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Thursday, March 03, 2005
TDP: Feces to Fuel
I first heard about TDP (Thermal depolymerization process) in 2002. At the time, I was excited by a process whereby waste, be it computers, animal manure, dead bodies, or syringes, can be turned into oil, water and gas. TDP is the technological curative we’ve been waiting for, I thought. It doesn’t address the problem of nuclear waste disposal, but it will certainly help us decide where to put our household trash.
Now, with two active plants proving that the process works, I’m no longer as eager a cheerleader. When I first learned about TDP, I neglected to consider two details, one minor, one major.
1) If the process proves effective and becomes widely used, trash itself will become a commodity. Savvy municipal waste managers will profit from sales of their waste to TDP companies. This isn't a serious concern, but there is something inherently depressing about trash bidding wars.
2) Because oil and gas are the two principal outputs of the TDP, society and, in turn, the federal government are less likely to transition away from fossil fuels.
Ideally, we can have the best of both worlds. If TDP takes off, our trash will have a valuable purpose. Also, the oil produced via TDP can be used for plastics rather than internal combustion engines.
But how often do we environmentalists see our ideology made manifest?
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maandag 18 juni 2012
The Painbody (English)
Last week I talked to a friend about the painbody and yesterday -when the Dutch soccerteam soccered themselves out of the European Championship - I saw a lot of painbody movement again, and I find this so fascinating.
Eckhart Tolle defines the painbody as: ''the accumulation of unprocessed, painful emotional memories that we all carry around with us''
So..its almost like a shadow person of us, created out of all the painful situations we ran into in our lives, its like its own whole entity..kind of a monster really.
And as mosters go..this one also needs to be fed.
What does it feed on?
It feeds on more pain!
And - scared of the moster as we are - we find situations that are food to the painbody.
Well..obviously this monster does not thrive on love and harmony, it finds no nutrition in that.
It's a manipulative loudmouth and its very favorite thing to tell you, time and time again: '' I'm not good enough''.
Now that will make you find its nutrition! It needs you to find (and create if necessary) pain, and fear and negativity.
So we get into relationships that provide food for it, we find conversations and arguments to feed it, we create drama to have it fiest on.
Then we all throw our hands in the air and say; '' why does this always happen to me!''
Well..because we think we need it...the painbody fools us into believing that we need it, because it wants to survive!
If we do not learn to recognise that we carry this hungry monster around, as long as we keep telling ourselves that this is who we are, and we don't learn the destinction...we will keep having to feed it.
The mostly feminine reaction of '' why does this always happen to me'', has a male counterpart aswell and that is; ''Hey thats just who I am, deal with it!''
(daily soaps are the perfect workout for our painbody!)
Both statements are mostly born out the monster....its a growl of the monster. (holding hands with the ego probably)
If both of these people were aware of the painbody, they would probably say something like;'' I know that my painbody has a tight grip on me and that makes it so hard for me to be open and loving'', or ; '' I find it really hard to trust myself basically, because the painbody is so strong''
You think that the monster could survive for a long time? Would it not just starve to death?
So, wouldn't it be nice if we all grew some awareness about this monster? In us, in our partners, kids, parents, friends...anyone.
Try it for a few days..listen, look at how people talk to eachother, argue, what hurts and makes them react.
Do they speak from the self...or is it the monster in action?
Look at and listen to it you speaking (probably exclusively from love) or is it your painbody (probably exclusively from fear)
Don't think you can just dismiss the monster, its a part of you as long as you don't live fully consciouss. Thats nothing to worry about, its fine, let it be..just don't feed it!
Try to be aware ..and if it does rear its ugly head, just do what Cesar Millan does..tell it to ''Tsshh'', get it to be calm submissive and be your own packleader!!
Make it so!
2 opmerkingen: | <urn:uuid:1767d059-1eb6-40d0-b5a4-380e9313a683> | 2 | 1.640625 | 0.516613 | en | 0.958242 | http://iamingeastrid.blogspot.com/2012/06/painbody-english.html |
Latin dancers looking to IMPROVE your DANCING should explore the IMPORTANT of Muscle Memory techniques and how they can be adopted to improve your dancing.
Muscle Memory Helps IMPROVE your DANCING!
Muscle Memory is a motor skill acquired by repetition. When you teach yourself any type of movement, like one of the many Latin Dance Styles, your brain creates a blueprint of those movements and stores it in your brain ready to be recalled when you next perform those steps or routines.
Zen and Salsa Dancing - Improve your Dancing
The best thing about muscle memory is that it’s something you can practice as part of your daily routine.
So take a 3-5 minute during the day and practice a specific move you have being trying to refine or acquire.
After doing this couple times, move on to one of the many other moves and soon you would have built up a handful of steps, ready to be performed at any social latin dance event with ease.
The more you do an exercise, the more you build up the procedural memory so that your brain can quickly instruct your muscles to perform that movement.
“Your brain creates pathways through your central nervous system, and movements become automatic,
– ” says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness research director at Quincy College in Massachusetts.
Those well-worn pathways become your muscle memory
One of the MOST important points to remember is that Muscle Memory does not judge whether you are doing your steps the correct way, so it is EXTREMELY important to have mastered your latin dance style step before you commit to it using any muscle memory techniques.
Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory and can help you become very good at something
or absolutely terrible at that same thing.
REMEMBER when you repeat a mistake again and again, you build a muscle memory with those mistakes which eventually become even harder to overcome later.
Perfect Practice helps you develop that Perfect Latin Dance Step and show off your moves on the dance show.
Finger Salsa - Improve your Dancing
Develop a solid foundation of techniques first and then develop your muscle movement and that will serve you well in developing your latin dance moves and style.
Perfect repetition linked by some mysterious connection to our muscle memory enables us to eventually not have to think about our steps and just feel the rhythm of the music.
Soon our bodies just seem to know what to do, leaving our brains free to our imaginations and to perform with elegance and style.
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Discover Latin Dance Classes & Events in Melbourne | <urn:uuid:6af87ee2-e23c-47e4-b2fe-f9092d3b3b0c> | 3 | 2.546875 | 0.047866 | en | 0.910581 | http://improveyourdancing.com/improve-your-dancingi/muscle-memory/ |
The question of the validity of ordinations today, and the problems of the fraternity of Saint Pius X
- New -
The tragic mistake which is fallen Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, certainly for a subtle trick of the devil, was formed in his mind an adamant as mistaken belief, that the teachings of the Council, He appeared to be polluted by a secularist mentality, anthropocentric and modernist, They consequently compromise the high, traditional dignity of Holy orders, degrading it and asservendola to profanity, at depths, not to mention the mistakes of the modern world.
Author John Cavalcoli OP
John Cavalcoli OP
To read the article click below:
About isoladipatmos
10 thoughts on "The question of the validity of ordinations today, and the problems of the fraternity of Saint Pius X
1. Dear Father John Carlson,
how much and how often I post, silently, the question whether certain orders (We say especially “scandalous”) were valid! And’ that the issue is so delicate that it is not easy to talk about it.
A case to explain: one of my previous bishops (I belong to one of those dioceses of “step” where the permanence of bishops is 4 years maximum) ordered an item that was devoid of these requirements
1. It was not a “healthy man” because not only blatantly effeminate (always unseemly thing for a priest, whether or not homosexual) because of its ones attracted to the same sex, and all we knew.
2. Had a misconception of the sacraments.
3. Had a Calvinist idea of Eucharist that considered “the Lord's Supper”
4. He said that in extreme cases one cannot speak of euthanasia, because before certain terminally ill, which can not be avoided suffering, What is called “euthanasia” It is an act of charity.
5. The same logic applied to abortion, stating that there were very specific cases which were assessed, and as an example with fetuses carried serious malformations and women raped.
6. He said that if the Church had revised the Humanae vitae, through contraception would have avoided many abortions
etc, etc …
Aware of all, and, informed by priests, the Bishop agreed to order it to cover his predecessor and other edifying situations, avoiding the outbreak of a major scandal.
It was clear to everyone that
1. the Bishop ordered under blackmail, so I dread to think what kind of mental reserves had, He knows that his consciousness.
2. the candidate became a priest with the wrong idea of the priesthood and for reasons which have nothing to do with the priestly Ministry.
3. the candidate became a priest without a correct perception of the Catholic faith.
At his ordination, took part 39 priests, but only 21 they were part of our Diocesan clergy comprises in total from 114 secular and regular priests.
When many of us, pastors from 20, 30, 40 year old, lamentammo the Bishop appointed him two years after ordination, pastor of the Cathedral Church, We was told we were “jealous” and “envious”.
A few months later, in our Cathedral Church, they did the following:
1. Enzo Bianchi's preaching on Ecumenism, with explanation that all religions can bring salvation and that being Catholic means follow one of the ways of salvation
2. a Conference “Pastora” in the presence of our Pentecostal charismatics to treat the theme “the holy spirit that unites us” and concluding prayer … “Shaman” dancing (How would that biting pen don Ariel) the Holy Spirit under the Chair of the Bishop.
3. don Luigi Ciotti Conference on the concept of legality (not appointed Christ once).
4. reading a rehash of the Gospel of the passion “rewritten” and “starred” four actors Theatre three atheists, a representative of the new age, two of the three male actors were openly homosexual and part of Jesus was recited by women.
5. dance on the night of Palm Sunday to the music of Jesus Christ Superstar, even then with a ballet company composed mostly of homosexual dancers.
Try to take at face value that what I presented is true, the wonder, Father John, She, would have some doubt about the validity of this ordination?
Father Michael
1. I confirm, unfortunately, the diversity of individual cases, to have known 25 years of priesthood several cases identical in substance to the bottom.
I would also like to know the opinion of father John Carlson.
2. Dear don Michele,
Thank you for your speech. the case that she has has all appearances to say the signs of being an invalid order.
I believe that the serious question I post go taken seriously. And’ an invitation which I modestly to our bishops and vorreri hope that someone from the Holy See might have noticed.
Certain, as I said, the grace of God works and I think even a priest invalidly ordained, If he repents, It fixes and repairs, yet from God before him that sublime mission, that had initially welcomed or unconscious unfairly based on false ideas and bad intentions. You might think of a sanatio at the root of the divine mercy.
I think some defections are caused by the fact that the priest realizes that being ordained invalidly, or never having been a priest. The bishops should take more care to ensure on this point on their seminarians preparing for priesthood.
1. You might think a sanatio in radice made by divine mercy.
Consider perilous. Could not then divine mercy heal in a root marriage built on invalid assumptions?
2. Reverend Father John dear.
I am a priest of 65 years which 20 years ago he was sent as curate a newly ordained priest, corresponding, roughly, the subject described by don Michele. Were nightmarish months, also because I lived with eyes open, especially when it came in contact with adolescents and young people.
The bomb exploded when the negai bring summer the Group of young males in the parish on camping.
The Bishop asked me account, and I expressed my reasons. When Bishop tried to force me to allow the curate to bring young camping, I told him that in that case I instantly was resigning as pastor.
He accepted my resignation immediately and sent me to make the chaplain in prisons.
Six years later the priest, denounced by three sets of parents, He was arrested for sexual harassment against children (14, 15 and 17 year old).
The Bishop publicly stated before, the Magistrates then, not aware of anything, and that he was physically impossible to have all the priests and parishes under control.
I introduced myself to the Prosecutor's Office and said that he has informed the Bishop six years before, with the result ending up in prison chaplain, where I've been happily and I always have a great beautiful memory, I still get today after many years of visits ex-convicts.
At that point I had to find another diocese who accepted me. I found her, and I incardinò the Bishop in his diocese he sent me to a country parish.
In this diocese are from 14 year old, where I saw young priests, similar to those described by don Michele, become pastors of the largest parishes. Today I care 4 small country parishes that comprise about 1200 faithful in total.
My former Bishop remained in Office until the 75 year old, continuing to say that he was not informed and that, the priest who had “maligned” in the courts (IE I) He was just angry with him for being sent to make the chaplain in prisons.
This is because.
1. A case similar to the one described by you, young heavily harassed by a priest of new generation, came to dishonor the headlines even in my Diocese, but I touched to hear from the mouth of a priest associated with the ancient rite and only “syllabic package” that the Bishop would have had to cover the misdeeds of the harasser and escape to secular jurisdiction (the package is also usually antisiccardiano).
2. Dear Don Stefano,
his letter confirms, If there was need, that with my article, as it were, I did “center”.
We speak today more than ever of the causes of nullity of marriage, but too little grounds for invalidity of priestly ordinations, but then to be assured training priests or rahneriana or scillebexiana you want to treat or to presume to be causes or issues of matrimonial nullity and to claim to advise or guide couples in crisis.
Poor couples who fall into their hands! It happens then that these priests, they should first correct oneself, you maybe atteggino to masters of spirituality and guides charismatic prophetic, and woe to anyone who disagrees with them!
I am convinced that the gravissmo problem of homosexuality or pedophilia in priests have deeply rooted in misconceptions on the priesthood, tolerated by the Bishop, assuming that he is himself Orthodox, While it would have been too late to correct or to dismiss the seminarian undisciplined.
The priest convinced of his vocation and who knows how to taste the joys of the priesthood, some, as a sinner, is always in need of purification, but do not think to subside in some vile carnal pleasures and manages to win easily these degrading temptations.
What mind and does tighten the core, but also provokes outrage, and this is my experience of priest from 40 year old, is that there would be the child and young people willing to take the path of priesthood, but they are discouraged or ridiculed or dismissed from unhealthy and corrupt seminaristici.
But without thinking at such depths, It is disheartening to note the indifference and neglect in many priests for mass and confession, which are the services to the people of God, that only they can play, While engaged in other activities perhaps itself good, but that can be done better by laity.
How many times the recent Magisterium came on the theme of priesthood, In addition to considering the precious documents of the Council! What is missed and that is missing is sufficient zeal in the bishops to promote, boost, support, defend and correct the priestly formation.
1. Caro Father, reading the articles his father and Ariel returns me to mind Saint Paul when he says: “Welcome among you who is weak in faith, without discussing this hesitation. One believes he can eat anything, the other, that is weak, eats only vegetables. He who eats not despise those who do not eat; those who do not eat, don't misjudge who eats, because God took him”.
I read your writings for years, Although I have never intervened on the island of Patmos, I follow by October 2014. I read his book on Rahner and the book of father Ariel “Satan became the triune God”, and by reading I got this idea: Surely you are very dedicated to the Ministry of confession. I've never read a line in which you accused the weak, sinners, for which you always have words of understanding and comfort. You're hard on the “strong”, or with those for role and believe they have strong position. You attacked those who “eat” and despise “those who do not eat”, accusing the mangioni and defending the one who fasts.
Maybe I am weak in faith, but I have faith. You, instead, would you be able to eat a bull bites, I can only eat cooked apples.
Article degree, his latest, which can be written only by one who first takes the bull by the horns, and then, If the bull does not stand still, takes to morsi.
I tell you though that I, in my small, I dared not go to orders made by my Bishop over the past 11 year old, having ordered 13 subject one worse than the other, and I'm not say at what levels “worst”, since they, the cases described by her nerd, all, Indeed it seems that he wrote his article taking these subjects as standard.
Groom all that wrote, the father, and while she continues with Don Ariel to bulls bite, I, in my small, I have to limit myself to use the forces that I, eating baked apples.
A sincere thank you for the comfort that you both give us.
Don Antonio T.
3. After a long day on Sunday (three masses in two parishes, confessions and various meetings) I read before going to rest in peace with God the father John's article and the article by Fr. Ariel provocatively titled “Saints obnoxious” … brilliant both !!
In addition to sleep in peace with God go to sleep even at peace with my conscience, because his article father John pulled off what many of us think of priests, but we don't have the courage and in preparing part two patmosiani fathers to express certain problems that, before salmon, real are woefully.
Thanks father John for giving me with this article … noctem quietam et finem perfectum
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January 1933
Author Affiliations
From the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Arch Ophthalmol. 1933;9(1):13-24. doi:10.1001/archopht.1933.00830010016002
Increased intra-ocular tension accompanying uveitis is not an infrequent symptom. This is especially true in ocular tuberculosis of a certain type, and when accompanied by other characteristic symptoms it should strongly suggest the nature of the etiology of the ocular disease.
I have been impressed with the frequency with which the following group of symptoms accompanies a certain form of ocular tuberculosis:
1. 1. Keratitic precipitates of the mutton-fat variety.
2. 2. Evanescent grayish nodules at the pupillary margin of the iris (the so-called Gilbert-Koeppe nodules).
3. 3. Increased intra-ocular tension.
4. 4. Vitreous exudates.
5. 5. One or more yellowish tubercles in the choroid.
In a critical study of these eyes with the corneal microscope, the precipitates on the posterior surface of the cornea are often found to be large, irregular in shape and free from pigment. They occur in greater abundance in the lower portions of the cornea, but are not
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First page PDF preview | <urn:uuid:f4a0d8ad-9fed-41cd-b24a-12b2564f8b9d> | 2 | 2.09375 | 0.114576 | en | 0.825505 | http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/article-abstract/610086 |
Aug 4, 2010
In Kashmir, near Kargil, there was an old man who knew how to climb the tallest mountain and become lighter than air. To keep alive he ate snow and when people asked him why he ate snow, he answered, “It is not forbidden.”
Always a trail of children formed behind him.
Once the boy Adi asked: “Baba, why do you keep climbing the same mountain again and again?”
“Boy,” he answered, “I am calculating the distance to heaven.”
Time passed. The man correctly and satisfactorily calculated the distance. Yet, he never stopped trudging up the slopes of the mountain. He had grown very old and the boy had turned into a tall man.
“Baba,” Adi asked him one day with a smile, “now, why do you keep climbing? Isn’t it boring?”
“The distance to heaven,” the old man replied with a whiff of sadness, “is not a constant, as I thought earlier. It fluctuates. It changes, and changes with the population of the birds.”
“This means,” the boy interpreted, “you will never be successful.”
The old man fell on his knees, smiled, and scooped up some freshly fallen snow from the trail. As he began eating the flakes one by one he turned to the boy and said, “All it means is that more work is required.”
More work is required.
[from Seventeen Tomatoes: Tales from Kashmir] | <urn:uuid:8adbe05f-695b-404f-a9f1-2a09291ce33f> | 2 | 1.8125 | 0.210189 | en | 0.972297 | http://jaspreetsinghauthor.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html |
Image via Houston Chronicle.
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated as a major party presidential candidate. It was a historical moment in the United States, and despite the controversies around this election, it cannot be underplayed. Unless you’re designing the front cover of a major newspaper on Wednesday.
For many huge publications, the lead story was Hillary Clinton’s big win, but they tried their best to take the face of the woman making history completely out of it. The Wall Street Journal, for example, went with a photo of Bernie Sanders. Simple, elegant, to the point.
Many others seemed to have Googled “Clinton + president” and come up with an image of Bill.
The Chicago Tribune:
The Washington Post:
The Houston Chronicle:
The New York Times did manage to feature photos of women, or girls, by their own label:
Whoa, USA Today nailed it, in the sense that they actually used a picture of the nominee:
Look, pictures of old white men sell newspapers. Love the player, hate the game. | <urn:uuid:5f5a84d0-d23a-468a-ba1a-125dc13cc4f0> | 2 | 1.945313 | 0.160279 | en | 0.959317 | http://jezebel.com/dont-worry-we-can-still-make-it-about-men-1784381578 |
Noteput (2010)
A prototype for an interactive music table with tangible notes, that combines all three senses of hearing, sight and touch. Noteput aims to make learning the classical notation of music more easy and accessible.
The table has two modes: A standard mode, where you can place notes on the table in a playful and experimental way and explore the related music outcome. And an excercise mode, where excercises and tutorials sort by topic and difficulty have to be mastered.
To activate “Noteput”, simply put the treble clef on the table. As soon as a note is placed on the staves, the respective sound is heard. That serves as a kind of preview and an orientation while putting the notes. If several notes are on the table, you can hit the play button and listen to the notes in relation to each other and considering note values. In addition to piano other instruments like guitar, flute, vibraphon or e-piano can be chosen. It is also possible to play the notes in a loop. That way it is easy to compare how the current note sequence sounds like and how changes of the notation immediatly influence the music.
The theoretical basis for the Output project was the theses, that a combination of as much as many senses leads to the best learning results. One’s motivation plays a key role in the process of learning and remembering. With the fundamental approach of tangible notes Output does not only want to reach music interested children and pupils, but mostly those who have not yet enjoyed music lessons and have thought of learning the notation as a burden.
As proof of concept we built and programmed a functional prototype of the table with slightly reduced functions. All elements were cut out of thin wood plates, weighted differently with lead balls and painted black matte. The technical part was done with the visual programming language vvvv and the so-called reacTIVision Fiducial Markers. Each object has a unique marker at its bottom, which is tracked with a camera placed inside the table. The software recognizes the marker and is therefore able to define which note with what note value is at what position on the staves. With this data a vvvv-patch computes the respective note sequence and sends it via MIDI to a sound software, which then can play these singals for different instruments.
Messy vvvv patching :) | <urn:uuid:583d566c-f772-4bc1-91d6-afce5f36f94e> | 3 | 2.890625 | 0.023 | en | 0.944605 | http://jonasheuer.de/?noteput |
Monday, September 28, 2015
September 2015 - Berlin Germany
99 Red Balloons - Nena
I heard this song when we were in Berlin last week but couldn't remember the title. I googled it and thought it would be a good choice for Song-ogrpahy.
This photo is from the East Side Gallery and I featured more of the paintings in yesterday's Monday Mural.
I also learned to background to the song.99 Red Balloons is the English translation of the German versions, "99Luftballoons", or "toy" balloons. The idea came to Nena's guitarist Carlo Cargas while he was at a Rolling Stones concert in Berlin. While a bunch of balloons floated away, he thought they looked more like some type of aircraft rather than a bunch of balloons. He imagined what might happen if those balloons flew over the wall and entered East Berlin, which was Soviet territory from 1945 until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. 99 Red Balloons is a protest song from the days of the Cold War.
This photo was in Potsdamer Platz which has pieces of the Wall.
Back at the East Side Gallery and I chose this image for the peace doves carrying the top of the Brandenburg Gate.
"Alles Offen" (Let Grow) by Rosemarie Schinzler
1. Glad that you had a good time. Welcome back.
2. Wow...what interesting background to that song! Ah Berlin...I totallly love that city. Been there twice, most recently last December. And that wall, I swear I could spend a whole day there photographing, looking at the details, wondering about the stories that wall could tell. My family is from East Germany, so it held a personal connection for me. What a wonderful trip you must have had! Thanks for sharing at Song-ography.
3. Great song for a great photo. Pretty awesome to see pieces of the wall in person, it evokes so much thought and emotion.
4. 99 Red Balloons, definitely a Cold War song. It's included in the War Museum's section on that era.
5. Berlin is my city and I lived their (West) for many years before the wall came down.The place has changed tremendously - thank god!
6. Very powerful - thanks so much for sharing. It's been so many years since i've been there...
7. This song takes me back I remember it well - I have never been to Berlin, but it's on my bucket list. | <urn:uuid:ee87db77-fe1a-4179-adc2-d72bb3e52029> | 2 | 1.664063 | 0.044964 | en | 0.962568 | http://junkboattravels.blogspot.com/2015/09/song-ography_28.html |
Original and Practical Recipes. Inexpensive, Quick and Healthy.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Reduced Fat Carrot Cake Cupcakes
My friend Katie requested that I come up with a carrot cake recipe that is healthy enough for her to eat it everyday without feeling guilty. I did my best, and this is what I have come up with. I combined a couple recipes and made some substitutions to reduce the amount of oil used. One thing that has a major impact on the nutritional value of this recipe is walnuts. Nuts have a lot of fat, and including 1/2 cup of walnuts in this recipe will increase the amount of fat by 2 grams a serving.
It is important to note that you do really need to use freshly grated carrots. Buying a bag of grated carrots at the grocery store is tempting, but they do not have the moisture that freshly grated carrots have. It is a pain, but you need to buy carrots and grate them.
Nutritional information (per serving):
Cupcakes with walnuts and frosting: 8g fat; 187 calories
Cupcakes with frosting, without walnuts: 6g fat; 167 calories
As a muffin, without frosting and walnuts: 4.3g fat; 101 calories
Prep time:
Baking time:
Makes: 20 cupcakes
You will need:
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups freshly grated carrots
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
Optional: 1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup 1/3 less fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Step 2:
In another bowl beat the sugar, applesauce, oil and vanilla together. Then add the eggs one at a time.
Step 3:
Using a mixer on a low speed, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Step 4:
Add the carrots (and walnuts if you are adding them) to the remaining flour mixture.
Step 5:
Add the carrot/flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold together until just combined.
Step 6:
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. Fill each cup until 3/4 full. Bake the cupcakes at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes longer.
Step 7:
While the cupcakes bake, make the frosting. Combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon of milk if you wish to have a thinner consistency.
Step 8:
Remove the cupcakes from the oven. Test them by placing a toothpick into the center of a cupcake, it will come out clean if they are fully baked. Let the cupcakes cook on a cooling rack before frosting.
1. Kit - Thanks for the recipe and the shout out! Made my day! I am so excited to try it!
2. Reduced fat is always a plus for me. You'd never know it just by looking at it cause those look great. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog till Monday night and I'd love it if you'd come by and link your cupcakes up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2012/01/sweets-for-saturday-51.html | <urn:uuid:61b3beab-c7f0-4f27-98ec-512efe1412a6> | 2 | 1.695313 | 0.031769 | en | 0.895065 | http://kittchen.blogspot.com/2012/01/reduced-fat-carrot-cake-cupcakes.html |
914598 20030824 screen041
Species Name Jamgut
Affiliations None
Alignment Neutral
Sex Presumably Both
A Jamgut is a light orange, two legged raptor/horse/kangaroo like creature that Kya can ride in order to reach otherwise unreachable destinations.
Jamguts are a light orange, they are sprinkled with brighter orange spots, they have a tattoo of a Wolfen's face near their tail. They have a blue saddle, tied by a rope, on their backs.
Jamguts can move faster, jump higher than Kya, they can destroy objects and kill small monsters with ease. Wolfen are terrified of Jamguts, and will run away from them. Kya can defeat a Wolfen easily by running over them with a Jamgut.
Jamguts are mandatory if Kya wants to progress further in the area, especially the Hunter's Domain, and the Quarry.
Royal JamgutEdit
Royal Jamgut's are much faster than the normal Jamgut, and are purple in color.
Jamgut BirdcallEdit
Jamgut Whistle.
A Jamgut Birdcall allows Kya to ride and control a Jamgut. If Kya tries to go on a Jamgut without the Jamgut Birdcall, it will reject her and refuse to let her mount it.
• Once Kya hops off a Jamgut, the Wolfen that were once running away, will once again go after her.
• If Kya stands on a Jamgut she can throw her boomy at an enemy, as seen in the picture above.
• A different song comes on when Kya rides a Jamgut.
Jamgut Jamgut/Gallery Jamgut Whistle
Animals/Gallery Micken/Gallery Image Gallery
See AlsoEdit
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Epitaph for Timocritus
Anacreon 101 Diehl = Greek Anthology 7.160, tr. Guy Davenport, Thasos and Ohio: Poems and Translations 1950-1980 (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1986), p. 69:
He was a soldier in the wars.
Timokritos. This is his grave.
Sometimes blood-drinking Ares kills
Not the cowards but the brave.
Greek has words for blood-drinking and blood-thirsty, e.g. αἱματοπώτης (alt. αἱμηπότης, αἱμοπότης, αἱμοπώτης, αἱμωπός), αἱματορρόφος, αἱμόδιψος, but after a quick search I don't see any of these as epithets for Ares in C.F.H. Bruchmann, Epitheta Deorum Quae Apud Poetas Graecos Leguntur (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1893), pp. 36-43. Ares of course does love blood—he is φιλαίματος in another epitaph attributed to Anacreon (100 Diehl = Greek Anthology 7.226, line 3). But Davenport's "blood-drinking" doesn't appear in the Greek of Timocritus' epitaph:
Καρτερὸς ἐν πολέμοις Τιμόκριτος, οὗ τόδε σᾶμα·
Ἄρης δ᾽ οὐκ ἀγαθῶν φείδεται, ἀλλὰ κακῶν.
C.M. Bowra, Early Greek Elegists (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938), p. 181, translates the epitaph as follows:
Of brave Timocritus this is the grave:
The War-God spares the coward, not the brave.
Another translation, by Andrew Robert Burn, The Lyric Age of Greece (1960; rpt. Minerva Press, 1968), p. 316:
Good soldier was Timokritos, whose grave
This is. War spares the coward, not the brave.
See D.L. Page, Further Greek Epigrams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 135, who says:
Weber and Friedländer ask why the epigram should be taken away from Anacreon; the proper question was, why should it be given to him? The only witness, the Anthology, is notoriously unreliable in such a case. If the epigram was inscriptional, it was unsigned; and the ascription to Anacreon is presumably the product of guesswork; if it is a pseudo-epitaph, merely a literary exercise (for the sake of the neat pentameter), it is certainly much later than the age of Anacreon.
It is commonly assumed (e.g. by Bergk PLG 3.281, Peek 888, Wilamowitz TG 36 n. 4, Beckby 2.578) that the epigram is an inscriptional epitaph; if it is, it is probably much later than the age of Anacreon, for, as Friedländer observes (Epigrammata p. 69), 'the sententious pentameter has no counterpart on the tombstones, at least in the archaic period'; there is indeed nothing like it in the fifth century.
On the sentiment expressed in the pentameter, cf. Aeschylus fragment 100 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth):
But Ares ever loves to pluck all the fairest flowers of an armed host.
ἀλλ᾽ Ἄρης φιλεῖ
ἀεὶ τὰ λῷστα πάντ᾽ ἀπανθίζειν στρατοῦ.
Sophocles, Philoctetes 436-437 (tr. Hugh Lloyd-Jones):
War never willingly destroys a villain, but always noble men.
πόλεμος οὐδέν᾽ ἄνδρ᾽ ἑκὼν
αἱρεῖ πονηρόν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς χρηστοὺς ἀεί
Sophocles, fragment 724 (tr. Hugh Lloyd-Jones):
My son, Ares loves to kill the noble and valiant; and they who are brave with their tongues escape destructive forces and keep out of trouble; for Ares cuts down nothing that belongs to evil.
τοὺς εὐγενεῖς γὰρ κἀγαθούς, ὦ παῖ, φιλεῖ
Ἄρης ἐναίρειν· οἱ δὲ τῇ γλώσσῃ θρασεῖς
φεύγοντες ἄτας ἐκτός εἰσι τῶν κακῶν·
Ἄρης γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν λωτίζεται.
Euripides, fragment 728 (tr. Christopher Collard and Martin Cropp):
War does not usually achieve all its aims, but rejoices in the deaths of brave young men and spurns cowardly ones. This is an affliction for the city, but glorious for those that have died.
φιλεῖ τοι πόλεμος οὐ πάντ' εὐτυχεῖν,
ἐσθλῶν δὲ χαίρει πτώμασιν νεανιῶν,
κακοὺς δὲ μισεῖ. τῇ πόλει μὲν οὖν νόσος
τόδ᾽ ἐστί, τοῖς δὲ κατθανοῦσιν εὐκλεές.
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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Next Generation Audience Response Systems for Teachers and Trainers
Audience Response Systems (ARS) establish interactivity between presenters and their audience. Traditionally ARS consist of several units of wireless hardware (a clicker pad which looks like a remote control) used by the audience, and it is combined with a presentation software used by the presenter.
Among the several well-known benefits of ARS, the most important one is that it creates an interactive and fun learning environment. Presenters can gain and retain audience attention, help increase knowledge retention, and confirm audience understanding of material presented. This is done in several ways: polling anonymously, tracking individual responses, displaying polling results immediately and so forth. Some presenters gather data or even take attendance using ARS.
According to Wikipedia, audience response systems may present some difficulties in both their deployment and use.
1. The per-unit purchase price of ARS devices
2. The maintenance and repair of devices when owned by a central unit or organization
3. The configuration, troubleshooting and support of the related presentation software
4. The reliability and performance of the devices
One can further state that the next generation should support some, if not all, of the following requirements.
1. Must work in a webinar / online meeting environment where people are not in the same location. Increasingly, meetings and classes take place in this mode. Clickers are no good for webinars.
2. Must avoid the need for purpose-built special hardware even when the audience is physically in same room (refer to my earlier post on Microsoft Mouse Mischief)
3. Should provide the option of using generic reliable hardware such as computers, tablets or even smart phones as participation devices
4. Should work with popular presentation software such as PowerPoint
5. Must allow free text entry (apart from selecting from multiple choices)
6. Must make it possible for the presentation software to share with everybody the result of participation instantly, thus fostering interaction
Any other thoughts on the next generation audience response systems?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Content Authoring with Video Interactions
| <urn:uuid:53f5fd3f-2f97-4cd1-a064-de50e7d9bc5b> | 3 | 2.671875 | 0.025662 | en | 0.91684 | http://learningharbinger.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html |
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Alabama Exposure: Dana Beyerle
Published Sunday, December 23, 2007
Alabama Exposure: Dana Beyerle
A challenge: Match the pork to the politician DNA tests on death row
The Innocence Project has again asked Gov. Bob Riley to order DNA testing for death row inmate Thomas Douglas Arthur.
He faces lethal injection after being convicted three times in the 1982 contract killing of Troy Wicker of Muscle Shoals. The Innocence Project, in an e-mail, provided the names of six inmates who were wrongfully convicted but released after DNA testing exonerated them.
Arthur says he's innocent. There was evidence taken from the crime scene in 1982 but whether it's still viable for DNA testing hasn't been addressed because courts haven't considered it.
Arthur's scheduled execution is on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considers the legality of lethal injection.
Riley has resisted DNA testing, saying it's a delaying tactic to a legal conviction and death sentence. The Innocence Project said the letter is the first from persons who were exonerated by DNA after serving time on death row.
"We do not know whether Tommy Arthur is guilty or innocent," the letter said, but DNA testing could provide "compelling proof" of his guilt or innocence.
Dana Beyerle is in the Montgomery bureau of the New York Times Regional Media Group.
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Factoring 101
Usually the first question I get when I say my company does factoring is “What’s factoring?”.
What is factoring? Factoring involves the sale of invoices to a factoring company. A factor will provide advances against these purchased invoices and will also take care of the collection of these invoices.
Why do companies sell invoices? Companies that are growing often can’t wait for payment from their slow paying customers. Through factoring, companies can quickly convert their invoices to cash in order to meet their immediate financial demands like paying employees, paying suppliers or paying rent.
What is an advance? When a factor purchases invoices from a client, the client can borrow up to a certain percentage of the invoice amount from the factor. This is called an advance and enable the client to borrow up to 80% to 90% or more.
How can I afford to use a factor when my profit margin is very low?An increase in sales realized through factoring can result in higher net income. Companies should weigh whether they can increase their net income/profit by working with a factor. Overhead costs do not necessarily increase in proportion to sales.
Who can factor? Factoring is not limited to a specific industry. Any company that sells products or provides services on terms is a candidate for factoring.
Why should I not go to the bank? Banks’ credit requirements are often much stricter than a factor. Banks also require financial statements that reflect several years of profitable operations and positive cash flow.
What is a factor guarantee? The easiest way to understand factoring is to think of it as a credit card for the business. When a customer makes a purchase and presents his credit card, the merchant transmits the information and requests a credit approval. If the amount is within the purchaser’s credit limit, the credit card company approves the transaction and agrees to accept the risk in case the purchaser is financially unable to pay. When a factor approves a customer and issues a payment guarantee, the related invoices are called approved or non-recourse accounts.
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| <urn:uuid:7be8f49e-0652-4dfb-a493-0e78ebb34fa7> | 2 | 2.4375 | 0.916323 | en | 0.954187 | http://liquidcapitalcorp.com/principal-posts/factoring-101/ |
Adjective "havoc" definition and examples
Definitions and examples
Widespread destruction.
1. 'Marcellus was struck down sick and incapacitated when a galactic storm struck the outer planets, creating destruction and havoc.'
2. 'With that, the fight broke loose, along with pure havoc and destruction.'
3. 'But the championship got off to an inauspicious start with the tsunami wreaking havoc on the Kollam coast on the inaugural day.'
4. 'A tornado is a funnel-shaped cloud that descends on land, creating havoc and destruction in its wake.'
5. 'Ivan tore through Grenada last year, wreaking havoc and taking with it lives, homes and livestock.'
6. 'The AIDS epidemic is wreaking havoc in sub-Saharan Africa.'
7. 'Yesterday afternoon's heavy downpour and hail here caused havoc and widespread powercuts across the province.'
8. 'It is obvious that if foxes were a serious threat to agriculture, half a million of them would cause devastation and havoc.'
9. 'On that fateful night a disastrous landslide wreaked havoc on their scenic community.'
10. 'Windows have been smashed, paving pulled up, shop staff intimidated and telephone boxes destroyed as yobs caused havoc in the Thornhill area of the city.'
11. 'if they weren't at school they'd be wreaking havoc in the streets'
12. 'It appears that the beast has escaped, and is again wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting residents of Bucharest.'
13. 'Her family work as daily labourers and a day off can wreak havoc for the family's economy.'
14. 'In this one, she's a scientist trying to deal with an enormous octopus wreaking havoc in San Francisco.'
15. 'Off-road bikers wreaking havoc are being warned that police could soon have the power to confiscate their machines.'
16. 'The novel deals with a small band of ‘radicals’ who try to stir up revolt in a small town and end up wreaking havoc.'
17. 'He said a gang of about 30 teenagers have been causing havoc for the past six months.'
18. 'My mother-in-law is mentally ill and wreaking havoc on our marriage.'
19. 'But the group insists that the size of the development is too large for the conservation area and would bring traffic havoc to already congested lanes.'
20. 'The black striped mussel has caused millions of dollars worth of damage to marine industries around the world, and can cause havoc for shipping.'
21. 'A series of lightning strikes in the North and the South-East have been wreaking havoc with supply.'
Lay waste to; devastate.
1. 'The lack of participants is associated to a large storm that havocked Latvia in January 2005 and uprooted and destroyed large forest areas.'
More definitions
4. cry havoc, to warn of danger or disaster.
5. play havoc with, to create confusion or disorder in: The wind played havoc with the papers on the desk. to destroy; ruin: The bad weather played havoc with our vacation plans.
More examples(as adjective)
"rains can be havoc with schedules."
"weathers can be havoc with crops."
"scandals can be havoc with aspirationses."
"impositions can be havoc with valuations."
"downpours can be havoc with trainings."
More examples++
Late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French havok, alteration of Old French havot, of unknown origin. The word was originally used in the phrase cry havoc ( Old French crier havot) ‘to give an army the order havoc’, which was the signal for plundering.
play havoc with | <urn:uuid:e32b27ac-3566-47c7-bf1a-2b0ef9462850> | 3 | 3.21875 | 0.131934 | en | 0.913586 | http://listofadjectives.net/adjective-havoc-definition-and-examples |
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Browser Wars...
On Linux, Konqueror is the fastest for starting and viewing basic pages on KDE, but as soon as script or images are involved, or you want to use the back or forward buttons, or if you use Gnome, Opera is a faster choice, even though on KDE it will take a few seconds longer to start. Mozilla and Firefox give an overall good performance, but their script, cache handling and image-based page speed still cannot compare with Opera.
On Mac OS X, Opera and Safari are both very fast, with Safari 2 being faster at starting and rendering CSS, but with Opera still being distinguishably faster for rendering tables, scripting and history (especially compared with the much slower Safari 1.2). Camino is fast to start, but then it joins its sisters Mozilla and Firefox further down the list. Neither Mozilla, Firefox nor IE perform very well on Mac, being generally slower than on other operating systems.
On Mac OS 9, no single browser stands out as the fastest. In fact, my condolences to anyone who has to use one of them, they all perform badly.
माकूचाकू said...
Trying Galeon...
Makentoo root # emerge -v =www-client/galeon-1.3.19
Rocky said...
tried galeon too, opera doesn`t have a match.
Manuj said...
Opera is coooooooool | <urn:uuid:475e0e29-225e-4719-8e10-619162dbe68f> | 2 | 1.773438 | 0.04096 | en | 0.942618 | http://makuchaku.blogspot.com/2005/04/browser-wars.html |
We Somalis became independent nation before we have learnt who we really are!
Sharing is caring!
As any other nation on earth we Somalis can never escape from our history; it really shapes our future and will ever continue to shape it according to circumstance and time unless we try to lift our thinking little higher and start thinking the unthinkable.
Most of the information we have today came to us as legends (sagas) and we not only accepted them without discussion but hold them as sacred in our hearts. My article is going to be a gift to you, my fellow Somalis who are now busy preparing the 57th anniversaries of both 26th of Jun and 1th of July. You always remind me Nuurdiin Farah’s statement; “Somalis have now started believing in the falsehood they used to entertain themselves”.
And I consider celebrations of 26th Jun and 1th juli is a part of the falsehood many of Somalis have believed in. On the other hand, when you look at the behavior of the so-called Somali presidents in regard with their claiming of an authority over a people and territory where they even cannot pay an official visit. Let me give a concrete example concerning to this issue; Farmaajo claims an authority over Hargeisa so does Siilaanyo of Hargeisa to Laascaanood while Abdiwali Gaas of Puntland to Gaalkacyo.
So, this may seem that there are some elements of truth in Nuurdiin Farahs statement. Whenever I try to study where our problem lies, I am confronted and disturbed by facts on the ground, we have lost our identity.
And although we became independent before we have known who we really are, it seems right now very difficult for us to start seeking our identity, because we are unable to recognize it if we find it. In this respect, it is better to accept who we are now instead we mistakenly take an identity which is not our own. But, as a nation who are we now?
Who are we now?
We are a nation which always bears any identity given by whoever wants to use us as a means to an end. Even those of us who have the mental capacity to understand where the trouble lies can hardly get the time and the energy required to analyze it in order to grasp the true nature of the trouble. For to accomplish such a task, one needs to have a knowledge and enough experience for the past and the present.
The future is said to be a child of a marriage of past and the present, this does mean that the future of any nation will always bear the DNA and the Genes of the past and the present and that is why we Somalis are unique. Somali nation can’t be reconstructed by the fragments of the remains of the last Somali Republic without an expert architecture.
Neither Farmaajo nor Khayre does seem to play the role of an expert architecture right now for two reasons: one is that before they came to these high positions they hadn’t have clear plans and the other is that they still are unaware of they are imitators of their predecessors, they fallow the footsteps of the previous leaders. But, what they can do, in my point of view, is to lay down the foundations of a strong nation if they could only lift their thinking little higher and think the unthinkable. What does this mean?
Thinking the unthinkable!
What I really can deduce from Farmaajo and Khayre’s official talks is that they are going to be the rebuilders of a new Somalia and I think that is a positive though, but I see that they lack the material required to the construction of a new Somalia neither do they know where they can find. First and foremost, the material of the construction of a new Somalia is a new story which can bind this scattered nation together.
Making such a story they need to get composers of their own, I mean people who not only have knowledge of this and that but limitless intellectual gifts.
The statement “thinking the unthinkable” is the acceptance how little one can know so that he allows other individuals who can do better to do the job. By lifting their thinking little higher, Farmaajo and Khayre need not more than 30 well-educated Somalian scholars of different qualifications.
I am sure they will only ask you to open your hearts, listen to them carefully and take serious to the results of their works. Let me tell you that my advice is only a result of my daily observation to your actions both internal and external and came to the conclusion that you, Farmaajo and Khayre, in order to overcome the political and cultural challenges before you, need only to do two things:
1. To admit your ignorance by thinking the unthinkable.
2. Make your actions impersonal by fighting against your egos.
Finally, what Farmaajo and Khayre need is not to change Somalis, but only how they think needs to be changed and then adopted to today’s Somalis.
Cali Amiin
Next page
| <urn:uuid:d04d16e7-2962-4c38-bee3-9d60c2588a34> | 2 | 1.859375 | 0.041386 | en | 0.960659 | http://mareeg.com/we-somalis-became-independent-nation-before-we-have-learnt-who-we-really-are/ |
The stock market is a mystery, almost no one that isn't working for a financial institution ever trades (buy/sells) stocks. The average citizen knows to stay away from the it, the unmerciful jungle that is the stock market. Everything in a our society is a specialty, whether its repair of today's complex automobiles, law, building/construction - anything that can make money requires a special knowledge. The stock market requires a mastering of several different specialties rolled into one, but even with the requisite specialty knowledge many fail in the current market; even Hedge Fund operators have thrown in the towel and given up in the last few years. Stock picking/trading is not the subject of mathematical equation or rule.
What all those analysts and fund managers don't tell you is that they don't rely on stock trading ability to make a living. No, the fund managers make a small % fee that they charge all their customers that have pooled billions of dollars into their mutual funds/stock funds. A small fee on billions of dollars turns into fat salaries and bonuses for these managers. The analysts get paid a salary; the securities analysts don't rely on stock trading as their primary source of income. The Economists you hear on CNBC and Bloomberg Financial Network predict nothing; the Economists are doing good if they can explain what happened in the past concerning the U.S. and World Economy. Ask 30 economists what is going to happen in the World Economics just in the next several years and maybe one or two may, coincidentally, give an accurate prediction (they guess right).
No Wonder the "Retail Trade" is dead!
So with all this negative environment surrounding the Stock Market (too many scandals to list just in the last several years), what do we have now? The Knight Capital debacle. Just another of a series of unbelievable events in the financial markets that cause the by and large citizen to ignore the stock market. The citizenry knows the stock market is controlled by Crooks. Is there any doubt as to why there are No retail customers (non-professionals) buying stocks? The citizenry knows you can't even trust Mutual Funds let alone by your own stocks/equities.
Michael Elbery is a C.P.A. with an M.B.A. from Babson College '77; he played the stock market in college in the early '70's up thru 1982. Most C.P.A.s don't know anything, nor want to know anything, about playing the stock market; they like to push papers. A C.P.A. has a specialty of knowledge that is required to trade in stocks (the C.P.A. at a minimum understands finance, its terminology, and how to read financial statements).
After being released from prison in 2002 Elbery was finishing the Sklut case. The Sklut defendants were represented at that point by Attorney Gerald Fabiano. Fabiano was the third and last defense attorney on that case. Elbery had many conversations with Fabiano and in one of those conversations Fabiano wanted to know what Michael Elbery was going to do now (Spring of 2002). Oh, that homosexual had a hatred for Elbery and love for government that had given the homos special protection and new standing in the U.S. society, including forcing children to be taught homosexuality in the schools. Fabiano warned Michael Elbery that he would not be able to get a job. Fabiano further insinuated that Michael Elbery would be a disfavored member of society and that he would be hunted everywhere he went, not because he was a convict, but because of a racial cause by the Jews. So far Fabiano has been right.
After being pushed out of the construction business (Michael Elbery is a licensed construction supervisor in Mass.- no felony conviction issue to that license) by the government and their allies, Michael Elbery started playing/trading (not investing) the stock market. Buying and selling stocks had become altogether different with the advent of the personal computer, the Internet, and Web Sites. Instead of having to go through a stock broker by phone you simply traded the stocks over the Internet. Instead of paying the worthless stock broker hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a trade it now only costs $7.95 ( in 1970 dollars that $7.95 = approximately $0.99). The information is plentiful on corporations/stocks and is readily available at the speed of electricity through the Internet. If you know how to use it.
About the end of 2011 Elbery started to be suspicious of a security leak that may have caused him to be squeezed out of his stock positions. Certain stocks he bought acted uncharacteristically and contrary to the rest of the market without reason, even though they had top fundamentals and future earnings estimates were high. When he would sell the stock it would become itself again and move up in price. Then 2012 came, and it became obvious - they were pushing Michael Elbery out of his stock positions with volume that was far above normal trading volume - the stocks would plummet forcing Michael Elbery to sell at a loss. They weren't being sneaky anymore, they got reckless. The evidence of the squeezes they were using to force Elbery out of his stock positions was outstanding.
As they got bolder - they left evidence ( abnormal high trading volume coupled with stock price reversals to cover the short sells intra-day) that wasn't a coincidence. Elbery contacted the Internet broker, Fidelity, he had used for many years and spoke to one of their stock traders. Elbery also had a service that provided minute by minute trading activity of exchange traded stocks. He reviewed the stock charts over the phone - the stock trader reluctantly agreed that the volume on Crimson Exploration (CXPO) was 10x above normal for about 15 minutes and as soon as Elbery sold his position the trading (within a minute) went the opposite way (up) with identical 10x normal trading volume. Elbery told the trader that this was not the first time this had happened, but this time the minute by minute trading volume for Crimson Exploration provides irrefutable evidence that someone with some serious money squeezed Michael Elbery out of his position in Crimson. Prior to this squeeze, Crimson stock had advanced steadily for a week after Elbery bought shares the day Crimson struck new oil in Texas. In a few minutes those fat stock gains vaporized, but not just for Michael Elbery because there were many other unsuspecting stock holders who saw their stock value disintegrate in a few minutes. Those other stockholders in Crimson don't know why.
Neither does TD Ameritrade or Jeffries Group know why Knight Capital lost $450million on 8-1-12, but those two companies are bailing out a bankrupt Knight Capital in the same multi - million dollar amount.
Stock manipulation happened on all material trades/positions that Michael Elbery held the Spring and summer 2012. Stock manipulation is a violation of the U.S. Securities laws and the federal securities laws are allegedly enforced by the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
Honda Motor - and the Half Billion Dollar Backfire by Knight Capital - Wednesday 8-1-12
Honda is a household name in this U.S.A. Honda is Japanese auto manufacturer that is in the process of a major turnaround. A turnaround from the Calamities that occurred in Japan in late 2011. The "Divine Wind of the Kamikaze" didn't protect the Nipponese Republic from a tidal wave that washed out a nuclear power plant on that island nation. Honda was due for stellar earnings and sales reports for the quarter ending 6-30-12 and they, like Toyota, did not disappoint with over 300% Earnings increase and approximately 50% increase in sales.
What made Honda even better for Michael Elbery is that most of the trading on that stock, Honda, is done on the Japan Stock Exchange (Nikkei), which makes it less susceptible to stock manipulations that Elbery's Jewish enemies can accomplish on the New York Stock Exchange. Honda is one of those stocks that is sold on the exchanges of two different countries.
On July 30, 2012 Michael Elbery bought shares of Honda Motor Co. expecting to profit from the unusually high expected estimated earnings that were due to be reported the next day fort the quarter ending 6-30-12.
On Wednesday August 1, 2012 "they" started hammering Honda Stock. True to form, they like to kill stocks Elbery buys with abnormally huge trading volume of short selling that forces the stock down over 10% in a few minutes. The wise stock trader gets out either by Stop Loss Sell Order or by entering a sell order over the Internet when a stock starts to fall like an anchor because "they" may be successful in putting you out of business..
They really out did themselves on Honda - they must be getting desperate due to the New Chapter in this Web Site on Federal Judge Mark Wolf. Wolf will be protected no matter how stupid they have to get or how many laws they have to violate. It's the documentation they leave that gets them caught - just like Wolf.
Who are "They"?
According to the Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily and CNBC Financial Channel, Knight Capital did the above described stock manipulation on Honda. What those publications do not know is that Michael Elbery was the target of Knight Capital's short selling on Honda Motor Corp. at 200 times normal trading volume for about an hour and half the A.M. of 8-1-12. During some of the early minutes of short selling of Honda on 8-1-12 there as many as 144,000 shares of Honda shorted a minute. At about $30.00 per share that caused Knight Capital some big problems worth about $180,000,000.00.
Knight Capital is the leading stock trading service (not an Internet Broker) in the U.S.A. and they are a so-called "market maker". Bernie Madoff (the guy that made off with all the $) was also a "market maker". But Knight is violating the U.S. Securities laws when they become stock manipulators causing the citizenry and professionals to lose money, or when they deliberately spend millions of dollars to force an enemy out of his stock position like Michael Elbery had in Honda.
Why did short selling cost Knight Capital anything?
Because Knight Capital covered their short position the same day. The short interest % was ZERO on 7-31-12 close and at the close of 8-1-12 and every day up and including today, 8-5-12, the short interest is still ZERO on Honda Motor Corp. (HMC). They have used this intra-day cover-up tactic on many of the stocks they have sabotaged.
Why is a market maker selling short? Why is a market maker selling stocks in volume that causes a stock to plummet? No, No, No, you can't excuse everything with the word "glitch". It happened to many times to stocks Michael Elbery held; it was deliberate.
One thing for sure, a market maker, Knight Capital, caused, at least 2 stocks to plummet on 8-1-12. Honda and Genworth Financial.
Why did Knight Capital and the Jews' Hunt-Stock Manipulation Backfire?
Michael Elbery called their bluff and did not sell Honda that day (8-1-12). Honda is a Big Market Cap Stock and it costs a fortune to force such a stock down and it is also becomes obvious and easy to get caught. All stock market transactions are traceable to a person, not just a firm. If someone at Knight Capital secretly changed some computerized stock trading program, they know who did the tampering with that trading computer code. But Knight won't tell because it will cause them trouble/liability.
It is hard to believe that Knight Capital is allowed to come up with an excuse they defined as a "glitch" that caused them a $450Million dollar loss, and according to the Wall Street Journal, 140 stocks on the N.Y.S.E. to be tampered with. Knight claims they were the only one to lose money, but they never addressed at least two stocks in the list of 140 stocks that they tried to kill through short selling (the two stocks Knight tried to kill through short selling are Honda and Genworth Financial).
Genworth Financial - same treatment/stock fraud - manipulation on 8-1-12
Michael Elbery also had just bought shares in Genworth Financial on July 30, 2012. On 8-1-12 Genworth Financial, according to the Wall Street Journal, was also a victim of Knight's trading activity. Knight did a good job shorting Genworth and killed that stock. Elbery did sell his position of those shares at a substantial loss. Those shares of Genworth plummeted out the gate at 9:30am on 8-1-12; that stock does not have the fundamentals that Honda has, so Elbery was forced to sell by Knight's shorting/manipulation of that security. Genworth will be avoided by the market for some time after such behavior even though the Wall Street Journal and other financial authorities put Genworth on the list of 140 stocks effected by Knight Capital on 8-1-12. Those same financial reports by the Wall Street Journal etc., do not disclose that Honda and Genworth went down in price; they only disclose that Knight's trading "glitch" caused a 140 stocks to go erratically up in price (Wizzard Software was one stock that went way up in price).
How did Knight Capital Group identify and target Michael Elbery
Knight does not do business with Michael Elbery - Knight Capital does business with Elbery's Internet Broker, Fidelity. From Elbery's computer to Fidelity's Web Site/server and the trade is forwarded to Knight Capital who trades on the exchanges. Everything is computerized and through the Internet, so how do "they"/including Knight Capital identify Elbery in order to target his Stock positions?
Elbery's Internet Broker, Fidelity, gives its customers an account number and that account number is used for identification when the trade/order goes to Knight Capital. The only organization or anyone besides Michael Elbery that knows who belongs to his account number is Fidelity. But here's the key - Fidelity provides No Security for its customers. Did you say No Security?? In today's America! That's right - this international Internet Broker, Fidelity, has scores of offices and thousand of personnel who can gain access to any customer's account i.d. and account activity/trades and stock positions.
Now, at least one person at Knight Capital knows Elbery's account number. And that Jewish Operative at Fidelity has forwarded that number or identification to all the market makers and trading groups, including Knight Capital. All those stock traders/"market makers" have Jews either owning or working for those companies that would gladly comply with the Jewish Agenda.
So Why are you Blaming the Poor Jewish People and What is the Motive?
Read this Web Site - see the articles on J.D.L. leader Mo Bergman or the article that documents the failed attempt by the Jews to again falsely imprison Michael Elbery. The Jews have been hunting Michael Elbery for years - all those Jewish lawyers Michael Elbery hired when he was in the Bar business and the Jews decided Michael Elbery was a person that they should destroy? The Jews will hunt anyone that disagrees with their social design policies/Agenda. The Jews have operatives in every financial institution in the U.S.A. - they control the S.E.C. and the Stock Exchanges - they have high ranking managers working at all 4 major stock trading groups (all 4 are "market makers") including Knight Capital - they have high ranking managers working/running the major Internet Stock Brokers including E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, etc.,
Their motive is complete on this Web Site, at a minimum the Jews don't like Michael Elbery and they want to put him out of business. Nor have they given up trying to put him in a jail, again, on false charges. The Jews are good at fabrication both in courtrooms and the financial markets. No wonder they run the Federal Reserve - all the Federal Reserve's Trillions of money is a fabrication. That central bank creates money out of thin air (called "money creation"). The U.S. Federal Reserve does not "print money" as the news media would mislead - the Federal Reserve accomplishes their "money creation" with accounting entries to Fed reserve accounts of Banks in the U.S.A. - Abuse of "money creation" puts an economy out of business - first the massive money supply caused by the fake money causes inflation - the same inflation that has caused food to skyrocket and the same inflation the U.S. government says does not exist. Then the consumer will buy less because of the inflation and then the snow ball effect results and production/jobs go by-by because the commerce slows. Then there is Economic Winter and all the Federal Reserve money can't buy anything and there is nothing to buy.
Most American citizens still believe that the Gold in Fort Knox is backing to the money in the U.S.A.! There is not one nation on the Planet Earth that backs its money! This has been the case for decades. Prior to World War II, and since the dawning of Civilizations on Earth, all nations backed their money or it was not accepted.
So has anything been Done to Stop them from another Episode of 8-1-12 and Stop the Criminal Stock Manipulation
Michael Elbery filed a written complaint with the Federal S.E.C. on May 4 of 2012 when he was forced out of his position in Crimson Exploration (CPXO).
Michael Elbery filed a complaint with the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission, again, with an S.E.C. agent on 7-10-12 regarding the stock manipulation of another stock - Homeowner's Choice (HCII).
On both occasions/complaints to the S.E.C. Michael Elbery documented the illegal trading activity that caused him to lose his stock position at a material loss. It was the same technique - exponentially abnormal trading activity forcing the price down (short selling). In the case of Crimson Exploration the stock manipulators covered the short positions intra-day. Within a minute after Michael Elbery sold his position on Crimson Exploration the volume continued at the same 10X normal volume but the stock went up (the stock manipulators covered their shorts sells of Crimson). This entire episode with Crimson started and ended within 30 minutes.
Michael Elbery, after filling out all the S.E.C. complaint forms on 5-4-12 heard absolutely nothing from the S.E.C. - Michael Elbery did speak to two S.E.C. employees/lawyers in a brief phone conversation on the same day (5-4-12) but they were brief and Elbery never heard from them again.
Each complaint disclosed to the S.E.C. that the source of the information required to cause this stock manipulation was from Michael Elbery's Internet Broker, Fidelity, because they were the only organization that knows his account number or what stock he is trading and what stock positions he has. Nobody else knows what Michael Elbery is doing in the stock market; however, Fidelity has thousand of employees, who are all able to gain access to his account information.
Each incident of stock manipulation that caused Michael Elbery to file complaints with the S.E.C. also resulted in Elbery contacting his Internet Broker, Fidelity, and telling them that at least one of their employees was making unauthorized access to his account and the information taken about his account was being used by other parties, at a minimum "market makers", to manipulate stocks he had bought, all to cause him to lose money.
And all the other Internet Brokers have the same "no security" system that allows thousands of their employees, internationally, to view all customers' accounts and related activity.
These were not the only incidents of stock manipulation that Michael Elbery experienced but it seemed pointless to report the other incidents, although some are blatant and too obvious to be anything but deliberate; there was no further interest by Michael Elbery to report every incident of stock manipulation because there was no interest by the S.E.C. or Elbery's Internet Broker, Fidelity.
However when things got to outrageous to ignore, Fidelity became interested and took action after Elbery called them again on 8-1-12 and told them Knight Capital was manipulating his stocks (Honda and Genworth) and that they had someone in their company providing at least Knight with Elbery's account information and stock positions that allowed Knight to manipulate stocks held by Fidelity's customer, Michael Elbery. Fidelity took action to protect themselves, they immediately, on 8-1-12, stopped using Knight Capital to make stock transactions on the Stock Exchanges for their customers or themselves.
All stock trades on the Stock Exchanges in this country are traceable to the person responsible. If you want to blame "Glitches" then someone tampered with the software that controls the stock trading at that company/financial institution (Knight Capital). There is at least one stock trader working for Knight Capital that initiated the trades on 8-1-12 and that trader is known by Knight.
And the problem may be much bigger, Knight Capital may not be the only trader causing this Jewish stock manipulation. The mole at Elbery's Internet Broker, Fidelity, is probably working with other stock trading companies/"market makers"; these "market makers" trade Billions of dollars worth of stock a day. But these "market makers" are not supposed to be shorting stocks or causing them to go down let alone collapse!
The records of all Michael Elbery's stock trading and the activity (time, volume, price, source of trade) of the stocks he traded remains with the Stock Exchanges. Michael Elbery also has record of the stock activity (price - volume - time) on the stocks that he complains were manipulated such as CXPO, HCII, HMC, GNW.
The Honda Stock Fraud/Manipulation of 8-1-12 and Elbery's Internet Broker - Fidelity Acts
According to the Wall Street Journal, the major Internet Brokers stopped using Knight Capital as a trader on the Stock Exchanges after the mess they made on August 1, 2012. A Couple of days later TD Ameritrade and Jefferies Group not only renewed their business/stock trading with Knight Capital, but financed the Bankrupt Knight in the amount of $450Million, so Kinight could continue commercial existence and escape going out of business because of the losses they sustained on 8-1-12.
TD Ameritrade and Jeffries were not told the truth - they were without information that Michael Elbery provided his Internet Broker, Fidelity, as a result of the Stock Manipulation by Knight Capital on Genworth Financial and Honda.
Michael Elbery's Internet Broker, Fidelity, never returned to do business with Knight Capital because of the complaint Michael Elbery made to them on 8-1-12 regarding Honda and Genworth. Fidelity saw Elbery's account activity and had been alerted to the Stock manipulation of the Stocks Elbery held including Homeowner's Choice and Crimson Exploration.
Until 8-1-12, when the Jewish operative at Knight Capital got careless Michael Elbery did not know who was doing the actual stock manipulation (short selling stock to cause him to be forced to sell at a material loss). Michael Elbery only knew the source of the information necessary for the stock manipulation scam (Elbery's account number and stock positions) came from Fidelity.
Since Michael Elbery alerted/complained about Knight Capital's stock manipulation of 8-1-12, Fidelity is avoiding liability by using their shell corporation F.D.L.. Fidelity forwards all their customers trades to this conduit, F.D.L., and then F.D.L. forwards the trade to one of the stock traders. Fidelity does not disclose which "market maker"/stock trader actually makes the trade. Fidelity is attempting to remove themselves from liability of the stock manipulation by the Jewish Stock traders, as well as, protecting disclosure of the "market maker"/trader.
According to the Wall Street Journal, I.B.D. or the Financial T.V. Networks, there is no mention that on 8-1-12 Knight Capital caused at least two stocks to plummet through short selling - to hear them and read/listen to all the financial news reports Knight would mislead you to believe that all 140 stocks that they manipulated (they claim caused by a computer "glitch") went up. They don't mention that they killed ( stock price sharply down) Genworth Financial on 8-1-12 after that company reported triple digit increase in earnings for the quarter reported the same day (8-1-12) or that they shorted Honda on 8-1-12 at 200 times normal trading volume causing that Big Market Cap Stock to plummet.
Another Bail Out
Knight wanted the S.E.C. and N.Y. Stock Exchange to cancel all the trades that caused them a $450Million loss of 8-1-12. But the answer was NO.
Jeffries Group and TD Ameritrade, as above, came to Knight's rescue with a $450Million investment. This money allows Knight to again start trading as a "market maker". This trading ability is what allows Knight to be a danger, but Jeffries and TD Ameritrade were not provided the truth by the Crooks at Knight Capital. No, Jeffries and TD Ameritrade believe in "Glitches".
Knight never offered to reimburse the stock holders of Genworth Financial and Honda that lost fortunes because of Knight's destroying the value of those two stocks on 8-1-12. Michael Elbery was not the only stock holder of these two stocks - there had to be thousands of people that lost money because of Knight's stock manipulation.
So how did Knight Capital tamper/manipulate 140 Stocks?
Grinch or "Glitch", its all fiction. Knight Capital like all their competitors use software that controls their stock trading all via computer. All software/programming is done by a human being. Contrary to Knight's Nonsense, there is a person that can be traced to all this criminal Stock manipulation and their 8-1-12 "Glitch". Nobody in their right mind believes the event of 8-1-12 that Bankrupt Knight to the tune of $450million was a software "Glitch". Knight side steps the whole thing like it was just a a simple mistake ("glitch" sounds so innocent and a "mistake"). You will never learn exactly who caused the stock manipulation by Knight on 8-1-12; Knight is not going to turn themselves in and admit the truth. They have a civil/monetary and criminal violation motive to have the World believe it was just an innocent "glitch".
An employee of Knight Capital programmed their software to cause stocks held by Michael Elbery to plummet using exponentially high trading volume; in the process of their stock manipulation software programming they screwed up and lost the farm. What a shame.
And did the S.E.C. do anything? Nothing - Zero.
O.k., now tell the World what exactly constituted the "glitch" instead of treating everybody like they are morons. If you listened to the commentators (financial pros) on the 3 financial T.V. networks they were insulted and didn't believe in glitches anymore than they believed in Grinches. Most of those commentators cannot afford to be too controversial but Knight did not convince them of anything. Maybe this Chapter of MassInjustice.Org will help them be more informed.
Who was the Jewish Operative that spied on Michael Elbery to get information that he traded stocks?
Hint: She works for a Jewish dentist in Lenox, Mass. - She is a white woman and a dental hygienist.
The Jewish operative at Knight Capital did not intend to put Knight Capital out of business to the tune of $450million. That Jewish operative only wanted to cause Michael Elbery financial damage via his positions in Honda and Genworth.
So how is it that 138 more stocks were traded out of control by Knight Capital? No one is going to make Knight Capital tell.
But it looks like Fate or something else was at work on 8-1-12. | <urn:uuid:d2c02867-e62b-4186-a0e5-1767cb8eb7db> | 2 | 1.976563 | 0.189675 | en | 0.95934 | http://massinjustice.org/Knight%20Capital.htm |
Monday, December 22, 2008
Superman Returns Belt - Pouring The Mold
Made some more progress on the belt today. In fact, this is the last step before I can start pouring up a brand new belt. So pretty exciting.
But first, a little note on tools. One tool that I accidentally made a number of years ago, but has served me very well, is this little gem:
It's left over silicone rubber from a mold I once made. I obviously mixed up too much, and this was left in the mixing bucket. I use this on almost EVERY project I do, as it is the perfect surface for mixing putty. Any time I'm using some two part putty, like the stuff I used earlier in this build, I mix it on this. I will also squirt the air dry putty on here, and then scoop it off with an exacto or pallet knife to apply it to my master. Why?? Because nothing sticks to this! It makes for super easy clean up once the putty cures, as it just flakes off. Some people like to use post it notes or paper for mixing, but I find this solution to be much cleaner and easier. Anyhow, just wanted to pass that along.
Like you care.
But enough of this episode of "Tool Time", let's get down to business.
Tonight I'm pouring rubber on the belt master, that currently resides in a foam core box, sitting on top of a very flat famed poster. Nice!
I'll be using a Sil-Pak product tonight. The deal with this stuff is that you mix it 10 to 1 by weight. But who has time for that? I'm going to do it by volume. The good thing about RTV is that the mixing ratio is very forgiving. So if you pour in too much or too little catalyst, it will still kick. It will just change the time it takes to cure, and the resiliency of the final product. So if you OVER catalyze the rubber, you'll end up with a mold that cures faster. It will be more rigid, and it will provide fewer pulls. It will be a bit more frail. If you under catalyze it, you get the opposite. It cures slower, but will be more flexible and softer.
Ideally, you would mix it at the recommended ratio. For the hobbyist, this is fine, though in professional situations, where time is of the essence, and you don't expect to need more than a few pulls, you may end up having to "hot rod" your mold.
Here's the stuff. My expectation is to do two, ten ounce mixes. I've got my mixing cups and stiring rods at the ready.
No real trick to mixing the stuff. I pour in the rubber first, and the catalyst goes on top of it. I use the markings on the side of the cups to indicate how much I need to pour. I use a different stirring stick for each mixing. That's a good habit in general, though it may not be necessary in this case.
Also important is NOT to pour and catalyze both containers at once. Pour one, mix it, dump it, THEN move onto the next one.
Next up is probably the single most important piece of the mold making process, and is the step that most people forego. Folks, if you want good molds, you've GOT to vac the rubber. The idea here is that when you mix up your rubber, you stir in air bubbles. When you pour the mold, some of those air bubbles will escape, but many will remain. Why are air bubbles in your mold bad?? Because they screw up your positives! For the most part, when you pour a resin into a mold, it heats up. That heat causes the air trapped in the rubber to expand, pushing INWARD on your resin, resulting in tons of little pock marks. That sucks, and usually means TONS of time spent filling those in, sanding them, etc. It's just a giant mess. I'd ALMOST go so far as to say that it's just not worth making a mold unless you can vac the rubber. But, since most people don't have access to one, I guess I'll have to back down off that.
If you don't have a vac chamber, the next thing to do is pour your rubber from high up. I mean really high up. Like standing on your toes, with your arm stretched above your head. By pouring high, you stretch the liquid rubber out into a thin stream. Because it's all stretched out, the bubbles tend to burst on their way down. It's not HALF as good as vacuumed rubber, but it's better than just dumping it onto the mold.
I prepped my molding surface by making sure it was level. My garage floor, er, I mean my WORKSHOP floor is graded, so I like to level the surface off so that the mold pours flat. I guess it's not manditory, but it saves time when it comes time to pour up the master. Here you can see the level sitting on top of the frame, with popsicle sticks stacked up underneath it to set it level.
Then I just dumped it into the mold. That's why this type of mold is often referred to as a "dump mold". It's also called a "one part mold", because, well, it's one part. Open faced mold? The list goes on.
Despite all the prep work that had to be done, and all the effort that went into mixing, vac'ing, and pouring the rubber, this is still the easiest type of mold that can be made. It only gets more complex from here. If you're new to molding, I'd recommend starting with a simple "dump mold" like this, and then moving on to try something more complex like a two part mold.
The catalyst I used for this rubber makes it kick in about six hours, but I always like to let it sit overnight just in case. So by this time tomorrow, I should be all set to pour up a positive. yay.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Superman Returns Belt - Prepping for the mold
I've decided to start in with a more intelligent naming convention for these posts. Stuff like "Superman Returns Belt - Part MXIIV" gets tedious pretty fast. So I'm switching to a more intuitive name for each post. Clearly, dear reader, you should have figured out by now that this post is going to be all about getting everything set to pour rubber.
But first, it's time for something completely different.
In a separate production pipeline are the boots for this costume. Though I'm not making them, I'm doing whatever I can to help make sure they turn out great. This initially started with providing reference material. When the movie hit theaters, a couple of complete suits went on tour around the country. A few of my online pals were kind enough to document the heck out of the suit. Many of the photos taken revealed a ton of detail on the boots. All good.
I collected all of these photos, and when the time came to get the boots made, I passed on all the relevant reference to the company that is going to make the boots, Incredible Costumes. Just like their namesake, they do indeed make incredible stuff. They do phenomenal work, and I highly recommend them. They did a real bang up job on my Christopher Reeve era costume boots, so I naturally turned to them to build the Returns boots.
One of the complicated parts of the boots is the leather that is used on part of the inner boot. It is stamped with the same micro s pattern that is found on the chest emblem. Good news is, I own a chest emblem. Using a scanner and adobe illustrator, I was able to create a digital version of that S pattern, and send it down to the folks at Incredible Costumes. They then used that pattern to make a die, which they have just sent me some photos of. They also sent a photo of the first test press of the die into some sample leather. Take a look:
Pretty snazzy, huh? Here's a link to the website of the company that is making the boots for me. They do not have this item listed for sale, as this is the first pair they are making.
But let's get back to the belt, shall we? When we last saw our belt, it was all polished and ready to be molded. In this entry, I build the box that will be used to house the belt during the molding process. Nice!
I always use foam core to build my boxes when molding. Unless you happen to have a pre-built box on hand that fits the item you are going to mold, I recommend foam core. Or Foam Board, as some people call it. You can pick it up at any good art supply store. Though I absolutely HATE Michaels with a passion, they do tend to carry the stuff. Ugh.
Anyhow, I start by laying the belt down on a sheet of foam core, and tracing the general shape. I do this so that I can build the box without having to have the belt lying on the board. You never know when a random goo of hot glue might go flying and land somewhere you don't want it to. ESPECIALLY on your master. Yikes.
The belt has a pretty low profile. No more than a half an inch anywhere. So this won't be a very deep mold. The next step is to cut strips of foam core that will be used as the actual walls of the mold. Depending on how deep your pour will need to be, you need to make sure your walls will accomodate you. I use a big old t-square and a box knife to cut my strips. As long as one side is flat, you're golden.
In the mean time, I prepared these little squares of styrene. These will be placed into the mold box, at the end of the belt. I'm including these so that there are holes in the mold where I can lay some webbing when it comes time to pour up a urethene positive. That way, the web belt, which will be used to secure the thing to a person, will lay flush with the belt itself. Just a minor concern, and probably not necessary, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
I tried something that ultimately didn't work out, but I'll show it to you anyway. The idea was to glue thin strips of styrene to the back of the buckle, covering the openings. That way, rubber wouldn't pour through them, making it so that I would have to cut the belt out of the mold. Ultimately, the styrene and glue was a little too much, and made the belt sit unevenly. This proved problematic when it came time to glue the right hand strap back onto the belt. So I scrapped the idea. This just means that I'll have a little bit of razor blade work to do once the rubber has cured.
Skipping ahead, as there's no real magic here, you can see the finished box. I used a hot glue gun to run a bead of glue along the outside endge where the walls hit the base. I made shallow cuts into the foam core where I wanted it to bend a little. You can see where I also made rounded edges out of scored foam core. Pretty nice!
I then glued into place the little styrene squares I had cut out earlier.
And here it is, all finished and ready to pour rubber into.
If you're wondering what those cans of paint and rubber are doing around the edges, I put those on the base to make sure it was sitting flat. It's difficult to find a sheet of foam core that is perfectly flat, especially after it's been sitting around your garage for a while. So the weight on the corners ensures it's sitting flat. I am doing the entire project on top of a framed poster. Again, just to ensure flatness. I figure a nice flat piece of glass is about as flat as I'll need to get.
I had planned on pouring rubber tonight, but I just got a little too tired. And I know that when I get tired, I get sloppy and make mistakes. The last thing I want to do is screw this up so close to the end, so I took a step back and called it a night.
With any luck, I'll have the rubber poured this weekend, and the mold will be ready to start producing belts by next week. Should be good!!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Superman Returns Belt - Part VII
Tonight saw the last step in prep for the master. Very exciting times we live in.
After wetsanding the belt, and getting it pretty smooth, it was time to give it a final polishing. I use some pretty expensive and hard to find tools for this step:
Toothpaste and a sock.
Yup, regular old toothpaste. None of that fancy, new fangled whitening stuff either. Just your off the shelf, white Colgate. Sock provided by Target.
The methodology is similar to wetsanding. Add some water, add some toothpaste, and polish with the sock. Repeat until happy.
Along the way, the polished surface will no doubt reveal flaws that you didn't see before. You just need to decide exactly how "perfect" you want the surface to be. Since this is going to be cast in urethene and probably painted, I didn't feel the need to go TOO crazy.
Here's one of the straps after I've polished it. Probably not too easy to see how good it looks from this photo, but trust me, it's lookin' pretty good.
And here's the buckle. You can see there are a lot of burn-throughs in the paint, but I don't care. It's level, and it's polished, so when it gets molded, none of those will be visible.
And that's it! The belt is now ready to be molded. I'm thinking one session in the garage should be enough to get that finished, as it's a very straightforward dump mold. I'll be sure to blog that when it's done, so you won't miss a thing.
In other news, the weather has finally cleared up around here. Now, don't get me wrong. When I say "Cleared up", what that means is that our light rain and some clouds went away. Here in Southern California, we tend to miss all of the truly harsh weather. In exchange, we get things like earthquakes, brush fires, mud slides, OJ, you know. But it all pans out. Today, I could see snow on Saddleback Mountain from my balcony! Very nice!!
Catch you next time!
Superman Returns Belt - Part VI
Ah, the joys and majesty of wetsanding. It's not that fun, can be a bit tedious, is usually quite messy, but it is in this step that the final product really appears.
In a nutshell, wetsanding is just what it sounds like: sanding, but with water involved. I don't know what the chemistry is behind it, but for some reason, when you sand with a wet piece of sandpaper, you can end up with a rediculously smooth surface. Maybe it's because the powder from the sanded paint ends up fusing into the micro fissures from earlier sanding? I don't know. But either way, the belt is now in for just such a treatment.
I realized I only had 320 grit sand paper on hand, so I needed to head down to home depot to pick up some higher grit stuff for the final sanding job. I grabbed this stuff:
It's found in the paint section, and is specifically designed for wetsanding. If you get regular sand paper, it's likely to break apart once it gets wet.
To make sanding easier, I cut little strips out of the bigger sheets. I'm going to be doing a lot of nook and crannie sanding, so smaller pieces are called for.
I can't really think of a whole bunch of "tips" to give out for wetsanding, other than be patient and go slowly. I guess from a technical perspective, I did something on this project that I would recommend if you plan on going for a super smooth mirror finish. Use two different colors of primer. I started with dark grey, then moved to a lighter grey for a couple of coats, and finished with a couple of coats of dark grey. The reason this is good is so that you can detect burn throughs. A "burn through" is when you sand too far, and go too deep. Worst case scenario is if you sand all the way down to the resin, or worse to the putty. You don't want that stuff exposed in your final master. By using different colored primers, you can see when you burn through, and you'll know when you absolutely have to stop sanding. This technique is really only applicable in the mastering situation. If I was wet sanding a product for display, or a finished piece, I wouldn't want burn throughs showing AT ALL.
So the trick is, go slowly, be meticulous, and gradually increase the grain. Previously, I had sanded the primer off with 320 grit, wet. This allowed me to quickly knock down the primer to a good smoothness. Got rid of all the pits and dimples that are inherent with an off the shelf rattle can type of paint.
Here's how it looked as I began tonight. Not really easy to see, but there's some swirling patterns from my sanding, and it's not all that reflective and smooth.
After an attack with the 400, and then the 600, I have this result. Note that the strap on the bottom is the completed one, with the 320-only sanded strap on the top. Again, sort of hard to tell the difference, but in person it's night and day.
The two straps took some time. Another trick is to dry the pieces off as you go along. It's hard to see any progress you have made while the thing is soaking wet, so keep a paper towel handy to wipe it down to see how you're doing.
The last part I tackled was the buckle. With all those curves and angles, it was a little more time consuming. You'll notice that there were a lot of burn throughs on this part, but that's totally cool, as those will totally disappear once it is molded. There's still some gunk left over on the buckle that needs to be wiped down with a wet towel before moving on to molding.
The last step, which I have not yet completed, it the final polishing. This is where you get a glass like surface. The trick for this is to use regular old Colgate tooth paste, and a nice soft sock. Yup. You read that right. It's a trick I picked up from Harvey Mudd college from a friend who had to build a screwdriver with a clear acrylic handle. The way to get that handle water clear was to go at it with a sock and some toothpaste. Hey, if it worked for a lab project at an engineering school, it'll work for a Superman Returns belt. I'm a UCIrvine guy myself, but I still think those Mudders know a thing or two :)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Superman Returns Belt - Part V
Almost there now.
I've been spending an hour or so each night over the past few days refining the belt master, and it's coming along really nicely. I levelled off all the lumps that were in the straps by using a block sander and a bunch of patience. I find that a block sander suits this purpose best, as it takes all of the organic guesswork out of sanding that usually accompanies hand sanding.
So if you're going for a flat surface, use that block.
The most time consuming part turned out to be the buckle. So many compound curves and hard to reach places. It's really come a long way from the lumpy mess it was that I started with. And that's not meant to discredit the original sculptor. It's a beautiful sculpt. It just got warped during handling and my molding/casting process. So there were a lot of boogers and junk to clean up.
I think most impressive are the way the straps turned out. Not only are the lumps gone, but a lot of the inconsistencies along the ridges have been cleaned up. I have to say, I'm even a little surprised at how good it turned out. Just goes to show what a little patience and a lot of primer and putty can do.
As of these pictures, the entire belt has been coated with its last coat of primer. The only remaining task is to wetsand the entire thing until it is mirror smooth. I figure I can bang that out in a night, which still puts me one day ahead of schedule. So I'm pretty stoked.
Just for giggles, I've put together a little comparison shot. You know, before and after magic. The top picture is the master as it came out of the mold. The bottom is how it stands tonight. Granted, the angle is a little off, and the focus isn't as sharp on the after, but I think you get the idea.
There's obviously a MAJOR difference between the two. All of the macro lumps are gone, and all of the fissures caused by the cracking finish are totally gone. Heck, all trace of them are gone.
So yeah, I'd say it's coming along nicely.
Superman Returns Underpants
Nothing to show in this post, but I thought I should document all progress, for those that are following the build.
Tonight I did an initial drawing of the diamond pattern that will appear on the red briefs. I found a source in Australia that has access to a die-sub printer, which is capable of printing onto fabric. Cool trick! So the idea is to die-sub all the little diamonds onto some frabric, rather than screen print them.
Not sure how it's going to turn out, but that's what test runs are for.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Superman Returns Belt - IV
It's been a very productive weekend over here, though not necessarily dedicated to the belt project. Still, it's coming along very nicely. The pictures included in this post are not the most current pictures, but instead show the status as of friday. So consider this a brief journey back into time.
But let's start off with a few factoids surrounding the build, namely some of the materials I'm using.
For shallow holes, minor scrapes, and thin build ups, I use this stuff:
It's an air dry putty. It's NOT good for building up large areas, or filling in deep holes. Not at all. It also tends not to stick very well, so don't try using it on edges or the tips of angles, or stuff like that. It does have some benefits though. It doesn't smell AT ALL. This may not sound like that big of a deal, but trust me, an odorless product is often a godsend. It also sands really easily. That's probably its best characteristic.
For larger areas, or where you need some really solid adhesion, I use this stuff:
It's a high end auto putty, and is worth every penny. It's catalyst kicked, meaning that you mix in a little drop of blue stuff and that starts it hardening. Depending on how much catalyst (or "kick") you put into it, the faster it will cure. The stuff adheres like a mofo, and also stinks like one too. It cures VERY rigid. Often more rigid than the resin you're attaching it to, meaning that you've got to be careful when sanding it.
I know people who ONLY use bondo for ALL of their puttying needs. Now, don't get me wrong, Bondo is a fine product. (Technicaly, Bondo is a brand name, and they make a variety of products. But I'm talking about the large scale body filler that is very commonly available. You can get it at ANY auto supply store) But bondo is not perfect for every application. If you're covering a HUGE area, like a foot across and half an inch deep, I say go for bondo, then finish the edges with Evercoat. But bondo just doesn't have the same qualities as this Evercoat stuff does. Bondo tends to be clumpy, and a bit tacky. I don't mean stylistically either. I mean it has some low surface adhesion, even after it has cured. It's just not as easy to handle as Evercoat either. Anyhow, you can obviously tell where I stand on the issue!
Anyhow, let's move on to the project update.
This is a shot of one side of the belt strap after I had done an initial sanding, laid down some red putty, and then sanded that smooth.
You can see that there is A LOT of fine surface detail that needs to be cleaned up, as each spot of red stuff indicates something that has been filled. So yeah, it was a mess.
After getting that as smooth as possible, I blast it with a coat of automotive primer. I've recently gotten to really liking plasti-kotes self etching primer. Not because of its etching properties, but because of its color. It's a nice, dark grey. After it has dried, you give it a really light sanding with a high grit sand paper, and it reveals EVERY flaw. EVERY flaw. This is great in a project like this, as I am aiming to eliminate those flaws.
Here's how one of the straps looks after its initial blasting.
After that, it's really just a looping on those steps until you get the surface to the condition you want it to be. Each coat of primer reveals flaws that you then putty over, sand down, and re-spray. Repeat.
As of this very moment, I'd say I'm about two iterations away from being done. The buckle is proving to be a bit problematic, as there's so many little undercuts and hard-to-reach areas that require clean up. But I'm not going to go overly obsessisve-nuts over it, I swear. I think I'll put a moratorium on work for this belt at Wednesday. So no matter how far away it is from being "perfect", no matter what, I'll stop on Wednesday and start prepping it for molding. Otherwise, I'd just noodle it to death until the end of time.
Ok, that's it for today. Thanks again for reading.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Superman Returns Belt - Part III
Not a lot to report today, but I wanted to put up some progress pictures before the weekend gets here. Today on my lunch break, I demolded the pours that I did yesterday.
Here is the smaller section:
And here's the entire belt.
All of the warping and lumps that you see in this casting were present in the original. Good or bad, this is a near identical replica of the real-deal belt I got ahold of.
I am VERY pleased with the results. These pulls are exactly what I was hoping for, and will make for excellent starting points for the new master. If you take a look at this picture of the full belt, you can see how well the details of the peeling paint were captured:
I suppose it's sort of a mixed bag, as it would have been great had all that detail been lost!! But it does illustrate how well the silicone and 1630 combination work to capture details, while maintaining size.
Now comes the not-so-fun part of the clean up. I'll probably just do a single posting about how I'm going to approach it, and then do another when it's all finished. There's really not a lot to see along the way, but if something cool comes up, I'll let you know.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Superman Returns Belt - Part II
Greetings, and welcome back. Just yesterday, I laid up the jackets for the two superman returns molds, and today, I'm ready to pour up a new master. Like Tone Loc always says: Let's Do It!
Superman Returns Belt - Part II
I'm very pleased to learn that I've gotten a few new readers to the blog recently, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to revisit some of the things that I take for granted when I'm doing a project like this, but wasn't told early enough for me to save myself some trouble. So along the way, I'll be throwing in a few hobbyist tips.
For example, the first thing I do when I walk into my workshop/garage, is put on a pair of latex gloves. You can get 100 of them for about five bucks at home depot, and let me tell you, they are life savers. I don't wear them for my health, by the way, though I'm sure it's of benefit not to be handling all kinds of chemicals and solvents directly. I wear them simply because I don't want to spent five hours scrubbing my hands and under my fingernails after each session in the garage. That's one lesson I learned the hard way in my early days of slinging resin.
Here's the big belt in its matrix that I poured up last night. Oh, I forgot. So a matrix is not only a structure used in linear algebra and other kinds of math, but in this context, think of it as a rigid cradle for something flexible. That's what a matrix is. Oh, I think they also made a movie or two using that word in the title. Always makes you sound pretty sophisticated when you use it in casual conversation. I highly recommend it.
And here's how it looks now that it's all cured.
First order of business is to take a look at the small mold. Here's how it looks right after I pulled the foil off the back:
Pretty darn good, though there is some excess resin bleeding into the area of the mold I want to pour up, so I'm going to clean that out. I used a rubber mallet and a flat head screwdriver to gently chisel the stuff out.
I assume everyone has a jar of vaseline and a chip brush lying around. Right?? Well, it's time to make good use of them. The bummer/advantage of most resins is that they adhere to themselves to some degree. So if you pour wet resin over dry resin, there's a good chance it will stick. The way I poured up my matrices (That's the proper plural of Matrix, by the way. Not "Matrixes". That's a fake word) is such that there's a couple tiny points where there could be some resin-on-resin contact. So I'm going to slather vaseline over those parts to make sure that they will not stick, just in case there's some contact. For good measure, I'll slather some all around the edges too, just in case I get sloppy.
There was a corner of the mold that proved a little too deep to fill with a slathering of resin, so I just jammed some clay in there. That should do nicely.
Next up is the baby powder. This is KEY to running resin in ANY RTV mold. Oh, RTV stands for Room Temperature Vulcanization, and basically means a two part silicone rubber. The baby powder uses capilary action to draw resin into the tiny nooks and crannies of your molds. Your positives will come out 100 times better if you powder your molds before pouring anything into them.
I usually just splash baby powder around the inside of the mold, brush it around with a chip brush, then blow it out.
With the mold all prepped, I levelled it by using little clumps of clay around the corners. Clay allows me to maneuver the mold to perfect flatness during the pouring process. I sometimes use a stack of popsicle sticks under an offending, low hanging corner, but I chose to use clay this time.
With the mold all prepped, it's time to pour it up.
For some reason, it was only very recently that I realized how easy it is to pour out equal amounts of a substance when you're going into clear cups. I usually use the typical red cups, and they've served me well for years. I like them for smaller amounts of resin, because there are ridges on the cups that you can use as indicators.
A reminder about 1630: it is NOT a good choice for casting up resin parts that will see action. It's actually designed for reproducing molds, but makes for a great gel coat, and is optimal (in my opinion) for making masters.
For extra credit, the bold reader can check out this data sheet on 1630 for more information. I order most of my stuff from Burman Industries, up in the valley. Great people, and they've been supplying stuff to hobbyists and the industry for as long as I've been playing with this stuff.
I started my pour into the mold, and this is where some real artistry comes in. I pour slowly, so I can see the way the resin is flowing. That allows me to detect if the mold is not lying flat. I can add more clay under one corner, or push down on another if that is the case. As you can see from the inital pour, it's actually pretty good.
With the mold confirmed as lying flat, I finish up the pour, and bring the resin up the very edge of the mold. It bulges over a bit, but that's how I want it.
Now I just repeat the process on the large mold. I'll skip the first few steps, and go straight to the different parts.
I may be going overboard on the large one, but I wanted to make REALLY sure that the belt was sitting level, so I pulled out my level. Checked it on the X and Z axis to make sure it was totally laying flat.
Then I just repeated the mixing and pouring process, and it was all done.
And here is the finished product. Well, finished for now. Because 1630 needs 24 hours to fully cure (another GREAT reason NOT to use it as a traditional casting resin) I still have to demold tomorrow. But I'm very happy with today's results.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Superman Returns Belt
Hi everyone! Been a while since I've contributed to my blog. In between triathlon training, recording a new rock and roll album, and scanning in my entire photo collection, I guess I've been distracted with other projects.
But I've still got a few things cooking that I think are worth documenting.
Right now, I'm working on reproducing the belt from Superman Returns. Though not a very popular version of the costume, I am a fan. I am lucky enough to have access to a few made-for-production costume pieces, and I got my hands on a belt recently. I only had it for a very short time, so I needed to mold it quickly. The paint job on the belt was also VERY frail, and was cracking all over the place. For that reason, I decided to mold it using silicone putty, instead of the traditional "pourable" stuff. I figured this would not only kick much faster (it cures in an hour) but would also eliminate some of the problems I would have encountered using regular liquid RTV. Namely, I didn't want to do any further damage to the paint job, and I was unsure how it would react with the fabric elements embedded in the belt underneath, should it accidentally seep under.
Fortunately, I had a stash of the stuff sitting around, so I didn't have to order any. It worked really well.
I ended up taking two molds of the belt. One of the buckle, just as a test mold, and one of the entire belt. As luck/unluck would have it, the smaller mold of the buckle captured a bit more detail than the larger mold. I guess the work time with the putty is pretty short, and it had started to kick by the time I got to the buckle on the large mold.
Here's the large mold of the entire belt. Oh, and don't even get me started on the trouble I had to go through to get the belt to lay flat for molding. TOTAL pain in the rear. But it all panned out.
Here's the smaller mold of the buckle.
The overall plan is this: mold the belt, pour up a new master, clean it up, then re-mold using regular RTV, then cast one up in urethene. I'm doing this because of all the damage that was done to the original paint job, which was subsequently captured in the mold. So I've got to clean it up.
The first step is casting up a positive from the mold, which I can then clean up using putty and sand paper. The challenge now is working with my putty molds. Because it's not a straight-up liquid, it will not sit perfectly flat when placed on its back. Cuz you know, it's all lumpy and whatnot. So I've decided to make rigid jackets for the molds. That way, when I go to pour up the rigid positive for remastering, it will be as flat as the original.
To make the jackets, and the positives, I'm using a product by BJB called TC-1630. I've probably written about it before on this blog, as my managloare rifle is cast from it. 1630 has some really interesting properties that make it a good choice for this project. First and foremost, it has almost ZERO shrinkage upon curing. It's completely undetectable. So it's also a good choice for a gel-coat application, or something like that. That's also the main reason I'm using it to pour my positive master. Zero shrinkage, and it's also really easy to work with. Sands really nice, and putty/paint take to it very well. The downside is that it's not terribly strong. So you wouldn't cast like a solid resin blaster or something with it, as it would probably break if you dropped it. There are better resins available for casting positives as far as strenght goes. But since my main concern is size, I've decided to go with it.
I still had my mixing drill bits from my mangalore rifle project, and put them to good use here. They made short work of mixing up the different halves of the 1630. You do NOT want to try to mix this stuff by hand. It's like a gooey liquid on top, and hard packed sand on the bottom. Takes about 10 to 15 minutes WITH the drill bit. I cannot imagine how long it would take without.
I figured I would start with the smaller mold, just to prove out my concept. And because it's easier to work with. I started by laying aluminum foil down over a piece of plexiglass. I wanted a very flat base, and I needed the jacket to be removable. Didn't want it sticking to the plex.
I mixed up a red cup of 1630, and got to work. The stuff kicks pretty fast. It has about five minutes of work time, and then it just turns into increasing degrees of thicker maple syrup. You can push it around with a brush for like 15 minutes, but after five minutes, it's too thick to do anything useful with it. After that, it's 24 hours before full cure.
I start with a wet coat directly on the mold. Because the stuff is at its most fluid at this point, I want to make sure all the nooks and crannies are wet with it. I don't want the mold buckling under the weight of itself during final pour up.
With the mold nice and wet, I start laying in fiber. You know, the stuff for fiberglass? This makes the 1630 much stronger. It's amazing stuff. I pull the fibers apart a bit, to loosen them up, then place it over the wet 1630. Then, using a chip brush, I glorp 1630 over the top of it, tapping down on it gently to work it through the fibers.
I worked from left to right, then did another round from right to left. Probably overkill, but I didn't want to waste any 1630.
So here you have it. Jacket is all set, and is curing.
I'll do the larger mold next, but probably won't document it, since the process will be the same.
Next up, I'll pour the master. | <urn:uuid:bdaf7f70-e748-4ec7-8b0e-d3030771f1a5> | 2 | 1.546875 | 0.080402 | en | 0.969927 | http://mattmunson.blogspot.ca/2008/12/ |
How to Recognize Prehistoric Stone Age Tools
Prehistoric tools are often difficult to distinguish from natural debris because of their simplicity. It is not only that the techniques of tool-making developed gradually; so too did the conceptual range of tool types develop gradually. Today, hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers and saws are all clearly distinguished from each other by large differences in appearance; stone age tools, by contrast, are very similar to each other in appearance, even when they served different functions. Manufactured prehistoric tools are only distinguished from naturally-occurring gravel by the signs of consistent modification.
This is an important observation because, in the final analysis, any natural object can be utilized as a tool if it serves a need, and not only by humans. Chimpanzees have also been observed in using sticks and flat rocks as tools; surely, early humans did the same thing, even after early tool-making technologies had been developed. Most impromptu tools will never be identified; some, such as sticks, are made of perishable materials, while durable tools of this sort, such as flat rocks, are indistinguishable from rocks that have never been used in this manner. Only tools that have endured physical modification to suit human purposes can be identified.
Most of these manufactured tools are made of stone, and the earliest of these go back some two million years. Prehistoric stone tools were created by a process that is still practiced today, known as flintknapping. In this process, hard, brittle rocks like flint, obsidian and quartz are struck at oblique angles by another rock in order to knock off chips and flakes. This process serves both to shape the rock and to give it a cutting edge. Skillful flintknappers are good at guiding the final shapes of their tools, but the process is not perfect; internal flaws in the rock sometimes cause the primary piece, known as a core, to break apart in unexpected shapes. Early humans were likely opportunistic, using the larger pieces and the smaller chips alike, depending upon their needs.
In the earlier phases of stone age development, the dominant style of manufactured tool is the hand axe or hand chopper, a vaguely leaf-shaped piece knapped fairly flat with sharp edges on both sides. It was probably used in a variety of ways, being capable of slicing meat, scraping it off bones, cutting hides, and so on. Later, in the Upper Paleolithic and moving into the Neolithic, smaller and more carefully shaped flakes were prepared, presenting distinct patterns such as points, scrapers and burins.
Distinguishing these types from each other can be difficult for a layman; what is essential in identifying these pieces as manmade is the faceted surface that is created when chips are knocked off the primary piece. Naturally-broken rocks may have chips missing on one side, or in a random configuration, while manufactured tools show a systematic effort to remove flakes, often including dozens of tiny chips along the edges where a cutting blade was intended.
Stone is not the only durable material that was used in the Stone Ages to create tools. Bone and similar materials (teeth, ivory, and antlers) have also been utilized. These are softer, and therefore more easily carved. Moreover, bones begin with standard, recognizable shapes, and so modification of shape is more clearly identifiable. At the same time, one must remember that bones can break naturally; the discovery of a broken animal fibula with a sharp point at one end does not conclusively prove that it was made or even used by early humans. In an article in Burenhult 1993 (page 60 f), Peter Rowley-Conwy pointed out that even experts have hotly disputed some of these examples, with some scholars arguing persuasively that bones found with signs of cutting were actually the result of damage caused by the teeth of predators, rather than the tools of humans.
Unambiguous evidence of human manufacture in bone-type objects consists of two possible characteristics, either or both of which might be found in a given object: radical transformation or decoration. Radical transformation refers to the removal of a significant amount of material to create a shape determined by human planning rather than the natural form of the piece. A length of bone broken at one end, revealing a sharp point, has not been transformed and may not be the result of human action. A Neolithic sewing needle, however, created by whittling down a sliver of bone is clear evidence of human activity. Decoration is an obvious sign of human activity when it is found on a piece of bone or ivory, whether it consists of representational or abstract art.
The key to recognizing prehistoric stone age tools lies in awareness of the kinds of procedures that were used in creating them. Tools that are definitively identified as manufactured tools show signs of systematic manipulation and transformation that could only be performed by humans. Marginal cases surely exist where a minimal amount of modification was performed before the tool was used, and to modern eyes, there is nothing to distinguish these pieces from bones or rocks that were broken by natural processes. Perhaps tests may one day be discovered to distinguish these cases more thoroughly. For the layman, however, the criteria outlined above are currently the best ways to distinguish prehistoric tools from naturally-occurring debris.
Burenhult, Goran, ed. The First Humans: Human Origins and History to 10,000 BC. Harper San Francisco, 1993.
Midant-Reynes, Beatrix. The Prehistory of Egypt: From the First Egyptians to the First Pharaohs. Blackwell, 1992.
Wright, Edmund, ed. The Desk Encyclopedia of World History. Oxford, 2006.
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Mata Hari
Mata Hari (7 August 1876-15 October 1917), born Margaretha Gertruida Zelle, famous as both the most notorious female spy of the First World War and as a nude dancer during the Belle Epoque period that lasted from 1871-1914.
Early Life (1876-1904)
During her career, Mata Hari told many lies about herself and her ancestry, and others were spread after her death. She claimed that she had been born in India, and she was also said to be Javanese, Eurasian, or even Jewish. In Javanese (Indonesian), “Mata Hari” means “eye of the day”. “Mata Hari” is also one of the many names of Parvati, a Hindu goddess and consort of Shiva, the god of creation, destruction, and dance. In fact, Margaretha Zelle had no Asian blood at all. She was born in Leeuwarden the capital of the Dutch province of Friesland. Her father, Adam Zelle, was a prosperous hatter of German descent. Her mother, Antje Van Der Meulen, came from a well-off Frisian family. There was reportedly some Woudker blood in Mata Hari’s ancestry, the Woudkers being a gypsy-like local minority with dark complexions.
Mata Hari’s early childhood was happy and she soon gave evidence of the strong personality and talent for self-dramatization that were to remain with her as an adult. In 1889, however, her father went bankrupt and the family split up. Margaretha’s mother died in 1891. The young Margaretha went to a teachers’ college in Leiden where she trained as a kindergarten teacher, but there were whispers that she had conducted an affair with the headmaster. In 1894, Margaretha was living with an uncle and was still without a job or a stable home life. She answered a personal ad that had been placed by Rudolph MacLeod, a Dutch Army officer of Scottish descent. The two married in 1895, after only a brief acquaintanceship. Soon after their marriage the couple sailed to Indonesia, where MacLeod’s unit was stationed.
The MacLeods soon had two children: Norman, born in 1897, and Jeanne (called Non), born in 1898. The marriage, however, was unhappy. MacLeod was twice Margaretha’s age, a rough soldier who drank hard and slept with prostitutes. According to Pat Shipman, Mata Hari’s most recent biographer, MacLeod may have suffered from syphilis, and may also have passed the disease on to his wife and children. The young, romantic, and elegant Margaretha attracted the attention of many men in Indonesia. There is no solid evidence that she was ever unfaithful, but MacLeod was still highly suspicious of his young wife. He complained often of Margaretha’s expensive taste in clothes, and probably beat and even whipped her when he was drunk. The couple’s son Norman was allegedly poisoned by a native servant in 1899, and his death effectively ended any affection that remained between husband and wife. In 1902, the MacLeods returned to Holland and were soon separated.
The Exotic Dancer and Prostitute (1904-1914)
Margaretha soon drifted to Paris, the city of her dreams, but she was unable to find steady work and lived a precarious existence as a prostitute and artist’s model. Despite her sensuous nature, Margaretha was initially very reluctant to take off her clothes for artists, which of course limited her usefulness as a model. She got some help in these early Parisian years from Henri de Marguerie, a French consular offical whom she had met in Holland. She finally got a good job as an equestrienne in a Parisian circus. The owner of the circus suggested that she try dancing. Margaretha knew something of Indonesian dance and had often worn Indonesian dress when she lived in that country. In her original act, Margaretha performed three dances in Oriental costume: the “passion flower dance”; the “kris dance” (in which she wielded a spear or a long Malay dagger); and the “veil dance”, the most famous and successful of all. In this, Margaretha danced before a statue of Shiva, shedding her clothes until at the end of the performance she was completely naked save for a jeweled brassiere. (On some occasions, however, Margaretha wore an ultrathin see-through body stocking.)
Billing herself as Madame MacLeod, Margaretha gave her first private performances late in 1904. During this period she met Émile Étienne Guimet, a wealthy art collector and amateur Orientalist who had turned his home into a museum for Asian antiquties. Guimet served as an adviser to Margaretha, and helped improve her act. Guimet gave her expensive Asian costumes from his private collection, and apparently suggested her new stage name: Mata Hari. Margaretha’s public debut as Mata Hari came on 13 March 1905 at the Musee Guimet. The audience of 300 included the German and Japanese ambassadors. Mata Hari’s performance was a triumph, making her an overnight sensation with the public and the critics alike. For several years afterwards Mata Hari was a top star in Paris, performing at such choice venues as the Trocadero, the Cercle Royale, and the Olympia. Later in her career, Mata Hari also performed at the famed Folies Bergere. She also made several successful foreign tours, dancing in Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, and Monte Carlo. Mata Hari was much in demand for private performances, dancing in the homes of the rich and in leading Paris salons. At her peak, Mata Hari could command fees of up to 10,000 francs for an engagement. She was so popular that her name was used on brands of cigars, cigarettes, and other products.
Mata Hari always maintained that her dances were authentically Asian and had religious significance, just as she also claimed to be Indian or Indonesian herself. Ignorance of Asian dance was so widespread at the time that few challenged her claims. Though taken seriously both by critics and a few anthropologists, Mata Hari’s dances were in fact a pastiche of her own invention. Her success was largely due to the contemporary fascinations with exotic eroticism and all things Oriental. Since the 1890’s European writers and composers had been fascinated by the figure of Salome. Oscar Wilde’s 1892 play began the “Salomania” craze, and in 1905 (the very year of Mata Hari’s public debut) Richard Strauss wrote his hit opera on the same theme. Dangerous, highly-sexed Asian women were in demand by the public. The strip-tease had been known in France since at least the 1890’s. It was hardly fashionable or respectable, but semi-nude dancing was a feature of the developing modern dance movement. Isadora Duncan had already shown the way, but she had not been a great popular success in France and had not dared to take all her clothes off. Mata Hari chose the right place at the right time, not only artistically but legally. In 1902, the French courts struck down previous restrictions on nudity, both on the legitimate stage and in print media. Ordinary strippers might still get into legal trouble, but Mata Hari’s “artistic” and “religious” dances were within the law. By 1905 nude postcards were being widely sold in France, and nude images of Mata Hari became highly popular.
Contemporary critics identified Mata Hari with the modern dance movement; some thought her superior to Isadora Duncan. Without a filmed record, her true ability is difficult to assess. Her performances were certainly exciting, and she was a master at subtle changes of mood and expression. Mata Hari enjoyed performing and smiled frequently during her dances. At the end of the ‘veil dance,’ she fell prone to the floor and simulated orgasm. Mata Hari first did this in 1904, years before the dancer Nijinsky of the Russian Ballet created a major artistic sensation by doing the same thing in his performance of “The Afternoon of a Faun”.
Sometimes Mata Hari claimed to be a great artist and poured scorn on her “inauthentic” imitators. On other occasions, she said cynically that no one would have come to see her dance at all if she had not taken her clothes off. Her agent, Gabriel Astruc, represented the Russian Ballet and other major talents of the day, and Mata Hari later tried very hard to raise her own artistic level. Late in her career, she worked with the Indian musician and Muslim mystic Inayat Khan to create a truly authentic Indian dance. Mata Hari longed to dance the role of Salome, and in 1912 she finally did so. She gave a private performance of the part for the Prince di San Faustino, an aging womanizer, at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome. This performance received excellent reviews, but did not lead to a public engagement. None of Mata Hari’s later ventures brought her the same popular success as her early nude dances.
Mata Hari’s newfound stardom came at a personal cost. Her bankrupt father wrote an exploitative book about her. Mata Hari had been separated from her husband for several years, but her nude appearances on stage gave Rudolph MacLeod grounds for divorce. MacLeod got custody of the couple’s daughter, Non, and this was a heavy blow to Mata Hari. MacLeod would not allow Mata Hari to send letters or gifts to Non, much less to see her. Mata Hari allegedly paid her maid to kidnap the girl, but the attempt failed. Despite her father’s hostility, Non remained loyal to her mother’s memory and carried a picture of Mata Hari in her lunchbox.
Despite her early success, Mata Hari did not pursue her dancing career consistently. From 1908 to 1912, she lived mainly off of men. Mata Hari became one of the most sought-after prostitutes in Paris, and had numerous clients and lovers. She had a special fondness for military officers, and also preferred wealthy and powerful men: diplomats, bankers, and lawyers. Among Mata Hari’s certain or probable lovers were the composers Jules Massenet, Giacomo Puccini, Baron Henri de Rothschild, Gaston Menier, a chocolate magnate, art collector, and enthusiastic amateur photographer who shot Mata Hari in the nude; Edouard Clunet, a leading expert on international law; General Adolphe-Pierre Messimy, French minister of war in 1914; Henri de Marguerie, French ambassador to Holland and Japan; and Jules Cambon, French ambassador to the United States, Spain, and Germany.
Mata Hari was certainly hard for men to resist. A German policeman who investigated Mata Hari on a charge of “indecency” eventually took her to dinner and slept with her. Jules Massenet admired her enough to write a dancing part for her in his 1906 opera, “Le Roi de Lahore”. Felix Xavier Rousseau, a successful banker and a married man, was another of Mata Hari’s lovers and her chief patron for several years. Rousseau bought Mata Hari an expensive villa in the fashionable Parisian suburb of Neuilly (nearly bankrupting himself in the process) and he also allowed her to use his chateau in the country, where she rode frequently. For a number of years, Mata Hari also had an on-and-off affair with a wealthy German cavalry officer named Alfred Kiepert. Under pressure from his family to end the relationship, Kiepert finally paid Mata Hari off with the enormous sum of 300,000 marks. Kiepert also took Mata Hari to see the German Army manuevers in Silesia. Mata Hari spent a good deal of time in Germany and later claimed that the Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany also had an affair with her, but there is little evidence for this. Such German associations, however, were later to prove dangerous for Mata Hari.
Although frequently absent from the stage in these years, Mata Hari remained a prominent figure in the social and artistic world of Belle Epoque Paris, and many famous persons knew her well (a fact they would later deny). Mata Hari was an excellent rider and doted on her horses, of whom she had several. She often attended fashionable horse races at Auteuil, Longchamps, and elsewhere. She ate at the best Parisian restaurants (Maxim’s, Rumpelmeyer’s, and the Larue) and stayed in the city’s finest hotels (including the Grand and the Meurice). In her prime years as a prostitute, Mata Hari rented rooms for her business in the Rue de Galilee, one of the most fashionable brothel quarters in Paris.
Clothes had always been one of Mata Hari’s passions, and she spent a great deal of money on them after she became famous. Erte, the brilliant designer who later worked for the Russian Ballet, designed his first theatrical costume for Mata Hari. Mata Hari’s other “couturieres” included Georgette Brama, Louise Emery, and Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon, better known in France as Lucille. They knew Mata Hari as a demanding customer who preferred her dresses to be as revealing as possible. Though she spent much of her time at home in the nude (even receiving some visitors unclothed), Mata Hari was acknowledged by many to be the best-dressed woman in Paris. She was photographed by Paul Boyer, Lucien Walery, and Leopold-Emile Reutlinger, the leading theatrical and fashion photographers of the day.
During this period, Mata Hari tried repeatedly to enter the world of legitimate dance, opera, and theatre. In 1910, she performed a dancing role in Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “Antar”. In 1912, she performed in Gluck’s opera “Armide” and Antonio Marceno’s ballet “Bacchus and Gambrinus” at the prestigious La Scala in Milan. Unfortunately, Mata Hari seems to have won a reputation as a “difficult” performer who often quarrelled with directors, managers, and other artists. Her attempt to join Sergei Diaghilev’s famous Russian Ballet ended in disaster. Diaghilev and his assistants insisted that Mata Hari audition for them in the nude. Mata Hari found this condition insulting but submitted to it, only to be humiliatingly rejected.
Mata Hari’s career was not entirely unique. Other women had followed a similar path in France. The stage was not completely respectable for a woman before 1914, and some women who became famous as singers, dancers, actresses, models, or prostitutes moved easily from one of these professions to the other, sometimes practising several at a time. The most successful and desirable of these “Demimondaines” became true courtesans or “Grandes Horizontales”, well above the level of the ordinary streetwalker. They had their pick of wealthy and powerful lovers, sometimes wielded political influence, and often married well and became respectable hostesses, presiding over their own salons. The dancer La Belle Otero and the actress Liane de Pougy, both near-contemporaries of Mata Hari, followed this path to success. Mata Hari never quite rose to such an influential level. She longed for respectability and aristocratic connections, but never fully acquired either. Her outspoken and erratic personality may have worked against her. Certainly none of Mata Hari’s fellow courtesans exhibited their sexuality in such a blatantly public way. In that respect, Mata Hari’s career more nearly resembled that of a modern pop star like Madonna.
By 1913, Mata Hari was aging, deep in debt, and no longer in such great demand as a performer. She faced increasing competition from similar dancers like Maud Allan, who made the part of Salome her own. Mata Hari was also finding it harder to attract and keep wealthy lovers, and had taken to trolling for men in hotel lobbies. In May 1914 she began rehearsals for a new show in Berlin, but the outbreak of the First World War prevented the show from opening. Mata Hari’s luggage and costumes were impounded by the German government, and she was forced to return to Holland (a neutral country) after an absence of many years. Before long she met up with an old lover, Colonel Baron Van Der Capellen of the Dutch Army, who set her up in a modest house in The Hague. Mata Hari found her new life boring, however, and she pined for the bright lights of Paris. This was to prove her undoing.
The “Spy” and the Victim (1914-1917)
Until recently, Mata Hari was commonly depicted as a brilliant spy. In fact, she was barely a spy at all. Mata Hari was a typical figure of the free-living Belle Epoque, and she never understood the fundamental change in attitudes brought about by the First World War. In all belligerent countries, including France, the war brought a new atmosphere of sexual repression, spy mania, and xenophobia. Mata Hari was an independent, cosmopolitan woman, an outspoken individualist with a reputation for sexual license. Many men and some women had always regarded such “femmes fortes” as socially and morally threatening. In the grim and earnest wartime atmosphere, a woman like Mata Hari was bound to appear suspicious and dangerous to the authorities not for what she did but simply for what she was. Mata Hari’s failure to recognize this basic reality led her into a pattern of recklessly self-destructive behavior.
In December 1915 Mata Hari travelled via Britain to Paris. Mata Hari later testified that she did this of her own will and with her own money (or rather Van Der Capellen’s money). Yet according to Leon Schirmann, the most thorough of her French biographers, in late 1915 Mata Hari was approached by a neighbor of hers, Karl Cramer, an official of the German consular service in Holland. Cramer offered her money to go to Paris and obtain low-level intelligence information. (In her court testimony, Mata Hari later dated this meeting to the following year, after she had returned from her first wartime trip to France.) Mata Hari was initially cautious, but finally accepted Cramer’s proposal. Mata Hari’s motives are uncertain but she was certainly anxious to return to Paris, her only real home, where she had to dispose of her house at Neuilly and the posessions it contained. Van Der Capellen was wealthy, but not overgenerous to her. Finally, Mata Hari may have hoped that in return for her services the German government would release to her the costumes and personal items that they had seized the previous year. She may also have felt resentment towards France because she was no longer a top star there. In any case, she had no intention of doing any real spying, and used Cramer’s money for her own purposes. The German intelligence service gave her the designation Agent H21. The H stood for Hoffmann, the latter being the name of the German intelligence officer who ran the network to which Mata Hari was assigned.
To get to France, Mata Hari took passage via the United Kingdom, an act which quickly brought her under suspicion from British intelligence. The British passed on their suspicions of Mata Hari to the French. Mata Hari spent a month in Paris, closing up her Neuilly house and earning money by prostitution. While staying in a Paris hotel Mata Hari met a fellow guest who was one of her old lovers, Henri de Marguerie, and also found a new lover in Major the Marquis de Beauffort of the Belgian Army. All three lived in the hotel and the men shared Mata Hari’s favors. According to Schirmann, during this time Mata Hari sent in only one very brief report to the Germans about a possible French offensive in the coming spring. This was no more than common cafe gossip, which the Germans might just as easily have learned from reading neutral newspapers. French agents watched her every move. She soon returned to Holland, but from that point on Mata Hari was a marked woman.
Mata Hari’s initial performance as a secret agent had been very disappointing, but Cramer’s superiors were determined to make use of her, perhaps in the hope of redeeming their investment. In May 1916 Cramer approached her again. This time he offered even more money. In return, Mata Hari was asked to undertake a more serious mission. Several of Mata Hari’s former lovers held prominent positions in the French military and diplomatic hierarchy. Because of her connections, Colonel Walter Nicolai, head of the German General Staff’s intelligence service (Section 3B) regarded Mata Hari as a potenially excellent agent. Nicolai interviewed her personally in Cologne, but was rather disconcerted when she attempted to seduce him. Despite this, he assigned Mata Hari to gather information from her highly placed friends and lovers in Paris. Messimy was to be the prime target. Nicolai gave Mata Hari the additional code name “Beauty”.
Mata Hari may have had some doubts about all this, but having gone so far with the Germans (and done so little for them) she was not in a good position to refuse. Mata Hari’s new mission required some training, and she travelled to Frankfurt to attend a brief course at a German spy school. Here she came under the tutelage of Elsbeth Schragmueller, a former female professor known as “Fraulein Doktor”. This woman later became nearly as notorious as Mata Hari herself, and many wild legends circulated about her. In her autobiography Schragmueller said that Mata Hari was a charming, witty, and sophisticated woman, whose company she enjoyed. Yet Schragmueller also considered Mata Hari very poor spy material, and she accurately predicted that “this demimondaine” would turn out to be more trouble than she was worth. According to Julie Wheelwright, however, Schragmueller was actually quite enthusiastic about Mata Hari’s potential as an agent. Wheelwright also states that Schragmueller met Mata Hari in Antwerp, not Frankfurt, and that Mata Hari approached Cramer rather than the other way around.
Mata Hari took the German money and sailed from Holland to England. When the British refused to let her pass through en route to France, she travelled via ship to Spain instead. A Dutchman named Henry Hoedemaker (who claimed to be a British agent but was probably simply a civilian obsessed by spy-mania), harassed Mata Hari on the ship and tried to search her cabin. Mata Hari confronted Hoedemaker and slapped him hard enough to draw blood. Hoedemaker made trouble for Mata Hari with the French authorities, and she was stopped at the Franco-Spanish border. Mata Hari appealed to her old lover, Jules Cambon, whose influence allowed her to enter France.
Mata Hari spent more than 5 months in Paris, once again plying her trade as a prostitute in the city’s hotels. Wars are always flush times for prostitutes, and Mata Hari was much in demand. In less than 6 weeks she slept with 11 officers from 4 different Allied armies. Despite later allegations, however, she never attempted to get any intelligence information from her military customers. She certainly made no special effort to pursue her old lover Messimy. Ernest Hemingway later claimed that he had slept with Mata Hari around this time, but this was untrue.
Unfortunately for herself, Mata Hari now made the worst mistake a prostitute can make: she fell in love. The man in question was a very young Russian officer, Vadim Masloff, who was soon badly wounded. Mata Hari’s deep and genuine love for Masloff seems to have affected her attitude towards her German employers. She had done virtually nothing for the Germans anyway, but now she felt that she could no longer work at all for the side her lover was fighting against. Masloff proposed marriage, and Mata Hari accepted. She was anxious to help Masloff recover from his injuries, and she also wanted to give up prostitution so that she could be true to him. This, however, would require a great deal of money.
In order to see Masloff, Mata Hari also had to get a special pass to travel to a restricted military zone. The pass required the approval of Captain Georges Ladoux, the chief of French military counterintelligence (the Deuxieme Bureau). Ladoux was an extremely ambitious officer of doubtful competence. He had been reading reports on Mata Hari since December 1915. Ladoux later insisted that he had already made up his mind that she was a German spy, and that he sought only to draw her out and expose her. Actually, Ladoux probably believed that he could “turn” Mata Hari to the French side and make some real use of her. One of Mata Hari’s favorite customers, Lieutenant Jean Hallaure, was actually one of Ladoux’s agents, and he steered Mata Hari towards his chief. Ladoux said he would give Mata Hari the pass she sought if she would become a spy for France. Mata Hari agreed, but asked for no less than 1 million francs in return. Ladoux put off her demand for money, but gave her the pass she wanted.
In November 1916 Mata Hari left Paris on her way to Belgium via Holland. She was now a French agent and she intended to spy on the Germans in Belgium. Her plans were certainly ambitious. She aimed to seduce at least three German officers: General Moritz Von Bissing, the elderly German military governor of occupied Belgium; Ernst August, Duke of Cumberland, a younger officer whom Mata Hari claimed to have known before the war; and Crown Prince Wilhelm, whom she had supposedly slept with previously.
Travelling via Spain and England, Mata Hari was detained by the British when she arrived in the United Kingdom. The British confused her with another woman named Clara Benedix, whom they believed to be a German agent. The extent of British suspicion was indicated by the high-powered team they assigned to interrogate Mata Hari: Basil (later Sir Basil) Thomson of Scotland Yard, one of that force’s most distinguished detectives, and Captain (later Admiral Sir) William Reginald “Blinker” Hall of the Royal Navy, one of the greatest intelligence officers in history. Mata Hari told the British that she was a French agent, but the angry and embarassed Ladoux denied it and asked the British to send her back to Spain.
Scarcely grasping the dangerous subtleties of the game in which she was engaged, Mata Hari refused to give up. Without orders from Ladoux, Mata Hari tried to spy on German officials in the Madrid embassy. She had sex with the German military attache, Major Arnold Von Kalle, who passed on some minor rumors to her. These were the only real pieces of intelligence that Mata Hari ever collected for France, and were just as worthless as the rumors she had earlier reported to her German employers. Mata Hari passed her findings to the French, but was puzzled and then angered when she got neither congratulations nor 1 million francs from Ladoux.
The Germans in fact had a grudge against Mata Hari, and they entrapped her deliberately. She had taken money from Cramer and done almost nothing in return for it. Her approaches to Von Kalle were so awkward and obvious that Von Kalle was immediately suspicious of her. The French military attache in Madrid, Colonel Denvignes, was unaware of Mata Hari’s plans, but he pursued her ardently, and this made the Germans even more wary of her. Mata Hari even sent reports to the French through ordinary mail, reports which the Germans easily intercepted. The Germans in Madrid then sent a series of radio signals to Berlin, identifying Mata Hari as their Agent H21. These signals were sent in a code which the Germans knew the French had broken. Their interception was enough for Ladoux; he determined to arrest Mata Hari. Mata Hari obliged him by returning to Paris in January 1917. She was anxious to confront Ladoux and demand payment, but she never got the chance. The French arrested her on 13 February 1917.
For months, Mata Hari endured grim conditions in several French prisons. She was thoroughly interrogated, but continued to maintain her innocence. Her accusers gave her no opportunity to prove it. Most of the letters she wrote in prison were never forwarded by the French. The many famous persons who had known her now denounced or ignored her. Mata Hari was not brought to trial until July, 1917, and the trial lasted only two days. Even by the low standards of wartime military courts, Mata Hari’s trial was a miscarriage of justice. There were many procedural irregularities. Witnesses whom Mata Hari requested were not allowed to appear. Edouard Clunet, her lawyer and former lover, had no experience of criminal cases. Under his advice, Mata Hari committed a serious tactical blunder when she admitted to having been in contact with the Germans. Under the court’s interpretation of French military law, this was almost tantamount to a confession. Clunet and Mata Hari may have hoped that such an admission would win clemency or a reduced sentence, but Mata Hari would have been much better off to deny everything. Lieutenant Andre Mornet, the prosecutor, later admitted that there was not enough evidence in the case “to hang a cat”. Mornet failed to cite a single specific instance of espionage; mere association and contact with the Germans was considered evidence enough. Unable to produce real examples of espionage, Mornet used misogynist rhetoric to blacken Mata Hari’s character instead; he called the former nude dancer a “Salome” and a “Messalina”. Mata Hari’s many lies about herself did nothing to help her in the eyes of the court. The worst blow to Mata Hari came in a letter to the court from Masloff, who now denounced the lover who had endangered her life for his sake. In fact, Masloff had remained secretly loyal to Mata Hari, but she never knew this; his love letters to her while she was in prison were held back by the authorities.
The court took only half an hour to reach a verdict. Mata Hari was condemned to death on 25 July 1917. She remained in prison, however, for nearly three more months, as her lawyer tried every conceivable appeal. The Dutch government asked for a pardon, but this was rejected and other appeals also failed. It was never likely that they would succeed.
In her last days, Mata Hari was bitter towards former lovers and friends who refused to aid her. Yet she also showed considerable dignity and honesty. She admitted that she had made mistakes, but she refused to apologize for herself or her life. The Catholic nuns who were sent to comfort her grew very fond of her. Mata Hari was finally executed by a firing squad on 15 October 1917. She showed great bravery, refusing a blindfold and exhorting the weeping nuns to be strong. No one claimed her body, which went to a French hospital for examination and dissection.
There is still a great deal of controversy about Mata Hari’s trial and execution. Most of the French Army’s dossier on the case has now been published. The French have so far declined to revise the verdict, and the French Army still adheres to a narrow interpretation of the facts in the case. In the strictest sense, Mata Hari was guilty of being a German agent. This being so, the fact that she gave the Germans no useful information was of no importance in the eyes of French military law.
This interpretation, however, ignores a multitude of other facts in the case. Mata Hari’s change of loyalties to France was certainly sincere, since it was motivated by her love for Masloff (which no one has ever questioned). By the time she reached Madrid, the Germans had clearly ceased to regard Mata Hari as one of their own agents, and were in no doubt that she was working (however clumsily) for the French. The incrimination of such a useless or hostile double agent with the enemy intelligence service, ”burning”, as it is known, was and is common in espionage, and the Germans practiced it frequently in World War I. Given her poor performance when in their service, and her clear change of loyalties to France, the Germans had every motive to frame Mata Hari. The French simply took the German bait.
Mata Hari’s trial took place in a tense atmosphere. In 1917, France and the Allies appeared to be losing the war. In the spring of that year, the failure of an offensive on the Western Front led to massive mutinies that affected most of the French Army. War-weariness was growing on the home front, and a defeatist movement was gaining strength. This movement included some prominent politicians, and some defeatists were in contact with the Germans. The Germans secretly subsidized some French newspapers to spread anti-war propaganda. Under these circumstances, the French Army and the French people were vulnerable to spy mania and prone to lash out at scapegoats. Mata Hari was available for just such a role. As Mornet allegedly said, “Innocent though she was, she had to disappear”.
The irregularities in the trial and general conduct of Mata Hari’s case by the French have already been mentioned. The military court that tried Mata Hari, the 3eme Conseil de Guerre, had an ugly record of such misconduct. The court was specially constituted to try sensitive and politically charged cases of espionage and disloyalty, and its job was to convict whatever the cost to justice and proper procedure. The anarchist Miguel Almereyda, whose case was tried by the 3eme Conseil de Guerre, was later found dead in his cell, mysteriously strangled. Two defeatist politicians accused by the court, Louis Malvy and Joseph Caillaux, would probably have been executed like Mata Hari but for their political influence; their cases were handled with equal unfairness by the 3eme Conseil de Guerre.
Mornet and the chief investigator in Mata Hari’s case, Captain Pierre Bouchardon, remained together on military courts for many years after 1917 and even served the pro-German Vichy Regime during World War II. Despite this, they also formed the prosecuting team in the post-World War II trial of Pierre Laval, the Vichy prime minister. Laval may well have deserved his ultimate sentence of execution, but his trial was conducted with scandalous partiality. Mata Hari, then, was simply another victim of the Mornet-Bouchardon team.
The whole case was surrounded by ironies. Such was the extent of French spy mania at the time that Ladoux himself was jailed and accused of espionage. The Germans had “burned” Mata Hari in revenge for her faithlessness to them. Once she was dead, however, the Germans made great propaganda capital out of the French execution of an innocent woman from a neutral country. Rudolph MacLeod hated his ex-wife, but even he was shocked by her execution.
Misfortune continued to pursue Mata Hari even in death. Her body was unclaimed and went to a French medical school for dissection. Her head was preserved in alcohol and used for medical study as well, but eventually disappeared decades later. Non, Mata Hari’s only surviving child, lived only a few years later than her mother, dying of illness while still a very young woman.
The Mata Hari Legend
Mata Hari’s death was the beginning of her legend as the archetypal female spy. The French did much to propagate this myth, in order to justify her execution. The first biography of Mata Hari in English, by a British intelligence officer named Coulson, was made up largely of sensational stories and allegations and bore little relationship to the facts. For nearly 50 years, such stories were universally accepted and repeated, even in otherwise reliable histories of intelligence and espionage.
In recent decades, however, the truth of Mata Hari’s life and espionage career has been gradually uncovered. In the 1960’s, the Dutch author Sam Waagenaar published a biography based on Mata Hari’s own surviving papers, interviews with those who had known her since her schooldays, and other primary sources. Waagenaar was the first to cast doubt on the image of Mata Hari as a superspy. In 1985, author Russell Warren Howe finally got the French government to open its files on Mata Hari. The flimsiness of the French case was thus revealed. In recent years, Julie Wheelwright and Toni Bentley have placed Mata Hari and her career in proper historical context. For such writers, many of whom are feminists, Mata Hari is a wronged woman and even something of a heroine, a victim of wartime hysteria and sexual repression. Leon Schirmann has organized a campaign to clear her name, and an international society for that purpose now exists. Mata Hari, once a scandal to her home town of Leeuwarden, has become a leading tourist attraction there and a statue of her now stands in the town square. A recent exhibition on her life at the Friesmuseum in Leeuwarden was opened by Xaviera Hollander, the Dutch-born prostitute of “Happy Hooker” fame. The Amsterdam Sex Museum now features an animatronic semi-nude figure of Mata Hari.
The innaccuracy of the historical record allowed the mass media of popular culture free rein to distort Mata Hari’s life even further. Novels, plays, musicals, and operas have been written about her. Numerous films and television series have been made of her life.
In the James Bond pastiche “Casino Royale”, Joanna Pettet played Mata Bond, supposedly the daughter of Mata Hari and Agent 007.
In the “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” episode “Paris, October 1916”, the films “Demons of Deception” and “Flirting with Danger - The Fantasy of Mata Hari”, and novel “The Mata Hari Affair”; Mata Hari gives the young Indy his first sexual experience.
The comic book writer and graphic novelist Alan Moore is fascinated by Mata Hari, who makes several appearances in his work. Mata Hari is a main character in the steampunk graphic novel series “Alter Nation”.
In the “Andromeda” episode “Star-Crossed” Harper uses the comparison of Mata Hari to a ship’s avatar who is used as an unwilling spy and saboteur.
In the “M.I. High” episode “The League of Mata Hari” the name Mata Hari is used for an espionage/intelligence social club. The name is telling as the arrests are used to imprison the loyal agents and provide credibility to the enemy’s double agents.
She has been featured in several video games.
A bogus “Diary of Mata Hari” has become something of a pornographic classic. Nearly all fictional depictions of Mata Hari portray her simply as the typical femme fatale. To this day, to call a woman a “Mata Hari” evokes a traditional stereotype.
Most recently, the British filmmaker Martha Fiennes has announced plans for a film of Mata’s life starring the American stripper Dita Von Teese.
Appearance and Personality
Mata Hari was not a classic beauty by the standards of her own day, lacking the fine features and pale complexion then favored by popular taste. The many photographs of her, however, show that she was indeed a strikingly handsome woman. Her dark eyes were particularly expressive, and in some images she looks very Asian. Mata Hari was a tall (5’ 9” or 5’ 10”), dark-haired woman with a classic hourglass figure: narrow waist, wide hips, and long, strong legs. She usually wore her hair up, though she sometimes let it down or braided it. On rare occasions, she may have bleached her hair blonde. Mata Hari seems to have been rather sensitive about her breasts. She usually kept her breasts covered with a “cache-sein” (a thinly padded bra), even while having sex and in performances where she was otherwise nude. She claimed that her ex-husband had bitten off her nipples in a fit of jealous rage, but this was untrue. The doctor who examined her body after her execution said that her breasts were ugly, but a former lover denied this strongly, insisting that Mata Hari had “quality breasts”. One official French Army document described her breasts as “heavy”. Mata Hari danced bare-breasted more than once, and her topless performance as Salome in 1912 brought her great acclaim. Her breasts may not have been ideal according to some standards, but more probably she knew that concealing a small part of the body while exposing the rest had an exciting effect. Exotic dancers today still observe the same principle.
Mata Hari put on a little weight in her last years, but she still wore clothes elegantly. More importantly, she never lost the powerful sexual magnetism that had been hers from the beginning. The fact that she could find and keep a lover as young and handsome as Masloff is testimony to this. As a man who knew her well said, “she was “a personality”“.
Mata Hari in her Own Words
Mata Hari’s strong character was evident in her words. She was a good writer with a beautiful hand, composing her own advertising copy. Mata Hari was also well spoken, and excelled at charming and deceiving interviewers and reporters. Much of what she said and wrote was done with the tongue in the cheek. She had a sharp wit and a gift for making memorable phrases, as the following quotes show:
On her life: “Remember that all my life as a woman, I have lived as Mata Hari, that I think and act as such, that I have lost all notion of travel, distances, dangers, nothing exists for me...I lose--I win--I defend myself when someone attacks me--I take when someone has taken from me”.
On herself: “I am a woman who enjoys herself very much; sometimes I lose, sometimes I win”.
On dance: “The dance is a poem, of which each movement is a word”.
On her own nude dancing: “In my dancing one forgets the woman in me, so that when I offer everything and finally myself to the god--which is symbolized by the loosening of my loincloth, the last piece of clothing I have on--and stand there, albeit for only a second entirely naked, I have never yet evoked any feeling but the interest in the mood that is expressed by my dancing”.
On what she would have done if her act had failed and she had not become a star: “I had a gun ready and my decision was taken”.
On being accused of prostitution and espionage: “Harlot? Yes. Traitoress? Never!”
Mata Hari’s dialogue with Captain Ladoux, when she asked for money to spy for France:
• Ladoux: “You must be very expensive”.
• Mata Hari: “That--definitely!”
• Ladoux: “What do you think you are worth?”
• Mata Hari: “All or nothing!”
On one occasion, Mata Hari danced nude at a women-only lesbian party (see below). During the performance, she discovered that one of the party guests was actually a man dressed as a woman. She chased him from the room with a spear, yelling: “There is an intruder in the house!”
A poem written by the young Margaretha Zelle for a school friend:
• ”If your eyes in reader’s quest,
• Seeking joy among these pages
• Upon this sheet have come to rest,
• Remember that the writer’s best
• Wishes are yours throughout the ages”.
Mata Hari and Lesbianism
Colette wrote that one of Mata Hari’s performances at Barney’s house “brought the male--and a good portion of the female, audience to the limit of decent attention”. The American lesbian writer, Janet Flanner, became a close friend of Barney’s after the war and also talked to many of Barney’s friends who had witnessed Mata Hari’s performances. Of her nude dancing, Flanner said that “The only woman who had that kind of extraordinary style was Mata Hari. “There” was a woman who was equal to any event”. Mata Hari remained part of Barney’s circle, and frequently lunched with Barney and her friends. Barney wore mannish “Amazonian” style dresses, and Mata Hari often wore similar outfits while riding. According to Flanner, Mata Hari got a brand new “Amazonian” dress from Barney just before her execution, and was wearing it when she was shot.
After she was safely dead, Barney, Colette, and Pougy all criticized Mata Hari harshly. They even said that they had never found her attractive. This was a curious assertion indeed, since Mata Hari had performed nude for them 3 times. Unattractiveness would hardly have earned her 2 return engagements at the Barney home.
Mata Hari and Nancy Makuhari
A key character in “Read or Die”, Nancy Makuhari (codename Miss Deep) is a clone of Mata Hari. In the “Read or Die” OVA, Nancy’s true identity is revealed when Ikkyu Sojun, her lover, addresses her as Mata Hari in his broadcast. A list seen earlier in Joseph Carpenter’s hands shows Mata Hari on the list of famous persons whose DNA has been preserved by the Special Operations Division. It is possible that Nancy may have been cloned from a stolen sample of this DNA.
Nancy has many traits in common with Mata Hari. Like Mata Hari, Nancy is an intensely sexual woman with a strong personality. Nancy is outspoken, cynical, deceptive, and unconventional. Beneath this, however, she is romantic and a little sentimental. She is physically and morally brave and can be surprisingly gentle and kind. Mata Hari had the same qualities. Like Mata Hari, Nancy has a self-destructive streak, tends to prefer fantasy to reality, and can be her own worst enemy. Nancy even shares Mata Hari’s enjoyment of fine clothes and dressing up. The two are also similar physically. Both are tall, strong, and dark-haired. Nancy, however, has finer features, reddish instead of dark eyes, and very large breasts.
The alias of Nancy Makuhari is a clue to her real identity. "Makuhari" is a near spelling of "Mata Hari".
Oddly enough, Mata Hari had some Japanese connections. Henri de Marguerie, one of her lovers, was French ambassador to Japan for several years. Baron Kurino, the Japanese ambassador to France, was one of Mata Hari’s biggest fans, though he would certainly have known that her “Asian” dances were inauthentic. He was present at Mata Hari’s public debut in 1905, and in 1908 she gave a private repeat performance for him at the Musee Guimet.
There is controversy in the Read or Die fandom over the question of Nancy’s sexuality. Both Nancies (Nancy 1 and Nancy 2) are lovers of Ikkyu Sojun, and both are willing to kill and die for him. Yet both Nancies also show an intense affection for Yomiko Readman, and this feeling often seems to border on the sexual. On the whole, it seems that Nancy’s leanings in this direction are somewhat stronger.
In some respects, however, Nancy is modeled more on the myth of Mata Hari than on the real person. Mata Hari was a mediocre secret agent, while Nancy is a brilliant secret agent. Mata Hari was seldom violent, but both Nancies are trained killers.
• Toni Bentley, “Sisters of Salome” (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)
• Colette, “My Apprenticeships; and Music-Hall Sidelights” (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979)
• Phillipe Collas, “Mata Hari: Sa Veritable Histoire” (Paris: Plon, 2003)
• Thomas Coulson, “Mata Hari, Courtesan and Spy” (London: Harpers & Brothers, 1930)
• Janet Flanner, “Paris Was Yesterday” (New York: Popular Library, 1972)
• Russell Warren Howe, “Mata Hari, the True Story” (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1986)
• Marijke Huisman, “Mata Hari (1876-1917): De Levende Legende” (Hilversum: Verloren, 1998)
• Julia Keay, “The Spy Who Never Was: The Life and Loves of Mata Hari” (London: Michael Joseph, 1987)
• H.W. Keikes, “Mata Hari” (Den Haag: Kruseman, 1981)
• Fred Kupferman, “Mata Hari, Songes et Mensonges” (Brussels: Editions Complexe, 1982)
• Jean-Marc Loubier, “Mata Hari: La Sacrifiee” (Paris: Acropole, 2000)
• Christine Lueders, “Apropos Mata Hari” (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Neue Kritik, 1997)
• Axel Madsen, “The Sewing Circle: Hollywood’s Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women” (Secaucus (NJ): Carol Publishing Group, 1995)
• Erika Ostrovsky, “Eye of Dawn: the Rise and Fall of Mata Hari” (New York: Macmillan, 1978)
• Tammy M. Proctor, “Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War” (New York: New York University Press, 2003)
• Suzanne Rodriguez, “Wild Heart, a life: Natalie Clifford Barney’s Journey from Victorian America to Belle Epoque Paris” (New York: Ecco, 2002)
• Leon Schirmann, “Mata Hari: Autopsie d’une Machination” (Paris: Italiques, 2001)
• Pat Shipman, “Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari” (New York: HarperCollins, 2007)
• Diane Souhami, “Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho and Art: the lives and loves of Natalie Barney and Romaine Brooks” (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2004)
• Jean-Pierre Turbergue, ed., “Mata Hari: Le Dossier Secret du Conseil de Guerre” (Paris: Italiques, 2001)
• Sam Waagenaar, “Mata Hari” (New York: Appleton Century, 1964, 1965)
• Richard M. Watt, “Dare Call It Treason” (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963)
• Julie Wheelwright”,The Fatal Lover: Mata Hari and the Myth of Women in Espionage” (London: Collins & Brown, 1992)
• George Wickes, “Amazon of Letters: the life and loves of Natalie Barney” (New York: Putnam, 1976)
• Theodore Zeldin, “France, 1848-1945: Ambition and Love” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973, 1979)
• ”France, 1848-1945: Taste and Corruption” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977, 1980)
External Links
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The concept of the waystation could be extended from cislunar
space to Mars or elsewhere in the solar system, as needed.
(credit: J. Strickland)
Cislunar transportation: the space trucking system
by John K. Strickland
Monday, January 21, 2013
All along our interstate and other major roads, we have truck stops designed to service and refuel large trucks. The space equivalent we really need is the waystation.
Many people wonder what all the fuss is all about when they keep hearing the phrase “cislunar architecture.” Many of us are using the phrase to refer to what is essentially a space trucking system, with the equivalent of truck stops and cargo loading yards (freight terminals). Lets use the trucking analogy to explain what we are talking about.
You do not use an expensive truck to carry a load just a single time, and then immediately send the truck to the junkyard to be scrapped. Trucking businesses could not operate this way. Some truck cab and trailer combinations today are probably worth close to a quarter million dollars new. Some cabs alone are close to $100,000 used. Most of the current rockets used today cost over $100 million, so large rockets can be up to 1,000 times more valuable than a tractor-trailer, yet all of them smash into the ocean or desert and become scrap metal after just one flight.
For rockets that take off from the ground, one obvious way to allow re-use is for them to land on the ground intact. SpaceX and some other companies are trying to do just that. Quite a few rockets have now accomplished short flights and landed again safely. Without wings, the landings must be vertical. Re-use with a vertical landing was first done by the DC-X at White Sands on September 11, 1993.
For rocket vehicles in space, the problem is different. We do not want to bring the vehicle back to the ground to refuel, since it is extremely costly to get it up into space in the first place. Once it is in orbit, we want to be able to re-use that vehicle in space over and over again.
However, there is currently no fuel supply or “space gas station” in space where such a vehicle could refuel. After all, what good is a truck without fuel? What good would the Interstate routes be without gas stations? When we refer generically to space “fuel”, we usually mean two propellants: a real combustible fuel such as hydrogen or kerosene, and an oxidizer like oxygen.
Read more: The Space Review: Cislunar transportation: the space trucking system.
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Birthplace: Mistmantle Island
Family: Juniper
You have always be my son. - Damson
- And you are my mum! - Juniper
Damson was a female squirrel and Juniper's foster mother.
Unlike most squirrels who lived in Anemone Wood, Damson's home was by a waterfall far from Mistmantle Tower. It was by the waterfall and streams that she singlehandedly raised Juniper. Consequently, Juniper grew up mostly among otters instead of squirrels, and he became an excellent swimmer and stone skimmer. Not having any offspring, Damson had been widowed when her husband died in a storm.
At the time, she lived by a rocky cliff and it was there that she befriended Spindrift, Juniper's biological mother. Spindrift's family had also died in the storm. Damson remembers Spindrift as pretty, dark-furred and sweet-natured, but too trusting. When Damson first met her, Spindrift was pregnant, living alone and waiting for her husband to come for her. Damson remembers when Juniper was born, he was a beautiful baby who was very much like his mother. On the night that Spindrift's husband finally came for her, Damson heard the cries of an infant, sounds on the cliff and a scream. Curious, she went to investigate and saw a figure place something in a boat and pushing the boat out on the water. The figure kept searching the shore until it found something, picked it up and threw it into the sea.
After the figure left, Damson hurried down the cliff to the shore and found baby Juniper in the water. She rescued him and brought him home. As a result of falling down the cliff with his mother and then being thrown into the sea to drown, Juniper's hind paw got twisted and he would walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Damson let Juniper believe he was born that way and never told him about that fateful night until many years later. Out of fear and because she couldn't identify the murderer, Damson did not tell anyone what she had witnessed. She knew Spindrift's husband had pushed her down the cliff, placed her body in a leaky boat and tried to murder their baby, but she still didn't know who the murderer was.
When Captain Husk wed Lady Aspen many years later and all the Mistmantle animals attended the wedding ceremony, Damson finally realised that Husk was the murderer, Spindrift's husband and Juniper's father, all in one. Damson did not have the heart to tell Juniper that his own father had killed his mother and left him orphaned and crippled. She kept the truth from him and it was a burden that she carried for the rest of her days until her deathbed, when she finally confessed her secret to Juniper.
Damson - who was a childless widow and already old when she found the injured and abandoned infant squirrel - decided to shelter and raise Juniper herself. She brought him up in secrecy in a remote area so that his existence could be safeguarded, especially during the days of culling. Damson became the mother Juniper never knew, and he became the son she never had before. She devoted herself to caring for him and keeping him safe, and he in turn was devoted to her, particularly in her old age. They shared a special bond and the strength, depth and tenderness of this bond is described in Book 3. Damson was especially pleased and proud that Juniper had turned out well and would soon become a priest of Mistmantle.
In Book 3, Damson succumbed to the fouldrought epidemic and died after telling Juniper about his origins. Her last gift to Juniper was an oatmeal colored priest's tunic that she had been secretly sewing for his ordination as a priest. She became ill and died before she could finish the garment and there is an unfinished pattern of juniper berries on one shoulder. Needle, Thripple and Sepia had wanted to complete the tunic for Juniper but decided that the garment should be left just the way Damson had left it upon her death. Juniper wears this tunic and keeps a shawl that belonged to Damson in his room in the highest turret in Mistmantle Tower.
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William Lyon Mackenzie King
AS NOTED TO THE RIGHT, The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, said in a radio address, August 2, 1935, while campaigning to become Prime Minister:
"Wow! That's quite a statement. He talks about 'the issuance of currency and credit' as being 'the MOST conspicuous and sacred responsibility' of government."
"Yes, King recognized that. He nationalized the Bank of Canada in 1938-- for that very reason! He knew what he was doing.
The Government of Canada is the single shareholder of the Bank of Canada: that is, it's our Bank!
Initially, the Bank of Canada was used to the advantage of Canadians for 35 years, from about 1938 to 1973, during which time many Canadian projects were completed, government debt was manageable, robust social programs were developed, and jobs were a-plenty. Many feel it was the best 35 years of the 20th century..."
"So what happened? Why don't we still conduct our government operations like that?"
"Good question..."
Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation.
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Thursday, 30 June 2011
Facebook: An Ugly Stupid Service
... designed to teach you to systematically undervalue your privacy.
Author and freedom fighter Cory Doctorow in great form on this subject, censorship, psychology, and education (from TEDxObserver):
Rediscovered this morning at this Boing Boing post - itself inspired by John Scalzi's Whatever.
TEDTalks are distributed under a Creative Commons (CC) licence.
Monday, 27 June 2011
Security Testing Part 4 - Pentests
A Monotone Spectrum
Pentests, short for Penetration Tests, describe the simulation of malicious attacks for the purpose of evaluating a computer system or network's security. These attacks are available in any colour, as long as it's greyscale...
In The Clear
Pentests are quite often clear box (or white box, or full disclosure) attacks, simply because as testers we more often than not have full access to, and complete knowledge of, the infrastructure to be tested. So, why not make best use of this advantage? Such knowledge includes all available information about the internal data structures and algorithms employed, the relevant source code used to implement these, the network diagrams, IP address data, actual passwords, and so on.
Examples of white box testing include:
• API, Fault Injection and Mutation Testing methods.
• Most static testing, e.g., code reviews, inspections and Valkyries (damn autocorrect: I meant walkthroughs); testing where the software isn't actually used. Instead for example, the code may be read, or scanned automatically for syntactic validity.
• Code coverage can only be delivered through white box testing. Without inspecting the source code, there can be no guarantee that any given code path is exercised.
White box methodology is frequently used to evaluate the completeness of test suites created through black box testing methods (see below). This strategy allows the examination of the rarely tested parts of a system, ensuring coverage of the most important function points.
In The Black
Pentests can also of course be black box (also known as blind) tests, where there is assumed to be no prior knowledge of the infrastructure to be tested. As testers, we must first determine the location and extent of the system under test, before commencing analysis. When we use black box penetration testing methods, we are assuming the role of a real, external, black hat hacker, who is trying to intrude into our system without much actual knowledge about it. By contrast - almost literally! - white box testing can be seen as simulating what might happen after a leak of sensitive information, or equivalently, during an "inside job", when the attacker has access to confidential information.
Grey Goo
In between these two extremes, a school of grey box testing has evolved. As the name suggests, these pentests combine aspects of black and white box attacks. The main reason to do this is to provide customised test coverage for various elements in distributed systems. For example, we might use our knowledge of internal data structures and algorithms for the purpose of designing our test cases. Then when it comes to the point of actually executing these tests, we perform them as a normal user, i.e., at a black box level.
A good example of grey boxing is when we modify the content of a data repository, which is not itself part of the delimited system under test. That's not something which a user would normally be able to do, so it can introduce a white box element into an otherwise black box test or attack suite. Another example in a similar vein might be the determination of error message contents, or system boundary values, by reverse engineering.
Note that most instances of input data manipulation and/or output formatting do not qualify as grey box techniques, because by definition, input and output are not part of the system under test. So for example, integration testing between two code modules written by two distinct developers, where only certain interfaces are exposed for test, is still regarded as black boxing.
Careful Now!
Elementary white box penetration testing can often be done automatically, and therefore cheaply. Black box attacks are another matter entirely. Because you are literally attacking a network (often a working production system) blindly, your test activities will inevitably comprise actual security attacks. You will cause denial of service, both intentionally and as a side effect of the stress you put on network response time via vulnerability scanning. At worst, you might cause actual harm to the system, rendering it just as inoperable as had a real black hat attacked. Much of the time and effort required with black box pentests lies in trying not to destroy things, while still reaching deeply enough to expose vulnerabilities.
Pronounced "Awe Stem"
The OSSTMM, or Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual, is both a peer-reviewed security testing, metric measurement and analysis methodology, and a philosophy of operational security. It is a Creative Commons licensed publication of the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM). As such, the encapsulated methodology, covering what / when / where to test, is itself free to use and distribute under the Open Methodology License (OML).
The Manual's primary objective is to create a scientific methodology and metrics for operational security evaluation, based upon test results. It suits most kinds of security audit: penetration tests, ethical hacks, security and vulnerability assessments, and so on. Secondarily it acts as a central reference in all security tests regardless of the size of the organization, technology, or protection, and provides analyst guidelines, enabling a certified OSSTMM audit by assuring:
1. test thoroughness and legal compliance;
2. inclusion of all necessary channels;
3. results quantification, consistency and repeatability; and
4. that factual information is derived exclusively from tests.
According to the ISECOM website, a handbook version of version 3 of the manual will be "available soon".
Part 1 - Overview
Part 2 - Lab Work
Part 3 - The Attack Surface
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Remember EA_Spouse?
Well She Wrote A Book
No, not about the labour practices of a top video games firm in 2004 and beyond. Although that singular LiveJournal article certainly showed, among other things, that the (then anonymous) Erin Hoffman had a terrific talent for certain kinds of writing; EA: The Human Story was nominated for Joel Spolsky's Best Software Essays of 2004.
Subsequent events showed her to be equally determined, single purposed and shit stirring when deciding to embark upon a campaign, to highlight or right a wrong, to raise the profile of an issue she feels is getting brushed under the beanbag. Her forum today holds over 12,000 posts in as many topics, though it seems not to have changed that world; for example, one comment from five years into the project (July 2009) revealed:
They're still doing it. I have a friend who is working 6am to 9pm 7 days a week as his project approaches release.
Despite Riccitiello's assurances otherwise, his middle management is fighting him and refusing to change. They are still paying below-the-poverty-line wages, they still are incapable of figuring out a schedule that doesn't involve abuse of its employees, and they are still playing games with employee classifications to avoid providing full benefits.
I'm in the industry, and if my company ever got acquired by EA, I would quit on the spot. My salary would be cut, my hours increased without compensation, and my work transformed into a bureaucratic mess (I've heard how heavy in middle management EA is). I'd be spending more time filling out useless make-the-managers-look-busy reports and attending endless meetings than coding and documenting. Nothing is worth this price, and people looking to enter the industry need to realize that.
Anyone but EA.
So Not About That Then
So no, like I said, the book's not actually about any of that. As you might more reasonably have guessed, Sword of Fire and Sea - subtitled The Chaos Knight, Book One - is a fantasy, written by one "obsessed with hidden truths, and the responsibility involved in uncovering them." Main character Captain Vidarian Rulorat is the last surviving member of his family. Obligated to an allegiance with the High Temple of Kara'zul by his great-grandfather's abdication of imperial commission (for love of a fire priestess, no less), Vidarian struggles to resolve the conflicts between the real world of his family legacy, and Andovar's hidden and morally ambiguous history.
One of the things drawing me towards this title, in addition to its glowing reviews by multiple Hugo Award winning SF/F novelists ("Read it and be swept away" says Allen Steele), is its length. Or rather, the dearth of it. Erin has made the very deliberate choice to keep it succinct. Short novels, she says, are rare in fantasy these days. She loves the short form, and obviously hopes many others secretly do too. From her Big Idea piece via John Scalzi:
I want to get in, get euphoric, and get out, without getting bogged down in lengthy genealogy records or endless hikes across Mordor.
Available to preorder at
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Computer Museum (2)
Peek And Poke
Technology Caught Evolving
No Peripheral Vision
Previously: Computer Museum (1)
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Sonny Marvello
Update 16 December 2011
This post has been removed.
Update 7 January 2012
On the other hand, the band's offensive remarks haven't yet been removed from Facebook, and are still publicly viewable. I guess it does no further harm to repeat them here:
Friday, 17 June 2011
Prog Rock & Metal News
Read All Around It
Most mornings, Google News is your excellent first stop shop for all that's happened in the night. The exception is Sunday, when nothing lighter than the dead tree edition of The Sunday Times will satisfy (online access not required, thanks). Truth is, I would still buy that weekly hundredweight of paper if everything except Dan Cairns's new music reviews got blacked out.
For all those other, lesser days of the week, the customizability of the Google News U.K. page* ensures there's always more than enough news, knowledge and gossip on tap. The important step is that customization. My own choice of standard sections, given geography and blogging interests, holds no surprises: World, U.K., Scotland, Glasgow, Sci/Tech, Physics, Astronomy, Space, Computer Security, Video Games, Entertainment, and Rock Music.
If you haven't personalised your Google News page yet, use the Add a section link at the top right to find and add news categories that interest you, and the Edit this page link to organise these, or to delete those of no interest. I'll never forget that enlightened day when my whole life, well my Google News experience anyway, improved tenfold as I finally got rid of those toxic default Business, Sports, Health and Spotlight pages.
The Lost Chord
But there's one more, essential category of update you won't want to be without. I speak obviously of the latest events in the world of progressive metal music. None of the standard supplied pages can quite satisfy the exacting criteria of this specific thirst for knowledge. Despair not, fellow geek headbangers, I bring you good news! Literally. I mean I've created a suitable custom section, based on the simple query "prog rock, progressive metal", which teases out of the Googleplex, just the optimum mixture of attention worthy, classic and modern, metal, prog, and their bastard offsprogs.
On the Add a section page under Search for sections, type progressive metal and hit Search. You should return just one result, titled Prog Rock & Metal; that's my page. Here's a link to its current content:
Never a week goes by without at least one or two interesting developments popping up here, which I haven't yet seen elsewhere. And the page is currently enjoying a great surge in popularity! Last time I checked, I think there were a total of approximately four subscribers. Wow! Clearly this is a phenomenon whose something something now! And just imagine: you can be subscriber number five. That's right, I'm letting you in on the ground floor of this unique opportunity.
You're welcome.
* Actually the BBC News site gets roughly equal time; public service output is an excellent antidote to filter bubbling.
Update (July 18): Yes, in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, my entire extended family and I have now joined the inevitable total boycott of all News International publications. But to my shame, I should have done this many years ago. But for all its faults, crimes, and abuses, still there's nothing out there to approach the quality of The Sunday Times when it's good. Trouble is, we can no longer determine when those times are, and when by contrast, it is being controlled - nay, written - by organised criminals. My Secondary English teacher Mrs Abraitis once enjoined us all to commit to this, then venerable, paper; and as many a raped choirboy might attest, such formative imperatives often cast long shadows.
Today I can only hope that Dan Cairns will move his musical journalism expertise quickly elsewhere.
Monday, 13 June 2011
A Fortuitous Juxtaposition
RSS readers will have missed the coincidence of expression in my Technology sidebar today, where these two articles from different Microsoft blogs collided:
Nice to know the Key to Success at Microsoft is not something that you need to steal.
A Really Good 4096-bit AES Key Service
Where Do I Sign?
Sorry, there's just no such thing. Oh it exists in principle, yes. In theory. In Plato's universe of ideals, yes, you can buy them there. Pick them up for free, in fact. But as Robert X. Cringely (who is not a spy) explains in the article When Engineers Lie, "Build a really good 4096-bit AES key service and watch the Justice Department introduce themselves to you."
Bob also answers the perennial question about architectural secrecy: why is it needed at all, if 1024- or 2048-bit codes really would take thousands of years to crack? Isn’t the encryption, combined with a hard limit on login attempts, good enough? The answer is no. Part of the explanation is that the U.S. government insists on nobbling the key services of every provider - RSA, Cisco, Microsoft, just everybody - to ensure they're sufficiently insecure, to enable snooping. The cost of noncompliance is, of course, jail.
For the obligatory silver lining, Bob points to IPv6 and Open Source, which he reckons "are beginning to close some of those security doors that have been improperly propped open." Go read his article at I, Cringely to find out why.
V For Vendetta
Recently this little blog hasn't been doing its job, of reporting on the latest big security breaches, how they were done, whodunnit, and to whom. Quite simply there have been far too many; an almost unprecedented number of successful attacks, on a scale rarely seen previously. And as I've said before, the media coverage of this phenomenon has been such as to render my monthly Security Digest utterly redundant.
Instead we sit on the sidelines enjoying the mayhem, grumbling agreement with Bob Cringely. Or with Patrick Grey at, who reckons that we - the professional security community - secretly love LulzSec. Patrick's rant is still more entertaining than Bob's, and just as thought provoking, as he laments his ten years of futility, trying to get businesses to see and acknowledge the potential for chaos which LulzSec is now so ably demonstrating, and which is gradually earning the reluctant respect of security researchers:
Not Necessarily the Official SDL Position
Local hero and a familiar name to readers of this blog, Adam Shostack chimes in to express reluctant, or guarded, agreement. In his article Are Lulz Our Best Practice? he confides that he takes "a certain amount of pleasure in watching LulzSec. Whoever’s doing it are actually entertaining, when they’re not breaking the law. And even sometimes when they are."
In prescribing the way out of our present troubles, Adam returns to the main point being made by Bob in the first article above. Salvation lies in admitting the breaches that do occur, talking about them and about the wider world of security openly, transparently and honestly.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Seven Seas of Rhye
Wouldn't exactly call myself a Queen fan.
Commercially, they had some spectacular ups; some surprising, and some predictable, downs. Theatrically, they were always sans pareil. Lyrically of course, Freddie never stopped improving for all of his life. But musically speaking, seriously, I don't think they ever bettered this song. The rolling sixth beloved of all forms of popular music, and equally overused in them all, gets a twist in the opening piano arpeggio. Verse lengths are permuted by variations in the end pause (and one minor deviation). An excursion into the subdominant bridge resolves almost too smoothly into the tonic return. And the ingenious, percussive meter of the final verse alone is worth the ticket price.
Saw them play this in Glasgow in 1973, when they supported Mott The Hoople. They got encored - while Ian Hunter, exiting stage right, had to beg for theirs! That tour was the very first, the last, the only time Queen played support for anyone.
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Simple Regex #3½: Balancing Groups
Undo Revisited
I've been taken to task for failing to provide a Regex-based solution to the problem in the previous article of this series, namely, removal of backtracked elements from a path. One correspondent even left a comment containing the missing Regex solution! Another complained that my I/O path specific .Net workaround would be zero help to someone just happening upon my article, maybe while researching some other aspect of the underlying patterns.
It's a fair cop, and the only way to salvage even a wee bit of reputation is to provide a full explanation of the proposed Regex solution. In mitigation, the proposed mechanism (Balancing Group Definitions, described below) is also unique to the .Net implementation of Regex. But hey, I'm only the piano player...
This is one of those curious cases where the attempt to generalise the problem reveals a simplifying hidden structure. The first underlying pattern mentioned above is the Undo (or sometimes the Delete) pattern. Consider the original example:
The entire midsection "\client\forms\..\.." is redundant; we'd like to delete such missteps, obtaining a "normalised" answer such as
Consider the operating system's behaviour as it attempts to follow the original verbose path. It acts like a finite state machine. Each time it encounters a subdirectory name, like \client or \forms, it enters that subdirectory. Each time it encounters the parent token \.. it reverses back out of the most recently entered subdirectory.
But look what happens when we replace the phrases subdirectory name with letter, and parent token with backspace. Now the problem can be seen to be completely analogous with that of correcting a typed word.
A Typo Processor
Let's use the # symbol to represent the pressing of the backspace key. Then our new problem is to take an input comprising a sequence of letters and # symbols, and parsing it, recover the correctly typed word. For example, if I misspell yield as yeild but correct the mistake manually before completing the word, then the input string (the received sequence of keystrokes) might be yei##ield, and the required output is, of course, yield.
The pattern that our Typo Detector has to detect is: a number (one or more) of # symbols, immediately preceded by exactly that same number of letters. This then is the pattern - in the example case, ei## - that must be removed, in order to, erm, yield the corrected word.
Following the naive reasoning of the original article, we might try using something like \w# (one "word" character, followed by a backspace token) to match the typo pattern. And just as before, this fails in the second simplest test case (the ei## of the previous paragraph). What we need is \w\w## to match that case. But then we also need \w\w\w### to detect the case where three consecutive mistyped characters are corrected. And so on. In fact what we need is approximated by the pseudopattern
where n cannot be specified in advance, but
• is greater than zero, and
• represents the same number in both positions.
Actually, we want even more than that. What about cases where I make a mistake while correcting a previous typo? For example yei#i##ield. Ideally we'd also like permuted edit patterns like this one, \w\w#\w##, extracted as entire single units. Unbelievably, this functionality is readily provided by the Microsoft proprietary Regex extension known as...
The Balancing Group Definition
But first, let's revise the Group concept from the ground up. Groups are simply added to a Regex by surrounding any pattern subexpression in parentheses. For example, the pattern
not only matches any BT landline number in Glasgow, but also allows the central three-digit exchange code to be retrieved conveniently as a group for use elsewhere. These anonymous groups are retrieved by numerical index, which can quickly get a bit too fiddly for comfort.
The next level of usability is the named group. The prefix ? within a group introduces its name, which should be enclosed in either apostrophes or angle brackets. For example, the pattern
0141(?'exchange' \d{3})\d{4}
allows retrieval of the three-digit exchange group by name. And we are nearly there. Because it's an interesting implementation detail about groups, and in particular named groups, that they are pushed on to a stack as they are identified. This means that they can also be popped off. If we can push a group for each word character typed, pop one for each backspace token, and determine when the stack becomes empty, then we can detect all redundant groups in the input stream.
The balancing group definition will delete ("pop") a previous group, and replace it ("push") with the interval between the previously defined group and the current group. Syntactically, we append the previous group name to the current one, using a hyphen for separation. So it looks like this:
(?'curr-prev' subexpression)
The current group name curr is optional, since nothing says that all groups have to be named. The previous group name prev is mandatory; we do need some way of referring to it, since we're about to pop it.
Here is the magic pattern:
Since it detects an erroneous word character which is subsequently deleted, it begins naturally enough with \w( and ends with )#. Hey this is easy! Now look at the first interior pattern, west of the asterisk:
This is saying a couple of things:
• If there's another word character \w then push a new group, which we call N.
• Otherwise if there's a backspace token # then pop the most recent group named N.
The asterisk allows this process to happen any number of times, including zero. This corresponds to typing some characters, deleting a few, typing some more, and so on. Penultimately, east of the asterisk and just prior to the final #, we find another expression:
This is a trick! If there are still undeleted word character groups on the stack, i.e. an N that hasn't yet been popped, this construction forces a match against the pattern (?!) about which all we need know is that it will fail. Well okay, it's called an expressionless negative lookahead, if you really must know everything! Otherwise so long as the final # appears, we have found a wholly redundant segment.
Back To The Path
If in our magic pattern we now replace \w with a pattern for a subdirectory name, such as \\\w+, and if we further replace # with the parent directory pattern \\\.\. throughout, then we transform it into the path normalizer that was the subject of the original article. The details are horrendous, because filesystem subdirectory names can contain other than word characters, including dots. We have to exclude \.. from these, and \. requires even more special handling. Nevertheless we have solved the fundamental problem of applying Regex here, and as it so happens that all of my subdirectory names were well behaved and dotless in any case, this solution would have worked for me.
Further Generalisation
The Undo/Delete pattern itself represents a simple subset of the problems that these Regex Grouping Constructs are capable of solving. Refer to the MSDN Regex topic on the applicability of Balancing Group Definitions for a complete guide to applying these constructs in any given recursively nested construct parsing context, such as matching parentheses, opening and closing brackets, quotation marks, mathematical expressions, or lines of program code containing multiple nested calls (most of which cannot be parsed in Regex implementations other than the .Net one).
Though be warned, the expository technical language used over there assumes at least some familiarity with the domain of abstract formal languages. Perhaps a better, more gentle introduction to balancing groups can be found in either of these articles:
Update (20 June 2011): I was going to share my .NET Regex Tester online with you, before I noticed that Derek Slager's is, in his own words, better... so, here's a link to his:
Good luck!
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
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June 24, 2012
God of Wine Part II: The Church of Bacchus
In the year 1820, Ephraim Lyon of Eastford, Connecticut came up with a surprising idea: he decided to found a church dedicated to Bacchus, the god of wine.
The temperance movement was starting to gain influence at this time, so perhaps Ephraim's religious revelation was in reaction to the movement's anti-alcohol messages. Whatever the reason, Ephraim took his calling seriously. As the History of Windham County, Connecticut notes,
The rest of the church's membership was composed of those who "used intoxicating liquids to excess." Members didn't need to apply, and Ephraim didn't ask permission before adding someone to the church's membership list. Instead, he added a new member's name whenever he learned of someone who had been drinking heavily. Eventually, the Church of Bacchus had more than 1,000 members, both male and female, in its congregation. The only way to be removed from Ephraim's list was to go on the wagon.
Unfortunately because of the growing temperance movement many of the church's members didn't want their names on the list, and asked Ephraim to be removed. He refused. The requests became threats, but still Ephraim refused. Fearing for life and property, Ephraim's wife finally burned her husband's list, but he recreated it from memory and hid it someplace secure. It was rumored that he shared the list only with an inner circle of church deacons derived from Windham County's most zealous drinkers.
A Roman sarcophagus decorated with a Bacchic scene.
Despite threats and being socially ostracized, Ephraim maintained his devotion to the god of wine until his death in 1840. The deacons and other devout Bacchants memorialized his life with plenty of strong liquor and merrymaking. Ephraim claimed that "members who died in full membership were said to go the Bacchanalian revels of their patron god," so I hope he's happy somewhere with a big glass of wine in his hand.
Was Ephraim Lyon serious about his church? Did he really believe in Bacchus as the god of wine? I suppose it's impossible to say. Maybe he was just protesting against the temperance movement, or perhaps it was just all an elaborate joke.
I do wonder, though, if a joker would risk his life and his home the way Ephraim did. And Ephraim's statements about the afterlife match what the ancient followers of Bacchus believed. Perhaps he did receive a genuine divine revelation, even if it was a drunken one. As I noted in last week's post, Windham County did have a history of encounters with Bacchus.
I got this information from David Philips Legendary Connecticut (2001) and History of Windham County, Connecticut (1889) by Richard Bayles.
June 17, 2012
God of Wine Part I: The Windham Bacchus
One of the archetypal images of New England is the white steepled church standing next to the town common. These churches can be seen all over the region, and are a testament to early settlers' devotion to Christianity.
Sometimes, though, a little bit of paganism crept in, as this story illustrates.
On June 10 in the year 1776 the British ship Bombrig was captured by American naval forces in Long Island Sound. Four of the ship's crew were sent to a crude jail in Windham, Connecticut.
The four men were Edward Sneyd, the ship's commander; John Coggin, the ship's Irish boatswain, who supervised the deck crew; John Russell, the ship's carpenter; and a fourth sailor named William Cook. Although the men were not tortured or particularly mistreated, prisons and jails in the 18th century were grim places where prisoners were confined in small, poorly ventilated cells and fed poorly.
Luckily for the sailors, the owner of a tavern on the other side of Windham's Green (the town common) took pity on them and provided them with good food and plenty of alcohol. Very little is known about the owner except her name - Widow Carey. Who Mr. Carey was and how he passed away is unknown. History is also mute about why she acted so charitably towards the prisoners, but it doesn't take much imagination to guess why a lonely woman might be drawn to four needy sailors. Some people just love a man in uniform!
To repay Widow Carey's charity the sailors asked their wardens for a large log, which they were given. Using just their jackknives they carved from it an image of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine.
The Windham Bacchus
Roughly two feet tall, the Windham Bacchus portrays the god as a naked chubby man astride a keg of wine. Bacchus holds a bowl of grapes and apples in front of his unmentionables, and he has chubby cheeks and a big smile. Widow Carey accepted the carving from the sailors and mounted it in front of her tavern.
In November the sailors escaped from Windham's jail and made their way to Norwich, Connecticut, where they stole a canoe. While paddling their way towards Long Island, the canoe capsized and Sneyd, Russell and Cook drowned. John Coggin survived but was recaptured.
The sailors met a grim fate, but their masterpiece lived on. Widow Carey kept it in front of her tavern for many years, until she married another tavern owner and moved it to his establishment. From there Bacchus was sold in 1827 to Lucius Albee, who ran the Staniford House tavern. Albee hung Bacchus from a giant elm tree, where it remained for many years until a large storm blew the sculpture down, breaking one of its arms. After languishing in a woodshed Bacchus was purchased for twenty-five cents, repaired, and celebrated as an iconic image from the Revolutionary War. You can now see it (or should I say him?) in the Windham Free Library.
I like to read about ancient Greco-Roman religion, so this story made my antennas perk up. I don't know much about the history of New England taverns, but it's interesting that tavern owners in Puritan-founded Connecticut would exhibit a statue of a pagan god. It's also interesting how the historical events surrounding the carving parallel ancient Bacchic myths and rituals.
Bacchus is the Roman name for Dionysos, the primordial god of wine and ecstasy. It makes sense for him to be associated with a tavern, but what about those British sailors? Dionysos was associated with water and the sea, and in some Greek rituals a statue of the god was pulled through the streets in a wagon shaped like a ship. In many myths Dionysos seeks refuge in the sea from his oppressors, and also emerges from it to triumph over his enemies. In one famous myth, Dionysos is kidnapped by sailors who want to sell him into slavery. He transforms them into dolphins and they leap into the sea.
Dionysos was also associated with trees and even was addressed as Dionysos Dendrites ("Dionysos of the Trees"). Paintings from Greece show people worshiping his image attached to a tree, and he also guarded orchards. It's only fitting that Lucius Albee hung him from an elm.
Unfortunately there is a dark side to many of Dionysian myths. People who introduced his worship into an area or city often died by drowning, much like the sailors. For example, Dionysos taught Icarius of Athens to make wine, but Icarius was drowned in a well by drunken shepherds who erroneously thought he poisoned them. As an infant Dionysos was nursed by his aunt Ino, but she was driven mad by the jealous goddess Hera and drowned herself and her son Melicertes in the sea. At the god's sanctuary in Lerna a lamb was thrown into an allegedly bottomless lake as an offering to underworld deities.
Was there some supernatural or divine force at work in 18th century Windham? I don't want to speculate too much. After all I don't want to sound too paranoid. Maybe historic events just sometimes follow ancient mythic patterns.
On the other hand, there was an actual Bacchus cult in Windham County in the 19th century. But that's my post for next week!
I got my information from History of Windham County, Connecticut (1889) by Richard Bayles, and The Story of Bacchus (1876) by Brigham Payne, William Lawton Weaver, and Samuel Peters.
June 11, 2012
Noah Webster and His Wife
Did you ever wonder why Americans spell the word "color" one way, while the British spell it "colour?"
There are lots of ways American spellings differ from the British: center vs. centre, theater vs. theatre, wagon vs. waggon, etc. American spellings seem simpler and more intuitive than their British counterparts.
The American versions of these words were codified by Connecticut's own Noah Webster. Webster was born in Hartford in 1758 to a well-off farm family, and was home schooled by his mother in mathematics, music, and spelling (of course). Webster attended Yale and got a law degree, but after floundering around for a while he eventually found his true calling as an educator, opening a school in Goshen and writing a speller, a grammar book, and a reading book for his students.
Webster strongly supported the American Revolution, and carried his political opinions into his educational work. He felt America should be free of European ornamentation and ostentation, so he simplified the spelling of words. Get that letter "u" out of "glamour" and "colour" - it's too showy! His spelling book sold over 15 million copies and created the tradition of spelling bees. He also thought America should be a rational nation, so his grammar book and reading book drew on secular stories rather than the Biblical tales that had been used in schools previously.
In 1825 Webster published An American Dictionary of the English Language, which had taken him fifteen years to compile. An American Dictionary contained 12,000 words which had never appeared in dictionaries before, including common American words like "skunk" and "squash" that had been omitted from British dictionaries.
Noah Webster
Noah Webster clearly had a very impressive intellect, and made an enormous impact on the life of all Americans. As a result, folktales about his life were once very common. They have now mostly disappeared, but David E. Philips includes this one in his wonderful book Legendary Connecticut.
One day Noah's wife Rebecca needed their pretty young maid to run an errand, but she couldn't find her anywhere. Rebecca looked in the kitchen, she looked in the barn, and she looked in the orchard but the maid was nowhere to be seen.
Rebecca Greenleaf Webster
The only room left unchecked was Noah's study. The door was shut, and Rebecca knew this meant her husband was hard at work on some intellectually strenuous project. The errand was urgent, though, so she quietly opened the door to her husband's study to see if the maid was inside.
She was, and Noah was passionately kissing her.
Rebecca cried out, "Noah, I'm so surprised!"
Noah turned to his wife, and always eager to demonstrate his masterful vocabulary said, "I beg to differ with you, my dear. I am surprised. You are astonished."
Neither tradition nor Legendary Connecticut record Rebecca's reply, but I'm sure many of her words were of the four-letter kind.
June 03, 2012
Raising Hell
Did you ever want to summon Satan? You know, maybe become rich and famous overnight without any hard work? Just make sure you read the fine print on that contract Old Scratch is handing you...
Apparently it's not that hard to call up the Devil. According to Clifton Johnson's book What They Say in New England, if you simply say the Lord's Prayer backwards the Devil will appear. I don't know if this charm really works, and I'm not going to experiment.
This superstition appears in other New England lore, like the story about two young ladies looking for love who accidentally summon a demon. I don't think it originated in New England, though, since similar beliefs are found around the world. For example, in Newfoundland saying the Lord's Prayer in reverse will summon a terrible hag that gives your enemy nightmares, while Scotsmen who want to meet the Devil trace a circle of chalk and recite the Pater Noster backwards.
It's a belief that has persisted into the present, as a quick search of the Internet will show. It's also related to the Satanic music scares of the 1970s and 1980s when rock stars allegedly backwards messages into their music. Even as late as 1991 a band with the charming name Cradle of Filth put a backwards Lord's Prayer on an album.
In his classic of 1970s occultism, Mastering Witchcraft, Paul Huson recommends reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards as the first step to becoming a witch or warlock. Not that it will really summon Satan, Huson claims, but rather it will clear the nouveau witch of all that pesky Christian conditioning. Huson is obviously skilled in the ways of magic, since he wrote several successful TV shows, including The Colbys, a spinoff of night-time soap opera Dynasty.
The images for today's post were painted by Thomas Deas and John Quidor in the 19th century, and are illustrations for Washington Irving's story "The Devil and Tom Walker." Tom Walker is a greedy Yankee who makes a deal with Satan and becomes Boston's most successful loan and mortgage broker. As you can tell from the paintings things don't end well.
One interesting thing about Irving's story is that Satan is summoned in an abandoned Indian fort in the woodsy wilderness of Brighton, Massachusetts. How our landscape and traditions have changed! These days Brighton is a dense Boston neighborhood full of Boston University and Boston College students, who do their hell-raising primarily with kegs and red plastic Solo cups. | <urn:uuid:e8fe89ea-d302-4dfd-8e02-6773d9187bbb> | 3 | 2.546875 | 0.037057 | en | 0.978475 | http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.it/2012/06/ |
Page last updated at 11:21 GMT, Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Delving into bunker 'bat caves'
Bat workers count a group of the mammals
Bat workers make a count in one of the tunnel networks
A Scottish bat conservation worker has returned from Poland where he helped count bats hibernating in derelict war-time underground bunkers.
John Haddow, from Dunblane, encountered greater mouse-eared bat and bunkerowcy, a group of people who spend weekends in the tunnels.
The bunkers and tunnels provide shelter to tens of thousands of bats, the latest count found a drop in numbers.
Here Mr Haddow throws some light on life inside the Polish bat caves.
Hibernating bats are not easy to find in Scotland, in spite of having some of the largest summer colonies in the UK in Scotland's central belt.
Even the largest bat hibernation sites in the UK rarely reach three figures.
Borders re-drawn
In complete contrast, I visited western Poland in mid-January as part of an international team counting a total of 33,473 bats of 10 different species.
All the more remarkable since 21,581 of these bats belong to one of the largest European species, the greater mouse-eared bat. In the UK there is only a single male of this species known, since he turns up most winters in a disused mine in Sussex.
The hibernation site in Poland is remarkable in many ways. Now known generally as Nietoperek after a village in the area where there is an underground complex of tunnels.
The tunnels connect a series of fortifications at ground level, built by the Germans before World War II as part of the defensive east wall extending from the Baltic Sea to the now Czech Republic along Germany's eastern border.
Sign to Polish bunkers
Tourism poses a threat to the bat habitat
In 1945 Poland's borders were re-drawn by the allies and effectively the whole country shifted westwards.
Nietoperek is now 70km inside Poland, and the villages which had German names have been renamed in Polish.
Sometimes the new name was a translation, so the village that Hitler visited in 1936 to inspect the fortifications, Hochwalde (high wood) became Wysoka (high in Polish).
Other names were just "Polish-ised" including Niepter which became Nietoperek, a remarkable coincidence since it means "little bat" in Polish.
We can be fairly certain that neither Hitler, nor the new occupants of the land, foresaw that these defences would become famous for their bats.
The underground system includes 30km of tunnels extending 10km from north to south, linking a number of ground level defensive bunkers.
Many of the ground level structures have been destroyed, but some are intact and allow entry to the lower levels.
Old farmhouse
Bats must have begun to find their way into the system from the 1950s, but it was not until the 1980s that serious investigation of these bats began.
Although the bats present in winter have been counted since then, annual counts of the whole underground system started in the last decade.
In order to keep disturbance of these bats to a minimum, this happens on one day in mid-January, under a special licence from the Polish government.
This year, a team of 50 led by Dr Tomasz Kokurewicz, a Polish biologist with a long association with Nietoperek, stayed in an old farmhouse in order to carry out the census.
We were divided into 10 teams made up of a mix of Polish, German, Czech, Dutch, Belgian and British.
The first groups left to drive over snow-covered roads at five in the morning and the last returned at eight at night, some people walking up to 15km underground and seeing no daylight that day.
That evening, following a warming meal and a few bottles of Polish beer, the results were compiled, presented and discussed by the assembled team in the farmhouse cellar.
The outcome this year was a surprise, since the total was "only" 33,500, compared with 37,500 in 2008.
It is thought that bats moved into the tunnels in the 1950s
From the year 2000 the count had increased steadily to the highest ever count last year. We have to wait and see if this indicates a real downward trend. January 2009 was very cold, with temperatures locally down to -24C.
The last three winters were relatively mild, so perhaps that had some influence on the increases. However, since the temperatures in the underground system remains at a fairly stable 8C the "missing" 4,000 bats are a bit of a mystery.
Nietoperek is recognised as a site of European importance for bats - those wintering there come from as far as 250km away in Germany and Poland.
Because of its history and character, many visitors are attracted for reasons other than bats. This is not a problem in the summer months, but in the winter it is legally closed to visitors.
There is however pressure to officially open up sections for tourism in winter, and then there are the unofficial "bunkerowcy" - bunkermen and women - who like to spend their weekends in the underground.
Since one of the steel grilles barring an entrance had been destroyed in December, many of these bunkermen have visited the tunnels.
I met two of these illegal groups during the census day, about 17 people in all. One group shook hands with us but complained that they had been woken up too early by the "bat people".
However, it is the official winter tourism which is likely to be more of a threat to the hibernating bats, since sections of the system will be visited regularly, and it is known that bats cannot survive the winter if exposed to frequent sounds, lighting and warmth from human bodies.
Currently there are negotiations to find a solution which protects the bats and permits limited and controlled visiting.
Meanwhile, the bunkermen continue to hack and blast their way through any obstacle to their entry to the underground system, and resources have to be found to repair the damage.
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The Paris Hilton Tax
It never ceases to amaze me how people in this country vote and hold positions that are not in their own self interest (Thomas Frank wrote a whole book about it, called What's The Matter With Kansas). One of the reasons for this phenomenon is theat the Republicans have done an outstanding job of renaming things to sound easy to support/oppose. One great example of this is the so-called Death Tax. Death tax? It's ridiculous to tax someone just because they died, you say. I don't want to be taxed when I die, you say. And so you oppose the Death Tax and the Republicans win again.
But wait.
The "Death Tax" is actually the Estate Tax. The Estate Tax affects only the extremely rich, at most the top two percent of incomes in the United States (estates worth over $1 million for individuals, $2 million for couples, $5 million for businesses, and $8 million for farms). The people who "suffer" because of the Estate Tax are not the rich, they are dead, but the children of the rich. Think Paris Hilton. But call it the Death Tax, and suddenly hordes of Americans think it's completely fair for Ms. Hilton to pay no taxes on her inheritance. Believe it or not, things like interstate highways, Medicare, and the military (and the wars it engages in) cost money. If you take away the billions of dollars the Estate Tax raised, that money has to be made up somewhere. Who do you you think is going to pay it? Answer: You. And your kids. And your kid's kids. And why? Because you got snookered by a marketing ploy coined up by Republican strategists. What's going on in this country is a transfer of taxation burden, from the very rich to the middle class. Apparently the middle class is fine with this, because otherwise we'd be marching in the streets.
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Dr Thea’s Diary – Molly
Molly is a three year old Tibetan spaniel. This cool calm and collected small breed originated over 2,500 years ago in the Himalayas, where they were bred to act as watchdogs over the Tibetan monasteries.
Molly’s owner noticed her urine was red so brought her in for a check-up, during which I could feel hard material in her bladder. A digital x-ray confirmed the suspicion of bladder stones, of which there were multiple. Blood tests showed otherwise good health so Molly was scheduled for surgery the following day.
You might think it quite remarkable that Molly had showed no signs of discomfort with such a large burden of ‘uroliths’ on board. Interestingly it is quite common for there to be little or no signs visible to the owner until the stones are sizeable.
The operation to remove them is called a ‘cystotomy’. It involves opening the abdomen and stabilising the bladder before making an incision through the wall of the bladder. Molly had one large urolith and thirteen other smaller ones. An impressive collection!
2Analysis of the stone’s make up is important to understand why they formed and how to prevent them recurring, but his does not happen in NZ. Molly’s stones boarded a plane to Minnesota, USA, where a full analysis was carried out, care of Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Molly’s stones were made of magnesium ammonium phosphate, or ‘struvite’ and are the result of a bladder infection with a particular type of bacteria.
After recovering from her surgery and the appropriate antibiotics, Molly is back to her happy self. With a special urinary support diet and regular check-ups we will try to ensure she does not grow any more of these monsters.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Genetic revisionism
Is it time for a thorough re-evaluation of how the genome is structured and how it operates? Recent work seems to be hinting that that could be so, as I’ve argued in an article in the August issue of Prospect, reproduced below (with small changes due to editing corrections that somehow got omitted). The idea is further supported by very recent work in Nature from Eran Segal at the Weizmann Institute and Jonathan Widom of Northwestern, which claims to have uncovered a kind of genomic code for DNA packing in nucleosomes. I suspect there is much more to come – this latest work already raises lots of interesting questions. Is it time to start probing the informational basis of the mesoscale structure of chromatin, which is clearly of great importance in transcription and regulation? I hope so. Watch this space.
[From Prospect, August 2006, p.14, with minor amendments]
The latest findings in genetics and molecular biology are revealing the human genome, the so-called “book of life”, to be messy to the point of incomprehensibility. Each copy is filled with annotations that change the meaning, there are some instructions that the book omits, the words overlap, and we don’t have a clue about the grammar.
Or maybe we simply have the wrong metaphor. The genome is no book, and the longer we talk about it in that way, the harder it will be to avoid misconceptions about how genes work.
But it’s not just the notion of the genome as a “list of parts” that now appears under threat. The entire central dogma of genetics—that a gene is a self-contained stretch of a DNA molecule that encodes instructions for making an enzyme, and that genetic inheritance works via DNA—is now under revision. It is not that this picture is wrong, but it is certainly incomplete in ways that are challenging the textbook image of how genes work.
Take, for example, the discovery in May by a team of French researchers that mice can show the physiological expression (the phenotype) of a genetic mutation that produces a spotty tail even if they don’t carry the mutant gene. Minoo Rassoulzadegan’s group in Nice found that the spotty phenotype can be induced by molecules of RNA that are passed from sperm to egg and then affect (in ways that are not understood) the operation of genes in the developing organism.
RNA is not normally regarded as an agent of inheritance. It is the ephemeral intermediate in the translation of genetic information on DNA to protein enzymes. According to the standard model of genetics, a gene on DNA is “transcribed” into an RNA molecule, which is then “translated” into a protein. In the book metaphor, the RNA is like a word that is copied from the pages of the genome and sent to a translator to be converted into the “protein” language.
The RNA transcripts are thrown away once they have been translated—they aren’t supposed to ferry genetic information between generations. Yet it seems that sometimes they can. That is profoundly challenging to current ideas about the role of genes in inheritance. It is not exactly a Lamarckian process (in which characteristics acquired by an organism through its interaction with the environment may be inherited)—but it is not consistent with the usual neo-Darwinian picture.
“Inheritance” via RNA is an example of so-called epigenetic variation: a change in an organism’s phenotype that is not induced by a change in its genome. Rassoulzadegan thinks that this offers nature a way of “trying out” mutations in the Darwinian arena without committing to the irreversible step of altering the genome itself. “It may be a way to induce variations quickly without taking the risk of changing primary DNA sequences,” he says. “Epigenetic variations in the phenotype are reversible events, and probably more flexible.” He also suspects they could be common.
There is even evidence that genetic mutations can be “corrected” in subsequent generations, implying that back-up copies of the original genetic information are kept and passed on between generations. This all paints a more complex picture than the standard neo-Darwinian story of random mutation pruned by natural selection.
Epigenetic influences on the development of organisms have been known for a long time. For example, identical twins with the same genomes don’t necessarily have the same physical characteristics or disposition to genetic disease. It’s clear that the influence of genes may be altered by their environment: a study in 2005 showed that differences in the activity of genes in identical twins become more pronounced with age, as the messages in the genome get progressively more modified. These “books” are constantly being revised and edited.
One way in which this happens is by chemical modification of DNA, such as the attachment of tags that “silence” the genes. These modifications can be strongly influenced by environmental factors such as diet. In effect, such epigenetic alterations constitute a second kind of code that overwrites the primary genetic instructions. An individual’s genetic character is therefore defined not just by his or her genome, but by the way it is epigenetically annotated. So rapid genetic screening will provide only part of the picture for the kind of personalised medicine that has been promised in the wake of the genome project: merely possessing a gene doesn’t mean that it is “used.”
Even the basic idea of a gene as a self-contained unit of biological information is now being contested. It has been known for 30 years that a single gene can encode several different proteins: the genetic information can be reshuffled after transcription into RNA. But the situation is far more complex than that. The molecular machinery that transcribes DNA doesn’t just start at the beginning of a gene and stop at the end: it seems regularly to overrun into another gene, or into regions that don’t seem to encode proteins at all. (A sobering 98-99 per cent of the human genome consists of such non-coding DNA, often described as “junk.”) Thus, many RNA molecules aren’t neat copies of genetic “words,” but contain fragments of others and appear to disregard the distinctions between them. If this looks like sloppy work, that may be because we simply don’t understand how the processes of transcription and translation really operate, and have developed an over-simplistic way of describing them.
This is backed up by observations that some RNA transcripts are composites of “words” from completely different parts of the genome, as though the copyist began writing down one word, then turned several pages and continued with another word entirely. If that’s so, one has to wonder whether the notions of copying, translation and books really have much value at all in describing the way genetics works. Worse, they could be misleading, persuading scientists that they understand more than they really do and tempting them towards incorrect interpretations. Already there are disagreements about precisely what a gene is.
In 2002 US scientists reported that the known protein-encoding regions of the genome account for perhaps less than a tenth of what gets transcribed into RNA. It is hard to imagine that cells would bother with the energetically costly process of making all that RNA unless it needed to. So apparently genetics isn’t all, or perhaps even primarily, about making proteins from genetic instructions.“The concept of a gene may not be as useful as it once was”, admits Thomas Gingeras of the biotech company Affymetrix. He suggests that a gene may be not a piece of DNA but a collective phenomenon involving a whole group of protein-coding and non-coding RNA transcripts. Perhaps these transcripts, not genes in the classical sense, are the fundamental functional units of the genome.
Scientists are constantly trying to express what they discover using concepts that are already familiar—not only when they communicate outside their field, but also when they talk among themselves. This is natural, and probably essential in order to gain a foothold on the slopes of new knowledge. But there’s no guarantee that those footholds are the ones that will lead us in the right direction, or anywhere at all. Relativity and quantum mechanics are still, after 100 years, deemed difficult and mysterious, not because they truly are but because we don’t really possess any good metaphors for them: the quantum world is not a game of billiards, the universe is not an expanding balloon and a light beam is not like a bullet train. Genetics, in contrast, looked accessible, because we thought we knew how to talk about information: that it is held as discrete, self-contained and stable packages of meaning that may be kept in data banks, copied, translated. Meaning is constructed by assembling those entities into linear strings organised by grammatical rules. The delight that accompanied the discovery of the structure of DNA half a century ago was that nature seemed to use this model too.
And indeed, the notion of information stored in the genome, passed on by copying, and read out as proteins, still seems basically sound. But it is looking increasingly doubtful that nature acts like a librarian or a computer programmer. It is quite possible that genetic information is parcelled and manipulated in ways that have no direct analogue in our own storage and retrieval systems. If we cleave to simplistic images of books and libraries, we may be missing the point.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Stormy Starry Night
Did Vincent van Gogh have a deep intuition for the forms of turbulence? That's what has been suggested by a recent mathematical analysis of the structure of his paintings. It seems that these display the statistical fingerprint of genuine turbulence – but only when the artist was feeling particularly turbulent himself. Well, maybe – I think that conclusion will have to await a more comprehensive analysis of the paintings. All the same, it is striking that other artists noted for their apparently turbulent canvases, such as Turner and Munch, don't seem to capture this same statistical signature in the correlations between patches of light and shade (I've received an analysis of Turner's stormy Mouth of the Seine, which confirms that this is so). Did van Gogh, then, achieve what Leonardo strove towards in his depictions of flowing water? I'll explore this further in my forthcoming new version of my 1999 book on pattern formation, The Self-Made Tapestry. | <urn:uuid:23081f1e-daac-4f0a-af25-7e9c1ddcd336> | 2 | 2.46875 | 0.051544 | en | 0.96018 | http://philipball.blogspot.com/2006/07/ |
Friday, November 1, 2013
A clinical analysis into the working of man’s faculty of reason
In every discussion and writing of modern man, the word ‘reason’ and logic crops-up at least once. Such is the relevance of our mystery faculty called reason !
But the sad fact is that very few of us are aware of what we really mean by reason and logic. The great book like ‘critique of pure reason’ by Immanuel Kant touched only its reaches and limits, but NOT what reason as such is. When a robber and murderer accuses his colleague for leaving a witness of the crime alive, he too use the terms reason and logic; wasn’t it logical to kill the witness and destroy the evidence before leaving the crime scene? There was no ‘reason’ for leaving the witness unharmed ! For a subatomic particle physicist, it is illogical to apply Newton’s mechanics to track the motion of an electron or any other such particle in his experimental world. The two models of reality are entirely different.
In the above two examples, the context where reason applied was subjective experience fields of the robber and the scientist. It simply bring-out the fallacy in our general assumption that Reason is some-kind of a UNIVERSAL REFERENCE point applicable to every context of inference ! ( the middle premise in syllogism)
What about the logical content in the absolutely general contexts where previous experience does not have any role, such as algebraic equations like; all a,s are b’s, and all b’s are c’s, therefore all a’s are c’s ? Or the universal law of causality that insists, every effect necessarily have a cause ?
Whenever mind comes across any context wherein the ‘logical relation’ is to be determined between any seen or already observed fact or object with an unseen, or unobserved fact or object, exclusively on the strength of the explanation and evidence, we use the services of our faculty of reason to ‘sense’ such 'relation'. Many a times the context comes the way like the law of causality, where there is no reference to the seen or observed to compare with, but the paradigm directly appear demanding the extraction of the ‘sense’, or logic ! Even if there exists no previous analogy ( or a 'universal premise' to check the 'consistency' with, man finds enabled to sense the ‘logic’ content in the paradigm presented before the mind !
Let us take two examples of such context from history of mankind itself, wherein we had arrived at the inevitable necessity of human FREEDOM from man’s ‘self-evident’ , or ‘universal sense of what is right’. First context is American revolution, and the incident is the drafting of ‘ the bill of rights’.We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…such as Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness”.
The second context is the justification for democracy given by historian Thucydides, during Pericles’ funeral address; ‘we are also taught to observe those unwritten laws whose sanction lies only in the universal feeling of what is right’. What is important to note here is reason’s inherent ability to come-out with such universal axioms at times of need. One can not explain such unique features of our faculty of reason without giving them a metaphysical touch. Of course they are not creations of our mind out of past experience. Our new faculty senses such axioms virtually from the blue. This feature of our faculty of reason strongly indicates its inherent role, or probably nature’s own ploy in giving man ultimate moral codes for living better personal life, and devising universal values for ensuring sustainable community lives.
Not only that mind (or more specifically our faculty of reason) is able to detect or sense the ‘order’ or the ‘sense’ content, but it is able to sense the ‘disorder’ factor, or the ‘non-sensible, or the ‘inadequacy of sense’ factor also of the paradigms. For example, modern science, even after gaining reasonable knowledge on all the four known forms of energy, it is certain that it lacks a ‘unified theory’ of all energy forms ! One of the greatest hope of modern science is that it would be able to lay hand on such a unified theory in the near future ! What is that helps man to ‘sense’ such adequacy and inadequacy of reason/sense/order/consistency/unity factor in the paradigms presented before mind ? Won't it straight away points towards mind’s inherent ability to sense order as well disorder in existence as well as in routine life situations ?
Modern world attribute this capacity of mind to our faculty of reason. But how does this faculty actually work ? Though in most of the cases, mind extracts a relation from its past experience or learning, and apply it in the current context and validate the conclusion. But in many other cases, mind is required to ascertain the validity of conclusion from abstract evidences or arguments presented before it. Or in many other cases, it is even without any argument or evidence but a direct appeal to our sense of reason, like in the case of the law of causality, the algebraic equations, and the finding of inevitable social values such as human liberty and freedom as exemplified above in the cases of American Bill of rights, and Pericles’ funeral address on democracy by historian Thucydides.
From whatever we have discussed above, one thing comes out very clear that, what mind, or more specifically our faculty of reason does is the job of ‘sensing’ the logical factor, or the ‘sense’/order/consistency/unity factor that exists between the seen and the observed with that of the unseen and unobserved, or the evidences and arguments and their respective conclusions, analogy and its object of comparison, and finally the direct paradigms that demand the faculty to ‘sense’ the ‘order’ factor out of the blue.
Upon close analysis, it comes out that, the role of our faculty of reason is that of a typical sense organ; if the eyes and ears senses certain external categories of the world, this inner faculty ‘senses’ the mystery ‘relation’ that unites the two, or even the single paradigm, that appeal to the said faculty. This is similar to a colour shade-card presented before the eyes, demanding matching of a certain shade that best matches the sample in the hand, or the task of tea or wine taster engaged in the act of matching a certain sample quality with the bench-mark tastes already available in the stock. Often these professional tasters could be asked to assess the quality of an altogether new flavor also, out from the blue !
Kant had shown to the world that what our external sense organs provide us are not the reality in itself, but a certain phenomena destined by nature, to give us Her chosen experience of life. He claimed that when the unrelated sense experiences are received by the mind, it is the structural design of our faculty of reason is what CATEGORIZES them into various preset knowledge forms. But what we have seen above is a different role of reason. It acts in the role of another internal sense organ, that senses the ‘order/unity/consistency factor between what the external sense organs supplies to the mind ! There are no fixed categories. Instead, it is the abode of sensing, or detecting another existential category, or quality: ie. ‘order, or unity/consistency/unity factor of what is presented before it by the mind.
Descartes preferred to call this faculty ‘ understanding’, while Bergson, Einstein, and even Bertrand Russell* preferred to call this faculty ‘INTUITION’. While ‘intuition’ is a not yet a well probed faculty of mind, it is better for us to attribute this faculty to our faculty of reason itself, as it is found to be the abode of mystery relations that it helps us to sense, and apply to our multitudes of day to day experience paradigms.
What is most important here is to state the fundamental difference between Logic and Reason here; while Logic is about the 'technicalities' of fixing consistency with the 'universal premise' in the syllogism,Reason is about fixing consistency with the content 'principle', or even coming-out with new a new universal, or an axiom, or a new set of evidence to transform, lead the subject-matter into a new realm of reality.
The two distinct functions of the faculty of reason
Hope we have now learned to look at our faculty of Reason with an entirely different eye; from its unexplained earlier role, into a very specific and sensible role, as an internal sense organ, with a very specific role in every act of deduction and induction, that of sensing/detecting the logical relation between the known with proposed unknown.
Now let us identify the not yet known and recognized role of reason in the very act of analytical thinking. Whenever we engage the mind into an analytical mode, ie. to ponder over any issue of day to day life, or into a given scientific or philosophical project, have we ever watched how does mind work on them ? The moment we feed the ray of thought into the mind, and attain the required level of concentration, it is the mind itself that split the given issue or ray of thought into all its possible constituent sub-issues or possibilities, and present a new SPECTRUM before us ! The issue, or the given ray of thought now stands split, like the ray of white light gets split into a spectrum !
When all the possibilities, extensions and options are before the mind, and in many such cases, the new spectrum often reveals new evidences that question our old stand, or conclusion ! Here a new deduction could take place, and also a new conclusion. New hypotheses emerge in this process, and new experiment begins in-order to qualify the newly found propositions as theories. This is a non-stop natural process of the ‘Prismatic’ mode of our faculty of reason. . This function is the most creative function of human mind. Charles Sanders Pierce was very specific about the source of landing of ‘hypotheses’ in the mind: He said it was always from source ‘up-above’, ie, from un-explained sources in existence.
The metaphysical elements of our faculty of reason
If we truly open up our mind and look at how do we get the unique experience of life, the central role of our external sense organs will come to surface. There could be several other categories of existence other than sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. It is quite possible that man has been bestowed to live with only limited number of these existential categories/qualities, that enter into his mind through the respective sense organs, to give him his pre-set experience of life. The limited range of our sense organs, such as the limited distance and size of objects of our eyes, the limited hearing range of our ears ( we can not hear audio-signals below certain decibels and wave length) are also can be evidence to what has been claimed above. Suppose we could hear even ultrasonic range of audio-signals. In that case our kind of normal live would have been impossible for us to live ! Or an eye that could see microbes of every size and variety ! Life would not have been on the lines that we live it today with such a range of vision.
Therefore, it is ‘sensible’ to conclude that we have been put into a very specially chosen ‘experience bubble’, to undergo a very specific life experience in the world.
Now we have seen at the beginning of this short-write up that our faculty of reason is also helps us to ‘sense’ yet another ‘category’ or quality of existence, ie. the mystery ‘relation’ or unity/order between what is just in-front of our external sense organs, with those are not in their direct range of perception. We have to arrive at such indirect knowledge through deduction or induction process, a process wherein we absolutely depend upon our mystery sense organ of reason for the act. Hence, ‘logical relation’ or order/unity/consistency is also to be treated as yet another necessary category or quality of existence in line with such other categories that our eyes and ears provide us. One exception is that the latter complements what all other external sense organs give us in the true experience of life ! Sense of reason is what gives us ‘proper sense’ to the world that ( the world) primarily enters our mind through the external sense organs.
In a way, what each sense organ provides us is ‘intuitions’ in a certain sense: as we are too familiar with what our eyes, ears and nose provide , its intuitive nature is not realized by us. AS the new category of ‘order’, ‘unity’ or ‘sense’ factor is altogether new to us, we tend to look at it as ‘intuitive’. That is the only difference. We in fact are passive recipients of what these various sense organs ‘sense’, or gather from the external world, and give us our experience of life. It is the familiarity factor that makes the difference.
Ps: The above proposition and idea is completely explained at our self-published e-book at, details at link :
Also see the bit lengthy paper posted just after this post down.
The intention of the author is to convey the actual role and function of man’s faculty of Reason to the scholastic world by this or that paper/book. He realizes the difficulty of minds that are trained to look at faculty of reason in an altogether different light from time immemorial. But time is a magician, hence old concepts of knowledge are supposed to alter altogether periodically. There was virtually no attempt to understand what is ‘reason’ from the Greek masters’ time. Hope my humble attempt would at least trigger a lot of new interest for research into this important field.
Abraham J.Palakudy ( Author)
E.Mails:, and
Note: * Bertrand Russell, one of the greatest minds of modern age, who could also be considered an authority on matters regarding science of logic, had detailed the above referred un-solved problems of modern logic, in his ‘second lecture at Cambridge’ (1914) viz. ‘ Logic as the essence of philosophy’. This is a problem around logic’s main purpose of arguing on the basis of ‘observed facts’ to prove some ‘un-observed facts’. He admits that this could be “ done only by means of some known ‘relation’ of the observed and the un-observed” ( page 291, essays in Philosophy, Russell, Edited by Houston Peterson- Washington Square Press, New York-1974)
“ but the un-observed, by definition, is not known empirically, and therefore its relation to the observed, if known at all, must be known independently of empirical evidence
After listing Mills remedies to solve the above problem one by one, Russell proves them all inadequate and fallacious. He concludes: (page 293) “Thus logical knowledge is not derivable from experience alone, and the empiricist’s philosophy can therefore NOT be accepted in its entirety” .
“ We must therefore admit that there is general knowledge NOT derived from sense, and that some of this knowledge is not obtained by inference but is PRIMITIVE” (page 309)
When Reason is understood and recognized as an internal sense organ, the source of such MYSTIQUE knowledge in logical exercise referred by Russell could be explained and solved permanently. That ‘ general knowledge NOT derived from the senses’ whose source who called ‘PRIMITIVE’ is in fact provided by the ‘sense organ of reason’. It is the much required sense of ‘order’, or UNITY provided by our sense organ of reason, that exist between every cause and effect, every instance of inferring a conclusion from a set of evidences or arguments, and every analogy and its object of comparison. This is what fills-up the gap that Russell had named as coming from ‘non-empirical, primitive’ sources !
Though Russell had later clarified that the source of such 'primitive' knowledge is 'intuition', at closer look we would realize that whatever we call as 'intuition' is nothing but the work of our mysterious ' faculty' of reason.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Is Reason an internal sense organ ? A super-mind above the known mind ?
Is Reason an internal sense organ?A super-mind above the known-mind?
There is a Book also by same the author at with the same title, but the theme explained in a different way and style
Printed version:
E.Book version:
Reader's comments on the book received by e.mail ( January 2015)
"Your book changed my whole out look on religion, I was deist in philosophy but just felt there was more to this faith thing then I found you! It just made sense to me it clicked. You now have a small but grown fan base here among my friends we read and discuss you blog"
" Love your work... it has helped me so much"
Meri Novak. ( Ohio, US)
Same reader's review at the Book page
on March 6, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book was an enlightenment to this mind! Amazing how much information was packed into this little book. I would recommend and I do to anyone searching for truth and order. Let's hope the word get out about this treasure.
By Anil Maheshwari on March 6, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I met Mr. Palakudy at a Vedic seminar, and learned about his nice short book with an interesting thesis. It relates to the Emersonian and generally transcendentalist idea that Reason is an innate quality, and he proposes that Reason could be elevated to the level of a sense organ. Found it to be nicely readable and thought-provoking. Will be interesting to see what might be the practical implications of such a thesis.
This is a paper proposing that what faculty of reason does is the detecting, or sensing of the not yet recognized existential category of ‘order’, (or the UNITY factor, or the sense’ factor)in the act of logical inferences, like the similar existential categories of sight and sound sensed by eye and ear in the act of routine life. This unheard perspective of man’s special faculty of Reason , in this author’s knowledge, was never discussed in any academic circle or professional papers, present or past. This paper undertakes a clinical observation of man’s act of inference with the purpose of understanding the role of REASON in it. This author was into a dedicated journey of 2-3 decades into understanding ‘scientific method’ of man, and how does he fixes exactness to his conclusions and inferences, and this paper summarizes what he had found.
Category of unity and order, Role of reason in inference, Cause and effect, Evidences and conclusion, Analogy , Sensing the order content, Predisposition of sense organs
Wikipedia defines Reason as, ‘ the capacity for consciously making sense of things, for establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information ‘ [1]
Catholic encyclopedia [2]attempts to define Reason/reason as follows:
‘Reasoning, therefore, must be asserted to be a process sui generis. (meaning: of its own kind/genus) This is perhaps the best answer to give to the question, so much discussed by the old logicians, as to what kind of causative influence the premises exert on the conclusion. We can only say, they validate it, they are its warrant’. [2]
Greek masters had understood Reason as a ‘mirror’ of God’s own mind that human beings share;
‘Parmenides describes the Goddess who governs all things as saying “I will tell you” the order of the universe, “ and you listen and receive my word”. Human beings will be able to receive her word because human mind mirrors her mind’ (Prof. Carlo Cellucci, Sapienza University of Rome in his forthcoming book ‘Rethinking Logic’ [3]
But philosophers lived and died later-on in history could not perhaps experience Reason in the same way that of the old masters. They, including, and prominently Immanuel Kant, revamped this old notion, and said pure reason can not ever cross the phenomena-wall, and experience the ultimate reality, or even the ‘things in themselves reality’ of the objects of our external senses. They (most of them) stuck on to the old principle that ‘ nothing there in the mind that was previously not there in the senses’.
It is also to be noted that the said Greek masters had not clearly differentiated between ‘mind’ and ‘reason’ in their writings, as all of them interchanged the terms at convenience in the same meaning.
Many of them including Plato had shifted to identifying reason and ‘ logic’ also in one and the same meaning, more or less, as a ‘method’.
Yet there is another important definition of ‘reason’ that simply use it in its literal meaning; as an aspect of human nature, that insists on valid ‘reason’ for every act, conclusion and event. This definition pits reason directly against belief, belief being conclusions not grounded on valid reason, evidences and explanations.
A good portion of the contemporary world belief that reason is nothing but the ‘living beings’ inherent ability to strategize means towards achieving ends. Prof. Carlo Cellucci, Sapienza University of Rome, in his forth coming book ‘Rethinking Logic’ says:
“ Indeed, reason is a matter of the ‘relation’ of means to given ends. ( word ‘reason’ directly derived from the Latin root ‘ratio’=relation) It can be defined as the capacity to choose appropriate means to given ends” [4]
The post modern understanding of reason nullifies all the previous definitions; it simply claims that human reason is after-all merely a product of history, and the particular culture of communities. Prof. Charles Brown ( State Emporia UniversityUSA) states in his paper ’Democracy in Dialogue’, that; “ it is now widely accepted that human subjectivity and the diverse forms of rationality are shaped by the contingencies of history and culture” [5]
While the first of the above definitions that in the Wikipedia depicts Reason as ‘a capacity ‘ ( in tune with its usual usage in the world today; as a ‘faculty’ ) the second source (catholic encyclopedia) depicts it as a ‘Process’.
Kant’s depiction of reason was dissimilar to any ‘faculty’ or ‘method’ definition. He pictured it as a structural aspect of the mind, that “ moulds and coordinates sensations into ideas….and transforms the chaotic multiplicity of experience into the ordered unity of thought’ [6] ( Will Durant, in his ‘Story of Philosophy’ , chapter; ‘Kant and German idealism’) He too, had not differentiated between mind and reason. According to a paper by Prof. Williams G. of Lancaster University;
“ Kant rarely discusses reason as such. ( in ‘Critique of pure reason’) This leaves a difficult interpretative task: just what is Kant’s general and positive account of reason ?’ [7]
It is obvious from the above definitions and explanations that Reason has not yet been defined, or understood by mankind in its deserved clarity. World should probe further and understand what it really is; a capacity or faculty of mind, an internal organ with specific functions; a process, a special aspect of human nature that always demands supportive evidence, and scientific explanation for his actions, stand and conclusions that differentiate him from animals; or merely a specialized structure of the mind that transforms mental inputs into knowledge form?
Or, is it really at par with its post modern understanding; as very relative, particular to each culture, and their
history ? Such a view is equal to NOT having any reason at all, wherein each individual, community and nations could claim validity of their own particular reason, based on their particular history and culture ! It is obviously very dangerous a calamity for the future of mankind, as we have already started witnessing its negative signs in the contemporary world ! There is Zero understanding and compromise between any two community, nation or culture. What we have is only a name sake ‘pluralistic’ tradition, ( or multicultural tradition) which is nothing but a burdensome arrangement for ‘tolerating’ the other till one’s patience’s reaches its limit. It is equal to having no universal ground in sight before mankind, for achieving a common stand, or a moral and intellectual direction for the future of mankind !
This task is so vital for the modern world because, reason is the singular faculty that mankind depend upon for claiming certainty of his conclusions in every field, including that of scientific laws and theories. Nations, and mankind in general also have no other means to claim validity for their social and political theories that affect lives of large populations of people, and the future of civilizations. In the absence of a distinct and clear understanding on Reason, any one can create his-own tenet of reason at will and put the peace and harmony of the world in danger. Best example is Hitler’s logic of the superiority of Aryan race, and their inherent right to rule over all other races. He could easily sell this dangerous logic to his countrymen, who willing supported his madness to the peril of the world at large !
Hence this paper intend to deal with the following four central questions and issues around man’s faculty of reason:
1) What is the real genus of reason? Is it a capacity or faculty, an internal organ, a process, or a specialized structural aspect of mind for converting sense data into knowledge
forms ?
2) Irrespective of all the above different depictions of reason, this paper will attempt to locate and pinpoint a single, all unifying, distinct essence of the faculty of Reason from all the definitions above: what reason ultimately does is detecting, or sensing the ‘ORDER’
( or the UNITY, consistency, ‘sense’, or orderly ‘relation’ ) ‘content’ that lies between every conclusion and its presented evidences, every cause and its effect, every analogy and its object of comparison etc. ( note here the usage ‘causative influence the premises exert on the conclusion’, in the Catholic encyclopedia definition)
This would be the chief theme of this paper. Such an observational task has not been undertaken for a long time, even for centuries. What Kant had attempted was to find out reason’s reach and limits, not as to what ‘reason’ as such was. The latest Analytical Philosophy traditions also, upon looked at from close quarters, touch only the various possibilities of ‘logical forms’, and not the actual function, or role aspect of reason in the universal inferring act.
This author has been into single minded plain observation and research into this specific subject for 2-3 decades. It would be obviously difficult for the academic world to even consider dismantling of the old (though vague) conceptions around human reason, as they are very old to be touched for re-verification. But knowledge is a non-stop high-way journey, and mankind must be ready always to embark new routes.
Some of the old conceptions that we have seen above seems to have a vague glimpse about the ‘sense-organ’ like role of Reason in the act of human inference. Role of reason in ‘sensing’ the ‘order’ content ( or the ‘unity’ content) in existence is at least ‘implied’ in the old Greek masters’ definition ; ‘cosmos’ means order, hence reason ‘mirrors’ the mind of God, what it reflects is the very order element contained in the existential scheme.
Kant’s version was slightly different ; he claimed that reason ‘provides’ order to the sense data in a certain fixed ‘categories’. It does not ‘sense’ or detect it in the meaning that we consider it in this paper. His theory restricts the great faculty of man to a rather mechanical role, whereas in reality its role is much more dynamic, deeper and broader.
The usage of the words ‘reason’ and ‘logic’ lately in one and the same meaning, or as the first as the source, and the second as the ‘method’ does not alter its base act of ‘sensing of the order content’ function much. Here ‘logic’ directly means ‘relation’, and this ‘relation’ is nothing but the ‘orderly relation’ and consistency content between conclusions and their premises .This orderly relation factor is what unites all causes and effects, analogies and their object of comparison, and evidences ad their conclusion. This is the chief argument of this paper.
Definition depicting reason as an integral aspect of human nature that would always demand valid ‘reasons for his acts and conclusions’ points out towards man’s inherent ‘urge’ for ORDER, unity and consistency. Whenever such ‘reason’ is sought, the presence of a ‘sense organ’ to sense or detect such content of ORDER is well evident in man’s thought system. Scientific sense demands that no evidence is to be ignored while arriving at conclusions. Hence, the well evident presence of such an internal organ in man that detects, or senses the ORDER ( or unity) content in every conclusion, inference, and analogies should not have been ignored.
When reason is depicted as a ‘faculty’ for providing means to given ends of man, such a faculty is ‘implied’ to ‘sense’ and provide the necessary ‘order’ content ( or unity content) between such means and the ends. Otherwise, how could man conclude, what means would lead him to the desired ends ? Though the protagonists of this definition are unaware of it, the vital ‘sensing’ of the ‘order’ content between the ‘means’ and ‘end’ takes place in every such act. Ignoring this inner mechanism in the act is equal to saying that ‘I have sight, but I do not agree on having any eye like organ’.
Lastly, when reason is depicted as a mere historical and cultural product by the protagonists of post modern era , their every reference to ‘reason’ for validating one’s stand and conclusion automatically uses our inherent ‘sensing device’: it is what decides the ‘sense’ , or the ORDER content( or the unity aspect) between all their conclusions and their supporting data, arguments, explanations, and evidences, though without their conscious awareness
of it !
Hence, the crux of every definition and understanding on reason that we have seen above implies a hidden element of ORDER, or consistency ( or simply the ‘sense’ content) that every party is depended upon, without realizing its actual role. Thus, this paper predominantly intend to introduce this hidden element of ‘ORDER’ (or unity) that lies between every conclusion and its corresponding argument, evidences and inference. While in the above act, the paper also intends to introduce the existence of an unknown inherent ‘sense organ’ within man, that does the above ‘sensing’, or the detecting of this mystery element of ORDER !
3) This paper also intends to introduce the UNIVERSALITY of man’s sense of ‘reason’. When it is understood as an internal ‘sense organ’ for detecting ‘order, unity and consistency’, it implies that reason might be capable of sensing the ultimate element of ORDER also in the entire scheme of existence, such as ‘ why’ life and existence in the universe ? If reason is capable of giving answer such a deep question, it would provide man with a MASTER PREMISE, so that he could reduce all his numerous inferences of science and social-studies out of it, relating them logically with such a master-premise, or say, the universal premise.
The means of understanding such an ultimate order of existence if any, is by ‘sensing’ the ultimate ‘motive’ or the base ‘emotion’ ( or the predisposition ) behind the scheme of existence.
It should be assumed here as a universal law of human intelligence that the ‘structure’ of any system is determined by an inevitable pre-disposition, or an ‘ESSENCE’ behind it. This ‘essence’ is its emotional nature, or predilection. For example, the design of an air-craft is determined by its purpose. Its structure has a certain predilection; that of something gets started, and then gain excessive ‘speed’ in the sky. This predilection of an aircraft is different from that of a boiler machinery. A Boiler is a different system, meant for an entirely different purpose. Its predilection is different. So, it compels our intelligence to infer that any structural system should necessarily has a purpose, a functional predilection. No doubt, this ‘structure-essence’ unity deserves equal or more fundamental relevance in human intelligence system than the cause-effect paradigm. Both have similarity, as cause could be easily compared with ‘essence’, and effect with ‘structure’.
Hence, if reason is understood as a ‘sense organ’ that could sense the existential ‘order’ , ie. the ‘essence’ or the pre-disposition behind existence, such an insight would be a base premise for every system, thought and institution of man. We must realize that our known sense-mind mechanism is capable of only observing the ‘structural’ aspect of reality. We have no known means to sense or understand the more fundamental ‘essence’ realm. This was the major lapse in mankind’s knowledge system so far. But, in reality we always had this faculty of ‘sensing’ the ‘essence’ aspect of everything that we encounter in our day today life, but as did not have it collectively recognized, no one noticed it so far. Eg. When animals in the jungle see a snake in the bush, though it has never encountered one before in its lifetime, it gets a ‘sense’ of the impeding danger from unknown internal sources. The animals gets a sense of the ‘predilection’ of the snake, and it gets away soon to safety. Young babies cry out of fear when strange figures appear before them. Even man’s faculty of perceiving collective nouns like science, cosmos, forest or army etc. should be realized as the work of our hidden internal sense organs that senses the ‘unity’ of a group of individual objects. Eyes can see only individual trees in the forest, not the forest as such. Mind is not a sense organ. It is only a processing house of sense data. So, we must accept the presence of hidden internal sense organs within, that senses the conceptual-only objects like forest, science, or mankind. So, our new knowledge may have to recognize a 3rd quality for objects of the senses beside the classical primary and secondary qualities: ie, its predilection or pre-disposition.
Kant had said man has no known faculty of knowing this realm of ‘noumena’, the realm of ‘reality in itself’. When our own faculty of reason is understood as a sense organ capable of sensing the ‘essence’ realm ( the Why realm of existence) it would be altogether a new door opened for human knowledge. In future, if mankind could reach some unity about such predilections of nature, or existence, it could act as ‘base premise’ ( or a master premise) on the ultimate ‘scheme of things’ in existence, and our sub-inferences in every field such as science, polity, economics and industry could be based on such ‘mother premise’, ending the chaotic paradigm of PLURALITY in the contemporary world ! Reason then could act as an all unifying factor for the entire mankind.
4 ) Lastly, after reason is understood in its UNIVERSAL application, this paper also intends to touch the much debated problem of mind’s ability to connect with, or at least ‘sense’ the ultimate reality of existence ! ( the metaphysical connection) When the said matter is discussed, a lot many unidentified mental inputs other than sense inputs that mind experience and encounter in day today life is also touched. The newly identified ‘sense organ of order’ is explored thoroughly, in order to probe its metaphysical connection, if any !
The mystery feeling of ‘sense’ that every thinking man experience in life and existence in general, can not be ignored. This lingering feeling of ‘sense’ about existence compels the thinking ones to conclude that existence can not be a senseless affair camping in the intellect of man as an absurd dream.
The paper also touches the possible duel entity of man; first, as a member of the human community under which this writer-reader interaction takes place here, and the other as each person a metaphysical being under the sun, mauled by the intensity of involuntary signals around his ‘sense of being’ that often gets landed in his thought system.
Now, let us take-up the above four questions of our faculty of reason one by one, for further analysis:
1) What is the real genus of human reason ?
As mentioned in the above introduction, the presence of a hidden common factor, uniting all the definitions of reason above, is evident; every definition above, though the ones who defined it may not have noticed, implies an element of ‘ORDER’, ( or unity) what ever it may be, between the conclusion and inference with its respective evidences, explanations, premises and the corresponding arguments; an analogy with its object of comparison, an effect with its cause, an end with its means. What reason doing was to determine the ‘orderly’ relation ( or unity factor) that connects conclusion with its evidences, explanations, or arguments, inference with the provided premises, effect with cause etc.
In classical logical process that involved syllogism, the above unrecognized role of man’s faculty of Reason was always felt a missing link.
Though Russell had later clarified that the source of such 'primitive' knowledge is 'intuition', at closer look, we would realize that whatever we call as 'intuition' is nothing but the work of our mysterious ' faculty' of reason.
Reason and intuition
Intuition simply is every knowledge that derived from sources other than our sense-mind apparatus. Even hard-core scientists agree that man often receives knowledge, or at least 'tips' of knowledge from such sources. Charles Sanders Peirce, the US philosopher was sure that 'hypotheses' often land-up in the mind from sources 'above'; ie. intuition.
From whatever we have so far discussed about reason, and its 'sense organ' role in every inference paradigm, it is well evident that the 'orderly relation' between causes and effects, analogy and its object of comparison, and conclusions and their respective evidences is an 'alien' category that our mystery sense organ captures, or senses. Though we used to call it 'intellect' or 'understanding', from whatever we have already discussed , and whatever we will discuss further in this paper, it is evident that what we really does is the detecting the 'mystery' sense/order/unity/consistency content in all the above inference events. Though the source of many such 'relation' is our past experiences, there are equal instances of them that are independent of past experiences, ie pure a priori.
Take the example of Einstein's discovery of the relativity theory of time and space. It was a never heard proposition. It all said to have started with his imaginary travel alongside a wave of light, when he was 16. Here we must recognize the two distinctly different functions of our faculty of reason: one, its usually attributed role of detecting true from false function at the every inference paradigm, and the second, its 'prismatic' function at the pre-hypothesis stage of thinking. (this dual function of reason is explained in detail, also at some other part of this paper) Every ray of thought or idea submitted before 'reason' gets split into its all possible sub-idea and possibility in a 'spectrum' like function of reason. Every scientific researcher is well aware of this mystery function, but it skips his active attention as he always wish to attribute it to his own intellectual prowess ! It was this 'prismatic' function that helped Einstein to form the hypothesis that time-space and matter are interrelated, and none has independent existence of its own. The orderly relation between what he hypothesized was not sourced from any of his, or the world's previous experiences. It was the purely an a priori function of his sense organ of reason. Once reason sensed the logical link, and when the scientist is satisfied with the veracity of his finding, the next step is at the realm of LOGIC, the science and form of presenting the finding to the world.
Such 'prismatic' function of reason can not be attributed to any other source but to the unverified source called 'intuition', because man has yet to collectively recognize such usual role of our faculty of reason ! With every question put forth to reason involving man's origin and meaning, a splitting of the question always takes place, resulting in the arrival of a new 'spectrum'. This is the routine activity of our faculty of reason, but due to lack of deeper research and studies into this important field, we stick on with our unverified sources such as 'intuition' to account such regular source of human knowledge.
In a way, what our every external sense-organ provides us too are 'intuitions' ! We have no knowledge of what our world of phenomena is, except the reality creating criterion of constant 'familiarity' ! To the ego, who gets born from 'worldly' sources, is unrelated metaphysically to everything around him. Only the 'familiarity' makes him feel at home in the world. But unlike inputs from eyes, ears, skin, tongue and nose, the inputs from the sense organ of reason is unfamiliar, hence he calls it 'intuition' !
The existence of a faculty within man that is linked to ethereal realm of existence is a plain fact.
It is time for our modern age to add-up this important understanding on faculty of reason to our knowledge system. Time is now ripe to accept the newly found role and function of the sense organ of reason !
Let us attempt to understand the above role of the sense organ of reason in all the above paradigms, ie. in cause and effect, evidences and inference, and analogies. When a doctor attends a patent with symptoms of frequent cough, and other regular symptoms of TB, he forms a diagnostic hypothesis that it could be case of TB. What faculty in man helps in relating those symptoms (causes) and the diagnosis ? (the effect) Of course he had memory of what he had learned during his medicinal studies, but the act of linking cause and effect cannot be attributed to mere memory faculty. The role of a distinct faculty that detect, or ‘sense’ the unity ( or order) between the two factors is undisputed. Doctor now is compelled by an inherent ‘urge’ of the same faculty of reason to ensure the certainty of his conclusion: he orders a sputum, or other clinical tests to reinsure his initial hypothesis before starting treatment.
Here one may say that it was the doctor’s pre-knowledge about symptoms of TB that helped him to arrive at the cause-effect relation. Take up a syllogism with only symbols to prove otherwise:
All A’s are B’s, All B’s are C’s, Therefore all C’s are A’s.
Here, even without any pre acquaintance with such relations, man is able to detect the logical link involved in such syllogism and pass its correctness. Example of : if 2+2=4, 2 million+2 million=4 million also could be sited here as another proof Reason’s ability to ‘sense’ the unity involved.
Same role of ‘reason’ can be seen in any instance of ‘evidences and inference’ and also that of analogies. When the murder weapon has been recovered from the convict, and blood stains of the victim and that taken from the weapon tallies, the Judge is able to detect an initial logical link. When the hypothesis is further supported by the matching of the finger print taken from the murder site with that of the convict, the ORDER or unity between the evidences and the conclusion is complete.
Cases of logical conviction by analogy is also similar. Scientist has no hesitation in concluding that when earth, stars and all other observed heavenly bodies in space are spherical, even unobservable heavenly bodies at the far corners of universe must also be spherical in shape.
Here, besides the ‘order’, unity and ‘sense’ detecting role of Reason, the SPECTRUM like function of Reason also deserves very special mention. When any ray of idea or thought is fed to our faculty of reason, it splits such idea or unit of thought into all its sub-ideas and possibilities, in a not yet recognized role ! In most of the scientific inventions, this role and function of our faculty of Reason was involved. This was the missing link that Russell might have failed to observe. Hence he attributed it to ‘primitive’ factors, and ‘factors beyond empirical’ involved in man’s logical process.
Many of us might have heard about the young Einstein’s imaginary journey with, and at the speed of light, that had paved for his theory of relativity. Charles sanders Pierce was certain that ‘hypotheses’ always and suddenly dropped in the mind from sources ‘up’. Some faculty of our mind, most evidently Reason in its newly found role, might be the culprit behind the ‘original’ creation of ideas and possibilities that saw humanity steadily progressing in its journey of knowledge ! Such created ideas and thoughts have no empirical source to claim its certainty from. These men toil later to link such discoveries to some already existing theory or finding in the world, and establish their mainstream acceptability.
Now let us attempt to eliminate our first described definitions above that do not comply with our above observations.
The first definition ( Wikipedia) that depicted ‘reason’ as a capacity of the mind that ‘consciously’ make ‘ sense’ of things…..appear valid here, except that, instead ‘making’ sense of things, it actually ‘detect’ the ‘sense’ of things, or to be more clear, the ORDER content in things and observed facts, in order to ‘ establish and verify facts, and change or justify practices, institutions….’. ‘Here ‘sense’ in the noun form obviously is some kind of an ORDER content.
In the forthcoming portions of this paper, we are going to discuss this sensing of the ‘order’ content in things, observed facts etc in more detail.
The second definition ( as process) also automatically gets eliminated here, as the first and foremost function of reason was found as a ‘sensing’ faculty of ‘ORDER’. When eyes see, or ears hear, man gets data free of any conscious ‘process’. They are fully automated landing of observed data in the mind. A conscious ‘processing’ is undertaken only when he is required to ‘relate’ any newly observed data to something already known to him, using the ‘sense organ’ of reason. This relating is, as seen earlier, is nothing but detecting the element of ORDER between the ‘universal’ ( the already known fact/truth) premise and the current data. Hence, the process aspect is a step ahead of the actual using of reason, for sensing the order, or sense content.
As a process, the verbal use of the term, ie. ‘reasoning’, has already been established in human society as an art, or even a science. It is the method of ascertaining a relation between some one’s newly found subjective observation, or assertion of a fact, by interaction with fellow human beings, by explaining it in common factors familiar to both parties. This process too is highly or even absolutely depended upon usage of the sense organ of reason for such ‘relating’ exercise. When a statement of ‘ order’ is presented, no one’s ‘sense organ of reason’ can refute it, as it is exactly similar to the truth of an object before the eyes. The truth of tree in front of the eyes should automatically a truth for the other person also, as what is seen by the eye has universal applicability ! But we may find it difficult to answer what is the category of ‘ORDER’ that reason senses, as it is difficult for us to define what is the category of ‘sight’ that eyes senses !
For example, when the famous syllogism;
All men are mortal
Socrates is a man
Hence, Socrates is mortal…. can not be refuted by any one, as there is a mathematical kind of ORDER between the universal fact and the conclusion. It is this ORDER (or unity) content that can not be refuted here. This order is sensed by the sense organ of reason, like the reality of a tree sensed by the eyes! Man is the passive receiver of both kind of categories, and the difference here is that what eye senses is more familiar to us than the ‘order’ category in existence that ‘reason’ senses, as it is not yet widely recognized.
Here, few very interesting and central facts about what constitute as object of the external senses, and an object that far away from the range of these sense organs would be appropriate. Reasoning is never needed for something in the immediate sense range of the external sense organs. It is a reality for every man, irrespective of culture or history. They are simply ‘empirical’. A tree in front of the eyes doesn’t need any syllogism to establish its reality,( atomic proposition) because the distance from the observer from the object is within the sensing range of the sense organ. Russell specifically mentions this aspect of syllogism (ibid, p.306) “ in the first acquisition of knowledge concerning atomic facts, logic is useless” ….an atomic proposition such as ‘this is red’, or ‘this is before that’ is to be asserted or denied can only be known empirically.. .pure logic and atomic facts are the two poles, the wholly a priori, and the wholly empirical” [10]
The necessity for depending on the ‘sense organ of reason’ comes when the object or the fact is in a distance, NOT in the immediate range of the external sense organs. Such objects are away from the observing subject; man - in time and space. Mostly such distant objects and relations would be ‘conceptual’, means, away from the direct range of the external sense organs, but in the direct realm of REASON, the sense organ of ORDER.
Reason automatically senses the (‘order’) relation between some or other already established inference/conclusion of the past with the newly observed fact, and then pass it as a theory.
Those who have found such remote object or fact by personal and independent use of his PRISMATIC function of reason, and then the sensing the ORDER and consistency between such object and any universal fact already known to the other men too, undertake the exercise of communicating such truth to the fellow beings by the ‘process’ of reasoning, or logic. It is bringing forth the subjectively observed or ascertained fact into the experience range, or before the ‘sense’ range of the faculty of reason of the other person. The ORDER content between the universal premise presented, and the conclusion must be evident to the sense of reason. This is the crux of any reasoning, or logical process.
The task of this paper is to ascertain and show the central and universal role of ‘reason’ ( as a sense organ of the ORDER, or unity content) in every exercise of inference.
Definition of reason as a ‘mirror’ of the mind of God:
As this is an old and important concept of reason held by the Greek Masters, and held valid for many centuries together, let us accord a special place, and have a detailed discussion.
Here we may have to take-up in very brief, a bit ‘sociology’ of philosophical development, to understand the shift of the world from the above old belief about reason.
If Darwin’s theory of organ development and extinction on account of use and disuse’ is to be believed, this writer dares to propose that the mind organ of those lived in those earlier ages was much different from that of modern man, and even different from men in much older age.
In the beginning, when men used to live a herd-like life in the thick jungles, like it was among the animal species, the entire herd used to have only one collective mind. It was very late in the human development that individual members of the society started gaining independent minds. When the Greek had the mastery over human intellect and thought for many centuries in their part of the world, every branch of science and thought had taken birth and flourished. Human mind was at its creative best. No powerful of external authority was there to check its development. It was man directly under the sky, as a universal entity. The canvas of man’s ‘self’ was just the infinite universe.
Like we have it today, they did not have a ‘highly virtualized’ concept of an external mainstream world, and a global media for catering to its constant maintenance. Today man has a specific external social entity, or identity, viz. his social ego. Its every one’s ‘virtual identity’ in society. It is produced by ‘others’ around man, by nature’s highly imaginative existential principle; ‘You are, hence I am’. ( as against Descartes’ I think, so I am’ ) This self identity is born out of the certainty of me as a reality, on account of the fact that, as an object, I am well perceivable by others around me ! So for the other man too on account of my perceiving him as an entity like me ! In short, more than my spiritual, or ethereal entity in the cosmos, like that of those Greek masters, my primary self identity is that of an entity among similar entities around me.
This distinct shift of man’s self identity from an ethereal self to that of a corporeal self has its strong sociological foundation. When the 16-18th century enlightenment took place in Europe after the collapse of the Church authority, what immediately followed was the industrial revolution, and the establishment of the market capitalism. The entire globe had suddenly become a market place for the new industrial community. Their entrepreneurial enthusiasm and related creativity was such powerful that each and every aspect of human life, especially and most importantly that of the political realm also had been completely taken over by them. Nations become primarily and predominantly economic nations. The story of how the small East India Company in Britain, who had come to India for trade, finally becoming part of the British empire itself is the best example of this phenomenon. Finally, the combine of the political leaders from the so called ‘peoples’ form of government –Democracy- and the industrial class had taken over the lives of people at every nook and corner of the new world for bringing forth ‘development’.
Cosmos, which was a grand enigma for the old Greek masters had suddenly become a grand object for the new masters of the world to explore and plunder: Francis Bacon had used the following phrases as to how to undertake this exploration of nature:
Ø Nature had to be haunted in her wanderings
Ø She should be bound into service
Ø made her a slave
Ø put in constraint
Ø to torture the secrets out from her
Anything ethereal had become an anathema. A wall of solid matter had been constructed around the mind of man in the new age. Any other self identity has become unknown to the new man than his member-ship in the society as an EGO. He, with his mind was another manifestation of matter. An object among other objects. For all practical purpose, we must believe that the old kind of the mind of man, in line with that of the Greek masters, had become extinct, and the new mind of new man was in place ! Where the Church authority was before, the industry and neo-politics was there in the new world.
If during the time of Church Her control over the minds of man was a reality, the same fact had become true there too; there was this real control over the minds and very entity of man by the new masters of the world, the industry, and their partners for development- modern democratic states. A thinking man is an anathema for the new socio-political system. It needs men only as loyal workers in the factories and offices, and as law abiding citizens in the state.
Mind, as in the technique of Hypnosis has been established, is highly susceptible to external suggestions. It gets affected by any strong external suggestion, or sense input. Subjects under hypnotic trance ( induced exclusively by verbal suggestions) tastes sugar as a bitter pill under the spell of such a suggestion ! The influence of advertisements on the mind of man is undisputed. Mind organ is primarily made up of eternal inputs only. So, the entity of man today, especially those who are researchers, is a ‘manufactured- product’ of the external world ! His other canvas, as an entity in the much wider cosmos, is unknown, or considered irrelevant by him. Reality is defined as what is immediate in space and time. A firm line has been clearly drawn against anything beyond the empirical. The impact of the value system that kept by the mainstream institutions upon the minds of citizens, hence, is an undeniable fact. How Hitler could transform a nation-full of men into hate-mongers through propaganda alone, was the best example of this claim.
Science, though it does not claim its territory beyond plain matters of physics and other exact sciences, its chief value, ie. ‘nothing is true beyond what is empirical and measurable’ has attained wide spread influence in the modern world. World took to this belief as a ‘vengeance’ against the many centuries of Church’s authority over the free mind ! This new value of science has become an equally powerful dogma in the new world.
Veteran scientist Sir Arthur Eddington had said once about the limited realm of science; ‘The external world of physics has been formulated as an answer to a particular problem encountered in human experience….as he might take up a cross-word problem encountered in news paper. His sole business is to see that the problem is correctly solved.’ [11]
Science has no business to take-up anything beyond its firmly drawn boundary lines.
Above assertions have not been made to speak in favor of idealism discarding materialism, but to bring it into the close attention of the men of philosophy, the only strata in society who could withstand the mass propaganda of the mainstream socio-political agencies, the utter need of keeping our minds free of all external influences, minding only the sanity of mind of the age that we live in. Modern man, with his highly influenced entity on the above lines, can not ever be considered as a universal, objective observer of reality in the world ! The role of the observer is what does impact the outcome of the finding, as has been clearly found in particle physics.
So, when taking up the ‘sense organ’ role of reason, the observer has to come out free from the ‘matter wall’ around him, and shift to his position to the other canvas, as an ethereal entity. Both canvas are equally real, as it involves only changing the background material from the canvas of the world.
When the new mind is accustomed only with the sense inputs of the external sense organs, he may find it difficult to agree with the mystique content provided by reason, as no physic centered argument could explain the presence of such an ORDER and UNITY providing organ within man!
In the sub-atomic particle physics, it is now fully established that matter, or even any of its multitudes of sub-atomic particle could be observed, studied, or any independent identity established, with out involving the reference point of an observer.
Fritjof Capra, a senior scientist himself, writes : ( His book ‘Tao of Physics’ , The Chaucer Press, UK, p. 71)
“ Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we can not decompose the world into independently existing smaller units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated ‘basic building block’, but rather appears as a complicated web of ‘relations’ between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way…
. . .the properties of any atomic object can only be understood in terms of the object’s interaction with the observer”. [12]
In a way, what these findings have completely destroyed was the fundamental certainty of the CAUSE AND EFFECT principle of matter physics. In the world of atomic particles, electrons jump beyond all predictions of causes and effect principles ! Cause and effect relation is applicable only at various sub, or surface realms of reality.
Here the primary ENTITY of human being also seems to have been devised by nature on the above base principle, ie. every unit gets its entity from the entity of the other units around it.
Therefore, we are bound to give some credit to the finding of the Greek masters that Reason indeed is some kind of a ‘mirror’ to the ultimate scheme of existence. When we have already seen that its role is ‘sensing’ some kind of an ‘order’ ( or unity )content in every act of our inferences, this definition has close resemblance to our finding.
Definition of reason as part of human nature that always insist on valid reasons
As once said above, it is more an inherent urge of REASON, than reason itself. The difference is that between an object or a phenomenon, and its properties, Reason is a phenomenon, and it always exhibits an inherent URGE for seeking ORDER, or truth ( truth, obviously is the embodiment of ultimate order)
Emmanuel Kant also says about this peculiar URGE of reason for truth and order. ” (‘Critique’.. preface)
“ Experience ..never gives us any really general truths; and our ‘reason’, which is particularly anxious for this class of knowledge, aroused by it rather than satisfied [13]
This urge for ‘ORDER’ , the base energy that moves our scientists and philosophers for their inventions and discoveries, deserves special attention here. This ‘urge’ is an empirical evidence that should be counted as a central premise for our scientific conclusions about life and existence. Even our external sense organs exhibit similar urges, peculiar to each organ. When our eyes shows preference for beauty and order, nose shows its preference for fragrances than bad odors. Ears prefer harmonious audio-inputs than cacophonies. Skin, as we all know, prefers smooth and warm touch. These inherent preferences of our sense organs, including the urge for ‘order’ ,and even justice of the sense organ of reason, should contribute much towards understanding the ‘essence’ aspect of reality.
To summarize, REASON is not a process, not merely an urge for valid reasons, not a strategy towards achieving means for given ends, not a byproduct of history and culture, but a universal, internal, not yet recognized SENSE ORGAN, meant for ‘sensing’ or detecting the central existential category of ORDER,(or UNITY ) in line with the category of sight that eye senses, category of sound that ear senses, category of smell that our nose senses !
1) More evidences and arguments to show that Reason is an internal sense organ that senses the category of ORDER in the scheme of existence
We are now taking up the 2nd purpose of this paper; to show that reason indeed is a sense organ that senses the much central existential category of ORDER and unity that exits between sense observed data, or that between the mind processed or analyzed conclusions and inferences. Without this central sense organ, human intellect would have no meaning.
We have already seen a base introduction, some base arguments and some direct evidences in the 1st portion of this paper. This 2nd portion attempt to line-up further evidences and related arguments.
Animals also have this faculty of reason in a rudimentary form, as a means to achieve their Biological, and self-protection needs. Capuchin monkeys said to have shown such improved sense of reason, that they climb up mountains and roll down heavy stones to scare away, and even injure predator leopards ! They routinely break coconut like hard shelled nuts on specially kept flat stones, hammering it with other specially kept special stones ! The collective strategy adopted by the wild dogs in Botswana jungles of Africa, for running after prey-animals in relays, is another wonderful example of animal reason. But it is restricted to their peculiar life needs.
Man is found to possess his peculiar reason organ, that might have been devised for his nature destined particular existential purposes ! His existential purpose, in all empirical evidence, stands above the mere biological realm, as he has no known biological need to think after the mystery of nature, distant galaxies, sub-atomic particle world, or his elusive SOUL ! Nature seems to be bestowing each living being with such faculty of reason, so that it enables it to achieve its particularly given ends. The sense of smell of some animals, especially that of Dog, is much more powerful than that of other members of the species. Here, man is blessed with an excessively powerful sense of reason. Therefore it sharply points towards the ESSENCE related purpose of man in the scheme of existence !
Here the central difficulty would be to take reason in the new perspective by our old minds, which was always familiar with an opposite concept and image of ‘reason’. For many of us, reason stands as a ‘quality’ opposite to ‘emotion’. Among the above varied definitions of reason, the most layman concept was as something pitted against emotion, or blind belief. A ‘rational’ man was supposed to go for explanations, observations and analysis, whereas the opposite camp was known for blindly believing in the dogmas and dictums advised from the seats of authority, like it is among the various religious sects. Those who go for actions and behavior lead by emotions without caring for their outcome are also known as irrational. But we have seen that considering reason in such narrow dimension and perspective is doing gross injustice to our above mystique faculty.
Here, if we attempt to differentiate mind and reason into two different entities, or two different organs –function-wise-, half of the confusion about the real GENUS of reason would melt away.
Differentiating between mind and reason :
It is more sensible to consider mind as a ‘processor’ of various inputs and data. The primary source of inputs remain the external sense organs itself. But the old schools tradition that advocates; ‘there is nothing in the mind that was NOT there in the senses first’ may be a gross error. The ORDER inputs from the sense organ of reason is another vital ingredient that enters mind, helping it in the function of the processing of data. Sense inputs are the most ‘impure’ data inputs as certified by Kant. According to him, Reason is the structural devise that provides these impure inputs some ‘sense’, and later, an orderly ‘knowledge’ form. It ‘categorizes’ these inputs on the basis of set natural laws, and help man to have orderly knowledge forms.
The automated reasoning function of mind
According to our observation, at every ‘conscious’ sense intake by man, the ‘automatic’ reasoning function takes place, thus choosing the most ‘orderly’ inference automatically out of the options put before it by the mind. Note it again; reason does not provide any absolute truth automatically. It auto-choose the most ‘orderly’ inference out of the available inputs, evidences, and data available for the act. When a man attempts to choose between a suicide by hanging, or jumping before a train, reason may advise only the most convenient option to the unit man. But if the man opt for further thinking, using the Prismatic function of reason, a non-stop thought input will start pouring in ! Here, an important player emerges between mind and Reason- the entity, MAN ! How does it emerge, and what his role is ?
Why the EGO entity ?
Here, we should briefly touch the most central of philosophical question; why man is
here ? Answering this question will greatly help us in our task of understanding Reason. So, we attempt it here:
We have already seen above that ENTITY of every man has been emerged on the principle of ‘you are, hence I am’. I get my entity on the strength that the other can see me, hear me and sense me ! I too sense him the same way. Here, with all respect to the anti- Bishop Berkley group, we must infer that perceiving by someone is an essential condition for gaining REALTY of an object, or phenomenon. Something that NOT perceived by you might be definitely existing, but it is immaterial for you, like the NOT yet observed millions of galaxies in the remote corners of our universe ! Its existence of non-existence is irrelevant to you by plain ignorance. But this does not alter the base theory, that your own reality for you (not for any other) is ensured only when some other entity perceives you, and you are required to be aware of it !
The ego ( or his base entity as a person) of a new born child takes birth when he identify himself as the owner of his experiences; as an object before the first person in his life-the mother-, his sensations like touch, hearing, and sights, his actions like regular excretions -- - all these are the foundational material for his mind. Indian spiritual Guru Osho writes
( Book ‘Beyond the frontiers of mind’- p.7) “when a child is born, the first thing he becomes aware is not him self; his eyes are opened out-wards, the hands touch others, ears listen to others…all these senses open outwards…the ego is an accumulated phenomenon, a bye product of living with others”. [14]
The moment the child identify himself as the sole owner of all his unique experiences, his entity as person is born ! He is now an EGO, a phenomenal entity among other entities. The ‘external’ is the base of his identity. In other words, a potential KNOWER is born.
The mind produced its own owner, a new entity, exclusively from materials gathered from the external world ! He has become one of the mind’s important occupier, along with other external signals, inputs and other individuals like him around !
Nature’s most profound existential need is being achieved when each Ego takes birth. At birth, only the baby’s body and inborn urge system are in place. This ‘synthetic’ self identity is born when he starts intake of external material for the mind from the world. Existence is invisible to itself with out having KNOWING entities. Ego was the smartest of devices that Nature had found to achieve this end; without them, existence would have remained invisible, and hence, VOID !
The ego was provided only with external sense organs initially. Man had become aware of his sense organs millions of years after his regular use of them. Only very late in his journey through self knowledge that he had become aware that it was eyes that see, and ears that hear ! A knower of the STRUCTURAL realm of existence ! The ESSENCE is still unknown to him, as his internal sense organs for sensing its signals have not been developed yet !
When man grows up, rich with infinite data poured-in from the external word, and equally rich data and inputs seeped-in from the internal source such as emotions, natural instincts, inputs of automated reason, and pure reason from the sense organ of ORDER, he turns a full fledged unit with universal consciousness !
Conclusions on the difference between mind and reason:
We have been attempting to differentiate between the realms of mind and reason. As we have seen, when mind is only a processor of all external and internal inputs, the chief aid of man in dealing with the world is reason, an internal sense organ that provides mind with signals and inputs from beyond the typical external world, such as the mystery ‘order’ element in his mundane day to day inferences. It also helps mind with ORDER element in ESSENCE related questions on existential issues. While mind is a mechanical organ, reason is a sense organ providing necessary inputs for its wholesome functioning, in line with the external sense organs that provide mind with inputs from external world.
We have also found that though reason is active in the functioning of mind organ in its automated mode, its conscious use is depended upon the willful call of the entity- man-for his special usage such as for science, and any other form of formal thinking, including philosophy and metaphysics. When one formally uses sense organ of reason, unknowingly the entity shifts from its mode of empirical world as its canvas, to a different canvas or background, in an act of ‘transcending’ the self. When the canvas alters, the entity of picture drawn on it also alters. The picture becomes altogether a different product.
Other inputs that reaches mind in its routine operations are EMOTIONS, INSTINCTS and the already worked-out products ( already arrived at conclusions, well established scientific theories, other social convictions, beliefs, decisions, hypothesis etc.) of the sense organ of reason. These existing items and concepts already in the mind ( memory) make man a unique ‘aggregate’ at every moment, and makes him a unique receiver of ‘fresh sense inputs’ in a corresponding unique quality and manner. For example, a scientist does not use his routine sense organs similar to that of an ordinary man. He had rich data already stored in his mind, in the form of the store of his exceptional knowledge.
A brutish man, who had bitter and cruel experiences in the past, would be a very different aggregate, and the way he uses his reason too would be equally negative, ie. for destructive inferences. Reason provides ‘orderly’ inferences only over the ‘presented’ or available ‘spectrum’ of thoughts ( provided by the prismatic function of reason)
It helps the seeker with higher knowledge and insights when he works deeper and deeper into the given subject, analyzing the ‘spectrum’ non-stop, till he reaches the limits of one’s thoughts ! At these bottom limits, as Kant had rightly assumed, the inherent morals and ethics of nature lie hidden. Those who reach up to that level of intellectual search always find these bottom treasures, and this could be considered the end goal of nature for every human being.
Other unusual features and functions of the internal sense organ of Reason that may help us to identify it as another ‘sense organ’.
The inherent universal ‘senses’ : American revolutionists, when they drafted the ‘bill of rights of man’, had found the ‘inalienable rights of man’ as ‘self-evident’ in nature ! No kind of syllogism can be formed to ascertain the universal rights of man, hence we must attribute such origins of universal ‘sense’ to the sense organ of reason ! As we have already mentioned in one of the above paragraphs, what is sensed by external sense organs too doesn’t require any syllogism to prove its truth. They are simply self evident to one and all.
During the now famous funeral (of Pericles the great) address by historian Thucydides on democracy, he too mentions a similar ‘universal feeling’ : “and we are also taught to observe those unwritten laws whose sanction lies only in the universal feeling of what is right....”
Such was the power and acceptability of such sense of ‘rights’ of man, that the entire world population had adopted it as UNIVERSAL, and even now follows these principle as the foundation of any civil society. Such universal values could never emerge from empirical sources !
We have no option but to believe that the real source of such ‘universal sense’ was nothing but man’s then unknown sense (organ) of reason ! Like similar pre-disposition, or predilection of other sense organs, ( as once seen above ) we have already referred to similar pre-dispositions exhibited by sense of reason too. The universal urge for justice and freedom that every human being experience, and even ready to fight fierce wars for achieving these ends must be attributed to the above predilections of the sense of reason of man !
The very scientific spirit of man that emerged in the human society during the enlightenment period was indeed a wild spirit, similar to the above universal urge, towards seeking out the ultimate ORDER of nature. It compelled man to seek ‘sense’ or ‘reason’ or ‘order’ in everything around. We have already seen above the power of such pre-dispositions of the sense organ of reason. When human mind was under captivity of the Church, this wild spirit was in check.
Reason’s routine inputs considered as ‘intuition’ by many past philosophers
Albert Einstein once quipped; “ quantum mechanics is very impressive. But an ‘inner voice’ tells me that it is not the real thing “
Descartes says in his ‘Discourse on Method-part 1V’ : ‘ that the philosophers of the schools accept as a maxim that thee is nothing in the understanding which was not previously in the sense, in which however it is certain that the ideas of God and soul have never been; and it appears to me that they who make use of their imagination to comprehend these ideas do exactly the same thing as if, in order to hear sounds, or smell odors, they strove to avail themselves of their eyes….neither our imagination, nor our senses can give us assurance of anything unless our UNDERSTANDING intervene’ [15]
He has used the word ‘understanding’ in the same sense that Einstein has used ‘intuition’, as an extra sensory source for gaining knowledge, or at least some signals about it. Other than ‘sense organs’, nothing in man had ever heard giving any direct information from outside. Mind, as we have seen, is only a processor.
Hence, we have to infer that both had indirectly hinted to some hidden sense organ
within ! This sense organ was always there in man, but he is yet to realize its real role and function. Many scientists found admitting that ‘hypotheses’ always land in the mind from unknown sources. Charles Sanders Pierce was one of them.
Like sensing of order, reason detests ‘disorder’ too
Despite the splendid achievements of science in understanding cosmos and its smallest of particles, there is this lingering feeling within every true scientist that something very vital is still missing in their understanding ! From where do such a sense of incompleteness landed in the minds of scientists ? We have to infer that it is the sense of ‘DISORDER’ generated by the sense organ of reason. When there are three elephants before the eyes, and when some one insists that there are only two, it is the same sense of falsehood that we feel. Similar sense of disorder grips us when a clear evidence in front of us is not taken into account by someone for arriving at conclusions.
Man is a passive user of the existential categories of sight, sound , touch etc, as in the case of reason too, without any ‘in-itself’ knowledge as to what they are !
As once said above, though we use all our sense organs since the emergence of our species on earth, we do not know much about the ‘categories’ or qualities of existence they reveal. We know eyes, but we know much less about sight. There could be many other hidden similar or different ‘categories, or ‘qualities’ of existence that we are not sensing because we do have been provided with appropriate sense organs for sensing them! Hence, we feel that what all we sense are the final form of existence !
We are now aware that our existing sense organs give us only that much limited inputs within their ‘allotted’ range ; for example, eyes can see only objects within its allotted range, nothing smaller ( microbes) or nothing far away ( a distant star, or even a distant mountain), ears hear only what has bee destined to be heard for preserving life ( nothing below, or beyond its allotted range).. so forth and so on.
Very similarly, we do not know much as what is the ‘order’ content, or ‘sense content’ that Reason provides us. We may have to simply assume that what ever it provides must be adequate and appropriate for achieving man’s existential purposes and destiny.
Finally, what man forgets often is that we ourselves are grand sense organs of nature; we are exclusive sense organs of NATURE for experiencing the miracle called LIFE !
Impaired ‘sense organ’ of ORDER could be the reason behind mental disorders !
This claim may prompt men of psychology to raise instant objections; but it makes serious sense to attribute causes of many a mental illness to one’s impaired ‘sense organ’ of reason ! Our existing bundles of knowledge in every field, including psychology are many centuries old, and a major shift in the fundamentals is due any time, as the door of knowledge should never remain shut.
Man has the free-will as to how to utilize our sense organs
When eye is routinely used, it is just for casual look at objects. When it is used with a view to observe an object very closely, we observe more than what one gets from a casual look. One could turn around the object in the hand if it a handy object, or look from various angles if the object is too big or far away. Similarly, while using reason too, the same usage principles apply; the more concentrated attention is accorded upon an object, event or phenomena, the more wider would be the spectrum of knowledge it reveals. When ever conclusions are drawn, reason gives out only the ORDER content between the available spectrum before man, NOT the absolute truth all the time. The input is always decided by the entity, man, and his freewill.
When individuals, communities and nations refer to reason and logic in their routine conversations and speeches, it simply appeals to their own very particular past experience based knowledge, values and axioms. When a criminal appeals to reason and logic before his gang-members, he appeals to reasons and logic that pertain only to their particular profession, like, say, when to injure or kill an opponent and when to set him free un-harmed. Similar is the case with thieves and robbers. A doctors appeal to reason would be based on the tenets of his profession. In all these examples, sense-organ of reason simply ‘senses’ the order content between evidences and past experiences before it, and helps the mind to take quick decisions.
Every human-being gets frequent signals and pangs for going further and further using his reasoning faculty, but very few accept such calls. Reason respects the FREE-WILL of the individual, and it lets him go by his own sweet-choices.
Whatever presented in the above paragraphs have been certain evidences, signs and analogies to carry home that man’s faculty of reason indeed acts and functions like a typical sense organ, that senses one of the central category in existence, ie. the ‘ORDER CONTENT, or the ‘sense content’, or the UNITY content between premises and observed facts, so that inferences and conclusions could be drawn. These were the out come of the PRISMATIC function of a single mind, ( that of this writer) but when hundreds of creative minds together work on the idea in the world, it would add-up an array of more evidences and relations, and human knowledge gains new, unprecedented directions to move on !
2) Now we have come to the 3rd purpose of this paper, ie. to touch the need of making reason a single paradigm, with UNIVERSAL applicability. We have seen above that the post modern understanding on reason is that, it is only a relative product of particular cultures and their history. No compromise on any universal paradigm on life and social principles is possible on the basis of the strength a single, UNIVERSAL REASON.
If reason could be understood as man’s sense organ for sensing existential and universal ORDER on life and society, mankind could always put efforts to arrive at on such principles, and finally abide by them for unity of ‘vision’.
We have noticed above that reason when applied for localized issues, it gives out only conclusions on such given issues. When Hitler applied his reason on ways and means to restore the lost honor of German people after the 1st world war, the means that come to his mind have paved way for Holocaust and 2nd world war ! If he had applied his reason further and further, keeping in mind the single phenomenon called LIFE of human beings on plant earth, it would have provided him with a better SPECTRUM of means to achieve peace among people of all nations, including restoration of the honor of his own people. At the end pinnacle of man’s sense organ of reason, there lies life preserving ideas and means for the entire world and mankind. The great philosopher Kant had found it as the tenets of PRACTICAL REASON in his writings. He believed that man has inherent propensities towards morals and ethics. He just missed by inches on recognizing the ‘sense organ of ORDER’ role of reason !
What is required is the spread of healthy premises world wide, among nations and people, on the possibility and utter need of living together in peace. Such premises would naturally lead to natural conclusions on world peace and shared prosperity.
Now men, societies and nations think on short and narrow terms, living on the platforms of egos, and attempt to impose one’s beliefs and norms on other men and nations, whether it is economic , cultural or religious. It terrifies the other men and nations, and they cling to their own such narrow beliefs and norms with increased strength, for fear of losing their identities and self-hoods !
Nations and other collective organizations must ensure that each of their policy and programme for people must conform with the tenets of ONE base UNIVERSAL principle of civilizational progress that the world has identified and established. ( those located at the bottom layers of reason ) The existing norm of inventing stand alone logic by communities and nations that suits a particular situation must see an end.
If not every single individual, the collective reasoning of public institutions and their leading men must use their reason till its bottom levels, and act as per the inferences that derive from that deep level. It is like the act of swimming into the ocean. Those who reach only till the mid depths could infer from the middle level, incomplete premises, whereas only the ones who reached the bottom could form wholesome inferences on the phenomenon of the sea. Here reason is exactly similar to a sea. At the bottom of it, there is universality. What disturbs world peace is middle level truths and inferences.
Unfortunately, there is no agency in the contemporary world to undertake such bottom journeys. Political and media institutions are partisan in vision and goals, hence, they tend to thrive on the now popular PLURALISTIC traditions, instead of trying for universal reason to unite the mankind. The philosophic class could come forward and fill this great vacuum in the contemporary world, instead of remaining in silence in smaller pockets ensuring their own ‘survival’ need. We always had played our role in every society in every age, and if there is a grave need of our light and wisdom, it is now and here !
3) Now we are at the last purpose of this paper; the metaphysical connections of Reason: The ‘sense’ content, or the ‘order’ element is not something that derived from the external world through the senses as we have observed in the above portions of this paper. In symbolic syllogisms like:
A= B, B= C, there for A= C, the ‘orderly’ relation is purely conceptual, with no pre-experience content from the external world. The entire science of mathematics is based on similar orderly relation between symbols, and the ‘order’ content between its equations is always caught and approved by reason.
Hence, it is an inherent mystery faculty of man. While what eyes and ears observe are reflections of real objects in the world, this ‘order’ (or the ‘unity’) content is not the reflection of any external relation. What it reflects is a mystery category in existence, whose source is unknown to man. It might be belonging to the ‘essence’ realm of reality as against the ‘structural’ realm. Therefore, the metaphysical connection of ‘reason’ is obvious. As once mentioned above a ‘universal sense of reason’ is shard by every genuine seeker of reality. It indicates towards the possibility that nature has kept a door open in man for knowing the ultimate reality, or at least the ‘sensing’ of its ‘essence’ content. This essence may not be a chemical or physical formula that could be perceived by our external senses. It could be an all engrossing predisposition of nature that determines the structural aspect of empirical reality. As we have discussed above once, our basic sense of reason always resist the notion that what ever that exist is mere a structure for its own sake, dead and inert in every respect ! Such a stand evidently negates our very notion of ‘SENSE’ about life and existence, and shifts our every recognized rational faculty into the realm of absurdity.
Here, this open minded hypothesis need not be packed into any tenet of divinity. When science gets ready to shed its obsession towards NOT touching any subject beyond the structural aspect of reality, it embraces the real scientific spirit ! With out an understanding on essence, no structural analysis would be correct and perfect. It would be only ‘middle layer’ relations of reality- merely solving of the Sunday cross word puzzles- as quipped by Sir Arthur Eddington. If science opens its heart towards accepting ‘reason’ basically as a sense organ that detects ‘order’ content in inferences and evidence-conclusion decisions, it could confidently receive premises of social sciences, and even spirituality for helping to arrive at sensible conclusions. The realms of science and beliefs could easily merge.
What this paper dealt with was an empirical subject, not any highly speculative philosophical theory. It was aimed at dispelling all the confusions around man’s superior degree of intellect over other living beings. We used to attribute it to vague faculties like ‘understanding’, ‘intellect’ and ‘intuition’. Hope this paper helped to throw more light and clarity on man’s such hidden faculties and justified our distinct position among other living beings.
It is hopped that this paper has also succeeded in clarifying that reason is not a magical organ that gives traces of ultimate truth about any thing and everything to man at call. Instead of exploring its vast and unlimited potential, individuals, communities and nations feed only ‘chosen’ premises to Reason, and arrive at half-baked conclusions based on half-truths and even no truth. Reason gives out conclusions based only on premises available in-front of it. So, in order to make use of the wonder sense organ, individuals, communities and nations are required to go to pinnacles of any given issue to arrive at the full spectrum of the problem, and then letting reason to arrive at the most wholesome conclusions.
[1] wikipedia link:, starting sentence
[2] Catholic encyclopedia : link:, section ‘Discursive thinking, para 2.
[3] Prof. Carlo Cellucci, Sapienza University of Rome, in his forthcoming book ‘Rethinking Logic’
[4] Prof. Carlo Cellucci, Sapienza University of Rome, in his forthcoming book ‘Rethinking Logic’
[5] Prof. Charles Brown ( State Emporia UniversityUSA) paper: ’Democracy in Dialogue’,
[6] Will Durant, book-‘Story of Philosophy’ , chapter; ‘Kant and German idealism’
[7] Paper ‘ Kant’s account of Reason’, by Prof. Williams G. of Lancaster University; Link: , para 2, last sentence.
[8 Essays in Philosophy, Russell, Edited by Houston Peterson- Washington Square Press, New York-1974, page 291
[9] ibid, page 309
[10] ibid, page 306
[11] Essay ‘reality, causation, science and mysticism’ by A.S. Eddington, chapter .’reality’.
12] Fritjof Capra, Book ‘Tao of Physics’ , The Chaucer Press, UK, 1974, p. 71)
[13] Kant, Critique of pure Reason, preface
[14] Osho ( Rajneesh) Book ‘Beyond the Frontiers of mind’, Rebel Publishing House, Pune, India, p.7.
[15] Descartes, ‘Discourse on Method’ -part-IV
Author: Abraham J. Palakudy,an independent mind, philosophy and Polity seeker and researcher.
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Twitter: Voice of Philosophy, @jopan1
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Monday, November 29, 2010
Molecular gastronomy...from AnQi Asian Bistro
(click on each picture to enlarge)
1. the social phenomena linked to culinary activity
2. the artistic component of culinary activity
3. the technical component of culinary activity
Example areas of investigation:
• How ingredients are changed by different cooking methods
1. The photos are superb Alex. I love it! Were you able to taste each dish? If so what was it like?
2. Hi Lala, yeah I got to taste all the dishes, and while some were spectacular other were just OK..That's why I love this job so much, I get to eat well..
3. I just had AnQi's molecular menu last night, and it was quite the experience! I had many of the same dishes shown above.
4. Great photos.Great ideas of serving caviar.looking so delicious.
caviar , just like other sea produces, is beneficial for the skin and the whole body. Find out how this can really improve dermis functions. | <urn:uuid:9102f60d-5b05-4d95-90e6-69023e823808> | 2 | 1.890625 | 0.174724 | en | 0.868406 | http://photo-food-blog.blogspot.com/2010/11/molecular-gastronomyfrom-anqi-asian.html?showComment=1293208475806 |
Does The Sixth Commandment Prohibit All Killing?
asfThe 6th Commandment has been translated as both “thou shall not kill” (King James Version) and “thou shall not murder,” in newer versions, such as the New American Standard. Skeptics delight in such apparent contradictions, contending that Christians are either hypocritical, for not following the command to not “kill,” or are engaging in “special pleading,” if they insist that “murder” is the correct interpretation. Either way, the skeptic is likely to cry foul.
But is the skeptic’s view correct? Are we forced to concede that the Bible’s command is nonsensical, if it prohibits all killing, or that we are forcing our interpretation on it? According to scholars, the Hebrew term that was originally used – ratsach – can be translated to include a broad range of killing or slaying, encompassing intentional murder, such as predatory “lying in wait” as well as less culpable forms of killing. Looking only at the phrase or sentence which contained the term, one would be left with an undecipherable message as to what the author meant. This is true, of course, of any use of language.
Words have multiple meanings and nuances that allow us to reduce our thoughts to a medium that allows for expression and, more importantly, communication. Unfortunately, it also allows for confusion. The only solution to this confusion is context. A word that does not fit into the broader meaning of the passage is probably poorly chosen. A word that contradicts large portions of the surrounding text is probably mistakenly translated. This is not an example of special pleading, but of sound interpretation. Special pleading, by contrast, is the logical fallacy that occurs when a person seeks to apply an exception to a general rule without justifying the exception. For example, let’s suppose I claim that the deliberate taking of innocent human life is always wrong. However, I wish to make an exception for abortion, but I don’t attempt to justify why such an exception would apply. I don’t bother showing that the fetus is not human, or that it is not innocent. I would be guilty of fallacious reasoning. (This, of course, is what makes debating “pro choice” defenders difficult, as they are refusing to follow principled thinking. But, I digress.)
Now, let’s consider the difference in the verbs “to kill” and “to murder.” “To kill” is a broad term which could encompass the taking of any life form; it has no connotation with regard to the mental state of the killer, what type of life was taken, the reason for the action, or the ability to justify the act. “To murder,” by contrast, is a specific term which conveys the killer’s mental state – historically called “malice,” the taking of human as opposed to other life, the baseness of the reason and the lack of justification. Applying these concepts to the Bible, it would be nonsensical to conclude that the 6th Commandment prohibits “killing” of all kinds. After all, the people of that day killed much of what they used for food. The Author of the Old Testament commanded them to take life in certain settings, including the imposition of capital punishment in a variety of situations. Moreover, using the term to mean “to kill” would render sinful even the accidental taking of life or the taking of life in self-defense, a situation in which the defender is himself the victim of wrongful conduct.
This would essentially eliminate any notion of moral behavior, as a wrongdoer bent on killing multitudes could not justifiably be stopped with deadly force, and would be no more immoral than a person who accidentally killed someone in a moment of inattention. Understanding “ratsach” in this context to mean murder makes sense of the passage and allows it to be harmonized into the whole. It still prohibits a great deal of conduct, but the prohibition applies to the wrongfulness of the conduct. Thus, a person who accidentally takes the life of a friend through an accident no fault of his own is not considered on the same par morally with the person who lays in wait to murder his rival. This form of reasoning cannot properly be considered fallacious. It is not as if “ratsach” only meant “to kill without malice, including accidentally” and when we do not like the meaning, we invoke an unjustified exception. Instead, we are using the meaning that best comports with the overall meaning of the Bible. By contrast, the person insisting that the term be taken to mean “to kill” – ostensibly to avoid a fallacy – is committing the greater fallacy of forcing an irrational interpretation of the passage.
Posted by Al Serrato
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Thursday, March 24, 2011
I am sure many of you must have confused about name of country I am referring in title.
Some country names don’t sound best with their current names. Thailand is such a country. “Land” in it name gives little bit western outlook. After visiting it, I felt that such a exotic country should be referred by which is much closer to Thai people and if we read history about the country, ancient name of country - SIAM is much better name compare to Thailand. Anyway I got chance to visit this country for work on short term.
Travelling abroad for short assignment is very tricky compare to long assignment. Long term work always gives you ample time to settle and then plan for site seeing. For shorter duration you don’t get luxury of time. But with proper homework, short work travel to new place can be converted into sightseeing without jeopardizing work. With use of internet you can be prepared for the places to visit, mode of transportation, food etc. You can also find out which transportation suits you best. In Thailand primary language is thai, relaying on road side enquiry is difficult. You have to use transportation which you can travel without much verbal communication. Bangkok has three modes of public transportation – bus, sky train, river taxies. There are also private services like taxies, tuk-tuk (rickshaw). I preferred sky train, because of heavy traffic and routes were easy to understand. To visit old town, you have to use bus since sky train doesn’t reach there.
When you visit Thailand you feel immediately connected because of cultural similarity with India. While traveling in Bangkok, you will notice names like Rama, Ayutthaya. Thai people believe that king is incarnation of Rama. Current king is Rama-IX! I wonder why they use roman numbers to number their king! On Monday, mostly Thai people will be wearing yellow T- shirts with royal emblem to show their respect to king. Watching sea of people with yellow colored T-Shirt make you wonder about collective psyche of about Thai people. It might be because of small size of country sandwiched between two dominating culture in region China and India.
Although name of king is closer to Hindu God, religion followed in Thailand is Buddhism.
So you come across - Wats (monastery temple). Also you will see numerous Buddha statues inside Wat. I heard there are more Buddha statutes than number of people living in Thailand. In front of many homes you will see small Buddha temple similar to tulsi vrindavan we notice in some parts of India. So religion and king is integral part of Thai life.
Wats are beautiful temples with large image of Buddha. Most of the time it will be placed below bell shaped structure called chedi. In front of it there will be praying ground called vihan and open space called mondop. I liked their references being close to Sanskrit. What amazed me in most was the entrance of Wat, at front door it has meticulously decorated daemons and Garuda. Compound walls are also decorated with murals, mostly stories from Ramayana.
Apart from wat, Bangkok being capital city has many other tourist attractions such as palaces, modern skycrapers.
After exploring Bangkok in first two weeks, I thought of exploring nearby cities closer to Bangkok. I decided first to go to Ayutthaya because city was very ancient. It always fascinated me - life of humans before industrial revolution. This city was founded in 1350 and it was capital for kingdom until 1767. In its peak glory, population was 3 lakhs! So Ayutthaya city was must GO for me. City is around 1 and ½ hrs travel distance from Bangkok by train. City is small and there is nothing left except Ayutthaya Historic Park which has ruins of old city. Bird’s eye view of park gives you glimpse of older glorious days. It has numerous wats, huge reclining Buddha and famous Buddha’s head entangled in tree roots. Now this park is UNESCO’s world heritage site.
Apart from ancient sites, Thailand also has lots of natural scenic places like sea shore, islands. Bangkok city is situated along river Chao Phraya. By the time river reaches Bangkok, it travels distance close to 300 km and along the way many tributary rivers joins. Geographically this terrain is flat, so in Bangkok this river looks very wide. Since river travels such long distance, carrying sand/clay on its way water color is always brown. Because of numerous tributary rivers, very fertile delta region is formed at mouth of gulf of Thailand. While traveling in ruler area you can see lush green rice paddies and water canals. In Bangkok, this river is also used for public transportation. There are many water ferries. Considering Bangkok traffic, this is also good option during rush hours.
I also visited port town called Pattaya. It was closer to Bangkok and one can easily manage return one day or weekend trip. Although Pattaya is famous for night life, it has many other tourist attractions. From Pattaya, around 6 km distance there is beautiful island KO Larn. This small island is famous for beaches. There are routine ferries from Pattaya to this island and back. On island there are motorcycle taxies which can take you to the beaches. Some hoteliers maintain few beaches. They provide beach chairs, umbrella, changing rooms. After playing and swimming in sea water they are ready to serve you with hot food, although little expensive. But you don’t mind considering remote location and scenic beauty sea has to offer.
Exploring any new place is not finished until you taste local food. Before visiting Thailand, I had tried some Thai food such as Pad Thai, red/green chicken curry with coconut milk. I loved it since it is much closer to our hot and spicy food. So I was very excited about food in Thailand but I was wrong. Migrated food taste is very differently compared to original. Most of Thai dishes have lime leaves as ingredient which gives dish very strong bitter taste and smell, so I couldn’t explore many local dishes. But I did like few dishes like pad thai, papaya salad. But one can thoroughly enjoy tropical fruits while in Thailand. You will find many road side vendors selling fruits.
Leaving Thailand was little heartbreaking since I missed mountainous Chaing Mai region and Phuket island to explore. Although I got little glimpse of thai rural life while visiting Pattaya, Ayudhaya, Kanchanburi but these places are geographically located on flat plans around Chao Phraya river. Because of time constraints and travelling distance I couldn’t manage trip over there. But for compensation I did visit Kanchanaburi which has some hills bordering Burma. This place is also famous because of War Museum. During world war –II, this area was under Japanese control. During that period Japan tried to build railway system from Bangkok to Rangoon using prisoners of war. It is estimated roughly 1 lakh prisoners died on that railway project because of hardship and maltreatment. There is Kanchanaburi war cemetery associated with POW. Old bridge built by POW during that period is major tourist attraction.
Overall I am just happy, since I managed to explore most of Thailand while working for short duration.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Technology Explosion
Sometime back read article about finding stars which are 200 billion years old, which caused debate again about big bang theory versus study state universe. Boy, just can't imagine people are working backward and forward billion years thinking about what will be state of universe few hundred billion years ago or in future. When I think about this I want to scream, scream in such a way that my scream's radiation will last similar to cosmic background radiation.
Big bang theory followers (Stephen Hawking’s follower ) found this radiations which got emitted during big bang and will remain for life time of universe.
With all this theory, mathematical calculations, experiment with cosmic radiation, CERN (particle colliding experience to find ultimate universal unified theory) I feel very miserable about my life. Other than two times a day hot meal I never had big ambition from my own life. Once in a while watching cricket match on TV was another ambition. For most of excited matches I was able to fulfill that desire watching at some general store behind 100 people and going home resigned once India lost.
But life changed drastically once PC (Personal computer) start occupying life. First it was job since every engineering graduate from any background started coding because of God called Bill Gates.. So one fine day you end up coding for Americans.. in process you fulfill another unachievable thing air travel and seeing align world. You are just wondering how to cope up with new changes, you start worrying about changing technology etc. And start working on it. What happen to simple ambition of just having nice day with hot meal?
NOW you are just doing catching with technology, by the time you finish reading one technology another emerges better and faster making previous absolute. What about time spend by me studying previous brain? Already life is too hard for body which DNA is wired for wandering about food for generations, surviving new technology world is very difficult. For me, technology explosion has caused bigger problem than theory of birth of universe. I just wonder how to survive in this technology explosion; if anybody has idea please let me know. | <urn:uuid:9612d93e-6b49-42ff-9740-412cb9c38d8b> | 2 | 2.1875 | 0.019813 | en | 0.958544 | http://prashantvpatil.blogspot.com/2011/03/ |
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Periodic Table 2011 Update
Apparently operating systems and softwares are not the only ones to get frequent updates. The elements of periodic table also have their turn. It is about time for all the science teachers to update charts of the periodic tables on the class room walls as two more artificial elements made their place permanent in the table. Although the life span of these these unnamed elements, only identified as element 114 and 116, is very short scientists have decided to make their place permanent in history. These new elements are very unstable and they disintegrate seconds after their formation. I wonder who or what they will be named after, as 112th was named Copernicium after Nicholas Copernicus.
Taxi wrapped in Periodic table for promotion by Oxford Science Park last year.
Periodic table gave me a hard time when I was a kid, as we were expected to remember all its elements by heart. It was really hard trying to remember all the 103 names of natural elements by categorizing them. But in the end it was fun as you compete with your friends and play games with all those weird sounding names. Recently man made elements were making their place permanent in the periodic table and increasing it size.
More elements will more names for kids to remember! So, how many periodic elements did you have to remember when you were a student?
1. Vee, u always come up with such interesting and often enlightening stuff! I didn't know this ( i think i wrote it earlier too on ur blog!)
Will ask my son does he know about man made elements being added to already long list!
Phew, I hated to memorize things as a student!!! Only understanding will do for me :)
tk cr
2. OMG don't remind me! It was such a pain memorizing it all. Chemistry has never been my favorite it physical or organic and there was a time when I was planning to study Biochemistry..phew! Thank god I didn't pursue it :D
3. that car would be so helpful had i been in school ryt now!
4. wonderful way to look at a artistic periodic table on the car:) Would be so inspiring to relearn the table now!
5. Restless -
Thank you for those kind words. I found it interesting and could not resist sharing this with you all.
Upasana - Biochemistry sounds fun. should have tried your hand it.
Raphael - pretty useful. that would have been fun way to learn periodic table.
sajeev - but, relearning the table! that will make my heart sink, i am done with it all. :)
Your comments are encouragement and motivation! Please leave your feedback -
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Biotechnology Journal
Biotechnol J. 2012 July; 7(7): 856–866.
Published online 2012 May 31. doi: 10.1002/biot.201200085
PMCID: PMC3440575
Despite the efforts that bioengineers have exerted in designing and constructing biological processes that function according to a predetermined set of rules, their operation remains fundamentally circumstantial. The contextual situation in which molecules and single-celled or multi-cellular organisms find themselves shapes the way they interact, respond to the environment and process external information. Since the birth of the field, synthetic biologists have had to grapple with contextual issues, particularly when the molecular and genetic devices inexplicably fail to function as designed when tested in vivo. In this review, we set out to identify and classify the sources of the unexpected divergences between design and actual function of synthetic systems and analyze possible methodologies aimed at controlling, if not preventing, unwanted contextual issues.
Keywords: Complexity, Context, Environment, Gene expression, Synthetic biology
1 Introduction
Living systems are problem-solving systems. Even “simple” bacteria and viruses have solved the problem of surviving in every environment in which life can exist. They inhabit niches that are nearly completely isolated in the depths of the earth or in hyper-dense diverse, competitive communities in top soils or around plant roots. It is extraordinary how robust these organisms can be to changes in their environment [1]. No one appreciates this capability more than biological engineers who have yet to learn to design systems that are similarly flexible yet conserve designed function.
One of the common goals of synthetic biology is to make the design of new function vastly more efficient, safe, understandable, and predictable [2]. This field is likely to have a profound impact on chemical, pharmaceutical and material manufacturing, environmental and agricultural engineering, and health [3, 4]. A much cited barrier to predictability in design is context. Context, in this definition, is the environment in which a system finds itself. Organisms find themselves in environmental contexts where fluctuations of physical variables, such as temperature and osmolarity, and dynamical change in population density, diversity and interaction occur. These fluctuations impact physiology and fitness in complex ways. In fact, every process in the cell is also subject to context since each depends on the life of the host via direct and indirect interactions with cellular resources and components. They are also affected by the levels of both substrates and products, and the parameters of the cellular milieu, including the local redox potential, osmolarity, porosity/viscosity/crowding, and temperature.
We tend to assume that, for processes endogenous to the cell, most of these dependencies are evolutionarily optimized in some way to provide robust and effective cellular function and thereby fitness. It has also been conjectured that there might also be optimization for plasticity/evolvability [5]. Heterologous pathways have not had the advantage of long periods of co-evolution with other cellular substrates. They are generally subject to environments, such as bioreactors, that they have not experienced at length previously in the evolutionary history of the system. Thus, their function often suffers from uncontrolled/unpredicted interactions with the surrounding cellular context and environment. Unlike the mode in natural systems, the designer likely does not want the system to evolve, thus making plasticity undesirable. Further, the heterologous pathway itself is generally constructed from individual subsystems whose composition (physical and functional) is novel and therefore may generate spurious interactions unwanted or not predicted by the designer. We define all the implicit dependencies and spurious or unconsidered interactions mentioned above as context effects.
2 Subdividing context problems
Recently several authors have analyzed design strategies to directly integrate synthetic circuits with endogenous cellular processes [6], or to create systems that are more insensitive (i.e. robust) to variation in conditions [7]. Problems of context are barriers to the reliable function of biological pathways, and they are often intermixed with problems of robust and modular circuit design. In this review, we attempt to focus on the contextual mechanisms that are sources of variability/uncertainty that plague robust design. We also look at the contextual violations of interface definitions that challenge modular design of biological circuitry or circuit-host integration, and point to possible solutions for many of the effects. We define three broad classes of context: compositional context, host context, and environmental context.
Compositional context concerns the interface among biological components and the issues that arise in their physical and functional integration (Box 1a). Host context relates to the implicit dependence of a biological device on factors provided by the host organism for its operation. One consequence of this is a global coupling and competition among implanted and endogenous functions (Box 1b). Environmental context originates from variables that are asserted outside the host and that affect circuit function. Temperature, for example, is a variable that can directly affect heterologous circuit parameters as well as host functions, which, together with nutritive factors, stressors, and even other cells in the population, can affect the fitness of the host and modulate the effect of heterologous circuit function on that fitness (Box 1c).
Box 1: Sources of context dependencies in synthetic systems
a. Compositional context
• Physical integration of multiple regulators (e.g. transcriptional), genetic devices or polypeptides [8, 9, 12, 18].
• Approximate knowledge of RNA folding and cis-/trans-interaction of multiple regulators [13, 16].
• Functional composition of devices that leads to unexpected circuit failure [2023].
b. Host context
• Parasitic interactions between transplanted and host-endogenous components [27, 28, 31, 33].
• Reliance on cellular components can affect host physiology [3538], can depend on circuit “state” [40] and be host specific [43].
• Synthetic devices depend on cellular processes such as growth [46, 47], replication [53, 54] and partitioning at cell division [49, 50].
c. Environmental context
• Temperature and pH can directly affect cellular functions like transcription [57, 60, 61] or synthetic devices [62, 63].
• The host can mediate the effect of environmental context on the activity of synthetic components [70] or on population dynamics [72].
Below we review the evidence for the mechanisms underlying these different types of context effect, how they affect circuit and host function, and their implications for effective and reliable circuit design.
3 Compositional context
Compositional context is perhaps the easiest to address in improving the design of synthetic systems. Designers have a choice of what elements they use in their design and how they are physically instantiated and interconnected in a host (biological or otherwise). Thus, it may prove possible to make judicious choices in the elements we use to form the basis set for controlling ubiquitous cellular functions, although the biological principles of how to create such sets of parts are far from clear. Here we dissect examples of relevant mechanisms into physical and functional composition problems.
3.1 Physical composition
In genetic circuits, the activity/effect of regulatory and expressed sequences arrayed on the same DNA molecule depends on their precise ordering, how they are linked across defined boundaries and their structural interaction. Similarly, domains on the same polypeptide or subunits within protein complexes often have activities that are mediated by defined interfaces and are affected by immediate sequence/structural context. When those interactions are “desirable”, they become design parameters. However, undesigned interactions can occur because of the often-necessary spatial co-localization of synthetic components, which can undermine their function. We define these unwanted, implicit interactions as physical context (Fig. 1A).
Figure 1
Sources of context effects and their connectivity. (A) Compositional context. An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is biot0007-0856-mu1.jpg, Physical composition: undesigned direct interaction between synthetic parts on the same molecule. An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is biot0007-0856-mu2.jpg, Functional composition: unexpected effects from module coupling, component ...
The meaning of cis-regulatory transcription factor (TF)-binding sequences in or near a promoter depends on the physical context through their spatial arrangement. In one study, Cox et al. [8] shuffled promoter elements to obtain a library of promoter architectures. The library generated a large range of expression strengths and logic gating from simple re-positioning of the operator sequences of a two-input promoter. In promoters that integrated binding of two repressors, the predominance of one or the other relied, often not intuitively, on their reciprocal position relative to the transcription start site [8]. If sufficiently elucidated, cis-regulation at the promoter will become a powerful design parameter for more complex regulation. However, as noted above, currently many spatial arrangements lead to surprising or unexpected results, making this a physical context problem. Promoters themselves can be composed together and tandem promoters have been used to produce gates with an OR logic. With just two inputs and one output, these OR gates could be assembled to construct all possible logic functions through compartmentalization of each circuit in a different strain of Escherichia coli [9]. In this case, while little interference was present between promoters for the majority of tandem combinations, the combination Ptet – PBAD did not function as predicted. Why this combination failed was not obvious, although effects on DNA looping or occlusion of TF-binding sites were proposed [9]. In fact, if more complex transcriptional regulation becomes necessary, occlusion of regulator binding will probably gain importance as a design issue, and construction and screening of large part libraries will remain popular as an approach to design. Finally, multigene expression can still present a challenge because of poor termination at some Class I transcription terminators [10] or efficient transcription run-through in vivo [11]. These issues remain object of an intense engineering effort particularly to improve the efficiency of terminators for T7 RNA polymerase [12].
Integrating multiple regulatory inputs on RNA molecules can also be subject to undesigned interaction that could undermine functionality. Recently, Isaacs and co-workers exploited the versatility of RNA folding and the sequence specificity of RNA regulation to construct pairs of riboregulators that both repressed and activated translation from specific mRNA targets in vivo [13]. In this study, the observed parasitic interaction involved the 5' unstructured region of the engineered RNA riboregulator, which potentially formed alternative interactions that interfered with the riboregulator function [13]. In RNA-based devices, insulation of different functional elements can be the key for restoring part behavior. For example, modification of structural (stem) and spacer elements [14, 15], or self-cleaving ribozymes [16], can all be used to insulate RNA synthetic parts. In one study, Win and co-workers introduced a cis-acting aptazyme in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) region of the gene target of post-transcriptional regulation [15]. In this case, a designed sequence spacer was used to prevent potential interaction between the synthetic RNA device and other sequences on the target mRNA. However, while attempting to compose attenuators of different specificity, Lucks and co-workers reported that spacer sequences ranging from 100 to 1000 bp failed to provide sufficient insulation to tandem RNA attenuators, possibly because of strong structural interactions between RNA elements (upstream sense RNAs and downstream antisense RNAs). Instead, hammerhead ribozyme constructs were used to cleave off single attenuator elements and provided the necessary insulation to restore functionality [16].
Protein-protein interactions can be engineered to precisely direct signal transduction pathways by recruiting or sequestering regulators [17] or to artificially co-localize enzymes and substrates, e.g. to improve the yield of a biosynthesized product [18]. However, in this case, the co-localization of components (e.g. protein domains) can also lead to unwanted context effects. When heterologous protein-protein interaction domains were added to enzymes of the mevalonate pathway, the product titer increased stoichiometrically with the number of scaffold-recruiting, peptide-ligand domains. However, this effect reverted when the number of “scaffolded” domains increased above a certain level, possibly as consequence of enzyme misfolding or uncharacterized allosteric interaction caused by excess of ligand-peptide [18]. A precise definition of the number and relative stoichiometry of enzymes in designed scaffolds seems to be the key to avoid such compositional issues. However, the limits set by “microcompartment” formation, which is their most likely mechanism of function [19], might lead to further compositional problems.
3.2 Functional composition
Unlike physical composition, context effects in functional composition arise only when linking the output of one process to the input of another, and are not a direct consequence simply of physical interaction. Nearly all of these result from some competition for resources occurring between the output and the, possibly multiple, inputs. That is, the output of an upstream process is a molecule (or often more formally the production rate of this molecule) that is consumed as input by multiple downstream processes. To understand the effect for biochemical systems, a simple example would be a signaling molecule A that is produced at a constant rate and decays via a first order decay. Imagine two downstream processes that consume A to make B and C. The amount of A at steady state in this system is inversely proportional to the rates of conversion to these molecules. Thus, the steady-state rate of, say, B production depends on both these conversion rates. If conversion to C suddenly became faster, there would be less A at steady state and thus less B produced per unit time. Hence, the interconnection of A production to B production is affected by C production – the latter is in the “functional context” of B and vice versa [20]. This is not a desirable coupling in a modular design. Were all of these systems linear, there would be a relationship to the concept of low-input impedance that could lead to fan-out failure [21]. Recently, a formal mathematical definition of this type of context coupling in biochemical systems (called retroactivity), similar to the concept of impedance, has been developed [22, 23] and advances some approaches to mitigating these effects.
4 Host context
The task of synthetic biologists is constrained by the host organism that will contain their engineered designs. They depend explicitly or implicitly on the host resources and machinery for function, and ultimately their intermediate or final products are released in a cellular context with which they interact. It is the implicit interactions – those aspects of host function that are assumed to be constant and unlimited for the function of a design and to be insensitive to the operation of the circuit – that we define as host context (Fig. 1B). We classify undesigned host interactions into two classes: the first includes parasitic interaction in which unwanted molecular interactions between components of the heterologous circuit and host interfere with the function of both or either. The second class comprises functional interaction or coupling issues. The unaccounted dependence of circuit function on variable and limited host resources as well as cellular processes induces variable/unpredictable circuit behavior, coupling between components, or failure of circuit/host interface. Of course, the coupling is a closed loop. The functioning of the heterologous circuit can place a load on the host, affecting its fitness and consuming resources that would normally be available for endogenous processes. This, in turn, can create host resource limitations that restrict circuit function (e.g. by preventing optimal expression of an enzyme).
4.1 Parasitic interaction
Cellular pathways and circuits are defined, more or less, by a set of molecular species, the specific interactions among them, and the physical transformations permitted by the interactions (e.g. chemical reactions). However, it is also known that enzymes can be promiscuous [24], individual TFs can bind nonspecifically to DNA [25], and certain peptide-binding domains can bind many disordered target peptides with differing affinities [26].
Nonspecific binding and cross talk induce competition for the subject molecule among the specific modules that depend on them and the nonspecific consumers. TFs with new binding specificities have recently been obtained through directed evolution [27] or rational design [28, 29]. In at least one case the presence of undesigned parasitic interactions of the engineered regulators with the host was observed. Desai and co-workers [28] used an analysis of co-variation of TF and DNA target sequences to identify residues in the global regulator cAMP receptor protein (CRP) that confer different specificities, and constructed orthogonal regulator-operator pairs. Despite engineering several retargeted variants of CRP, they encountered unexpected cross-talk problems with the endogenous wild-type CRP, which was more promiscuous than the engineered regulators. In their work, Desai and co-workers suggested that the higher promiscuity of wild-type CRP towards operator sequences imported into E. coli from different species of bacteria originates from the lack of regulator-operator co-evolution in this organism [28]. Removing promiscuous binding or enzymatic activities by rational engineering, without compromising function, may be difficult given the long evolutionary selection for these attributes [30].
In an attempt to engineer the binding specificity of the lactose operon repressor LacI, Zhan and co-workers [29] used the extensive structural and functional knowledge of LacI protein-DNA interactions to design new repressor/operator pairs. These orthogonal regulators showed limited cross talk and could be assembled in various logic circuits. However, the authors also noted that the necessity for LacI repressors to oligomerize for repression, which relies on protein-protein interaction surfaces not involved in DNA binding, could be a source of undesigned cross talk and possible interference with host proteins of the same repressor family. In fact, in one study at least, strain-specific parasitic interactions with the host, e.g. host genome or proteome, have been confirmed for the LacI family of regulators. Wang and co-workers [31] constructed several logic circuits with orthogonal regulators imported from Pseudomonas syringae. This device did not function properly in five of seven different E. coli strains when engineered variants of E. coli promoters Plac and Pbad were used as inputs, but it worked according to design when the exogenous promoter Plux was used in place of Plac. In this study, the authors uncovered an unexpected parasitic interaction of the lacI promoter with components of the LacI family of transcriptional regulators in E. coli, which undermined circuit functionality.
It is thought that protein complexes are subjected to both positive and negative selection during their evolution [32]. Positive selection could lead to increased binding affinity, but this occurs at the expense of possible synergistic, nonspecific binding to non-cognate partners. Alternatively, negative selection against binding to such unintended partners is thought to be an important driving force in the evolution of cognate versus non-cognate protein interactions, and could help to insulate signaling pathways in large paralagous protein families. In an elegant study, Zarrinpar and co-workers [33] demonstrated the effects of negative selection in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The authors constructed chimeras of the yeast osmosensor protein Sho1 with its SH3 domain replaced with other yeast as well as distant metazoans SH3 domains. When the authors tested the amount of specificity stored in this interaction surface, they found that only the cognate domain recognized its peptide target sequence, and none of the paralogous domains could. However, SH3 domains from other organisms did bind the target peptide with varying affinities, possibly because they were not selected to not interact with the endogenous effector. The implication is that using these domains, heterologously, in S. cerevisiae would lead to undesired cross talk between the implanted system and the host. Such barriers to heterologous expression of genes have also been studied in a broader scope. Sorek et al. [34] attempted to pass 246, 045 genes from 79 prokaryotic genomes into E. coli and determined how many failed horizontal gene transfer. As expected, generally, proteins that are involved in fundamental cellular processes such as transcription and translation have little propensity to transfer. Intriguingly, beside several ribosomal proteins, a number of other classes of protein, including several membrane transporters and pumps, could not be transferred into E. coli. Possibly, these proteins could engage in spurious interactions with other cellular functions affecting cell viability [34].
4.2 Host loading: Reliance on host resources
Synthetic genetic circuits must function in a cellular environment, and normally use host resources and enzymes such as nucleotides, tRNAs or ribosomes for fulfilling their process requirements. Drawing from these pools of central resources can impact the normal homeostasis of the host cell. Expression of a heterologous protein can compete for limiting free ribosomes, which decreases the expression of other proteins [35, 36], and even reduces the number of functional ribosomes in the cell [36]. In particular, Dong and co-workers [36] showed that overexpression of β-galactosidase such that it comprised 30% of total cell protein completely halted cell growth. A more recent example shows that a particular coding sequence can interact with the host differentially and lead to indirect coupling between systems [37]. Here, the expression of two of three encoded proteins varied linearly with plasmid copy number. The third, GFP, fell off differently at high copy number apparently due to specific load from expression of this sequence. The load from gfp affected the linearity of the expression of the other sequences when placed on the same plasmid.
Models describing in detail the coupling between protein synthesis and cell homeostasis remain very important. The impact of protein overexpression on growth was recently found to be largely a consequence of re-allocation of ribosomes, constrained by a parameter describing nutritional capacity [38]. Interestingly, in their model Scott and co-workers [38] predict the presence in E. coli of a feedback mechanism that balances the amount of cellular ribosomes, possibly triggered by changes in the endogenous pool of tRNAs, in response to reduced translational activity. The constraints imposed by host resources are beginning to set bounds on the size and activity of synthetic circuits that may be expressed in different hosts and point to bottlenecks for which, in the future, we might design solutions. Importantly, the host organism also plays a strong role in determining which configurations of codons lead to optimal translation of the protein, particularly by defining the relative abundance of each charged tRNA [39].
It is likely that almost all heterologous circuits place some load on the cell, thereby affecting either its growth or its ability to carry out certain processes. The significance of the load on cellular resource and hence on fitness is, of course, both dependent on the “state” of the circuit and the “environment” of the cell. For example, in the yeast S. cerevisiae, Burrill and co-workers [40] engineered a positive-feedback device to sense the activation of DNA damage response and trigger a persistent output from the circuit that functioned as memory device. Nevertheless, circuits in the “ON” state could still affect the growth rate of activated versus non-activated cells, with the former being outgrown and diluted in the population, which could lead to partial loss of the long-term memory function of the device [40]. The design of this memory switch naturally leads to different host loading in the two states since the ON state expresses a protein at a high level and the OFF state does not. However, there are alternative switch designs in which load can be better balanced. DNA inversion-based memory switches in which state is held by the configuration of DNA after action of a recombinase could provide a lower load on the host [41, 42]. An invertase can flip a fragment of DNA to a different orientation, a mechanism that can serve directly as memory. Alternatively, if a protein must be expressed, the fragment might contain a promoter that expresses different proteins in each orientation, which assert similar loads on the cell and avoid subpopulations of cells with different growth characteristics.
As synthetic biologists expand the number of hosts in which they wish to transplant synthetic devices, being able to predict how each circuit will function in a new context or “environment” is clearly desirable. Nevertheless, genetic circuits can function differently even in different strains of the same species of bacteria. For example, in the work of Balagadde et al. [43], their population control circuit experienced unexpected oscillations over several days before reaching a lower steady-state population density. The cause of the oscillations was not clear and, of the two different E. coli strains tested, one – MC4100Z1 – had dampened oscillations, while the other – Top10 – had sustained oscillations for the whole length of the experiment. Furthermore, the two strains had a very different phenotypic response to the killer protein CcdB: MC4100Z1 showed a distinct stress phenotype, while Top10 did not [43]. These strain-specific dynamics are clear examples of unaccounted, contextual issues that arise from interfacing a circuit with the host genetic background. However, because MC4100Z1 and Top10 are so closely related, it is likely that the genetic basis of this difference in circuit response to the host can be mapped, and the mechanistic causes determined.
Predicting what cellular process, metabolite or resource will affect the function of a device is, for now, very difficult. In a surprising example of a load issue being beneficial to circuit function, Stricker et al. [44] designed a genetic oscillator that behaved more robustly and functioned at a wider range of inducer concentrations than predicted. They discovered that their circuit saturated the endogenous proteolytic machinery, inducing coupling among circuit components that was critical for robust oscillations to occur. There are likely a finite number of such key interaction points of heterologous circuit with cellular resources, and it is a key challenge to design against them or, alternatively, exploit them. It is more complicated, perhaps, to isolate a heterologous circuit from dependence on host “housekeeping” machinery and metabolism. One possibility that we have already mentioned is to physically confine different subsystems of a design to different cells [9]. With this method, both the metabolic load on the host and the interference of parasitic interactions can be limited by reducing the number of circuit components present in each cell type. Importantly, multicellular computing also has the benefit of reducing intercellular variability with a population-wide global output [9] and allowing division of labor and the execution of incompatible chemistries in the same circuit.
4.3 Growth-coupled context effects
Apart from host resources, synthetic devices in a cell are subject to the unavoidable recurrence of at least three cellular processes: growth, replication and partitioning. The dependence of the cellular macromolecular composition on growth rate has been a focus of intense investigation for over 30 years [45, 46]. In some bacteria, gene copy number is strongly correlated with growth; at higher growth rates multiple rounds of replication can simultaneously occur. Recently, a theoretical approach was adopted to analyze data of protein expression from different promoters in different media [47]. In this work, Klumpp and co-authors [47] established growth-rate dependencies of the transfer function of several types of gene circuits. Additionally, they extended the notion of “growth feedback” [48] identifying nonlinearity in host-circuit interaction that could lead to both expression and growth bistability in absence of positive feedback. In this case, the growth feedback enters in the form of the dilution of circuit intermediates and is dependent on whether the circuit is encoded on a plasmid or in the host genome. At the design stage, it is important to carefully consider whether gene circuitry is implemented on a multicopy plasmid or the host chromosome and which replication system is adopted because their copy number can be differently affected by growth feedback as recently demonstrated [47]. This is also necessary to counter issues associated with plasmid partitioning at cell division [49], and methods for controlling the dependence of circuit function on the abundance of encoding genetic material can be useful. In particular, Bleris and co-workers showed that certain types of circuit topology, such as the incoherent feed-forward loop (iFFL), adapt to changes in the DNA template abundance [50].
Plasmid maintenance can have unexpected, toxic consequences on the cell such as, for instance, increased glucose uptake and detrimental accumulation of metabolite intermediates [51]. As one further confirmation of the multiple, unexpected consequences of unbalanced metabolite pools, a dramatic change in charged tRNAs can interfere with plasmid replication control and lead to a dramatic increase in plasmid copy number [52]. Clearly, there is a positive feedback between plasmid-associated activities and host metabolism that can lead to unregulated “runaway” plasmid replication (uncontrolled plasmid amount) and have detrimental consequences on the protein synthesis apparatus or the integrity of the outer membrane [53, 54]. Accurate control of plasmid replication can go a long way toward limiting the metabolic burden of recombinant expression and plasmid maintenance on the host cell. Identifying and modeling feedback between indicators of growth and components of replication regulation will be important to implement copy-number stabilization in circuit design [55, 56].
5 Environmental context
Biological circuits and their hosts are subject to fluctuations in the environment. Resources may change, physical conditions such as volume and temperature may vary, and, of course, there may be other cells competing for resources in the environment. In addition, the cell is continuously sensing the environment; therefore, various problems for the function of a genetic circuit can originate from the very diverse interplay of host and environmental variables (Fig. 1C). We define environmental context as the unintentional coupling to variations in the environment that modifies the behavior of biological components either directly or indirectly through the mediation of the host organism.
5.1 Direct effects
Environmental factors can directly affect physical-chemical properties of biological components and, therefore, their function. Temperature can directly modulate transcriptional activity per se, without the involvement of trans-acting factors. For example, the promoter of bacteriophage λ PL shows increased transcription when the temperature is lowered [57]. Temperature-dependent changes in the curvature of the DNA can favor the binding of activators [58] or repressors [59, 60]. Temperature effects need to be accounted for during design of gene circuits, particularly when RNA parts are used. Recently, efforts to characterize novel synthetic RNA “thermometers” were hindered by the observation that transcription/translation processes are somewhat more efficient at higher temperature, which can compromise proper characterization of other regulatory devices as well [61]. Riboswitches have been found to function under equilibrium conditions, in which temperature can be an important factor [62]. In a recent attempt to engineer riboswitches that functioned in bacteria other than E. coli, Topp and co-workers [63] determined that the temperature of the culture was an important variable to be considered in predicting riboswitch function in the bacterium Magnetospirillum magneticum, the optimal growth of which is at 30°C.
The pH of the growth medium is another important design variable in engineering biological parts. Probably the most investigated case is that of the quorum-sensing signal acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) molecule. Non-enzymatic, temperature- and pH-dependent hydrolysis of AHL is noticeable in aqueous solutions [64] (for a review see [65]). When the response to pH is predictable, this parameter can be used to effectively modulate circuit output. For example, the steady-state cell density reached by a bacterial population engineered with a population-control device could be tuned by changing the pH of the growth medium [66]. However, pH affected other parameters in the model such as cell growth and, unexpectedly, the toxicity of the killer protein CcdB [66].
5.2 Host-mediated environmental effect
Host resources and subsystem activity vary with the environment. The accessibility of common metabolite pools, the energy charge, and the availability of polymerases and ribosomes are all greatly affected by growth phase and available external nutrients [46, 67, 68]. Global regulators such as H-NS, IHF and Lrp in E. coli can change DNA accessibility in ways that impact circuit expression; proteases change their levels and thereby their ability to be saturated; and cells change volume, shape and other parameters that might affect circuit function. Likewise, the load imposed on a cell by a heterologous circuit is affected by the availability of external resources, and, in the extreme, can lead to changes in cell fitness that can have deep consequence for circuit function and stability. Undesigned interactions among different populations of cells, such as cross-feeding and cross-protection, can lead to unexpected dynamics that can ultimately alter circuit functionality.
One recent example of multi-level coupling with environmental regulation arose in the attempt to engineer a propionate-regulated promoter from Salmonella enterica. This promoter (PprpB) is activated by the regulator PrpR, which, in turn, is activated by 2-methylcitrate derived from the metabolism of propionate. Additionally, the promoter is regulated by the 3'–5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-CRP complex (e.g. catabolite repression) and possibly by the global regulator IHF, suggesting strong environmental sensitivity of propionate-dependent transcription regulation [69]. Indeed, PprpB was shown to be environment sensitive in a manner that depended on the particular strain and media used for expression. The promoter showed no activity in E. coli BL21 (BLR) cells and in Terrific broth (TB) medium but functioned properly when tested in Luria broth (LB) medium. In addition, when E. coli DH1 cells were used, the promoter was active in both LB and TB media [70]. The novel propionate promoter was not the only one to show strong host-mediated environmental effect. For example, the long-established lac promoter was repressed by the addition of 1% glucose to the medium, which is known to activate catabolite repression, and showed leaky expression in TB [70]. These data demonstrated that complex regulatory mechanisms used by bacteria to deal with nutrient availability, such as catabolite repression, could have strong and unexpected impacts on synthetic gene circuits when probed outside the experimental conditions used for optimization.
Microbes also modify their local environment by secreting metabolites and signals, originating complex subpopulation and subpopulation/interspecies dependencies through cross-feeding and cross-protection. Cross-feeding, trade-offs in growth-phase parameters, and spatial constrains within the culture, which affect the dilution of shared agents, are important factors involved in the emergence and maintenance of polymorphic subpopulations of bacteria (reviewed in [71]). Recently, during growth in a bioreactor, a polymorphic subpopulation of cells resistant to antibiotics such as norfloxacin or gentamicin was found to protect the majority of non-resistant cells by secreting the signaling molecule indole into the media, a molecule involved in stress tolerance in E. coli [72]. The design of synthetic devices with phases that can differently impact fitness trade-offs between cell subpopulations, such as a host-integrated memory/non-memory states [40] (often encoded on plasmids that can lead to the emergence of polymorphic, cooperative cells or “cheaters” [73]), will have to rely on careful analysis of complex population dynamics to engineer safer device containments and evolutionary and functional robustness during prolonged culture.
6 Concluding remarks
Synthetic devices are extraneous elements that are implanted in a cellular system that has used millions of years of evolutionary tuning to reach equilibrium. Currently, we cannot map genomes to account for all parasitic interactions that may occur between the vast array of synthetic biological parts being built and the organisms in which they will function. Neither we will probably, in the near future, be able to precisely model production and partitioning of all cellular resources in all different growth conditions for many types of organisms. However, as synthetic biologists expand the number of hosts in which they wish to transplant synthetic devices, especially to more complex biological systems found in higher eukaryotes, being able to predict how a circuit will function in a new context is clearly desirable. Context dependencies need to be part of the standard characterization of biological parts and some proposals to this end have already been made [74]. However, it remains an open challenge to create the physical map of where and how such dependencies arise with similar precision to that found in electrical or mechanical engineering. Results from genome-scale studies on gene-phenotype interaction suggest that, although host and immediate context effects might be complex, they are finite [75, 76], and could likely be dealt with by formal design. In fact, as the studies cited above have demonstrated, diagnosing the failures of designed systems to meet specification is leading to deeper understanding of different types of molecular mechanisms, the nature and limitations of cellular resources, and the indirect coupling among cellular subsystems, and has hinted at undiscovered processes.
Recently, it has been pointed out that it may be possible to design genetic circuit “probes” to precisely dissect these new cellular processes [6]. Further, new theories of robust design and design frameworks for biological insulation elements are emerging in the toolkits of designers [7]. The synthetic biology community does not lack engineered biological parts or experimental tools to identify and characterize these contextual effects; hence, the field is ready to systematically address these issues and improve predictability in the design of biological systems.
Dr. Stefano Cardinale is a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, USA). During his PhD program at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK), Wellcome Trust Center for Cell Biology, he worked on the construction, manipulation and application of Synthetic Human Chromosomes in human tissue cells. This work led to two patent applications and several scientific publications. In his carrier, Dr. Cardinale has received an EMBO Short-Term Fellowship to pursue research on nuclear structures in human cells and a Darwin Trust Scholarship for his graduate studies. His current research focuses on the effect of each gene of the E. coli genome on cellular physiology and the activity of synthetic genetic circuits to identify key sources of failure of synthetic devices in bacteria and to improve predictable design of synthetic systems. His research interests are Systems and Synthetic Biology, and biotechnology.
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Prof. Adam Arkin, Director of the Berkeley Synthetic Biology Institute and of the Physical Biosciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), is the Dean A. Richard Newton Memorial Professor in UC Berkeley's Department of Bioengineering. He is also the Chief Executive and Science Officer of the Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase, technical co-manager of the large scale Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies (ENIGMA) program, Director of Bioinformatics at the Joint Bioenergy Institute, and Co-director of the BIOFAB (International Open Facility Advancing Biotechnology). His research centers on uncovering the evolutionary design principles of cellular networks and populations, and exploiting them for applications. He and colleagues are developing a framework to facilitate applications in the fields of health, environment, and bioenergy by combining comparative functional genomics and genetics, quantitative measurement of cellular dynamics, systems biological modeling of cellular networks, and cellular design. He has been a member of the UC Berkeley faculty since 1999, and earned his PhD in physical chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2007, and has been profiled in Time Magazine as a “future innovator”. He was a member of the founding class of the MIT Technology Review Young Innovators program. He is the author or co-author of over 190 scientific papers and reviews.
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The authors would like to thank Jeffrey Skerker, Chang Liu and Vivek Mutalik for proofreading and commenting the manuscript. The work described in this report was funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program titled: “Predictive High-Throughput Assembly of Synthetic Biological Systems: From Gene Expression to Carbon Sequestration” of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
transcription factor
cAMP receptor protein
terrific broth
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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
a mouse would hardly find a foothold
Despair, despair: among other things I've been trying to find a way to segue, on this blog, into the book of Faroese short stories I found in the library two weeks ago, and so far no luck, I can find no doorway into the subject, no guiding loving star, no mineshaft, and it feels as if I might as well be trying to climb up the cliffs that, I am told, rise from the sea around the shores of the Faroe Islands where all of these stories are set.
The Faroese writers associate the subject of cliffs so naturally with the subject of birds that I assume that it is normal for all of the other islanders to think like this as well, first cliffs and then birds, birds and then cliffs, specifically nesting birds. Characters go "fowling in the cliffs." A man who wants to kill a pair of ravens ("black as pitch and shiny as steel") in Sverri Patursson's Winning of the Bounty first acquires his bait in the shape of a dead lamb and then tosses it down a scarp. "Then he went all the way out to the edge of the bluff where the ravens were nesting lower down. He dropped the lamb so that it went rushing right past the nest and didn't stop until it reached a shelf below it. The birds were at the nest with their young, and when the carcass came tumbling down past them, they both flew out and began to circle close to the cliff."
The hero of one of the other stories, M.A. Winthers' To Catch a Thief, is a bird-poacher, one of those cunning but poor folk tale characters who outwit the rich and powerful. When he wants to trap himself some birds he goes to "one of the best of the Lað farmers' fowling places. It was impossible to walk down to the ledges in the face of the cliff here, and anyone who wanted to get to them had to use a line -- about twenty fathoms of it. The cliff was sheer from the edge down to the ledges, so sheer and smooth that a mouse would hardly find a foothold."
The Lað farmers try to catch him but he turns the tables on them and by the last paragraph of the story they're paying him to do their fowling.
I realise that I've found my way in. Here is my doorway: cliffs and birds. But before this, trust me, I was sitting here like Mr Toots in Dombey and Son, who never can work out how to tell Florence Dombey that he loves her. Instead he flails at the topic, hesitates, helplessly sabotages himself, "goes home to his Hotel in a state of desperation, locks himself into his bedroom, flings himself upon his bed, and lies there for a long time," moving the heart of the reader, who sees that he is a poor fool. Chesterton calls him "this little dunce and cad." Yet "Toots," he says, "expresses certain permanent dignities in human nature more than any of Dickens's more dignified characters can do it. For instance, Toots expresses admirably the enduring fear, which is the very essence of falling in love. When Toots is invited by Florence to come in, when he longs to come in, but still stays out, he is embodying a sort of insane and perverse humility which is elementary in the lover."
When Nicholson Baker perceived this love and humility in himself he wrote about it in U and I, a book which is both a memoir and a record of being haunted by thoughts of John Updike. Updike is the U. As he reaches the end of the book Baker the admirer meets Updike in the flesh -- twice -- and blurts at him -- maladroitly -- trying to be suave -- and goes away feeling that he has made the older writer dislike him. He stammers, he lies, he makes a gawky reference to The New Yorker. "I would never have done it either -- drag in The New Yorker name so obviously to get his attention -- except that life was too short not to. Those ticking seconds of signature might be the only chance I would ever get to embarrass myself in his presence.
When the excessively shy force themselves to be forward, they are frequently surprisingly unsubtle and overdirect and even rude: they have entered an extreme region beyond their normal personality where gradations don't count."
But Toots is very delicate, he doesn't blurt enough, that's one of his problems. And me, I hesitate, I think, "That doesn't work." I am Tootsish, though I do not express certain permanent dignities of human nature. Baker says that a writer who wants to introduce a new topic should be bold and charge in -- take command, change it, make it change. Chutzpah is vital. In February and March after VIDA put out that report about the low number of women who published reviews, articles in magazines, and so on, some magazine editors said, well, women lack confidence, they don't stand up and propose articles on subjects they know almost nothing about, as men do; they don't volunteer.
More maladroit blurting may be the answer, or else women will be condemned to go home to their hotels in states of desperation, fling themselves on their beds, and lie there for a very long time, never embarking on blog posts about the Faroe Islands, and knowing that they are not as brave as that utter lunatic in the M.A. Winthers story who climbs down twenty fathoms of rope and risks his life above a peeling sea to trap a few birds when nowadays he could just take himself off to the SMS Mall in the capital Tórshavn and buy off the menu at Burger King instead. But the Lað farmers are not going to employ him for doing that.
Faroese Short Stories was translated by Hedin Brønner. Photographs of those cliffs "so sheer and smooth that a mouse would hardly find a foothold" are not difficult to find online, and here is one of them. Here are some birds sitting on tiny ledges on the cliff-face. Here are people lying on the ground at the top of a Faroese cliff as if they're at a picnic. Here is a waterfall coming off a cliff into the sea near the village of Gásadalur. "In 2002 there were only sixteen people living in Gásadalur, and several of the houses stand empty today," reports Wikipedia. Two bucks and I'd move there. I should point out that the book was published in 1972 so the cliff plus bird combination may not have the grip on the Faroese imagination that it once did.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
after you move your eye
A hallway runs through this flat from the front door to the room at the back, and as I was walking down that hallway yesterday I thought of the word telescope in my last post and gradually I felt worried. It seemed important that I should turn on the computer and change telescope to magnifying glass straight away, otherwise people would think that I didn't know what I was talking about, I thought.
But reading the post I saw that it was not telescope I had written but telescoping, and so magnifying glass would not be able to replace it, because the word I needed, which would have been magnifying-glassing, did not exist, and even if I had claimed my right to domination over my own small bit of language and invented the word I wanted, the sentence as a whole would have become obscured by this distracting showboat of a phrase, doing me no good and doing it no good either, and not helping anyone who tried to make sense out of me, in fact ruining everything. I had been reading several books of poetry by the American poet Louise Glück, and for a 2006 collection named Averno I remembered that she had written a poem called Telescope, in which the poem's "you" takes a telescope away from their eye and feels a vertiginous unreality. "There is a moment after you move your eye away / when you forget where you are / because you've been living, it seems, / somewhere else, in the silence of the night sky," she writes.
The telescope has given you a sense of closeness, she says, but that closeness is false; you do not live in the night sky with the planetary bodies; you are not "participating in their stillness, their immensity" as you imagined. Gradually the you realises that its sense of identification and unity was false, and as it achieves its quietude the poet concludes like this: "You see again how far away / each thing is from every other thing."
But as long as you had the telescope to your eye you had an equivalent of metaphor: disparate objects had been persuaded to unite, or to exist in the same place. We cannot live in metaphor, we are apart, every poor metaphor is fighting against the separating powers of the universe, all microscopic pinpoints snubbing one another and rolling around like grapes on a tray. Two of the writers I've read recently have gone out of their way to say that metaphor is important to poetry. One was Jorge Luis Borges and the other was Susan Sontag, and their examples were so similar that I wondered if Sontag, whose speech (she was accepting the Jerusalem Prize) was published decades after the Argentinian died, had found the idea in the same place that I did, the 1967-8 Norton lectures that came out with Borges' photograph on the cover over the title, This Craft of Verse.
But perhaps that is impossible, because the lectures were left in a recorded form for "more than thirty years" said Calin-André Mihailescu, the man who arranged the publication, "the tapes gathering dust in the quiet ever-after of a library vault" and so Verse didn't come out until 2002, one year after Sontag received her prize. The similarity seemed so great while I was reading it, however, that I wanted to believe she had somehow known, a message getting through, maybe a verbal report, but why would anyone bother to hold onto that nugget of information for thirty years, "Borges said that metaphor was essential to poetry, and he used such and such specific examples"? Or was she there in the audience, her mind clinging to this part of the lecture for decades before she found a use for it?
"One difference [between poetry and prose] lies in the role of metaphor," she wrote, "which, I would argue, is necessary to poetry. Indeed, in my view, it is the task -- one of the tasks -- of the poet, to invent metaphors." Borges says more or less the same thing but he comes to it out of a discussion of Leopoldo Lugones an Argentine poet who composed hundreds of new metaphors for writers to use when they referred to the moon.
Sontag also refers to the moon. I would like to bring out examples to prove my point about their similarity but both books were due back at the library about a week ago.
It's probably a coincidence and I don't want to use that as an excuse to dismiss it. What a strange thing. (But I know from past experiences that if I borrowed the two books again and tried to find the similarities I would be left wondering what I thought I had seen -- "These aren't alike; this is tenuous.")
Emily Dickinson's metaphors conduct the shrinking and growing effect that I was trying to get at with my telescoping and magnifying glass. Now I try to approach the idea of violence in her work, my impression that her metaphors, which jam objects together in startling ways, are violent towards their material, sadistic even, and I tell myself that if she could speak to the Abbey in He parts Himself -- like Leaves she would say, "You want to be strong stone because you are an abbey, but I will maintain a grip on you and with my powers I will turn you into quaintest Floss." She is sadistic with whimsy, I decided. What can I compare that to? A burning giraffe entered my head. Surrealism! What is an Abbey made of Floss? It is as weird as "the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella," Lautréamont's phrase that was borrowed with honours by André Breton, the strangeness of that, and the threat inherent in those ridiculous objects, the sewing machine with its stabbing needles, and the dissection table, which is, after all, a table where things are dissected. Surrealist whimsy is not kind, it loves to startle you with its viciousness, it takes a man and replaces his face with an apple, or it teases the Mona Lisa with a moustache, it dares you to underestimate it and call it childish, ludicrous, and silly, and so does Emily Dickinson, who sometimes seems to be a girl of about six exclaiming, "How happy is the little stone / That rambles in the road alone." In his introduction to her Complete Works, Thomas H. Johnson tells me that her famous correspondent Thomas Wentworth Higginson "was never convinced that she wrote poetry. As he phrased his opinion to a friend, her verses were 'remarkable, though odd … too delicate -- not strong enough to publish.'"
Sunday, June 19, 2011
of quaintest Floss
There were no libraries close to us in Arizona and for six months I borrowed nothing, but now we're within walking distance of the Clark County Library System, one outlet of, and they have books upon books, three copies of the Purgatorio, three Complete Shakespeares, two Anita Brookners that I hadn't read, two Hannah Arendts that I hadn't read, two translations of Murasaki Shikibu's Diary, ("As autumn advances, the Tsuchimikado mansion looks unutterably beautiful"), Helen Garner's First Stone, which was unexpected (and more than one Richard Flanagan, and strange, strange, finding those Australian names here, and what do they make of Robert Drewe's Shark Net I wonder, and then I wonder why I wonder), and the Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, the poet slipping through telescopic hallucinations small and large with Alice in Wonderland quickness. The Sun is huge, the Daisy is small, she has them both, she puts them together with a dash for handcuffs. The Frost that possesses the World is a respectable and dark Sepulchre, but the Sepulchre is made of quaintest Floss, and the Abbey is a small Cocoon. The sea will overwhelm her as though she be Dew, but she will stare it down with the force of her small nouns. What does it conquer? An apron. A belt. Sea be not proud. It will fill her shoe with pearl. The world is animate and full of intentions. The Sun has a Whip to drive away the Fog, and the ship that walks on water must have feet. This is an uncracked logic.
Such will to power transmitted through so many tiny Bees.
That line of Murasaki was translated by Richard Bowring and published in the Penguin Classics version of the Diary. She goes on with this sentence: "Every branch on every tree by the lake and each tuft of grass on the banks of the stream takes on its own particular colour, which is then intensified by the evening light." Yes, answers Thoreau. "Was there ever such an autumn?" (The Journal, Oct 14, 1857) Both Murasaki and Thoreau were awkward around people, I notice, or both thought they were. Both of them wonder if they seem cold.
The Dickinson poems I've mentioned here are, He parts Himself—like Leaves—, I started Early – Took my Dog –, The Sun and Fog contested, and There is strength in proving that it can be borne.
Looking at it from the outside, the library branch near us falls somewhere between ZMKC's library in Budapest and her library in Canberra. Not so many knobs as the first one. Not so low as the second one. You enter it from the car park and not the street. If you walk into the building from the street entrance you come into a small round foyer with a flight of stairs at the back and signs saying Theatre.
Friday, June 17, 2011
and then a boulder of granite
They hesitated,
then, without opening their beaks,
ventriloquised, a jam tree speaking
and then a boulder of granite,
I couldn't separate the voices
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
think it pretty
Evelyne Bloch-Dano's Madame Proust: a Biography opens with a young Jeanne Weil preparing to marry Adrien Proust, and for the length of a few chapters I was sorrowful, thinking, "It's Penne Hackforth-Jones and Barbara Baynton all over again," because Bloch-Dano, for her own convenience, turns these people into fictional characters and has them fall silent ("Jeanne fell silent") and stare at plates ("She lowered her eyes and stared at the plate") in ways absolutely undocumented by evidence. She does not seem to be doing this out of energy and inspiration, as Peter Ackroyd does when he puts lines in Charles Dickens' mouth during Dickens, but because she worries that we, the readers, will lose interest in bits about plates and families if we don't have a friendly face there, smiling and staring like a piece of cardboard with a curve drawn on it, and two dots for eyes. Or the dots are cut out, and the author peeps through.
Ackroyd's inventions are phantasmagoria; they make Dickens seem stranger, larger, and less explicable; but Bloch-Dano's inventions shrink Jeanne down to the size of a schematised heroine whose brain tinkles its thoughts out neatly and in a logical order, as the brains of human beings do not do.* "Jeanne was ready to admit that she didn't dislike Adrien Proust. She even felt she might be able to love this quiet man with his gentle ways. He was serious, hard-working. But she knew so little about him," writes the biographer, mind-reading ghoulishly; the mind is dead, the brain is decayed, and it leaves no documents to support her.
It is a distraction rather than an addition and I wonder what else the author might be fabricating. I doubt her.
But then Jeanne Proust gives birth to her first son, Marcel, who is destined to be researched in the future, and the author acquires so many facts that she can abandon the padding. Now she can start to strike facts together like flints and make sparks. My favourite spark comes on the last page, after Bloch-Dano has been telling us how Jeanne and her son would argue over his bedtime. He would go to bed late. But the first sentence in Lost Time is, "For a long time I used to go to bed early." "Jeanne would have loved those words," writes Bloch-Dano, and for the first time I saw that sentence as an in-joke aimed at a mother who was dead by the time it was published, and would never respond -- this joke, generated, born, and left to shoot off into the darkness, like the Voyager probe that represents a desire to say hello to an alien rather than a realistic plan for actually meeting one.
Whether the line was meant that way or not Bloch-Dano doesn't know and nor do I, but when I saw that this thought had occurred to her, I realised that she had experienced in Lost Time the kind of window-quality that Borges saw in all books, the Narnian-wardrobe, a series of doors opening into possibilities -- a book not as an end in itself, but as an epicentre.
And I thought: "Any book could be like that, if we could look at it like that, but how do you look at it like that?"
You love it, I think; you have to love it first, you have to love it so much that you trust it to become an epicentre, and so it becomes one. It responds to your wish. "Fall in love with a dog’s bum / And thou’ll think it pretty as a plum," Françoise says in Swann's Way. Lydia Davis translates. Qui du cul d'un chien s'amourose, / Il lui paraît une rose. But it is both things at once, an epicentre and a book, and an arse and a rose or plum. There is the book, or the arse, you look at it, you concentrate, and there is your focus. Henri Raczymow looked at a single one of Proust's characters and wrote a book of one hundred and forty-eight pages about the relationship between this character and one of the living people who inspired him. Proust was jealous of this man, says Raczymow, and he was glad to kill the character. That line of thought gets him, Raczymow, onto the subject of Judaism, and is it not significant, he asks, that the Jewish character Albert Bloch decides to give himself the pen name Jacques du Rozier, when the Parisian Judegasse mentioned by the character Baron de Charlus is the Rue de Rosiers, and the letter Z, as we all know (now he is referring to Roland Barthes' S/Z) is "the letter of mutilation"? "By incorporating this z in du Rozier, Bloch mutilates and chastises himself. He effaces and censures his Judaism." Also! Charles Swann's daughter Gilberte (Swann is the character who gave Raczymow the idea for this book in the first place) drags the tail of her S across the letter G when she signs her name, G.S. Forcheville, the 'Forcheville' coming from her stepfather, after her father's, Swann's, death. "Of course this S isn't exactly a Z," says Raczymow, "but it's close enough. And doesn't it belong to Barthes' paired S/Z? For it served the same purpose of "cutting, crossing, and slashing.""
Raczymow, who leaps between thoughts too abruptly, is as convincing as a man who tells you that a butterfly is a species of bat because they both have wings; his focus on Swann and his real-life part-counterpart has overwhelmed him, but still, a focus puts the mind in a seed and invites it to sprout; it makes the mind a seed or bud or nut, and a famous book is a prime focus: look at all of the essays that have come out of famous books, look at John Livingston Lowes' The Road to Xanadu -- six hundred and forty-eight pages out of a poem of six hundred and twenty-five lines. Books give birth to books, it's miraculous. Focus is the thing. And not only books, but anything. What else? Cees Nooteboom decided that the way to acquaint himself with Gambia was to interview the president. "So on that Friday morning I take my first steps toward a president who, in the end, I do not manage to reach, but that was not the point anyway." Hannah Arendt often liked to orient her thought by touching on Romans and Greeks. In The Promise of Politics she thinks of The Iliad next to The Aeneid and uses the word amazing twice on one page. Thoreau wonders about the origin of his surname and ends up with mead --
Feb. 15. 1852. Perhaps I am descended from that Northman named "Thorer the Dog-footed." Thorer Hund …
Feb 16. Snorro Sturleson says, "From Thor's name comes Thorer, also Thorarinn." Again: "Earl Rogenvald was King Harald's dearest friend, and the king had great regard for him. He was married to Hilda, a daughter of Rolf Naefia, and their sons were Rolf and Thorer … Rolf became a great viking, and was of so stout a growth that no horse could carry him, and wheresoever he went he must go on foot; and therefore he was called Grange-Rolf.
King Harald "set Earl Rogenvald's son Thorer over More and gave him his daughter Alof in marriage. Thorer called the Silent, got the same territory from his father Rognvald had possessed." His brother Einar, going into battle to take vegeance on his father's murderers, sang a kind of reproach against his brothers Rollang and Rolf for their slowness and concludes,--
"And silent Thorer sits and dreams
At home, beside the mead-bowl's streams."
And stereotypes are a focus and a way of grasping. Stuart MacIntyre finishes off his Concise History of Australia by telling you that Australians are "a largely undemonstrative people" who "rally in misfortune; fire and flood brings out the best in them," and, oh, see, this is why I am never at my best, having never encountered fire or flood and instead proceeding undemonstratively and feebly and when the American at the library spoke to me yesterday I did not understand her accent, and instead of asking her what she meant I grinned and went away and almost left the building without finding out how to open the cases of the DVDs I'd borrowed.
Focus is the one magic force. The words of a spell are the focus for a wish. A witch or a wizard is only the Don Bradman of wishing.
* This is key for me, although I don't know if I've explained it very well. It's not the fictionalisation of real people that bothers me, it's the way that Bloch-Dano uses it to make her subject tidy and small. I go to a biography to see the person made bigger, and more detailed, and more interesting. Not smaller, and less detailed, and less interesting.
Bloch-Dano is French and her book has been translated into English by Alice Kaplan. Raczymow's book is known as Swan's Way, or, originally, La Cygne de Proust, and it was translated by Robert Bononno. Nooteboom goes to Gambia in his essay Lady Wright and Sir Jawara: a Boat Trip Up the Gambia, published in Nomad's Hotel, a book of his travel essays. It was translated out of Dutch and into English by Ann Kelland. Thoreau was writing in his journal.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
suddenly protruding with animation
Somewhere in this Diary: Volume 1, on a page that I can't find any more, Virginia Woolf is thinking about the incongruity of two people kept below in the kitchen so that the lives of two people upstairs can be smoother and easier. (Here it is, and not as I've described it: "But the fault is more in the system of keeping two young women chained in a kitchen to laze & work & suck their life from two in the drawing room than in her [the servant's] character or in mine.") She is self-conscious about her servants, Virginia Woolf, as I would be too, I think, and so I would not have servants even if I could afford them, because the idea of people waiting around in far corners of the house making fretting noises (if I lived in a house), would worry me so much that it would be less stressful to do the job myself, whatever it is, eg, cooking an egg or wiping the bathroom sink.
Although if I had a house I might also have a garden, a large garden, and I could put my servants in a small house at the end of this garden, and pay them to leave me alone and keep burglars away while they're at it, and yet in that case it would be cheaper possibly to buy a dog.
And if I could not afford a servant I would not want to be one either; I would hate whoever hired me. I'm bad with flatmates. But Marcel Proust's mother was good with servants and once ran out before breakfast to buy one of them a blouse. Her son would go to to his friends' houses and give the servants generous tips, and the same in restaurants. Servants liked him. So Evelyne Bloch-Dano writes in Madame Proust. I have never come across a Proust biography that contradicted this point of view. It is one of the accepted facts about Proust. And in Lost Time he makes the cook and the kitchen maid as heraldic as the aristocrats. They are all Ancient France.
(The cleaning women in the middle of Woolf's To the Lighthouse are like Fates or embodied Time, but their creator doesn't dwell on them and extrapolate and love, as Proust extrapolates Françoise the cook; he is enthralled and horrified by her who kills the chicken and cries, "Filthy creature!" as she slits its throat below the ear and then cooks it so beautifully, presenting it "in a skin gold-embroidered, like a chasuble." (Moncrieff))
In her fiction Woolf unites everyone, pointing out that they all live under the same sun and the same sky, the same weather, or the same music in The Years, "From behind crimson curtains, rendered semi-transparent and sometimes blowing wide came the sound of the eternal waltz -- After the ball is over, after the dance is done -- like a serpent that swallowed its own tail, since the ring was complete from Hammersmith to Shoreditch. Over and over again it was repeated by trombones outside public houses; errand boys whistled it; bands inside private rooms where people were dancing played it. There they sat at little tables at Wapping in the romantic Inn that overhung the river, between timber warehouses where barges were moored; and here again in Mayfair," -- and she unites them too by sealing them all inside one stomach of the serpent prose, roaming from one character to the other in The Waves, for example, and yet the tones of those characters, and their thoughts, are brisk and separate, they are together and yet alone, some in Hammersmith, some in Shoreditch, all united and yet also set apart by circumstances, which tear at them, making them ecstatic and lonely.
In the Diary she unites her characters (who here have the names of real people and are less dimensional than the ones in the Waves) with a new tactic: her own automatic sense of repulsion, touching people with her mind the way others touch slugs with their thumbs, and in this she is like Christina Stead's Henny, who in her hatred compulsively transforms people into animals or food, bearing witness to "a dirty shrimp of a man with a fishy expression … and a common vulgar woman beside him, an ogress, big as a hippopotamus, with her bottom sticking out, who grinned like a shark and tried to give him the eye … silly old roosters, creatures like a dying duck in a thunderstorm, filthy old pawers, and YMCA sick chickens, and women thin as a rail and men fat as a pork barrel."
Woolf isn't as monomaniacal as Henny but she has her own good menagerie, "a ridiculous figure" of a man "precisely like the false Mandrill," another man who "drank a whole bottle, bubbled like a tipsy nightingale,"a "stout widow" who "chose 10 novels; taking them from the hand of Mudies man, like a lapdog," and "Mrs Hamilton, who strains at her collar like a spaniel dog, & has indeed the large staring hazel eyes of one of them." "How pale these elderly women get! The rough pale skin of toads." Or she sees inanimate objects in people, one man "stiff as a clod; you can almost see the docks & nettles sprouting out of his mind," and a woman who "is pasty & podgy, with the eyes of a currant bun, suddenly protruding with animation." Woolf modifies her judgments. "But her animation is the product of a highly trained mind." Yet the annoyed and the negative judgments often come first and sound more inventive than the kinder ones, which tend to come slower -- cruelty gives her the gift of vivid inventions, and kindness takes patience, and patience of course doesn't have the strict flash of the immediate response, which is also the strict flash of cruelty, those docks and nettles growing out of a man's head;, sprouting and living; her patience doesn't spring to life in the surreal and clashing way that hands her that lovely description, "bubbled like a tipsy nightingale."
By the end of this volume of the Diary she is primed to write a great Epic of Disgust, filled with people, clods, buns, and animals, and in fact if you'd read nothing else by Virginia Woolf but this diary then you might expect her to do absolutely that very thing. "Her strength," you'd think, "is this power of metamorphosis." You'd narrow her down to that one quality as though you were Dickens. You wouldn't expect her to write Jacob's Room and yet she wrote Jacob's Room. Why did she write that, you would ask. Where did it come from? And you would have to synthesise her all over again, and mourn for your beautiful lost Disgust.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
the rapidity of the flash, and other circumstances
Peregrina paloma imaginaria
Que enardeces los últimos amores
Alma de luz, de música y de flores
Peregrina paloma imaginaria
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
by the time you have finished, forgotten
That Woolf quote in my last post, "We went on to the London Library --", came from her Diary: Volume One 1915-1919, which ends after she has published Night and Day and before she began Jacob's Room, which was going to be her next book, published in 1922 -- and long before she had begun to imagine any of the other books, Orlando, Mrs Dalloway; she doesn't seem to have an idea of them, they were so far hidden in the future, which makes me think about those future people who will look back and see that everything we are doing now is only the preface to the more amazing event that is about to happen -- and in, I recall, the newspaper that was published the night before the American mass murder of September 11th, 2001, there was a report of a man, also in the US, who had shot a group of people and committed suicide, and when I came across the paper the next day I wondered if he had gone into the land of the dead imagining that people would talk about him afterwards, and ask, "Why did he commit this massacre?" but of course the wider world forgot him immediately. The universe is made of Action, Carlyle tells us: "the All of Things is an infinite conjunction of the verb To do."
Night and Day isn't a terrible book, but you know that the wider world would have forgotten it, too, if she hadn't gone on to publish others, though at the time it was praised, and she must have thought that it was done as well as she could do it, within her limited human capacities. "I see what I'm aiming at; what I feel is that this time I've had a fair chance & done my best; so that I can be philosophic & lay the blame on God," she writes on October 21st, 1919, waiting for the reviews to come in. On the first of November she adds, "Happily the book begins to recede from the front of my mind, & I begin to be a little surprised if people speak of it (not that anyone has -- but meeting Mde Champcomunal yesterday, I was glad she'd not heard of it)" -- shyness, shyness, and an awareness of something not completely triumphant, of work not finished. "You are wrong if you think you can fill in the vision," says Annie Dillard in The Writing Life.
Your book is "a golem," she says, "a simulacrum and a replacement" of your original idea. "You try -- you try every time -- to reproduce the vision, to let your light so shine among men. But you can only come along with your bushel and hide it." Dillard tells us that she has written her books in sheds, in hallways, and on islands. "Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark." Roald Dahl wrote in a garden shed and Melville wrote Moby-Dick facing into an attic corner. Finding herself tempted outside by a baseball game when she wanted to be writing Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Dillard drew a picture of the view, fastened shut the blind in the room's one window, and taped the picture to the blind. "I drew the cows, for they were made interestingly; they hung in catenary curves from their skeletons, like two-man tents."
Saturday, June 4, 2011
laden with an infinitely shabby portmanteau
Abandoning the machine in Arizona with its rush and mush we've moved to Las Vegas, "The Meadows," where I open the windows and the sounds of machinery outside, cars and planes, irregular rumbles or hisses, take their chances with the songs of birds in the tree exterior. (One branch ends only a few feet from the glass. It's almost knocking. In storms I will try not to remember Poltergeist, the scared boy in the bedroom, rain, lightning, the tree outside gone mad and beating its branches through the wall, water thrashing in, the stuffed clown disappearing from the wooden chair -- arms around the throat -- screaming boy -- etc.)
I went to the library and found Virginia Woolf, who had also gone to the library. "We went on to the London Library; & as we walked down the steep street someone came ambling and crouching up to us -- Bob. T. -- laden with an infinitely shabby portmanteau -- full of books, I think" -- and my mind goes to Coleridge, coming into the Wordsworths' cottage with "a sack full of Books, Etc., and a branch of mountain ash." There are many homeless people in Vegas, ambling and crouching, and M. has spoken to one named Charles, who wears a crown and a macramé owl, and says that poor folk don't like him, but lawyers do; also, young men today are ignoble; he divides the world, and could hold a conversation about it with Ruskin. "All grief that convulses the features is ignoble," says Ruskin to Charles, who points out that the imitation Roman statues at Ceasars are serene. "The sorrow of mortified vanity or avarice is simply disgusting," adds the Englishman, and walks up and down the Strip, turning down the offer of a free margarita, a six-foot lobster, and a coupon to see the Mac King Magic Show at Harrah's. "The use and value of passion is not as a subject of contemplation in itself, but as it breaks up the fountains of the great deep of the human mind," he declares to the men who hand out illustrations of naked women on those little cards that are slightly smaller and thinner than the cards in a playing deck. A carload of frat boys from California go by screaming, "Vay-gaas! Aow!" at the casinos and palm trees, but this is a normal event and everybody ignores them.
The Barking Dog Man and his shopping cart seem to have disappeared. We used to see him here years ago, but now no sign.
Coleridge enters from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journals. "He had been attacked by a cow." | <urn:uuid:74a164ce-f7e0-41b6-bbc3-e28439c95eca> | 2 | 1.78125 | 0.035836 | en | 0.97551 | http://pykk.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html |
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Open Discussion: The integrity of crafts
Growing up, my Nanny (grandma) was obsessed with cross-stitched magnets to put on refrigerators. She made a variety of designs that we all thought were ingenious and adorable. In retrospect, however, I can imagine that many of her designs were derived from the innumerable little kits she picked up at Ben Franklin on sale for 25 cents each. In that same vein, my mom creates cards and uses various books and magazine as inspiration. She naturally comes up with her own techniques and colorways, and she's a big fan of recycling (or "upcycling") materials as often as she can, but many of her designs are not wholly original. And then there's me. I can spend hours on Etsy and other sites looking at beads and jewelry for inspiration. I don't necessarily think that my designs mimic (or mock) the designs of other folks selling on Etsy, but I will say that were it not for the varied and diverse collection of artisans accessible via Etsy, I would certainly lack the motivation to even imagine half the stuff I make.
This is, essentially, what I understand craft to be. There are enormous and overly complicated arguments and discussion in the craft and art world as to what "craft" really means, and for many it's a very elaborate and expensive process that leads to something of a showcase piece. These are the images that fill American craft books and magazines...not only things I could never aspire to create, but things I could never afford to create either. The intangibility of commercial, for lack of a better word, craft is perplexing to me. I am, and self-identify as, a crafter but I am NOTHING like those folks. Which leads me to a personal definition and understanding of what craft really is...my generational experiences and personal connection to craft inspires me to define it as a movement to make for your self that which is unattainable. This could mean that the commercial piece, such as a prom dress, is unaffordable. It could mean that you make your own jewelry instead of buying it. And it could also mean that you cross-stitch little bits of material and adhere magnets to the back to sell at craft fairs because you really need something to hold up the local pizza menu in style.
What I make, my crafty business, is original enough for me to sell, based on my research. But sometimes there is a fine line between producing something that fills a need or a void (my crafting) and selling it (my crafty business), and figuring out the mechanics by which you can make something to profit on top of an already existing design. I've piddled around Etsy and other craft sites trying to find a good example of what I'm trying to discuss here. There was a big hoopla recently over Urban Threads and Sublime Stitching having similar-enough designs to cause anger, strife and outrage over the integrity of the indie world and what constitutes thievery. I've seen various sellers post links to other sellers highlighting the staging, ingredients or even design of a product that is entirely too similar to something else that someone has either trademarked, patented or copyrighted. Or the victimized seller has done none of the above and they still feel outraged that someone would mimic their creativity for profit.
Here's an example I found on my own. Please pardon the bathroom-ness of my example, but it just jumped out to me as Etsy is currently featuring this item as a potential "best baby shower gift" candidate.
On the left we have Pee Pee Teepees, designed and patented by Peter Malcic for the Beba Bean brand of British Columbia, Canada. On the right, an Etsy seller I'd rather not name because I'm not the Patent Police. I think we all have a general understanding of what a patent means...it's basically someone's effort to secure protection for their design by applying and being awarded a set of rights by a state (or in this case, by two countries) that give a designer the platform upon which to say, "I thought of that, stop selling it or I'll sue you". Will Beba Bean pursue this Etsy seller who has essentially mimicked their design for profit (substantial profit too, based on their number of sales)? I doubt it. I do think, however, this is a perfect example of how we, as crafters, are often swept up into the selling machine carelessly and without guidance. When craft becomes consumerism, there are different rules by which we all must play. I think this is something that markets and middle-man should help delineate too, but that I'll save for another post.
Crafters all have to be wary of this line when we cross it...the selling line, the white checkered flag into capitalism. When we make ourselves visible and open to legal and verbal (because that hurts too) assault by patent holders and other entities that might jeopardize our business, we have to consider what motivated us to get involved in the first place. Our creativity should be our bottom line, not our ability to make less expensive versions of things that already exist in order to make money under the table of integrity. Crafters should be compelled to create whether or not Etsy and other selling website exist. And if we make ourselves accessible in these markets, we need to be prepared for the consequences. Many of us are not prepared; I am not prepared. The internet, for starters, is a valuable resource. Get going, get knowing!
1. great post Meaghan!
ps - no offense to anyone, but boy, that is a funny product!
2. ha! i saw those last fall, but they were made up like little santa hats! they were so tacky. (i'm in BC, so the local stores carry them) i was actually really tempted to make them for the ridiculous number of friends who are procreating right now, and then i forgot.
i've been thinking as well, not just about the copyright of designs, such as this one, or the embroidery drama, but also the ownership of crafty ideas. i remember when someone else tried to start a business similar to the sampler, and there was a huge uproar about it. now there seem to be multiple people running businesses like that (i found little black box on twitter, for instance). and what about spoonflower? that was an original idea, it had never been done before in the craft world. now there's fabric on demand, and some of the same blogs that posted about the embroidery drama are posting links to fabric on demand. i don't get it!
i feel like capitalism is overtaking creativity for a lot of crafters now, and that's so sad. i honestly don't understand, because my perspective has always been "what's the point of doing it if you don't like it?". there seem to be lots of sellers who sell the same damn thing over and over again. how is that creative to them by the time they've made their 50th bag of whatever? at that point doesn't it just become a way to make money?
i used to sell a line of clothing at a local shop. i made upcycled denim skirts, and they had the highest price markup of any of my items (decided by the shop owner, to keep the prices consistent within the store). they were easy to make, and had minimal costs. they sold like freaking crazy. it was fabulous to make up a batch and get good money for them, but it was BORING. after a while i just stopped making them. for one thing, everyone was making them by that point, so i was hardly denying customers, but the most important thing was that they were taking too much time away from sewing designs that were actually fun and creative to do. i think that's one reason why i will never "succeed" in the crafting world (selling lots on etsy, local shops, etc) - i don't like to waste my time being bored! i don't keep my shop updated the way i should, because there are too many other things i want to make as well.
okay, so that was totally a novel. oops!
3. Amy - I tend to agree with what you're saying here. I think that making something for the sake of making money is just as exploitative as making something in your own way that is already copyrighted and patented.
And as far as Sublime Stitching is concerned, I really feel that if you have an ISBN attributed to your materials, and a distributed/publisher other than yourself then you are neither indie nor are you culturally subversive. Indie does not mean "one woman operation"...indie means that you're doing it yourself without the financial or material aid of big business. Neither of the two entities discussed in the pattern debacle are "indie" (anymore, or ever).
4. I appreciate this post. I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. Thanks for sharing.
Related Posts with Thumbnails | <urn:uuid:529b1fff-cdf2-4585-93b8-87033c10ad4e> | 2 | 1.757813 | 0.069377 | en | 0.978207 | http://queeringdomesticity.blogspot.com/2009/05/open-discussion-integrity-of-crafts.html |
Debates in advantages of having car
There have been so many debates in the importance of having a car. Some people who are pro about having car say that having car is important especially for those people who need to be mobile for their work. People who do not agree about this, such as SEO Specialist, or any other people who spend most of their time in the office or even home office, say that having car is not important for people’s life because it is something that will cost you a lot of money to buy gas and to maintain the car. If I am about to put a side about those two matters, I will have some kind of difficulties in choosing which one should I choose. However, by looking at the advantages of having a car, I come into my conclusion that I should choose side with the people who believe that having car is an essential for their life. My reason is that by having a car, it is not only the matter of our job, but it is also for the sake of our family. It is true that when we have a car, we will be able to go anywhere we want to go, which means that it will allow us to get as many costumers as possible. By having many customers, we will get so much profit.
For some people who think that having a car is an expensive thing to do and money wasting, I am sure that they have not known about the term Roadloans. The term road loan refers to a kind of loan that is designed to help people who want to get their own car by using loan method. This kind of loan will lend you some money for you if you want to buy your own car. Many people, who did not have their own car, use this kind of method, now have their own car and use their car not only for the sake of their work and job but also for the sake of their family needs. If you are interested in knowing more about roadloans, you can just check the information that is given in the internet. There, in the internet, you will be able to find a lot of information about how to apply for a road loan and you might also find some applications for your iPhone which let you monitor the amount of money that you need to spend every month for the road loan payment. | <urn:uuid:73d52068-b0bb-43f9-86c9-25003aa37c28> | 2 | 1.679688 | 0.237858 | en | 0.992608 | http://reflectionsatlbs.blogspot.com/2012/02/debates-in-advantages-of-having-car.html |
Mahant Kahan Singh Ji 'Seva Panthi' is the 13th spiritual descendant of Bhai Kanhaiya Ji. He was anointed as the Mahant of Tikana Bhai Jagta Ji on January 14, 2008 by Mahant Tirath Singh Ji himself. Mahant Sahib was the natural choice for this great honor, as he is considered a great soul by the entire Sikh Sant Samaj in India. He is most unassuming considering the position he has been anointed to. Mahant Sahib has been serving sangats in the villages of Punjab for over 50 years and is loved by everyone who has ever had the great fortune of meeting him. When visiting Tikana Sahib one finds Mahant Kahan Singh Ji still straightening white sheets in the Main Divan Hall or teaching children Gurbani in his room. He is considered one of the most eminent scholars of the Sikh Scriptures today.
File:Mahant Sahib 13.jpg
Early life
Mahant Kahan Singh Ji was born on September 15, 1943 at Dullewala, in district Mianwali, now in Pakistan. His father, Bhai Deep Singh was a devout Amritdhari Sikh who had been been baptized by Khande Ki Pahul. He was a deeply spiritual man who recited Gurbani regularly. When India was partitioned, young Bhai Kahan Singh was barely four years old. His father brought him and the rest of their family to India and settled near Chheratha(near Amritsar). A few months later the family moved to Goniana Mandi, a renowned grain and cotton market in district Bathinda(Punjab). In 1948, by great good fortune, or as willed by Akal Purakh Vaheguru, young Bhai Kahan Singh has a chance to meet Mahant Gulab Singh Ji, following which he visited Tikana Sahib a few times. In 1950, his parents assigned him to serve at the Tikana Sahib permanently. Subsequently, Mahant Bhai Asa Singh Ji got him enrolled in a Primary School for a few years and then decided to shift his education back to the Tikana Sahib by arranging a private tutor, Bhai Pokhar Dass coached young Bhai Kahan Singh in Gurmukhi and Gurbani. Mahant Asa Singh Ji paid special attention to his progress. Under his watchful eye and keen guidance from his tutor, young Bhai Kahan Singh memorized several compositions of the Gurbani, namely, Sukhmani Sahib, Japji Sahib, Baawan Akhri, Anand Sahib, Kirtan Sohila and Rehras Sahib. Mahant Asa Singh Ji further encouraged him to receive etymological knowledge and learn annotation of Sikh Scriptures and under his supervision young Bhai Kahan Singh blossomed into a excellent scholar. He also learned to play the harmonium and the tabla and started to attend classes on exegesis of the scriptures like the Guru Granth Sahib, Suraj Prakash and Sant Rattan Mala etc. He became such an expert on exegesis that Mahant Sahib initiated a program to enlighten a very dedicated sangat, with the exegetical annotation of the Guru Granth Sahib from the very beginning to the end. This endeavor took several years each time. The third time Sant Bhai Kahan Singh Ji played a major role in the process that took '9 years'. The exegetical annotation is being performed for a fourth time now and Mahant Baba Kahan Singh Ji is the main helmsman in this extraordinary effort. He was baptised by the Khande Ki Pahul in 1958 and since then he has inspired thousands of Sikhs to do the same.
Mahant Sahib was a praiseworthy disciple, totally devoted to fulfilling his Master's commands will love and alert in his service. He was always obedient and spent most of his spare time attending to Mahant Asa Singh Ji. For 23 years Mahant Sahib slept on the floor and never lay on the cot while serving Mahant Asa Singh Ji. Whenever there was a construction project at the Tikana Sahib, Sant Bhai Kahan Singh Ji, was a selfless laborer. He worked harder and longer hours than the paid laborers.
He has been conducting divinity classes for young school children and college students students for almost 4 decades now and he is very diligent in holding annual competitions on the subject of divinty, encouraging students with generous prizes and scholarships.
Mahant Sahib has over the years arranged many huge pilgrimage tours by chartering 'whole trains' for devotees, arranging to visit historical Sikh Gurdwaras and Takhats etc.
Tikana Sahib
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were 163,000 jobs added to the economy in July 2012, while the unemployment rate rose from 8.22 to 8.25 percent. The addition of the jobs means that there are industries that are showing signs of growth, including manufacturing, professional and business sector, food service, leisure, hospitality, as well as hospitals and outpatient care sector.
With that said, there’s a reported 5.2 million Americans who are out of work. A large portion of them are going after the same few openings. Here, Ivan Crosling, association director for the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources, shares five tips on how to make your job search effective, the five biggest mistakes candidates make and why it might not be a good idea to quit your job before you have a replacement. –yvette caslin
Name five key things a job seeker needs to know when seeking employment in a slow economy.
1. Know where to network with other professionals with similar backgrounds.
2. Know a mentor or sponsor who will strengthen your skills and expand your access to key people.
3. Know where the jobs are posted based on your specific career.
4. Know the industry and/or organization of your interest.
5. Know how to network effectively. You are your best advertisement.
Do you agree that you should wait until you’ve secured other employment before voluntarily quitting your job? Why or why not? Yes.
I believe most people quit their boss, not their job. I recommend trying to find additional projects or other opportunities within the same organization that will strengthen existing skills and well as expose you to new and challenging opportunities. If the projects and opportunities are limited, I encourage you to secure other employment first and then resign. Sometimes, once you have an offer in hand, your existing organization may match or counter your new offer.
What are five of the biggest mistakes that you’ve seen job candidates make?
1. Networking ineffectively. You must give first, share and lead by serving.
2. Having the wrong individuals in your circle
3. Not committing to the job search
4. Not developing yourself
5. Not having a clear career goal
Yvette Caslin
| <urn:uuid:ca19c6a7-1108-4068-8e0f-188bedfbe89e> | 2 | 1.835938 | 0.505244 | en | 0.952615 | http://rollingout.com/2012/08/07/human-resources-executive-ivan-crosling-shares-5-tips-to-help-you-find-a-job/ |
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Five Differences Easter Makes
Most of us will buy candy for our kids, put on our better clothes for church and attend a special service or two this Easter season. Perhaps we'll even get up early and go to a sunrise service nearby.
But the question will still always be, Does Easter make any difference in my life?
Hopefully, of course, we know that Easter is not about bunnies and pastels, parades or special dinners, as enjoyable as those may be. Easter is when we remember both the death and resurrection of Jesus. It's being reminded that a relationship with God the Father is only possible through Christ because we could never get to God on our own.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And when we put our trust in Christ and invite Him in we begin a family relationship with God and a life forever in His presence.
So if that is true what differences can we experience in our lives right now? Let me suggest five things that I hope you're embracing and enjoying already.
We have freedom from shame. It doesn't matter how we've messed up, God still values us.
We have freedom from fear. Yes we have concerns about lots of things, but fear never can own us.
We have freedom from selfishness. No, we'll never be 100% selfless but God's Spirit in us helps us become more about Him and others, less about us.
We have freedom from materialism. Things become less important and doing or having things that matter for eternal benefits become a higher priority.
Finally, we have freedom from death. Bad things still happen to Christians. People die early, get diseases and have accidents. But we can know that this life is not the end. Death is simply the start of something new and beyond imagination.
So as you celebrate Easter this weekend, sing songs, enjoy other inspiring music, take communion and delight in your family, remember that Easter does make a difference. Tell others about it. Think on it. Thank God for what He gave you that first Easter weekend. It literally changed the world.
Gary Sinclair Writer | Speaker | Leader
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Championing, Not Lamenting Our Differences
I was privileged to attend an NCAA basketball tournament game this week watching one of my favorite teams from another part of the country play in my current hometown. And because we had very good seats I got to see the players up close and personal most of the time.
However, I was reminded that not every player has the same responsibilities. I saw the shooters hitting short and long jump shots. Others spent most of their time dribbling and passing off to others while some played a lot of minutes and didn't score a point.
They had different abilities, styles and roles in getting the win. The same will always be true in families - husbands, wives and kids. They're all different. Their roles will not be identical nor will their abilities or personalities be alike.
Unfortunately many spouses and parents bemoan the differences in one another or at best refuse to account for them. They want all their kids to be athletes or musicians. They expect their happy-go-lucky spouse to be as ordered and meticulous as they are. We often don't realize that God actually knew what He was doing when he made us unique at least in part so that we might complement one another and fill in for many of our weaknesses.
So what would it look like for us to be champions for our family differences as opposed to critics. First, we would bless one another by speaking to those uniquenesses. "Mark, one of the things mom and I appreciate about you is that you love doing things really well. Sometimes, you can overdo it but you know most of the time you actually help the rest of us do better."
Or, "Honey, I so value that you love being around people. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have a social life and I know we need that. Thank you for planning so many great things even though there are times we disagree and have to work through what's realistic." Get the idea?
Second, we would let go of the "my kids have to" mentality. Sure, if we see potential then it's realistic to make sure we give them opportunities to learn to blossom. But too many kids are being pushed into sports, music lessons and other activities that have long shown to have not aptitude or interest in them. As a result our family is just busier and if you're married, you and your spouse merely spend more time on the road and in the stands accomplishing little.
Third, we would enjoy the unique things that each person does and naturally talk about and applaud them. You'll celebrate that mom went back to school, that John isn't an athlete but loves serving at an old folks home and that your daughter loves debate and not cheerleading.
Aa a result you will likely have more margin in your home for rest, quiet and relaxation because you're not trying to have everyone do everything. And that is worth a fortune.
Gary Sinclair Writer | Speaker | Leader
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
What Gets You Results As A Parent?
I'll bet you've had a scenario something like this one. Little Ryan needs to go to bed but he's playing with his favorite game. So you respond, "Ryan, it's time for you to finish your game, pick up your toys and head for bed." Ryan replies of course, "OK, mom, just a minute. I have to finish this last level."
So you give him some grace for a few minutes and then try again. "Ryan, it's time for bed. I'll be in there in a minute and when I come you need to have things picked up." "OK, mom."
You know where I'm going with this, right? You and Ryan go back and forth several more times until finally you (or your spouse if you're married) explodes, "Ryan, pick up your toys right now and get your butt into your bedroom!!" Ryan finally knows that you're serious and heads for his room, the toys still on the floor. He's perhaps crying or at best now scared and the rest of your time is tense and difficult.
Sadly, what got Ryan to finally move was not a willingness to obey or a predetermined, healthy pattern of responding. No, he finally did what he was told because you got angry enough. And who taught him that this was how it works. You did. I've done it too. We've sent the message loud and clear that our kids do not have to really obey us until we reach a certain boiling point.
And as a result we suffer and so do they.
The good news is that there is a better way. We must make our actions not our anger the trigger for them to act. For example, if Ryan doesn't respond the way we want him to at an appropriate and reasonable time, then we must act in a way that convinces him we are serious. This doesn't require being mean or hitting him. But it does mean that we must help move him to action.
Some options . . . "Ryan, do you want to walk into your bedroom or should one of us carry you?" might be a next question. It could mean picking up the game right then and seeing that he puts it away after he takes it out of your hand. It could involve some other options like, "Ryan, you can either go right now to your room and get changed or tomorrow night you will go to bed thirty minutes earlier."
There are lots of ways to do this and they will differ depending upon the child's age, size and personality. The key is that you do something that requires he act and not stall. With younger children it's wise to give them a pre-obedience phase where perhaps you set the timer on your phone or microwave to ring letting him know that there is a deadline but he has some acceptable time before he must respond. Make sure that your expectations, whatever they are, are also age-appropriate.
With teens, you will want to use the options idea more than most because you obviously can't pick them up. Nonetheless, the same principles are true.
The key is letting our actions do the talking not our anger. You will get far better results, harm your kids less and sleep better later that night!
Gary Sinclair Writer | Speaker | Leader
Thursday, March 7, 2013
THE Number One Tip For Parents!
I've been a parent for nearly thirty-five years and have counseled hundreds, if not thousands, of parents over the years. I've also read books, attended seminars and listened to people who have far more expertise than me. My wife and I have done quite a few things right and certainly made our share of mistakes.
But I know this: there is one rule for parents that supercedes them all. If you aren't all in on this one any other methodology is doomed to numerous points of failure. You want to know what it is, right?
Here you go: MOM AND DAD MUST BE ON THE SAME PAGE! Yes, you may have different personalities, tones of voice and personal styles but the principle is still true. You as a couple must BOTH hold to the values, parameters and practices set up in the home or your discipline is doomed. (And I'll give the single parent version of this in a minute, so read on.)
Nothing confuses a child and leads to their trying to ultimately play one parent against another more than one parents standards being different than the other. Kids subtly learn to go back and forth to find who's offering the best deal. Or they figure out that one parent is softer than the other so they always check with them last! In addition the parent who is trying to hold to the predetermined rules feels disrespected and undermined when the other caves in.
Kids need to learn early on that mom and dad basically say the same thing when it comes to discipline. Of course, sometimes you are apart. What do you do? Try this. When a child comes to you with a request that you know needs to be confirmed or run by your spouse who is not right there you say: You know, if you need an answer now, the answer is no. If you can wait for twenty minutes (or whatever time you need), the answer is maybe.
This gives you time to check in with your spouse and agree upon the next step. Your kids will learn that this is how things are done. If you're both there but caught on the spot needing to make a quick decision, take a time out. Tell the kids dad and mom need to talk first and then you'll decide. The operative phrase there is: We'll decide.
And no giving free passes or reduced expectations without conferring with your spouse. Trust me. While you still will have your battles, they will be less dramatic and challenging when your kids know the two of you will agree.
And if you're a single parent? Then your version of this principle is simple too: be consistent. You have to be on the same page with yourself. You can't hold one standard one day and then totally change it the next. Of course there can be an exception or grace now and then but consistency must be the norm.
If you've not been doing any of this, start now. It may take a little doing but the benefits will be well worth taking on the challenge.
Gary Sinclair Writer | Speaker | Leader
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Some Praise For Single Parents
I remember years ago when our kids were little that my wife and I were often exhausted. Trying to handle two young children, diapers, laundry, getting them in and out of the car, meals, picking up toys and then finally getting them into bed was sometimes more than we could endure. And there were two of us.
But unless we're a single parent ourselves, we probably don't even think about the incredible challenge it must be for a lone mom or dad to handle parenting by themselves. There is rarely that other person around to pitch in or to take one child while they focus on the other. There's no one to handle kid duties while they clean clothes, take a nap or fix dinner.
And perhaps most importantly there's typically no one to talk to about it. No one to share ideas with about new discipline tactics, changing the rules or just feeling like a failure. Singleness means just that much of the time - you're doing this alone.
And unfortunately even though there are more single parents than ever, we're still pretty much a couples-driven culture. Most every activity, small group and special program seems to work better for married people. I know that in our church when we speak on marriage we try to be very intentional about remembering that there will be singles in the audience and to be sure that we include them somehow. But often singles are just left out.
So how might we praise and encourage you single parents who are reading this or those we know? Let me suggest a couple of ways.
First, get to know and build relationships with some singles, especially if you're married. As you learn of some of their needs, be willing to become an advocate for even one single mom or dad by pitching in and helping, becoming a listening ear, sharing resources and inviting them into social settings.
Second, if you're a leader at church, work or in the community, be sure to start thinking about how you can also meet the needs of singles as you plan events, activities and programs. Can you include childcare or even help with transportation? Are there things your organization could do to specifically meet the needs of single parents? When people speak do they intentionally mention the singles in the audience?
Third, let a single parent know that you care and notice how hard they work. Sure, some parents are single largely because of their own doing but that's the exception more than the rule. And even if they did generally put themselves in that spot, they still deserve our love and care. Jesus would do no less. Like many of us do when we see a soldier and thank them for their service, my hunch is that many singles would love to know that we notice the sacrifices they continue to make for their kids.
Fourth, pray specifically for a single or two that you know. It's likely they don't have that many people who will help build them up by asking God for strength, wisdom and direction as they try to parent the best they can.
So, who do you know who's parenting by themselves? Think about how you can start to help and serve them. When you do I'm pretty sure there will be some new lumps in throats and tears in eyes when people notice you really do care and they've not been forgotten.
Gary Sinclair Writer | Speaker | Leader
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Breaking News
What Is The Typical Diabetic Meal Plan?
What Is The Typical Diabetic Meal Plan?
The typical diabetic meal plan is a plan that controls carbohydrates. This plan is one that keeps sugars down so that the body is not overwhelmed by the need for insulin. It usually involves eating several small meals a day to keep the blood sugar level stable. This diet does not count calories or fats instead it counts carbohydrates.
There are several types of diabetic diets but a common one is the food exchange. This is a healthy eating plan for diabetics. You do not need special foods. You need to eat the same foods that are good for everyone, even those that don't have diabetes. The three main parts of a good diet include carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
It is helpful for most diabetics to eat about the same amount of carbs at around the same time each day. This helps to maintain the blood glucose levels. Carbohydrates are processed into glucose when you eat them so it is especially important to be aware of the amount and type of carbohydrates that you eat.
A healthy daily meal plan would include at least two to three servings of zero-starch vegetables; two servings of fruits; six servings of grains, beans and starchy vegetables; two servings of low-fat or fat-free milk; about six ounces of meat or meat substitutes and small amounts of fat and processed sugars. The exact amounts you need of each of these depends on the number of calories you need for your age, sex, size and activity level.
Many starches have fifteen grams of carbohydrates. You need to eat three or more servings of whole grains each day. A serving is about one-half cup of cooked cereal or grain, or one slice of whole-grain bread. A typical serving of fruit has fifteen grams of carbohydrates. A cup of milk has twelve grams of carbohydrates. A low starch vegetable serving is one-half cup cooked vegetables. One cup of raw vegetables equals approximately five grams of carbohydrates. Plant-based proteins can vary, so read labels.
The typical diabetic meal plan has a goal of 130 grams of carbohydrates daily. This will vary somewhat depending upon medications and activity level. Walking and lifting weights helps the body metabolize the sugars in the carbohydrates so that they are not stored in the circulatory system. The storing of excess sugar in the blood stream can cause many health problems. There is substantial information available on diabetic diets, so finding one that works with your food preferences will help you to be able to live within your carbohydrate constraints.
Anto Walker
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Monday, May 16, 2011
OT it is!!
1. Jgn la kasi OT rule the whole world winn....nti, where will be the pieces for teachers like us? pun mo *tompang* skaki jg :)wahahahaa Anyway, yeah! I think OT is a great profession. So, you are right in being proud of it. U-go-girl! (*lagu lee-hyori*) :)
2. o yeah. hahaha.. x la ba rule btl2.. at least OT is well known la especially here in Msia. yaya.. hepi teacher's day! hoho..!
3. nah, watever ur profession pun, ok bah yg pntg u do ur job honestly and properly. Oh, and i want to become a wedding planner :D hahahaha. for me, suma profession pun is respectable. except yg negative la of course. hohoho.
OT rocks!
4. a big WOW! for u dear..
superb explanation..patut letak dalam hasil carian google so thnat whenever people search about OT,they get good explanation,like urs!
5. haha.. thx.. do correct or add anything if the information is not enough.. haha.. too big for google i guess.. hoho | <urn:uuid:b4fbe6c8-e534-4c91-9302-948ad6452b0e> | 2 | 1.554688 | 0.11224 | en | 0.94154 | http://sarahlysareynolds.blogspot.com/2011/05/ot-it-is.html |
Extended Project Qualification (Level 3)
The Extended Project develops and extends one or more of the learner's study areas and/or from an area of personal interest or activity outside their main programme of study. It will be based on a topic chosen by the learner and agreed with the supervisor.
Course Outline
This is a one year course, taken in the A2 year of sixth form.
Assessment is by a 5,000 word essay, presentation and portfolio. The essay, presentation and portfolio all count towards the overall mark awarded.
Examining Board
Special Entry Requirements
C grade at GCSE in Mathematics and English.
Career Opportunities
More and more universities are welcoming the EPQ as an indicator of realised skills and potential ability in the fiercely competitive arena of entrant selection.
Teaching Methods.
Each fortnight you will be timetabled for two periods of 60 minutes each. These are used as skills and tutorial based sessions.
During this qualification there is a need for and independent research and study. Guidance will be given on how to prepare for assignments and consolidate you own learning so that you can have the best chance of success.
How is the course graded
How to succeed in GCSE Art
Skill Requirements
How can you help?
Extra-curricular Support
| <urn:uuid:b7dc92e0-565b-44d1-bf8d-4dd12b09bad1> | 2 | 2.5 | 0.020283 | en | 0.954721 | http://shtc.org.uk/curriculum/key-stage-5/extended-project-qualification-level-3 |
Thorumhaim, the Coin of Torum.
A small prosporous town in Raaiderland / Oal-dam county, that had 8 gold- and silversmiths and a coinmaster. It disappeared under water in the storm of 1509, while the people of the town were celebrating. It is there were one now can find the Dollard sea in the North-East cost of the Netherlands. It is said that the floor of the sea is made up of Gold coins.
These coins are symbolicly represented by the value of TORUM.
Soon on an Ardor Sidechain near you.
Souvereign Life Inspired Creating Karma | <urn:uuid:9c266f6e-8830-4a55-8e4f-a04ead1661ca> | 2 | 1.609375 | 0.02288 | en | 0.969128 | http://slick.cf/coin/torum/ |
Challenging the libraries! The Demotek
Three years ago the basic idea of the Demotek was plain and simple: to create opportunities for young people to realise and submit their own cultural products. Giving these products the necessary co- verage was not the easiest of tasks, but something happened when libraries were taken on as partners. Three years ago the basic idea of the Demotek was plain and simple: to create opportunities for young people to realise and submit their own cultural products. Giving these products the necessary co- verage was not the easiest of tasks, but something happened when libraries were taken on as partners.
The reason for such a collaborative venture became clear when one of the project delegates showed concern about the cutbacks of media acquisitions facing libraries, so “why not let people submit their own work”? Since then they have not looked back.
From modest beginnings as a minor project with five Demoteks, initiated by Reaktor Sydost, a resource centre for filmmaking and young communication in the Swedish counties of Kronoberg, Kalmar and Blekinge, there are today over sixty Demoteks across the country, from Ystad in the south to Luleå in the north.
The Demotek framework is that of a delivery and lending station of personal creations. But most Demoteks arrange gigs, workshops, exhibitions and screenings. It is about libraries being brave enough to think in new ways and to show courage in receiving a new generation who might have discarded the library in favour of something else.
The perfect library
What characterises the libraries that are part of the Demotek project is their resourcefulness and interest in trying out new youth activities. Most members of the Demotek network want to participate in attracting people to use library resources in more fulfilling ways and making them visible. Unfortunately, this appears to be nothing but wishful thinking.
The project is occasionally prone to problems despite there being so many extremely clever Demoteks who really try to realise the dream, but there are also libraries that are exceedingly sluggish. This might be due to numerous factors, such as lacking in resources (hardly a surprise to most of us), a sense of vulnerability when facing a ‘difficult group of young people’;management might not be hip enough to what is happening or they make unrealistic demands. It goes without saying that this will lessen a sense of willingness and motivational force. This is to be expected.
However, those of us in the project keep insisting on what we have said so many times before: It is not about money. Willpower and motivational force are the crucial ingredients, the ability to break new ground. To us, this is the most important of issues facing future library leadership.
Reduce the generation gap
Another apparent problem facing the Demoteks is the generational gap – there is a lack of understanding about each other’s everyday reality and an inability to meet on common ground. Technical hindrances are also a common occurrence.
The project has invited young people to the library offering them an opportunity to teach the library staff about their ‘digital everyday reality’. This has been much appreciated and not just on a technical level but as an attempt to reduce the gap between generations. A bonding process appears, mutual understanding and the ability to sit down together and enjoy each other’s company in laughter and learning.
There are still adults who view young people’s computer habits as a waste of time. Headgear and skateboards in a library are unimaginable. No mobiles are allowed and silence shall reign supreme! Or, is it only young people who think that it must be quiet and that the wearing of headgear is off limits?
What young people can do for libraries?
Prejudice and ignorance are everywhere. To be active and elevate these issues whereby they are discussed is of great importance. Not only so that activities at the Demoteks can function smoothly but to reach a better understanding of each other and install a sense of faith. A positive attitude will open the library doors toward discovery for many. It is important to remember that it is not only about what libraries can do for young people, but what young people can do for libraries.
Let the entrepreneurial spirit into the library!
It is hardly a common-day occurrence when a group of youngsters suggest having fun at the library. This is where the Demotek has an important role to play. Once the local Demotek has arranged a gig or a workshop on, for instance, cover designs, it becomes more likely that they will come to think in such terms. Most of the time the younger generation has no idea whatsoever as to what a library can offer, both with regard to content and premises. This is where we all have a joint responsibility.
Our opinion is that libraries have very little idea as to how they should market themselves. Especially as to how they should reach out to younger people. Occasionally we hear about an enterprising library arranging courses for its staff in marketing. Brilliant! More of the entrepreneurial spirit in the library!
Coming to terms with young people
Another important question in this context is how to create something based on coming to terms with young people. Is the Demotek something young people can relate to? Had it not been better with a website along the lines of U-tube or Myspace? Well, maybe, but there are so many of them. Sometimes things need to be done which have not been thought of before. To open doors that no one knew of.
Would it not be cool if adults found it as natural as young people to connect to Lunarstorm or the above-mentioned music and video sites? We would be more than happy to encourage them. The internet is a part of the public space, but there are other factors involved. Personal meetings and conversations are still important to us even though they may take place in digital form.
The Demotek is also a physical entity (though the online catalogue lends it a digital aspect as well) because it needs to be. And all those gigs, workshops, exhibitions and everything submitted by young people since the beginning speak volumes about the need of the physical aspect despite the digital age we live in. One can view it as the digital coming out of the closet and more are given an opportunity to discover it. Young people are fully aware of this, the need to be seen and heard in many different media in order to succeed.
Even if far from everyone nurtures dreams of superstardom there is nevertheless a strong sense of wanting to be recognised. “See me, hear me, and listen to what I have to say”! And this I believe to be something everyone can identify with. It is about tales, stories, observations and reflections from everyday life. How else can we understand each other if we do not use these to communicate?
Ida Qvarnström
Demotek project leader
ida AT
Translation: Jonathan Pearman
Demotek project leader | <urn:uuid:b00b4d0e-95d2-41be-abed-32ed784d1985> | 2 | 1.742188 | 0.025587 | en | 0.964437 | http://slq.nu/?article=challenging-the-libraries-the-demotek |
Saturday, February 9, 2013
You know when you see people getting their heads together and it looks like they're doing some serious group study in the department library?
Yeah, I had one of those super-charged moments with my good friends S and D, except they were super-charged dumb moments.
Here are a few examples:
Instance 1:
S: do you get how the Gini Coefficient formula becomes that whole expanded form when v=2?
Me: sure you attach weights and I didn't attend class that day, but I have these notes and it says here you attach weights like "wv" right here...
S vigorously puts pencil to paper and starts copying said formula from my notes.
Me: wait a second, did I just read Cov as wv?
S: yes you did! In which case it totally doesn't answer my question and makes you look retarded for attaching random letters to a randomly made-up formula.
Cue: squeals of laughter from S and D; I am left feeling a hollow sense of....dumbfuckityness(I made that word up deal with it).
Instance 2:
S: hey, did you figure out how to solve for FGT when alpha tends to infinity?
Me: my notes says here that we have to apply L'Hopital's rule because...~peers at the exercise book~ the FGT formula becomes alpha by alpha?
S: you mean infinity by infinity right? because the rule that you're talking about only applies when numerator by denominator is 0/0 or infinity/infinity ~pinches her lips together trying hard not to laugh~
Me: I don't even get why I'm studying this subject anymore!!
Making a fool of myself apart this week has been special because I received this in the mail:
A postcard from Karen Walrond. Because that's how popular I am!
Except I'm totally not, because I filled out a form asking for this. But it was very special nonetheless!
Because hello? This came all the way from the USA to India despite all odds, all possible ways in which it could have NOT ended up in my mailbox...Come to think of it it's incredible! :)
The stamps are so adorable and they say, "Love"
And thus we arrive to my latest life Maxim: Be nice, it doesn't cost you, AND you'll end up feeling good about yourself and grateful for life.
Also I just realised that was too lengthy to be a maxim but fuck it, it's true!!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
When Snippets From Childhood Start To Make Sense.
So right now my life feels like this Tweety bird and Sylvester cartoon that I had seen a long time ago when I was a kid. Goodness knows why it popped out of nowhere in my head today. Amazingly YouTube searches of "Sad Tweety" did not show results that were of any interest to me. Then I tried to remember, exactly what was in that episode because honestly there was no YouTube when I had seen it. No matter how hard I tried the only thing I could remember was this:
Tweety bird was crying: the ugly kind and Sylvester for once was concerned. Tweety would look at a piece of paper from his school bag and shake his head at it and cry like crazy! And trust me I wanted to know so bad what was written in there. Cause I could really relate to the pangs of growing up in school, even if you're a bird. But Sylvester's struggle to find out spanned the entire episode. So I started to grow impatient and was on the verge of giving up when finally Tweety gives in.. grudgingly..and shows us all what was written on it.
Any guesses? Two words:
And that's how the show ended. The weird part though? It is making sense right now, even though the kid me felt extremely angry at being played about like this for so long.
That's life you know...No? | <urn:uuid:484dc85a-ae24-4fb8-ade1-9508836c1fa1> | 2 | 1.773438 | 0.059504 | en | 0.97599 | http://soyouthinkyouknowwhoiam.blogspot.com/2013/02/ |
Thursday, 31 March 2016
Troubleshooting High-CPU Utilization for SQL Server
For this types of situation we have to remember that CPU consume time in two modes as
1) Kernal Mode
2) User Mode
These two mode can be seen by "Performance Monitor" by monitoring "%Privilege Time" and "%User Time" counter.
Remember that "%Privileged time" is not based on 100%.It is based on number of processors.If you see 200 for sqlserver.exe and the system has 8 CPU then CPU consumed by sqlserver.exe is 200 out of 800 (only 25%).
If "% Privileged Time" value is more than 30% then it's generally caused by faulty drivers or anti-virus software. In such situations make sure the BIOS and filter drives are up to date and then try disabling the anti-virus software temporarily to see the change.
If "% User Time" is high then there is something consuming of SQL Server.
There are several known patterns which can be caused high CPU for processes running in SQL Server including
1 . Query executing causing CPU spike ( In general caused by optimizer picking bad plan)
2. High Compiles and Re-compiles ( In general stats change , schema change , temp tables , recompiled all the user defined SP's etc)
3. Running many traces.
SELECT scheduler_id
FROM sys.dm_os_schedulers
WHERE scheduler_id < 255
See below for the BOL definitions for the above columns:
status – Indicates the status of the scheduler.
SELECT TOP 10 st.text
FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats qs
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(qs.sql_handle) st
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_query_plan(qs.plan_handle) qp
ORDER BY qs.total_worker_time DESC
Note the BOL definitions for the important columns:
I re-ran the same query again after a few seconds and was returned the below output.
Now figure out whether it is singe query or stored procedure causing CPU spike.
1. If the stats are up to date then estimated rows and estimated execution will be approximately same in the execution plan. If there is huge difference then stats are outdated and required update.
2. Rebuild or re-organize the indexes and also create if the indexes are not available.
3. If update statistics or rebuilding the indexes doesn't help you bringing down the CPU then tune the query one by one.
3. If the procedure is causing the CPU spike then
a. Use SET NOCOUNT ON to disable no of effected rows message. It is required only to test or debug the code.
b. Use schema name with the object name if multiple schemas exist in the database. This will helpful in directly finding the compiled plan instead of searching for the object in other schema. This process of searching schema for an object leads to COMPILE lock on SP and decreases the SP's performance. So always its better to refer the objects with the qualified name in the SP.
c. Do not use the prefix "sp_" in the stored procedure name . If you use then it will search in the master database. Searching in the master database causes extra over head and also there are changes to get wrong resulyt if the same SP found in the master database.
d. Use IF EXISTS (SELECT 1) instead of (SELECT * ) to check the existence of a record in another table. Hence EXIST will use True or False.
e. If the query which is spiking linked server query try changing the security of linked server to ensure liked server user has ddl_admin or dba/sysadmin on the remote server.
f. Try to avoid using the SQL Server cursors when ever possible and use while loop to process the records one by one.
g. Keep the transaction as short as possible - The length of transaction affects blocking and deadlocking.Exclusive lock is not released until the end of transaction. For faster execution and less blocking the transaction should be kept as short as possible.
h. Use Try-Catch for error handling it will help full to easily debug and fix the issues in case of big portion of code.
2. If the system thread is consuming most of the CPU
If none of the SQL queries are consuming majority of the cpu then we can identify if the back ground threads is consuming the majority of CPU by looking at sysprocesses output for background threads.
Select * from sys.sysprocesses where spid<51
Check if you are hitting any of the known issues such as resource monitor may consume high CPU (hot fixes available ) or ghost clean up task uses 100% of the CPU on the idle system in SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2005.
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10 Springtime Plumbing Tips for a More Efficient Home
10 Springtime Plumbing Tips for a More Efficient Home
Keeping a green home means keeping an efficient home, one that uses the minimal amount of energy, saving money and saving the planet. In the case of plumbing, greenness and energy efficiency has to do mostly with conserving water. There are several easy tips you can follow to make sure your plumbing is as efficient as it can possibly be.
1. Take care of those leaky faucets.
If those bathroom and kitchen faucets keep dripping after you’ve turned them off, you’ll want to get that fixed. Just one leaky faucet in a home can waste more than 20 gallons every day. That’s a lot of water and money. The sooner you get that taken care of, the sooner you can start saving.
2. Update your shower heads.
In the last 20 years, technology has focused on finding new ways to conserve energy. A modern shower head can cut water usage by 40% or more. If your shower hasn’t been renovated since the 1990s, it’s time for you to do some shopping and find a more efficient option.
3. Insulate your pipes.
When pipes carry hot water to your plumbing fixtures, often that heat can get lost along the way. Pipe insulation helps to lower the heat loss. The water getting to you at the end of the line will be hotter, so you can change water heater temperature to 120 or lower and save some money.
4. Install low-flow faucets.
With low-flow faucets and aerators, you can reduce the flow of the faucets without reducing the water pressure. Install one of these in your home and the savings will add up. Assuming regular water usage, you can save up to 13,000 gallons of water every year.
5. Get a more energy-efficient toilet.
While you’re replacing the plumbing fixtures around the house, don’t forget about the toilets. One of the most energy-efficient options for toilets is the dual-flush fixture. The dual-flush allows you to choose between two flush types: a more powerful one that functions as a standard flush today and one that uses less water to clear liquid waste.
6. Get your home inspected for hidden plumbing problems.
Not all plumbing problems are instantly noticeable. If there are hidden leaks, that adds up. Bring in a plumber to check your system for anything you might be missing. If they find something, getting it fixed could significantly bring down your water bill.
7. Consider a tankless water heater.
Typical water heaters constantly heat water all the time and then deliver what you need to you. A tankless water heat only heats the water you use, thus saving energy, water, and the money you’d spend on both of those things.
8. Only wash full loads of laundry.
Washing two separate half-loads of laundry uses twice as much laundry as washing them all together at once. Though sometimes clothing needs to be washed in an emergency and you can’t wait for a full load, do your best to wash full loads only, saving water and energy.
9. Use environment-friendly drain cleaners.
It may seem like the drain cleaner you use doesn’t matter, but chemically infused drain cleaners can ultimately damage your pipes, leading to leaks or breaks. Take care of your pipes and the environment at the same time by using drain cleaners like BioChoiceES.
10. Shower, don’t bathe.
Quick showers use less water than baths, especially if you’ve had a modern shower head installed as was mentioned earlier. As relaxing as a long bath can be, save those for the days when you really need it and shower whenever you can.
by Rachel Kopp
May 2nd, 2013
Translate » | <urn:uuid:2784b77b-ba32-4571-823b-2d5b810b10ab> | 2 | 1.890625 | 0.064415 | en | 0.936314 | http://sturdyhome.com/10-springtime-plumbing-tips-for-a-more-efficient-home |
Thursday, May 16, 2013
On the new series How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life), I heard Brad Garrett's character say, "Do me a solid", and I didn't know what it meant. Later, that night, I heard Letterman tell that Dennis Rodman had asked Kim Kong Un to "Do me a solid."
I said to Les, "If this is a new slang phrase it must be six months old by now and the really cool people have quit using it already!" Les said he'd heard it before and it meant "to do a favor".
I looked on the URBAN DICTIONARY (CLICK HERE) and the first known source actually came from Seinfeld in a 1991 episode The Jacket.
Obviously, I had heard the phrase before because it was used in the movie Juno which I saw; it must have just "gone over my head" at that time! It was also used in the movies Half Nelson and Derailed, which I did not see.
I WON'T be throwing that phrase into any conversation!
1 comment:
Anonymous said...
I know I've never heard that! ML | <urn:uuid:e1f711a5-a1dd-43e4-aa17-eefb8bae2254> | 2 | 1.867188 | 0.018314 | en | 0.981796 | http://sueraypolenews.blogspot.com/2013/05/do-me-solid.html |
Comment of the Day: History is in the Eye of the Deedholder
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HISTORY IS IN THE EYE OF THE DEEDHOLDER Historic and Gone“Demolish your great aunt’s soup tureen! Every person wants to preserve her or his family history, yet is bonkers to bulldoze the neighbor’s. BS. All of it is Houston’s history — whether, or not, George Washington or George Bush slept there.” [movocelot, commenting on Texas May Demolish Your Local Preservation LawsIllustration of demolished historic structure: Lulu
3 Comment
• This headline deserves nomination as the “Comment of the Day”!
• If one of the Georges (or let’s say a King George to round things out a little) happened to have been responsible for the destruction of some place — notable or otherwise, regarded as new or old at that particular moment in time — is that not an event deserving the adjective: “historical”? Why must history be construed to reflect the addition to some facet of our tangible world, and never a subtraction from it?
In making a work of art, does a sculptor not subtract from his monolith? Does a painter not cover some of his background with his own foreground? Does a barber not cut hair, despite it (usually) growing back? In making a wood frame structure (or even to maintain one!), is a tree not cut down in its prime? To make steel, is ore not strip mined; are not entire mountains made to disappear? Are these not subtractions from our tangible world? Is that not permissible? Is it to be condemned? For that matter, are the subtractions in one sense not also compliant with the Law of Conservation of Mass? Is a repository of construction waste not historic simply because it lacks gingerbread affectations? If cemeteries can be historic then why not a dump?
As a society, I think that we must acknowledge that the physical manifestation of our civilization is an ongoing work in progress. We should not mortgage our future to honor the past in this way.
More to the point…it is certainly possible to place a covenant on one’s real property precluding the possibility of demolition by future owners. If you or your more immediate forebears sell it to a third party without such a covenant (which is certainly understandable if one desires to protect the value of their progeny’s inheritance), does that *historical* event not reflect the character of your ancestors, their efficacy as parents, their genetic legacy, and/or their circumstances? Is the manner of subtraction of a tangible ancestral legacy not a reflection upon that legacy? Does the inheritance not enable the progeny to thrive and celebrate life?
I can think of several good justifications to oppose the state law which is being proposed. In particular, it really ought to provide more specific guidelines. It ought to acknowledge the value of historic districts, and that the value of the whole intact area is greater than the value of the sum of its parts, and then provide uniform guidelines for the creation of such districts. If local control is the problem, and I concur that there is reason for concern, then assert state control. However, any appeal to family history rings empty to my ears.
• How about letting people do what they want with their own stuff? Doesn’t seem like a difficult concept | <urn:uuid:30fb8d6c-d2c1-44a6-ba03-3902c1a41436> | 2 | 1.578125 | 0.043667 | en | 0.947603 | http://swamplot.com/comment-of-the-day-history-is-in-the-eye-of-the-deed-holder/2017-04-10/ |
Environmentalists Employ Solar Energy Collecting as an Alternative Power Source
solar calculator
Alternative energy is continuing to become popular among a lot of people as the cost of using it has fallen. A good example is the solar battery, which is now on a lot of homes and businesses. The black squares on solar panels, known as solar cells, have become inexpensive and more efficient to use. As the design is improved, the cells are able to collect solar energy in a much smaller area than the older cells could. These solar cells have become very useful as they can now be made at smaller sizes and at lower cost. The cost per watt to create solar energy has been cut in 50% fifty percent in the last twenty years.
For environmentalists, the nice thing about solar-powered energy production is that it emits absolutely no pollution. For some people, the nice thing about solar power is the amount of money that can be saved on their energy bill. Because majority of people are more concerned with saving moneyhow much money they can save than the environment, it has taken the lowering of costs to get them to use solar power. But today the collection cells are a practical way for heating one's home, being easy to install on rooftops, they are no longer a difficult system to use.
To produce hot water through photovoltaic cells, the water is heated while it is inside the cells, and then sent through your pipes. The cells have become efficient enough to collect energy on overcast days. A company knowns as Uni-Solar has developed solar collection arrays that can gather energy during stormy weather. This system is designed as such so that on sunny days, energy is stored in huge amounts in case severe whether comes around. There is one other system called PV that a lot of people are using. The PV System allows a home to hook up to an electrical grid and share any extra power to the grid. This is to bring down the dependence of the grid on electric power from hydro-electric plants.
The benefits of the PV System are taking pressure off of the grid system, along with reducing pollution, and lowering your costs also. There are small communities across the country that have centralized solar collection arrays. In addition, numerous major companies are using solar energy as their primary source of power nowadays. Google has been using a 1.6 megawatt system to power its offices and Wal Mart is trying to develop their own 100 megawatt solar energy system to power their stores.
Governments in countries like Japan, Germany, Switzerland and the United States are giving people tax incentives to employ solar energy for their houses or businesses. Many private investors also discover the benefit of green energy and solar collection so they will keep on investing to ensure its future. As more and more people use it, the cost will continue to decrease.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Dirty Little Secret of Costs and Preventative Care
A new study on the supposed cost savings of preventative care has put a mack truck hole in the idea that giving everyone access to preventative care will save health care costs.
Now, there's no doubt that everyone should support preventative care. Preventative care catches diseases before they start. It's important that everyone go to a primary care physician (something I don't practice) regularly to catch diseases before they start.
Here's what's important though. Those that support a major overhaul of the medical system proclaim that up to 50 million people don't have insurance. Those people become a burden on the system when they show up at emergency rooms. Those same people claim that if they received the proper health insurance they wouldn't be a burden on the health care system because they would catch their diseases early. As such, they would save everyone money.
Of course, that's just not the truth. We should all want a healthy society. So, everyone should be encouraged to vigorously get preventative care. It is very unhealthy to go without health insurance and not get it. Focusing on preventative medicine will make our society more healthy.
All of this is true. What it won't do is lower medical costs. That's especially true if preventative care is given to someone that can't afford. If someone gets a primary care physician their whole entire lives and doesn't pay for that service, that would be a huge financial burden on the system and much larger than if they showed up to the emergency rooms when they got sick. Constantly putting someone through a battery of tests to find a disease that is likely not there is the prudent and healthy thing to do. It does NOT however save the system money, especially when that person isn't paying for the tests.
That's because the dirty little secret is that it's much cheaper to have someone die early even from a major disease than to keep them alive and healthy until they grow old. Again, I'm in favor of preventative medicine. Beyond that, I'm in favor of speaking truthfully. So, if the president wants to provide preventative medicine to all because that will keep us all healthy, that's one thing. Yet, he also needs to be honest about the enormous cost to the medical system that this would provide. Claiming that his fixation on preventative medicine is a cost cutting tool is simply not truthful.
Rob said...
By that argument, the cheapest thing to do is to abort everyone. Abortions cost under $500 ( According to, the first year's cost of a baby is over $5000. I don't think you're advocating universal abortions. (Are you?!)
You're also engaging in several logical fallacies.
Fallacy #1: The study specifically discusses costs associated with people who have already been diagnosed with Type II diabetes. From that, you've chosen to extrapolate across the entire medical spectrum.
Fallacy #2: The study only looks at people who already have Type II diabetes. What is the cost/benefit ratio to helping people avoid contracting Type II diabetes in the first place? Things like weight management, exercise programs, nutrition, etc. Type II diabetes is one of the most avoidable diseases; 80% of people with the disease have a BMI of 25 or higher ( If everyone had a BMI under 25, what would the rate of Type II diabetes be?
Fallacy #3: Even assuming that the benefits of preventative care are overstated, that does not mean that universal health care is a bad thing. It just means that some people who want it are ignorant and/or deceitful.
mike volpe said...
I expected a comment like yours even though I was clear about what I said. Yes, they only had the money to study Type II Diabetes. Now, do you really think that it won't be different with other diseases?
I never said that preventative medicine is a bad thing. It's a very good thing, but people are making a universal health care argument because everyone will have preventative care which will lower costs, and that' just not true.
Rob said...
Yes, I do. If you consider cancer, there are dozens of studies (google for "cost savings cancer early detection") indicating that treating early stage cancer is a significant cost savings over treating late stage cancer. This is in addition to any quality of life improvements and/or mortality statistics.
Heart disease also benefits from this. See
I'll gladly concede that when someone has Type II diabetes, early treatment is not likely save money over late treatment. The study cited looks solid (though IANAD). However, that study is but one point in the statistical graph. Extrapolating one very specific conclusion to a generality is fraught with danger.
mike volpe said...
Nobody is arguing that preventative medicine won't improve everyone's life. I don't see any studies that show that preventative medicine will save health care costs.
Again, if you say that universal health care is a must because then everyone will get preventative medicine so we can treat diseases early and everyone lives longer, that's one thing. That's not what most are saying. They're saying that it's cheaper than having these folks go to an emergency room. That's totally different, and not true, and the point of my article.
Rob said...
I specifically said that early detection and treatment of both cancer and heart disease SAVES MONEY. I quote: "treating early stage cancer is a significant cost savings over treating late stage cancer. This is in addition to any quality of life improvements and/or mortality statistics."
So, yes, preventative care in those specific fields saves money. Complete coverage that provides early and immediate preventative care for those diseases (including smoking cessation, nutrition, and exercise programs) will save money. Lots of money. And, if you consider that Type II diabetes is, itself, a preventable disease, nearly all the monies cited in the study from your original post would also be saved if everyone exercised and was a healthy weight. Unless, of course, you don't consider smoking cessation, nutrition, and exercise as preventative programs.
You cannot take a study that has very specific boundaries and extrapolate that to everything, ignoring all sorts of counter examples.
mike volpe said...
You said but that doesn't necessarily make it so. I didn't see a study that showed this. Though, frankly it is beside the point. You aren't going to pick and choose only those with heart attacks and cancer and give them preventative medicine. You will give it to all. Most will have nothing. That's another reason why it is so expensive. That's because for most it will come up with nothing.
Again, if you say it's important because then everyone will be more healthy, that's one thing. If you say it will cost less that's just not true.
Tom said...
Hey Rob,
Don't bother arguing with Mike.
He is always right.
Clearly he shot his mouth off in this article and you have the research do prove him wrong.
But that wont stop him trying to prove he still has a point
Anonymous said...
Preventive medicine is a wonderful notion and it might even work. The trouble is that preventive measures have to be applied to all regardless of whether or not you were ever going to get the disease in question. Trying to prevent a disease or condition in someone who was never going to get the disease anyway is a monumental waste of money and resources.It will actuially be more expensive than just treating the disease when it presents.Maybe genetic screening will help fine tune preventive med to avoid this conundrum.
Anonymous said...
Yes! Finally something about preventative health.
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The Oracle is an object used to create Nobodys. The person who holds the Oracle can chose who to make a Nobody of. This copy can be either male or female, despite the original's gender.
Nameing NobodysEdit
When a Nobody is made, the creater possesses the power to name the Nobody. The nameing scheme of a Nobody is the simple rearrangeing of the letters in the original's name.
Ad blocker interference detected!
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Friday, February 4, 2011
THE POWER OF DENIAL : why it is essential to a creative life …
(you have to believe that things will happen. even when it seems impossible that they might.)
it is the human condition to believe that we are going to not just survive, but triumph. It is a small form of denial. It requires that you overlook the obvious, that you push past the facts, that you ignore the reasons why NOT. We call it hope. It is more nebulous than faith, and harder to sustain than any other emotion. But it is the power that creates possibility, the window through which we see our better life.
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Population Growth of the World's Largest Country
China Population
The Population Growth of the World's Largest Country
Jul 30 2008
As recently as 1950, China's population was a mere 563 million. The population grew dramatically through the following decades to one billion in the early 1980s.
China's total fertility rate is 1.7, which means that, on average, each woman gives birth to 1.7 children throughout her life. The necessary total fertility rate for a stable population is 2.1; nonetheless, China's population is expected to grow over the next few decades. This can be attributed to immigration and a decrease in infant mortality and a decrease in death rate as national health improves.
China's population officially passed 1.3 billion citizens, with the birth of a baby boy early on Jan 6, 2005.
The boy was born Thursday at the Beijing Maternity Hospital at 12:02 a.m. (1602 GMT Wednesday) to a father who works for Air China and a mother employed by Shell China, Xinhua said. The newborn baby's overjoyed father was quoted as saying his son would be blessed his whole life.
China's population is expected to increase by about 10 million a year, hitting a peak of 1.46 billion in the 2030s.
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Should We Keep Our Family Health Insurance?
Over the last few weeks many of us have been questioning whether we should keep our family health insurance. The government changes that come into effect on July the 1st will add an increasing amount of strain on many of our family budgets.
The changes mean that families earning a combined total of over $168,000 will lose their rebate privileges and end up paying a higher premium on Medicare levy. For individuals earning over $84,000 the same will apply. However, family health insurance premiums are higher than those for individuals and many of us are worried about how much this will affect our income.
However, before we rush to switch or cut our family health insurance it is worth considering the impact this will have on our family and the reality of the public health care system in the country. We are fortunate to have a public healthcare system in this country but we need to realize that it is struggling. The reasons behind changing the Medicare levy system are all sound as, put simply, the system requires more money to remain sustainable.
The system requires more money for a number of reasons. Firstly we are in a situation where the demand for medical care and services is already beginning to outstrip supply. We have an increasingly aging population and a growing population. This means more people are coming through the doors of hospitals and clinics that at any time in the history of our healthcare system. As our population continues to reach increasingly higher ages more people are requiring more treatments throughout the course of their lives. At the same time medical care costs are increasing rapidly throughout the world and the increasing complexity of medicines, treatments and operations is making medical care costs rise at a rate that far outstrips growth in GDP, taxes and the money we have previously been putting towards public health care provision. Finally, we are also in a situation where our healthcare infrastructure needs significant revamping in order to meet with current demand. New technologies and systems are already being implemented throughout many hospitals and clinics in the country but the costs are huge and progress is slow. As time management and patient care continue to be problematic we should all be concerned about healthcare provision in the country.
While these problems are similar to many that other countries around the world face you can notice that the majority of countries with a public healthcare system are struggling to meet demand whilst maintaining quality care. Increasingly long waiting lists for non-emergency care mean that more people have to live with discomfort or quality of live issues without being able to receive the care they need when they need it.
For me and many others these constitute the core reasons that we should keep our family health insurance even though it may cost us more money. I personally can’t imagine not being able to provide my family with instant medical care whenever they need it. I know this is a reality for the majority of the population but I feel that if I can afford it I will.
However, my reasons are somewhat self-centered and I actually think there is a more important reason to keep private health insurance and to not cut it out of our budgets. Private health care means that there is more money being made available to the public health sector and that you are decreasing the strain on our health system. While this doesn’t make keeping health insurance a selfless act we need to realize that if we all drop our family health cover we are only going to exacerbate the already extant problems within the public health system.
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Finding math in nature on the road
Math is cool.
Math is cool.
I never was good at numbers, but one of my fondest memories of math as a teenager was learning about the Fibonacci Sequence.
Ms. Sheehan, my teacher at the time, described this as a series of accumulating numbers in which the next number is found by adding the previous two together beginning with zero and one. The chain of numbers produced (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, and so on) describe natural phenomenon from leaf growth to the curl of a shell. And once you are familiar with what that chain looks like (check out this video), it’s easy to spot Fibonacci just about everywhere in nature.
A recent article in Sierra magazine reminded me of this. The piece, written by an author named Mikey Jane Moran, makes a bold leap from Fibonacci to the importance of play-based learning, and the need to avoid screens. A snip:
“Tell your children to hunt for the curling Fibonacci shape outdoors and they will start to see the patterns everywhere, in the cowlick on their brother’s head and in spider webs—places where there aren’t really Fibonacci patterns. But the beauty is that they are noticing. Instead of staring at a video game screen on long road trips, they are looking at clouds. Walks may take longer as they stop to look at every little thing, but how can anyone complain?”
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know this notion of play over technology is a big one for me. Quite frankly, it’s nice just to see mainstream publications championing the same priorities for a change.
That said, Moran is right—finding Fibonacci in nature is DAMN cool, and something worth doing.
Whenever I head out with the girls, we try to look for Fibonacci and other phenomena like it. The hunt becomes a big part of our adventure; L and R look everywhere for examples, and the two girls compete to see who can find more (they are sisters, after all). As Moran suggests, the search (and subsequent success or failure) introduces a much-needed component of play into the learning-from-nature mix. The result is a wonderful way to experience new stuff.
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Saturday, 9 June 2007
'strangers in the mist'
i mentioned in class today that i used the title "strangers in the mist" on the mock cover because of an essay i'd written... this was something of an introduction. here it is:
... we go through life often wondering, sometimes doing, but never truly knowing who we are, where we come from, and where we're going from here. do we really meet when we meet? do we speak when we speak? do we hear when we hear? do we see when we see? do we feel when we feel? or do we merely pass as ghosts among shadows?
as travelers we have been to places, hoping to learn, to experience, to make a difference. we sometimes think, we sometimes hope that we might make a difference, but somehow life keeps us away from doing so. such is the tragedy of the human condition... while it is always one of hope, it is rarely changed.
as observers, the question we must ask is whether our observations are deep reflections of our own souls... if we see who we are in what we see; and we see who we are not in what we see. even then, that understanding, that reflection from our most personal stance cannot stop us from engaging reality. reality is in itself an illusion... as false and yet as true as an illusion can be, for it is nothing more than the sum of perceptions that together form the shared human condition.
history is written on the fault-lines of reality, and in few places in the World are the fault-lines as pronounced as in Kashmir, where the aspirations of those who are pro-India, pro-Pakistan, and pro-independent Kashmir are intertwined with the physical realities of partition and occupation and the insurgency.
every time one steps out of the warm comforts of Mumbai--or any other metro, for that matter--out of one's home and the various areas of varying affluence, one is reminded that there is another India. this was never as obvious as in Kashmir though, where the very notion of India was challenged occasionally.
our journey took us from the uneasy quiet and beauty of Srinagar, to the imperious serenity of Leh, to the bustle of a Manali splitting at its seams, and many other places along the way. we met the common folk, bus drivers, students, politicians, military and police officers and the occasional monk, and gained different perspectives from all.
through these interactions we developed perhaps not the definitive take on Kashmir and Ladakh, but we certainly developed an interesting perspective--a thesis, if you will--on the region as it stands today. we may have met as strangers in the mist--not knowing, not seeing, not hearing, not feeling; but we parted company as fond travelers on a journey that few seldom experience. it is that experience we bring here. this is our story.
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Saturday, May 12, 2012
Rubik's Cube Analogies in IT Development World
1 comment:
Cristian Carlesso said...
I found the rubik cube analogy appropriate:
1) you found a cube, now you got a problem
2) try hack around with the cube with no idea on how it works
3) look at tutorial on internet
4) apply the tutorial to the cube, but without knowing that the tutorial you found solve only a specific problem with the cube
5) try to mess with the cube extending the tutorial logic
6) give your cube to a friends who want to try to solve the cube
7) now you've a messier than before cube, and trying to rollback friends change only worsen the problem
8) dismount the cube and redone the cube.
9a) if you're lucky you didn't break the cube logic
9b) if you're unlucky you need superglue to keep everything together, now you've a perfect solved, yet unusable cube. | <urn:uuid:4c79b005-5f66-40a7-88af-c3bf20497baf> | 2 | 2.15625 | 0.368889 | en | 0.932344 | http://webreflection.blogspot.de/2012/05/rubiks-cube-analogies-in-it-development.html |
Friday, August 02, 2013
Anarchy and War in South America
GA 10:57 AM
Peace in Latin America is over-determined. Trade, investment, institutions, democracy, low security dilemma (geography), tiny security forces etc...
Anonymous, 12:39 PM
I think the parallels to the 1930 and post 9/11 era are bogus. The 2008 economic crisis does not approach the magnitude nor intensity of the 1930s. In much of Latin America the commodities boom tapered off. The 9/11 conflicts (Iraq and Aghanistan) in particular are not analogous to the 1930s. The Nye Committee and the Congress of the United States was promoting non-intervention and isolationism due to their reading of WWI as a failure. This was a war that crippled great powers. In addition the high-minded left, angered over the social and economic crisis of capitalism, perhaps looking to the USSR as a potential model, repeatedly cited pacifism in agreeing to this agenda. The world paid a heavy price for a weak US foreign policy.
Anonymous, 10:33 PM
I disagree that humankind is negatively impacted by US not intervening in other nations' affairs.
The US has been a major contributor toward stifling democracy and thuggish and repressive as this empire supported brutal dictatorships in the Americas for a many, many years. The trail of blood comes before WW1--and was developed I to a river after WW2.
US needs to "help" the millions being driven into peonage in its own country.
Not advancing misery and barbarity is the best 'help' Uncle Sam can provide the world.
The vast majority of humans on this abet, Earth, concur with this sentiment--as they/we are what we call 'sentient' as a whole, as a specie, a pattern of life.
Anonymous, 7:58 AM
My point was in the 1930s America followed a weak foreign policy that prioritized the domestic crisis and deemphasized engagement in world affairs. The world was not better off w/o the leadership of the US. The left and the right both supported these policies for different reasons. The Spanish Civil War, increasing the militarism of Germany, Italy and Japan. We know what followed. Instead of a blanket denunciation of US foreign policy, the river of blood is a weak metaphor, maybe you should consider the alternative.
Justin Delacour 6:07 PM
The U.S. and British refusal to intervene in the Spanish Civil War would have happened regardless of whether or not there was isolationist sentiment at the time. The problem on the Spanish question was not isolationist sentiment but rather that the British and American foreign services leaned in favor of Franco. That's why the Western powers didn't provide the Spanish Republic with weaponry. In other words, Hitler and Mussolini's first victory in the lead-up to World War II was not due to isolationist sentiment but rather to U.S. and British distaste for a left-leaning Spanish Republic. The historian Douglas Little has done extensive research on this and published a book in 1985 entitled "Malevolent Neutrality: The United States, Great Britain, and the Origins of the Spanish Civil War."
To be sure, American power could conceivably serve as a force for peace, democracy and stability in the world. However, the problem is that the American state doesn't always deem it to be in its interests to defend democracy or to deter the old right from attacking it. In other words, once the isolationist sentiments are no longer prevalent, there's no guarantee that the American state will necessarily make sound use of its power in the world.
Anonymous, 7:17 PM
The issue was not the direct military intervention of the United States in the Spanish Civil War. However, it was undeniably true that throughout the crises of the 1930s the Roosevelt administration was sympathetic to international coordination to deal with the various aggressions. As you note the diplomatic corps was riddled with people who did not see the looming threats and rationalized the actions of aggressive powers. However the laws prohibited US engagement after 1935. The various neutrality acts became a serious impediment to the US preparing for WWII (and acting as a potential deterrent). American military weakness and lack of engagement was understood by Hitler and Japan as another clue that they could proceed w/o serious consequences. For that we can thank midwestern isolationists and the pacifist and radical left. In effect, the two arguments were 1) pro-Nazi, and 2) pro-Stalin.
Justin Delacour 12:43 AM
The left was not responsible for the fact that Britain and the United States refused to provide armaments to the Spanish Republic. Rather, the Left advocated quite the opposite. Thus, the Left cannot be held responsible for the fact that the United States and Britain failed to stand up to Hitler and Mussolini in Spain.
To be sure, there were no doubt leftists who had some isolationist sentiments at different junctures in the inter-war period, but to imply that the Left and Nazi sympathizers were the sole source of appeasement in the period would be erroneous.
Anonymous, 7:52 AM
I did not say that, Justin. I am well aware of when the Popular Front strategy was in effect and when it was not. This is a straw man argument. Was the left responsible for the popularity of the pacifist thinking--the so-called Oxford pledge? Was the left responsible for promoting neutrality while the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was in effect and the USSR/Nazi Germany started the war on the same side? The time period is very confusing but my basic point remains. During the 1930s the US policy of weakness and non-engagement did not further the cause of international peace. Quite the opposite.
Anonymous, 7:57 AM
Justin Delacour 8:26 PM
It probably holds a bit of responsibility, but I wouldn't concur with the thesis that it holds primary responsibility for how the U.S. and Britain responded to the threats of the inter-war period because the Left never held much sway among the American and British political establishments.
Unfortunately, the American Communist Party was always in lock-step with Stalin on foreign policy issues, but I think that has very little bearing on the decisions that the Roosevelt Administration made.
Fair enough. My point is that the responsibility for that lies primarily with the political establishments of Britain and the United States at the time, not the Left.
Justin Delacour 11:27 PM
the USSR/Nazi Germany started the war on the same side
And, by the way, it's important to get the historical facts straight. Stalin's pact with Hitler was indeed treacherous, but to say that that the USSR/Nazi Germany "started the war on the same side" is egregiously inaccurate because the Soviets didn't start the war and had no part in the conflict in the period to which you're referring. Nor is it accurate to say the Soviets were on the Germans' side because the Soviets were not initially a party to the conflict. Rather, Stalin's pact with Hitler was that the Soviets wouldn't enter the war in exchange for Hitler's assurance that the Germans wouldn't invade the Soviet Union. You ought to be more clear, though, that the Germans started World War II, not the Soviets.
Anonymous, 11:47 PM
Ask Poles (and Finns) if Stalin joined Hitler's war in September 1939..
Justin Delacour 12:56 AM
I don't think you could find one respectable historian who would consider it accurate to say "the USSR/Nazi Germany started the war on the same side" because the USSR didn't enter World War II until 1941. The Soviet annexation of eastern Poland and the invasion of Finland are separate events from World War II.
Anonymous, 10:05 AM
That was easy. Your painful defense of the USSR's actions (while condemning western actions in the 1930s) says it all. Where do you get this bs that the "Soviets had no part in the conflict" until 1941. The decision to sign the pact was what gave Hitler the final green light. He had no fear of a two front war and/or resistance from within the German high command. Every reputable interpretation, except by pro-Soviet historians, suggests Stalin believed in the pact and supported it actively. He was surprised and betrayed by the 1941 invasion. Of course your pro-Soviet thesis depended on denying the existence of the pact for 50 years and a brutal repression of Poland, Finland and the Baltic States. The pact was a foundational event of WWII and the Holocaust and can not be excluded just because it doesn't fit your argument.
Justin Delacour 3:58 PM
That is absurd. I didn't defend anything the Soviet Union did. I certainly don't defend the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland. What I said is that it's wrong to misrepresent the historical facts. No respectable historian claims the "USSR/Nazi Germany started the war on the same side" because the Soviets didn't enter World War II until 1941. Robert Service is not a respectable historian. He's a ultra-right hack who sells books to other ultra-right sock puppets like yourself.
Anonymous, 5:09 PM
Justin, You have 130 more historians to smear! Let’s look at this quote in detail.
“The attack on Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939 marked the beginning of an unprecedented war of conquest and extermination, in which Germany inflicted immeasurable suffering on its neighbours across the whole of Europe, above all in central and eastern Europe and especially in Poland and the Soviet Union.”
Justin Delacour 5:31 PM
Regardless of the horrors for which Stalin was responsible, the simple fact of the matter is that the Soviets didn't start World War II. The point is elementary. And the quote to which you refer doesn't lay blame on the Soviets for starting World War II.
By your absurd logic, the United States would be responsible for starting World War II as well because it wasn't willing to enter the war in 1939.
Anonymous, 5:48 PM
Don't try to weasle. No one said the USSR started World War II. WWII was started when Hitler attacked Poland. The Russians were his allies as they joined in the attack three weeks later. The USSR denied the true nature of their alliance--why were the protocols kept secret after all-- for 50 years. The USSR also denied murdering 21,000 Polish troops at Katyn in 1940. According to your logic none of the USSR's actions until June 1941 are part of WWII. It is still painful for Putin and other non-communists to acknowledge the truth. The Russian participation in WWII was incredibly heroic and base at the same time. Just like the other great powers in the United Nations, only more so.
Justin Delacour 6:24 PM
No, Mr. Sock Puppet, you're the one who's been acting acting like a weasel here by using very deceptive language designed to give the impression that Soviets were responsible for starting World War II. To write that "the USSR/Nazi Germany started the war on the same side" is egregiously problematic language, and you ought to acknowledge as much.
As for dirty old secrets, there's no doubt that the Soviets have a whole slew of them, but there's also no doubt that the American state also has a lot of dirty old secrets that it has never wanted to come clean about. Great Powers invariably have a lot of dirty secrets because their desire to maintain their position of power periodically causes them to do things that violate their professed principles.
Anonymous, 6:46 PM
You've lost the argument on substance but won on name-calling points. You've even restated my last point. The issue of whether the USSR was an ally of the Nazis between Aug. 1939 and June 1941 is not deceptive language. It is rooted in the secret protocols and the lived experience of Eastern Europeans.
Justin Delacour 7:22 PM
Nothing like a sock puppet who declares himself victorious.
setty 8:37 AM
Guys, go start your own blog.
Greg: I haven't read the book, but I'd say that it's pretty silly to say Latin America is more peaceful when the US is there to offer a dispute resolution mechanism. The US has more often been the instigator of violence in the region. Today, there aren't interstate wars, but there are death tolls at wartime levels all along the cocaine corridor. And the guns and money for that largely come, once more, from the US.
In terms of interstate peace in Latin America, the countries of the region have shown over the centuries that they don't have much interest in major wars. That may be because they are all highly centralized, and the frontier regions are generally marginal to the success or failure of the states. Most of the countries have more resources than people know what to do with, so they don't have all that much to fight over.
If anything, having the US distracted and out of the picture is a big part of why Latin America has been at international peace for the last decade or so. If it would reduce the power of drug mafias, that would do even more for Latin America.
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XML Parsing in VB6
From Free Knowledge Base- The DUCK Project: information for everyone
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As long as the XML conforms to XML Syntax then it is easy enough to parse with a Visual BASIC application.
You can code your own parser or use an existing XML parser. It is recommended that you use a parser that supports the XML Document Object Model (DOM).
Microsoft XML Parser (Msxml.dll)
Microsoft's implementation of the DOM fully supports the W3C standard and has additional features that make it easier for you to work with XML files from your programs. Msxml.dll contains the type library and implementation code via a set of standard COM interfaces.
Set objParser = CreateObject( "Microsoft.XMLDOM" )
If you're working with Visual Basic, you can access the DOM by setting a reference to the MSXML type library, provided in Msxml.dll.
VB6 References: Microsoft XML, version 2.0
Dim xDoc As MSXML.DOMDocument
Set xDoc = New MSXML.DOMDocument
To load an XML document, create an instance of the DOMDocument class:
Dim xDoc As MSXML.DOMDocument
Set xDoc = New MSXML.DOMDocument
If xDoc.Load("C:\My Documents\cds.xml") Then
Do this if it loads
If it fails to load
End If
Set xDoc = Nothing
ReadyState Properties: State Value
0 = Uninitialized: loading has not started.
1 = Loading: while the load method is executing.
2 = Loaded: load method is complete.
3 = Interactive: enough of the DOM is available for read-only examination and the data has only been partially parsed.
4 = Completed: data is loaded and parsed and available for read/write operations.
loading a file from a URL example:
xDoc.async = False
If xDoc.Load("http://www.blah.com/blah.xml") Then
blah blah
blah blah
End If
By setting the document's Async property to False, the parser will not return control to your code until the document is completely loaded and ready for manipulation. If you leave it set to True, you will need to either examine the ReadyState property before accessing the document or use the DOMDocument's events to have your code notified when the document is ready. | <urn:uuid:f19f82db-5b47-42e1-8da7-4d1b30b15e0d> | 2 | 2.28125 | 0.085118 | en | 0.816089 | http://wiki.robotz.com/index.php/XML_Parsing_in_VB6 |
Monday, March 16, 2009
Good Grammar = Good Writing?
RCBonay said...
I was discussing the topic of basic grammar with a friend at work today. We both agreed that, if asked, we could easily explain what defines a noun or a verb but we'd have to look in a textbook to remind ourselves what defines everything else. To respond to your question I do believe it's important to be aware of what good grammar is in order to write clearly. Once this is established,and your audience understands you, you can use bad grammar-in the form of artistic license-to write in your own voice.
kitsimpson said...
"Do you think having a better handle on grammar makes you a better writer?"
Obviously you're not a college English prof faced with a room-full of students whose grasp of grammar is equivalent to their grasp of synchronised electron-spin dynamics.
No, no. I'm not bitter towards the education system. Nope. Not at all.
Anyway, the point is, it's kind of like art. Not everyone can become an artist, but if they learn the basics, almost everyone can at least draw a decent picture. Likewise, not everyone can write, but if they have a grounding in the structure of the craft, they're at least not going to sound like morons.
I guess, what I'm saying is grammar may not produce good writing, but bad grammar is guaranteed to produce bad writing.
Christopher Simpson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kitsimpson said...
(Sorry -- I screwed up the above deleted post by Christopher Simpson. Trying it again.)
Perhaps this might help. It's a comic book I put together for my students illustrating the basic concepts of grammar by means of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem, The Jabberwocky.
You can find it here
purplume said...
My dream is to find a writer who loves to edit up a piece of writing and be writing partners with them.
That would leave me free to write a creative story line and leave the rest to them. I'm thinking there may be people who prefer that part of it?
I immediately liked your voice and writing.
Best luck with it. | <urn:uuid:a13ca4a4-cdff-48a1-a51b-29c41c69a5aa> | 3 | 2.578125 | 0.146123 | en | 0.971323 | http://writersblockandcoffeestains.blogspot.com/2009/03/good-grammar-good-writing.html?showComment=1244582212352 |
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Social media - discipline and grievance
There can be confusion over what is acceptable behaviour regarding the use of social media. Some employees believe they should be able to say what they want on their own social media sites, especially if these comments are made outside of work. Often employees don't realise the implications of making derogatory remarks about people they work with or their employer.
The best approach is for an employer to make it clear to employees what online conduct is acceptable, and what is not, and deal with any issues through the same procedures it would deal with any other kind of disciplinary or grievance matters.
Drawing a line between work and home life can be difficult for employers. For example, is an employee using a blog to express personal views or are they acting as a representative of the company? If an employee has a twitter account are they posting tweets on behalf of the company or are their tweets their own views?
Employees sometimes use social networking sites, emails or other forms of social media to air their grievances. For example, an employee may complain about how they are being treated by their line manager at work. These comments could be seen by customers, colleagues and often the line manager. Line managers should avoid knee-jerk reactions by abandoning how they would normally handle a disciplinary issue. Instead, to avoid responding in the heat of the moment they should stick with the proper disciplinary procedure.
How to apply company disciplinary rules to social media
An employer should include social networking in their discipline and grievance policy, giving clear examples of what will be regarded as gross misconduct - for example, posting derogatory or offensive comments on the internet about the company or a work colleague.
Many employers have clear rules on defamation and breaches of confidentiality, but are often less sure about whether they should be making judgements about an employee's behaviour online.
Social networking can be an excuse for avoiding face-to-face conversations. Many of the issues that lead to disciplinary and grievance problems at work can often be dealt with by a manager having a quiet word with an employee - which can prove hard if line managers have become reliant on communicating electronically.
Communicating the guidelines
Employers should make it clear when employees will be seen as representing the company and what personal views they can express - for example, some employees are forbidden from expressing any political views. Also, an employer should be clear about what it means by defamation and how it expects employees to help protect the company or organisational brand.
Don't forget direct forms of communication, many of the causes of conflict at work can be resolved by face-to-face interaction.
Defamation, data protection and privacy - legal risks and considerations
Employees and employers should also be aware that their online behaviour could break defamation, data protection or privacy laws. For instance, if an employee posted damaging or libellous comments about a company or its products or publishing sensitive commercial data; or if an employer divulged protected personal data, such as giving away details of salary, political or religious beliefs or disciplinary records. | <urn:uuid:764e1047-f9a5-47c5-8810-ee1dc2c1af6e> | 2 | 2.171875 | 0.030496 | en | 0.950341 | http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3378 |
Bhakti Yoga Meditation
Home: Bhakti Shatak: Verses 81 to 90
Bhakti Shatak
Bhakti Philosophy - Verses 81 to 90
Apart from its priceless philosophy, it's simple poetic form can easily be sung and remembered. Verses 81 to 90 are below. You will also be able to hear a verse being sung if the "Listen" link is next to it.
1. Bhakti Shatak81
Tum mere the, rahoge, yah shruti vachan tihar.
Adham udharan Nath puni, kahe mohin bisar.
A devotee humbly says, "Oh Krishna, You have said Yourself in the Vedas that since eternity You were mine and You will be mine forever. Oh Lord, uplifter of fallen souls, then why have You forgotten me?"
2. Bhakti Shatak82
Haun manat haun sada ko, haun patak avatar.
Adham udharan virad par, tum to karahun vichar.
Oh Krishna, I admit that since eternity I have committed uncountable sins. But please remember Your own promise that You uplift all the fallen souls.
3. Bhakti Shatak83
Nam patit pavan suni, nirbhaya hwai kiya pap.
Yamen dosh batau mam, doshi to hain aap.
Oh Krishna, having heard that you are patit pavan, the purifier of fallen souls, I have been committing all kinds of sins without any fear or hesitation. Now please tell me what my fault is? According to Your name, You are supposed to purify my sins.
4. Bhakti Shatak84
Man Hari men tan jagat men, karmayoga tehi jan.
Tan Hari men man jagat men, yah mahan agyan.
True karma yoga is when your mind is absorbed in Krishn love and you are performing your duties with your body. If your mind is attached in the world, and physically you are doing devotional formalities, then you are extremely ignorant (because it is only karma, not karma yoga).
5. Bhakti Shatak85
Yadyapi Hari guru ek hain, ek gyan anand.
Tadapi srishti kar keval, brahm sacchidanand.
Although there is no difference between God and a God realized Saint, the work of creating the universe is only done by God.
6. Bhakti Shatak86
Hari sut kahan Hari dasi, jad maya dukh det.
Bad acharaj pitu lakhat nit, tabahun na sut sudhi let.
Maya is an eternal servant of Krishna. The soul is the son of Krishna. The servant, maya, is creating misery for the son, the soul, since eternity. The Divine Father has been watching the soul suffer through this, but He is not gracing the soul.
7. Bhakti Shatak87
Haridasi hain mukti sab, sabai jeev Haridas.
Mahamoodh jo swamiji taji, kar dasi ki aas.
All the types of liberation are Shri Krishna's servants, and all the souls are His eternal servants. That servant (the soul) who leaves his Master and desires another servant (liberation) is extremely foolish.
8. Bhakti Shatak88
Vandaniya hai Upanishad, yamen gyan mahan.
Shyam prem binu gyan so, pranheen tanu jan.
The Upanishads are like another form of God, therefore they are to be respected. They contain unlimited Divine knowledge, but their knowledge doesn't develop love for Shri Krishna. Thus, such knowledge is like a body without life.
9. Bhakti Shatak89
Milan paya Piya virah bhaya, virah paya nahin chain.
Duhun bhanti as divya dukh, pav rasik din rain.
Even while he is enjoying Shri Krishna's association, a Rasik Saint feels worried and anxious about being separated from Him, and when he is separated from Krishna, he naturally experiences sorrow. Thus in both these situations, the Saint experiences a sweet pain of Divine love.
10. Bhakti Shatak90
Adham udharan nam suni, ur asha badhi jat.
Bhakti vashya suni nam pai, man mahan ati darpat.
Oh Krishna! Hearing that you are patit pavan, the purifer of sinful souls, I feel hope, because I am sinful. I may also receive Your grace. But when I hear Your names of 'bhakt vatsal' and 'bhakti vashya', (the one who becomes dependent to his loving Saint because of that Saint's love) I feel scared (because I have no such qualities in me that would inspire You to do this). | <urn:uuid:18625cee-e78b-4f56-b026-82dd4b6a3cc3> | 2 | 1.710938 | 0.214519 | en | 0.884547 | http://www.bhakti-yoga-meditation.com/bhakti-shatak9.html |
It usually went a little something like this…
I would over hear my parents or other adult family members talking about a topic that involved religion or politics. Sometimes it my be something less serious like entertainment or sports, but the big two are always the big two. So I would hear discussion about something and not really think about it. Not question it. Not research it on my own.
And then later on…sometimes weeks or months later, the topic would come up around friends. I don’t know how the topic would come up among a group of kids, but if it was something in the media or something that most adults were discussing then the topic would always come up among childhood friends.
And since I didn’t really know anything about the topic, I would regurgitate the only things that I had heard. Stuff that my parents or other adult family members would say to each other.
A lot of times I would defend that position so hard that it would cause fights with friends, classmates, or anyone else involved in the discussion.
Now, what I was saying was not always the right or wrong position to take, but it did not matter, because I did not know enough to have a position. I was forming opinions based on limited and often times biased information.
So fast forward twenty six years or so and now I have a teenager and a nine year old. And naturally they are both curious about what is happening in the world.
But I have made it a rule for them that they are not to talk about politics or religion with their friends.
And I have told them that the reason they are not to talk about religion or politics with their friends is because they do not have enough information to form educated opinions about the topics, and they are too young to be fighting with friends over these things.
They can ask any questions they want of adults, but they must ask the question of more than one adult. They need to get different perspectives and see what the different answers are.
They need to do research. They need to find the information they are looking for so they will better understand the issues and topics at hand.
They are not to form opinions based on what a single person says. Not what I say or what their step-mother says or what their grandparents say or what anyone says.
They are to take in the information, think about it, and seek out more information. They need to experience as much as they can about something before they talk about it like they know what they are talking about.
My 13 year old understands why I tell him these things and he is always happy to ask questions. He had about a dozen of them this morning even before he left for school.
My 9 year old also understands, but he doesn’t care about any of that right now. I can tell he is hearing and listening, and he asks questions when he feels the urge, but he is happy watching YouTubers and Impractical Jokers.
Today is a tricky day for discussion and debate.
I just have to practice what I preach. | <urn:uuid:1ecd1119-d503-48e6-9c4a-a3e8af7c28ec> | 2 | 2.03125 | 0.376845 | en | 0.985746 | http://www.billdowis.com/2016/11/09/dont-talk-ask-questions/ |
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Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Ideas for Preschool
written by: Kara Bietz • edited by: Donna Cosmato • updated: 12/16/2014
March 2 is Dr. Seuss' birthday. Celebrate with your preschoolers by planning a Dr. Seuss themed week. Included are ideas for three of his classic books: The Foot Book, Green Eggs and Ham, and If I Ran the Zoo.
• slide 1 of 4
Dr. Seuss, or Theodore Geisel, was born on March 2, 1904. Because of the impact his books have had on adults and children alike, a Dr. Seuss from Wikimedia Commons popular preschool theme for March is Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
He had a vast body of work and published 46 children's books in his lifetime. You should be able to create activities across the curriculum to tie-in with almost any of his books. Whether you decide to dedicate each day to a specific book or mix-up several books every day, celebrate March in silly, rhyming style with these simple Dr. Seuss birthday preschool ideas for circle time and art.
• slide 2 of 4
Circle Time
Several of his more popular books, such as Yertle the Turtle and Bartholomew and the Oobleck, are quite long. If you choose to read these longer works to your preschool students, it is best to break them into sections, reading just a few pages each day until the book is finished. Many of his other books, such as The Foot Book, Green Eggs and Ham, and If I Ran The Zoo are an appropriate length for preschool circle time.
The Foot Book: Use the book to introduce the concept of right and left to your preschoolers. Have the children stand up and tap their feet while you recite the lines "left foot, left foot, right foot, right". Practice this concept several times. Placing a piece of masking tape on the children's right shoes can help the children easily distinguish the difference.Green Eggs and Ham
Green Eggs and Ham: While reading the story, encourage the children to join in for the repeating lines "I do not like them, Sam I am", and "I do not like green eggs and ham". Use the story as a jumping off point to discuss foods that the children like and dislike. Another point to discuss after reading the story would be animals that lay eggs. Can the children think of any other animals besides a chicken that lay eggs? Make a chart of egg-laying animals and non-egg laying animals.
If I Ran the Zoo: What are the children's ideas for running the zoo? Discuss ideas for creating a zoo with your class. Be sure to document each child's ideas for creating their own zoo.
• slide 3 of 4
It is possible to create developmentally appropriate art activities for preschoolers using the three books highlighted in the circle time activity section.
The Foot Book: Make a classroom foot collage. Using a large piece of butcher paper, paint the bottom of your children's feet, and let them walk across the paper. If possible, this activity is best done outdoors or where there is lots of room. If you are able to be outdoors, ask the children to run across the paper. Do the running footprints look different from the walking footprints?
Green Eggs and Ham: Luckily, March is the time of the year when it is easy to find egg coloring kits. Boil and color a few dozen eggs with your preschool class. Encourage the children to peel the shells off the eggs, and serve the boiled eggs for a snack. Use the shells as collage material in your art center. Allow the children to create with the egg shells any way they would like.
If I Ran The Zoo: Using the ideas the children had for running their own zoo, encourage the children to illustrate their ideas. Ask each child to explain their picture to you, and document their explanation on their artwork. Take pictures of each child creating their zoo drawings, and attach it to the back of the artwork. Laminate each piece of art, and use it to create a class book.
• slide 4 of 4
Curriculum Stretchers
Given the vast amount of work Dr. Seuss created over his lifetime, it would be possible to plan an entire week of preschool activities based on his books and never repeat the same idea twice. Celebrate literacy and the contributions of this incredible author when you plan Dr. Seuss birthday preschool ideas. For more ideas, check out these lessons with Hop On Pop or The ABC Book. | <urn:uuid:4d338ab4-fab1-4b4b-9333-d49f9134caf1> | 3 | 3.125 | 0.025302 | en | 0.95525 | http://www.brighthubeducation.com/preschool-crafts-activities/98495-happy-birthday-dr-suess/ |
World's Largest Sailing Ship Docks in Port Everglades; Also, Forget About Seeing It
These masts don't mix well with, say, a flight to Albuquerque.
The Maltese Falcon, the world's largest sailing yacht and also a giant floating metaphor for the financial collapse, has pulled into Port Everglades, tucked away unceremoniously in a spot far from the riffraff and almost unseen unless you happen to be driving a cargo truck into Port Everglades anytime soon.
The port doesn't allow visitors up close to dock 28F, and the ship is too far from any public spot to get a good look (unless your buddy with a boat takes you up the Intracoastal past John U. Lloyd State Park). So generally forget any thoughts you had about getting a glimpse at what $100 million looks like.
Port officials gave the Pulp an up-close look yesterday. It's parked unceremoniously at a scuffed concrete dock,
a berth away from a container ship. Trucks screamed by to unload containers, and a port security guard kept watch nearby.
Crew members prepare the plank yesterday.
Crew members prepare the plank yesterday.
Photos by Eric Barton
The Maltese Falcon was heralded as the world's most advanced privately owned yacht when commissioned by venture capitalist Tom Perkins back in 2005. Yachties have marveled at its 62-foot, carbon-fiber masts that stand over the port like a trio of phallic monuments to great fortune.
It's owned now by British hedge-fund manager Elena Ambrosiadou, who initially indicated she works too much to ever really use the thing. It's unclear if Ambrosiadou is on board; the ship's first mate said the Pulp would need to speak with the captain, who hasn't returned a message.
If you're lucky, you might get a view of the 289-foot clipper as it steams out of the port Sunday on its way to New York City. From there, it'll participate in the Transatlantic Race in June, in which sailboats travel from Rhode Island to England so that the owners of the ships can keep their tax shelters working.
If you'd like to see the Maltese Falcon from afar as it heads out to sea Sunday -- and let's assume you can't afford gas for your car -- hop on Bus No. 40 and get off before the 17th Street bridge. Hoof it to the top, where you'll be able to spot its three technologically advanced masts, towering over everything like gleaming testaments to a ship that cost nine figures.
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The conference aims to promote greater interdisciplinary in EU studies and to generate a dialogue between EU studies and European studies. To this end the conference will explore the key themes around which the “cosmopolitan agenda” in European studies is coalescing: Europeanization as a designation for the transformation of contemporary Europe; the complex relationship between globalization and the EU; the democratic potential of political contestation and claims-making in the “knowledge society”; and the cosmopolitan dimension to the self-identity of Europeans.
Main conference themes:
* Globalization: European experiences
* Rethinking Europe: Networks, territory, society
* Cosmopolitanism and cultural identity
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US Coast Guard - Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis, Associated Press
The Coast Guard Cutter Healy escorts the Russian-flagged tanker Renda 250 miles south of Nome Friday Jan. 6, 2012. The vessels are transiting through ice up to five-feet thick in this area. The 370-foot tanker Renda will have to go through more than 300 miles of sea ice to get to Nome, a city of about 3,500 people on the western Alaska coastline that did not get its last pre-winter fuel delivery because of a massive storm. If the delivery of diesel fuel and unleaded gasoline is not made, the city likely will run short of fuel supplies before another barge delivery can be made in spring.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Shifting ice in the Bering Sea is dramatically slowing a Russian tanker's mission to deliver fuel to an iced-in Alaska community.
A Coast Guard spokesman said Monday that an icebreaker and a fuel tanker are encountering "some really dynamic ice" that is slowing the mission and sometimes forcing both vessels to come to a complete stop.
But, "As long as we're making progress, we're going to Nome," said Anchorage Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley.
A worst case scenario would be that the ice becomes too much for any progress. But Mosley doubts that would be the case since the Coast Guard cutter Healy has the ability to make it all the way to Nome.
Jason Evans, chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp., the company arranging for the fuel delivery by Russian tanker, had no qualms Monday. "I think we are getting to Nome," he said, adding he will be there for the arrival.
Nome is in need of diesel and unleaded gasoline after a fall fuel delivery by barge was delayed by a storm that swept western Alaska. By the time the weather had improved, Nome was iced-in and a barge delivery was impossible.
In late November, when a plan to fly fuel into Nome was being considered, a gallon of gas was selling for $5.98, but that plan was scuttled when estimates showed it could cause a spike in prices to $9.
If the tanker mission fails, the plan to fly in fuel will have to be revived, Evans said.
The Healy, an icebreaker designed to move through ice several feet thick, is leading the 370-foot Renda, a Russian tanker loaded with 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products.
The plan was for the two ships to deliver fuel to Nome on Monday, but because of the icy conditions, that arrival date is off. Coast Guard officials are not saying when they expect the vessels to arrive, but it could be later this week.
"The dynamics of things make it a pretty intense transit," Cmdr. Greg Tlapa, the executive officer of the Healy, told The Associated Press by satellite phone Monday afternoon as the icebreaker was about 111 miles south-southwest of Nome.
He described conditions outside the Healy's bridge much like the surface of the moon: nearly 100 percent snow coverage, occasional ridging and "lots of rubble all around."
The Healy is trying to keep the Renda 0.3 mile behind the Coast Guard cutter as it breaks through 3 feet of ice. But the ice conditions are changing constantly, and when they reach heavier ice, the path is closing between the two ships.
In those cases, the Healy doubles back and cuts a release path by the Renda, then makes another pass, usually about half the distance from the relief cut.
"The relief cut relaxes the ice pressure around them, and allows them to fall in astern of us, and we pick it up from there," Tlapa said.
"That's been the dance so far," he said, calling the scale of this mission unprecedented for the Coast Guard in the Arctic.
The ships are in constant communication, with the Healy relaying over VHF radio any speed or propulsion changes and what they are seeing ahead. There's an active duty Coast Guardsman on the Healy that is fluent in Russian, Tlapa said. There's an Alaska marine pilot on board the Renda, and the vessel agent speaks English.
"It's slow and steady, but we're making good progress," Tlapa said.
When the tanker and the icebreaker are working well, they move at about 5 mph. Lt. Bernard Auth, at the District 17 command center in Juneau, said early Monday the ships were averaging less than half that speed, about 2 mph through ice.
The tanker left Russia in mid-December and picked up more than 1 million gallons of diesel fuel in South Korea. When a plan to pick up gasoline in Japan didn't work out, the ship received a waiver of federal law allowing the foreign vessel to dock in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, where it picked up 300,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline.
Nome has enough fuel for now and is not in dire need. However, if the delivery is not made the community probably will run short of certain petroleum products and could be forced to wait for a thaw to refuel.
It appears the community has enough home heating fuel, but Evans said without a delivery it is possible Nome could run out before the next barge delivery in June or early July.
Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen contributed to this report.
Healy webcam: http://icefloe.net/Aloftcon_Photos/index.php?album=2012 | <urn:uuid:2fa11d23-aeee-49f0-ae98-cb7550a77204> | 2 | 1.515625 | 0.037195 | en | 0.970631 | http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700213832/Icebreaker-tanker-being-slowed-by-shifting-ice.html |
RIS - Brno local public transport system control and information system
Brno Public Transport Authority (Dopravní podnik města Brna, a.s.) created a modern tool for the control of local public transport back in 2004, a tool that was quite unique in the world and that is used primarily to immediately identify deviations in the operation of local public transport and rectify these quickly and successfully. The information available allows the dispatcher to takes decisions based on actual, undistorted, objective facts. Moreover, the system allows for immediate checking of the response to the dispatcher’s decision. The control and information system (“RIS”) is therefore a crucial element in ensuring the safety, quality, economic efficiency and culture of transport operated by DPMB, a.s.
RIS is based on a data radio network that ensures continual contact between all local public transport vehicles and dispatching. Each vehicle automatically informs dispatching of its operating data every 25 seconds, including the actual time of departing a stop, actual location according to GPS satellite navigation and other important operating data. If required, text messages and commands for information facilities for passengers are sent from the vehicle to central office, and vice versa. RIS also ensures telephone communication between the dispatcher and the driver of a particular vehicle or group of vehicles and if required allows the dispatcher to talk to passengers in a vehicle over loudspeakers.
Dispatchers are able to display data about operation as a table of vehicles on individual lines and as a visual of operation directly on a digital map of Brno. The location of vehicles is shown on the map in real scale and each vehicle has a coloured tag featuring the most important operating data. The colour of the tag denotes a real-time deviation from the timetable, meaning that the dispatcher is easily able to identify the vehicles that are ahead of schedule, delayed or deviating from the set route. Of course, our dispatchers are happiest when they can see a screen full of vehicles with green tags that are travelling within the permitted parameters.
The information system allows us to ensure that the information provided to passengers is of a relatively high quality. All vehicles are fitted with sound systems, the names of the stops being announced en-route, together with other important travel information. Audio information is pointedly provided to passengers together with the visual information displayed on banners inside and outside the vehicle, meaning at the right time and in the right place. Communication between the system in the vehicle and the remote control system for the blind is a matter of course.
The control and information system ensures that local public transport vehicles are given preference more effectively at controlled crossings. A delayed vehicle sends a preference request from a pre-determined place by way of radio data transmission. The traffic light control unit receives information about the route the bus takes when passing through the crossing and about the delay and can therefore appropriately allow the vehicle to pass smoothly through the crossing within the traffic light signalling plan. This so-called dynamic preference makes it possible to manage each and every second of the traffic signal plan and as a consequence ensures better passability for all vehicles, not only trams, trolley buses and buses.
The data recorded by the control and information system is archived, meaning that public transport operation can also be evaluated retrospectively and for a longer period of time. We use this opportunity when responding to situations and complaints and suggestions from passengers and when evaluating delays on specific lines or in specific places. General awareness that the control and information system in place means that human error on the part of our staff cannot be kept a secret is now of considerable importance to the quality of transport. Evidence for this is provided by the fact that the vast majority of complaints are evaluated as being unfounded based on the data recorded by the control and information system. | <urn:uuid:d2420c6e-15bd-490d-9026-9da2a44c1220> | 2 | 2.203125 | 0.020642 | en | 0.924338 | http://www.dpmb.cz/en/ris |
Are graphics finally important in embedded systems?
March 18, 2016 OpenSystems Media
For decades graphics capability was the also ran, either only required for development or displaying a crude and basic GUI. Now expectations have moved on to immersive multi-touch, animated/video experiences, even in the embedded and industrial space.
Arguably, what used to be known as “embedded” defined a headless system, one invisible to the user and deeply embedded into a device. Through the decades, that user interface has evolved from basic power-on/activity LEDs, to calculator-esque liquid crystal displays, to full-color LCDs, and now e-ink driven displays to slash power consumption.
As such, it’s only fairly recently that embedded computing solutions have necessitated any real graphical prowess. Before this development, applications that demanded it suffered either cumbersome industrial systems that supported high-speed peripheral bus expansion to employ a commercial graphics card, or chanced using a completely commercial PC and accepted the consequences.
With power consumption always a driving factor in embedded systems, the problem wasn’t integrating high-performance graphics. Various high-speed peripheral buses have been available to embedded designers; however, they not only exponentially increased wattage requirements, but also dictated a thermal dissipation challenge – so most designers didn’t bother.
Intel led the way by investing heavily in improving their own integrated graphics chipsets. The Intel HD graphics chipsets we see today are so impressive they encompass the majority of today’s embedded graphical applications – struggling only with rendering complex 3D graphics at high resolutions. For those remaining, behemoth graphics cards manufacturers clambered to reduce power consumption to make their top-end products accessible to the embedded space. AMD made an interesting decision in choosing not to pit their new embedded CPU, the G-Series, against the Intel Atom purely on raw CPU performance; instead, they focused on graphical capability, claiming eightfold the graphical performance of their rival. This was enabled by their shrewd purchase of ATI, driving Radeon technology into embedded systems as part of their G-series and R-series ranges.
However, the AMD alternative in my experience hasn’t shaken the ubiquitous popularity of the Intel Atom. Is it that graphical performance remains insufficiently important across our industry to dictate any real impact yet? Or is it that familiarity and comfort with the omnipresent Intel Atom is such that designers shy away from change? Debatably, it’s the burden of familiarity that held back the tidal wave that is ARM; for so long, it felt alien to those who’d spend their careers developing under x86 architectures.
The popularity of smart phones employing PCAP touchscreens drove that technology into our industry, pushing aside its resistive counterpart that had reigned true for years before that. Could it be that the expectation for high-resolution displays borne from the same devices (mine is now 1080p on a 5.5-inch display) is what drives HD displays in embedded and industrial systems? Is that what will truly move forward the necessity of high-performance graphics in our factories and workplaces?
In the past few months I’ve seen a sudden surge of interest in dual displays in such systems, often employing one to control (via touch screen) and the second purely to monitor. Such applications, all else being equal, require at least double the bandwidth of yesteryear.
Rory Dear, European Editor/Technical Contributor
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A Prisoner of the Boxer Rebellion, 1900
The Galveston Hurricane of 1900
Farm Wife, 1900
The Death of Queen Victoria, 1901
The Assassination of President William McKinley, 1901
The Roosevelts Move Into the White House, 1901
Riding a Rural Free Delivery Route, 1903
First Flight, 1903
The Gibson Girl
Early Adventures With The Automobile
Immigrating to America, 1905
San Francisco Earthquake, 1906
Henry Ford Changes the World, 1908
A Walk with President Roosevelt, 1908
Children At Work, 1908-1912
On Safari, 1909
Birth of the Hollywood Cowboy, 1911
Doomed Expedition to the South Pole, 1912
Sinking of the Titanic, 1912
1st Woman to Fly the English Channel, 1912
The Massacre of the Armenians, 1915
The Bolsheviks Storm the Winter Palace, 1917
The Execution of Tsar Nicholas II, 1918
President Wilson Suffers a Stroke, 1919
Making Movies, 1920
King Tut's Tomb, 1922
Coolidge Becomes President, 1923
Adolf Hitler Attempts a Coup, 1923
Air Conditioning Goes to the Movies, 1925
Prohibition, 1927
Lindbergh Flies the Atlantic, 1927
Babe Ruth Hits His 60th Home Run, 1927
The Wall Street Crash, 1929
The Bonus Army Invades Washington, D.C., 1932
The Reichstag Fire, 1933
Shoot-out with Bonnie and Clyde, 1933
Migrant Mother, 1936
The Bombing of Guernica, 1937
The Rape of Nanking, 1937
Dining with the King and Queen of England, 1938
Images Of War 1918-1971
The Death of President Franklin Roosevelt, 1945
Thoughts Of A President, 1945
Jackie Robinson Breaks Baseball's Color Barrier, 1945
The Assassination of Gandhi, 1948
The Russians Discover a Spy Tunnel in Berlin, 1956
The Hungarian Revolution, 1956
The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 1963
First Voyage to the Moon, 1968
President Nixon Meets Elvis, 1970
Payoff to the Vice President, 1971
President Nixon Leaves the White House 1974
Prohibition, 1927
The US soldiers returning from the war in Europe came home to an America much different from the one they left. Two Amendments had been added to the Constitution in their absence. The 18th Amendment, ratified in 1919, introduced the era of Prohibition by outlawing the manufacture, sale or transportation of alcohol. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, enfranchised half of the population by giving women the vote. It was anticipated that the combination of these two legislative acts would transform America for the better: first by eradicating the deleterious effects of "Demon Rum" and secondly by bringing the calming influence of the woman's perspective to national policy.
"Belly up to the bar."
Patrons get their last drink the
night before Prohibition becomes law
Alcohol had been a source of concern since the colonial era. The temperance movement gained strength following the Civil War with the rise of such organizations as the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The saloons that dotted America's neighborhoods were seen as the source of many of the nation's social problems. Maladies such as crime, poverty, marital abuse and even low worker productivity could be purged by eliminating their source - the consumption of alcohol. The 18th Amendment was to be a "Noble Experiment" that would transform America for the better.
The great hopes that inspired the experiment soon turned to dissolution. Enforcement was next to impossible. Congress allocated a paltry $5 million for this purpose. Illicit "speakeasies" thrived. The nation's borders were a sieve through which foreign booze flowed. Home-grown stills proliferated. The manufacture, distribution and sale of liquor became a growth industry for under-world gangs in America's major cities. Al Capone - the head of Chicago's most notorious mob - became a millionaire. By the end of the decade, the nation had had enough of the experiment. This exasperation combined with the realization that taxes on legal alcohol would provide much needed revenue for state and national governments led to the ratification of the 21st Amendment in 1933 that rescinded the 18th Amendment. The "Noble Experiment" was dead.
"I learned that not everything in America was what it seemed to be."
Count Felix von Luckner was a German naval war hero who visited the United States with his wife in 1927. He provides a visitor's impression of Prohibition:
I suppose I should set forth my investigations into the subject of prohibition. Here is a new experience, at a club's celebration. Each man appears with an impressive portfolio. Each receives his glass of pure water; above the table the law reigns supreme. The brief cases rest under the chairs. Soon they are drawn out, the merry noise of popping corks is heard, and the guzzling begins.
Or, I come to a banquet in a hotel dining room. On the table are the finest wines. I ask, 'how come?' Answer: 'Well, two of our members lived in the hotel for eight days and every day brought in cargoes of this costly stuff in their suitcases.' My informant was madly overjoyed at this cunning.
My first experience with the ways of prohibition came while we were being entertained by friends in New York. It was bitterly cold. My wife and I rode in the rumble seat of the car, while the American and his wife, bundled in furs, sat in front. Having wrapped my companion in pillows and blankets so thoroughly that only her nose showed, I came across another cushion that seemed to hang uselessly on the side. 'Well,' I thought, 'this is a fine pillow; since everybody else is so warm and cozy, I might as well do something for my own comfort. This certainly does no one any good hanging on the wall.' Sitting on it, I gradually noticed a dampness in the neighborhood, that soon mounted to a veritable flood. The odor of fine brandy told me I had burst my host's peculiar liquor flask.
A "Flapper" reveals her
hidden hip flask as she
proposes a toast
In time, I learned that not everything in America was what it seemed to be. I discovered, for instance, that a spare tire could be filled with substances other than air, that one must not look too deeply into certain binoculars, and that the Teddy Bears that suddenly acquired tremendous popularity among the ladies very often had hollow metal stomachs.
'But,' it might be asked, 'where do all these people get the liquor?' Very simple. Prohibition has created a new, a universally respected, a well-beloved, and a very profitable occupation, that of the bootlegger who takes care of the importation of the forbidden liquor. Everyone knows this, even the powers of government. But this profession is beloved because it is essential, and it is respected because its pursuit is clothed with an element of danger and with a sporting risk. Now and then one is caught, that must happen pro forma and then he must do time or, if he is wealthy enough, get someone to do time for him.
Yet it is undeniable that prohibition has in some respects been signally successful. The filthy saloons, the gin mills which formerly flourished on every corner and in which the laborer once drank off half his wages, have disappeared. Now he can instead buy his own car, and ride off for a weekend or a few days with his wife and children in the country or at the sea. But, on the other hand, a great deal of poison and methyl alcohol has taken the place of the good old pure whiskey. The number of crimes and misdemeanors that originated in drunkenness has declined. But by contrast, a large part of the population has become accustomed to disregard and to violate the law without thinking. The worst is, that precisely as a consequence of the law, the taste for alcohol has spread ever more widely among the youth. The sporting attraction of the forbidden and the dangerous leads to violations. My observations have convinced me that many fewer would drink were it not illegal.
This eyewitness account appears in Von Luckner, Count Felix, Seeteufel erobert Amerika (1928), reprinted in Handlin, Oscar, This Was America (1949); Coffey, Thomas, M., The Long Thirst: Prohibition in America 1920-1933 (1975); Sann, Paul, The Lawless Decade (1957).
How To Cite This Article:
"Prohibition, 1927" EyeWitness to History, (2007).
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Blue Crab 101
One of the great pleasures in seashore living that I learned when we spent time in the Chesapeake Bay area was catching blue crabs with a hand line. In SW Florida this is not such a popular past time since blue crabs are harder to find in the brackish waters they favor, and there are so many other options for catching fish and shellfish. But I have found a special secret spot where I take the grand kids to learn this skill and encounter the ferocious blue crab in "hand to hand" combat. And it is indeed combat since blue crabs are one of the most vicious creatures in the sea and will pinch you in the most painful way if you allow them to do so.
This technique involves tying bait (chicken legs in this case) to the end of pieces of twine and throwing several into the water and tying them to a nearby bush. Then you make the rounds of your lines watching for signs that crabs are feeding on the bait- the lines move and draw taut. Then you very carefully pull in the line while a second person holds a long handled dip net into which the crab is drawn and caught if you are lucky and skillful. Now this is only the first part of the process since you now have to remove the crab from the net and this requires the proper technique to avoid being pinched. You grasp one of the hind flippers at the base only and it is safe to hold the crab.
Now you can assess the size of the crab and its sex. Male blue crabs (Jimmies) have mostly bluish claws and the belly has a narrow strip (like the Washington Monument). Females (sooks) have reddish claw tips and a broad "apron" under the belly- the abdomen which is used to hold the eggs during breeding season. The design of the blue crab is a masterpiece of engineering. It swims using the back hind flippers and has two sharp points on the sides of the shell which discourage predators. But the fierce disposition of the crab provides considerable protection as does its ability to swim away fast sideways and burrow into the bottom.
We usually return the "beautiful swimmers", the actual meaning of the scientific name ( Callinectes sapidus ), to the water to maintain the population. Occasionally we will eat a few by boiling them until they become a bright red color, due to exposure of underlying astaxanthin pigments revealed by the cooking process . Then the hard work begins of picking the most delicious meat from the back fin area. It is impossible to pick fast enough to satisfy your hunger but for those who have tasted the ultimate crab imperial made with fresh blue crab meat, the work is worth the effort.
As a naturalist I would be remiss in not suggesting that you observe other interesting estuarine life while you are crabbing. On a recent trip we observed two characteristic brackish water area inhabitants that you may also encounter. This somewhat tattered but beautiful mangrove buckeye butterfly is very often found along the mangrove shoreline since its caterpillars eat black mangroves. It is a specialist along shorelines whereas its much more widely dispersed close relative the common buckeye is found almost everywhere else. Note that the larger of the two eye spots on the hind wings is less than twice the smaller. In the common buckeye the difference is much greater. We also found a southern leopard frog in the same waters as the blue crabs and this has been noted by scientists previously, although any special adaptations of this amphibian for low salinity waters are not well known.
I am a firm believer in trying to be as non-consumptive of our wonderful wildlife as possible, but you can enjoy catching blue crabs with your family without harming their populations if you return them after the fun of capturing them. The chicken and string technique involves no hooks and there is minimal if any damage to the crabs, allowing you to enjoy their exquisite design and feisty behavior.
Bill Dunson
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Different Flower Bulbs
Grown in a wide variety of colors, sizes and bloom shapes, flower bulbs provide a long-lasting display and once planted, spring up year after year to provide a constant source of color and texture to the garden. Many flower bulbs emerge in spring while others pop up in summer and fall to keep the garden in bloom throughout the year. Some flower petals on flower bulbs are fringed or ruffled to provide unusual textures to the landscape.
Peruvian Daffodil
Peruvian daffodil (Hymenocallis narcissiflora) is an early summer-blooming flower bulb. They grow 1 to 3 feet tall and have a spread of 6 to 12 inches. The fragrant, curved petals are white and yellow and flank the daffodil-like cup. The leafless stems on the Peruvian daffodil reach a maximum height of 24 inches tall and the dark green basal leaves are long, arching and strap-shaped. Peruvian daffodils can be grown within the ground or tucked into a container. Peruvian daffodils grow best in part sun to shade and well-drained, moist soil. Plant in USDA zones 9 to 11.
Tulip (Tulipa) is a spring-blooming bulb that reaches a maximum height of 2 feet and a spread of 3/4 inch. Each tulip has six petal-like tepals that are often smooth but can be fringed or ruffled. The shape of tulip flowerheads is often cup-shaped with a teardrop form but also grow in bowl, star and goblet shapes. Some tulip flowers are single while others are double to create a layered display. Tulips grow in every color of the rainbow except true blue, making for a versatile flower bulb variety. The basal leaves on tulips are green to gray to blue and range from oval- to strap-shaped. They grow best in full sun and well-drained soil that is fertile. Plant tulips in USDA zones 3 to 8.
Siberian Iris
Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) is a late spring-blooming flower bulb that grows in upright clumps that reach heights between 1 and 3 feet tall. The flowerheads that sit atop the grasslike, 18-inch-long stems grow in a wide range of colors including rich purples, bright pinks and deep blues. Siberian iris flowers begin blooming in May and last into June. Often found growing along ponds and streams, they require medium to wet soil moisture and when planted in a flowerbed, require extra attention to ensure they are kept moist. Siberian iris grows best in full sun to part shade and heavy, acidic and clay soils. By lifting the clumps out of the bed in early fall, they can grow in other areas of the garden. Plant Siberian iris in USDA zones 3 to 9.
Keywords: different flower bulbs, Peruvian daffodil, tulip bulb, Siberian iris
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Down the drain | india | Hindustan Times
Today in New Delhi, India
Aug 19, 2017-Saturday
New Delhi
• Humidity
• Wind
Down the drain
The government must workout to improve the current state of sanitation facilities which has a huge impact on health, mortality as well as the economy.
india Updated: Nov 01, 2007 22:52 IST
The hype around India’s urbanisation will prove nothing more than a chimera if a random check were to be undertaken of the state of public amenities in cities. Definite lacuna would be the lack of access to, and availability of, clean toilets. According to the 2006 World Health Organisation Report, only 22 per cent of rural and 59 per cent of urban India has access to sanitation, the national average a measly 33 per cent. The 7th World Toilet Summit, being held in the Capital, has brought the focus back on this important issue, which has a huge impact on health, mortality as well as the economy.
According to one estimate, treating health hazards like diarrhoea (an offshoot of poor sanitation) may cost the country Rs 200 crore; the loss of working days due to the ailment, a whopping Rs 300 crore. Worldwide, the WHO estimates, 200 million people suffer from schistosomiasis, a disease caused by lack of access to hygienic sanitation facilities. As things stand, the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation, which hopes to halve the proportion of people who do not have access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation by 2015 and to provide toilets for all by 2025, seems to be an uphill task. The UN has declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.
In urban India, even pay and use public lavatories often don’t make the cut in terms of cleanliness and maintenance. Naturally, the target population sees them as stinking and unhygienic. Moreover, these toilets tend to concentrate around areas that are advertisement worthy, leaving more needy areas uncovered. As for the slums in urban areas, they always figure at the bottom of the list of priorities. Since governments tend to look at people living in these areas as a burden on civic infrastructure, their needs are shortchanged at all times. To make toilets available to the maximum number of people, the government needs to invest in low-cost options that are suitable and simple to replicate. It also needs to rope in NGOs and corporates to build more facilities. It must understand that there is a direct correlation between urban poverty and poor health, which is largely a result of inadequate sanitation facilities. | <urn:uuid:15b378b8-ced3-45f4-a185-f38467076ff0> | 3 | 2.515625 | 0.025622 | en | 0.951068 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/down-the-drain/story-iSglLGLd8hnj3Lp0Ydl1iN.html |
The Winter War
The Winter War was fought between Finland and Russia between November 1939 and March 1940. After the blitzkrieg attack on Poland by Germany, the Winter War was the only other major military campaign until Hitler unleashed blitzkrieg on western Europe in the Spring of 1940.
winter2Finnish infantry
When war broke out, the Finnish army was small. The country only had a population of 4 million and as a result of this, any army could only have been small. Finland could muster a small army of professionals. The country also had a peacetime army of conscripts which was boosted each year by an annual intake of new men. There was also a reserve which all conscripts passed into after a year’s service. Compared to the vast potential resources of the Red Army, the Finnish Army was dwarfed.
In time of war, it was planned by Mannerheim that the peacetime army should act as a covering force to delay any attack until the reservists got to the front. The army was also short of equipment including uniforms and modern artillery pieces – the army only had 112 decent anti-tank guns at the start of the war. The means of producing modern weaponry was also short of the standards of Western European countries. Basic things such as ammunition could not be produced in large quantities and the army’s communication system was basic, relying in part on runners. From whatever angle the Finnish army was looked at, it seemed an easy victim for the Russians.
However, in one sense the Finnish Army was in an excellent position to defend its nation. Finnish troops were trained to use their own terrain to their advantage. Finnish troops were well suited to the forests and snow-covered regions of Finland and they knew the lay of the land. Finnish ski troops were highly mobile and well trained. However, these men were used to working in small units and large scale manoeuvres were alien not only to them but to the officers in command of them. Money simply had not been spent in Finland prior to 1939 for many large-scale military training exercises. However, as it became more and more obvious that a conflict with the Russians was likely, patriotism took a firm hold and no-one was prepared to tolerate a Russian invasion of their homeland.
To go with the army, the Finnish Navy was small and the Finnish air force only had 100 planes but some of these were incapable of being flown in battle.
The Russian army was completely different. However, in September 1939, Russia had committed a number of men to the Polish campaign. But with 1,250,000 men in the regular army, there were many more Stalin could call on. For the Winter War, Russia used 45 divisions – each division had 18,000 men; so by that reckoning Russia used 810,000 men; nearly 25% of the whole of Finland’s population. In fact, for the whole duration of the war, the Russians used 1,200,000 men in total in some form of military capacity. The Russians also used 1,500 tanks and 3,000 planes. Whereas the Finns had difficulty supplying her troops with ammunition, the Russians had an unlimited supply and a vastly superior system of communications. But the Russian army had two major weaknesses. It was used to war games on large expanses of open ground. The snow covered forests of Finland were a different matter and the Russians were to find that they were frequently confined to the area around roads as many of their men were unused to Finland’s terrain. Their tactics developed during training did not include such terrain.
The Russian Army also had another fundamental weakness: its command structure was so rigid that military commanders in the field would not make a decision without the approval of a higher officer who usually had to get permission from a political commissar that his tactics were correct. Such a set-up created delays in decision-making. Therefore the leviathan that was the Russian Army in late 1939, was frequently a slow moving dinosaur hindered by both the geography of Finland and its rigidity in terms of decision making. Whereas Blitzkrieg had been designed to incorporate all aspects of Germany’s army and air force, each part of the Russian army acted as separate entities. Whether this was a result of the purges in the military which decimated its officer corps or a result of fear of taking a decision that was unacceptable to higher authorities is difficult to know: probably it was a combination of both.
The Red Army was ill-equipped for a winter war. Whereas the army was well supplied with standard military equipment, it had little that was required for the snow-covered forests of Finland. White camouflage clothing was not issued and vehicles simply could not cope with the cold. The winter of 1939-40 was particularly severe.
The Russians were also forced to fight on a small front despite the sheer size of the Russian-Finnish border. Many parts of the 600 miles border were simply impassable, so the Finns had a good idea as to the route any Russian force might take. The Russian air force was also limited in the amount of time it could help the army because the days were so short during the winter months. When they did fly, the Russians took heavy casualties, losing 800 planes during the war – over 25% of the planes used in the war.
The Finnish High Command, led by Mannerheim, believed that the only weak spot they had was in the Karelian Isthmus. This area was fortified with the Mannerheim Line – a complex of trenches, wire, mine fields and obstacles. Concrete emplacements were built but they were few and far between with each emplacement having little ability to give any other covering fire. In no way could the Mannerheim Line compare to the Maginot Line.
The war started on November 30th. The initial stages of the war went to the Finns plan as they held up the first advances of the Red Army in the Karelian Isthmus. The Finnish troops also picked up valuable experience of fighting tanks; in this the Russians all but assisted the Finns as the tanks of the Russians operated separate to the infantry and the Finns found it relatively easy to pick off individually operating tanks. The Finns had less success around the northern shores of Lake Lagoda where the Russians did make gains. However, by mid-December, the Russians had been held in all areas and a stalemate took place. The main worry for Mannerheim was that he had already used up 50% of his reserves. Despite this, the Finns felt confident enough to launch a counter-attack against the Russians on December 27th. It lasted until December 30th when it became apparent that it was not going to be successful as the Russians had dug in well and the Finnish troops were unused to large scale offensive campaigns. So by the end of the year, an effective stalemate had occurred in all areas – but Finnish military commanders were aware that their reserves were fast dwindling.
The winter in January 1940 meant that little military action of value took place. What the Finns perfected, though, was a tactic in attacking Russian convoys. The Finns knew that Russian vehicles had to stay on the road. They therefore used their knowledge of the terrain to get behind the convoy and attack from the sides and from the rear thus blocking off any form of Russian retreat. The Russians then had to dig in (the Finns called these positions ‘mottis’) where they fought back. Some of the mottis were so big that the Russian troops held out in them until the end of the war. Other smaller ones were ruthlessly destroyed. Though the Finns did not achieve a major victory at this time, their victory at Summosalmi did a great deal to boost the nation’s morale. However, on February 1st, the Russians launched a major offensive.
Aware that they had not been successful up to the end of December, the Russians had started preparing for a major assault on December 26th when they essentially started creating a new army for the Finnish front. On December 28th, an order was given that no more mass frontal assaults were to be allowed as they had proved to be very costly in terms of men lost. Instead the Russians adopted a step-by-step advance tactic that was preceded by a massive artillery bombardment which was intended to smash any concrete emplacements that the Finns had built. One month was spent practicing this tactic combining infantry, tanks and artillery. On January 7th 1940, Marshall Timoshenko was given command of the Russian Army in Finland.
On January 15th Russia started a systematic artillery bombardment of Finland’s defences in the Karelian Isthmus. The Russians had a free hand in this as their artillery guns were more powerful than Finland’s and so could fire at Finnish positions in the Isthmus but were out of range from any Finnish attack. Also with complete mastery of the air, Russian gunners were given specific co-ordinates to aim for.
The main Russian attack came on February 1st. The Finns had six divisions (about 85,000 men) at the front and three in reserve positions. However, two of the reserve divisions were newly created and had no experience of combat. The Russians had learned their lessons from the previous two months. Tanks attacked first with infantry literally in tow as many tanks pulled along infantry soldiers on sledges. The tanks placed themselves in front of the Finnish bunkers therefore protecting the infantry soldiers. The usual tactic of the Finns against this was to evacuate all fortified emplacements during the day and return to them at night once the Russians had moved back. During the night, the bunkers would be repaired. However, this was exhausting work and wore down the Finnish defenders. The Russians used a policy of attacking for three days and then pausing for 24 hours before attacking again for another three days. On February 11th, the Russians made an expected breakthrough at Summa in the Karelian Isthmus. The Mannerheim Line was broken at this point.
“The breakthrough at Summa was the military turning point of the war. The reasons for it are complex. There were mistakes in that the structure of the defences, particularly in placing the bunkers so that they could not support one another and so could be eliminated individually. The careful planning of the Russian attacks exploited this weakness to the fullest.” A Upton
The Russians simply wore down the defenders and exhaustion was a major factor in why the front line at Summa collapsed. By February 17th, those survivors at Summa had withdrawn from the Mannerheim Line. On February 25th, the Finns attempted a counter-attack using the remaining fifteen tanks that they possessed. Ironically, as these tanks advanced to the front line to support the infantry, they caused panic among many Finnish troops who did not know that Finland had any tanks – they assumed that they were Russian tanks that had got behind them in an encircling movement. The counter-attack failed.
Wary of previous problems encountered in Finland, the Russians advanced steadily. However, they did advance and the Finns had to retreat despite the cautious approach of the Russians. By March 13th, the Finns were in retreat.
“The general military position on March 13th was roughly as follows. The Russian offensive on the isthmus showed no sign of slackening.” Upton
By mid-March the troops in the Finnish army were exhausted. However, the Russians seemed disinclined to pursue them – the doctrine of step-by-step established in December 1939, still dominated tactics, as did a healthy respect for the Finnish army.
A peace settlement was not long in coming. If the Russians had fully broken through the Karelian Isthmus, Helsinki was less than 200 miles away. If the Finnish army had been destroyed, nothing would have been in the way to stop the Russian army. In fact peace talks had been going on while Russia had made military gains. The Finns had been told the precise terms the Russians wanted on February 23rd. The Russians wanted:
A 30-year lease of Hanko.
The cessation of the whole of the Karelian Isthmus and the shores of Lake Lagoda on the Finnish side.
In return, the Russians would evacuate the Petsamo area.
The Finnish government was unwilling to negotiate on these terms. However, the declining military situation meant that they were not in a position to do so. The hope of military assistance from Britain and France failed to materialise. In all senses, the Finns were by themselves. Sweden urged Finland to accept the Russian demands. The Russians had set March 1st as a deadline for negotiations. With the ever decreasing military situation confronting them, the Finnish government saw no alternative to acceptance.
The March 1st deadline passed but the Finnish government was assured that the terms still stood and that the deadline had been extended.
On March 6th, a Finnish delegation left for Moscow. Talks opened on March 8th. The Russians, led by Molotov, now demanded more land than their earlier terms. The Finns were outraged but could do little about this because of their poor military situation. On March 12th, the Finnish government gave its permission for the delegation to accept the terms. On March 13th, the Treaty of Moscow was signed and hostilities ceased at 11 a.m.
The Russians defended their actions by stating that their newly acquired land would give them military protection and security. In particular, Leningrad would be better protected.
Why didn’t Stalin simply order his vastly superior army to continue conquering Finland after the fall of the Karelian Isthmus? The answer is not known for sure but it is thought that Stalin was looking at the bigger picture – seeing that a war against Nazi Germany was unavoidable, the campaign in Finland may well have been seen as a distraction taking up valuable troops.
There is no doubt that Russia decisively won the war but at great cost. The Russians admitted that 48,000 of their men were killed and 158,000 wounded. The Finns put the Russian casualties much higher. Also the Russians lost many tanks and planes. However, Russia could accommodate such manpower losses and the greatest value it got from the war was the experience of fighting a modern war. | <urn:uuid:b18dd08c-b4ea-4bfe-b861-a86f08d55873> | 4 | 3.890625 | 0.067332 | en | 0.990828 | http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/world-war-two-and-eastern-europe/the-winter-war-1939/the-war/ |
Saturday 19 August 2017
Theresa May to visit new US president Donald Trump next week
UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: PA
UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: PA Newsdesk Newsdesk
Theresa May will be the first foreign leader to visit Donald Trump when she travels to the United States next week, the White House has confirmed.
The visit represents a coup for the UK Prime Minister after an uncertain start to relations with the president following his shock election in November.
The trip will follow a weekend in which hundreds of thousands of people in the US, UK and around the world joined women's marches to protest against the controversial tycoon's presidency.
It was unclear whether Mrs May would be meeting Mr Trump on Thursday or Friday after White House press secretary Sean Spicer told a news conference in the West Wing: "The president will welcome his first foreign leader this Thursday when the United Kingdom's Theresa May will come to Washington on Friday."
On Saturday, massive "pink pussy hat" marches in Washington DC and London highlighted Mr Trump's highly controversial past statements about women.
At least 500,000 people gathered for a rally outside the US Capitol building while organisers said an estimated 100,000 people descended on central London, as similar events were staged in Edinburgh, Bristol and cities across the US.
Mrs May has promised to be "very frank" during talks, making clear she has found some of the president's comments "unacceptable", including his suggestion that his fame allowed him to "do anything" to women, such as "grabbing them by the pussy".
And she has distanced herself from suggestions the pair could rekindle the Reagan-Thatcher bond of the 1980s, saying she does not want to emulate models from the past.
The premier is "confident" of striking a trade agreement with Mr Trump despite his "America first" strategy sparking concerns in the UK about his willingness to to a deal.
But Mrs May has suggested the UK and US could reduce barriers to trade before being able to sign a formal agreement after Brexit, with a new passporting system to govern transatlantic bank trade reportedly being considered.
Mrs May is likely to emphasise the importance of Nato and the EU for collective security and defence after Mr Trump again worried some observers about his commitment to both organisations.
The Telegraph reported that the pair could agree a statement emphasising their commitment to spending at least 2pc of GDP on defence and urging other Nato countries to do so, as well as promising action against Islamic State terrorists.
It is likely that Mrs May's trip to the US will be followed by a state visit by Mr Trump to Britain, which would include an audience with the Queen and the pomp and pageantry of which the president seems so fond.
Press Association
Editors Choice
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When preparing a christian talk the two main things you should be focussed on are being faithful and clear. We are faithful to God's word by accurately explaining the passage we've been given. We can be clear by making the passage (and it's application) understandable to those we are speaking to.
The following ten steps will help you to fully prepare your talk;
1. Understand the passage
The first thing you need to do is understand the passage you will be speaking on. Read it through several times. Maybe even read the whole chapter or book that it is taken from so that you can fully understand the context. As you read as yourself questions about the text and jot down any thought that you might have.
2. Write a theme sentence
It can be really helpful to try and summarise your passage in a theme sentence. This is a short sentence that pretty well sums up the main point of the passage.
3. Think about applications
Once you understand the passage you need to think about how it can be applied in the lives of those you will be speaking to. Do to this you will need to know who you are going to be speaking to. A talk given to a group of youth will have different applications to the same talk given in church to an older and more mature congregation. Try to put this into a sentence also. This is your aim sentence.
4. Consult some aids
Bible commentaries, study bibles and listening to other talks on your passage can be really helpful. However, this is point number four. You should do your own work first and use this as a chance to supplement your own ideas. Try not to make your talk sound like an audio bible commentary!
5. Structure your talk
Once you know your theme and aim sentence you can start thinking about how you would like to structure your talk. Often people try to pick our two or three main points or headings (if appropriate). This about your introduction. Is there a story you can tell to set the scene or a question you can ask to get the audience engaged?
6. Write your talk
You can now start writing. Try to go back to the passage several times to show people that what you are saying is from the bible. Think careful about the words that you are using. These must be appropriate to the type of audience you are speaking to. Remember you are writing a talk and not an academic essay!
7. Introduction and conclusion
These are the key parts of your talk. It may be a good idea to write them last after writing the main body. Your introduction should give people a reason to listen to your talk and you conclusion should drive home the main point or points and leave the audience with something to think about or apply.
8. Be prepared to edit
A good talk should have lots of red pen all over it. Once you have written your first draft go over it, read it out and change as much as you see fit. It is important to cut out unnecessary sections and focus on the few key points that you want to make.
9. Think about your delivery
Once you have finished your talk you can think about your delivery. It is a good idea to read through your talk several times. It can help to do this in front on a mirror as if you were really giving it. Think about how you want to hold your notes, how to keep eye contact with your audience, when to pause, when to speed up or slow down your voice. The most important point is to be yourself and not to try and copy anyone elses style.
10. Pray, at all stages!
Really this should have been point number one, and two and three... During every stage of writing and preparing your talk you need to pray that God would be helping you to understand the passage, guiding you as you write and helping you to be confident as you deliver.
Hopefully you are now ready to go away to start preparing your talk. I wish you the best of luck. Trust in God to give you the knowledge and confidence you need to plan and deliver it well and remember that you are doing this to serve and give glory to Him and not yourself. | <urn:uuid:4fbe4058-ca8a-4e92-b93d-2f14ae9dfcc6> | 2 | 2.484375 | 0.10513 | en | 0.970285 | http://www.infobarrel.com/How_to_Prepare_and_Give_a_Christian_Talk |
Why do some individuals want to destroy the social peace that others work so hard to preserve? Parents and community residents have speculative views on the causes of crime, but among educators there is the view that crime is a learned behavior. They tend to think students learn criminal behavior through interaction with peers who defy the law. There is also the notion that youths who see themselves as delinquents behave according to their negative self-image.
According to Pelfrey (1993), juvenile delinquency is influenced by many factors, and no one perspective or theory can be considered the "correct" explanation. His story about the judge, the mother, the police officer, and the teacher questioning the causes of hostile behavior in the following courtroom scenario indicates a need to find answers regarding the causes of delinquency.
Juvenile in Court
The Judge
Trying to interpret the youth's hostility, the judge stared at the young man in front of him. Was he as uncaring as his record indicated? Had he been influenced by other wiser and more mature of¬fenders? Why had he engaged in these seemingly senseless criminal acts? Is society to blame? Is this young man salvageable? As the judge drummed his fingers on the desk top, he realized that he had ample facts concerning the youth's offenses but only guesses concerning the causes of his behavior.
The Mother
The young man's mother sat tensely, watching the judge and her son. She had not been surprised when told that her son was in the detention center and, thinking back, she had even anticipated that call. She had tried so hard and failed so miserably with this child that it was almost as if he were destined to do the things he had done. Had she caused his behavior? Was it unfair to this child and to her other children to have divorced and given him only a one-parent home? Had she been too lenient? Too strict? What could she have done differently? What could she do differently in the future? No answers, only guesses.
The Police Officer
The police officer had seen scenes like this unfold many times. This young man had been stoic during his arrest and hearings. Others took different tactics and used apologies, confessions, and tears to cleanse their souls or manipulate the system. Only a seasoned observer could guess at the different motives. Had the die been cast with this young man? Is there any hope for his future?
The Teacher
A caring teacher willing to expend hours of extra work with problem children may be a rarity in many school systems today. Such a teacher sat in the audience and sadly watched the proceedings. This young man had potential, the capability to do well, but he had chosen other ways to define success. Could she have motivated him another way? Could she have spent more time with him and stimulated his interest in academic success? Could she have trained him to defer gratification and think to the future? Could she have seen this coming and referred him to others within the school system more capable of handling his problems?
As they looked for answers, did the thoughts and questions of individuals in the courtroom scenario overlook the possibility that this young man alone was responsible for his behavior-that he had freely chosen to commit the offenses? The answers to all of their questions as well as this last one could be yes-or no-or maybe. Every person interested in this young man's situation tried to understand his or her role in causing or altering his behavior. Cooperative efforts between family, school, and the juvenile justice system to find solutions will have to include the development of innovative approaches.
For instance, judges could do more than decide the sentencing appropriate to fit the crime. When juveniles are allowed to go back to school following a court hearing, judges should not only insist that they return to school but also lecture them about getting good grades, attending school every day, being prepared to learn, and setting long-term educational goals. The school system has to consider how teachers and staff members will treat students who have been arrested or charged with a crime. Measures should be taken to keep them from becoming repeat offenders. Such measures would mean more cooperation between the school system and social service agen¬cies to provide counseling, an expanded alternative school curriculum, and additional family education activities.
Special provisions and programs for juveniles to examine the role models and influences in their life (e.g., peers, family members, teachers, community leaders, etc.) may offer the insight they need to explore the causes of and elements that contribute to their behavior. Furthermore, if they are coerced to conduct criminal activities through their association with others, it is imperative for them to understand how their interaction with individuals who commit crimes can have a negative effect on their future. | <urn:uuid:be15bc74-ce1f-4fdb-89db-298c90648cf0> | 3 | 3.109375 | 0.240066 | en | 0.98654 | http://www.infobarrel.com/What_Are_the_Causes_of_Juvenile_Delinquency |
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The Seminars of Jacques Lacan
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1953-1954 Le séminaire deJacques Lacan, Livre I: Les écrits techniques de Freud
French: (texte établi par Jacques-Alain Miller), Paris: Seuil, 1975.
English: Book I: Freud's Papers on Technique (edited by Jacques-Alain Miller), New York: Norton, 1988.
The first seminar, open to the public, takes place at Sainte-Anne Hospital just after the creation of the S.F.P (Société Française de Psychanalyse). Lacan cuts in the study of Freud by dint of his theory on the imaginary, the symbolic and the real. The focal point of the discussion is the direction of the cure. Participants are allowed to make presentations, comments and objections. Through the case histories of Freud, Klein, Kris and Balint, the debate elucidates on the convergence of psychoanalysis, philosophy, theology, linguistics and game theory. In keeping with this heterogeneous approach, Lacan will further appeal to the science of optics to systematize his analyses of the specular relation. After his schema of the inverted bouquet the mirror stage becomes part of the topography of the Imaginary. As to the méconnaissance that characterizes the ego, it is associated with Verneinung (dénégation): "...everyday speech runs against failure of recognition, méconnaissance, which is the source of Verneinung." He closes the seminar pondering on the role of the analyst: "...if the subject commits himself to searching after truth as such, it is because he places himself in the dimension of ignorance, what analysts call readiness to the transference. The analyst's ignorance is also worth of consideration. He doesn't have to guide the subject to knowledge, but on to the paths by which access to this knowledge is gained. Psychoanalysis is a dialectics, an art of conversation."
In a spoken intervention (Appendix), Jean Hyppolite comments on Freud's Verneinung and suggests its translation as dénégation instead of négation. The question here deals with how the return of the repressed operates. According to Freud the repressed is intellectually accepted by the subject, since it is named, and at the same time is negated because the subject refuses to recognize it as his, refuses to recognize him in it. Dénégation includes an assertion whose status is difficult to define. The frontier between neurosis and psychosis is drawn here, between repression, Verdrägung, and repudiation, Verwerfung, a term that Lacan will replace by withdrawal, and finally by "foreclosure" (forclusion), the former being related to neurosis, the latter to psychosis.
When answering Hyppolite in La Psychanalyse that same year, Lacan establishes two poles of analytic experience: the imaginary ego and the symbolic speech. Lacan gives precedence to the Symbolic over the Imaginary. The subject who must come to be is "the subject of the unconscious" and "the unconscious is the discourse of the Other." In analysis, he says, "the subject first talks about himself without talking to you, then he talks to you without talking about himself. When he is able to talk to you about himself, the analysis is over."
To this reshaping of the Imaginary by the Symbolic, he opposes the intersection of the Symbolic and the Real without mediation of the Imaginary, which would be the characteristic of psychosis.
1954-1955 Le séminaire, Livre II: Le moi dans la théorie de Freud et dans la technique de la psychanalyse
French: (texte établi par Jacques-Alain Miller), Paris: Seuil, 1977.
English: Book II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis (edited by Jacques-Alain Miller), New York: Norton, 1988.
1955-1956 Le séminaire, Livre III: Les psychoses.
French: (texte établi par Jacques-Alain Miller), Paris: Seuil, 1981.
English: Book III: The Psychoses. (edited by Jacques-Alain Miller), New York: Norton, 1993.
Psychosis is one of the three clinical structures, the one defined by foreclosure. The other two are neurosis and perversion. By way of forclosure of the signifier of the Name-of-the-Father it is possible to understand psychosis and distinguish it from neurosis. Foreclosure corresponds to Lacan's translation of Verwerfung (repudiaton). The Name-of-the-Father is not integrated in the symbolic order of the psychotic, it is foreclosed: a hole is left in the symbolic chain. In psychosis "the unconscious is present but not functioning." The psychotic structure results from a malfunction of the Oedipus complex, a lack in the paternal function: the paternal function is reduced to the image of the father (the symbolic reduced to the imaginary).
Two conditions are required for psychosis to emerge: the subject has a psychotic structure (inheritance) and the Name-of-the-Father is called into symbolic opposition to the subject. When both conditions are fulfilled, psychosis is actualized; the latent psychosis becomes manifest in hallucinations and/or delusions. For Lacan psychosis includes paranoia (Papin sisters), so he bases his arguments on the Schreber case (as related by Freud). He argues that Schreber's psychosis was activated by both his failure to produce a child and his election to an important position in the judiciary. These experiences confronted him with the question of paternity in the real - called the Name-of-the-Father into symbolic opposition with the subject. The Name-of the Father is the fundamental signifier which permits signification to proceed normally. It both confers identity on the subject (naming and positioning it within the symbolic order) and signifies the Oedipical prohibition. When forclosed, it is not included in the symbolic order.
"On a question preliminary to any possible treatment of psychosis" (Écrits: A Selection) is a text written in 1958 and contemporary with Les formations de l'inconscient; it is a synthesis of Les psychoses and focuses mainly on the term foreclosure, forclusion, German Verwerfung.
English: unpublished.
The Real Phallus.
The Imaginary Phallus.
The Symbolic Phallus.
1957-1958 Le séminaire, Livre V: Les formations de l'inconscient.
French: (texte établi par Jacques-Alain Miller), Paris: Seuil, 1998.
English: unpublished.
The formations of the unconscious are those circumstances in which the laws of the unconscious are most discernible: the joke, the dream, the symptom, the lapsus (parapraxis). Freud referred to the fundamental mechanisms involved in the formations of the unconscious as condensation and displacement, which Lacan redefines as metaphor and metonymy. With the former, the play of signifiers creates sense in nonsense in relation to truth. The latter reveals the lack of a word, "an item of waste sent like a ball between code and message." In this lack substitute words appear and function like "the metonymic ruins of the object."
At the junction between psychoanalysis and linguistics, Lacan wants to formalize the primordial laws of the unconscious that Freud had uncovered. His project is to define a topology of the levels of functioning of the signifier in the subject by elaborating the graphs that, under the generic name of Graph of Desire, will be at the core of "The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious" written in 1960 and published in 1966 in Écrits. Here the key concept is that of desire, and Lacan's dialectic of desire is quite distinct from Hegel's. The Graph of Desire will serve as a topology of the different steps constitutive of the subject. "It is precisely because desire is articulated that it is not articulable" in a signifying chain. Slavoj Zizek commenting on this formulation argues that subject is not substance, "it has not substantial positive being in itself, being caught between 'not yet' and 'no longer'. The subject never is, it will have been - either it is not yet here or it is no longer here, since there is only a trace of its absence."
The subject is dependent on the recognition of the Other who embodies "the legitimacy of the code," he alone can ratify a word as a joke, as stupidity or as madness. With the Other, Lacan moves on to the analysis of the Oedipus complex. Three stages structure the constitution of the subject. First, the paternal metaphor acts intrinsically on account of the primacy given to the phallus by culture. Then, the father intervenes as the one who deprives the mother: to her he addresses the message "You will not reintegrate your product" - the child as phallic object. The child receives "a message on the message," in the form of "You will not sleep with your mother" that liberates and deprives him of the object of his desire. From the alternative "To be or not to be the phallus," he can move to the alternative "To have it or not to have it." The third moment - the exit out of the Oedipus complex - requires the intervention of the permissive and generous father who, preferred over the mother, gives birth to the idea of the ego. It is in this context that the problems of becoming boy or girl - of the inverted Oedipus complex are raised.
Lacan plays with the term "insistence" in order to recall repetition, the characteristic of the signifying chain in the unconscious. "The unconscious is neither primordial nor instinctual; what it knows about the elementary is but the elements of the signifier." In a previous writing, "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason since Freud," he defines the unconscious as a memory that can be compared to that of modern thinking-machines where the chain that insists on reproducing itself in the transference can be found, and which is the chain of dead desire.
In "The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious," written in 1960, Lacan states that "it is not the law that bars the subject's access to jouissance but pleasure." In 1966 he will add a final sentence: "Castration means that jouissance must be refused, so that it can be reached on the inverted ladder (échelle inversée) of the Law of desire."
"The signification of the phallus" (Écrits: A Selection) is a lecture given at the Max Planck Institute in Munich in 1958. All the research accomplished during La relation d'objet and Les formations de l'inconscient culminates here, and serves as an introduction to Le désir et son interpretation
The alternative seems ineluctable: either the Mother or the Father. To choose the Mother means to be condemned to the dependency of demand, while the Father constitutes the access to desire, hence to salvation. If the Father must be preferred to the Mother, if the Father is the origin and the representative of culture (and of the Law), it is because he possesses the phallus that he can give or refuse. The absolute primacy of the phallus - the single emblem of Man - has become a real doctrinal (perhaps dogmatic) basis of Lacanian theory: "The phallus is the signifier of signifiers, the privileged signifier of that mark in which the role of the logos is joined with the advent of desire," its function "touches on its most profound rapport: that in which the Ancients embodied the Nous, the Mind, and the Logos, discourse, reason." Why such a privilege? "This signifier is chosen as the most tangible element in the real of sexual copulation; it is the most symbolic in the literal sense," since "it is equivalent to the logical copula." Moreover, "by virtue of its turgidity, it epitomizes the image of the vital flow as it is transmitted in generation." Freud says, there is only one libido, masculine in nature. Later, Lacan will assert that "there is no such thing as sexual rapport," il n'y a pas de rapport sexuel, in the sense of proportion or relation: one sex counts for both sexes. Thus the phallus can only appear as veiled.
1958-1959 Le séminaire, Livre VI: Le désir et son interprétation.
French: unpublished.
English: unpublished.
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What Is the Major Difference Between Static & Dynamic Stretching?
What Is the Major Difference Between Static & Dynamic Stretching?
A young woman is doing a forward bend. Photo Credit Alexey_Arz/iStock/Getty Images
You might think that stretching is only for athletes, but everyone can benefit from stretching exercises. Stretching is an important component of physical fitness, according to the American Council on Exercise -- and without it, your joints can stiffen and your risk of injury increases. Static and dynamic are two stretching techniques that can help you maintain flexibility or prepare your body for a vigorous activity and help it recover. The main differences between the two are in how and when you perform them.
Static Stretching Explained
A static stretch involves stretching your muscle to a point where you feel a slight discomfort, but not to the point where you feel pain. The stretch and your position are then held with no movement for a period of time. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends holding the stretch 15 to 30 seconds and performing it three to five times. When done correctly, static stretches are relatively safe and can improve your flexibility. An example of a static stretch is the seated hamstring stretch. This is where you sit on the floor, extend your legs straight out in front of you and lean forward, trying to touch your toes, until you feel the stretch at the back of your thighs.
Dynamic Stretching Explained
Dynamic stretching is a technique used more by athletes. When you perform dynamic stretches, instead of holding the stretch for a period of time, you repeatedly move your joints and muscles through a full range of motion. Dynamic stretches also improve your flexibility and help reduce risk of injury. Your movements are controlled and deliberate and are meant to mimic the movements your joints and muscles go through in a specific sport or activity. Examples of dynamic stretches are walking lunges, high knee marching and arm circles.
When to Stretch
The type of stretches you perform and when you perform them can impact your performance. Studies have shown that static stretching before an athletic event or vigorous activity can reduce your strength and power. It's best to perform static stretches after an activity, when your muscles are still warm. A post-activity static stretch helps reduce muscle tension and soreness by elongating the muscle and increasing blood circulation. Dynamic stretches are most effective before an activity or athletic event because they help prepare your body for the specific movements. They elevate your heart rate and increase body temperature, which allows your muscles to move more efficiently -- and dynamic stretches wake up your nervous system, which gets your brain talking to your muscles.
Stretching Tips and Considerations
Stretching is most effective when done properly. Avoid static stretching if your muscles are cold. Perform a short warm-up to get blood flowing to your muscles. Avoid quick, bouncing or jerking movements when doing static stretches because this could result in muscle tears and pulls. Stretching should not be painful. If you have stretched to the point of pain, ease back slightly. Other than before or after a sporting event or activity, the ACSM recommends stretching a minimum of two days each week. Stretching every day is recommended if you have lost the flexibility in your joints, which has caused a reduction in your range of motion.
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Get The Shape You Want With These Great Pointers
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If you would like to get in shape but do not know how to begin, this article is for you. In order to achieve your fitness goals, you have to want to get fit. You have a better chance of doing that if you know what you need to do to reach your goals and put that knowledge to use.
Do not worry. Why not give biking a try? Riding your bike to work each morning will not only save you money on gas, but it is a great way to get in a workout every day. If your ride to work is only about 5 miles it should take less than thirty minutes to get to work, and in the process, you get a two for one deal on workouts, because you still have to bike home.
Maintain a log of the exercise you complete each day. Write down your exercise, foods, drinks – all of it. You should even jot down the weather you had that day. This can help you reflect on anything that affected your day. If you skip a couple of days of exercise, you will know what happened.
A simple and speedy way to increase your leg strength by doing wall sits. You will need a big enough place to do the wall sits. Turn away from the wall and distance it with approximately eighteen inches. As you sit down against the wall, your back needs to be flat, and your upper legs should be in a horizontal position. You should then bend the knees until the thighs and the ground are parallel and your body is in a seated position. Hold this position until you cannot stand it anymore.
If you discover that you are skipping your work-outs, make a schedule to prevent yourself from avoiding exercise. Evaluate your schedule and set a concrete number of days every week that you will make yourself work out. If it turns out that you aren’t able to workout on one of the scheduled days, reschedule that missed workout to another time so you give it the necessary importance.
Would you like to get more benefit from your workout expenses? Studies have shown that stretching improves muscle strength by as much as 20%. Between sets, devote 20 to 30 seconds to stretching the muscle group that you have just targeted. You can improve your workout with just one stretch.
To improve at volleyball, you need to sharpen up your skills. Playing foosball can help you to to improve your contact skills. You need great hand-to-eye coordination to win at foosball. While you are playing a fun game of Foosball, you’re also building useful skills for playing volleyball.
A lot of people think that they can exercise their abdominals every day. However, these particular muscles do not necessarily benefit from that. Like other muscles, abs require periodic rest and recovery. Consider giving your abs a couple of days of rest between working them out.
Strength training can help you as you run. Runners don’t often do weight training, but they should start! Research shows that joggers who also hit the iron regularly can cover greater distances at faster speeds, compared to joggers who do not lift.
When you are doing workout routines such as lat pulldowns or pullups, do not wrap your thumb. Hold the thumb next to your index finger to prevent your arm muscles from doing the work so that your back muscles get what they need. Placing your thumb in that position may create an odd sensation but you will be placing the focus more directly on the correct muscles.
Getting yourself some rollerblades is a great way to get more physically fit. Although not as common as it was years ago, rollerblading is an excellent way to shed those pounds and get into shape. Rollerblades can be found in sporting goods stores or online.
Now that you are armed with a ton of good advice, you should be feeling motivated to start the journey towards fitness. Remember that achieving lasting fitness not only requires basic knowledge about fitness, but integrating that knowledge into your routine. | <urn:uuid:6ea8a365-fd02-4e21-a2d9-d7742be3b8bf> | 2 | 2.140625 | 0.021033 | en | 0.962634 | http://www.melrc.com/get-the-shape-you-want-with-these-great-pointers/ |
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Few Accept Slower Growth Gracefully
A small problem is usually the tip of the iceberg.
Editors Note: The following Financial Times article is published with permission.
Through painful experience I learned that whenever a company has an accounting irregularity (no matter how small it is) it's usually best to run for the exits. A small problem is usually the tip of the iceberg. In the following Financial Times article from April 11, 2005 I explain why:
Most of the latest accounting scandals have taken place with successful and highly regarded companies, not the John Does of the corporate world, but the icons of corporate America. Is that a coincidence? Not at all.
We live in a finite world where infinite supernormal growth of earnings is not possible, at some point even the most successful company will reach a size at which a supernormal growth rate is not possible. The law of large numbers is as inevitable as gravity, setting in slowly but surely. Many companies defy the law of large numbers by constantly going after new markets or branching out into new industries. However, the inevitable can only be postponed but not escaped, the longer and the faster past growth lasted, the more difficult it is to repeat.
Most companies facing the music of slower growth are thrown into a spiral of denial. Few have the courage to face the new reality and lower their growth expectations, since stock will pay the price of price/earnings multiple contraction. On a behavioral level, admission of inability to deliver the past growth will disappoint shareholders expectations that were anchored on past growth, and are difficult for corporate managers as they often look at it as personal failure.
Often sub-par performance has to last for awhile, several generations of management changes need to take place, and a lot of capital needs to be wasted to "reinvigorate the company" before the more realistic growth rate is set. It took Coca-Cola more than seven years and several management changes for the company to set a more realistic and achievable growth rate target and to admit that the past growth rate is not repeatable.
The latest darlings that joined the club of financial statement offenders are AIG and MBIA. Both are the largest players in their industries, both exhibited consistent, respectable earnings growth and had the highest debt rating possible (AIG got downgraded last week). Though it appears the size of restatements is insignificant in relation to their enormous net incomes, the risk profile of both companies just went off the charts for the following reasons.
It is hard to know if the discovered offenses are the exceptions or just the tip of the iceberg. In the absence of other information, the fact that restatements dated back to late 1990s, raises the likelihood of discovering an Everest-size iceberg.
The degree of assumptions used to create financial statements varies from industry to industry. To create financial statements as insurance companies, AIG and MBIA have to make a large number of assumptions from the size, probability and timing of the future liabilities to the expected rate of return received on investments far into the future. Their financial statements are complex, and to makes things worse, net income is extremely sensitive to those assumptions.
Investors have to have faith that assumptions made to construct financial statements reflect economic reality. It is hard to have that confidence, since the same management that was involved in accounting tricks is in charge of making those assumptions.
In general, companies resort to illegal shenanigans after all legal avenues for maintaining growth have failed. The fact that AIG and MBIA may have intentionally succumbed to illegal accounting and business is a warning sign that true earnings growth rate is likely to be slower in the future, resulting in a permanent contraction in p/e multiple. As is often the case with corporate hallmarks, they trade at a premium valuation to their industry peers. That certainly was the case with AIG - it always commanded a higher valuation to other insurance companies.
A debt downgrade by credit agencies will result in a higher cost of funds for AIG thus reducing its profitability. Though debt downgrades are unpleasant, AIG should be able to survive a series of small downgrades. However, that may or may not be the case with MBIA. MBIA's business model is heavily dependent on its ability to use its AAA-rated balance sheet to cosign [insure, act as guarantor of] bonds issued by municipalities. A loss of trust in MBIA's financial strength could result in MBIA's demise. Again, it is impossible to assign probability to that event, but it is clear that probability is higher now than ever before.
Bear (as well as bull) markets tend to be great educators for those who are willing to learn. The recent one taught investors an important lesson: in the event of even the slightest appearance of intentional financial or business shenanigans sell first and think later, as bad news hates loneliness and never travels alone.
Side Note: We used to own MBIA stock; however, we sold it in late 1998. My partner Mike Conn was concerned that the growth of the low risk municipal market was subsiding and MBIA was venturing into higher risk markets to grow at any cost.
Although it appeared that MBIA's recent legal troubles were put to rest, an October 3rd Barron's article suggests the contrary.
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Mantra 2017-05-05T08:57:43+00:00
www.mumuyoga.comMantras are energy based sounds that vibrate through the body. The word “mantra” is a Sanskrit word consisting of two syllables: “man” (mind) and “tra” (deliverance). A mantra is a pure sound vibration which delivers the mind from it’s form, to put it simply, frustration. Chanting is the process of repeating a mantra over and over to touch the deepest level of the self.
The purpose of mantras is to rebirth the self; a refreshment of the self. Mantras are a very powerful way to reduce negative energies. A Mantra will help focus your mind when it is scattered. By chanting mantras, you are able to produce a spiritual effect, associated with the physical sensation of the vibration the chant produces. When the mantra is chanted the effect is felt vibrating through the body. Chanting mantras is also used to make the intent of the mantra a physical reality. Energy naturally follows intent so the chanting of a mantra will lead to the physical manifestation. Mantras start a powerful vibration which corresponds to both a specific spiritual energy frequency and a state of consciousness. Over time the mantra process begins to over power lesser vibrations, which eventually become absorbed by the mantra. After a length of time, which varies with each individual, the wave of the mantra stills all other vibrations.
Ultimately, the mantra produces a state where the organism vibrates at the rate completely in tune with the energy and spiritual state represented by and contained within the mantra. By understanding how mantras work, your understanding of spiritual truth is seen and acquired.
Mantra For New Beginnings:
Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha
Om Guhm Guh-nuh-puh-tuh-yea
—Om and salutations to Ganapati (Ganesha)
The new year offers a chance to bring your deepest desires to life. But first you have to find a path around the obstacles standing in the way. Although they may manifest as external problems—you may think a lack of time prevents you from meditation every day, for example—it is often emotions or thought patterns that hold you back. Yet if your internal state is unified with your desire you can achieve anything. The mantra above is traditionally chanted to start new endeavors with positive energy and to help you find your way through obstacles.
The Gayatri Mantra
We contemplate the glory of light illuminating the three worlds: gross, suble and causal. I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination and divine grace of universal intelligence.
On the absolute reality and its planes,
On that finest spiritual light,
We meditate, as remover of obstacles
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TRY IT, You will not be SORRY: Use lemon like this and say GOODBYE to CANCER obesity and diabetes!
Lemons are rarely consumed as a stand-alone fruit due to their intense, sour flavor but when mixed with something can cure alot of health problems.
It is also one of the world's most widely consumed tropical fruits. It is great for detoxifying the body.
You can make it as a juice by adding an amount of water but it is best if it's frozen while consuming together with the peel.
Based on a scientific study, peel is the healthiest part of the lemon. Lemon peel contains 5 to 10 times more vitamins of the fruit.
It can improve your immune system that can prevent cancer, regulate cholesterol, treat infections and expel parasites and bacteria out of the body. It is also proven that can destroy cancer cells, colon cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer.
Here are some of the most important benefits of lemon:
§ prevents asthma
§ boosts immunity
§ Combats inflammation
§ Detoxifies the liver and kidneys
§ It regulates blood pressure
§ prevents cancer
Marilyn Granville claims, doctor and nutritionist revised that the peel of many fruits can you improve your health. Since the lemon peel is very bitter, she recommended to freeze the lemon, then grind with the peel, seeds and pulp.
Note: You can use apple cider to clean the lemon to protect from all the dirt and pesticides.
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Delayed Sleep Onset Linked to Insulin Resistance in Women
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The study supports previous findings of hyperarousal of the inflammatory system as a mechanism of insulin resistance.
Women who have difficulty falling asleep are more likely to develop insulin resistance leading to Type 2 diabetes, according to results published recently in Sleep Medicine.1
Using cross-sectional data collected between 2004 and 2009 from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) II biomarker project, investigators from South Korea and the United States collaborated to evaluate the impact of sleep and inflammatory markers on insulin resistance. The study cohort included 374 community-based participants (138 men and 236 women) in Madison, WI, who agreed to wear a Mini Mitter Actiwatch-64 wrist activity monitor for 1 week while they underwent a sleep study, which included keeping a sleep journal. Objective measurements taken via actigraphy from the Actiwatch included total sleep time (TST), sleep onset latency (SOL), and wake after sleep onset (WASO).
Gender Differences
After 7 days, slight differences were observed between women and men. The women in the study demonstrated greater antidepressant medication use (16.1% vs 8%, respectively, P = .025) and slightly longer TST (6.41 vs 6.12 hours, respectively, P= .007), compared to men, although rates of diagnosed diabetes were similar between the groups (11% vs 10.9%, respectively).
Specific indicators emerged through different analyses that were associated with increased insulin resistance in both genders: univariate analysis showed a link between higher body mass index (BMI), the presence of diabetes, higher SOL, shorter TST, and inflammatory cytokines, while multivariate regression analysis showed a correlation only to higher BMI, the presence of diabetes, and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. None of the sleep measures studied correlated with insulin resistance.
Various studies have previously demonstrated gender differences in sleep factors contributing to insulin resistance, which according to the authors may point to a greater vulnerability to sleep disturbances among women that is indicative of higher levels of inflammation.2-4
Similar Mechanisms
Contrary to previous research showing that duration of sleep is directly related to insulin resistance (primarily in young men),5-7 the main finding of the current study was that difficulty with sleep onset—which was more common in women—was more significantly associated with insulin resistance than shorter TST, which did not show any correlation.
The authors contend that the current study did, however, support previous findings of hyperarousal of the inflammatory system as a mechanism of insulin resistance, as increased SOL in women was at least partly attributable to an indirect effect of inflammatory cytokines. It also pointed to evidence that sleep onset disturbances, along with other sleep factors, may contribute via multiple mechanisms to insulin resistance in women, and that different factors may produce similar effects in men. The immediate implications are that improvements in sleep onset for women may help reduce risk of Type II diabetes.
1. Kim TH, Carroll JE, An SK, Seeman TE, Namkoong K, Lee E. Associations between actigraphy-assessed sleep, inflammatory markers, and insulin resistance in the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study. Sleep. 2016; doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2016.07.023.
2. Suarez EC. Self-reported symptoms of sleep disturbance and inflammation, coagulation, insulin resistance and psychosocial distress: Evidence for gender disparity. Brain Behav Immun. 2008;22:960–8.
3. Irwin MR, Carrillo C, Olmstead R. Sleep loss activates cellular markers of inflammation: Sex differences. Brain Behav Immun. 2010;24:54–7.
4. Prather AA, Epel ES, Cohen BE, et al. Gender differences in the prospective associations of self-reported sleep quality with biomarkers of systemic inflammation and coagulation: Findings from the Heart and Soul Study. J Psychiatr Res. 2013;47:1228–35.
5. Pyykkonen AJ, Isomaa B, Pesonen AK, et al. Sleep duration and insulin resistance in individuals without type 2 diabetes: The PPP-Botnia study. Ann Med. 2014;46:324–9.
6. Darukhanavala A, Booth JN, 3rd, Bromley L, et al.Changes in insulin secretion and action in adults with familial risk for type 2 diabetes who curtail their sleep. Diabetes Care. 2011;34:2259–64.
7. Javaheri S, Storfer-Isser A, et al. Association of short and long sleep durations with insulin sensitivity in adolescents. J Pediatr. 2011;158:617–23.
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FROM THE MOYERS FILES: Bill Moyers talks with ather Richard John Neuhaus and Reverend James Forbes on NOW with Bill Moyers, March 1, 2002
MOYERS: Tonight I've asked two prominent men of faith for their opinions.
Father Richard John Neuhaus is President of the Institute on Religion and Public Life.
Once a Lutheran pastor, now a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of New York, he is editor of the influential journal FIRST THINGS. In a recent survey he himself was named as one of the most influential intellectuals in American life.
The Reverend James Forbes showed up in another survey as one of the "most effective preachers" in the English-speaking world.
He grew up in the Pentecostal movement, and is ordained in the American Baptist churches and the original United Holy Church of America.
For thirteen years now, he has been the Senior Minister of New York's historic Riverside Church, where he leads a large interracial congregation gathered from many Christian sources.
Thank you both for being here.
Let's talk about the Attorney General's speech.
Father Neuhaus, do you find it disturbing when the Attorney General cloaks his mission in religious terms?
FATHER NEUHAUS: It's a risk to democracy and it's also a risk to religion, which is at least as great a concern, I think, or should be.
However, it's a risk that is in many cases unavoidable, and it's a risk that was certainly taken by this founders of this country.
It was a risk that was taken by Dr. Martin Luther King with regard to the politics in the civil rights movement. It's a unavoidable risk.
What I heard and what I've read elsewhere of what he said:
He's pretty much in the mainstream of an American tradition when he says, for example, that our freedoms come not from the state but from God.
Well, that's pretty much the Declaration of Independence, isn't it?
Namely that we have certain rights of which we are endowed by our creator, et cetera, et cetera.
FATHER FORBES: The danger that I see, especially in the post-9/11 era, is that anyone who is in a powerful political position who uses the language of God as if God actually endorses the position, the action, whether it's political or military; if you claim that God put you on this course, you immediately preclude the possibility of self-criticality, because you're simply doing what God told you to do.
NEUHAUS: The difficulty, of course, Ji, as you are aware is that after September 11 there was in some circles immediately this kind of "Oh, what have we done wrong? Why do they hate us, somehow this is our fault?"
And there was, I think, quite understandably just given social dynamics of cohesion and sense of solidarity an enormous reaction against that which led perhaps to an excessive use of God-talk, if you will, in terms of identifying with simply one aspect, one side of the conflict; but one must say that at the same time without in any way compromising the fact that what was done - the flying of these planes suicidally into these towers with no other purpose than to murderously take as many human lives as possible - if that is not evil, if that is not antithetical to everything that we understand to be the being and purposes of God, we've got a major theological problem.
FORBES: Well, let me ask you this.
In the fact that when we look back on history, we are the only nation that ever dropped the atomic bomb.
Does that mean that at that point we were not with God and that now we in our relationships around the world are more with God than at that dark moment in our history?
NEUHAUS: No, in my judgment, in 1945, august 6, 1945 - and I say this not simply as my personal opinion, but I believe it is grounded in the 2,000-year tradition of just war reflection of the Catholic Church and of the Christian tradition - is that that was a great and an evil thing to have done.
Now, I know that there are people who argue this on prudential grounds and cost effectiveness, et cetera, but it seems to me that Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no, are to be condemned as evil.
It's a question of how presumptuous one is.
I remember years and years ago, Jim, during the Vietnam War years...
MOYERS: And you were opposed to the war.
I remember that.
When I was in government, you were opposed to the war in Vietnam.
NEUHAUS: That's right.
Sure, very much so.
I was a founder of the Clergy and Laity Concerned for Vietnam with Father Dan Berrigan at that time and Abraham Joshua Heschel, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
The good illustration of this - one time - I forget, in the mid-Sixties, '66 - we took out a full- page ad in THE NEW YORK TIMES.
I think it was when the bombing began in Cambodia.
I'm not... Don't pin me on the dates.
But what I remember vividly is that the ad said, "God says,"
And in big letters, "stop!" Exclamation point.
And Rabbi Heschel and I said, "No, no, I don't think we're going to run that ad."
You know, that would be the height of presumption.
What we can say is, "In the name of God, we say stop."
FORBES: I function out of a sense of Godly commitment, but when I do what I do, I happen to know that I am not able to demonize other religions and think that God says, "Yes, that Jim, that's my boy."
I do the best I can to say, "As I understand the nature of God's calling, this is an unjust act."
And so while I come out of a religious base, in conversations particularly with people of other religious traditions, which is part of the democratic approach to life, I claim, as I understand God's call to our nation, this is the right way for me to go, and I call you to this action.
MOYERS: How does this strike the millions of humanists or atheists or agnostics, the Hindus, the others who were not included when the Attorney General said, "Christians, Muslims and Jews should unite in the war against terrorism"?
Shouldn't they be protected against this kind of talk?
NEUHAUS: Of course.
Should they be protected against this kind of talk?
Should a minority... Does a minority have a right to be protected against the evidence that it is a minority?
The answer, it seems to me, is manifestly no.
The minority does not have a veto power over saying... For example, there are people who are in the minority - let us hope - in parts of this country with regard to racial segregation, in regard to attitudes toward African Americans.
Let's hope they're in a very, very distinct minority.
They are profoundly offended, outraged, and no doubt in some cases, religiously, self-righteously excited by what they view as a position being imposed upon them.
We say, look, we're not going to kill you.
We're not going to kick you out or whatever, but we as a society deliberate together in the first sense of political deliberation.
Aristotle said, "What is politics? Politics is free persons deliberating the question, 'how ought we to order our life together?'"
And the ought involves what you believe morally and religiously, as well as other things.
FORBES: But I would say in a democratic society, people of power are committed to preserving the right of those who seem to be less powerful to be participants in the dialogue and to exercise their political influence as is appropriate in their vote and public discourse.
And we have to protect...
NEUHAUS: But who is less powerful here, Jim?
FORBES: It changes about.
It changes about.
But right now, in regards to religion, Bill, the key thing is, I do not believe that the issue is there is too much spiritual influence.
There is too much partisan, religious influence.
And what I believe is the best approach right through here is to call the various religious groups together to identify the things they hold in common that relate to the space we share together.
So I want to know from my Muslim brothers and my Jewish brothers and sisters, what does your tradition have to say about hope, about freedom, about justice, about compassion, and about the integrity of creation?
MOYERS: But before we began, Father Neuhaus was saying to me that he is dubious about any ability of Muslims and Christians to talk each other in this present environment, and in no small part I would assume because we criticize Muslims, I criticize Muslims where they do not have a concept of the separation of church and state.
Do you think the kind of dialogue that Reverend Forbes is talking about is possible between Christians, Muslims, and Jews?
NEUHAUS: At this point in history, certainly between Christians and Jews, emphatically, yes.
MOYERS: But I mean with Muslims an equal part.
A very big problem has been raised.
It has been a problem seething there as people like Bernard Lewis and others have been trying to bring our attention to it for the last 25 years, that you have Islam, that, in his marvelous phrase, Mohammed started out being his own Constantine.
It never had a history, as Christianity and Judaism did, of being in the minority, of being persecuted.
It never had the Christian notion of render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.
And that now has created what may be the largest single problem quite arguably for this century: is Islam capable... And Muslims will have to answer this.
It's not interesting that Jim says it or that I say it or that George Bush says that Islam is a wonderful religion and it's very peaceful, et cetera, you know.
I mean, as much as we may respect our President, I don't think he's a Quranic scholar.
And I'm sure Muslims view that with a certain degree...
MOYERS: Do you think Islam is a violent religion?
NEUHUAS: Well, clearly the most forceful public presentations of Islam today in the world, and to some extent domestically in this country, seem to believe that the permanence and violence of jihad...
MOYERS: Holy war.
NEUHAUS ...holy war, is an integral and necessary and permanent part.
We'll have to see.
FORBES: I do not... See, I believe that there are extremists within all of our religious traditions.
There are those people who could explain in our history that Christianity has had its share of acting as if jihad or holy war was the way to go, or crusades, shall we say.
But right today, there are conversations going on between Protestants, Catholics, and Jews.
And my belief is that the world we live in requires beginning these conversations with those persons who are ready to have conversations, not about, is Christianity better than Islam, better than Judaism, but what do we hold in common that gives us a path to pursue peace and respect for the various religious traditions?
There are enough people who are ready for that conversation.
MOYERS: Last word.
NEUHAUS: Jim, I want to respect the sincerity of that, but I think that's - just between us as friends - sentimental hogwash.
And I think it does not do justice to the fact that as Jews, as serious Jews, believing Jews, observant Jews, serious Christians, serious Muslims are making certain kind of truth claims about the nature of reality, the nature of the world, how it's constituted and what is our moral duty to abstract to the absolute, namely to God.
And the truth is that in Islam today, some claims are being made with the overwhelming majority's support, not only of religious authority...
FORBES: Is this happening in Christianity?
NEUHAUS: ...but of states.
No, it's not.
FORBES: It is.
There are claims...
FORBES: Christianity that are opposed to what you and I believe.
NEUHAUS: Oh, are there some...
FORBES: And what I'm talking about...
NEUHAUS: ...are there some Christians.
FORBES: What I am talking about is getting together...
NEUHAUS: No, there are...
FORBES: hear each other more clearly, because I think it's a distortion...
FORBES: characterize Islam or Judaism or Christianity as not capable of being in conversation.
I hope...
MOYERS: Clearly... Clearly...
NEUHAUS: ...Islam is capable.
NEUHAUS: That's where I started, and we must hope and pray that that's the case.
Today it is very much in doubt.
MOYERS: I have to give you the last word then.
FORBES: The last word is we are going to keep getting together.
And we're going to get together more, because the future of our world depends upon our learning to hear each other across these very serious divides.
MOYERS: A discussion has clearly begun, but is far from over.
Thank you both, Jim Forbes and Father Neuhaus for being with us.
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Part 1: 1450-1750
Part 2: 1750-1805
<--Part 3: 1791-1831
Part 4: 1831-1865
Narrative | Resource Bank | Teacher's Guide
Modern Voices
Julie Winch on the economic impetus for kidnapping
Resource Bank Contents
Q: What do these kidnapping rings say about the expansion of the cotton South and the spread of the domestic slave trade?
Julie Winch
A: I think it really shows the intense demand that there is for slave labor, particularly the labor of healthy young adults, on the part of many planters, particularly planters who are jut setting up in business. They've acquired some land. They need to get a work force as quickly as they can and as cheaply as they can. They're very often cut off from the regular urban centers where slaves are sold, and so they are really eager to take advantage of a slave trader who comes along with a bunch of fairly healthy looking slaves that he's willing to sell at an attractive price. And even if they suspected that these slaves were not legally slaves, I doubt most of them would have asked too many questions. Just needed bodies. They just needed workers.
Julie Winch
Professor of History
University of Massachusetts, Boston
previous | next
Part 3: Narrative | Resource Bank Contents | Teacher's Guide
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Benefits Of Open Ear Hearing Aids
These days, there are many people who are suffering from ear problems and thus would have trouble with their auditory functions because of these certain issues. Of course when people have trouble in this area, then they would most likely resort to using a hearing aid in order for them to have an easier time listening. The most popular kind would be none other than the open ear hearing aids.
Just to give those who do not know what this device is, it is basically a hearing aid that makes use of a thin tube that goes into the ear. This thin tube is connected to a processor that is attached to the back of the ears. Inside the thin tube would be the speaker that gives good quality sound.
Now the difference between this type of device and the regular ones would be that the regular ones are put directly inside the ears of wearers. This is actually not good for the ears because there is a foreign body that will be going inside of them. This would in turn cause a lot of long term problems for the wearer with regard to health.
Other than that, the regular one would always produce a strange sensation inside the ears after it is taken out because of the long period of time it stays in the canal. The wearer will feel like his ears are sort of blocked because there has been something that was in there for quite a while. The thing about the opened ones is that they do not produce that sensation because these ones just make use of a thin tube.
Another problem with the traditional one would be that it produces a strange low quality sound. Because of this, some wearers will not be able to understand conversations properly. Luckily, the opened ones are very efficient in this area and therefore would not produce any of that weird sounds that the regular ones do.
The best part about this type of device would be the fact that it can produce really good sound quality. The regular ones actually have the tendency to produce choppy sounds simply because of the way they were made. The opened ones on the other hand utilize technology that can make clear sounds that actually sound like the real thing.
Another thing that wearers would always have problems with would be when there is a lot of noise in one place. The thing about background noise is that it may cancel out the sounds that the device may produce. However, with an opened eared one, the tube will still be able to produce clear sounds because the sounds are all concentrated in the tube itself only.
So as one can see, the open ear hearing aids are definitely much more effective than the regular ones. Now one must also know that these ones are much more expensive than the ones that are always used. However, if it is going to be more useful to the patient, then it is definitely a good buy.
Read more about Benefits Of Open Ear Hearing Aids visiting our website.
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The Garifuna History, Language and Culture
Historical accounts prove that long ago, around 200 BC, native Amerindians had inhabited the Greater Antilles as well as parts of the South American mainland.
Two main groups of such Amerindians namely the Arawaks and Caribs, were always in conflict over the occupation of territories both on the mainland and on the islands. While the Arawaks were settled on the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, the Caribs chose to settle on smaller islands like Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago.
The native Caribs led by Joseph Chatoyer fought fiercely against the European influence in defense of their territories. Chatoyer was subdued in 1795. This followed a deportation of the Caribs off their stronghold occupation of St. Vincent. They were driven off to nearby Becquia and soon set sail en route to Roatan on March 11, 1797.
Both Black and Red Caribs occupied Roatan. They came from the Lesser Antilles by the thousands and before long they had occupied other coastal territories off the coast of Honduras. Carib intermarriage with subdued enemies gave rise to an exchange of cultures. Hence today we have the Garifuna - a fusion of the native Amerindians and early European influence.
The first recorded arrival of the Garifuna to Belize was in 1802. From that time onwards they had become recognized in the coastal township of Dangriga and soon spread to other nearby shores. Thomas Vincent Ramos led the Garinagu into the occupation of several coastal communities.
Today we have come to know the Garinagu as a distinct culture having their own language, food, music, and even a very intricately weaved religion.
A burial feast known as Beluria (Spanish: Velorio) is a nine-day prayer and devotion in honor of the dead which is culminated with a festive show of drumming, dancing and food galore. The Dugu is a more diverse and deeply religious ceremony in which a Buyei (high priest) leads a generation into contact with deceased relatives.
The ancestral rites come in three parts: The Amuyadahani (Bathing the Spirit of the Dead); the Chugu (Feeding of the Dead), and the Dugu (the actual Feasting of the Dead).
These religious activities bring together relatives from Honduras, Guatemala, even from as far away as the U.S.A. The Buyei summons the presence of three drummers, a group of Afuna-hountiuya (dressed in red cultural outfit), a number of Gayusa (singers) and fishermen to gather seafood (Adugahatinya).
The purpose of having a Dugu is to appeal to ancestors for help in resolving some problem in the designated family. The Ancestral Spirit or Gubida penetrates the congregation and communicates with his people during an Owehani (comparable to Pentecost).
The major highlight of the Dugu is a series of dancing which comes in four parts: Abeimahani, Amalihani, Awangulahani, and Hugulendu.
The entire Dugu ceremony usually lasts a few days in addition to several weeks of tedious preparatory work. Forty eight hours of continuous drumming and dancing in the temple (Dabuyaba) creates the mood for dialogue with the Spirits which satisfies the purpose of the Dugu.
Apart from dances highlighted in the Dugu, the Garinagu, a festive people, have to date earned recognition for the Punta: a dance in which coupled dancers try to outdo each other with a variation of movements. A milder version of this dance would be the Hugu-Hugu involving the singing of sacred rhythms by Gayusa in unison. A fusion of these two dances creates modern-day Combination.
Another very colorful dance is the John Canoe (Wanaragua). Dancers in white costumes and Caucasian masks dance to intimidate European slave masters. Even the lyrics are designed with the same objective. This dance is mostly done around Christmas time culminating with a grand showdown on January 6th (Dia de los Reyes).
Collectively other dances, like the Chumba, Sambai and Gunjai call for fancy footwork and a variation of costuming and style. Other less significant dances include the Matamuerte, Eremuna Eigi and Leremuna Wadagumani. Worthy of mention also is the Charikanari which is a dance accompaniment to the John Canoe.
Today's unique people, the Garinagu in Belize, have gained respect for having a very diverse culture. The Garifuna language is of alarming interest to others, both locally and internationally. The language is derived from several other languages fused together through an intermarriage of the Caribs with French, Arawak and German as well as Spanish cultures.
In 1922 the Carib Development Society (CDS) evolved through the efforts of Thomas Vincent Ramos in Dangriga. After the death of this champion in 1955, the work was taken up by the National Garifuna Council (NGC) along with the CDS. It was in 1981 that the NGC tabled its objectives and since then its tiresome efforts continue up to the present. It has branches in several Garifuna communities in Belize as well as a strong affiliation with Sister Societies in Honduras, Guatemala, St. Vincent and the U.S. The work of preserving the Garifuna-ness of a people continues and today we have even seen the formation of a Garifuna committee in San Pedro Town, A.C. "There is no turning back" is the theme under which we operate.
The Garifuna History, Language and Culture
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For years, the United States and China have been at odds over how much each country should contribute to reducing climate change. China insists that as a developing country it shouldn't be held to the same stringent emissions caps as the rich world. The U.S. says that means failing to sufficiently address the problem, given that China has significantly surpassed the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas that is a byproduct of burning coal, oil and gas.
Climate change activists complain that both countries have failed to take adequate steps to curb emissions. President Obama recently announced a plan to cut by 30 percent greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, but set a deadline of 2030, by which time researchers say the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will already have caused drastic changes to the planet.
Xie and Stern made their remarks as Chinese and American officials - led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew - are meeting in Beijing for annual strategic and economic talks that aim to forge a more cooperative relationship between the world's two largest economies.
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Increase Your Home’s Curb Appeal with Solar Walkway Lights
Providing light for a walkway at your home used to be a big project. You needed to install the lights themselves near the walkway and then connect them together with a long length of wire. Once they were all wired together, you still had to connect them to a transformer that supplied the power for the lights.
A project like this was beyond the skill of many homeowners and turned into an expensive and complicated event. All of these steps have been eliminated with solar walkway lights, which are self-contained and use the sun to provide the power they need for operation. They are easy to install, inexpensive and will operate all evening on a single charge from the sun.
No More Wires to Worry About
These solar walkway lights include a specialized solar module in their design that allows them to be charged by the sun. This solar module converts the sunlight that strikes its surface into a DC current that charges an internal battery. The battery is used as a power source for the solar lights later that evening and can typically supply enough power to keep the lights operating all night.
Most of these solar walkway lights also include a light sensor in their fixture that can turn the lights on at dusk and off again at dawn so that they operate automatically and are on when you need them to be. There are other models that can be used with a conventional wall switch so you have a more complete control over when the lights are in operation.
Because these lights provide their own power, you never have to worry about a larger electrical bill when using them. It also makes it easier to install these solar walkway lights since there is no wiring involved with their installation. You simply mount them where needed and enjoy the light they provide for your home.
Install As Many As You Need
Another big advantage to using solar walkway lights is that you can install as many of them as you need for your walkway. Conventional light kits are typically sold with a specific number of fixtures and if you had a longer or shorter walkway you might have needed to use several sets to cover the walkway with lighting. This made these larger installations even more expensive and complicated.
With the solar walkway lights you can use the exact right number of lights for your path. You can even move them if needed once they have been installed to accommodate changes in your landscaping over time. This flexibility makes them easy to install and the perfect choice for any walkway.
Solar Walkway LightsMix and Match Styles to Create the Perfect Amount of Light
One final advantage to using solar walkway lights on your home is that you are not restricted to a single style of light for your walkway. You can easily mix several styles of fixtures to give you the perfect amount and type of lighting for your needs.
You can use a set of stainless steel solar garden lights that are mounted at the edge of the path and mix in a solar floodlight to highlight an interesting feature of your home or the landscaping.
The possibilities are endless and easy to accomplish with these modern solar walkway lights. Once they are installed, they will continue to provide all the lighting your walkway needs for many years to come.
Leo Bookham
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Oct 01, 2015 08:11pm
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The thylacine , Thylacinus cynocephalus, (Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger (because of its striped lower back) or the Tasmanian wolf. Native to continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, it is believed to have become extinct in the 20th century. It was the last extant member of its family, Thylacinidae; Specimens of other members of the family have been found in the fossil record dating back to the late Oligocene, extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present.
Like the tigers and wolves of the Northern Hemisphere, from which it obtained two of its common names, the Tasmanian Tiger was an apex predator. As a marsupial, it was not closely related to these placental mammals, but because of convergent evolution it displayed the same general form and adaptations. Its closest living relative is thought to be either the Tasmanian Devil or the numbat. The Tasmanian Tiger was one of only two marsupials to have a pouch in both sexes (the other being the water opossum). The male Tasmanian Tiger had a pouch that acted as a protective sheath, covering his external reproductive organs while he ran through thick brush. The Tasmanian Tiger has been described as a formidable predator because of its ability to survive and hunt prey in extremely sparsely populated areas.
The Tasmanian Tiger is a candidate for cloning and other molecular science projects due to its recent demise and the existence of several well preserved specimens.
The modern Tasmanian Tiger first appeared about 4 million years ago. Species of the family Thylacinidae date back to the end of the Oligocene period; since the early 1990s, at least seven fossil species have been uncovered at Riversleigh, part of Lawn Hill Natinal Park in northwest Queensland. Dickson’s thylacine (Nimbacinus dicksoni) is the oldest of the seven discovered fossil species, dating back to 23 million years ago. This thylacinid was much smaller than its more recent relatives. The largest species, the powerful Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus potenus) which grew to the size of a wolf, was the only species to survive into the late Miocene. In late Pleistocene and early Holocene times, the modern thylacine was widespread (although never numerous) throughout Australia and New Guinea.The modern thylacine first appeared about 4 million years ago. Species of the family Thylacinidae date back to the beginning of the Miocene; since the early 1990s, at least seven fossil species have been uncovered at Riversleigh, part of Lawn Hill Natinal Park in northwest Queensland. Dickson’s thylacine (Nimbacinus dicksoni) is the oldest of the seven discovered fossil species, dating back to 23 million years ago. This thylacinid was much smaller than its more recent relatives. The largest species, the powerful thylacine (Thylacinus potenus) which grew to the size of a wolf, was the only species to survive into the late Miocene. In late Pleistocene and early Holocene times, the modern thylacine was widespread (although never numerous) throughout Australia and New Guinea.
Numerous examples of Tasmanian Tiger engravings and rock art have been found dating back to at least 1000 BC. Petroglyph images of the Tasmanian Tiger can be found at the Dampier Rock Art Precinct on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. By the time the first European explorers arrived, the animal was already extinct in mainland Australia and rare in Tasmania. Europeans may have encountered it as far back as 1642 when Abel Tasman first arrived in Tasmania. His shore party reported seeing the footprints of "wild beasts having claws like a Tyger". Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, arriving with the Mascarin in 1772, reported seeing a "tiger cat". Positive identification of the Tasmanian Tiger as the animal encountered cannot be made from this report since the tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) is similarly described. The first definitive encounter was by French explorers on 13 May 1792, as noted by the naturalist Jacques Labillardière, in his journal from the expedition led by D'Entrecasteaux. However, it was not until 1805 that William Paterson, the Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania, sent a detailed description for publication in the Sydney Gazette.
The first detailed scientific description was made by Tasmania's Deputy Surveyor-General, George Harris in 1808, five years after first settlement of the island. Harris originally placed the Tasmanian Tiger in the genus Didelphis, which had been created by Linnaeus for the American opossums, describing it as Didelphis cynocephala, the "dog-headed opossum". Recognition that the Australian marsupials were fundamentally different from the known mammal genera led to the establishment of the modern classification scheme, and in 1796, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire created the genus Dasyurus where he placed the thylacine in 1810. To resolve the mixture of Greek and Latin nomenclature, the species name was altered to cynocephalus. In 1824, it was separated out into its own genus, Thylacinus, by Temminck. The common name derives directly from the genus name, originally from the Greek thýlakos, meaning "pouch" or "sack".
Several studies support the Tasmanian Tiger as being a basal member of the Dasyuromorphia and the Tasmanian devil as its closest living relative. However, research published in Genome Research in January 2009 suggests the numbat may be more basal than the devil and more closely related to the Tasmanian Tiger.
The Tasmanian Tiger held the title of Australia's largest predator until about 3500 years ago. The Tasmanian Tiger resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail which smoothly extended from the body in a way similar to that of a kangaroo. Many European settlers drew direct comparisons with the hyena, because of its unusual stance and general demeanour. Its yellow-brown coat featured 13 to 21 distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the base of its tail, which earned the animal the nickname "tiger". The stripes were more pronounced in younger specimens, fading as the animal got older. One of the stripes extended down the outside of the rear thigh. Its body hair was dense and soft, up to 15 mm (0.6 in) in length; in juveniles the tip of the tail had a crest. Its rounded, erect ears were about 8 cm (3.1 in) long and covered with short fur. Colouration varied from light fawn to a dark brown; the belly was cream-coloured.
The mature Tasmanian Tiger ranged from 100 to 130 cm (39 to 51 in) long, plus a tail of around 50 to 65 cm (20 to 26 in). Adults stood about 60 cm (24 in) at the shoulder and weighed 20 to 30 kg (40 to 70 lb). There was slight sexual dimorphism with the males being larger than females on average.
All known Australian footage of live Tasmanian Tigers were shot in Hobart Zoo, Tasmania, in 1911, 1928, and 1933. Two other films are known to be shot in London Zoo
The female Tasmanian Tiger had a pouch with four teats, but unlike many other marsupials, the pouch opened to the rear of its body. Males had a scrotal pouch, unique amongst the Australian marsupials, into which they could withdraw their scrotal sac.
The Tasmanian Tiger was able to open its jaws to an unusual extent: up to 120 degrees. This capability can be seen in part in David Fleay's short black-and-white film sequence of a captive Tasmanian Tiger from 1933. The jaws were muscular but weak and had 46 teeth.
The Tasmanian Tiger's footprint is easy to distinguish from those of native and introduced species. Thylacine footprints could be distinguished from other native or introduced animals; unlike foxes, cats, dogs,wombats or Tasmanian devils, Tasmanian Tigers had a very large rear pad and four obvious front pads, arranged in almost a straight line. The hindfeet were similar to the forefeet but had four digits rather than five. Their claws were non-retractable.
The early scientific studies suggested it possessed an acute sense of smell which enabled it to track prey, but analysis of its brain structure revealed that its olfactory bulbs were not well developed. It is likely to have relied on sight and sound when hunting instead. Some observers described it having a strong and distinctive smell, others described a faint, clean, animal odour, and some no odour at all. It is possible that the Tasmanian Tiger, like its relative, the Tasmanian devil, gave off an odour when agitated.
The Tasmanian Tiger was noted as having a stiff and somewhat awkward gait, making it unable to run at high speed. It could also perform a bipedal hop, in a fashion similar to a kangaroo—demonstrated at various times by captive specimens. Guiler speculates that this was used as an accelerated form of motion when the animal became alarmed. The animal was also able to balance on its hind legs and stand upright for brief periods.
Although there are methods that can be used to identify the diet and feeding behavior of Tasmania Tiger, findings and theories on this subject remain hotly debated. A study published in 2011 yields some insight: "Dental and biogeochemical evidence suggests that T. cynocephalus was a hypercarnivore restricted to eating vertebrate flesh" The Tasmanian Tiger was exclusively carnivorous. Its stomach was muscular, and could distend to allow the animal to eat large amounts of food at one time, probably an adaptation to compensate for long periods when hunting was unsuccessful and food scarce. Analysis of the skeletal frame and observations of it in captivity suggest that it preferred to single out a target animal and pursue that animal until it was exhausted. Some studies conclude that the animal may have hunted in small family groups, with the main group herding prey in the general direction of an individual waiting in ambush. Trappers reported it as an ambush predator.
Little is known of the Tasmanian Tiger's diet and feeding behaviour. Prey is believed to have included kangaroos, wallabies and wombats, birds and small animals such as potoroos and possums. One prey animal may have been the once common Tasmanian emu. The emu was a large, flightless bird which shared the habitat of the thylacine and was hunted to extinction around 1850, possibly coinciding with the decline in thylacine numbers. Both dingoes and foxes have been noted to hunt the emu on the mainland. European settlers believed the Tasmanian Tiger to prey upon farmers' sheep and poultry. Throughout the 20th century, the thylacine was often characterised as primarily a blood drinker; according to Robert Paddle, the story's popularity seems to have originated from a single second-hand account heard by Geoffrey Smith (1881–1916) in a shepherd's hut. In captivity, Tasmanian Tigers were fed a wide variety of foods, including dead rabbits and wallabies as well as beef, mutton, horse, and occasionally poultry. Tasmania's leading naturalist Michael Sharland published an article in 1957 stating that a captive Tasmanian Tiger refused to eat dead wallaby flesh or to kill and eat a live wallaby offered to it, but "ultimately it was persuaded to eat by having the smell of blood from a freshly killed wallaby put before its nose.
A 2011 study by the University of New South Wales using advanced computer modelling indicated that the Tasmanian Tiger had surprisingly feeble jaws. Animals usually take prey close to their own body size, but an adult Tasmanian Tiger of around 30 kilograms (66 lb) was found to be incapable of handling prey much larger than 5 kilograms (11 lb). Researchers believe Tasmanian Tigers only ate small animals such as bandicoots and possums, putting them into direct competition with the Tasmanian devil and the tiger quoll. Such specialisation probably made the Tasmanian Tiger susceptible to small disturbances to the ecosystem.
Although the living grey wolf is widely seen as the Tasmanian Tiger's counterpart, a recent study proposes that Tasmanian Tiger was more of an ambush predator as opposed to a pursuit predator. In fact, the predatory behaviour of the Tasmanian Tiger was probably closer to ambushing felids than to large pursuit canids. Consequently, at least in terms of the postcranial anatomy, the vernacular name of "Tasmanian tiger" may be more apt than "marsupial wolf"
In 1921 a photo by Henry Burrell of a thylacine with a chicken was widely distributed and may have helped secure the animal's reputation as a poultry thief. In fact the image was cropped to hide the fenced run and housing, and analysis by one researcher has concluded that this Tasmanian Tiger is a mounted specimen, posed for the camera.
The Tasmanian Tiger probably preferred the dry eucalyptus forests, wetlands, and grasslands in contential Australia. Indigenous Australian rock paintings indicate that the Tasmanian Tiger lived throughout mainland Australia and New Guinea. Proof of the animal's existence in mainland Australia came from a desiccated carcass that was discovered in a cave in the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia in 1990; carbon dating revealed it to be around 3,300 years old.
In Tasmania it preferred the woodlands of the midlands and coastal heath, which eventually became the primary focus of British settlers seeking grazing land for their livestock. The striped pattern may have provided camouflage in woodland conditions, but it may have also served for identification purposes. The animal had a typical home range of between 40 and 80 km2 (15 and 31 sq mi). It appears to have kept to its home range without being territorial; groups too large to be a family unit were sometimes observed together.
Extinction from mainland Australia
The Tasmanian Tiger is likely to have become near-extinct in mainland Australia about 2,000 years ago, and possibly earlier in New Guinea. The absolute extinction is attributed to competition from indigenous humans and invasive dingoes. However, doubts exist over the impact of the dingo since the two species would not have been in direct competition with one another as the dingo hunts primarily during the day, whereas it is thought that the Tasmanian Tiger hunted mostly at night. In addition, the Tasmanian Tiger had a more powerful build, which would have given it an advantage in one-on-one encounters. Recent morphological examinations of dingo and Tasmanian Tiger skulls show that although the dingo had a weaker bite, its skull could resist greater stresses, allowing it to pull down larger prey than the Tasmanian Tiger could. The Tasmanian Tiger was also much less versatile in diet than the omnivorous dingo. Their environments clearly overlapped: Tasmanian Tiger subfossil remains have been discovered in proximity to those of dingoes. The adoption of the dingo as a hunting companion by the indigenous peoples would have put the Tasmanian Tiger under increased pressure.
Prideaux et al. (2010) examined the issue of extinction in the late Quaternary period (1,000,000 to 500,000 years ago) in southwestern Australia. This paper notes that Australia lost 90% or more of its larger terrestrial vertebrates during this time, with the notable exceptions of the kangaroo and the Tasmanian Tiger. The results show that the humans were obviously one of the major factors in the extinction of many species in Australia. But in reality, it was not until the humans had an adverse effect on the environment and brought disease to Australia that their arrival drove the Tasmanian Tiger to extinction.
Menzies et al. (2012) examined the relationship of the genetic diversity of the Tasmanian Tigers before their extinction. The results of their investigation indicated that the last of the Tasmanian Tigers in Australia, on top of the threats from dingoes, had limited genetic diversity, due to their complete geographic isolation from mainland Australia.
Johnson and Wroe (2003) observed the relationship between the dingo and the extinctions of the Tasmanian devil, the Tasmanian Tiger, and the Tasmanian native hen and the arrival of humans. The paper observed the obviously competitive relationship between the dingo and the Tasmanian Tiger and the Tasmanian devil, and noted that the dingo may have actually fed on the native hen. Yet, the paper concludes, people ignore the emergence of humans on the continent among all of this. In the end, the competitiveness of the dingo and Tasmanian Tiger populations led to the extinctions of the Tasmanian Tiger but the arrival of the humans only further exacerbated this.
Another study brings disease into the debate as a major factor in Tasmanian Tiger's extinction: "Casually collected anecdotal records and early boutity analyses have, at times, prompted the suggestion that disease was a major factor in the extinction of the species, that occurred when the last known specimen died in Hobart Zoo during the night of 7th September, 1936. This study also suggests that were it not for an epidemiological influence, the extinction of Tasmanian Tiger would have been at best prevented, at worst postponed. "The chance of saving the species, through changing public opinion, and the re-establishment of captive breeding, could have been possible. But the marsupi-carnivore disease, with its dramatic effect on individual Tasmanian Tiger longevity and juvenile mortality, came far too soon, and spread far too quickly
"While anecdotal accounts exist in the literature of epidemic disease as a significant factor in recent mammalian extinctions, harder data has not previously been presented. The statistics from the deliberate killing of thylacines as a pest species support contemporary records at the turn of the twentieth century, of an epidemic disease in thylacines and other marsupi-carnivores. For the first time, detailed symptoms and statistics of the disease are presented, as recorded by museum staff, and zoological-garden curators and veterinarians. It is argued that the effects of the disease in captivity, which more than halved thylacine longevity, and preferentially affected juveniles, are conformable with the expression of the disease recorded amongst wild thylacines, and demand a recognition of the importance of this disease as a major factor in the thylacine's recent extinction, and its consideration as an influential factor on the distribution and population dynamics of extant marsupi-carnivores. It also practically demonstrates the obvious potential for disease to have been involved in megafaunal extinctions in the past." [Source: Australian Zoologist;Apr2012, Vol. 36 Issue 1]
Extinction in Tasmania
Although the Tasmanian Tiger was extinct on mainland Australia, it survived into the 1930s on the island state of Tasmania. At the time of the first European settlement, the heaviest distributions were in the northeast, northwest and north-midland regions of the state. They were rarely sighted during this time but slowly began to be credited with numerous attacks on sheep. This led to the establishment of bounty schemes in an attempt to control their numbers. The Van Diemen’s Land Company introduced bounties on the Tasmanian Tiger from as early as 1830, and between 1888 and 1909 the Tasmanian government paid £1 per head. (Current value today, after inflation and introduction of decimal currency: $132.29) for dead adult thylacines and ten shillings for pups. In all they paid out 2,184 bounties, but it is thought that many more Tasmanian Tigers were killed than were claimed for. Its extinction is popularly attributed to these relentless efforts by farmers and bounty hunters. However, it is likely that multiple factors led to its decline and eventual extinction, including competition with wild dogs introduced by European settlers, erosion of its habitat, the concurrent extinction of prey species, and a distemper-like disease that also affected many captive specimens at the time. Whatever the reason, the animal had become extremely rare in the wild by the late 1920s. Despite the fact that the Tasmanian Tiger was believed by many to be responsible for attacks on sheep, in 1928 the Tasmanian Advisory Committee for Native Fauna recommended a reserve to protect any remaining Tasmanian Tigers, with potential sites of suitable habitat including the Arthur-Pieman area of western Tasmania.
The last captive Tasmanian Tiger, later referred to as "Benjamin", was trapped in the Florentine Valley by Elias Churchill in 1933, and sent to theHobart Zoo where it lived for three years. Frank Darby, who claimed to have been a keeper at Hobart Zoo, suggested "Benjamin" as having been the animal's pet name in a newspaper article of May 1968. However, no documentation exists to suggest that it ever had a pet name, and Alison Reid (de facto curator at the zoo) and Michael Sharland (publicist for the zoo) denied that Frank Darby had ever worked at the zoo or that the name "Benjamin" was ever used for the animal. Darby also appears to be the source for the claim that the last Tasmanian Tiger was a male; photographic evidence suggested it was female. Paddle was unable to uncover any records of any Frank Darby having been employed by Beaumaris/Hobart Zoo during the time that Reid or her father was in charge and noted several inconsistencies in the story Darby told during his interview in 1968.
The gender of the last captive Tasmanian Tiger has been a point of debate since its death at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania. Recent detailed examination of a single frame from the historic motion film footage taken by David Fleay in 1933, has confirmed that the Tasmanian Tiger was male. In Fleay’s historic film footage of the last captive Tasmanian Tiger, the Tasmanian Tiger is seen seated, walking around the perimeter of its enclosure, yawning (exposing its impressive gape), sniffing the air, scratching itself (in the same manner as would a dog), and lying down. When frame III is enlarged the scrotum can clearly be seen, confirming the Tasmanian Tiger to be male. By enhancing the frame (increasing exposure to 20% and contrast to 45%), the outline of the individual testes is discernable.
The Tasmanian Tiger died on 7 September 1936. It is believed to have died as the result of neglect—locked out of its sheltered sleeping quarters, it was exposed to a rare occurrence of extreme Tasmanian weather: extreme heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night. The Tasmanian Tiger features in the last known motion picture footage of a living specimen: 62 seconds of black-and-white footage showing it pacing backwards and forwards in its enclosure in a clip taken in 1933, by naturalist David Fleay. National Threatened Species Day has been held annually since 1996 on 7 September in Australia, to commemorate the death of the last officially recorded Tasmanian Tiger.
Although there had been a conservation movement pressing for the Tasmanian Tiger's protection since 1901, driven in part by the increasing difficulty in obtaining specimens for overseas collections, political difficulties prevented any form of protection coming into force until 1936. Official protection of the species by the Tasmanian government was introduced on 10 July 1936, 59 days before the last known specimen died in captivity. It was too little too late to prevent the extinction.
A number of ongoing search efforts are currently being undertaken; typically these are self-funded initiatives conducted by Tasmanian Tiger enthusiasts who vary in approach, background knowledge and general modi operandi. Some searchers are 'believers', conducting searches on the basis that they firmly believe the Tasmanian Tiger to be yet alive. Other groups have a more practical and pragmatic view, hoping the Tasmanian Tiger to be extant although understanding the probabilities of its being extinct. The two different view points are important when understanding how each group views potential evidence or proof: the 'believers' group tend to err on the side of interpreting evidence with bias toward the Tasmanian Tiger being extant, while the skeptics will look for more plausible explanations regarding any evidence presented. One such group that is relatively active in producing videos for debate and analysis is the Thylacine Research Unit. This team of scientists conducts frequent expeditions and searches to various parts of Tasmania looking for evidence that the Tasmanian Tiger is still extant. They frequently receive foot prints from members of the public to analyse and report on. They operate a web site that allows people who have had sightings of Tasmanian Tiger (past or present) to confidentially report the details.
The Tasmanian Tiger held the status of endangered species until the 1980s. International standards at the time stated that an animal could not be declared extinct until 50 years had passed without a confirmed record. Since no definitive proof of the Tasmanian Tiger's existence in the wild had been obtained for more than 50 years, it met that official criterion and was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1982 and by the Tasmanian government in 1986. The species was removed from Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2013.
Some sightings have generated a large amount of publicity. In 1973, Gary and Liz Doyle shot ten seconds of 8 mm film showing an unidentified animal running across a South Australian road. Attempts to positively identify the creature as a Tasmanian Tiger have been impossible due to the poor quality of the film. In 1982 a researcher with the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, Hans Naarding, observed what he believed to be a Tasmanian Tiger for three minutes during the night at a site near Arthur River in northwestern Tasmania. The sighting led to an extensive year-long government-funded search. In 1985, Aboriginal tracker Kevin Cameron produced five photographs which appear to show a digging Tasmanian Tiger, which he stated he took inWestern Australia. In January 1995, a Parks and Wildlife officer reported observing a Tasmanian Tiger in the Pyengana region of northeastern Tasmania in the early hours of the morning. Later searches revealed no trace of the animal. In 1997, it was reported that locals and missionaries near Mount Carstensz in Western New Guinea had sighted Tasmanian Tigers. The locals had apparently known about them for many years but had not made an official report. In February 2005 Klaus Emmerichs, a German tourist, claimed to have taken digital photographs of a Tasmanian Tiger he saw near the Lake St Clair National Park, but the authenticity of the photographs has not been established. The photos were published in April 2006, fourteen months after the sighting. The photographs, which showed only the back of the animal, were said by those who studied them to be inconclusive as evidence of the Tasmanian Tiger's continued existence. Due to the uncertainty of whether the species is still extant or not, the Tasmanian Tiger is sometimes regarded as a cryptid
In 1983, the American media mogul Ted Turner offered a $100,000 reward for proof of the continued existence of the Tasmanian Tiger.
A letter sent in response to an inquiry by a Tasmanian Tiger-searcher, Murray McAllister in 2000, indicated that the reward had been withdrawn. In March 2005, Australian news magazine The Bulletin, as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations, offered a $1.25 million reward for the safe capture of a live Tasmanian Tiger. When the offer closed at the end of June 2005 no one had produced any evidence of the animal's existence. An offer of $1.75 million has subsequently been offered by a Tasmanian tour operator, Stewart Malcolm. Trapping is illegal under the terms of the Tasmanian Tiger's protection, so any reward made for its capture is invalid, since a trapping licence would not be issued.
Modern research and projects
In late 2002, the researchers had some success as they were able to extract replicable DNA from the specimens. On 15 February 2005, the museum announced that it was stopping the project after tests showed the DNA retrieved from the specimens had been too badly degraded to be usable. In May 2005, Archer, the University of New South Wales Dean of Science at the time, former director of the Australian Museum and evolutionary biologist, announced that the project was being restarted by a group of interested universities and a research institute.
The International Thylacine Specimen Database was completed in April 2005, and is the culmination of a four-year research project to catalog and digitally photograph, if possible, all known surviving Tasmanian Tiger specimen material held within museum, university and private collections. The master records are held by the Zoological Society of London.
In 2008, researchers Andrew J. Pask and Marilyn B. Renfree from the University of Melbourne and Richard R. Behringer from theUniversity of Texas at Austin reported that they managed to restore functionality of a gene Col2A1 enhancer obtained from 100 year-old ethanol-fixed thylacine tissues from museum collections. The genetic material was found working in transgenic mice. The research enhanced hopes of eventually restoring the population of Tasmanian Tigers. That same year, another group of researchers successfully sequenced the complete thylacine mitochondrial genome from two museum specimens. Their success suggests that it may be feasible to sequence the complete Tasmanian Tiger nuclear genome from museum specimens. Their results were published in the journal Genome Research in 2009.
Mike Archer spoke about the possibilities of resurrecting the Tasmanian Tiger and the gastric-brooding frog at TED2013. Stewart Brand spoke at TED2013 about the ethics and possibilities of de-extinction, and made reference to Tasmanian Tiger in his talk.
Cultural references
The best known illustrations of Thylacinus cynocephalus were those in Gould's The Mammals of Australia (1845–63), often copied since its publication and the most frequently reproduced, and given further exposure by Cascade Brewery's appropriation for its label in 1987. The government of Tasmania published a monochromatic reproduction of the same image in 1934, the author Louisa Anne Meredith also copied it for Tasmanian Friends and Foes (1881).
The Tasmanian Tiger has been used extensively as a symbol of Tasmania. The animal is featured on the official Tasmanian coat of arms. It is used in the official logos of Tourism Tasmania and City of Launceston. It is also used on the University of Tasmania's ceremonial mace and the badge of the submarine HMAS Dechaineux. Since 1998, it has been prominently displayed on Tasmanian vehicle number plates.
The plight of the Tasmanian Tiger was featured in a campaign for The Wilderness Society entitled We used to hunt thylacines. In video games, boomerang-wielding Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is the star of his own trilogy. Characters in the early 1990s cartoon Taz-Mania included the neurotic Wendell T. Wolf, the last surviving Tasmanian wolf. Tiger Tale is a children's book based on an Aboriginal myth about how the Tasmanian Tiger got its stripes. The Tasmanian Tiger character Rolf is featured in the extinction musical Rockford's Rock Opera. The Tasmanian Tiger is the mascot for the Tasmanian cricket team, and has appeared in postage stamps from Australia, Equatorial Guinea, and Micronesia.
The Hunter is a novel by Julia Leigh about an Australian hunter who sets out to find the last Tasmanian Tiger. The novel has been adapted into a 2011 film by the same name directed by Daniel Nettheim, and starring Willem Dafoe. In 2012, a demonic Tasmanian Tiger shapeshifter was introduced as the main antagonist in the #DeadThings series by author Reese Riley.
There was so much information available about the Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine when I was collecting material for my slide shows on animals that became extinct between 1900 and 2000, that I felt impelled to write an additional blog on Thylacine. I would also be posting more blogs on the Barbary Lions and some other mammals.
Source: id=x3Xqp7DAo1gC&pg=PA59#PPA59,- M1 & Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia.
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Are you a Basketball player suffering from ankle and foot problems and discomfort. I did not have the height to continue playing basketball past 15 years old but love the sport. Although basketball is a great sport, great for your health, great to have some fun, it can cause some serious foot problems.
basketball foot injuries
I always had an issue with rolling my ankle, but had many teammates with these common foot problems:
1. Stress fractures- A stress fracture, also known as a hairline fracture, is an incomplete fracture of the bone- manifesting as a very small sliver or crack. Stress fractures typically occur in weight-bearing bones, such as the tibia and metatarsals.
2. Achilles tendonitis- Achilles tendonitis is a painful condition caused by the inflammation, and irritation of the Achilles tendon.The Achilles tendon runs the length of the posterior leg, extending to the heel. Excessive shoe stiffness, caused by improperly fitted footwear and tying laces too tightly, is a common contributing factor to Achilles tendonitis.
3. Plantar fasciitis- The plantar fascia is the thick, connective tissue that supports the arch of the foot. It originates at the heel and extends to the base of the toes. The plantar fascia tightens and stretches each time the foot is used, and is highly prone to overuse- especially if the arch is not supported by proper footwear. Pain is usually experienced on the inside of the heel and along the arch. Flat feet, also known as overpronation, are the leading cause of plantar fasciitis.
4. Shin splints- Shin splints is the term used to refer to a painful condition of the shinbone, also known as the tibia, caused by small tears in the connective tissues that attach the muscles to the bone. The overworking of the shinbone, and the affixed connective tissues that attach your muscles to the bone, is a major cause shin splints.
5. Athletes Foot- Athlete's foot is a common fungal infection, which grows in dark, moist conditions. A perspiring foot in tight, closed shoes provides the perfect environment for the athlete's foot fungus to thrive. Athlete's foot can be transmitted from person-to-person in moist environments where people walk barefoot, such as a shower or locker room.
6. Blisters- Blisters can be caused by the repeated rubbing of skin against the inside of the athletic shoe. Shoes that fit incorrectly can cause blisters, as can the process of breaking in a new shoe.
7. Heel spurs- Heel spurs are caused when calcium deposits are formed in response to the plantar fascia pulling away from the heel. Excessive stretching of the plantar fascia can lead to heel and arch pain, and heel spurs.
If you are having any of these common problems please come to Family Foot and Ankle Specialists to have treatment before it worsens.
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English Through Literature
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Science and Technology
Boning—Boon or Bane?
The subject of human cloning (reproductive cloning) is shrouded in controversy, right from its conception. On the other hand therapeutic cloning, which is sometimes misunderstood as reproductive cloning, is not the creation of an offspring but instead, vital stem cells are taken from human embryos, which are then used to generate tissues and organs. These organs and tissues can be then used for transplantation. The ultimate aim of this process is strictly to treat various heart diseases, Alzheimer's disease, and to combat cancer. Since reproductive cloning is used for the conception of a specific offspring possessing specific characteristics, it is much more controversial, and has much more at stake than therapeutic cloning. Though there are certain advantages of reproductive cloning like individuals having fertility problems would be then able to produce biologically-related children. Besides that those couples who art: at risk of transferring genetic disease to offspring would then be able to have healthy children, Cloning technology is in the primary Stage and still requires more technical know-how to achieve the perfection. Human reproductive cloning is temporarily banned because of inadequate technical knowledge, inefficient procedures and is extremely; dangerous, and ethically irresponsible. Although many mammalian^ species have been cloned successfully, cloning techniques are still primitive, and thus, are prone to failure.
Some animal species, including humans, are found to be more resistant to somatic cell nuclear transfer than others, and thus nave a poorer success rate. It took 276 nuclear transfer procedures by the Scottish scientists at the Roslin Institute in order to produce the world's first cloned animal. Dolly, the sheep in 1997. The success rate by means of reproductive cloning remains pale when compared to natural procreation, and thus does not justify cloning as a form of reproduction for the time being. The current success rate for reproductive cloning stands at one or two viable offspring per 100 experiments. The .perils, which arises from reproductive cloning are numerous. During mammalian reproductive cloning, a large section of clones suffered from weakened immune systems, which highly reduces the animal's capability to ward off infections, disease, and other health disorders. Besides that many of the offspring produced through cloning suffer enormous abnormalities, such as missing or deformed organs. Various studies done on reproductive cloning have shown that more than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce on: viable offspring. Early human cloning experiments are likely to result in the same abnormalities found in other, species, which will possibly result in numerous medical failures, miscarriages, abortions, or births of offspring having highly-deformed organs and other abnormal features. Because of the lack of knowledge surrounding the mental facets of reproductive cloning, many scientists believe that an attempt to clone humans would be unethical. The foremost uncertainty correlated to reproductive cloning is its impact on the clone's mental development. While mental features in cloned animals may or may not be significant, but they are vital to the development of a healthy human offspring. Reproductive cloning could possibly put heavy psychological burdens on the cloned offspring. Reproductive cloning only replicates the genetic material of the progenitor, thus the possibility of producing a precise "replica" will not be possible because both children raised under different environments will have different personalities. Therefore, cloning will merely attempt to fill a void, but difficult to reach a pinnacle where this technique can precisely replicate a human being. Numerous other uncertainties linked to mental development of the offspring, along with extreme dangers and inefficiency, attempting to clone humans for the time...
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