prog., Roy. Soc. Can., 225 Metcalfe #308, Ottawa ON K2P 1P9, Can. (tel: 613 991 5639; fax: 613 991 6996; e-mail: [email protected]). Assesses the impacts of climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and UV radiation, environmental pollutants, and unchecked population growth. The situation is serious and will get worse unless action is taken to the point of settling for nothing less than a complete transformation of the cherished values of our industrial civilization. Makes recommendations for research and policy initiatives for protecting public health. Security: An Overview of Issues and Research Priorities for Canada (Tech Rep. No. 96-1), 27 pp., 1996. Data Policy and Barriers to Data Access in Canada: Issues for Global Change ResearchA Discussion Paper, 55 pp., 1996. Research Themes: A Report of the Canadian Global Change Program Research Committee (IR95-3), 30 pp., 1995. Guide to Publishers Index of Abbreviations

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Wednesday, July 31, 2013 Arrival of the Brides Library and Archives Canada, Acc. no 1996-371-1 The Library and Archives Canada released this blog post yesterday - "Summer 2013 marks the 350th anniversary of the arrival in New France of the first contingent of the “Filles du roi” (“King's daughters”), young women who became the ancestors of numerous French-Canadian families. A variety of celebrations are planned throughout Quebec, culminating in the New France Festival in Quebec City from August 7 to 11, 2013. The website is at www.nouvellefrance.qc.ca/index.php/en Between 1663 and 1673, King Louis XIV supported the emigration of these young women, many of them orphans. Their passage to the colony was paid and they received an average dowry of 50 livres, along with a small hope chest containing clothing and sewing materials. In exchange, the women agreed to marry on their arrival in New France, to start a family and to help their husbands work the land. These women were instrumental in helping to populate and develop the colony. The first contingent of 36 “Filles du roi” landed in 1663. Over the next ten years, an estimated 800 young women settled in New France under the same program. If you would like to know whether one of your ancestors was a “Fille du roi,” there are many genealogical publications and reviews you can consult". You can visit the website http://lesfillesduroy-quebec.org

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The units of measure in old deeds are not really confusing if you convert them into current terms. For example, a chain is the length of a cricket pitch. The original measurement was called Gunter's chain or a surveyor's chain and is 22 yards or 66 feet. The whole of the United States was measured and mapped using the Gunters Chain and his chain still applies to all title plans in use today. For this reason all city blocks, roads and avenues are multiples of the chain. Towns were laid out at 6 miles square or 36 sq miles. Early farms were sold to would-be farmers as lots of 640 acres or 1 sq mile. Imperial Measures of Length. A chain was made up of 100 links, each 7.92 inches in length. These measurements were standardized in 1607 by Edmund Gunter in England. A chain was also equal to 4 poles. Each pole was equal to 5.5 yards. One rod was the same as a pole (and also the same as a perch). Therefore a rod is 16.5 feet. There was another type of chain, called the Ramsden chain or engineer's chain, which was equal to 100 feet. There are a number of Websites that will automatically convert any unit of measure to another. See Unitconversion.org for example. The Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States; 1973 Prepared by the Bureau of Land Management, Technical Bulletin 6; pub. U.S. Dept of Interior states as follows: - 1 yard = 3 ft = 0.9144 meter - 1 rod, perch, or pole = 25 links = 16.5 ft - 4 rods = 1 chain - 1 chain = 4 rods = 66 ft = 100 links - 10 chains = 1 furlong - 1 link = 1/100 of surveyor's chain = 7.92 inches - 25 links = 1 rod = 16.5 ft - 100 links = 1 chain = 66 ft - 1 furlong = 10 chains = 1/8 mile = 220 yards = 660 ft = 201.168 meters - 8 furlongs = 1 mile - 1 mile = 80 chains = 320 rods = 1,760 yards = 5,280 ft = 1,609.344 meters - league = 3 statute miles = 4,828.032 meters

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Imprinted and More Equal 15 March 2007: An epigenetic change alters the phenotype without changing the genotype. As a result of their unique genetic make-up, imprinted genes act as nodes of susceptibility for asthma, cancer, diabetes, obesity and many behavioral and developmental disorders - a list that is surprisingly long given the limited number of imprinted genes identified so far. The potential for malign influence at these sites is disproportionately large. In this respect, they're similar to the tyrannical pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm, who famously declared, "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The same is true for genes, and it's often the imprinted genes that are "more equal" in the formation of human diseases.

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It’s like the plot for an action-filled Hollywood movie: the evil mastermind tries to gain power and control by indoctrinating the unsuspecting civilians. In this case, the villain is the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s trade group. And the Council’s civilian targets? They’re California’s school children. Over the past two years, the Chemistry Council has successfully inserted edits and additions about the environmental “benefits” of plastic shopping bags into an 11th-grade environmental textbook. Yes. An environmental textbook. Used for environmental science classes in high schools across California. The suggested changes were submitted by the trade group during a public comment period in 2009. A private consultant hired by the state to develop and edit the curriculum inserted the changes, almost verbatim, into the text. According to California Watch, this rewrite of textbooks and teachers’ guides coincided with a public relations and lobbying effort by the chemistry council to fight proposed plastic bags bans throughout the country. Now, a section of the text in the teacher’s edition titled, “The Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags,” and a five-point question in a student workbook asking students to list the advantages of plastic bags. Although the curriculum does include a section on the environmental hazards of plastic bags, the lesson ends with the five-point writing prompt, encouraging students to write about the benefits of plastic bags. In the teachers’ edition, the correct answer to this question section is: “Plastic shopping bags are very convenient to use. They take less energy to manufacture than paper bags, cost less to transport, and can be reused.” These answers can lead to misleading perceptions of plastic bags and their impact on the environment. When experts examine the entire, cradle to cradle process of energy used in manufacturing, pollution, and disposal, paper bags usually win out over plastic (the even better choice? Reusable bags!). Though manufacturing plastic bags may use less energy, most of those plastic bags end up in landfills (less than 1% are recycled each year) and stay there permanently. Americans use an estimated 100 billion plastic shopping bags every year—almost all of which are thrown into the garbage, where they end up destroying wildlife, and adding to the evergrowing Pacific Garbage Patch and other collections of permanent trash (since plastic bags do not decompose for an estimated 1000 years in landfills). “The American Chemistry Council obviously got engaged to protect their bottom line,” Senator Fran Pavley, D-Santa Monica, told CA Watch. Pavley is author of the 2003 legislation requiring that environmental principles and concepts be taught in the state’s public schools. It’s inexcusable to allow industry lobbyists with vested interests to rewrite textbooks without even disclosing the source of the passage. This is greenwashing taken to the next level—it’s the corporatization of the education system. Children should not be getting thinly disguised corporate advertisements in their “environmental curriculum.”. Similar to the marketing strategy of cultivating lifelong brand loyalty by targeting youth, these industry-edited school plans promote positive images of plastic bags, encouraging product loyalty among kids in their most vulnerable learning years. Last month, a librarian at a Santa Cruz High school started a petition to have the industry’s section removed from textbooks. In response to public outcry and investigations into the edits, California superintendent of public instruction, Tom Torlakson, issued a statement, saying his office would work with California’s Environmental Protection Agency to examine the material and identify areas “where further review may be warranted.” Let’s hope they review and remove it quickly. Our children need, and deserve, an unbiased schooling—a separation of corporate interests and education—nothing less.

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(FoodProductionDaily.com – Rory Harrington) Canada became the first country in the world yesterday [October 13] to declare bisphenol A (BPA) to be a toxic substance that poses risks to human health and the environment. The announcement by the Canadian Health and Environment Ministries confirmed the chemical had formally been added Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999). “The Government of Canada has a strong record of taking action on Bisphenol A to protect the environment and health of Canadians,” said Environment Minister Jim Prentice. “We are continuing our leadership on this issue and...working hard to monitor and manage Bisphenol A.” BPA is an industrial chemical used to make a hard, clear plastic such as re-usable polycarbonate baby bottles. It is also used in the manufacture of epoxy resins, which act as a protective lining on the inside of metal-based food and beverage cans. Read more here.

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Supervillains rejoice: scientists have developed a way of steering lightning using lasers. I repeat: steering lighting with lasers. And they told me it could never strike in the same place twice! Admittedly, the team of French scientists have only so far done this in labs, but it still works a treat. The team can create a "virtual lightning rod" by using pulsed lasers to create a column of charged gas in thin air. That means that the lightning zips down the column of charged particles preferentially, eventually making its way to what is supposed to be a less attractive spot for the lightning to hit. The research, published in AIP Advances, claims that it could be used to shift the spot that lightning strikes by up to 50 meters. While the researchers have their thoughts on maybe, you know, saving lives using the technology, the supervillain in all of us knows full well that this should appear in the next Bond movie. [AIP Advances via PhysOrg]

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There is a unanimous witness in the Christian gospels concerning the place of St. John the Baptist. In the Orthodox world he is generally referred to as the Forerunner. All of the gospels agree that he plays a key role in the coming of the Messiah. It is a role that is largely ignored by most of the Christian world. The gospels make reference to two Scriptures when they mention St. John. The first is from Malachi 3: Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. The second is from Isaiah 40: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Both Scriptures make reference to the fact of the Forerunner. Before the coming of the Christ, God will send a messenger to prepare the way. John is the messenger. It is here that most Christians leave St. John. He is a voice and a messenger – as such he simply becomes part of the furniture in the drama of Christ’s coming. But why is there a messenger? How does John prepare the way? What is the mystery of the Forerunner? For me, the question is important. Nothing in the story of our salvation is merely incidental. John does not appear because of the prophecy – the prophecy is spoken because John is coming. The Christian gospel, when rightly understood, has a “seamless” quality. It fits together. What is the seamless role of the Forerunner? The first aspect of his role in Christ’s coming is its simple historical fact. Though the gospel gives John a minor role within the drama, historically his place was very important. John was clearly more important than Christ at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. John had the general approval of the nation of Israel. Even King Herod who arrested John and ordered his death is said to have “feared” him: knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly (Mark 6:20). It is to Herod’s shame that he lacked the character to protect John from the wicked demands of Herodias and Salome. Herod’s greatest fear of Christ was that Jesus was somehow John the Baptist come back from the dead (Matt. 14:2). In Luke’s gospel, Christ is linked with John even before their birth. They are cousins. John, filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb, leaps with joy at the sound of Mary’s voice. His role as Forerunner has already begun. It is John himself who offers an insight into the mystery of his role. In the fourth gospel, St. John describes himself as the Friend of the Bridegroom. ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled (Jn. 3:28-29). In the other three gospels, Christ speaks of his disciples as “friends of the bridegroom,” and makes a contrast between their joyful lack of fasting and the strict fasting of the Baptist’s followers. But the gospel of John raises the image of the Friend of the Bridegroom to a mystical level. The Forerunner’s theological action in the gospels is to preside at the mystical Pascha, the union of heaven and earth: Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan. The full force of this event is lost on many Christians. At best, it is seen as an action in which Christ is revealed as Messiah. It’s place in Orthodox liturgical life is in the company of Christmas and Pascha. The three feasts have a common shape and common iconography. Christmas and Theophany (Christ’s Baptism) are revealed as “little Paschas.” The Baptism of Christ is the death and resurrection of Christ, in a mystical form. It is the meaning given to Christian Baptism. In Orthodox liturgical language, Christ’s enters the waters of the Jordan and “crushes the heads of the dragons who lurked there.” The image of the dragons, drawn from Psalm 74 (73), reveal the waters of Jordan to be a foreshadowing of Hades. Christ’s death is an entrance into Hades and the crushing of the devil and his minions. It is the union of Christ with those who had been held in bondage, and, through that union, their resurrection from the dead. This is the mystical marriage, the union of God with His creation. The identification of the Forerunner as the Friend of the Bridegroom also points to the Baptism as a mystical marriage. It is the role of the Bridegroom’s friend to witness the marriage. It is also necessary for someone to perform the Baptism itself. John hesitates before such a role and protests that he is unworthy. But Christ, the true Bridegroom, counters, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). The imagery of Christ as Bridegroom has many echoes within the Old Testament. God as the husband of Israel is the primary image within Hosea; the Song of Songs is incomprehensible without it; Psalm 45 (44) is a rich commentary on the topic. In Orthodoxy, the Bridegroom is a beloved title for Christ. It is a primary theme in the Holy Week as the Church moves towards the spiritual climax of Pascha. Everything begins to be described in wedding imagery. Come from the vision, O ye women, bearers of glad tidings, and say to Sion: receive from us the glad tidings of the Resurrection of Christ; adorn thyself, exult, and rejoice, O Jerusalem, for thou hast seen Christ the King come forth from the tomb like a bridegroom in procession. The Church sees beyond the Jordan to an even greater role for the Forerunner. John, beheaded by Herod, enters into Hades and continues there his mission of preparation for Christ. There, in Hades, the man whom Christ describes as “the greatest born among women,” carries on his work of self-emptying. John says of Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Just as Christ’s self-emptying carries him into the emptiness of death that he might fill it with Himself, so John enters first into the same emptiness, that he might proclaim the coming Fullness. He is the Friend of the Bridegroom. How could he not have been present to witness such a victory by his Friend? August 29 is the feast of the Beheading of St. John. Glory to God! Author comments have a tan color background for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments

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History of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Beginning with founder Dr. Dian Fossey, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International has more than 40 years’ history of gorilla protection and conservation. We were established in 1978 as the Digit Fund, with the purpose of preserving and protecting the world's last mountain gorillas. Our focus has never wavered, but we have expanded to address other regional challenges to gorilla protection. Making history in gorilla protection Originally named the “Digit Fund” in memory of Dr. Fossey's favorite gorilla, the Fossey Fund was given its current name in 1992 to underscore its commitment to carry on the gorilla protection and research programs established by Dr. Fossey after she founded the Karisoke™ Research Center in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park in 1967. Learn more about Dian Fossey. Karisoke has made gorilla protection history by making it possible for the mountain gorillas of the Virungas to be the only great ape population to have grown in number since the 1960s. Expanding Dian Fossey’s legacy Since Fossey’s death in 1985, the Fund’s activities have expanded to include protection of Grauer’s (eastern lowland) gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the mountain gorillas in that country’s Virunga National Park, and other endangered species in the gorillas’ habitats. The fund has also established numerous health and education projects in partnership with local government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and universities and with the communities that share the gorillas’ ecosystems, to create a healthy environment for both people and gorillas and empower Africans to become leaders in conserving their own natural resources. This recognition of the interdependence of people and gorillas and the importance of helping people marks another milestone in gorilla conservation history. Communities we support creating gorilla history A major advance in gorilla conservation supported by the Fossey Fund began in the late 1990s, when a group of traditional leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo decided to create a network of gorilla reserves by donating their ancestral lands. With financial and technical help from the Fund, these reserves are gaining government recognition that grants them legal status equal to the national parks, while allowing the communities to retain the management role. The same communities established the unique Tayna Center for Conservation Biology (TCCB), with help from the Fossey Fund, offering university-level degrees to the next generation of African conservationists. Making history with orphan gorilla rehabilitation One more way the Fossey Fund is making gorilla protection history: In the spring of 2010, at the urging of the Congolese national park service (ICCN) with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and design and construction assistance from Disney's Animal Programs, we opened the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) center in the Congo, on forest land donated by TCCB. Four Grauer’s gorillas that had been rescued from poachers flew by helicopter from their temporary quarters in Goma, DRC to this new state-of-the art facility. In 2011 six more arrived that had been cared for in Kinigi, Rwanda, and others confiscated subsequently have joined them. The center has a capacity for 30 gorillas, and is the first facility of its kind in East Africa. There, the gorillas can learn to live in a group in a natural setting, until they can be released into the wild.

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How to Do a Kip in Gymnastics A kip is an intermediate skill done on the uneven parallel bars in women’s artistic gymnastics. It is also performed in men’s artistic gymnastics on the high bar and parallel bars, but for the purposes of this guide, we will focus on women’s uneven parallel bars. In women’s gymnastics, the kip is a required element for a level five gymnast and above. It often serves as a stumbling block for level four athletes as it is difficult to master. The skill will take even the most qualified gymnasts several weeks to accomplish—maybe even several months—but it is an essential component to a successful bar routine. Explanation of the Kip The kip serves two specific purposes on the uneven parallel bars: It is the way a gymnast gets from the bottom to the top of the bar (the high or the low) with her hips resting on the apparatus; and it is often the way a gymnast will mount the bars. The kip provides the gymnasts with the proper positioning to then perform skills such as hip circles and release moves. It is a critical component to making a bar routine flow smoothly from one skill to the next. Hot Tip: Feet Position One mistake gymnasts often make during the kip is to position their feet too high off the ground at the beginning of the glide. If you keep your legs and feet closer to the ground at the beginning of the glide, it will make the kip much easier to achieve. The three main components in the kip are the swing, the pike-up and the pull-up onto the bar. Here is a step by step progression of the skill: - Glide swing: Stand about a foot from the apparatus and jump from the ground to the low bar, grabbing the bar with your hands. Let your body glide smoothly in either a pike or straddle position away from the bar. - Pike-up: At the peak of the glide, make sure your body is flat with your legs together and stomach in a scooped position. As your body starts to naturally swing back towards the bar, lift your feet back up towards the apparatus in a pike position. The goal is to bring the tip of the toes up to the bar. - Pull-up: After the pike-up, immediately pull your body up onto the bar with arms straight, using the natural motion of the body swing. The kip is completed in this position: your hips resting on the bar, your arms straight and your head looking forward. The stomach and core muscles are used in just about every skill a gymnast will perform—and the kip is no exception. It takes extraordinary stomach muscles to just initiate the skill and pull your body up even to the bar. This supreme physical challenge is one of the reasons the kip is so difficult to do. To strengthen your stomach muscles, try these exercises: This floor exercise simulates the kip motion. - Lie flat on your back, with your arms above your head and your legs straight. - Contract your stomach muscles, so that the hollow of your back is flat to the floor. - Lift your legs, head, and arms six inches off the ground. - With your head looking toward your feet, gently rock back and forth, without letting your head, arms or legs touch the ground. Hanging Pike Holds This bar exercise strengthens your lower core and helps you perform the pike-up. - Hang from a bar with your feet dangling. - Raise your legs in a pike position to the bar and hold the position for 10 seconds. - Slowly, in increments of 10, lower your legs back to the starting position. It is important to control the motion the entire time and not to let your legs swing on the bottom. - Do five sets if possible – your abs should burn! The arms also need to be incredibly strong to successfully complete the kip. There are several ways to strengthen your arms, including pull-ups, push-ups and dips. These common exercises will build power and endurance, and are easy to perform at home or in the gym. Complete 5 to 10 sets of each at least three times a week. The repetition of these drills will help develop lean muscles—a factor that will significantly improve the success of the kip. It Takes a Coach But performing a kip takes more than strong muscles. It takes a qualified coach who is willing to spot and train you throughout the entire skill. They must guide you, through trial and error, until you get the proper feel of the motion. Coaches can also offer hints and tricks on the proper way to glide and pull up into position. Hot Tip: Rope Trapeze One tool often used to help gymnasts with the kip is the rope trapeze. The rope trapeze is a rope that hangs from the lower bar in a “U” shaped position. Gymnasts place their feet into the middle of the “U” (often padded with a towel or cushion) and with their hands on the bar, perform the glide motion. The trapeze will help the gymnast learn the proper technique and timing of the glide as well as the proper alignment of the legs. Remember that the kip is not an easy skill. It is not a natural motion for the body and will take weeks, or months, of work to master. But if you train with a qualified coach and dedicate yourself to developing strong arm and core muscles, the kip will soon be one of your most valued skills on the uneven parallel bars.

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§ Lord Palmer asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights cannot be interpreted as justification for unbridled freedom of expression. § Baroness Chalker of Wallasey Article 9 of the Convention guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the right to manifest one's religion or beliefs. Article 10 guarantees the right to freedom of expression. The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set out in the two articles is subject to certain limitations which are specified in the Convention. These are limitations which are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of, among other things, public safety, the prevention of disorder or crime, the protection of public order, health or morals, or the protection of the reputation and rights and freedoms of others. The jurisprudence of the European Commission of Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights has shown that the Convention cannot be interpreted as permitting unbridled freedom of expression.

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There’s less of a problem with sulfur than phosphorus (P) in Nebraska alfalfa fields, says Charles Shapiro, University of Nebraska soil scientist. Soils in other states are also suffering from a lack of P, according to a recent fertility report from the International Plant Nutrient Institute (IPNI). Growers, Shapiro says, “need to keep their phosphorus levels up. Good alfalfa removes a lot more phosphorus than corn, and growers might not provide as much for alfalfa as they should.” Compared to 2005 data, P levels have decreased by 6 parts per million (ppm) to a median 25 ppm, according to the IPNI report, called The Fertility of North American Soils, 2010. Less than 25 ppm indicates deficiency, according to most university recommendations. The Corn Belt shows the most consistent P declines, dropping 6 ppm to a 2010 median level of 22. “This decline has major agronomic significance, since a high percentage of samples from this region now test below critical levels and call for annual P fertilization to avoid yield reductions,” the report indicates. The northern Great Plains generally has the lowest P levels and the Northeast continues to have some of the highest soil P levels in the nation.

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The Importance of ‘Don’t’ in Inducing Ethical Employee Behavior In a new study, HBS professors Francesca Gino and Joshua D. Margolis look at two ways that companies can encourage ethical behavior: the promotion of good deeds or the prevention of bad deeds. It turns out that employees tend to act more ethically when focused on what not to do. That can be problematic in firms where success is commonly framed in terms of advancement of positive outcomes rather than prevention of bad ones. Key concepts include: - In general, there are two ways a company can encourage ethical conduct among its employees: either the promotion of good actions and outcomes or the prevention of bad ones. - Through several experiments, the professors found that inducing a prevention focus will lead to ethical behavior more than inducing a promotion focus. - In encouraging ethical behavior among employees, it behooves firms to consider focusing on preventing negative outcomes, not only in creating a code of ethics but also in setting goals and framing task directives. In trying to encourage good moral conduct, it's common for a company to come up with a list of don'ts—wording policies such that they focus on unethical behavior employees should avoid rather than on ethical acts they should strive to achieve. Don't cheat. Don't lie. It's a tendency that dates back to the Ten Commandments, the vast majority (eight) of which dictate what thou shalt not do. Meanwhile, in virtually every other aspect of business there is a focus on what to do. Do meet sales projections. Do outperform competitors. Do impress the boss by getting things done. "The default tendency is for companies to frame goals in terms of promotion, and what we show here is that this might actually lead to cheating as a side effect." The dichotomy raises an important question: If employees are generally focused on the benefits of getting things done, will they be attentive to messages about what not to do? Harvard Business School professor Joshua D. Margolis draws a parallel to stage directions in a high-school play. "If you're always told when to enter, you might skip over the one time you're told to exit," he says. Margolis and fellow HBS professor Francesca Gino explore the issue in a new research paper, "Bringing Ethics into Focus: How Regulatory Focus and Risk Preferences Influence (Un)ethical Behavior," in which they distinguish between two ways a company can encourage ethical conduct among its employees: either the promotion of being ethical or the prevention of being unethical. (The paper will be published in the academic journal, "Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.") "Since the Enron scandal, there has been a lot of research across disciplines on why even good people do wrong," Margolis says. "But we have relatively little research to date that says, so, what do you do about it? That's the big game that we're hunting. What are some simple implementations or changes managers can introduce in their organizations to encourage good behavior?" Promotion or prevention? Through a series of experiments with college and graduate students, which are detailed in the paper, Gino and Margolis set out to induce individuals to focus on either promotion or prevention via a series of situational cues. They then studied whether the subconscious adoption of either a promotion or a prevention focus could affect an individual's behavior. The researchers now contend that a person's focus, either promotion or prevention, can indeed influence his or her ethical behavior at any given time. "I think the main message of the paper is that with situational cues, you can trigger one type of motivation versus the other," Gino says. "And because of this motivation, people end up cheating more or less. What we find is that the cues that induce a promotion focus—this idea of attaining high levels of performance—can lead to more cheating than prevention-focus types of framework or cues." In one experiment, students had to come up with anagrams under the time pressure of 90 seconds per round, over a series of six rounds, with the understanding that they would be scoring themselves at the end of the test—and that they would be rewarded for high performance. "In each round, participants were given a series of seven letters and asked to create as many words as possible," the paper explains. "The last series of letters was presented in a different order for each participant so that we could track who cheated and to what extent by comparing workbooks and answer sheets with participants' self-reported performance." The students learned that they would each receive a Scrabble dictionary to check their work, after which they would fill out an answer sheet to report their performance. But before providing the dictionaries, the researchers distributed a pencil-and-paper maze to each student, in which the goal was to help a trapped cartoon mouse find its way out. In some mazes, a picture of a piece of cheese sat outside the exit, next to a hole in the wall where the mouse could escape. This was meant to induce a promotion focus: Go get that reward! In other cases, in lieu of cheese, there was a menacing cartoon owl hovering above the maze, such that it behooved the mouse to reach the exit so as not to become bird food. That maze was meant to induce a prevention focus: Don't get killed! Once they had completed the mazes, the students returned to the task of scoring themselves on the anagram test. They were told to pay themselves from the envelope on their desks according to their performance. The results showed that the students who completed the cheese maze were far more likely to overstate their results, and to reward themselves accordingly, than those who completed the maze with the scary owl—82 percent (37 out of 45 participants) and 39 percent (16 out of 41 participants), respectively. In a separate experiment, the researchers demonstrated that they could induce a promotion or prevention focus simply by phrasing the goals of the study in two different ways. Some students received promotion-based instructions that included the following statement, focusing on advancement: "This research project is being conducted to advance the ideals and aspirations pursued by applied social science." Others received a statement focusing on compliance: "Statement of Research Code of Conduct—This research project is being conducted with strict adherence to the standards and obligations required of applied social science." Again, the students who were steered toward a promotion focus were more likely to cheat on the activities that followed. In other words, inducing a prevention focus may lead to more ethical behavior than inducing a promotion focus. Company executives may want to take note. "The default tendency is for companies to frame goals in terms of promotion, and what we show here is that this might actually lead to cheating as a side effect," Gino says. "So the idea is to maybe revise those policies in terms of prevention so that they could trigger [ethical behavior]." In yet another experiment, the researchers repeated the anagram tests, the mazes, and the monetary rewards with a different set of students, but then they added a wrinkle: After rewarding themselves from the envelopes on their desks, the students had the opportunity to donate some of their winnings to National Public Radio. Tracking moral and immoral actions The results showed that a much larger number of the student participants donated money to NPR in the promotion focus (10 out of 33) than in the prevention focus (2 out of 33). In other words, while inducing a promotion focus seemed to induce unethical acts, it also led to higher levels of virtuous behaviors to make up for those unethical acts. "So there is evidence for the fact that people like to feel that they're in balance when it comes to ethics," Gino says. "People are guided by their moral compass when facing ethical dilemmas. And they keep track of their moral and immoral actions. There's a sense that there's a moral scale inside of you, and you want to keep it balanced." Eventually, Gino and Margolis plan to work within several companies to discover particular ways to incorporate a prevention focus into their bottom line, while still encouraging financial success. In the meantime, managers can be mindful of striking a balance between morals and money when setting goals and offering rewards. "When you're a manager helping to set up the conditions in which people operate, be attuned to the messages you're sending," Margolis says. "If the message is, 'Be sure not to step over the line, but hit those numbers,' don't be shocked if people forget the first message. You need to be clear about penalties even as you are clear about goal setting. You want a healthy setting between those."

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The heart’s pumping action is driven by electrical stimulation within the heart muscle. The heart’s electrical system allows it to beat in an organized pattern. Electrical signals in your heart can become blocked or irregular, causing a disruption in your heart’s normal rhythm. A premature heartbeat is an extra beat between two normal heartbeats and occurs in the ventricles before they have had time to fill with blood after a regular heartbeat. Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVC) Premature ventricular contractions are often called PVCs or PVBs (for premature ventricular beats). They are early contractions that occur when the ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart) contract out of sequence with normal heart rhythm. Though they are generally harmless and usually do not require treatment, PVCs may cause more serious arrhythmias in people with heart disease or a history of ventricular tachycardia. What Are the Symptoms? Premature ventricular contractions often cause no symptoms. But you may feel these sensations in your chest: - Pounding or jumping - Skipped beats or missed beats - Increased awareness of your heartbeat What Are the Causes? PVCs most often occur spontaneously; however, they can also be triggered by: - Medications (especially decongestants) - Certain medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism, anemia, hypertension and stress - Early or Extra Heartbeat Arrhythmias: Premature Ventricular Contractions View Understanding Arrhythmias and Treatment Options Animations Last Reviewed: March 11, 2010 900245

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Avoid Empty Carbohydrates If we had to pick the one single class of food that does the most overall damage to the health of Americans it would be empty carbohydrates, meaning sugar (as in candy, cake, soda, etc.) and carbohydrates (as in pastries and noodles). - Most people don’t look at food the way it really is... - Carbohydrates turn into sugar after being digested... - So whether you’re eating a roll, or a potato or a piece of candy, they are really both just sugar as far as the bloodstream is concerned. Many of Us Eat Way Too Much Sugar The reason sugar takes first place in what’s wrong with the modern diet is that we eat so much of it. Most people far underestimate the amount of sugar they eat each day with the average person eating the equivalent of 52 spoonfuls (208 grams or about 1/2 pound) of sugar per day. And it’s much worse doing the Holidays when people double their intake of simple carbohydrates. This much sugar in our blood prevents our cells from being fat burners, with a whole host of health problems, including increased propensity for disease, and earlier death. Because eating sugar is such a pleasurable experience, food manufacturers have more than doubled than amount of sugar in foods over the past 30 years. (trying to get us to eat more). Tests show that even animals will eat up to six times as much food when it is laced with sugar. The Problems With Sugar Sugar creates several problems for the human body: - Sugar quickly raises blood sugar levels, which causes the pancreas to release insulin to get the sugar out of the blood. This unnecessary work creates wear and tear on the endocrine systems of the body. It’s like revving your car engine up while it is in neutral or park. You accomplish nothing except to damage your health. - Sugar increases circulating insulin and fat storage. As insulin levels go up, fat storage also goes up. This causes your leptin levels to go up... and creates confusion for the metabolic system, meaning the survival switch mechanisms regulating whether a person is in fat burning or sugar burning mode get confused so that an overweight person can stay in sugar burning mode even though the body has ample fat stores and should be in fat burning mode. - Sugar decreases the amount of minerals in the body. Sugar contains no minerals or vitamins. Metabolism of food takes the expenditure of nutrient tools, especially minerals. Since eating sugar results in the expenditure of more minerals than are obtained in the sugar, it is a net negative proposition — the more sugar you eat the more your body is depleted of health sustaining minerals. - Sugar causes glycation of protein molecules in our body. One of the other main causes of aging in addition to free radical damage is the bonding of sugar with protein. This is called glycation. Through glycation proteins cross link with sugar molecules and lose their elasticity and correct functioning. This plus free radical damage create 99% of the aging process. Sugar is Addictive “Sugar is a drug!” To prove this point: when sugar is removed from the diet people become agitated and experience similar symptoms to withdrawal symptoms of smokers morphine users. Simple carbohydrates (white rice, white potatoes, white bread, etc.) are almost as bad as sugar because they turn into sugar when they are digested. Therefore, this entire discussion applies to simple carbohydrates. People can become as addicted to white rolls, for instance, as to sugar. Learn to Avoid Carbohydrate Rich Foods A potato should be seen as a big lump of sugar. Likewise, bread, pastries, noodles, etc. They turn into sugar and the end result is that the body burns sugar for fuel, instead of fat. The result of this is that you age faster, get more disease in your life and die earlier. There are other foods to eat and you can be just as happy eating them. The buzzword of nutritionists these days is glycemic index. Glycemic index values tell us how quickly these foods will spike the blood sugar level, which calls forth insulin to take the sugar out of the blood into fat storage. Foods with natural sugars and fiber typically don’t spike the sugar level in the blood because they are digested and assimilated much more slowly than are sugar and simple carbohydrates. Hence, they don’t create the problems associated with elevated blood sugar. In general, meats, legumes and vegetables have low glycemic values. Hence, they are the best foods for us to eat in terms of avoiding fat storage and glycation aging of our body. Click here to see a great explanation of glycemic index and a table showing the best foods to eat in terms of glycemic index. Make Your Sugar Count Sugar and simple carbohydrates are truly an enemy of optimum health and longevity, especially when they become a part of daily life. That’s why in our estimation, these foods should be labeled celebration foods. We should only eat them occasionally and in between those occasions, we should exercise the discipline that will allow us to say no to sugar and thereby our good health and maximum longevity. We do believe that life is to be enjoyed. Sugary deserts and wonderful breads and pastries can be among those things we count as so enjoyable that they are worth the health blows that comes with them. However, as with drugs and alcohol, it is easy to become addicted, abuse sugar and suffer dire health consequences. If the siren call of sugar is too much, then you probably need to become one of those persons who lives without sugar, who when something tastes sweet, they immediately spit it out. What's wrong with eating a little sugar? Well, let's start with insulin. When you eat sugar, your blood sugar quickly rises and your pancreas immediately responds by secreting the hormone insulin. Insulin, whose job among many other things, is to quickly remove the sugar out of the blood stream by delivering it to cells where it can be used for energy. If sugar is allowed to hang out in the blood stream it does damage by attaching to red blood cells and creating sticky compounds that clog up your system. There are 2 major problems with this. One, most of us don't use our muscles enough that would create a demand for the energy from the sugar so it will get stored as fat or will continue lurking in the blood stream, wreaking havoc. The second problem is our bodies were designed to respond to natural foods that contain sugar such as fruits. When we fill our system with candy, ice cream and cake, the pancreas has to shoot out more insulin to get the job done and high amounts of insulin create a whole other set of issues. Insulin tells the kidneys to hold on to sodium, increasing blood pressure. High insulin levels have also been linked to metabolic syndrome which is a type of pre diabetes that increases the risk of heart disease. Table sugar is not the only offender with the insulin effect on the body. Refined carbs such as mashed potatoes, white rice, white bread and pasta are quickly converted to sugar in the body since your pancreas can't tell the difference. Sugar in not nonnutritive but it is anti-nutritive. When sugar is found in whole foods such as apples, berries and even sugarcane it comes complete with the vitamins, minerals and enzymes needed for complete digestion. When it's found in your sugar bowl or in chemical compounds such as high fructose corn syrup, your body has to borrow from it's stores of nutrients in order to process it. That is one reason why sugar is considered an immune system depressor. Sugar is addictive and just like any addiction, you may experience withdrawals when removing it from your diet. Be prepared for those withdrawal symptoms and do yourself a bog favor and kick the "not so sweet side effects" that occur from eating sugar daily. Sugar is the main contaminant of the circulatory system. Many people don’t realize that sugar in the blood is a major contributor to disease and lessened longevity. Sugar glycates our proteins and feeds microorganism overgrowth in the body. Please study our table on glycemic index value and learn to choose foods that will keep your circulatory system free of excessive sugar.

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A winged robot the size of a fly has taken its first flight, courtesy of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. After more than a decade, engineers at Harvard University have finally finished the first model of the “RoboBee” — the world’s smallest flying robotic insect. Here’s what you should know about this breakthrough in mini-aviation. 1. Its Wings Flap 120 Times a Second The 80-milligram device has a pair of thin stripped wings that can flap 120 times a second. According to the Science Journal, the RoboBee can hover over short distances, take off, and change direction while being connected to a wire. In only six months, engineers were able to construct up to 20 prototypes of the little flying machine. 2. It’s Still a Work in Progress Researchers believe that the prototype still has some improvements to be made, which include giving it a small “brain” to function and a battery small enough for RoboBee to fly in the air without connection to a power source. Researcher Kevin Mas said, “Large robots can run on electromagnetic motors, but at this small scale you have to come up with an alternative, and there wasn’t one.” 3. RoboBee Has a Future in Surveillance With the RoboBee still in development, scientists hope that it can be used for important purposes like surveillance, search and rescue operations, and even monitoring many different environments. With an innovation like this, researchers believe that RoboBee can open more doors for techhology. Project leader Professor Robert Wood explains that, “This project provides a common motivation for scientists and engineers across the university to build smaller batteries, to design more efficient control systems, and to create stronger, more lightweight materials.” 4. It Was Built to Discover the Anatomy of Flies Harvard University’s robotic experiment was meant for engineers to discover the capabilities of a fly. By adhering together thin layers of composite materials, engineers were able to build the engine, muscles, thorax, skeleton and wings. Just like a real fly, the wings move by themselves and can flap and rotate. “Their capabilities exceed what we can do with our robot, so we would like to understand their biology better and apply it to our own work,” team member Dr. Sawyer Fuller said. 5. You Can See it in Action If any of this interests you, check out the little robotic insect as it takes its first flight:

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World War II is thought of as bombs being fired between countries, major economic global powers pitting against one another, weapons blasting between each other on the ground and in the water. Let us not forget the power of the radio. The radio was the television or internet of its time, used to persuade its listeners to stick to their wartime governments. Besides all of the presidential and government announcements, an even more melodic and soothing radio persuader was music. Jazz seemed to be a universal classic enjoyed by both Axil and Allies alike. Jazz was very popular in the United States, Britain and, surprisingly enough, jazz was loved by Germans, even though Hitler was not a fan himself. The Nazi government tried to raid their radios with folk songs that were a reflection of their German ancestors. They banned much music and only permitted radios to play certain genres, such as classical. Two famous jazz musicians are Louie Armstrong and Bing Crosby. Armstrong's hit “I Wonder” gave a soothing feeling with his sensual voice and the piano during a period of rough national struggle. Another jazz voice is Martha Tilton. Coming from New York before America's involvement in the war, her biggest hit was “I'll Walk Alone”. This hit is a true jazz gem that sent soldiers dreaming with lyrics like “No matter how far just close your eyes and I'll be there”. Another jazz favourite, Harry James is caught singing with his partner Helen Forrest in the classic “It's been a long, long time.” Helen steals the fame in this song but reminds its listeners the power of jazz during this epic. Considering most first world homes at the time had a radio, the impact of a president's message and a resounding jazz session added to the significance of the Second World War period.

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by John Connell Each day, more than half a million new connections are made to the Internet. 500,000 people who were not on the Internet yesterday are today taking their first tentative steps onto the global network of networks. The majority of these new connections are being made with a mobile device of some kind, in most cases a cell phone. For every laptop or desktop currently being used to connect to the Internet there are two mobile devices being used to do the same. And of the 500,000 people connecting today, some 400,000 of them live in the developing world. With between one third and one half of the world’s population already online (2.8 billion as of December 2013), most of them in the developed countries of the world, the greatest scope for continued growth in Internet use in the next few years will be in those parts of the world where a combination of relative under-development, an immature market for the large fixed-line telecoms operators, and therefore an as-yet-inadequate wired infrastructure, has propelled a massive expansion in wireless networks. Countries all around the world recognise the economic benefits of connectivity and this is driving growth in the deployment and usage of LTE (4G) networks at a rate of 250% year on year at the present time. There is no reason to think that this rate of expansion will slow down any time soon. Indeed with the Koreans already working on a 5G network amid claims that it will be ‘thousands of times faster’ than 4G, the mobile market globally is still in its infancy in so many respects. M-Learning: An Emerging Phenomenon While the growing mobile networks are already having an unmistakable impact on education around the world, mobile-learning is still fundamentally an emerging phenomenon. Much play has been made in some places, for instance, of the many and varied schemes to introduce tablets, e-readers, and even connected handheld gaming devices into the classroom. Some of these have been successful while others are more conspicuous by the hype surrounding them than by any proven effects on teaching and learning. But such schemes are, in my opinion, really only scratching the surface of m-learning. They have validity in their own right, of course, but they are for the most part simply attempts to extend the range of connected devices for students from desktops and laptops to devices that are small, versatile, easy-to-carry and, yes, more mobile. So while they do have the capacity to enable access to learning in a greater variety of settings, whether in school or out of school, than with desktops, and even laptops, their mobility capability is by no means always the pivotal factor in their deployment. Three Sets of Affordances Truly effective m-learning derives, I feel, from three related sets of affordances that mobile networks give to education, but more precisely from the compound effect of the three affordances when taken together. Two of the affordances are probably not hard to discern. The first is that they allow virtual teaching and learning to take place anywhere and at any time. The second is that they offer access to online education to billions of people worldwide who have not previously been able to enjoy that access. The third affordance offered to education by the expansion of mobile networks to so many more people across the world is that having a cell phone or any other small connected device in your hand, no matter where you are in the world, gives the learner the potential to establish a very high level of control over their own learning. Of course, that has been true in many ways since the first desktop computers were linked up to the Internet, and has been all the more true as laptops became smaller, cheaper, lighter and more mobile over the past couple of decades, but the ability now to enjoy the same level of connectedness with a truly mobile handheld device has taken this process to a new level. Combined with the growing trend to render websites fully responsive, by deploying HTML5′s capabilities to produce sites that are geared to run on low-powered, small-form devices such as phones and tablets, the mobile data networks are now putting m-learning in a very interesting position indeed. Is the Tipping Point Coming for M-Learning? When we take these affordances together, along with the progress towards a truly responsive Web, it is clear to me that mobile learning, across its many manifestations (with some still to be formed and defined, no doubt), is about to take off in a big way. The combination of trends, factors and affordances is creating the perfect social and technological ecosystem for virtual learning to spread far beyond the larger desk-bound and lap-bound devices that have dominated for two decades to the kinds of devices that fit in a pocket or are so easily carried and used anywhere, any time. Two things will happen now. One is the glaringly obvious one that, in the shorter term, and worldwide, providers of content, courses, and programmes of study, both free and paid-for, will increasingly customise and configure their products for the mobile learning market – many are already doing so, of course, but the volume of this will surge hugely over the next couple of years and beyond. Content and course providers, particularly those trying to monetize their products, will be seeking to grab whatever segments of the market they can, and we can be sure that providers will spring up in every part of the world, some looking to build international markets, others happy to focus on regions, on language-communities, on individual countries and even on specific disciplines that will cut across all such geographical fault lines . The effect will be to extend massively the educational choices available to learners all over the world. The second thing that I believe will happen will take longer to realize. That is that, as this ‘market’ expands, and as learners everywhere and anywhere begin to recognize the sheer scale and spread of what is becoming available to them, they will begin to focus less on accessing or buying discrete ‘packages’ of learning products aimed at them, and more on simply picking and choosing what they need from the torrent of material flowing past them as they seek to learn exactly what they want to learn and not what someone else has decreed they should learn. Smart learners will become skilled in disassembling the packages offered and taking just the bits they want, and then creating their own programmes of study from all the options in front of them. It is a process that will at once thrive on the massive expansion in mobile-ready content online and also render the market in mobile-ready content much more complex and unpredictable than many of the players in the market would wish it to be. M-Learning in the Developing World Where people live, whether they want to or can afford to pay for formal educational offerings, what language(s) they want to learn in, how much they require formal accreditation, how systems of informal accreditation (such as digital badges) expand in the years ahead, and a host of other questions pertinent to the individual learner, will all encourage and stimulate learners increasingly to take control of their own learning. This will be a global phenomenon, of course, but I believe that it will be in the developing world that the effects of these transformations will be most profound: learners in the developing world have a hunger for learning that has not been provided for in the past because the means simply weren’t there for its ‘delivery’. Just as the mobile networks themselves are expanding most rapidly in the developing world, so it will be paralled by a rapid escalation of people taking advantage of those networks for their own education. M-Learning is about to go mainstream, but in ways that the providers of mobile education will find very hard to predict. Providers will need to consider very carefully the combination of affordances described above if they are to match their strategies successfully to the changing times and changing circumstances over the next few years.

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Today marks the 14th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, commemorating the lives of those lost due to violent transphobia. According to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, over the past twelve months alone, 265 transgender people were murdered around the world.* This number is a conservative estimate and does not take into account the countless murders that occurred when an individual’s gender identity went unnoticed, unreported or misunderstood. “On this solemn day, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission mourns the loss of our transgender brothers and sisters whose lives were cut short by ignorance and hate. We call upon governments everywhere to eliminate discriminatory laws that encourage transphobic violence and to conduct popular education to respect the safety and dignity of all people, regardless of gender identity or expression,” said Jessica Stern, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). “Today, we urge governments whose social policies produce invisibility, pathology and mutilation to face a trans person. We invite them to recognize the marvels of diversity and recognize our contributions to community. Instead of working to normalize our bodies—as if our bodies are wrong—let’s work together to construct policies that are inclusive and based on respect,” said Andrés Rivera, Senior Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at IGLHRC. * For the list with all 265 names as well as additional information on the reported murders, visit the TDOR 2012 Names List on the website of the Trans Murder Monitoring Project.

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Help tomatoes beat the heat You may love em, but theyre prone to trouble The most exciting garden event of the summer arrives when juicy, fresh tomatoes are ready for harvest. Last weekend my family and I were delighted to enjoy an armful of this tasty fruit. We ate our tomatoes with a little salt, with white gravy, and in BLT sandwiches. Our passion for tomatoes is shared by many gardeners, but, as many home gardeners quickly learn, tomato plants are not without problems: They’re susceptible to diseases, insect infestation, and physiological disorders caused by environmental stresses. Those problems, thanks in part to the recent heat wave, are now evident in many plants. Blossom-end rot is a common problem on green or ripening tomato fruit. It first appears as a tan-to-brown water-soaked lesion on the blossom end of the fruit (opposite the stem). As the fruit ripens, the dry spot enlarges, become sunken, and turns black and leathery. The sunken spot opens the fruit up to other organisms that cause the fruit to rot. This generally occurs on developing tomatoes during extended hot, dry periods; blossom-end rot occurs during the summer when day temperatures are above 90 degrees Fahrenheit and night temperatures are higher than 76 degrees. The cause of blossom-end rot is a calcium deficiency in the developing fruit. Calcium is needed for proper fruit development. The deficiency occurs in the plant after large fluctuations in soil moisture. Plant growth slows with limited soil moisture. When water becomes available again the plant grows rapidly, but the uptake of calcium lags behind growth, resulting in tissue breakdown. One way to control blossom-end rot is to maintain even and adequate levels of soil moisture. Mulching established plants with an organic mulch will help suppress weed growth, conserve soil moisture, and maintain the moisture level evenly. Water plants deeply, then wait five or more days between waterings. Peppers, summer squash, and cucumbers may also exhibit this problem. Poor fruit set is another disorder caused by extreme temperatures. Blossoms can drop off without setting fruit when temperatures are higher than 90 degrees or below 55 for extended periods of time. Dry soil, excessive nitrogen, and shade can also cause poor fruit set. Tomato (and pepper) fruits exposed to the sun are susceptible to sunburn or sunscald. The affected areas become dry and sunken, with a papery tan-to-white appearance. Sunscald is most common on green fruit and often affects plants that have lost leaves to foliar diseases or incurred breakage during harvest. Controlling plant diseases and insects that cause defoliation can lessen the chances of sunscald. Drought followed by a heavy rain or watering can encourage rapid growth during ripening. Growth cracks, the result of too much water applied at one time, can be prevented with maintenance of consistent moisture level in the soil. Some varieties are crack-tolerant. The Iowa State University Extension offers a fact sheet, found at www.extension.iastate.edu/ Publications/PM1266.pdf, with great photos, descriptions and controls for common problems of tomatoes. Keep in mind purchasing tomato varieties bred for disease resistance can keep a variety of maladies at bay. Jennifer Fishburn is a unit educator with the University of Illinois Extension, Sangamon-Menard Unit. For more information, go to www.extension.uiuc.edu/sangamon.

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In class last week, we discussed Herbert Kohl's book, Shall We Burn Babar? In prep for it, I stopped in the local library to grab copies of Babar books. I found one I hadn't seen before... It is titled Babar's World Tour, published in 2005 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. "World tour," I thought to myself. What did dear old Babar see? In the first pages, Babar and his family visit Italy, Germany, Russia, India, Japan, Thailand... where they eat new foods, speak phrases in Italian, etc. At one point, Isabelle notes difference in language and asks "What's wrong with our words?" Celeste explains that "People in different places say things differently. They do things differently, too. They build different kinds of buildings." Note the reference to people, of the present day. Now, I call your attention to the image I've included with this post. Note, specifically, the text, which I've included below (bold text is mine): When everyone was rested, they went to Angkor in Cambodia, the ancient city of the Khmers. In Mexico, they climbed a pyramid built by the Aztecs. In both places, the original settlers were gone but tourists abounded. "Will everyone move out of Celesteville one day, too?" Pom asked. "Never," said Babar. "But apart from us, it happens a lot, as you'll see." The "as you'll see" refers to the places they visit next, which are "the cliff houses of the Anasazi in the high desert of the American Southwest, "the Inca Trail, on the same stones that the Incas had walked..." and "... to the remains of the city of Machu Picchu hidden in the Andes Mountains." How nice for the Babar family and other tourists, that the "original settlers" were gone! How nice that they had, presumably, moved out, leaving these wonderful places for the tourists! And how good it is of Babar to assure Pom that the inhabitants of Celesteville will never move out of Celesteville! Reviewers of the book failed to note these passages and the messages they impart to the reader. School Library Journal's reviewer finds it lacking because it doesn't have the same adventure and excitement in Jean de Brunhoff's Travels of Babar (which has highly problematic illustrations of "cannibals"). Perhaps if they'd actually come across "savages" (aka "original settlers) she might have given it a favorable review. The review in Booklist is more favorable: "Though children listening to the story will get only a glimpse or two of each country before moving on to the next, this colorful picture book provides an inkling of the diversity of places and cultures in the world. A pleasant excursion, recommended especially for those who already know and love Babar and his family." Perhaps, but I wonder about children of all those "original settlers"?! There is a great deal wrong with this book. It is very useful for a high school or college classroom, but as a read-aloud for young children? No.

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Anaya Urges Presidential Support for Apology S. James Anaya, a United Nations fact-finder, has learned that vibrant Indian cultures are often invisible in the United States mainstream and that problems of Indians today seem trivial to U.S. citizens who tend to believe Natives and Native issues exist only in the distant past. Anaya, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, also said that there should be presidential support for an existing apology resolution, because any reconciliation over historical wrongs has been hampered from the start by inadequate acknowledgment. Anaya, of Purepecha and Chiricahua Apache ancestry, spoke January 24 at the University of Colorado Law School on “Reconciliation in the United States in Light of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” He cited the 500-year Native history of abuses, ranging from the initial invasion to the illegal seizure of millions of acres of tribal land, to the boarding schools which “cut deep into Indian communities,” and to predictable present-day results—disproportionately high rates of poverty, disease, early death, violence, alcoholism and suicide. Yet he found many mainstream Americans who have said, “Just get over it,” an indication of the invisibility of Natives and Native issues in a wider culture that places them squarely in distant history and ignores the ongoing outcome of abuses “very much felt today.” Anaya said “robust means of reconciliation” should take place, beginning with a heartfelt and public apology for past wrongs. He added that a “superficial apology” would yield a “superficial reconciliation.” The document emphasized that the apology didn’t constitute support for or settlement of claims against the U.S., but was for the “many instances of violence, maltreatment and neglect” inflicted on Native peoples by U.S. citizens. “History cannot be undone, but the future can mark a new direction,” Anaya said, urging that the Declaration become a part of decision-making when indigenous issues arise in foreign and domestic policy. On a personal note that illustrated the here-and-now of Native concerns, Anaya said he’d received a letter from a 15-year-old student attending high school near the Rosebud Sioux (Sicangu Lakota) Reservation in South Dakota. “Life here is very hand-to-mouth,” the student wrote. “I’m going to be honest with you—sometimes I don’t eat. I’ve never told anyone this before, not even my mom, but I don’t eat sometimes because I feel bad about making my mom buy food that I know is expensive. “And you know what? Life is hard enough for my mom, so I will probably never tell her.” Anaya gave the Thomson Visitor Lecture as part of the 2012-2013 Speaker Series of the American Indian Law Program. Please use the log in option at the bottom of this page

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- Send with Email - Share to Google - Share to del.icio.us - Share to Stumbleupon - Share to Facebook - Share to Twitter FRA will act as a facilitator to the 2nd international policy-making colloquium of the European regional office of the Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. The event, entitled “Roma Segregated Housing as a Human Rights Challenge”, was organised in cooperation with the Spanish government. Despite efforts at the national, European and international level to improve the social and economic integration of Roma in the European Union, many still face deep poverty, profound social exclusion, and discrimination, which often means limited access to quality education, jobs and services, low income levels, sub-standard housing conditions, poor health and lower life expectancy. These problems also present often insurmountable barriers to exercising their fundamental rights. Working & discussion paper This paper provides an analysis of data collected through FRA’s Roma Survey broken down by gender and covering the core areas of employment, education, housing and health, as well as any other gender‐sensitive policy areas. The paper is the result of a request made by the President of the European Parliament to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on 27 June 2013. Roma - Europe's largest minority of 10-12 million people - continue to experience discrimination and social exclusion; and they are not sufficiently aware of their rights guaranteed by EU law, such as the Racial Equality Directive. This report presents the first results of the FRA Roma pilot survey and the UNDP/World Bank/European Commission regional Roma survey carried out in 2011.

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Languages differ in how much they distinguish between the present and the future. Professor Keith Chen found that speakers of languages that do not rely on the future tense make more future-oriented choices, including saving more money, retiring with more wealth, and smoking less. The language we speak predicts a range of economic and health behaviors, from how much money we save for retirement to how much we exercise, according to research by Keith Chen, a behavioral economist at the Yale School of Management. Languages vary in how much of a grammatical distinction they require speakers to make between the present and the future. For example, English requires speakers to talk about the future as different from the present ("It will rain tomorrow"), while German allows speakers to talk about the future as though it is the present (Morgen regnet es, "It rains tomorrow"). In every region of the world, Chen found, languages that make little or no distinction between the present and the future induce speakers to make more future-oriented choices. Speakers of languages that do not distinguish between the present and the future save more money, retire with more wealth, smoke less, practice safer sex, and are less obese, according to Chen’s findings. “There’s a connection between how you feel about the future and how your language forces you to talk about the future,” says Chen. “If you speak a language that doesn’t distinguish strongly between the present and the future, you save a lot more because the future feels closer. If you speak a language that separates present and future events, the future feels more distant, which makes it harder to do things to care for your future self like save money, exercise, and eat better.” The relationship between language and behavior holds not only across countries, but also within countries that have multiple national languages. Chen compared individuals with identical income, education, family structure, and country of birth, but who speak different languages within the same country. Speakers of languages with weak distinctions between the present and the future were 31% more likely to have saved money in any given year, had accumulated 39% more wealth by retirement, were 24% less likely to smoke, were 29% more likely to be physically active, and were 13% less likely to be medically obese compared to speakers of languages that make a strong distinction between the present and the future. A country’s language also has a significant effect on the national savings rate. Chen found that OECD countries that speak languages that equate the present and the future save on average 6% more of their GDP per year. Luxembourg had the highest national savings rate, while Greece had the lowest. Languages with weak references to the future include Chinese, Finnish, German, and Japanese. Languages with strong references to the future include English, Greek, Italian, and Russian. “The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Evidence from Savings Rates, Health Behaviors, and Retirement Assets” is forthcoming in the American Economic Review.

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Sight Words Learn to Read for iOS – Kids Recognize the Most Common Words Sydney, Australia – Indie developer Karina Ranaldi today is pleased to introduce Sight Words Learn to Read 1.0 for iOS, her app that helps pre-schoolers and kindergarteners learn to recognize the most frequently used words by sight. Since some of these words cannot be sounded out, they must be learned by sight. Based on the well-known Dolch Sight Word List of 220 “service words” required to achieve basic fluency in reading, the app provides entertaining practice through a 3D animated game, where fish swim across the screen with a word on them. At the start of each round, one sight word is announced aloud and written in text onscreen, and Kids must tap on each fish they see with that word. According to Wikipedia, “The Dolch Word List is a list of frequently used words compiled by Edward William Dolch, PhD, a major proponent of the “whole-word” method of beginning reading instruction. The list was originally published in his book Problems in Reading in 1948. The list contains 220 “service words” that have to be easily recognized in order to achieve reading fluency in the English language. The compilation excludes nouns, which comprise a separate 95-word list. These lists of words are still assigned for memorization in American elementary schools. Although most of the 220 Dolch words are phonetic, children are sometimes told that they can’t be “sounded out” using common sound-to-letter implicit phonics patterns and have to be learned by sight; hence the alternative term, “sight word.” “Players have 45 seconds to correctly tap on fish displaying the announced word, which is read aloud by a professional voiceover artist at the start of each round. Kids must correctly tap on a minimum of 10 or a maximum of 15 instances of the announced word in each round, points out Ranaldi. “Played in portrait orientation, most animated fish swimming from left to right will display sight words that are not the announced word. However, according to Ranaldi, “there is no penalty for incorrect choices, but 10 correct answers are necessary to complete each round.” * 2 modes of gameplay: Pre-School or Kindergarten * Beautifully designed, rich, colorful, entertaining, and engaging graphics * Underwater themed with animated marine animals and plants * Interactive game play * High quality, professionally recorded audio featuring the famous Sharon Brogden * Fun, quirky background music * Word repetition to encourage memory building * The child’s very own fish tank to house their marine animals and plants * Option for instructions to assist with game play * Pre-School & Kindergarten Word Lists * Saved game play with reset function * Sight Words Facebook page has thousands of followers and regular competitions Swish the Fish will help your child learn the words that are most commonly found in print. Words like: the, and, am and said, through interactive gameplay that is sure to keep your little one entertained!” stated developer Karina Ranaldi. “Learning to recognize these high frequency words by sight is an early literacy skill that will help fuel your child’s desire to read!! This app has been developed by parents in consultation with teachers!!!” * iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch * Requires iOS 3.0 or later * 32.6 MB Pricing and Availability: Sight Words Learn to Read 1.0 is $0.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Education category. Review copies are available on request. Based in Sydney, Australia, indie developer Karina Ranaldi is a mother of two, who became interested in the design and development of kids educational apps after seeing her daughter develop such a passion for learning at such an early age. The future of her business will be to form a partnership with pre-schools and schools and work together to implement her apps within their educational syllabus. Copyright (C) 2012 Karina Ranaldi. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners. Filed: Press Releases

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Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) Click on images to enlarge Tall fescue, a cool season perennial grass, forms clumps with upright leaves. It is found throughout California, except the Great Basin and deserts, to about 8900 feet (2700 m). Tall fescue is especially invasive in coastal scrub and grassland on the North and Central Coast. It also inhabits other disturbed dry or wet areas. It is widely planted for pasture, turf, hay, and erosion control, but has escaped cultivation. New tall fescue turf cultivars may be less invasive. Sometimes tall fescue is infected with a fungus, Acremonium coenophialum. Livestock that graze on pasture infected with this fungus exhibit a wide variety of chronic health problems. Coastal scrublands, grasslands, pastures, roadsides, ditches, and other disturbed dry or wet locations. Seedling leaf blades are rolled in the bud before they open and are hairless and conspicuously veined. The collar is pale and contains a membranous ligule and auricles with hairy-edged lobes, or no lobes. Tall fescue grows in clumps and can reach 6-1/2 feet (2 m) tall. Stems are coarse, round in cross-section, and have visible stem joints (nodes). Leaves are rolled, loosely rolled, or flat before they open from the bud. Blades are up to 2/5” (1 cm) wide, 4 to 28 inches (10–70 cm) long, dark green, slightly glossy, coarse, with rasplike edges, and radiate from a central clump. Although similar in appearance to dallisgrass, Paspalum dilatatum, tall and meadow fescues are distinguished by growing in tighter clumps, versus the loose bunches formed by dallisgrass. Ligules are membranous. Auricles have lobes with hairy edges, or no lobes. Flowers bloom from May through June. The flowering head is open and branching. Stalked, purple-tinged spikelets attach along the flowering branches. Flower head stalks may lay flat when mowed, resulting in ragged-looking turf. Reproduces by seed and sometimes by underground, creeping, horizontal stems (rhizomes) fragments that result from activities such as cultivation and movement of soil. Related or similar plants - Dallisgrass, Paspalum dilatatum - Meadow fescue, Festuca pratensis Huds.

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Read more about the rescue of the Danish jews during October 1943 in the menu to the right. The architect Daniel Libeskind was inspired by the Jewish concept of Mitzvah on which he has based his design of the inside of the Museum. The Hebrew word Mitzvah has numerous meanings, two of which are: "the duty to do the right thing" and "a good deed". The Hebrew letters denoting Mitzvah have been interlaced to form the pattern of the corridors within which the guest moves through the exhibition. Thus the public moves within the text, which is a direct reference to and an ethical reminder of the rescue of the Danish Jews in October 1943. Libeskind's architectural design of the museum is in itself a story about Danish Jewry. We are happy to offer guided tours in English every Wednesday and Friday at 2 PM! Get a discount of 10% at selected cafés by showing your ticket from the museum (Photo: Eddie Michel Azoulay). Talks, guided tours, films and music - keep up with the museums acitivity program ... - an exhibition about Jews in Denmark The exhibition is a broad story of Jewish life in Denmark and focuses on co-exixstence and indentity through 400 years. Read more...

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Collections: Objects of the Month Henry King, Jr. Eternal Light, 1898 Object #: 1975.01 Donor: Robert Reich Description: Brass eternal light, 1898 Caroline King donated the ner tamid (eternal light) to Washington Hebrew Congregation in memory of her late husband, Henry King, Jr. The inscription reads "In memory of H. King Jr. by his wife and children." A ner tamid is an eternal light that hangs over a synagogue's ark where the Torah is kept, and symbolizes God's constant presence. Henry King, Jr., came to the United States in 1848 as a teenager. He and Caroline Straus married and opened a millinery business on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, in 1861. The business expanded and relocated a number of times before finding its permanent home at 814 Seventh Street, NW, in 1877. In the meantime, the couple had welcomed seven children into their lives, three of whom would eventually take over the business. Over time, the millinery grew into a department store known as King's Palace that occupied four adjacent addresses (seen at left). King died in 1897 and the business continued under the management of three of his sons and later a grandson. In 1898, when Washington Hebrew dedicated a new synagogue on Eighth Street, NW, this ner tamid was donated in memory of Henry King, who had been largely responsible for campaigning and fundraising for the new synagogue in his role as congregational president. About 75 years later, when Robert Reich, a local collector of architectural remnants, unearthed the light, he knew that Henry Brylawski, Chair of the Restoration Committee for the 1876 historic synagogue, was looking for a ner tamid to hang in synagogue. A new ner tamid had already been installed, however, so the blackened, brass light fixture was donated to the Society's archival collection. To prepare it for display in 2005 in our exhibition, Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community, at the National Building Museum, the ner tamid was repaired, polished, and restored. Do you have artifacts from a local synagogue that you'd like to donate to the Jewish Historical Society? Contact us at [email protected] or (202) 789-0900. Photo: King's Palace, early 1900s. Courtesy of Library of Congress, LC-DIG-npcc-32044. The façade of the building survives, now integrated into an office building at 810 Seventh Street, NW, which houses a local bar on the first floor.

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Photo Challenge: Follow the Rule of Thirds The rule of thirds applies to all visual art and is a concept that every photographer should know well. It states that when composing an image you should imagine there are lines dividing the image into nine equal parts (two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines) and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. For this photo challenge, put the rule of thirds into action and show us your best image that utilizes it! Closed April 18, 2011

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Mr. Pablo Cuadra Religion Class The Works of Mercy : The Works of Mercy The works of Mercy are divided in two main categories: Spiritual Works of Mercy Corporal Works of Mercy According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the works of Mercy are: # 2447 “Charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.” This presentation will deal with the first category: “The Spiritual Works of Mercy” Which are the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy? : Which are the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy? To instruct the ignorant To counsel the doubtful To admonish sinners To bear wrongs patiently To forgive offences willingly To comfort the afflicted To pray for the living and the dead. 1. Instruct the Ignorant : Instruct the Ignorant Socrates (470 BC) a Greek philosopher once said: “I neither know nor I think that I know” (Apology of Plato). True wisdom Socrates said is knowing that we know nothing. We all experience ignorance of some sort. Our Christian Faith challenges us to seek the truth; to come out of the shadows of ignorance. Jesus said: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) Human ignorance can be experienced in three different levels A. Intellectual ignorance B. Moral Ignorance C. Spiritual Ignorance Instruct the Ignorant Intellectual ignorance: “things we don’t know”. Our Christian faith calls us to be teachers, to share the knowledge we have acquired through life with others specially, those who have been deprived of the opportunities to learn and advance in our society. Saint Katherine Drexel (1858-1955) not only committed her life to teach but also donated all her inherited wealth $20 million dollars to open schools for African Americans and Native Americans at a time in America’s history of great discrimination and social injustice to minorities. She was the founder of Xavier University in New Orleans. Instruct the Ignorant Do you know how to play the guitar or maybe the piano? Do you know math or maybe algebra? Are you a good artist or writer? Do you know a second language? God calls us to share our knowledge, skills, talents with others. Practical tips: Consider being a mentor at a non-profit organization or at your parish education or social program. For example, Covenant House, a Catholic runaway crisis shelter for youth, is always in need for mentors and volunteers for its program. Below there is a link to the Covenant House’s website http://www.covenanthouse.org/ Instruct the Ignorant Moral Ignorance: Ignorance of the moral values, attitudes and dispositions of our faith. Our baptismal call challenges us to be a light to the world. We live in an age marked by secularism and moral relativism. Our society seems to be plagued by sexual scandals, corporate corruption, greed, political abuses, family disintegration and social apathy. In a world so obsess with materialistic and hedonistic tendencies, Catholic Christians are called to instruct and lead first and foremost by example. In his most recent encyclical Spe Salvi (saved by hope), Pope Benedict XVI says: “If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man’s ethical formation, in man’s inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.” Instruct the Ignorant To combat moral ignorance, first and foremost We Catholic Christians must take a stand. A commitment to learn more about our faith, to know why we believe what we believe. We, Catholics must commit ourselves to educate and form our consciences. Jesus said: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? Luke 6:39 Christians are the conscience of the world. We are called by our baptismal call to announce and to denounce. To teach and to challenge. To plant and to uproot. We have a Christian and moral duty to denounce and reject the structures of injustice, sin, and social evil affecting the moral stratum our world and lives. Instruct the Ignorant How to contend with moral ignorance? practical tips: A. Support the social issues and causes of our Catholic faith. Get to know what these issues are. The website of the U.S. Catholic bishops has plenty of information. Here is their link: http://www.usccb.org/ B. Make a clear stand against the anti-values of our culture. C. Have the courage to take stand for life, family values, social justice. Become involved in your church and society. D. Become acquainted with the moral and social justice values our your Catholic faith. Share these values at home with your children, at work with your colleagues, and with the world at large. E. Be an example, actions are more convincing than words. This means abandoning hypocritical attitudes and adopting Conversion-change of the heart. Conversion (metanoia) is a life long process. Instruct the ignorant Spiritual ignorance: Ignorance of the core tenets, practices, and devotions of our faith. St. Paul says: “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The day of our baptism our parents received a candle lit from the paschal candle blessed during the Easter Vigil. This candle represents the light of faith, that must be passed on, share and experienced in the domestic church we call the Family. As mature Catholics we have a responsibility to grow in the knowledge of our faith’s teachings but also to share this knowledge with the world at large. Jesus commanded his disciples: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Matthew 28:19 Instruct the Ignorant Spiritual Indifference is the result of a faith that was not nourished or mentored. John Paul II in his encyclical Familiaris Consortio highlights the fundamental role of parents and mentors and nurturers of faith. The pope says: “Christian marriage and the Christian family build up the Church: for in the family the human person is not only brought into being and progressively introduced by means of education into the human community, but by means of the rebirth of baptism and education in the faith the child is also introduced into God’s family, which is the Church.” Instruct the ignorant As practicing Catholics it is our duty to assist those who are struggling with their spiritual lives and crisis of faith. Practical tips: A. Be a role model of faith B. Attend Church with your children on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, young people learn by example. Consistency is key the learning process. C. Learn more about your faith’s teachings. Each day make it a project to teach your children, a friend, stranger, or relative something new about your faith. Sharing is learning. D. Enroll your kids in a Catholic school. If this is not possible, enroll them in the CCD classes of your parish program. CCD stands for confraternity of Christian Doctrine. E. Pray as a family. A family that prays together remains together. Teach your kids about the word of God, and the customs of our Catholic faith. 2. Counsel the Doubtful : Counsel the Doubtful We all experience confusions and doubts in our human journey. We all know someone discerning a difficult choice. The Holy Spirit has filled us with his gifts to assist those in need of good advise. There are people who tell us what we like to hear and there are those who tell us what we need to hear. Giving Good advise is an act of charity and justice. Knowingly, giving bad advise is an offense against love and justice. 3. Admonish The Sinner : Admonish The Sinner “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Luke 17:3 Maybe you have a son that is using illegal drugs or a friend that is cheating on his or her spouse or a co-worker that tends to drink and drive. As Christians we have the duty to announce good news but also to denounce sin, injustice and evil. Keeping silence lead us to the sin of omission. The things we could have done or the words we could have said but didn’t. We have the moral duty to offer fraternal correction to our brothers and sisters. “Silence gives consent”. Saying and Hearing the truth can be hurtful at times. However, We should not be afraid to speak the truth and correct others when they do wrong. By taking a stand we may save them from greater catastrophes. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not afraid of speaking the truth about social injustice at a time in American history when most Christians kept silence about racism and social inequality. 4. Comfort the Sorrowful : Comfort the Sorrowful Taking the time to listen, or maybe writing a few words of encouragement, or just simply being present to someone in pain can make a big difference in the life of someone experiencing sorrow and grief. Christ our Lord is the perfect example of Compassion. “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36 Mother Teresa spent almost 40 years ministering to sick, lonely ,hungry and dying in the slums of Calcutta India. She insisted on small things done with great love produce big results. As Christians we are compelled to reach with compassion to those in our world who are hurting. Who are the poor among us? What is our response to them? 5. Forgive Injuries : Forgive Injuries Gandhi once said: “an eye for an eye make this world blind”. We all have made mistakes in the past. And we all have been hurt by someone in the past. Our faith challenges us to forgive and to seek forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the most powerful liberating human experiences. Ironically, forgiveness is at the same time one of the most difficult acts to offer. As Christians we are called to forgive seventy times seven meaning, “always”. Matthew 18: 21-22 In 1981 Pope John Paul II was shot four times by a Turkish national in St. Peter square. The Pope was badly injured by the bullets, undergoing a five hour, life threatening surgery, in Rome. Despite, this attempt on his life and despite the physical injuries resulted as a consequence of the attack, the Pope decided to forgive and meet his attacker. The pope forgave Mehmet Ali Agca and met him in his Italian prison cell in 1983. 6. Bear Wrongs Patiently : Bear Wrongs Patiently Impatience, anger, negativity, revenge, are all reactions deeply ingrained in human nature. We all have been tempted, time and time again, to react negatively to the wrongs and injustices inflicted upon us by others. Who hasn’t been cut off in traffic or discriminated against in one way or another? Who hasn’t dealt with a rude person or an annoying personality? Christ is our example of patience, he carried his cross, a symbol of injustice, death, hatred, and apathy with patience. Like Christ, we must also carry our cross patiently in a world that is often unfair, indifferent, violent and rude. Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years confined in a prison cell in Robben Island and Pollsmoor prison for fighting apartheid, racial discrimination in South Africa. Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. Soon after his release Mandela began advocating reconciliation and political dialogue with the political opposition. Nelson Mandela received the Nobel peace prize in 1993 and became the first black president of South Africa on May 10, 1994. In an act of good will and reconciliation Mandela invited the guards of his prison to the ceremony of inauguration. Pray for those who discourage us Pray for those who put us down Pray for those who do us violence Pray for those who are unfair to us. 7. Pray for the Living and the dead : Pray for the Living and the dead In the catacomb of Priscilla 5th century there is this inscription by an early Christian: “I implore you, brothers to pray whenever you come here and invoke the Father and Son in all your prayers so that they might save Agape (the person in the tomb) forever” Catholics believe that we belong to one body that of Christ Rom 12:5. We also believe that we can pray for others in this life and in the life to come. Because the unity of the body of Christ is not fractured or separated by death. Praying for the living and the dead is part of our Judeo-Christian tradition. To this day devout Jews pray for the dead. Christianity inherited this practice from the people of the Old Covenant. Jesus prayed for his disciples, likewise we should also pray for others specially: The poor The homeless Those who find life difficult Those who are trapped by hatred and injustice Those who are victims of hunger, war, and social injustice Those who have no one to pray for them. Those souls in purgatory awaiting the beatific vision. Inscription in Christian catacomb, requesting Prayers for the dead. 5th century Serenity Prayer : Serenity Prayer God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen. For more presentation please visit: http://www.slideshare.net/pcuadra/slideshows

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THE FIBONACCI SERIES by Nikhat Parveen, UGA Introduction to Fibonacci The Fibonacci Series is a sequence of numbers first created by Leonardo Fibonacci (fi-bo-na-chee) in 1202. It is a deceptively simple series, but its ramifications and applications are nearly limitless. It has fascinated and perplexed mathematicians for over 700 years, and nearly everyone who has worked with it has added a new piece to the Fibonacci puzzle, a new tidbit of information about the series and how it works. Fibonacci mathematics is a constantly expanding branch of number theory, with more and more people being drawn into the complex subtleties of Fibonacci's legacy. § Fibonacci in Sequence or Numbers § Fibonacci in Nature § Fibonacci and Phi || Table of Contents || Next Page || References ||

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Not only is artemisinin one of the most important drugs in our arsenal for fighting diseases globally – it is also the most interesting. A derivative of the wormwood plant, artemisinin’s anti-malarial properties were discovered thanks in part to the Vietnam war and Mao Zedong. The history of this drug reads more like an excerpt in the history of international relations rather than the history of medicine. Due to resistance that developed to quinine, artemisinin – in combination with other medicines – has become the drug of choice in most countries against malaria today. In particular during the early years of the scale up of big-push initiatives to address malaria, the fact that we needed to cultivate and harvest wormwood plants in order to produce artemisinin was rate limiting and an unpredictable process. Demand outstripped supply and supply could be unreliable due to factors such as the weather. In addition, the long lead time and intensity of the cultivation process continues to contribute to the relatively higher costs of ACTs today. It seems that this is about to change. I learned that as of today, and thanks to the efforts of PATH’s OneWorld Health, Sanofi, and other partners, we now have the ability to produce synthetic versions of artemisinin which can be produced in about 3 months, can be more readily scaled, and can be produced in a much more controlled fashion. This is a remarkable milestone in the fascinating history of this drug. I’ve heard others say that a Nobel prize should be awarded to recognize the importance of the discovery of this drug – which has done so much to improve human health. It now seems that a new chapter, and new players, might also get to share in this prize if that in fact occurs.Share on Facebook

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This is a piece of history I wish I could’ve incorporated into Beaufort 1849 but the timing just wouldn’t work. Robert Smalls began his life in 1839 in a slave cabin in Beaufort. In his teens he was sent to Charleston and hired out to work for wages that his owner would collect, a not uncommon practice. He worked in a hotel, as a lamplighter and then on the wharves and docks of Charleston. He married, had children, and eventually worked his way up to a wheelman, learning to pilot the Charleston harbor. Though undeniably constrained by the realties of slavery, his life had much more scope for initiative and resourcefulness than the average slave. Now comes the exciting part. During the Civil War, Smalls was assigned as wheelman on the steamer, Planter, an armed dispatch and transport boat used by the Confederacy. On the night of May 13, 1862, the white crew decided to spend the night on shore, probably to amuse themselves with the distractions Charleston had to offer. Robert Smalls and the seven other slave crewmen took the opportunity to strike. With a Confederate flag flying and Smalls dressed in a captain’s uniform, at 3 a.m. Smalls backed the boat out of her slip and made way to a nearby wharf where the families of Smalls and other crew members were hiding in wait. After loading the contraband passengers, Smalls brazenly chugged the boat past the five Confederate forts guarding the harbor. Then, taking down the Confederate flag and hoisting a white sheet in its stead, he made a beeline for the blockading Federal fleet just beyond. Luckily the first US Navy ship he encountered noticed the sheet moments before it was set to open fire on the renegade vessel. Smalls turned Planter over to the U.S. Navy, along with its cargo of artillery and explosives. Even more valuable, he handed over a codebook that revealed Confederacy secret signals and placement of mines and torpedoes around Charleston harbor. In addition, due to his comprehensive familiarity with the area, Smalls was able to offer extensive information about the harbor’s defenses. The North was delighted! Smalls was an overnight hero and media sensation in Northern papers. Congress passed a bill awarding Smalls and the other seven crewmen $1500 in prize money for the captured vessel. Two weeks after the daring escape Smalls even met Abraham Lincoln himself, who was impressed by Smalls’s account of his exploits. Smalls’s deeds became a major argument for allowing African Americans to serve in the Union Army, and Smalls himself served as a pilot for the Union forces. In 1863 Smalls became the first black Captain of a vessel in the service of the United States. This is just the beginning of Smalls’s accomplishments, but the rest will have to wait for another blog post. I’ll just observe that as much as Smalls was lauded by the North, he was in equal parts reviled by the South. In a war, one side’s hero is almost necessarily the other side’s varlet.

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Center for Neuroscience Research Sometimes children may have behavioral disorders linked to neurological conditions. To treat or prevent neurological and behavioral disorders in children, our Center for Neuroscience Research focuses on understanding the cellular development of the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. Researchers conduct basic and clinical research into some of childhood’s most well-known disorders, including autism, brain injury and recovery, Down syndrome, brain tumors, spina bifida and white matter diseases. The Center for Neuroscience Research is home to many research programs that combine basic science, clinical and/or community programs, community research, behavioral medicine, developmental neuroscience and the developmental disabilities research center. There is also an advanced pediatric brain imaging research laboratory, and areas for cellular imaging, neurobehavioral and psychological evaluation and neuroimaging. Several programs at the center provide services and support to every faculty member conducting research. Parents are included as a key part of the care team, valued for their input and feedback and encouraged to participate. We treat the whole child, paying attention to both his/her physical and emotional needs. Investigators recruit volunteers for research studies on specific disorders, ranging from anxiety to epilepsy to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To find a research study, search the national database, then submit an e-mail to begin the process of determining if your child qualifies for a research study. A researcher from Children's Research Institute will respond to your query within two business days.

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Can I Raise Pigs?23 Jul 2009, by post in Things to ponder before you get a pig, by Brian Wright. This is a question we get all the time from people considering whether to raise their own pork. It is natural to think that raising pigs is hard, or that it takes a special building or constant care. The truth is that pigs are one of the easiest farm animals to raise; if you let them, they will take care of themselves. The best environment for pigs is a piece of pasture and woods large enough so they have an area to eat, drink and wallow, area to sleep and area to poop with good barriers to keep the pig in and predators out. Feed: Pigs need a balanced diet just like all animals. You can buy commercial pig feed that contains all the right proteins, fats, carbohydrates and minerals for around $8.00 per 50 lb bag (as of this writing). What many people don’t realize is that you can cut down on the cost and provide a healthier diet by letting pigs eat natural food that grows on your property. What is a pig’s natural diet? Pigs are omnivorous, meaning they eat both plant and animal matter. They are very opportunistic feeders and much of their diet is based on seasonal availability. Foods include grasses, weeds, forbs, roots and tubers, browse, mast (acorns), fruits, bulbs and mushrooms. Animal matter includes invertebrates (insects, snails, earthworms, etc.), reptiles, amphibians, and eggs. They are especially fond of domestic crops such as corn, milo, rice, wheat, soybeans, peanuts, potatoes, watermelons and cantaloupe, so they will eat just about anything from your garden or your kitchen. Pigs also need minerals and they get those from the dirt they eat. If you let them, your pigs will happily feed themselves off the land. This is one of the reasons we raise pigs on pasture; all the grass and browse is free feed and it is good for them! You may still need to supplement their diet by giving them prepared feed but allowing them access to pasture can significantly reduce the amount of prepared feed needed. One of the common mistakes that some people make is to think they can just feed cheap corn to their pigs. Pigs will grow fast on corn and this deludes some people into thinking they are getting big pigs fast. The problem is that pigs fed only on corn really are just getting fat. Corn only contains 9 percent protein and 70 percent starch (that’s why corn is used to make sugar and sweeteners). All of the extra starch in the pig’s diet is stored as fat, especially for confined pigs that don’t get adequate exercise. All that extra fat grows around the pig’s internal organs leading to all kinds of health problems. Pigs need a balanced diet just like every animal. They need about 12 to 16 percent protein with the rest of their diet consisting of carbohydrates, fiber, minerals and amino acids. Most feed stores sell good pig feed that works as a feed supplement if they also have other, natural food. Corn does work well as a treat since it is so sweet. You can use it to keep the pig preoccupied while you clean its pen or do other maintenance chores. Soak the corn in water first to make it soft and easier to digest or use cracked corn. Water: Obviously pigs need clean water to drink but many people don’t know that a pig also needs water to control it’s body temperature. Pigs don’t sweat like you and I; we sweat to cool off as the sweat evaporates. Since pigs can’t do that they have to cool off in other ways. Shade and a cool breeze helps, but the best way to keep your pigs cool is to give them a place in which to bathe when they get hot. If you let some water trickle from their water bowl, the pigs will happily turn the muddy dirt into their own mud puddle (wallow). Not only will the wallow cool them off, but the mud that adheres to their skin will shield them from the sun and keep parasites (flies and lice) from hanging around. A muddy pig is a happy pig! We provide showers for our pigs; you can also just hose them down when it’s hot. Shelter: In the daytime your pigs may just lay down and sleep anywhere but at night they prefer a quiet place to bed down. Any suitable shelter will be fine; we use old dog houses from a local dog rescue, “Port-A-Huts” that we found on Craigslist and we make hoop houses from cattle panels and tarps. Our pigs also have favorite places in the woods. These shelters double as shade in the day where they can get away from the sun and warm places in the winter. Bathroom: Yeah, I know, when you think of pigs you think of nasty, smelly pig pens. Unfortunately this is the way many people raise pigs, letting them live in their own filth. The truth is that pigs are very clean animals, in their own way. If given the room, a pig will choose a corner to use as its bathroom, far away from where it eats, wallows and sleeps. Again, pasture is the best environment because the breeze helps keep the odor down and all manner of little critters help decompose the waste. If you have to raise your pigs in a barn or other enclosure, you must be the critter to remove the waste… The problem is if you give them total freedom, they will eat your and your neighbor’s flower bed, rototill your lawn, sleep on your front porch, poop in your garage and, perhaps worse of all, be chased by and killed by your neighbor’s dog. You must limit their freedom to keep their natural behaviors from becoming a nuisance and keep the pigs safe from predators. There are many ways to do that; from building strong walls or fences to making natural barriers such as thick hedges or moats. We keep our pigs within large paddocks made of wire fencing and electric wire. Cattle panels are great for keeping large pigs controlled; pigs quickly learn to stay away from electric fencing but any barrier must be modified so that the pig can’t go under or over it. Wire fences must be on or slightly buried under the ground and you must quickly fix any area where the pig has tried to burrow under it. Electric fencing, whether tight wire or loose polywire, must have gaps no larger than six inches from the ground and between the first two or three strands. The advantage of electric fencing is that you can move it to give your pigs access to new pasture or rotate them between paddocks of pasture. Although we don’t recommend it sometimes all you have is a barn or old shed in which to raise your pig. This will work IF it gives them the needed space for all their natural behaviors. In a barn you will need to keep their bedding fresh by using hay or other dry bedding as needed. You will also need to ensure there is adequate ventilation to keep the air healthy and neither too hot nor too cold. If the floor isn’t dirt you will need to provide a feed that contains minerals, a mineral block or dirt such as that which adheres to plant roots that you feed them. You will also need to give any babies an iron shot to prevent them from becoming anemic due to lack of iron (piglets raised on dirt get their iron from it naturally). Remember to provide them with natural food (grass, hay, vegetables, etc.) daily. So, given that healthy pigs need good food, adequate areas in which to eat, sleep, cool off and poop, and barriers to protect them and the rest of your property, look at what you have before you decide to get a pig. Remember, you are going to either eat the pig, let it raise healthy babies, or just have a pet. Give it what it needs to live a good life and it will happily, and easily, return the favor! - by Brian Wright Copyright © 2010 Homegrown Acres. Used with permission.

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Guest post by Amelia “Amy” MacIntyre, Health Research & Policy Analyst, North American Management The uninsured, the underinsured and those living in underserved communities in which health care services are scarce are the segments of the U.S. population that are disproportionately affected by cervical cancer. These populations include women in rural areas, the elderly, those with less formal education, and women of color. For example, the mortality rate for African-American and Vietnamese women continues to be twice as high as for white women – and about 50 percent higher for Latinas. Meanwhile, in rural communities, uninsured white women have some of the poorest access to routine screening of any patient population. Thus, cervical cancer incidence rates vividly demonstrate inequities in our health care systems and outcomes. Community health centers supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) address this disparity by providing preventive health services – including Pap tests and HPV vaccinations – to any woman, regardless of insurance status and/or ability to pay. As such, health centers play a vital role in redressing health disparities and delivering care to groups excluded in the health care system, such as immigrants. For example, in 2010, more than 11 million patients served in community health centers were women and girls, or 6 out of every 10 patients. Of that population, 69% were women over 20 – comprising the largest single patient-category in the system. In addition to HPV vaccines, health centers administered Pap tests to about 1.8 million women, resulting in 120,167 abnormal cervical findings. Of the 9,592 attending physicians in health centers, almost 1 in 10 was an OB-GYN specialist, accounting for more than 3 million patient visits-or 9% of the 34 million visits to health centers annually. The passage of the Affordable Care Act will allow community health centers to make an even greater impact on access to preventive health services. Under the Affordable Care Act, cervical cancer screenings are already covered with no cost sharing for new health plans. Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act created the Community Health Center fund which will provide $11 billion over a five-year period to assist in the expansion, improvement and creation of new health centers throughout the country. In September 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made $700 million in funds available to health centers: $600 million for current community health centers to expand operations and serve more patients and $100 million to help health centers address immediate needs. And in August 2011, HHS awarded nearly $30 million to create the New Access Points program, which will help health centers delivery primary and preventive care to an additional 286,000 patients. Community health centers are poised to play a large role in increasing access to preventive and primary health care. Other provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including no-cost sharing for preventive services under private health insurance plans and non-discrimination protection for women with pre-existing conditions, also serve to bring down barriers to health care for women. Additionally, while greater research is needed, a recent study at the National Cancer Institute suggests that the HPV vaccine seemed to be about as effective whether women had 1, 2, or 3 doses; a development which may increase access to the HPV vaccine for women who seek it. With the nation spending over $1.4 billion a year on cervical cancer treatment, these basic preventive services not only provide crucial access to care to the most vulnerable of populations, but also serve to reduce health care costs overall by emphasizing prevention and reducing the need for costly disease treatment and emergency room costs. To find a HRSA health center near you or to download the free health center app, click here.

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||General Francisco Villa (1877-1923) was the famous and well loved rebel general of the Mexican Revolution who invaded US territory and led American soldiers on a wild goose chase all over the harsh Mexican countryside for months. Along with Emiliano Zapata and Francisco I. Madero, Villa led peasant armies to a swift victory over the corrupt and repressive regime of the aging dictator, Porfirio Diaz. Unfortunately, he was assasinated in 1923. Today Villa is remembered with pride by most Mexicans for having led the most important military campaigns of the constitutionalist revolution, in which his troops were victorious as far south as Zacatecas and Mexico City, east as far as Tampico, and west as far as Casas Grandes. Because of Villa's Columbus escapade and subsequent evasion of U.S. troops, he is also often cited as the only foreign military personage ever to have "successfully" invaded continental U.S. territory.

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Their family legend is that John Wilkes Booth survived and lived for many more years. Using modern DNA testing, the family was hoping to compare the remains of Edwin Booth (John's brother) with those believed to be John Wilkes Booth to definitively conclude that it was indeed John that was killed. As it turns out, their efforts have been thwarted. The family had hoped to obtain access to three vertebrae that reside in the collection of the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., which is managed by the U.S. Army Medical Command but the Army rejected their request. The fear of degrading the 150-year-old specimens was just to great for the museum. From the beginning of Booth's killing the identity of the body found in the barn has been in question. It looks like it will remain so for the foreseeable future. To read a full article about the John Wilkes Booth DNA saga, click here.

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This chapter provides a historical overview of the American influence on Israel’s jurisprudence of freedom of expression from the 1950s to the first decade of the twenty first century. The chapter uses the format of decades, presenting representative cases for each decade, to record the process by which Israeli judges incorporated and sometimes rejected themes from the U.S. jurisprudence of freedom of expression. In the course of discussing the jurisprudential themes the chapter also highlights the historical context in which the cases were decided, from the war in Korea and McCarthyism in the 1950s, to the process of globalization which dominated the first decade of the twenty first century. The chapter asserts that over the decades the Israeli understanding of freedom of expression has matured so that today the appearance of U.S. law is invoked primarily for rhetorical purposes. In contrast to the 1950s, contemporary Israeli courts have enough authentic jurisprudence to guide them in their decisional law. Saturday, November 6, 2010 Lahav on American Influence on Israeli Law: Freedom of Expression American Influence on Israeli Law: Freedom of Expression is a new essay by Pnina Lahav, Boston University - School of Law. It is forthcoming in THE U.S. AND ISRAEL: SIX DECADES OF RELATIONS, Robert O. Freedman, ed. (Westview Press, 2011). Only the abstract is posted:

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The fact that our memories degrade over time is nothing new. Everyone knows that as we get older it's harder to remember where you put your keys or parked your car. Now, one neuroscientist thinks he understands how it happens. According to Michael Yassa, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University, the reason things get tougher to remember as we get older is because the pathways leading to the hippocampus degrade over the years. Since the hippocampus is where memories are stored, it makes sense that with age our brains just find it more and more difficult to process information we receive into things we remember. In essence, it's not that our brains are "filling up" with information; it's just that our brains get less effective at writing and storing that information as we get older. It's the reason, according to Yassa, why we're so nostalgic as we get older: it's just easier to look back on memories our brains have already stored than to create new ones that are just as vivid. At the same time, Yassa's research doesn't suggest how we can fix the process; only that the research could be useful in treating Alzheimer's in the future. That doesn't mean you have to sit back and let the process happen though. Try building a memory palace to improve your memory, or take a look at our top 10 memory hacks for some tips to stay sharp through the years. What are some of your favorite ways to keep your memory sharp? Share your tips in the comments. Photo by Sue Clark. As Time Goes By, It gets Tougher to "Just Remember This" | Medical Xpress via Neatorama You can follow Alan Henry, the author of this post, on Twitter.

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After my visit in April of 2013 to Gagosian Gallery to see the Basquiat show, I was inspired to publish a project I have been working on since Summer of 2012. The artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is widely known for structuring his drawings using diagrams, text and symbols— in addition to color and line—to shape his work. Many examples reveal the hieroglyphics and ideology of an ancient African symbol called a cosmogram, but so few historians have related his work to African iconography that the cosmogram is not mentioned. The revived emphasis on African heritage, which emerged during the Harlem Renaissance in the early twentieth century, has continued to be a thematic focus for many black American artists, but in elizabeth warren hearings case specific references are not often deeply examined. He offers, however, a rich example of how this ancient West African emblem bridges modern expression and ancestral heritage through line and form. Black Atlantic (Gilroy 4) artwork as early as the days of slavery has offered dramatic visceral narratives centered on white oppression; Basquiat’s work is an important contribution to that legacy, and offers particular relevance to the cosmogram. A number of visual devices have been widely explored by art historians and anthropologists alike, who collaborate in their study of African imagery and motifs to identify similarities. And in Basquiat’s work we can certainly see references to many West African continuities, as well as the interdisciplinary use of language and visual metaphor, intriguing scholars and critics. But the relevance to the cosmogram in particular seems to be missing from the discussion, and will therefore be the focus of this work. Basquiat is considered a Neo-Expressionist, part of an early 1980s art movement which reacted against the highly intellectualized and abstract conceptualism of the previous decade, and focused more deliberately on subjectivity and feeling. As a Neo-Expressionist, he was commonly known as a founding member of the “Downtown” art scene in New York, closing the space between “high art” and mass culture. He experimented with music and graffiti art, painting and drawing obsessively on a variety of canvases and artifacts including, for a time, subway walls. In his work he featured symbols and letters to create a narrative, often a heroic one. This distinguishing characteristic of his work fits the Neo-Expressionist model, in its raw and concrete figurative treatment, rather than abstractions. Some scholars have noted in Basquiat’s work visual quotations from African imagery, but my investigation will make the connection to this one particular symbol, the cosmogram that deeply informs the message of the work through hieroglyphic language and ideology. Considered a sacred sign to make sense of the world, a cosmogram maps the continuity of life through lines, arrows and circles—and most importantly implies movement or change, from one state to another. Basquiat’s paintings and drawings indicate similar transcendence to another realm, through conflict and action. “Transcendence” is not to be interpreted as the traditional Judeo-Christian spiritual model of mind over body. Rather, the word represents an embodied transition to another realm, bridging a physical gap with body over mind; an action taken. A common African thematic metaphor in music, dance and visual art, this sort of transcendence is integral to the cosmogram’s matrix, which describes movement, physical as well as spiritual (Aesthetic of the Cool 16). The visual elements in Basquiat’s work are placed in opposition—clashing, intersecting, or simply abutting each other—in a mediatory construct implying reconciliation at an intersection of some kind. Represented by crosses, plus signs, or even text, constant juxtapositions raise questions about where these elements meet and where they seem to be going. An avid reader, he incorporated content from science, music, sports, cartoons, and social history, linking them together in unexpected ways to enhance their meanings. We have the opportunity to see the trajectory of these elements moving around the canvas, rather like solving a math equation or following a musical chart. The cosmogram appears frequently in his schema. Having an interest in African symbols, Basquiat makes cosmograms part of his visual lexicon, from his days of spray-painting graffiti on urban surfaces to later incorporating them into his paintings. A cosmogram has four points that represent birth, mid life, death, and afterlife or rebirth, according to Yale art historian Robert Farris Thompson, whose book Flash of the Spirit was a favorite of Basquiat’s. Cosmograms allow communication with the spirit world. Opposites and crossroads, clear themes in cosmograms, are often scribbled black X’s or crosses, the likenesses of which frequently appear in Basquiat’s paintings. These African crosses suggest both a polarity of existence, a transliminality between the material world and the spiritual plane, as well as a locus between disparate entities. This intersection can simply be a meeting, a reckoning, or sometimes an action-packed punch, complete with arrows and vectors to show us the way, like those in Basquiat’s work. As simple as a circle with a cross inside it, or a complex construction of arrows, circles and triangles, cosmograms show how polarity is inherent in the continually moving cycle of life, a highly ordered, a template by which a person can chart the nature of his own existence. Basquiat’s work, which centers on racial conflict, social injustice and misappropriation of wealth, often features colorful contrasts and aggressive compositional thrusts to different parts of the canvas, pushing rather than guiding the viewer’s eye through his map as well. His work is ripe with paradoxes, angry themes painted in joyful, child-like colors and figures. I will demonstrate that opposition and polarity are themes embedded in the artists’ work, and visceral physicality is expressed through the movement of color, shape and line sometimes quietly but more often aggressively. Movement is a from of agency that appears in the cosmogram’s diagrammatic mapping, therefore action and migration will serve as another lens through which Basquait’s work will be explored. The cycle of life and its trajectory are charted in the cosmogram, a map Basquiat appears to borrow frequently. Thirdly, transliminality and transcendence, crossing thresholds of existence or a change from one state to another, will prove to be a familiar thread in his compositions, as it is in the cosmogram. In some of Basquiat’s paintings, the cosmogram is clearly delineated, in others more subtly suggested. Via formal analysis of the construction and conceptual meaning of the examples discussed, the significance of the African cosmogram will become clear and one painting may very well demonstrate all three aspects. An important aspect of the cosmogram is redemption and healing, how it illuminates alternate ways of handling human suffering, even by fighting as a way of bettering oneself and others (Fu-Kiau 124). In my analysis of Basquiat’s work, with the cosmogram in mind as a framework, I will demonstrate that opposition is not viewed as a negative notion, but rather an occasion for deep power or knowing. The point of intersection is the magic locus where outcomes can change. My investigation will prove an important distinction, often suggesting conflict as positive in the message of Basquiat, a way to lead elsewhere. The shapes and colors are not merely formal choices, but clear constructs for coping with conflict, embracing it. I will point out the points of engagement between disparate entities and how they relate to the cosmogram’s graphic devices. In the chosen examples of paintings or sculptures, these intersections can be seen as otherworldly, like the cosmogram’s, and particularly charged with an opportunity for transformation. In conclusion, I will consider how Basquiat has informed other black American artists after him with regard to the notion of the cosmogram. I suspect my hypothesis will prove that artists, such as Renée Stout, Jim Biggers, and Keith Piper who have expanded on similar themes but approached them from an entirely different vantage point, will demonstrate how Basquiat blazed a trail for them to further travel. Definition of Terms “Bakongo”: A tribe in West Central Africa so named by Portuguese colonists in the fifteenth century. In time, slave traders loosely called Bakongo any person brought from west Central Africa to America, and the territory they inhabited widened from what could be considered Nigeria to Angola today. “Black Atlantic”: A culture not specifically African, American, Caribbean or British, but all at once a cultural hybrid. Paul Gilroy, Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University originally coined this term in 1993, when he wrote The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. (Gilroy v) “Cosmogram”: Originating with the Bakongo tribe of central West Africa, cosmograms are sacred cruciforms, ground drawings or etched stones which often hold two opposing parts simultaneously, with arrows indicating movement or action. They indicate communication between two worlds, the ancestors and the living, and represent the continuity of life. Wyatt MacGaffrey, a Kongo civilization scholar, describes the cosmogram as follows: “The simplest ritual space is a Greek cross [+] marked on the ground, as for oath-taking. One line represents the boundary; the other is ambivalently both the path leading across the boundary, as to the cemetery; and the vertical path of power linking ‘the above’ with “the below.” This relationship, in turn, is polyvalent, since it refers to God and man, God and the dead, and the living and the dead. The person taking the oath stands upon the cross, situating himself between life and death, and invokes the judgment of God and the dead upon himself. (The Four Moments of the Sun 108). A major reason for the cosmogram is to provide a locus for communication, particularly with the unseen or the spirit word. The intersection of lines, or even shapes, can be seen as creating opportunity in the face of opposition. “Double-Consciousness”: from The Souls of Black Folk, a term coined in 1903 by W. E. B. Du Bois, the sociologist, historian and Pan-Africanist, which describes a split subjectivity and race-consciousness that Du Bois felt was seminal to being an African-American, a sense of existing within and outside predominant culture (Leninger-Miller xv-xvi). Double consciousness, as Paul Gilroy claims, is one of the defining characteristics of modern Black Atlantic expressive culture. “Neo-Expressionism”: An art movement that emerged in the early 1980s. Neo-Expressionism comprised a collection of predominantly young artists, interested in rejecting the highly intellectualized abstract expressionism of the 1970s. It was a reaction against Conceptual art and Minimalism. A reassertion of emotionalism and narrative, combined with references to art historical references, became hallmarks of Neo-Expressionism internationally as well as in the States. For the context of this thesis, the reference to Neo-Expressionism will be in the context of the New York community, otherwise known as the “Downtown Scene.” Recognizable figures and objects, and a concern with mythology and narrative, were elements that distinguished Neo-expressionists from earlier abstractionism. The movement was characterized by intense subjectivity and “aggressively raw handling of materials,” and was also known for its connection to marketing and media promotion on the part of gallery owners (Chilvers 497). “Transliminality”: Literally meaning “crossing the threshold,” this term will mean bridging two planes of existence, say, from the spiritual to the material plane. The word will not refer to the clinical term used by Australian psychologist Michael Thalbourne to describe a psychological perceptual-personality construct that examines the barrier mechanism between subliminal and supraliminal parts of the brain. (Thalbourne 1617) Transliminality here will be referred to in its general context throughout. “Transcendence”: Moving from one state to another. Used in the colloquial sense to mean an ability to rise above one experience to reach another simultaneously. Dr. Thompson writes that in African culture, the sense keeping one’s “cool,” is a form of “trasnscendental balance,” a coping means for survival or moving to a “different level of aspiration” (Aesthetics of Cool 16) “Vodun”: The spiritual practice rooted in West Africa which migrated to North America during the slave trade and especially after 1791, when the Haitian Revolution brought hundreds of retreating Free People of Color to New Orleans from their war-torn country, nearly doubling the city’s population (Fandrich 39), two thirds of whom were black or colored (Stewart 185). Extending the boundaries of West African influence, many Haitians were from Dahomean or Yoruban tribes, bringing with them the practice of Vodun. Combined with indigenous Native American and Christian customs (Holloway 114), this unparalleled syncretic opportunity has since deeply influenced black American culture. “Papa, do you know about energy? There’s energy all around us. When I move my hand I create energy. There’s energy everywhere, Papa.” —Jean-Michel Basquiat to his father Gerard, at age 6 Basquiat had an aura about him. Critics came to refer to him as the “radiant child” (Ricard 35) and even at an early age his father Gerard described his son as curious with “an amazing, amazing mind,” able to understand things abstractly and conceptually, making connections constantly (Jean-Michel Basquiat 1981 90). Always drawing and listening to music—from jazz to classical— he was naturally curious and inquisitive. Basquiat’s work was bright, irreverent, and densely structured with information, creating a spontaneous and aggressive energy on his canvas. He connected ideas with signs, words with pictures and color with feeling, and often invited his viewer to approach his work from many disciplines. Noted for its symbols— graphical simplified objects—the hieroglyphics are linear in nature and almost child-like in their rendering. These symbols communicate a subjective language, which although open to interpretation, expresses for the viewer a narrative or even a complex question to ponder. In ArtNews, Lisa Liebman commented in 198 that “the linear quality of his phrases and notations, whether graffiti or art, shows innate subtlety…Basquiat’s mock-ominous figures—apemen, skulls, predatory animals, stick figures—look incorporeal because of the fleetness of their execution, and in their cryptic half-presence they seem to take on Shaman-like characteristics” (qt. in Hoban 110). Basquiat was quite informed of his African roots. He was well-read, had an extensive reference library of West African imagery, and traveled to the Ivory Coast. The “mock-ominous” figures would more likely be primordial and geometric symbols, his toolbox to create his own scientific hierarchy. His expressive “primitivism” and editorials on racism and materialism became talking points among reviewers, but often the symbols and devices were mentioned without much analysis. Reviewers seemed seduced by the artist rather than by the art—a tendency to critique who he was, rather than what he made. Challenging his “blackness,” his talent, or his intentions, critics continually penalized him for being a marketing phenomenon. As Keith Haring noted, “The hype of the art world of the early eighties became a constant blur. There was very little criticism of the works themselves. Rather, the talk was about the circumstances around the success of the work” (Haring 57). The ballyhoo around Basquiat’s short-lived career began with his irreverent graffiti art under the alter ego SAMO© and resulted in his first show in 1981 at New York’s PS1. Accompanied by subsequent rave reviews and critiques, he appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in 1985, for the article “New Art, New Money,” (McGuigan). His career spanned seven years and was labeled as “heady enough to confound academics and hip enough to capture the attention span of the hip-hop nation” (Tate 56). After his death in 1988, tones shifted to retrospective examinations of his unearned success, and the commodification of his Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage rather than his talent (Hughes), and how his rise to fame was either unearned or tainted by his relationship to Andy Warhol, another controversial artist famous for being famous. Basquiat suffered similar barbs as Warhol, by critics like Adam Gopnik who claimed he was simply a clichéd “wildchild” rehashing the “primitivism” from 1910 Paris (Gopnik 138). Basquiat’s first gallery patron Mary Boone said “he was too externalized; he didn’t have a strong enough internal life” (Gopnik 139), implying that he showed little substance to support his content. Twenty-five years later, however, Basquiat’s commentary on the racist mainstream media still commands attention, and appears to be substantial enough to continue the discussion. Some feel that SAMO© was his “escape clause” (Rodrigues 228), a way to take advantage of the art world and to simultaneously snub it, using a copyright symbol as a commentary on ownership. It is true that Basquiat made a lot of paintings, somewhere in the thousands, and the bad boy of the Downtown scene enjoyed his monetary success. Yet, rather than speculation about Basquiat’s motives or his “blackness” or talent, the specific form of the work deserves pure formal analysis. Only a handful of people have attempted to do this, calling the work too random or too easily manufactured. However, some art critics like Richard Marshall carefully and elegantly framed Basquiat’s work in motifs, a tempting way to understand the large body of work, noting categories of anatomy, heroes, cartoons, royalty and famous people, or autobiography. Over-arching themes of racism, capitalism and death provide another superstructure for the work, which invited me to look at various elements as they relate to the schema of a cosmogram. But as Lisa Bloom notes, “despite attempts by Marshall and others, Basquiat’s paintings were mostly seen by art dealers and art critics as about a poor American minority living on the street” (Bloom 34). She further describes the controversy over Basquiat position in the canon of Neo-Expressionism— as a debate between strategic essentialism, how race informs and elevates the work, or Eunice Lipton’s “artist-genius” explanation for Basquiat’s entrée to insider status of the art scene (Bloom 37) or his ability to bring the street to a higher aesthetic, making paintings “unrepentantly about American culture” and risking criticism by the “strain of Europhilia” that assumed anyone making art from the plain stuff of America was a “dilettante-hick” (Tate 241). For decades Basquiat has inspired speculation about his success, as well as his demise, which apparently cannot be separated by most critics from the work itself. But I would argue it is exactly this intersection of street and gallery, high and low culture, or black and white that makes the reference to the cosmogram so poignant. While many observations have been made about Basquiat’s paintings and his anguish about class and money, or his black heritage, few scholars have written about how the actual form of his work relates to any specific ancient African imagery. Bell Hooks has stated plainly, “Rarely does anyone connect Basquiat’s work to traditions of African-American art history” (Hooks 36) As exceptions, it would be important to mention Andrea Frohne, who explores icons of masculinity in his work as it relates to African rock drawing and ancient mythology. Robert Farris Thompson links Basquiat’s fascination with black music, poetry and “words from dual realms, hip and straight, black and white” to his “courage and full powers of self-transformation” (Aesthetic of the Cool 85) Thompson interprets his “source of power as self-creolization,” how he “juggled Afro-Atlantic motifs” (Aesthetic of the Cool 88) with a bold palette and a curious mind, remaining open to the influences of all the cultures around him. Basquiat was by all accounts cool and, as Thompson explains, the presentation of cool is particularly West African, a way of keeping one’s head above any challenging situation (Aesthetic of the Cool 16). By exploring this particular notion of transcendence and inhabiting dual realms, a sense of living on the edge of two planes, invited a more careful look at the cosmogram and how the ancient symbol is revealed in his work. This important matrix inspired my deeper look at some of Basquiat’s markings and by what larger system they may have been inspired. Historical context is important to a discussion of the cultural narrative in the work of Basquiat. His paintings speak to a visual and spiritual connection to his Haitian and Puerto Rican roots, using the power of polarity and opposition evident in Vodun imagery. The West African diaspora, resulting from slave trade to the European colonies from the 16th to the 19th centuries, imported many traditions and customs to Black Atlantic communities, whether in Brazil, the Caribbean, or the American South. Distinct visual representations in artwork, clothing, music, dance, as well as altars and other artifacts of worship, can be traced to the ritual imagery of Dahomean and Yoruban tribes in West Africa and tribes of the Kongo, the ancestry of Basquiat. As the influence of Vodun spread northward, vestiges of its cultural imagery, including symbols of the cosmogram, has been a familiar motif for Basquiat’s work. I have found research uncovered about the cosmogram and corroborating analyses among highly respected scholars in the field of art history and anthropology about its use of mathematics and movement to communicate transcendence, polarity and movement. I am fortunate to have discovered, as I was investigating the relationship between Basquiat and the cosomogram, that not only had Basquiat read one of my primary sources, Flash of the Spirit, he is quoted as claiming its importance for any serious black American artist. In my initial research, this was a welcome and encouraging coincidence. Cosmograms and Basquiat: A Crossover Intersecting lines or crossroads have been recognized within West African tribes for centuries as an ideographic spiritual symbol known as dikenga. As pointed out by Wyatt MacGaffrey, an expert on the Lower Kongo, and African American art historian Robert Farris Thompson, the cosmogram represents not only the four directions, similar to Buddhist mandalas or Celtic pagan symbols, but it also maps out a distinctly different message of growth and dynamism. Where mandalas represent balance, holding different points simultaneously in a calm stasis, cosmograms differ by charting action over time and space, sometimes even described by mathematics. This visual agency summarizes a broad sampling of key ideas and metaphoric meanings of West African and Kongo culture, which Thompson has written about extensively, and which appear in the work of Basquiat. Ethnohistorical sources confirm that this symbol existed in Kongo culture before European contact in the late 15th century (Fennell 31). It diagrams the practice and belief that there are several planes of existence: The earth is a mountain “over a body of water which is the land of the dead, called Mpemba…where the sun rises and sets just as it does in the land of the living…the water is both a passage and a great barrier. The world, in Kongo thought, is like two mountains opposed at their bases and separated by the ocean. At the rising and setting of the sun the living and the dead exchange day and night. The setting of the sun signifies man’s death and its rising, his rebirth, or the continuity of his life. Bakongo believe and hold it true that man’s life has no end, that it constitutes a cycle, and death is merely a transition in the process of change” (Janzen 34). African cosmograms can be fashioned from elements in nature, such as in the form of two crossed sticks in the woods or the intersection of two roads, implying the intersection of two realms. Basquiat used this ancient practice of employing found objects in his own work, painting and drawing on any surface he could find, from brick walls, to concrete, or even a refrigerator door, pulling the street into his practice of making art. In Sub-Saharan African culture cosmograms were carefully drawn in dirt, or painted on the side of a wall or etched into stone, much like current-day graffiti and often represented a specific point of access to spirits of the underworld or the gods. As the African scholar Fu-Kiau explains, if seen literally as “x” and “y” axes (Fig. 1) a vertical axis exists at their intersection, which provides a conduit to the underworld or to the gods above. Comprised of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines set within a circle, variations may include further intersections or arrows suggesting movement and direction. It might show circles at the end of the intersecting lines to represent the apex of a person’s earthly life opposed to his spiritual plane, and the moving sun, rising and setting throughout his life (Fu-Kiau 25-32). The particularities of this symbol suggest a narrative or three-dimensional blueprint for existence, as Christopher Fennell explores in Crossroads and Cosmologies, where he supports the notion that the persistent appearance of these patterns over time in West African culture can be interpreted with associated meanings. As a sort of hieroglyphic to explain life’s story, these symbols have been evident in West African and Kongo tribes for centuries and have been elaborated upon, showing more complex intricate patterns or simplified into abbreviated X’s, or even V’s implying an arc of travel or motion. (Fig. 2). “The ‘Vee’ teaches with all simplicity the formation process of the universe” (Fu Kiau 132). Built on an infrastructure using polarity symbols to suggest movement, and opposition, conflict becomes a positive and necessary phenomenon—a colorful, dynamic opportunity for change or healing. Thompson supports this construct by linking African structures to a variety of contemporary black art forms, which include not only visual ones but also music and dance— built on confrontation and resolution. The most important part is the point of intersection, the clash, the butting up against or crossing over. These “signs of reappropriation” are the imaged polemics or intersections—present and past, mundane and spiritual, love and hate, or masculine and feminine. The opposites enhance the strength in each. Pairings like these are the alphabet of Basquiat. Other forms of Basquiat’s vocabulary will be explored with reference to cosmograms, such as in the complex Carribean cosmogram (Fig. 3) and Untitled (Fig. 4). The hierarchical information displayed in both the Trinidadian diagram and his letters and numbers reflect a compositional similarity, within a set of intersecting triangles making a star shape, a motif seen in a variety sacred practices. Codifying content in Basquiat’s work is a relevant reference to the cosmogram, and requires deliberate engagement with the viewer. He often crossed words out, emphasizing them by hiding them, which further created mystique. Using the copyright symbol after his name SAMO© or his ubiquitous crown signature was another form of imposing a new identity or value to his subjects. More discussion will be devoted to Basquiat’s fascination with letters and numbers, such as the letter A and what it represents in his paintings, and how it is used as a structural device. The letter becomes the subject, as in Cadillac Moon, 1981 (Fig. 5), where the letter A is repeated over and over, creating its own shape. The letter is thought to refer to the double A’s in Hank Aaron’s name, a theme he returns to repeatedly in his work, elevating the names of black heroes and athletes to iconographic status. Hank Aaron was one among many of his inspirations, struggling within the constraint of a white world. In Cadillac Moon, we also see a crossroads, with a cartoonish stack of T.V. sets on the right hand side of the work. Two cars areindicated, one at the top and the one at the bottom, dismantled from its chassis, most likely referring to a life-changing car accident resulting in a bedridden recovery from losing his spleen. The ambulance is apparent in Untitled, 1981 (Fig. 6) as well, with an array of A’s creating patterns with O’s of the wheels. The hammer and nails suggests another kind of collision and the planes are flying in two different levels of the sky. Often in Basquiat’s earlier drawings, we see a double plane or a car, one on top of the other as we see here in these two drawings of planes and cars, depicting two realms simultaneously occupied. The cannon and hammer both suggest an explosion, the breaking of a sound barrier perhaps. Dismantlement and anatomy recur time and again in his work along with the theme of collision, whether with cars, fistfights, or boxers, and indicate a kind of transformation through clashing. Again, the point of intersection is the point of change in the cosmogram and so it is in Basquiat’s work, the ambulance appearing between the two planes as healing resolution for collision. Other symbols of heroism, such as the bats in Untitled (Fig. 4) with the balloon burst with “hey” inside it suggest the cartoon hero of Batman. For other heroes, like jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, he created a matrix with words in Tuxedo, 1983 (Fig. 7 and 8). The tuxedo jacket shaped by the words themselves provide an interesting metaphor for the status of the great music legend. We can see several cosomogram images within, one in the form of a circle with two perpendicular arrows through the center of the work, like a central compass rose in the place where the man’s heart would be. Another circle with curvy radiating spokes can be seen on the left, with “Sun King” written inside, a divine nametag. Another to the lower right looks like a medal with ice melting from it on the bottom, and inside it reads “Blue Ribbon,” another measure of quality or status, that can so easily change or melt away. Charlie Parker and Bebop music were inspirations that Basquiat pictorialized over and over. Opposition and Polarity Several examples will demonstrate polarity, as in the cosmogram, an intersection of opposing forces in Basquiat’s paintings. The place where these forces meet is the exact locus where opportunity or action happens, to express his masculinity and his identity as a son and a man of color in the art world of the ‘80s. African art historian Andrea Frohne points out hunting symbols in Basquiat’s paintings that she believes he may have borrowed from images in Thompson’s Flash of the Spirit, strikingly similar to the Yoruban drawings of the hunter spirit Oshoosi and the trickster Exu, complete with bows and arrows. Her argument is compelling, not least because it accounts for his fight to acquire a firm position in the 80s art scene of New York. An Oshosi song lyric of the powerful child “becomes famous and fame becomes power” (Frohne 439) seems prescient regarding his career, and gives new meaning, for example, to the figures in Self-Portrait (Fig. 9 and 10). They are black warriors, much like the rock paintings mentioned with outstretched arms almost perpendicular to their vertical bodies, a layout we often see in renderings of male figures. The vector of the man’s arm in the painting on the left is punching towards two o’clock, rising up the air in defiance or pride, holding an arrow perpendicular to his arm. These angles are reminiscent of the kind of grid and geometry we see over and over in cosmograms. The figure on the right is almost his own cosmogram, a vertical body and arms at 90° to his body, pointing east and west with knife and mallet in each hand. In the thesis, we will see in other portraits where Basquiat often uses the head and body as a cosmogram matrix or grid, intersecting lines within a circle. Action and Migration Agency expressed in aggressive paint strokes and vibrancy of pigment is a powerful reminder of West African ritual where music, dance, theater, and physical objects are often incorporated in performance, action and connection. The esteemed anthropologist and Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston describes what she called Negro expression in 1934: “His very words are action words. His interpretation of the English language is in terms of pictures… the speaker has in his mind the picture of the object in use. Action. Everything illustrated. So we can say the white man thinks in written language and the Negro thinks in hieroglyphics (Hurston 355) …” Her observation is relevant to Basquiat fifty years later and is fully supported in the body of work to be discussed; it directly relates to the matrix of the cosmogram in its expressions of action, doing, and collision. In Six Crimées (Fig.11), we see six figures with circles above their heads, with protruding lines, like halos or thorns. The grids below them resemble the geometry seen in cosmogram line work and crossroads, but more likely relate to dice games or chalk on a sidewalk in urban New York, or possible the grid of the city itself. Triptychs are common forms for Basquiat, compartmentalizing and repeating his objects, for emphasis, much like Haitian motifs. Movement takes on another dimension in his work when we see King Alphonso (Fig. 12). Here is a distinct example of the cosmogram plainly in view, acting like the head of an arrow on the right side of the canvas. The vector shape moving from left to right in the center of the image dissects the head with what looks like a bullet or arrow. The trajectory of the vector is delineated by solid and dashed lines, a spiral coming from the left of the skull shape. A clearly fashioned cosmogram, a circle with an X through it, sits on the right of the image with the arrow moving through its center. A number of scribbles add to the drawing of lines and angles coming out of the diagram, which centers on a bright red head, a black mouth and blue nose. Grids and checkerboards provide a schema for might be called the area of the brain of this head, suggesting processing and complex thinking. Sitting atop this head is a black curly hair and a big black crown, drawn boldly in seven thick lines, the signature that appears many times in Basquiat’s work. Also notable about this image is the lack of color, except for the head. Nearly an entirely black and white drawing, the red head takes up merely an eighth of the canvas, but because of its color we are drawn to its sanguine nature. The face looks angry, braced for something, with gritted teeth and fixed eyes. The title scribbled below, “King Alphonso,” another name with an “A,” likely refers to Hank Aaron or to Nzinga Mbemba (c.1456–1542). Otherwise known as King Alfonso I, he ruled the Kingdom of Kongo in the first half of the 16th century and was best known for converting Kongo to Catholicism, merging tribal spiritual customs with Christianity. Many Kongolese challenged his controversial liaisons with Portugal, including his half-brother, with whom he went to war. His legacy, however, includes his emphasis on modern innovation, which helped modernize Kongo’s school system: a positive outcome from conflict. The technical diagram aspect of King Alphonso suggests a transition, a measure of velocity from one place to another. The action in King Alphonso also brings to mindthe speed and accuracy of sports, not to mention another “Alphonso.” A current baseball favorite, second baseman Alphonso Soriano signed with the Yankees in 1998, tens years after Basquiat died. Often compared to Hank Aaron, the Dominican Soriano is a strikingly thin and powerful hitter. The picture is made of angles and triangles, with a clear sense of movement, as if the baseball is moving precisely through the subject’s eyes towards the cosmogram, the ultimate target. The angles on the sides of the head give the impression of tension springing upwards, like a scissors jack. With an efficiency of linework and color, we experience a powerful dynamism in King Alphonso, a clear sense of movement and agency. Transliminality and Transcendence “What identifies Jean-Michel Basquiat as a major artist is courage and full powers of self-transformation. That courage, meaning not being afraid to fail, transforms paralyzingly self-conscious predicaments of culture into confident ecstasies of cultures recombined. He had the guts, what is more, to confront New York art challenge number one: can you transform self and heritage into something new and named? (“Royalty, Heroism, and the Streets” 36) Revisiting Tuxedo we also see the concept of changing states, evident in almost indistinguishable scribblings of text— with arrows and equations, signifying one thing equaling another, or something transforming with a particular function applied to it. His later work The Melting Point of Ice refers to this phenomenon as well. What exactly determines the moment a person can actually change becomes a question Basquiat explores again and again, such as the tipping point of one remaining cool versus losing one’s temper. The tension of pushing back, acting out against, or holding multiple conflicts simultanoeously, recurs repeatedly. The nature of transcendence or transition in Basquiat’s work, ways that he expresses separate realms and the connections between them, those inks between two worlds, brings to mind W.E. B. Dubois’ often cited term, “double consciousness.” The term describes the nature of the black person who has been dislocated to America and how he experiences two states of being. Seeing oneself through the “revelation of the other world” or “looking at one’s self through the eyes of others” (Du Bois) is yet another kind of intersection, the focus being where two forces meet. Like the spark flashing in the gap between two charged poles, this sacred locus is a chance for the unseen to work its power, for the material plane to cross with other realms, perhaps another perspective or a spiritual state. This ability to hold the present and the past in a work of art is precisely the message of Basquiat, building upon ancient visual architecture, and allowing for two opposing ideas or constructs to clash. In this way, conflict is important, a chance for growth. The symbol of the ambulance is a healing one; the warrior is a protector and the crown an overarching halo of value and the copyright symbol legitimacy. A New Kind of Africanism in the Twentieth Century African influence in Modern art has been widely discussed since the beginning of the twentieth century. Picasso and Braque shared an appreciation of African imagery and Cubists openly described their works as inspired by African masks and sculptures. But Cubism was often more formal than narrative: deconstructing objects and figures into simple planes and forms, which led to labeling Primitivism as a movement in Modernism, expressing mere suggestions of Man’s natural form and gesture via an intellectual and analytic approach. Deviating from romantic or spiritual themes, previously popular throughout European works of the nineteenth century, Cubism was not a movement of cultural narrative. Formally dissecting exotic images is the very reason that contemporaneous black artists were not inclined toward this pursuit; the common denominator in Black Atlantic artwork is not intellectual abstraction, but a need to tell a story. This narrative of polarity is often expressed through two-toned or clashing shapes; during the Harlem Renaissance, the work of artists such as Jacob Lawrence or Aaron Douglas feature jagged compositions expressing dynamism, conflict, or frustration. More contemporary artists such as John T. Biggers used bright colors reminiscent of the West African and Kongo palette. In the last three decades, we have seen a different influence of West African imagery emerging, a rougher presentation of found objects, mundane street imagery, and scrawled text. This more “primitive” presentation has gained a certain acceptance in the art world, possibly because of its chronological distance from the Black Diaspora, and an evolutionary advantage following Abstract Expressionism and Conceptualism. Perhaps “high art” can finally embrace African forms without condescending to calling it naïve. We experienced the raw form of Matisse almost a century ago, an artist who Henry Miller describes as having the “courage to sacrifice an harmonious line in order to detect the rhythm and murmur of the blood” (Miller 164) the wild colors agitating his viewers as well as his subjects. Joseph Cornell’s conceptual work from the mid-twentieth century, influenced by Surrealism, used quotidian elements and found objects to create icons and transform “primitive” constructions into shrines. But here we are invited to experience the ancestral intention of these symbols, not abstracted or deconstructed “primitivism” as a means to a new end. Rather, in the work of Basquiat, we experience a compulsion to use the very symbols used in the African visual lexicon to create work closer to its roots, with original intention and meaning or at least bridging one context to another. Often mystical or enigmatic, these symbols are reminiscent of cosmograms in their ability to do just that. As a conclusion to my analysis, I will broaden my observation to include Basquiat’s legacy, and demonstrate his influence on later artists. By using the example of the work of John T. Biggers, Renée Stout, and Keith Piper I will show how they have incorporated the ideology of the cosmogram into their work in ways quite different from Basquiat. © Lisa Clark April, 2013 All information in this blog is copyright to the original author, from whom nothing can be copied without written consent. All rights reserved. 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An early C19 landscape laid out to accompany a purpose-built private lunatic asylum. The therapeutic use of the grounds at Brislington House and their layout were influential on the development of later C19 establishments for the treatment of mental illness. Brislington House was established as a private lunatic asylum on a previously undeveloped site by Dr Edward Long Fox (1761-1835) in 1804-06. Edward Fox, a Quaker and member of the Fox family of Falmouth, Cornwall, practised in Bristol as a physician from 1786, being attached to the Bristol Royal Infirmary from 1786 to 1816. In 1794 Fox took over the management of a small, Quaker private asylum at Cleeve Hill, Downend, Bristol which he subsequently purchased. The site purchased by Fox for his asylum c 1804 had formed part of Brislington Common, which had been enclosed in 1780 (Enclosure map, BRO). The site was chosen partly for its location close to the cities of Bath and Bristol which could provide a supply of affluent patients. The asylum, the first purpose-built establishment in England, was opened in 1806. A prospectus published c 1809 (SRO) explains that the asylum's distinctive plan was intended to allow Dr Fox to implement his therapeutic theories of segregation and classification by gender, medical symptoms, and social and financial background. Each block had access to its own designated airing court, beyond which was a range of cells for the restraint of refractory patients. This arrangement is shown on a plan probably published c 1809 (Huntington Library, CA), while the main buildings are shown in an engraved view which accompanied the prospectus. In addition to the airing courts, pleasure grounds with an extensive system of walks were laid out around the House; further walks led through the parkland and agricultural estate, while a cliff-top walk led through woodland above the River Avon. The grounds and agricultural estate were used for therapeutic purposes, pauper patients being employed on manual work and those of middle- and upper-class backgrounds taking walks and exercise in the grounds under the supervision of attendants (Greenwood 1822). This regime was noted with approval by the House of Commons Committee appointed to consider the 'better regulation of Madhouses in England' in 1815. By the 1830s a move away from rigid classification by social and economic circumstances allowed gentlemen patients to work in the pleasure grounds forming walks and performing other tasks; these are described in an account of his treatment at Brislington in 1830-2 written by John Perceval (Bateson 1961). In 1816 a detached cottage, Lanesborough Cottage, was built in the grounds to accommodate Lord Lanesborough, while in 1819 the Swiss Cottage was built for Lord Carysfoot. Two further detached villas, The Beeches and Heath House, were built on the western boundary of the site in the 1820s, the latter being occupied by Dr Fox from 1825. In addition, Heath Farm, then known as Heath Cottage, was in use by 1836 as a fifth detached picturesque residence for patients (Fox and Fox 1836). By the mid 1830s Brislington House was 'placed in the centre of what is now become a well wooded estate' (ibid). The estate, with its park, pleasure grounds, and farm, was intended to replicate that of a gentleman in order both to reassure the relatives of wealthy patients, and to provide a secluded place for the implementation of Dr Fox's treatments. Dr Edward Fox retired from the direction of the asylum in 1829, passing its management to two of his sons, Dr Francis Ker Fox and Dr Charles Joseph Fox; at Dr E L Fox's death in 1835 the property was inherited jointly by the two brothers. In 1840 a detached Private House for the proprietor was constructed to the south of the original building, while in 1850-1 a major programme of alterations was undertaken. This included merging the three male and female divisions into a single unit for each sex, the extension and remodelling of the airing courts, and the construction of a chapel (Fox 1906). The asylum continued to be run by the family until the 1950s when it was sold and converted into a nurses' home. At this time the estate was fragmented, a secondary school being constructed to the south-west of the asylum, and playing fields being laid out in the park to the east and west. Heath House was destroyed in an air raid in 1940, while the former asylum building is today (2001) in the process of being converted into apartments. LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Brislington House is situated to the north of the A4, Bath Road c 1km south-east of the centre of the former village of Brislington. The c 36ha site comprises c 6ha of gardens and pleasure grounds, c 25ha of parkland which is now largely laid out as sports fields, c 2ha of former kitchen garden, and a further 3ha of woodland walks overlooking the River Avon. The site is bounded by public roads, with Bath Road forming the southern boundary, Ironmould Lane forming the eastern and northern boundaries, and Broomhill Road and Emery Road forming the western boundary. The north, east, and west boundaries are marked by high stone walls, while the south boundary is enclosed by C20 wire fences. The cliff-top walk c 400m north-east of Brislington House is separated from the core of the site by Ironmould Lane and partly by a strip of agricultural land which formed part of the C19 agricultural estate. The site is generally level to the north, west, and south of the asylum which stands on an artificially levelled terrace, beyond which the land falls to the east, allowing wide views across surrounding agricultural land to Lansdown Hill north of Bath. The north, west, and south boundaries of the site are largely enclosed by boundary plantations which screen the site. ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES Brislington House is approached from Bath Road to the south. The entrance lies towards the centre of the southern boundary. It is marked by a pair of tall, square-section ashlar piers, from which low quadrant walls extend back to a pair of low, square-section stone piers with domed caps which frame the entrance to the drive. Immediately within the site the tarmac drive divides to pass to the east and west of the lodge (listed grade II), which comprises a two-storey ashlar structure with ornamental bargeboards, arch-headed windows set in recesses on the symmetrical gabled south facade, and a semicircular single-storey porch supported by a pair of Tuscan columns. Originally known as the Wheelhouse, the lodge was constructed in 1804-06, forming part of the original scheme for the development of the asylum and containing a mechanism for operating iron gates at the entrance (listed building description); the early C19 gates do not survive. Beyond the lodge the drive sweeps north and north-east for c 200m through mixed ornamental shrubbery on the western boundary of the pleasure grounds, before emerging onto lawns before the west facade of the asylum. The drive extends the full length of the building to reach the early C19 stables to the north. A mid or late C20 service drive leads south-east from the former stables to Ironmould Lane, providing access to C20 light industrial premises located in and around the stables. Continuing c 320m north of Brislington House through the grounds of Swiss Cottage, the principal drive reaches an entrance from Ironmould Lane to the north. The late C19 OS map (1881-3) shows this drive passing through an avenue which then extended across the field north of Ironmould Lane, flanking a path leading to the cliff-top walk; this avenue does not survive. The Beeches, the only survivor of the three early C19 villas constructed near the western boundary of the site, has its own independent access from Broomfield Road at a point c 200m north-east of its junction with Emery Road. This entrance is marked by a late C19 lodge. Some 70m north-east of this entrance a pair of stone piers marks the former entrance to Lanesborough Cottage, which was demolished in the 1970s. Brislington House (listed grade II) stands on an artificially levelled terrace towards the centre of the site. The building comprises two three-storey wings which flank a taller, central three-storey block to form a long, approximately rectangular range extending from north to south, the various blocks being linked by a spine corridor. The building is constructed in rendered stone under a slate roof, with Palladian-derived details. The west porch is flanked by a balustrade surmounted by urns which extends the full width of the central block. The central block on the garden or east facade has a pair of full-height semicircular bays and a centrally placed porch which gives access to a semicircular basement extension. To the north-west the mid C19 chapel breaks forward from the west facade. The present Brislington House represents the mid C19 remodelling of Dr E L Fox's original fire-proof structure of 1804-06 which comprised a central block containing his own accommodation and that for gentlemen and lady inmates, flanked on each side by three separate blocks for lower-class male and female patients. These blocks were connected by a corridor or covered way at basement level. This scheme, which is illustrated on the plan of c 1809 (Huntington Library, CA), was altered by Dr F K Fox in 1850-1, when the flanking blocks were united to the central range behind a new west facade; at the same time the attached chapel was built to the north-west. These changes are shown on a plan of 1850 (SRO). In 1840 a new private wing was built immediately to the south of the asylum; this is shown on a plan of 1843 (SRO). Further minor alterations and additions were made to the building in the late C19 and early C20. Although it was the first purpose-built private asylum, the design of Brislington House with segregated accommodation for male and female patients of different classes was influential on the development of public asylums in the mid C19. GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The informal pleasure grounds are situated principally to the west, south, and south-west of Brislington House; there are also informal pleasure grounds associated with the surviving detached villas north and west of the asylum. To the rear or east of the asylum is an area of formal gardens and lawns which represents the site of the former patients' airing courts. A gravel terrace returns around the southern end of the building to give access to a terrace below the east facade of the former private house. A conservatory shown on the 1881-3 OS map forming the northern termination of this terrace does not survive. A flight of stone steps flanked by balustrades descends east to an area of lawn planted with specimen trees and conifers and bounded to the east and south-east by mixed shrubbery. To the north, the lawn is bounded by a stone wall c 3m high, in which are set a pair of wide C20 wooden gates which give access to a terrace c 65m deep which extends the full length of the east facade of the asylum. The terrace is enclosed to the west by the asylum buildings, and to the north and south by high stone walls. To the east it is retained by a further wall which is lower than those to the north and south, its down-swept parapet allowing views out across the surrounding country. The terrace is laid to lawn with late C20 island borders, three mature weeping ash planted on symmetrically arranged mounds, and a pair of mature hollies. To the north there is a late C20 swimming pool surrounded by paved seating areas and several late C20 greenhouses. The east terrace occupies the site of the airing courts laid out in 1804-06 as part of Dr Fox's original asylum scheme. As first constructed, the terrace was divided into six rectangular enclosures, each separated by stone walls and bounded to the east by a continuous range of cells to accommodate refractory patients. This arrangement is shown on the plan of c 1809 (Huntington Library, CA), which also notes that: 'Each of these Six courts has an elevated Plane of Grass occupying the middle, and a walk round it under the Walls. From these mounts the Patients can view the surrounding Country. Each Court is appropriated to a distinct Class of Patients and accessible to them at all times under the care of separate Keepers'. In 1815 a Parliamentary Visitor noted that silver pheasants and doves were kept in the courts for the diversion of the patients (quoted in Fox 1906), while in 1836 it was noted that an arcade extended the length of each court to allow patients to exercise in wet weather (Fox and Fox 1836). These arrangements are shown in an engraving published in 1836 (ibid), which also indicates that the airing courts were planted with trees and shrubs. The plan of 1843 (SRO) shows the ornamental layout of the airing courts with walks, lawns, shrubbery, and mounts, while a further plan of 1850 indicates the amalgamation of the three airing courts for each gender into two; the ornamental layout appears to have been simplified at the same period. In 1875, S C Fripp prepared plans for a pair of ornamental summerhouses to be constructed adjacent to the ladies' and gentlemen's sitting rooms in the central block; these are shown on the late C19 OS map but do not survive today. By 1881 (OS) the layout of the airing courts had been further simplified with the removal of the internal division on the male and female sides. A central dividing wall was retained and the two airing courts were laid out with cruciform walks dividing areas of lawn planted with specimen trees (OS 1881-3). The range of cells to the east of the airing courts was removed between 1846 (Tithe map) and 1881 (OS), at which time their site, and an enclosed garden to their east, were incorporated into the airing courts. The east terrace thus attained its present area. To the west of the House is an area of informal lawns planted with specimen trees including mature cedars, and evergreen shrubbery. Some 50m west and on the axis of the centre of the asylum, a slightly raised level terrace, partly occupied by a C20 hard tennis court, corresponds to the early C19 bowling green constructed by Dr Fox for the recreation of patients (Fox c 1809). The pleasure grounds west of the House are separated from the park beyond by C19 metal estate fencing, and to the north connect with the pleasure grounds associated with Swiss Cottage (listed grade II). These pleasure grounds extend west of the north drive leading to Ironmould Lane, and include walks leading through mature trees and mixed shrubbery with a small pond. Their present arrangement corresponds closely to that shown on the 1846 Tithe map. South of the asylum an area of lawn is bounded to the south-east and south-west by further areas of informal pleasure grounds. The lawn is now enclosed to the south by a late C20 hedge, but formerly connected with parkland to the south-east of the asylum. To the south-east of the lawn a belt of mature trees and evergreen shrubs screens the south wall of the kitchen garden; a mid C20 drive leads through this planting to reach Ironmould Lane, while a mid C20 single-storey sports pavilion stands on the site of a small conservatory which is shown on the late C19 OS map c 80m south-south-east of the asylum. To the south-west of the lawn curvilinear walks extend through a belt of mature trees, conifers, and evergreen shrubbery which extends parallel to the principal drive. One walk leads c 260m south-south-west to emerge onto the drive adjacent to the lodge, while another walk, partly edged by rustic stones and boulders, leads c 60m south-south-west to reach a flight of rustic stone steps which ascends to a level, approximately circular viewing platform. The western side of this platform is enclosed by a low, horseshoe-shaped rustic stone bench and monolithic rocks, while the eastern side is enclosed by C19 ornamental wire fencing, allowing views east across the park towards Lansdown Hill. The centre of the platform is occupied by a cyclopean stone table. The viewing platform is constructed above a semicircular stone-lined alcove which is reached by a flight of rustic stone steps which descends from the platform. The front of the alcove is supported by a cyclopean stone pillar, while the interior retains traces of a bench seat. The viewing platform and alcove may have been constructed before c 1840, as the park enclosure to the south is described as 'Grotto Field' on the Tithe map (1846); the feature is indicated on the OS map of 1881-3. To the west and south-west of the alcove, a walk follows a low stone retaining wall or ha-ha; this is now set back from the boundary between the pleasure grounds and park, but in the C19 would have allowed views east across the park from the walk (Tithe map, 1846; OS 1881-3). The park is situated to the north-east, west, and south-east of Brislington House. The area to the north-east is partly occupied by late C20 light industrial units; the remainder of this area is pasture and gardens attached to a late C20 bungalow. A belt of plantation extends parallel to the northern boundary; this is indicated on the 1846 Tithe map and formerly contained a boundary walk. The park to the south-east of the asylum is laid out as playing fields and is enclosed to the north by shrubbery which serves to screen the south wall of the kitchen garden, and to the south-east by a stone wall fronting Ironmould Lane. A belt of plantation extends along the southern boundary fronting Bath Road, while to the west this area is enclosed by the pleasure grounds. The Tithe map (1846) describes this area as 'Grotto Field', and indicates a small area of plantation in its south-east corner; this had been extended along the southern boundary by 1881 (OS). The park to the west of Brislington House is today laid out as sports fields associated with the mid C20 St Brendan's College, a school which stands c 170m west of Brislington House and c 80m east of The Beeches. Plantations enclose the north, west, and south-west boundaries of this area, and traces of the perimeter walk and C19 metal estate fencing separating the plantations from the park survive to the north. A low earthwork ridge crossing the playing fields from a point c 80m west of Brislington House represents the course of a partly tree-lined walk which led from The Beeches to the asylum. Some 180m north of this ridge, a tree-lined walk crossing the playing fields corresponds to the C19 walk connecting the asylum to the site of the former Heath House and Lanesborough Cottage. Of the three early C19 detached villas built by Dr Fox adjacent to the western boundary of the park, only The Beeches survives, standing in mature informal pleasure grounds characterised by specimen trees, lawns, and mixed shrubbery. Lanesborough Cottage, c 70m north of The Beeches, survived until the 1970s and its site is marked by some mature trees and shrubbery, as is the site of Heath Cottage which stood c 230m north-east of The Beeches until its destruction by a bomb in 1940. The present (2001) layout of the park and the disposition of boundary planting and the surviving detached villas correspond closely to that shown on the Greenwoods' Map of Somerset (1822) and the Tithe map of 1846. The location of the asylum within a landscaped park setting was intended by Dr Fox both to create reassuringly genteel surroundings for his patients and their relatives, and to provide 'abundant occupation for those who are able to engage in agricultural or horticultural pursuits' (Fox and Fox 1836). The park provided facilities for cricket and football, and at certain seasons, greyhound coursing (ibid). Exercise, including walking in the grounds, was seen by Dr Fox and his successors as an essential part of the treatment offered at Brislington House. The kitchen garden is situated to the east of the former airing courts and is enclosed to the north, east, and south by high stone walls. To the west it is enclosed by the retaining wall of the airing court, which is partly screened by a line of overgrown fruit trees. Today (2001) the kitchen garden is laid out as sports pitches. The early C19 kitchen garden was situated immediately east of the cells for refractory patients on the eastern side of the airing courts. Flues for stoves heating glasshouses built against the east face of the cell walls provided heat for the patients without the necessity for open fires (ibid). This arrangement is shown on the plan of c 1809 (Huntington Library, CA), and on the Tithe map of 1846, although at that date the kitchen garden is described as a yard. The Tithe map shows three further enclosures, one a garden and orchard, the other two being arable fields occupying the site of the present kitchen garden. The present arrangement was achieved between 1846 (Tithe map) and 1881 (OS) when the cells were demolished, the airing courts extended east, and the three garden or arable enclosures thrown together to form a kitchen garden. In 1881 the OS shows the garden divided into rectangular sections by walks, with a concentration of fruit trees in the south and south-east sections. Some 400m north of Brislington House, and separated from the park by Ironmould Lane and partly by a narrow strip of agricultural land, is a detached area of pleasure grounds comprising a cliff-top walk above the River Avon. The walk is partly retained by stone walls, and partly constructed as a level terrace along the cliff-top through deciduous woodland and evergreen shrubbery known as Fox's Wood. The steep, north-east-facing slope below the walk is also partly wooded, and there are dramatic views south-east along the Avon valley and north-east and east to the far side of the river. A level area within the woodland corresponds to the site of an early C19 thatched rustic summerhouse known as The Battery (photograph album, BRO), but no trace of this structure survives above ground. A steep gully to the north of the site of The Battery contains remains of a tramway used to haul coal for the asylum from a wharf by the river (Bygone Brislington 1986), which is now separated from the woodland walk by the mid C19 railway. The cliff-top walk was developed in the early C19 by Dr Fox for the recreation of his patients. The walk and The Battery summerhouse were described by John Perceval in his account (1831-2); Perceval commented that he considered it a 'most imprudent place to take them [the patients]' (Bateson 1961). The walk and summerhouse are indicated on the 1846 Tithe map. To the north-west of the cliff-top walk, Heath Farm is situated in gardens which are largely laid to lawn. To the south-east of the house a rectangular pond is now dry; the pond was marked on the Tithe map (1846). Between the pond and Pear Tree Meadow to the south-east is a group of five mature cedars which correspond to the ornamental planting shown on the late C19 OS map. Heath Farm farmhouse (listed grade II) was fitted-up by Dr Fox in the early C19 with picturesque bargeboards, windows, and a gabled porch in order to serve as a further detached residence for his patients; it is illustrated in the account published in 1836 by Francis and Charles Fox. The farm buildings to the north of the farmhouse formed the centre of the asylum's agricultural estate which by 1836 extended to over 200 acres (c 81ha). E L Fox, Brislington House, An Asylum for Lunatics... An Account of the Establishment (c 1809), (Somerset Record Office) Report together with The Minutes of Evidence, and an Appendix of Papers from the Committee appointed to consider the provision being made for the better regulation of Madhouses in England (1815), p 298 E L Fox, Brislington House, An Asylum for Lunatics... An Account of the Establishment (new edn with additional letter from Lord Robert Seymour, c 1817) (Bedfordshire Record Office) C and J Greenwood, Somersetshire Delineated (1822) F and C Fox, History and Present State of Brislington House near Bristol, an Asylum for the cure and reception of Insane Persons (1836) (Bristol Reference Library) Brislington House Prospectus (1902) (Bristol Reference Library) A Fox, A Short Account of Brislington House, 1804-1906, [published in Brislington House Quarterly Newsletter Centenary Number (1906), pp 4-14 (Somerset Record Office)] G Bateson (ed), Perceval's Narrative A Patient's Account of his Psychosis 1830-32 (1961) S Stoddard, Mr Braikenridge's Brislington (1981), p 10 Bygone Brislington (1986), pp 19-22 Brislington Common Enclosure map, 1780 (39624/1-2), (Bristol Record Office) C and J Greenwood, Map of Somerset, 1822 The Ground Plan of the Asylum for Lunatics at Brislington House near Bristol, c 1809 (Stowe Papers, maps and plans Box 10, item 4), (Huntington Library, San Marino, CA) Plan of Brislington House, 1843 (Q/RLu 42/6), (Somerset Record Office) Tithe map for Brislington parish, 1846 (Bristol Record Office) Brislington House Ground Plan, 1850 (Q/RLu 42/2), (Somerset Record Office) S C Fripp, Brislington House and detached buildings, 1857 (Q/RLu 42/9), (Somerset Record Office) S C Fripp, Plan for proposed Summer Houses in airing ground Brislington House, 1875 (Q/RLu 42/16), (Somerset Record Office) OS 6" to 1 mile: 2nd edition published 1905 3rd edition published 1921 OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1881-3 Engraved view of Brislington House, c 1809 (in Fox c 1809) Engraved views of Brislington House, airing courts, Heath Farm, Swiss Cottage, and entrance lodge, c 1836 (in Fox and Fox 1836) Brislington House near Bristol, Somersetshire, engraving after S C Jones, View of the west front as remodelled in 1850 (BB72/4645), (NMR, Swindon) Early C20 photographs of Brislington House and grounds, c 1900 (39624/5), (Bristol Record Office) Description written: May 2001 Register Inspector: JML Edited: January 2004

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10 Fascinating Artisan Crafts Artisan Craft is the creation of an item made to serve one or more practical functions and be influential as an artistic work. However, some of the entries on this list serve no practical purpose other than artistic merit and aesthetics, but they are all the more welcomed as they borrow from similar skill sets. Some very well-known artisan crafts have been omitted, such as pottery and quilting, as the focus of this list is on the more intriguing and lesser-known crafts. Azulejo is a form of Portuguese or Spanish painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tile work. Typically, azulejos can be found on the interior and exterior of churches, palaces, ordinary houses and even train stations or subway stations. They constitute a major aspect of Portuguese architecture as they are applied on walls, floors and even ceilings. They were not only used as an ornamental art form, but also had a specific functional capacity like temperature control at homes. Many azulejos chronicle major historical and cultural aspects of Portuguese history. Lace is an openwork fabric, noticeable for the patterned open holes in the work. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. The craft of lace-making is ancient, though true lace and widespread use of it did not appear until the late 15th century. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads independently from a backing fabric. Linen, silk, and even silver and gold threads were used originally while most lace now is made with cotton thread. Calligraphy is defined as the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner. Modern calligraphy ranges from functional hand-lettered inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the abstract expression of the handwritten mark may or may not compromise the legibility of the letters. Traditional calligraphy tools include varying types of ink, nib-tipped pens, calligraphic brushes, desk pads and paper weights. Pyrography, also known as pokerwork or wood burning, is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn-marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker. As photography means “writing with light,” pyrography means “writing with fire” in Greek. It can be practiced using specialized modern pyrography tools, or using a metal implement heated in a fire, or even sunlight concentrated with a magnifying lens. Varying the type of tip used, the temperature, or the way the iron is applied to the material all create different effects. After the design is burned in, wooden objects are often colored. Light-colored hardwoods such as sycamore, basswood, beech and birch are most commonly used. Clockmaking is the craft of manufacturing a clock; the trade requires fine motor coordination as clockmakers must frequently work on devices with small gears and fine machinery. Originally, clockmakers were master craftsmen who designed and built clocks by hand. Since modern clockmakers are required to repair antique, handmade or one-of-a-kind clocks for which parts are not available, they must have some of the design and fabrication abilities of the original craftsmen. A qualified clockmaker can typically design and make a missing piece for a clock without access to the original component. Clockmakers generally do not work on watches; the skills and tools required are different enough that watchmaking is a separate field, handled by another specialist: the watchmaker. Knifemaking is the process of manufacturing a knife by one or any combination of processes: stock removal, forging to shape, welded lamination or investment cast. Typical metals used come from the carbon steel, tool, or stainless steel families. Primitive knives have been made from bronze, copper, brass, iron, obsidian, and flint. Different steels are suited to different applications. There is a trade off between hardness, toughness, edge retention, corrosion resistance, and achievable sharpness between metals. Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding in which pieces of paper, usually square in shape and uncut, are folded into objects such as birds and animals. It is an ancient art that dates back to 538 A.D., but has grown over the centuries from a craft used to make decorations for ceremonial occasions to an art form practiced by people of all ages and all nationalities. The best known origami model is probably the Japanese paper crane. The principles of origami are also used in packaging and in engineering structures. Lapidary is the art of cutting and polishing stone. Lapidary has its roots in prehistory, as early as humans began fashioning tools and weapons from stone. Over time, these techniques were also used for items of personal adornment. Stone carving evolved as an art in many cultures throughout the world. During the 1950s, lapidary became a popular hobby in the United States. Hobbyists enjoyed tumbling, cutting and polishing gemstones and mounting them in prefabricated jewelry settings or in metalwork of their own creation. There are three types of stonework: tumbling, cabochon cutting, and faceting. Quilling, also known as paper filigree, is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The name originates from winding the paper around a quill to create a basic coil shape. The paper is glued at the tip and the coiled shapes are arranged to form flowers, leaves, and various ornamental patterns similar to ironwork. During the Renaissance, French and Italian nuns and monks used quilling to decorate book covers and religious items. The paper most commonly used was strips of paper trimmed from the gilded edges of books. These gilded paper strips were then rolled to create the quilled shapes. Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, emphasizing other areas of the plant besides the blooms such as the stems and leaves and drawing importance to the employment of minimalism in the art form. Unlike a bouquet, this floral arrangement is not a collection of multicolored blooms. Ikebana is a disciplined art form in which nature and humanity are brought together. Though ikebana is a creative expression, it has certain rules governing its form. The main rule is that all the elements used in construction must be organic, be they branches, leaves, grasses, or flowers. The artist’s intention behind each arrangement is shown through a piece’s color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the usually implied meaning of the arrangement. The structure of a Japanese flower arrangement is based on a scalene triangle delineated by three main points, usually twigs, considered in some schools to symbolize heaven, earth, and man and in others sun, moon, love & earth. The container is also a key element of the composition, and various styles of pottery may be used in their construction.

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England, Australia 1912-1981 Drysdale created a new vision of Australia. Influenced by European modernism, his work made a radical break from the prevailing Heidelberg school. He was the first artist to take as his primary subject the complex relationships between the land and people of the Australian interior. His landscapes were frequently harsh and peopled by isolated figures who seem strangely stoic and at ease in their environment. Born in England to an Australian pastoralist family, he moved with them to Australia in 1923. He studied art in Melbourne and later in London and Paris before moving to Sydney in 1940 and dedicating himself full-time to painting. In 1947, Drysdale’s painting companion Donald Friend read about the deserted gold mining towns of New South Wales. The two men organised a painting trip to Sofala and Hill End, near Bathurst. Drysdale’s now-famous painting of Sofala was awarded the Wynne Prize in 1947 – a dramatic change from the prize’s pastoral traditions to a more sober post-war view of the Australian landscape. Drysdale observed: ‘...these curious and strange rhythms which one discovers in a vast landscape, the juxtaposition of figures, of objects… Add to that again the peculiarity of the particular land in which we live here, and you get a quality of strangeness that you do not find, I think, anywhere else. This is a very ancient land, and its forms and general psychology are so intriguing…’ - View Sofala in the collection People and places Gold was first discovered at Hill End in 1851 and by the height of the gold rush in 1872 the town was the largest inland settlement in the state, with a population of almost 10,000. Once there was no more gold, its decline was dramatic. By 1945, the population was just 700. Just 38 kilometres away, Sofala’s gold rush was short lived, with thousands of prospectors dropping to just a few hundred by 1854, although commercial goldmining didn’t stop until 1948. After Drysdale and Friend’s first visit, the area attracted some of Australia’s greatest painters to work there, and remains a drawcard for artists today.

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11150 East Boulevard Cleveland, Ohio 44106 info [at] ClevelandArt [dot] org Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Free General Admission Tools, documents, and paintings from the collections of the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) in Cleveland and the Cleveland Museum of Art evoke the lives of Native Americans and early settlers. Museum educators guide students through an examination of the mutual perceptions between the Native Americans and settlers, as well as the historical environment created by their encounters during the 18th and early 19th century. During this lesson students participate in a bartering exercise to help them imagine transactions and issues of mutual dependence between the two groups. An in-classroom activity kit with the bartering materials accompanies the teacher packet for this lesson. Teacher Information Packet will be mailed.

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While Iraq has about the same population as Afghanistan (26 million), experts say its people may be more vulnerable to the hardships of war. Many more are concentrated in urban areas and therefore less used to surviving in a rough environment. They may have had access to modern water, sewer, and power facilities, but those systems already are in bad shape across much of the country. Some 500,000 tons of raw sewage flow into water sources daily, according to the aid group CARE International, and electricity is often off. According to the UN World Food Program, at least 40 percent of Iraq's population (some sources put it as high as 60 percent) relies on government rations, a supply of such basics as flour, sugar, and rice. Since the Gulf War the number of children suffering chronic malnutrition has grown from 18.7 percent to 30 percent. Having gone through two wars (the Iran-Iraq War, followed by the Gulf War), UN sanctions, and years of mistreatment under a dictatorial regime, "the Iraqi people now don't have the resources to withstand an additional crisis," says Margaret Hassan, CARE International's director for Iraq. In anticipation of such needs, Oxfam International and other organizations are positioning staff and equipment in the region. UN agencies that focus on children, refugees, and others who need help are storing food, blankets, and other material in Iran and other neighboring countries. Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam's executive director, worries that, in the event of war, airstrikes will target Iraqi power stations. "If that happened, the Iraqi water and sanitation system, which depends on electricity and which is already in a parlous state, would collapse, leaving millions of people vulnerable to diseases and epidemics," he says. For its part, the Bush administration lays most of the blame for Iraqis' suffering at the feet of Saddam Hussein. "To craft tragedy, the regime places civilians close to military equipment, facilities, and troops, which are legitimate targets in an armed conflict," says the White House in a recent report titled "Apparatus of Lies: Saddam's Disinformation and Propaganda 1990-2003."

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Forty percent of all food produced in the US goes to waste. Boulder (Colo.) Food Rescue picks up food, primarily fresh fruits and vegetables, from local grocers and transports it by bike to groups that serve hungry, homeless, and low-income people. A group of three impassioned friends, all under the age of 30, started Boulder Food Rescue in August of 2011 with the goal of introducing the problems of waste and want to one another, and with the help of a little logistical muddling on our part, letting them solve each other. It’s a shocking fact that 40% of all food produced in the US goes to waste at some point in production. The EPA estimates that every grocery store in the country generates about 1 ton of waste per day, which doesn’t even touch waste in the field or in transport. This (almost inconceivably) occurs at the same time at 1 in 6 Americans are considered “food insecure” and do not have access to adequate and reliable nutrition. We set about addressing this lunacy in our own community of Boulder, Colo., by starting an organization that picks up food, primarily fresh fruits and veggies, from local grocers and transports it by bike to 50 agencies that serve hungry, homeless, and low-income folks in Boulder. We use 90% bicycle transportation because our food system is incredibly energy intensive, and it makes no sense to put more fossil fuels into trying to rescue food that slips though the cracks. Over the past 20 months, Boulder Food Rescue has amassed a volunteer base of 150, saved nearly 325,000 lbs. of fresh, healthy food, and is in the process of becoming a national nonprofit. This last point has been our focus over the past several months as we began to export our bike-powered food rescue model to 5 different cities. Due to some national press coverage, we had people from 25 different cities around the globe from Dublin to San Francisco contact us to ask for support in rescuing food.

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PATHARGHATA—Patharghata sits on the frontline of the battle against climate change and recurring natural disasters, its inhabitants living in a constant state of preparedness for the weather fronts that wreak havoc as they roll in destructively off the Bay of Bengal. Cyclones, flooding, salt water intrusion into agricultural land, and river erosion are just some of the many challenges facing these farming communities. All are expected to increase in severity over the coming decades as a direct result of climate change. In the past five years, major floods in 2004 were followed by Cyclone Sidr in 2007 and Cyclone Aila in 2009, causing millions of dollars of damage, destroying the homes and belongings of millions of people, and adding to long-term food insecurity. At high risk “We had to swim through the water holding each other’s hands to get to the local shelter,” Fatema Begum, a mother of two, recalls as she remembers the trials of recent years. “When we returned, our house was destroyed and everything was gone – all our food and our clothes. We made shelter out of leaves and stayed like that for four days, wearing the same clothes. It was painful!” While climate change affects everyone, it is poor people living in places like Partharghata that are disproportionately affected. As part of a strategy to build resilience and equip these communities with the knowledge and means to protect themselves against the vagaries of the weather, WFP has been working with the Government of Bangladesh to provide training and cash for work programmes that help them to build or renovate community assets. This “Enhancing Resilience” or ER programme is now a priority within the government’s plans to improve food security and protect communities against climate change The aim is to identify projects that will equip communities to cope with the next storm or cyclone. Villagers are encouraged to work together to raise the foundations of their homes above potential flood levels, or to remove sediment from canals and rehabilitate ponds that can be used to support fish farming, helping to bring more nutritious food into local diets. Learning to cope Training takes place in the monsoon season when it is often too wet to carry out communal works. Women are actively encouraged to join the training programmes in recognition of the pivotal role they play in tackling hunger and improving nutrition within the family. They receive a ration of rice, pulses and oil and a small cash payment alongside the training on disaster preparedness, and instructions on how to prepare for a disaster. “We got training like what to do before and after floods,” Fatema says. “Now we know what we should do, that we need to plant trees and build our houses in higher places. We make the proper preparations and organise our belongings.” In Patharghata alone, some 4,500 ultra-poor women and men from three separate communities have participated in an ER programme that was launched in 2011. It has helped stabilise incomes and ensure more secure access to food. Local people are now better prepared for future disasters, they know what to do when they strike and they have learnt how to adapt to the localised impact of climate change. At the same time, their houses, canals and ponds are in better condition, adding to the food security of local people.

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