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Why is my Internet connection so slow?
No matter how fast your Internet connection is, there are times when things will slow down to a crawl. This article will help you sort out what kinds of things can go wrong, learn what you can do about them, and discover how to get the most from your Internet connection.
The type of Internet connection you use is the most important factor in determining your connection speed. The most common ways to connect to the Internet from home are dial-up and DSL broadband. If you have a choice, DSL broadband is much faster than dial-up.
If you use a dial-up connection, there are a couple of good ways to optimise your Internet speed. First, use the fastest modem you can. The fastest modem you can use will send and receive information at a rate of 56 kilobits per second (Kbps). You won't get a full 56 Kbps speed most of the time, but with a good phone line, you should approach at least 45-50 Kbps.
Second, make sure that your phone line is in good condition. If the telephone wiring in your home or business is old or deteriorating, you might be picking up stray signals or cross talk from other phone lines. These problems will slow your Internet connection because the modem will have to send the same information over and over until it is transmitted without interruption. Check your telephone wires to be sure they are not damaged, frayed, or twisted around power or other telephone cables. If you notice crackling in your phones, you might want to contact your phone provider to have them check the lines inside and outside your home to make sure they are in good condition.
The health of your computer can affect your Internet connection. Spyware and viruses can definitely cause problems, but your Internet connection speed can also be affected by add-on programs, the amount of memory the computer has, hard disk space and condition, and the programs that are running.
Two of the most frequent causes of poor Internet performance are spyware and viruses. Spyware can slow your system by interfering with your browser and monopolizing your Internet connection. Spyware monitors your Internet use and keystrokes, which adds delays. The problem is compounded when there are multiple spyware programs running at the same time. If the problem is severe enough, you can lose connectivity altogether. To get your Internet performance back, you should regularly run an antispyware program to clean out any spyware infestation. For more information, see this external Microsoft link*: Scan for spyware and other potentially unwanted software.
Computer viruses can also cause poor Internet performance. When a virus infects a computer, it installs computer code which will attempt to propagate itself, usually by sending copies of itself through email. Some viruses can multiply at the rate of hundreds of email messages per minute, which leaves little computing power and Internet connection bandwidth for anything else. Viruses often do not give any obvious indication that they are running, so it is best to run your antivirus software at all times. For more information about dealing with viruses, see: Viruses: frequently asked questions.
Browser add-ons also cause performance problems. Browser add-ons are programs, such as multimedia add-ons, search bars, or other programs that usually appear on your browser's toolbar. Many browser add-ons can add to a rich browsing experience, offering multimedia or specialized document viewing. However, some add-ons can slow your Internet connection. If you suspect that add-ons are causing slow performance, try starting Internet Explorer in Add-ons disabled mode. Add-ons are disabled only for the session, but if you find your performance improves, you can use the Add-on Manager to turn them off permanently. To access the Add-on Manager from Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Add-on Manager. For more information, see: How do browser add-ons affect my computer?
Like all computer programs, Internet Explorer requires a certain amount of computing power, memory, and disk space to run efficiently. Every webpage you view is first downloaded to memory and then saved to temporary disk files. Running another program that is using lots of memory and computing power can compete with Internet Explorer and cause delays. If you find your Internet connection running slowly and you have other programs running, try closing them. If you want to run several programs, consider increasing the memory you have on your computer. Low disk space can also cause performance problems. You can increase your disk space by deleting Internet Explorer's temporary files. To learn how to delete temporary files, see Delete webpage history.
Occasionally, settings get changed in Internet Explorer that could possibly affect how Internet Explorer works. You can reset Internet Explorer to its default settings. For more information, see Reset Internet Explorer settings. Resetting Internet Explorer is not reversible, so you should read the list of settings that are affected before resetting.
Unfortunately, there are events and conditions that are outside your control. Even with a fast connection, external factors, such as busy websites or spreading computer viruses, can slow the entire web. Popular websites can become overwhelmed with users. For example, when a television commercial mentions a website, many people might try to visit the site at the same time. If the website isn't prepared to handle the traffic, you might encounter delays.
During times of heavy computer virus outbreaks, the Internet can slow down. Many viruses spread by causing computers to send out hundreds or thousands of copies of the virus. This can slow the Internet by sheer volume. You can see what major outbreaks are currently happening by visiting your antivirus vendor's website, or this external Microsoft link: Security at Home website.
Local Internet congestion can also result in slower-than-normal connection speeds. These slowdowns occur when many people try to connect to the Internet at the same time, and they occur most often at peak activity times, such as after school hours when students get home and connect to the web.
If you are on a corporate network, general network and proxy server use can affect your Internet performance. Most network administrators monitor Internet use, and will try to keep people from doing things like downloading large files during peak hours. If you find that your Internet access is slow at times, you might discuss it with your network administrator.
When connecting to a wireless network (Wi-Fi) such as the one broadcast from a BT Voyager 2110 wireless router, your Internet connection speed can be affected by both where your computer is located and whether other wireless devices are in the same area. Wireless networks operate on frequencies that are similar to those used by other devices, such as microwave ovens or cordless phones. Operating a 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) cordless phone next to your 2.4 GHz wireless laptop can cause interference, or completely block the wireless network connection. If you want to make phone calls while surfing the web, either use a wired telephone or cordless phone that operates at a different frequency than your wireless network.
Proximity to the wireless access point or router, as well as physical obstructions, can affect the quality of your Internet connection. To improve your connection speed, move closer to the access point and make sure that there are no physical obstructions between the access point and your computer.
*Note: BT cannot be held responsible for the content or advice given by external websites, nor the result of misconfiguration arising from such advice.
Why do transfers start really fast, then slow down after a few seconds?
When downloading files (usually with a web browser), it is completely normal for transfer speeds to appear much higher in the first several seconds.
Your browser starts the download even before you choose the destination file name, location on your PC, and click ok. That's why transfers appear to be much faster at the beginning, then settle down to a slower, actual rate.
Speed will also fluctuate as the servers that you're downloading from get busy, and you'll get speeds going up a little, then down a little.
How can I tell if my computer has a virus?
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The SEC handed down 3 SANCTIONS for failure to supervise 3 BROKERS who committed at least 3 VIOLATIONS against firm customers.
Alexander Capital will pay $411K in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and fines, and will hire an independent consultant to identify and revise deficient policies and procedures.
Supervisor A will pay a $20K fine and be barred permanently from serving in a supervisory capacity.
Supervisor B will pay a $15K fine and will not serve in a supervisory capacity for 5 years.
SEC FINDINGS. The 3 cases essentially boil down to this: (i) Alexander Capital lacked reasonable supervisory policies and procedures and systems to implement them, and if these systems were in place, the firm likely would have prevented and detected the brokers’ wrongdoing; and, (ii) Supervisors A and B ignored red flags indicating excessive trading and commission charges, and failed to supervise brokers with a view to preventing and detecting their securities-law violations.
Those red flags were generated through the clearing firm’s online surveillance tool whenever turnover and commissions reached certain pre-set levels. In response to those alerts, supervisors could insert comments noting any follow-up investigations, determinations and actions taken. Supervisors also used the online program to record their review and approval of trades.
Alexander Capital: From 2012 through 2014, the firm failed reasonably to implement certain policies and procedures and permitted a lax compliance environment in which brokers ("registered representatives" or “RRs”) were not reasonably monitored or disciplined, procedures were not followed, and indications of potential misconduct were not acted upon by the supervisors of the 3 RRs, Supervisor A and Supervisor B. As a result, the 3 RRs each violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws in their handling of customer accounts without anyone at Alexander Capital preventing or detecting their violations.
Supervisor A: From January 2013 through July 2014, there were some 123 system alerts (62 turnover and 61 commission alerts) related to 5 customer accounts handled by 2 RRs. Supervisor A failed to review 79 of those alerts. Of the 41 alerts that were reviewed (21 turnover and 20 commission alerts), none of the review comments entered into the online surveillance tool indicated any discussion the supervisor may have had with either RR. None of the review comments indicated disciplinary actions against the 2 RRs.
Supervisor B: From May 2013 through August 2014, while serving as BOM of Alexander Capital’s Manhattan branch office and as direct supervisor for a particular RR whose activities generated multiple red flags, Supervisor B received 28 turnover or commission alerts for one customer's account - of which, only 20 were reviewed. Other than commission restrictions and some trade corrections, no action was taken to reasonably supervise the RR. And even when Supervisor B did attempt to limit the commissions in the impacted customer’s account to $100 per trade, those efforts were inconsistently applied.
While we're at it, let's give credit to the SEC ... for clearly and appropriately dispensing sanctions in this case involving supervisory failures. All too often firm principals or compliance officers are the root cause of supervisory failure. Yet, it's not uncommon for FINRA to report on sanctions against broker-dealers with no mention or indication that associated persons have been sanctioned or are even under investigation.
BAD SUPERVISION may begin with a firm's deficient policies and procedures, but it ends with complicit or ineffectual individuals.
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Why I have an English name?
I grew up in Hong Kong (China), then a British colonial city. It is very common that Hong Kongers have a English name besides their traditional Chinese name because (A) It was trendy; and (B) we believe it has commercial advantages- we make it easy for the ruling foreigners who most of the time have difficulties (or majority I think simply do not care to learn) pronouncing our traditional Chinese name. NY Times summarize it so right: “The practice of taking an English name, which really took root only 15 or 20 years ago, began as a way of identifying with the ruling class, or being identified by it. Now, the English language name is not just a colonial convenience, it is a local Chinese custom.” Therefore, KENNETH is the English name my Dad gave to me at birth.
洪 (Hung) is my surname and 天健 (Tin-Kin) is my given name. 洪 is not a common surname, it ranks 99th in modern day China population. The last name 洪 is originated from my mythical ancestor 共工 Gong Gong– the Chinese water god who is responsible for the great floods, together with his associate, 相繇 Xiang Yao , who has nine heads and the body of a snake. In Chinese mythology, Gong Gong was ashamed that he lost the fight to claim the throne of Heaven and in a fit of rage he smashed his head against 不周山 now Pamir Mountains or Mount Everest, a pillar holding up the sky. The pillar suffered great damage and caused the sky to tilt towards the northwest and the earth to shift to the southeast. This caused great floods and suffering to the people. 女媧 Nüwa, an important and benevolent goddess, cut off the legs of a giant tortoise and used them to supplant the fallen pillar and alleviate the situation, but she was unable to fully correct the tilted sky. This explains the phenomenon that sun, moon, and stars move towards the northwest, and that rivers in China flow southeast into the Pacific Ocean.
My Dad names me after a famous Chinese painter 贺天健. My given name 天健 comes from one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts- 易經 / I Ching (Literally it means “Classic of Changes”) that dated back to the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BCE – 256 BCE). According to Wikipedia, the book is a symbol system used to identify order in random events. The text describes an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy that is intrinsic to ancient Chinese cultural beliefs. The cosmology centres on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change.
The text of the I Ching is a set of oracular statements represented by a set of 64 abstract line arrangements called hexagrams (卦 guà). Each hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines (爻 yáo), where each line is either Yang (an unbroken, or solid line), or Yin (broken, an open line with a gap in the center). With six such lines stacked from bottom to top there are 26 or 64 possible combinations, and thus 64 hexagrams represented. My name comes from Hexagram 1 (see left image), named 乾 (qián), “Force”. Other variations include “the creative”, “strong action”, “the key”, and “god”. Its inner (lower) trigram is ☰ (乾 qián) force = (天) heaven, and its outer (upper) trigram is the same.
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For some of the epidemiologic challenges we are likely to face, such as anticipating the spread of new viral strains and drug-resistant bacteria, consent-based models are scientifically inappropriate for the research questions being asked. Validity depends on the characteristics of the sampling criteria used in compiling the database: if data subjects are self-selected, each epidemiologic analysis will likely require a separate analysis of the impact of the self-selection factors on the research findings. In some cases, this will mean that it is not possible to obtain a valid answer to an important research question.
Research using information collected for other purposes, such as health care delivery or health benefits administration, is critically important as we enter into the century of discoveries based on genomic science. Pinpointing differences in health or health care quality based on geography, demography, health history, or co-morbidities will become ever more important for clinical research, for public health planning, and for ensuring access to appropriate care. We do not have the luxury of time and resources to collect consents and obtain data from volunteers, and evaluate the validity of the sample for testing every unique data hypothesis.
Public health surveillance is typically conducted under specific laws authorizing or requiring the collection of certain types of data in the public interest. (See, for example, Chapter 3 this volume.) The new medical privacy regulations, for example, have explicit exemptions from the prohibitions on disclosure where the data are being collected under various public health surveillance laws.16 In enacting the mandatory reporting laws the legislature has been persuaded that the individual's interest in privacy can be achieved in other ways that are not anathema to the public interest in pharmacovigilance and other public health surveillance. They have required public health authorities and regulated entities to simultaneously protect the privacy interests of individuals while making the requisite reports and appropriately using and safeguarding the collected data.
formal studies of drug safety, then we are at risk of eroding the information foundation that supports public health planning and health care quality, including societal judgements on the benefits and risks of medications.
Follow-up studies of drug or devise safety fall into the broad general category of "research", which is defined in the Common Rule as "a systematic investigation ... designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge''.17 Instead of an exemption from the prohibitions on use or disclosure of patient data, the regulation subjects disclosure or use of information for research purposes to an entirely new patient authorization process.18 In other words, the same attention to the public interest in both privacy and research results that is seen in event reporting laws is not evident in US laws regulating data access for epidemiologic and outcomes research.
Admittedly, the "worst case'' damage to a given individual from the disclosure and misuse of personal information may be highly significant. This potential damage or risk from the non-research misuse of personal information is precisely the same risk that adheres in pharmacovigilance and public health reporting. Indeed, with respect to the types of conditions that often are the subject of mandatory public health reporting—sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), child abuse, substance abuse—the potential damage from stigmatization or prejudice arguably is at its greatest.
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The following is an excerpt from an interview with Maryland criminal defense attorney Kush Arora.
How does the state of Maryland treat felony cases?
Kush Arora: Felony cases are handled in Maryland in a unique way. Usually, a felony case will be charged by an officer and get a preliminary hearing date. A preliminary hearing date is set in district court where, usually, they only hear misdemeanor cases. When that preliminary hearing date is scheduled, it is usually a date that is set in place so that a prosecutor can demonstrate to a judge that the state has enough evidence to move forward on the criminal charges as felonies. If, on that hearing date, a judge is not satisfied, a judge can throw the felony charges out and force the state to only move forward on the misdemeanor offenses. A prosecutor does not have to wait for that preliminary hearing date to move forward on the felonies, however. A case can be sent to the grand jury, which meets in secret. The grand jury has witnesses testify before it and determines whether or not the state has enough information to move forward on the felony charges or not. This is commonly referred to as an “indictment,” where a case is indicted and proceeds to the circuit court on the felony charges. Once the case is indicted and the felonies are taken to circuit court, or a judge at the preliminary hearing stage finds enough information to move the case to circuit court, another process begins. That process begins with several meetings with the prosecutor, as well as with the judge that is presiding over the court’s actual trial or over the preliminary hearings that are leading up to that trial date. They make sure that the prosecutor is providing the defense with all of the discovery and evidence that the defense needs to prepare for the case and also set dates such as motions hearing dates, where the attorneys can litigate which evidence a jury or a judge might see when the case finally gets to trial. Finally, they set a trial date where a judge or a jury determines whether or not the state has proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
How does the state of Maryland treat misdemeanor cases?
Kush Arora: Misdemeanor cases are treated differently than felony cases. In a misdemeanor case, once a person is charged and a bond review hearing takes place, either before a commissioner or before a judge, the person is assigned a criminal trial date. Usually, that criminal trial date is about 30 to 45 days after a person is originally charged, unless the charges are traffic infractions such as DUI or driving while suspended, which usually take a few more months to get to court. There are no separate motions hearings. These cases are set on a docket with many other cases that are similar in nature and a prosecutor discusses with the defense attorney how best to proceed on the case, what evidence they have, and whether or not they have the witnesses that they need, in advance of that docket date. On the day of the docket, all cases that are entered as pleas of guilty are heard first. Then, anybody who wishes to contest the evidence against them will have their case heard. The judge will determine whether or not the state has proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, the allegations that they’re pursuing.
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I promise it to be serious this time.
How can we prevent WL-users from being brainwashed with Palestine-Exists-propaganda?
Please keep in mind to keep it serious.
Palestine existed, it basically doesn't at this point.
Please,guys. Keep.It.Serious. Argue on the given topic: How can we prevent WL-users from being brainwashed with Palestine-Exists-propaganda?
Please stop the brainwashed propaganda now.
That´s just Republican-propaganda...it is produced in a little town in Macedonia.
They want to trap you in believing there would be a palestine but there isn´t.
And keep it serious this time.
1.So do you know anybody from Palestine?
2.Or have you ever been to Palestine?
3.And do you know anybody who has ever been to Palestine?
1. You can´t. Palestine does not exist.
You are part of the Palestine-conspiracy, else you would not have answered 2/3rd of my questions with a >yes< .
Sadly, I can´t argue with you, as you are already brainwashed and tryind to spread Macedonian (FYROM) Palestine-propaganda.
I try nothing. You try to brainwash me with your propaganda. But it won´t work...So drop it.
Let´s all get back to the topic. And be srious now.
Topic: How can we prevent WL-users from being brainwashed with Palestine-Exists-propaganda?
@TPoF: So have you ever seen stupidity?-I mean not as instance but rather the object itself?
Have you ever touched, tasted or felt Palestine, Tabby?
Answer my question first, then I shall answer yours.
Well, as I said, if you never touched, tasted or felt the Palestine how can you then be sure that it exists?
Hamas is not an armed force, against popular belief - it only has a military branch called Izz ad-Din al-Qassam branch.
Tabby, do you work for the JIDF ?
mate he's a self-proclaimed Zionist maybe you should talk to him before saying stupid things all right tabby?
MATE he's a liberal zionist all right?
don't stereotype liberals - Zionism has nothing to do with how authoritarian and what market you want. and Semice supports Zionism, he told everyone this in the WL Skype.
not sure. anyhow so did semice fire you or was it someone else who fired you ?
Ok, I'll trust you...for now.
It really doesn´t matter which of the 2 Palestine entities you mean, both don´t exist.
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"Cannabis oil could treat epilepsy," is the misleading headline from the Mail Online.
This story relates to a rare, severe form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. The condition develops at a young age and is characterised by frequent "drop" seizures, where a person drops to the floor. The condition is associated with learning difficulties and developmental delay and is treated with various epilepsy drugs, but response to treatment is often poor.
The term "cannabis oil" refers to an extract called cannabidiol (CBD) that is taken from the cannabis plant. It doesn't contain any tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the psychoactive substance that gives cannabis users a high, and unlike cannabis, it is legal in the UK.
This trial randomised more than 225 participants with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome to different doses of cannabis oil or to a matching placebo. Cannabis oil reduced the frequency of drop seizures by about 40%, compared with a 17% reduction with placebo.
Interpreting this study is a bit difficult. Cannabis oil worked better than placebo, but the fact that placebo was reducing seizure frequency at all brings into question how much additional benefit the extra 20% reduction would make to the child's daily life and development. Cannabis oil certainly isn't a cure and caused side effects such as drowsiness and diarrhoea, in several children.
There is currently no compelling evidence that cannabis oil will help with more common types of epilepsy.
The study was conducted by researchers at New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and other institutions in the US, UK, France and Spain. Funding was provided by GW Pharmaceuticals. The study was peer-reviewed and published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Despite its potentially misleading headline, the Mail's reporting of the study is accurate and makes clear it relates only to the rarest form of epilepsy.
This was a randomised controlled trial (RCT) aiming to see whether cannabis oil (cannabidiol) could reduce seizures in people with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome. This is a notoriously hard to treat form of epilepsy and most people with it will need help with day-to-day activities.
The treatment was given alongside standard medications.
The trial was double-blind and with a placebo control, so neither participants nor researchers knew what they were taking. A double-blind RCT is the best way of investigating the effectiveness of a possible new treatment. The size of any benefit would need to outweigh any possible risks to make it a viable treatment.
The study was conducted across 30 hospitals in the US, UK, Spain and France. It recruited people with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (aged from 2 to 55 years) who were taking regular antiepileptic drugs and experienced at least 2 drop seizures a week.
All treatments were in the form of an oral solution and given as 2 daily divided doses.
The main outcome of interest was the number of drop seizures experienced over 28 days. The researchers also looked at other types of seizure and adverse effects.
A total of 225 participants were included, who were of average age 15 years and were taking around 3 antiepileptic drugs. Before the study started, they were experiencing between 80 and 90 drop seizures per month.
All groups experienced fewer drop seizures over 28 days.
This meant a significant 20% difference between placebo and the 2 cannabidiol groups. There was a similar difference with other types of seizure.
An improvement in their overall condition (according to the Patient or Caregiver Global Impression of Change scale) was reported for 57% of those in the 20mg group, 66% of the 10mg group, and 44% of the placebo group.
Side effects such as sleepiness, poor appetite and diarrhoea were common across all groups. In total, 6 patients in the cannabidiol groups and 1 in the placebo group withdrew from the trial because of side effects. The most common side effect related to cannabidiol was raised liver enzymes.
The researchers conclude: "Among children and adults with the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, the addition of cannabidiol to a conventional antiepileptic regimen resulted in greater reductions in the frequency of drop seizures than placebo." They note the caution of raised liver enzymes with use.
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is hard to treat and people with it generally have a poor outlook, despite treatment. Seizures are common, and most children have developmental delays.
This trial provides evidence that cannabidiol may help improve drop seizures. However, the question is whether this improvement is great enough to make it a feasible and safe treatment. The trial was well conducted and double blind, so the 20% greater reduction in seizures compared to placebo is likely to be a result of the drug.
The study looked at effects on seizure frequency, but it's possible this improvement wouldn't make much difference to the child's development as they grow into adulthood. There is also the important question of the potential harms from this treatment, particularly given its effects on the liver. These may become more marked if treatment was continued in the longer term. There could also be additional side effects.
A new treatment option for this hard-to-treat condition would be welcome, but this would need to be considered by experts in the field.
Again, the media headlines were potentially misleading: this study has no relevance for most people with epilepsy.
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Слова-карточки на английском языке с правильным произношением, которые обогатят ваш. Campus 1 M thode de Fran ais: . Girardet J., Cridlig J.-M. - Panorama 1 Methode de Francais 3 CD audio / Панорама 1 (аудио) Скачать Hippo_Campus_-_Landmark_2017_FLAC.torrent Как тут качать? в поисковую Битрейт аудио. Unit 3: Introductions 3 - Formal Unit 4: Friends in Common Unit 5: Country of Origin Unit 6: Where Do You Come From? Unit 7: Your Family - Campus Topics.
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NASA should be funded at level that is 1% - 1.5% of the nation's budget. Yes, two to three times higher than the current funding level.
We either make this critical long-term-investment, or we stagnate.
NASA-derived-technology is already the basis of many earthbound enterprises. NASA's proven ability to spin out technologies can be and must be driven to even more rewarding levels.
Every dollar spent on-or-by NASA is spent on Earth, mainly as American jobs. Leverage NASA's additional funding as an economic-force. It attracts educated, well payed citizenry who build communities and set higher standards of living. And in more ways than one, drive the 'desire for higher-education', which is currently a serious-issue in many parts of our nation. How much is that alone worth?
The space programs of the 1960s/70s captured and drove the imaginations of a couple of generations of young people who grew up and built Silicon Valley and myriad large and small high-tech industries across the country. The return from these industries in the form of corporate and personal taxation is above average. This alone makes adding to NASA's long term budget justifiable but it will also result in many intangible and some very tangible dividends to American industry, culture and lifestyle.
"But where will the money come from?".
Additional NASA funding could be *considered* funding *for* and *from* other federally-funded initiatives, in fields that it benefits, including education, medicine, technology, environmental-monitoring, especially of the military and intelligence-gathering, and several others.
Consider allowing voluntary contributions from taxpayers similar to the collection of dollars for political-elections.
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is it a good idea to learn more than one language simultaneous?
I have always wanted to learn French, but lately I have developed interest in Mandarin as well. But I don't know if it is a goof idea to learn both the languages together. Please share your opinion on this.
It is always dependent on where you stand.
For my response, I say it is a great idea to seek to learn multiple languages.
To learn one other language - that is VERY significant, and also shows you great insights back also on your mother/first language. It lets you see things through different ways of thinking.
To then learn yet another language, offers you even more insights, both on your first language, and you second language. It has the potential of increasing your understanding and learning potential, beyond the learning of the concepts of a language. Also allowing you ways to think differently about ... ways of viewing and thinking about the world.
Much less the ability to fun of watching movies, and travel, and even job opportunities and exposure to amazing new cultures and hobbies.
I commend learning multiple languages.
When thinking about learning multiple languages, I've found you want to consider three things. 1) Time management, 2) Your learning style, 3) Degree of language similarity.
1) Time Management - Learning two languages at once will obviously mean you're moving slower on each of them than if you'd focused on only one. But some people, myself included, are okay with that. Especially if you know you want to learn the other language eventually.
2) Learning Style - Will adding another language distract you from the first, or will it give your brain a chance to rest when you're feeling burned out on the first? Learning two at once works very well for me, but it might not for everyone.
3) Language Similarity - Languages as different Chinese and French won't cause much interference with each other, whereas attempting Spanish and Portuguese at the same time would be setting yourself up for failure. I've found it's even better if one of the languages is similar to your native language and the other is different, since they'll occupy different parts of your brain.
I previously paired French with Esperanto and it worked well for me. I'm currently studying Chinese and Spanish and it's working even better.
Aw, thank you! It's a fun language so far; I think you'll enjoy it.
About these two languages, AditiKara : French and Chinese. They are so different that it is not at all a problem to learn both together. It is a bit different when languages are very near (as for example Italien, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian and French), if you start to learn them at the same time you could make some confusions and mixt a little these languages together. In that case it is better to have a good practice in one and after begin another. But for languages very different as French Chinese (but also Hindi, Russian, Swahili) there is no problem at all... just the time to practice them. Good luck.
I thought the same as you a while ago! I have been learning Hindi as I have planned to travel to India. Then I got an interest in speaking Chinese. Now I am learning both and enjoying learning them both together. Our brain can take it in with no bother at all. It is ourselves that stop us believing it we can.
for someone like me, it's a very bad Idea, but if you're someone who can dedicate enough time and enthusiasm to each language, then it's a great idea. let me tell you something about myself. I'm trying to learn 5 languages simultaneously and honestly I'm not getting anywhere, but if you are that interested in learning mandarin, you could learn it easily. In my opinion the tones and memorizing words with the right tone is the challenging part in mandarin, and the rest is easy.
I started French last October, Italian soon after, and Chinese as soon as it was available (December?)...and have been doing all 3 at the same time ever since. I spend most of my time on French, a some time on Italian, and a little time on Chinese. I like working the Chinese in gradually this way because it is SO different, and it takes the brain a bit to adapt to the new type of language structure (i.e. no alphabet...lots of different characters). I say, go ahead and try it and see how it works out for your specific situation.
I also used Memrise to help practice the Mandarin vocabulary...if you dig through the Memrise website you can find a way to do it for free.
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The Center for the Studies of Archaeological and Prehistoric Heritage (CEPAP) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona have developed a process using QR codes to ID and track ancient artifacts, from kraters to potsherds.
Previous methods of on-artifact ID shared one thing in common: it was painfully easy to rub out, rub off or scratch out the identifying number of code written directly on or in the artifact. That process also ran the risk of marring the object.
The CEPAP team has tested this process for two years, affixing QR tags on everything from sword blades to bone remains. They did so at Spanish sites, including Roca dels Bous and Cova Gran de Santa Linya in Lleida, and African sites like the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and Mieso in Ethiopia.
"(T)he name of the site, the archaeological level at which it was found and an inventory number. This information is essential because it remits to a complex network of data which contextualises each artefact individually."
Geolocation information on each object is also included.
Using QR codes, which are like two-dimensional bar codes, to do this obviates a number of common errors that come with manual marking. Besides effacement of the codes themselves. They include scriptural error and misreadings.
QR also saves a great deal of time, as hand-writing, nearly always on challenging surfaces, using a number of different media, is a demanding task. The code information also becomes instantly available online to associated scientists.
CEPAP has managed to reduce artifact coding errors to 1% with this process.
You should correct the article: it is Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and not Universitat de Barcelona. So you can understand the difference, it would be like mixing up Boston College and Boston University. Plus, UAB's main campus is located in the Barcelona outskirts metropolitan area and UB's main campus is located in Barcelona actual city.
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This article is about the American football season in the United States. For the Gaelic football season in Ireland, see 2018 National Football League (Ireland).
The 2018 NFL season was the 99th season of the National Football League (NFL). The season began on September 6, 2018, with the NFL Kickoff Game with the defending Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles defeating the Atlanta Falcons 18–12. The season concluded with Super Bowl LIII, the league's championship game, on February 3, 2019, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia between NFC Champions Los Angeles Rams and AFC Champions New England Patriots. The Patriots defeated the Rams 13–3 for their sixth Super Bowl championship and their third in their last five seasons.
The 2018 NFL League year and trading period began on March 14. On March 9, clubs were allowed to exercise options for 2018 on players who have option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2017 contracts and who have fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the "Top-51" definition (in which the 51 highest paid-players on the team's payroll must have a combined salary cap hit below the actual cap). On March 12, clubs were allowed to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the agents of players who were set to become unrestricted free agents.
Quarterbacks Sam Bradford (Minnesota to Arizona), Kirk Cousins (Washington to Minnesota), Case Keenum (Minnesota to Denver), and AJ McCarron (Cincinnati to Buffalo).
March 14: Miami traded WR Jarvis Landry to Cleveland for a 2018 fourth round selection (123rd overall) and a 2019 seventh round selection.
March 14: Buffalo traded QB Tyrod Taylor to Cleveland for a 2018 third round selection (65th overall).
March 14: Buffalo traded T Cordy Glenn, a 2018 first round selection (21st overall), and a 2018 fifth round selection (158th overall) to Cincinnati for a 2018 first round selection (12th overall) and a 2018 sixth round selection (187th overall).
March 14: Cleveland traded DT Danny Shelton and a 2018 fifth round selection (159th overall) to New England for a 2019 third round selection.
March 14: Kansas City traded QB Alex Smith to Washington in exchange for CB Kendall Fuller and a 2018 third round selection (78th overall).
March 14: Kansas City traded CB Marcus Peters and a 2018 sixth round draft selection (196th overall) to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a 2018 fourth round selection (124th overall) and a 2019 second round selection.
March 14: Denver traded CB Aqib Talib to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a 2018 fifth round selection (160th overall).
March 14: Denver traded QB Trevor Siemian and a 2018 seventh round selection (225th overall) to Minnesota for a 2019 fifth round selection.
March 14: The Los Angeles Rams traded LB Alec Ogletree and a 2019 seventh round draft selection to the New York Giants in exchange for a 2018 fourth round selection (135th overall) and a 2018 sixth round selection (176th overall).
March 14: The Los Angeles Rams traded DE Robert Quinn and a 2018 sixth round selection to Miami in exchange for a 2018 fourth round selection and a 2018 sixth round selection.
March 14: Seattle traded DE Michael Bennett and a 2018 seventh round selection to Philadelphia for WR Marcus Johnson and a 2018 fifth round selection.
March 14: Philadelphia traded WR Torrey Smith to Carolina for CB Daryl Worley.
March 15: San Francisco traded C Daniel Kilgore and a 2018 seventh round selection (227th overall) to Miami in exchange for a 2018 seventh round selection (223rd overall).
March 15: Cleveland traded CB Jason McCourty and a 2018 seventh round selection (219th overall) to New England for a 2018 sixth round selection (205th overall).
March 18: Oakland traded WR Cordarrelle Patterson and a 2018 sixth round selection (210th overall) to New England for a 2018 fifth round selection (159th overall) .
March 20: Oakland traded FB Jamize Olawale and a 2018 sixth round selection (192nd overall) to Dallas for a 2018 fifth round selection (173rd overall).
March 22: The New York Giants traded DE Jason Pierre-Paul and their 2018 fourth round selection (102nd overall) to Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2018 third round selection (69th overall) and a 2018 fourth round selection (108th overall).
March 23: Arizona traded T Jared Veldheer to Denver for a 2018 sixth round selection (182nd overall).
March 28: Cleveland traded QB Cody Kessler to Jacksonville for a conditional 2019 seventh round selection.
March 29: Washington traded S Su'a Cravens, a 2018 fourth round selection (113th overall), and a 2018 fifth round selection (149th overall) to Denver in exchange for a 2018 fourth round selection (109th overall), two 2018 fifth round selections (142nd and 163rd overall), and a conditional 2020 selection.
April 3: New England traded WR Brandin Cooks and a 2018 fourth round selection (136th overall) to the Los Angeles Rams for a 2018 first round selection (23rd overall) and a 2018 sixth round selection (198th overall).
April 6: Cleveland traded QB Kevin Hogan and a 2018 sixth round selection (205th overall) to Washington in exchange for a 2018 sixth round selection (188th overall).
April 26: Pittsburgh traded WR Martavis Bryant to Oakland for a 2018 third round selection (79th overall).
August 5: Cleveland traded WR Corey Coleman to Buffalo for a 2020 seventh round selection.
August 29: The New York Jets traded QB Teddy Bridgewater and a 2019 sixth-round selection to New Orleans for a 2019 Third round selection.
September 1: Oakland traded DE/OLB Khalil Mack, a 2020 second round selection, and a conditional 2020 fifth round selection to Chicago in exchange for a 2019 first round selection, a 2020 first round selection, a 2020 third round selection, and a 2019 sixth round selection.
September 1: Buffalo traded QB A.J. McCarron to Oakland in exchange for a 2019 fifth round selection.
September 17: Cleveland traded WR Josh Gordon and a conditional 2019 seventh round selection to New England in exchange for a 2019 fifth round selection.
October 23: Oakland traded WR Amari Cooper to Dallas in exchange for a 2019 first round selection.
October 30: Denver traded WR Demaryius Thomas and a 2019 seventh round selection to Houston for a 2019 fourth round selection and a 2019 seventh round selection.
October 30: Detroit traded WR Golden Tate to Philadelphia for a 2019 third round selection.
October 30: Jacksonville traded DE Dante Fowler to the Los Angeles Rams for a 2019 third round selection and a 2020 fifth round selection.
October 30: Green Bay traded S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to Washington for a 2019 fourth round selection and RB Ty Montgomery to Baltimore for a 2020 seventh round selection.
Kam Chancellor: The four-time Pro Bowler and two-time second team All-Pro safety retired July 1 due to a neck injury. He played his entire eight-year career with the Seattle Seahawks.
Antonio Cromartie: The four-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro cornerback, who shares the league record for most yards gained on a play (109 on a missed field goal return) and led the league in interceptions in 2008, announced his retirement after an 11-year career. Cromartie played for the then-San Diego Chargers, New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, and Indianapolis Colts over the course of his career, before spending the entire 2017 season as an unsigned free agent.
Dwight Freeney: The 16-year veteran defensive end, who spent most of his career with the Indianapolis Colts, retired April 19. He appeared in seven Pro Bowls, was a four-time All-Pro and led the NFL in sacks during the 2004 season.
James Harrison: The 15-year NFL veteran linebacker, four-time All-Pro, and five-time Pro Bowler who spent the peak of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers announced his retirement, at the age of 39, on April 16.
Devin Hester: The four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro return specialist holds the NFL record for most all-time return touchdowns (punt and kickoff combined) and most all-time punt return touchdowns. He is widely regarded as one of the best return specialists in NFL history, and was the first person to return the opening kick of the Super Bowl back for a touchdown. Hester, who had spent 2017 out of football, played 11 seasons in the NFL, the majority of them with the Chicago Bears.
Richie Incognito announced his retirement April 10. The retirement was part of a string of erratic behavior and inconsistent statements on Incognito's part, the only consistent thread being an ongoing contract dispute with his current team, the Buffalo Bills, who have listed him as retired on their roster. Incognito has appeared in four Pro Bowls over the course of a 12-season career with the Bills, Miami Dolphins and then-St. Louis Rams, with most of his success coming in Buffalo. He was released from his contract on May 21 and is free to sign with any team.
Nick Mangold: The seven-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro retired after 11 seasons, all with the New York Jets. He had spent the 2017 season out of football after the Jets released him.
Carson Palmer: The 38 year old quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, who had previously played on the Cincinnati Bengals (who drafted Palmer first overall in 2003) and Oakland Raiders, retired after the 2017 season. The 2002 Heisman Trophy winner appeared in three Pro Bowls, was a second team All-Pro in 2015, and led the NFL in passing yards in 2005.
Darrelle Revis: The seven-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro spent 11 seasons in the NFL, eight of them with the New York Jets. At his peak, he was one of the most dominant, well-paid, and awarded cornerbacks in the league (only Deion Sanders has had more All-Pro nominations at the position); his level of play had diminished rapidly by the time of his retirement. He announced his retirement July 18.
Joe Thomas: The ten-time Pro Bowler and seven-time All-Pro offensive tackle retired after an 11-year career with the Cleveland Browns, a career in which he spent much of that time as the Browns' franchise player in an era where the team otherwise performed poorly on the field. A deteriorating left knee contributed to Thomas's retirement.
The 2018 NFL Draft was held from April 26 to 28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This was the first draft to take place in an NFL stadium, and the first to be held in Texas. The Cleveland Browns selected Baker Mayfield with the first overall pick.
Four referees retired during the 2018 off-season, the most to do so since records on the statistics have been kept.
Ed Hochuli: At the time of his retirement, Hochuli was the league's longest-tenured referee, having served with the league for 28 seasons, 26 as a head referee. He was succeeded by his son, Shawn Hochuli.
Terry McAulay: McAulay spent 20 seasons as an official, 17 as a head referee, and officiated three Super Bowls. McAulay will work as a rules analyst for NBC's Sunday Night Football. Shawn Smith, an umpire since 2015, was promoted to replace McAulay.
Gene Steratore: Steratore spent 15 seasons as an official and was the referee of Super Bowl LII. Steratore was involved in the controversial ruling known as the Calvin Johnson rule, as well as the infamous use of an index card during a game between the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys. He was one of two officials who also covered NCAA Division I basketball games. Steratore accepted an offer from CBS to fill its rules analyst position, which had been vacant since 2015. Umpire Clay Martin was promoted to referee to replace Steratore.
Jeff Triplette: Triplette had spent 22 years as an official with the NFL, 19 as a head referee. Alex Kemp replaced Triplette.
In total, 10 officials left the league in the offseason, and seven were hired. Four officials were promoted to the referee position.
Down judge Hugo Cruz was fired for performance-related issues culminating with a missed false start during a Week 6 game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Cleveland Browns. It was the first time in the Super Bowl era that an official was dismissed in-season.
Make permanent the current rule that changes the spot of the ball after a touchback on a kickoff to the 25-yard line. Prior to 2017, the ball was placed at the 20-yard line.
Make a "football move" such as making a 3rd step, reaching/extending to the line to gain, tucking the ball away, warding off defensive players, or have the ability to perform such an act.
The rule for receivers who were going to the ground during the catch process has been deleted. This is in response to several issues regarding the "going to the ground" rule, especially catches by Dallas Cowboys WR Dez Bryant in the 2014 NFL playoffs and one by Pittsburgh Steelers TE Jesse James in 2017 that were overturned due to this rule.
Allow a designated member of the officiating department (for 2018, NFL Senior VP of Officiating Al Riveron) to instruct game officials to disqualify any player who commits a flagrant non-football act on the field for a foul called on the field. This is in response to a situation where New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski intentionally inflicted a late hit on Buffalo Bills defensive back Tre'Davious White causing a concussion to White. Gronkowski was not ejected for the foul on the field, but did receive a one-game suspension after the NFL's review of the play.
Illegally batting a ball on a scrimmage down will incur a loss of down in addition to the previous 10-yard penalty.
In overtime, when a team is ahead by 3 points, a down will run to its conclusion and all applicable points will score, even if there is a loss of possession. Previously, the offense of the trailing team could not legally score if they lost and regained possession and reached the opponent's end zone all on the same play. The rule remains that if there is a double change of possession on a play with one team in the lead, it is the last play of the game.
If a team scores a touchdown on the final play of regulation which gives them the victory, no extra-point conversion try will be needed.
A quarterback may slide either head first or feet first to be considered giving himself up on the play, and he is afforded all protections previously provided to a quarterback sliding feet first.
Make permanent the liberalization of workout rules for draft prospects.
For a one-year trial period, liberalize the rules for re-signing a player on waivers.
Players on injured reserve can be traded.
Players with injuries deemed major can be placed directly on injured reserve without clearing waivers.
The 10-day postseason waiver claiming period has been reduced to 1 day.
Players can be activated from injured reserve after eight games instead of eight weeks.
Teams have seven business days to complete an injury settlement instead of five.
Players in certain reserve list categories cannot be reinstated after a team's week 13 game. This restriction was previously applied to the last 30 days of the regular season.
Clarify roster procedures for players with military obligations.
For a one-year trial period, teams may contact a player who has been publicly announced to be released before the NFL lists the transaction on a Player Personnel Notice.
No wedge blocks. Players would only be able to do a double-team block within the "set-up zone".
Blocking is prohibited inside the restraining zone (10 yards from the kickoff spot) until the ball touches the ground or is touched in the field of play.
Once a kickoff lands in the end zone, it would become an automatic touchback. Players will no longer have to "kneel" in the end zone to stop the play.
Any player(s) being disqualified are subject to replay review.
The chain crew was reduced by one member; the "X" marker, usually unseen on television but used to mark the start of an offensive drive, was eliminated.
In response to the recent National Anthem protests in the league the past two seasons, any player or staff member who is on the field during the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" must stand for the duration of the performance. Such players and staff members are not required to be on the field at that time and may wait in the locker room as an alternative. The NFL will not directly fine offending players or staff members for defying the rule, instead fining the teams, who will in turn have power to fine the players or staff members at their own discretion. The National Football League Players Association filed a grievance with the league over the policy on July 11.
The following people associated with the NFL (or AFL) have died in 2018.
A 1998 inductee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, McDonald played 12 seasons in the NFL, the majority of them with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he had the majority of his success. The six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro (first or second team) led the league in both receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in 1961 and was the last non-kicking position player to play without a facemask. He died September 24 at the age of 84.
The nine-year veteran of the Green Bay Packers was the first member of the team's 1961–1968 dynasty to be inducted into the Hall as a 1976 inductee. The fullback, who played from 1958 through the first World Championship, appeared in five Pro Bowls, was named first or second team All-Pro six times, and led the league in both rushing touchdowns and yards in 1962, leading the latter category in 1961 as well. He finished his career on the inaugural roster of the New Orleans Saints. He died October 13, aged 83.
Allen owned the Seattle Seahawks from 1996 until his death on October 15, at the age of 65. Allen left no wife or children, and his estate is believed to be in control of his sister, Jody Allen. Allen was also the owner of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, and part owner of MLS's Seattle Sounders FC.
Benson owned the New Orleans Saints from 1985 until his death on March 15, at the age of 90. His wife Gayle Benson inherited the team.
McNair died November 23 at the age of 81. He had owned the Houston Texans from the time of its establishment in 2002 until his death. His son Cal McNair and his wife Janice McNair are in line to take over as owners, and the government of Harris County, Texas' minority stake in the team would preclude any incoming owner from relocating the team.
Spanos owned the Chargers from 1984 until his death; he had been suffering from senile dementia since 2008 and was not directly involved in the team's relocation from San Diego back to Los Angeles, which was largely orchestrated by his son Dean Spanos, who will head the family consortium that inherits the team. Spanos died October 9, aged 95.
Training camps for the 2018 season were held in late July through August. Teams started training camp no earlier than 15 days before the team's first scheduled preseason game.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, in which the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Chicago Bears 17–16, was played on August 2; and was televised nationally by NBC. The Ravens, who made their first Hall of Fame Game appearance, were represented in the 2018 Hall of Fame class by former linebacker Ray Lewis, while the Bears were represented by former linebacker Brian Urlacher.
The 2018 regular season's 256 games were played over a 17-week schedule that began on September 6. Each of the league's 32 teams played a 16-game schedule, with one bye week for each team. The regular season concluded with a full slate of 16 games on December 30, all of which were intra-division matchups, as it had been since 2010.
NFL Kickoff Game: The 2018 season began with the Kickoff Game on September 6, with the Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles defeating the Atlanta Falcons 18–12.
NFL London Games: Three games were played in London in 2018. All games this year were played at Wembley Stadium. The first game featured the Oakland Raiders, who hosted the Seattle Seahawks on October 14; this game was originally scheduled to be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but was relocated to Wembley when it was determined that Tottenham would not be finished in time. The following week, the Los Angeles Chargers hosted the Tennessee Titans, on October 21, and the Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Philadelphia Eagles on October 28. This was the first time the London games were played on three consecutive weeks, a move the league has taken to try to streamline their London operations.
NFL Mexico Game: The Los Angeles Rams were scheduled to host the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, November 19, at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. However, due to poor field conditions resulting from recent concerts and soccer games at the facility, as well as a "difficult rainy season", the NFL announced on November 13, 2018 that the game would be moved back to the Rams' home stadium of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Although attempts were made to re-sod the field, it failed an inspection by NFL officials. The Rams would beat the Chiefs 54–51, marking the highest-scoring game in Monday Night Football history.
Thanksgiving Day: As has been the case since 2006, three games were played on November 22. The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Redskins, and the New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons in the primetime game.
Christmas Eve game: Christmas Eve, December 24, fell on a Monday in 2018. As was the case in 2007, a Monday Night Football game was scheduled between two western teams—the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos—in their record 18th appearance as a rivalry on Monday Night Football. The game was also notable as potentially being the Raiders' final home game in Oakland before their relocation to Las Vegas.
In week 15, the Texans–Jets started off at 4:30 p.m., while the Browns–Broncos game started at 8:20 p.m. EST, both games broadcast by NFL Network.
In week 16, two games were moved to Saturday, December 22 on NFL Network: The Redskins–Titans game started at 4:30 p.m. EST, while the Ravens–Chargers game started at 8:20 p.m. EST. The other two games that were to possibly be rescheduled, Jaguars–Dolphins and Giants–Colts, remained on Sunday, December 23. This is the first time that games will be rescheduled to a different day (excluding games rescheduled due to severe weather).
Week 7: The Bengals–Chiefs game was flexed from 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS to the 8:20 p.m. EDT slot on NBC, replacing the originally-scheduled Rams–49ers game, which was moved to 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS. This is the earliest NBC flex game since NBC Sports took over the Sunday Night package in 2006.
Week 10: The Dolphins–Packers game was moved from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS. Additionally, the Cardinals–Chiefs game, originally scheduled at 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox, was cross-flexed to CBS, in the same time slot.
Week 11: The Vikings–Bears game was flexed from 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox to 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC, replacing the originally scheduled Steelers–Jaguars game which was moved to 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS. Additionally, the Eagles–Saints game was moved from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox.
Week 12: The Dolphins–Colts game was moved from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS.
Week 13: The Chargers–Steelers game originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS was flexed to 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC, replacing the originally scheduled 49ers–Seahawks game which was moved to 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox.
Week 14: The Rams–Bears game originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox was flexed to 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC, replacing the originally scheduled Steelers–Raiders game which was moved to 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox.
Week 15: The Redskins–Jaguars game originally scheduled at 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox was cross-flexed to CBS, in the same time slot.
Week 16: The Giants–Colts game originally scheduled at 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox was cross-flexed to CBS, in the same time slot.
Week 17: The Colts–Titans game originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS, was selected as the final 8:20 p.m. NBC Sunday Night Football game of the season, which decided the final AFC wild card spot. Also, the Bengals–Steelers, Browns–Ravens, Raiders–Chiefs, Eagles–Redskins, and Bears–Vikings games were moved from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. ET. with no change in network assignment.
^ a b New Orleans finished ahead of LA Rams based on head-to-head victory.
^ a b c Atlanta finished ahead of Washington based on head-to-head victory. Atlanta finished ahead of Carolina based on head-to-head sweep. Washington finished ahead of Carolina based on head-to-head victory.
^ a b NY Giants finished ahead of Tampa Bay based on head-to-head victory.
The 2018 playoffs began on the weekend of January 5–6, 2019, with the Wild Card Playoff round. The four winners of those playoff games visited the top two seeds in each conference in the Divisional round games the weekend of January 12–13. The winners of those games advanced to the Conference Championship games on January 20. (In the event that both Los Angeles teams had advanced to their respective conference championships with both teams as the home team, one of the two games would have been postponed to the evening of January 21.) The 2019 Pro Bowl was held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida on January 27. Super Bowl LIII was held on February 3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Adrian Peterson became the ninth player to rush for 100 touchdowns in a career.
Frank Gore passed Curtis Martin to move up to fourth on the all-time rushing yards list with 14,103 career rushing yards.
Patrick Mahomes became the youngest quarterback to throw six touchdown passes in a game, at age 22 years and 364 days.
Ryan Fitzpatrick became the first quarterback to throw for at least 400 yards in three consecutive games.
Adam Vinatieri kicked his 566th career field goal, breaking the record for most field goals in a career previously held by Morten Andersen.
Tom Brady threw his 500th career touchdown pass, becoming the third quarterback in NFL history to do so (joining Brett Favre and Peyton Manning) and becoming the first to do so playing on one team. On the same pass, Brady threw a touchdown pass to a 71st different receiver, breaking an NFL record previously held by Vinny Testaverde.
Drew Brees became the NFL's all-time leading passer with 71,941 passing yards, surpassing Brett Favre and Peyton Manning in the process.
Tom Brady became the first quarterback in NFL history to reach 200 regular season wins.
Drew Brees became the third quarterback in NFL history to defeat all 32 teams, joining Brett Favre and Peyton Manning. He also became the fourth quarterback to throw 500 career touchdown passes, joining Favre, Manning, and Tom Brady.
Adam Vinatieri set the record for career points scored, with 2,550, breaking a record previously held by Morten Andersen.
Adam Thielen tied Calvin Johnson's record for eight consecutive 100-yard receiving games.
Julio Jones became the fastest player in NFL history to reach 10,000 receiving yards, doing so in 104 games. Jones broke the record previously held by Calvin Johnson, who took 115 games.
Larry Fitzgerald passed Terrell Owens to move to second on the all-time receiving yards list with 15,952 career receiving yards.
The Kansas City Chiefs scored 51 points in a 54–51 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the most points ever scored by a losing team in NFL history. The 105-point aggregate total is also the third highest in NFL history.
The Philadelphia Eagles loss to the New Orleans Saints by 41 points is the largest margin of defeat by a defending Super Bowl champion in NFL history since the inception of the game in 1966.
The Houston Texans won their eighth straight game following an 0–3 start, becoming the first team in NFL history to do so.
Philip Rivers completed 25 consecutive passes to start a game, breaking the record of 22 consecutive completions to start a game previously held by Mark Brunell. This streak also tied Ryan Tannehill's record of 25 consecutive passes at any point in a game. Rivers finished the game completing 28 out of 29 passes (96.6%), breaking the record for completion percentage (92.3%) previously held by Kurt Warner.
Derrick Henry became the second player in NFL history to record a 99 yard rushing touchdown, joining Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett who achieved this in 1982.
Tom Brady became the fourth quarterback to reach 70,000 career passing yards.
The New England Patriots won at least ten games for the 16th straight season, tying a record set by the 1983–98 San Francisco 49ers. They also clinched the AFC East for the tenth consecutive season (extending an NFL record for most consecutive years winning any division) and their tenth straight playoff berth, breaking the previous record of nine straight playoff berths previously held by the Dallas Cowboys (1975–1983) and Indianapolis Colts (2002–2010).
Zach Ertz set a new NFL record for the most catches in a single season by a tight end with 113, breaking a record previously held by Jason Witten.
George Kittle had 1,377 receiving yards on the season, breaking the record for most receiving yards by a tight end previously held by Travis Kelce.
Baker Mayfield threw his 27th touchdown pass of the season breaking the record for most touchdown passes by a rookie quarterback, previously shared by Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson.
Nick Foles completed 25 consecutive passes, tying a record held by Ryan Tannehill and Philip Rivers.
Chris Jones recorded a sack in his 11th consecutive games this season, marking a new NFL record.
The New England Patriots' James White tied the all-time single-game playoff receptions record with 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Julian Edelman caught his 94th post-season reception, moving him to second place all-time, behind only Jerry Rice.
The Patriots defeated the Rams, 13–3, setting a new record for fewest total points (16) scored in a Super Bowl, five points fewer than Super Bowl VII when the Dolphins defeated the Redskins, 14–7.
Tom Brady became the first player to win six Super Bowls, surpassing Charles Haley's five.
Arizona Cardinals Bruce Arians Steve Wilks Retired Arians retired from coaching following the 2017 season, finishing the season with a record of 8–8 (.500) and a cumulative record of 49–30–1 (.619) with two playoff appearances. Wilks was hired on January 22, after serving as a defensive coach for the Chicago Bears, San Diego Chargers, and Carolina Panthers since 2006. Wilks's only previous head coaching experience was at Savannah State in 1999.
Chicago Bears John Fox Matt Nagy Fired Fox was fired after the final game of the 2017 season, finishing the season with a record of 5–11 (.313) and a cumulative record of 14–34 (.292) with no playoff appearances. Nagy spent the past five seasons as an offensive assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs, the last two as offensive coordinator; the Bears hired Nagy on January 8 and this will be his first NFL head coaching job.
Detroit Lions Jim Caldwell Matt Patricia Caldwell was fired after the final game of the 2017 season, finishing the season with a record of 9–7 (.563) and a cumulative record of 36–28 (.563) with two playoff appearances, but having never won a playoff game as head coach of the Lions. Patricia was hired on February 5, the day after losing Super Bowl LII as the New England Patriots defensive coordinator. He had spent his entire NFL career with the Patriots, starting in 2004 as an offensive assistant before working his way up to defensive coordinator in 2012, winning 3 Super Bowls. This will be his first head coaching job.
Indianapolis Colts Chuck Pagano Frank Reich Pagano was fired after the final game of the 2017 season, finishing the season with a record of 4–12 (.250), his first losing season as Colts' head coach, and a cumulative record of 53–43 (.552) with three playoff appearances. On February 6, the Colts announced that they had planned to hire New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as the team's next head coach, however, McDaniels informed the Colts that he had changed his mind and was returning to the Patriots. The Colts then hired Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who was previously a Colts' assistant from 2008–2011. This will be Reich's first head coaching job.
New York Giants Ben McAdoo Steve Spagnuolo Pat Shurmur McAdoo became the Giants' head coach in 2016, leading the Giants to a 13–15 (.464) record over parts of two seasons with one playoff appearance. After accruing a 2–10 (.167) record and benching starter Eli Manning during the season, he was fired on December 4, 2017, and replaced in the interim by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Shurmur was announced as the Giants' new head coach on January 22. He had previously served as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 2011 to 2012, compiling a record of 9–23 (.281), and an offensive coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings since 2013.
Oakland Raiders Jack Del Rio Jon Gruden Del Rio was fired after the 2017 season, finishing the season with a record of 6–10 (.375) and a cumulative record of 25–23 (.521) with one playoff appearance. Gruden, who previously coached the Raiders from 1998 to 2001 and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the end of the 2002 season, confirmed on-air on January 6, that he would be returning to the team as coach. He had spent the previous nine seasons as an on-air analyst for Monday Night Football.
Tennessee Titans Mike Mularkey Mike Vrabel Mutual decision Mularkey and the Titans agreed to part ways after they "couldn't come to an agreement over the future," two days after the Titans' playoff loss to the Patriots. Mularkey had a cumulative record of 20–21 (.488) with one playoff appearance in parts of three seasons with the Titans and guided Tennessee to back-to-back 9–7 (.563) records in his two years as the team's full-time head coach. Vrabel spent the past three seasons as a defensive assistant with the Houston Texans, the last as defensive coordinator; the Titans hired Vrabel on January 20 and this will be his first NFL head coaching job.
Cleveland Browns Hue Jackson Fired Gregg Williams Jackson was fired on October 29, accumulating a 2–5–1 (.313) record during the 2018 season and a 3–36–1 (.088) record for his 2.5-season tenure with the Browns. His dismissal follows a power struggle with offensive coordinator Todd Haley (who was fired at the same time) and the team's 25th consecutive loss away from home; Jackson failed to win a single road game during his tenure and lost every game in 2017. Williams, the team's defensive coordinator, was previously the head coach of the Buffalo Bills from 2001 to 2003, with a record of 17–31 (.354). Jackson currently serves as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Green Bay Packers Mike McCarthy Joe Philbin McCarthy was fired on December 2, shortly after the Packers loss to the Arizona Cardinals. McCarthy leaves with a record of 135–85–2 with nine playoff appearances and one Super Bowl championship. Philbin, the team's offensive coordinator, was previously the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2012-2015, with a record of 24–28 (.462).
Cleveland Browns VP/GM Sashi Brown John Dorsey Fired Brown was fired on December 7, 2017. He had been the team's attorney since 2013 and de facto general manager since 2016. Dorsey was named the new general manager hours later.
Green Bay Packers GM Ted Thompson Brian Gutekunst Reassigned Thompson, who had been the team's general manager since 2005, became the team's senior advisor to football operations. Brian Gutekunst, who had been the team's director of player personnel since 2016, was promoted to become the team's new general manager on January 7.
Houston Texans GM Rick Smith Brian Gaine Medical leave Smith announced that he would take a leave of absence to care for his wife, who is battling breast cancer. He will remain Executive Vice President of Football Operations. Former Buffalo Bills' vice president of player personnel, Brian Gaine, was named the new general manager on January 13, 2018. Previously, Gaine was Texans' director of pro personnel and then director of player personnel from 2014 to 2016.
New York Giants GM Jerry Reese Kevin Abrams Dave Gettleman Fired Having been in the organization since 1994, Reese was the Giants' general manager since 2007, leading them to two Super Bowl championships and several years of success. He was fired on December 4 along with head coach Ben McAdoo. He was replaced in the interim by assistant general manager Kevin Abrams. Dave Gettleman, previously general manager of the Carolina Panthers and a 14-year veteran of the Giants' front office (from 1999 to 2012), was hired on December 28, 2017.
Buffalo Bills President Russ Brandon Kim Pegula Resigned Brandon resigned his position on May 1, 2018. A newspaper report claimed that Brandon was the subject of an internal investigation regarding his personal conduct and workplace behavior, which neither the Bills nor Brandon mentioned in separate statements regarding his departure; Brandon stated he is seeking other opportunities after spending 20 years with the Bills franchise. He was immediately succeeded by co-owner Kim Pegula.
Oakland Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie Shaun Herock Mike Mayock Fired McKenzie was fired on December 10, 2018 after six-plus seasons as Raiders' GM. Herock, current teams' Director of College Scouting, served as the Raiders’ interim General Manager until Oakland hired Mike Mayock on December 31, 2018.
Two teams, the Carolina Panthers and Oakland Raiders, are entering the final year of their lease agreements with their current stadium.
On December 17, 2017, Jerry Richardson, the Panthers' founding owner, announced he was putting the team up for sale. Richardson had previously indicated the team would be put up for sale after his death, but Richardson was accused of paying hush money to cover up questionable conduct, including racial slurs and sexually suggestive requests of employees, hastening Richardson's decision. The Panthers' lease on Bank of America Stadium expires after the 2018 season, which would allow any incoming owner to relocate the team out of Charlotte, North Carolina, to another market if they so desired, only being liable for the remaining debt from stadium renovation. At an estimated $35 million, the debt payment would be a small expense compared to the relocation fee the NFL charged for the two teams that relocated in 2016 and 2017. The two most likely candidates to buy the team as of May 2018[update] were David Tepper, a hedge fund manager with a higher net worth and a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers but fewer ties to Charlotte; and Ben Navarro, a financial services CEO based in Charlotte who had the backing of Richardson's only living son. Tepper was announced as the new owner on May 16, with the announcement coming in time for the league to vote on his bid at the owners meeting on May 19. The sale closed on July 9 with Richardson-era chief operating officer Tina Becker (who ran the franchise after Richardson stepped away from operations) resigning. Tepper immediately stated the franchise would retain the Carolina Panthers name for the time being, but that a new stadium would likely be necessary; he stated that he hoped to build said stadium in Charlotte but would not guarantee the team remains there, claiming he did not know enough about the situation to guarantee the team stays in the Charlotte area.
The Raiders, prior to the 2017 season, committed to relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada, once a new stadium is constructed for them in 2020. In 2016, the Raiders signed a three-year extension with the Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders could choose to stay in the Oakland Coliseum for 2019 with another year-to-year extension or move to Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, which is undersized but (because of the Los Angeles Chargers' use of the even smaller StubHub Center) would not be the smallest stadium in the NFL. Management at the Oakland Coliseum has indicated they are unwilling to extend their agreement with the Raiders after 2018, which could force the team to move to Sam Boyd Stadium in 2019. In order to secure another season in Oakland, California, Coliseum management indicated in September 2017 that the Raiders would need to offer major concessions to compensate for the financial losses the Coliseum incurs by hosting Raiders games.
With the city of Oakland filing a lawsuit against the Raiders and the NFL in December 2018, the Raiders management has indicated that the team will leave Oakland after the 2018 season and find a temporary stadium elsewhere until Las Vegas Stadium is finished.
On September 4, University of Phoenix Stadium, the home field of the Arizona Cardinals, was renamed State Farm Stadium. The naming rights agreement is for 18 years; however, the cost of the deal was not disclosed.
On June 20, the Denver Broncos' home stadium was renamed Broncos Stadium at Mile High. The sporting goods chain Sports Authority had held naming rights to the stadium's field (as "Sports Authority Field at Mile High") but had gone out of business in 2016. The previous signage referring to Sports Authority was removed in March. The Broncos hope to resell the naming rights to the stadium to another corporate sponsor in the near future.
On February 16, EverBank Field, the home field of the Jacksonville Jaguars, was renamed TIAA Bank Field, after TIAA's 2017 acquisition of EverBank. The naming rights agreement was for 10 years and $43 million.
The Color Rush program was discontinued, and teams were no longer required to wear the special uniforms for Thursday Night Football. Initial plans, which were finalized at the league's owners meeting in May, are for teams to have the option to continue using the existing Nike designs for the program as standard third jerseys.
Chicago Bears: The Bears brought back their orange alternate jerseys that the team wore from 2005–2009 and 2011. The team announced that the orange uniforms will be worn twice in 2018, and the team will use the navy blue "Monsters of the Midway" throwbacks for one game.
Jacksonville Jaguars: On April 19, the Jaguars simplified their uniforms in a similar look they had used before 2013. Gold was also eliminated from their previous jerseys and the gradient black and gold helmet was reverted to an all-black gloss shell.
Los Angeles Rams: On July 27, the Rams announced that due to overwhelming fan demand the NFL relaxed their alternate uniform policy and has permitted them to use their royal blue and yellow throwbacks as their color jerseys for the next two seasons until they present entirely new ones in 2020. When using their white jerseys, the team will still have to use their current set carried over from St. Louis albeit from slight modifications they made to them in 2017.
Miami Dolphins: On April 19, the Dolphins simplified their uniform outlines to take after their classic aqua-and-orange look. Dark blue was removed from everything but the logo. For the second straight year, the Dolphins will wear their official throwback jerseys twice in 2018.
Tennessee Titans: On April 4, the Titans introduced new uniforms. Most prominent among the changes is the helmet, which is changing from the white color the team had used since the 1970s (as the Houston Oilers) to navy blue. The color patterns are also simplified, with a new number typeface inspired both by Greek lettering and the shape of the state of Tennessee.
Pittsburgh Steelers: On May 30, the Steelers unveiled a throwback uniform, that was worn in the late 1970s. Team owner Art Rooney II announced that the team will wear the uniforms for one game.
San Francisco 49ers: On May 23, 49ers unveiled a new all-white throwback uniform, that was worn in 1994, the year the team won its most recent Super Bowl. The team announced that they will be worn for one game.
Green Bay Packers: On April 9, the Packers unveiled a patch to commemorate their 100th season.
Indianapolis Colts: On April 10, the Colts unveiled a patch to commemorate their 35th season in Indianapolis.
Los Angeles Chargers: The Chargers silently added a patch to commemorate the death of team owner Alex Spanos (and his wife Faye, who died in August) before Week 9's game against the Seahawks.
New Orleans Saints: On August 9, the Saints unveiled a patch to commemorate the death of team owner Tom Benson, featuring Benson in silhouette holding his second line umbrella above his initials.
Seattle Seahawks: On October 26, the Seahawks unveiled a patch to commemorate the death of team owner Paul Allen, featuring his "PGA" initials below the team's 12th Man flag.
This will be the fifth year under the current broadcast contracts with ESPN, CBS, Fox, and NBC. This includes "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season (regardless of the conference of the visiting team). NBC will continue to air Sunday Night Football, the annual Kickoff game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game. ESPN will continue to air Monday Night Football and the Pro Bowl. CBS will broadcast Super Bowl LIII.
On January 31, the NFL announced that Fox had acquired the broadcast television rights to the Thursday Night Football package under a five-year deal (aligned with the remainder of the NFL's current broadcast contracts). Fox aired 11 games, in simulcast with NFL Network, with the remaining games in the package airing exclusively on NFL Network to satisfy its carriage contracts (with local broadcasts syndicated broadcast stations in the markets of the teams in each game). CBS and NBC had made bids to renew their previous contracts (CBS had held the rights since 2014, joined by NBC since 2016), but were reluctant to pay a higher rights fee due to the league's ratings downturn.
The NFL agreed to an extension of its digital rights agreement with Verizon Communications under a 5-year, $2.5 billion deal. Unlike the previous deal, it no longer includes exclusivity for streaming in-market and nationally televised NFL games on mobile devices with screens 7 inches (18 cm) or less in size (such as smartphones), in order to account for changes in viewing habits, but still includes enhanced access to highlights and other digital content for Verizon-owned properties. In addition, Verizon announced that it would no longer make these streams exclusive to Verizon Wireless subscribers, and would leverage its portfolio of media brands (such as Yahoo!, which it acquired in 2017) to distribute them to a larger audience. All of the NFL's current television partners have added mobile streaming rights (which were previously reserved to Verizon) to their existing contracts for the 2018 season, with telecasts becoming available via CBS All Access, the Fox Sports App, the ESPN app, and the NBC Sports app. Under the terms of the agreement, Verizon must give the majority of the advertising revenue to the broadcast partners.
On April 26, 2018, the NFL announced that it had reached a two-year extension of its agreement with Amazon for shared digital rights to the Thursday Night Football games simulcast with Fox, with a 15% increase in rights fees. To fulfill a request that the streams be available freely, the games will also be made available on Twitch, an Amazon-owned streaming service that was originally designed for video game streaming.
Both of the NFL's national radio contracts, Westwood One for English language and Entravision for Spanish language, expired after the 2017 season. Westwood One's parent company Cumulus Media filed for bankruptcy in November 2017 and began terminating national broadcast contracts and sports agreements in January 2018, putting any contract extensions on hold. The company emerged from bankruptcy on June 4, 2018.
With the release of the 2018 schedule, NFL.com listed ESPN Deportes Radio (which had shared NFL rights with Entravision in 2017 and had carried Super Bowl LII) as the league's national Spanish-language broadcaster. The national English-language broadcaster was still identified as Westwood One, which Westwood One has also confirmed; no press release has been issued in regard to a contract extension with that network, and it is unknown when the current arrangement was signed or when it will end. Additionally, Westwood One removed Sunday afternoon games from their package, instead focusing on the primetime matchups as well as the postseason. SportsUSA, Compass and ESPN Radio, which also has broadcast select Sunday afternoon NFL games, will continue to do so. Meanwhile, Entravision extended the Sunday night rights for 3 years, through 2021, and gained two Super Bowls, the entire AFC Playoff package, the Thursday Night Opener, and a Thanksgiving Day game as part of their new deal.
Only one game into the pre-season, Indianapolis Colts announcer Bob Lamey, who had been with the team for most of the time since their 1984 relocation from Baltimore, retired suddenly after a complaint of him using a racial slur in the 1980s was revealed. Sideline reporter Matt Taylor was named his de facto replacement for the season.
Greg Papa, after 21 years calling play-by-play for the Oakland Raiders, joined the San Francisco 49ers as their play-by-play announcer; Papa cited an ongoing feud with Raiders owner Mark Davis for his departure. Replacing Papa with the Raiders is Brent Musburger, who came out of retirement from sports announcing to sign a three-year deal with the team that will see him serve as broadcaster through the team's relocation to Las Vegas (Musburger maintains a side business, the Vegas Sports Information Network, in Las Vegas).
All four broadcast partners will employ rules analysts for the 2018 season, citing changes in the league's rules that have become too complicated for its broadcast teams to handle. NBC hired Terry McAulay to be their rules analyst for Sunday Night Football. CBS hired Gene Steratore to fill their rules analyst position, a position that had been vacant since CBS released Mike Carey in 2015. ESPN hired Jeff Triplette for Monday Night Football. Fox retained both Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino. Additionally, Pereira assists with Fox's Thursday Night Football Coverage.
ESPN introduced a fully new broadcast team for Monday Night Football. Joe Tessitore replaced Sean McDonough as lead play-by-play man; McDonough will remain with ESPN as a college football announcer. With previous color analyst Jon Gruden returning to coaching, Monday Night Football hired Jason Witten and Booger McFarland as their color commentators; while McFarland offers his commentary from the sidelines, he fills a role similar to the "non-football" player position that Monday Night Football has traditionally relied upon in its past three-person booths (such as Howard Cosell, Dennis Miller and Tony Kornheiser). Lisa Salters, the sideline reporter, carries over from the previous broadcast team. Jeff Triplette will replace Gerald Austin as rules analyst.
Fox initially had planned to hire a new broadcast team for its Thursday Night Football, making an overture to Peyton Manning to serve as color commentator. Since Manning declined the offer, the network announced that it will be placing its existing lead broadcast team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the package, reducing the number of games the duo will call on Sundays (Buck and Aikman will only call the nationally televised "America's Game of the Week" telecasts on Sundays). A version of Fox NFL Sunday will serve as the lead-in to Thursday Night Football, without Curt Menefee or Jimmy Johnson; the show will instead be hosted by panelist Michael Strahan from New York City, displacing Rich Eisen, the studio host for Thursday night pregame since the package's inception in 2006. Strahan will be joined by fellow Fox colleagues Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long.
In previous seasons, Buck did not call any NFL games during late October, working Major League Baseball playoff games instead. For 2018, Fox coordinated its schedule with MLB so that none of its scheduled broadcasts would land on a Thursday (Fox carries the NLCS and the World Series), so Buck will continue to broadcast both sports, crisscrossing the country in seven cities over a 22-day period.
In addition, NBC introduced a new studio team for Football Night in America. Mike Tirico, who was the on-site host and secondary play-by-play announcer in 2017, became the show's studio host from Stamford, Connecticut, while Liam McHugh moved into Tirico's former role. Dan Patrick, who had been the studio host for FNiA since 2008, declined to sign a long-term contract and left NBC.
On radio, Kurt Warner replaced Boomer Esiason as the color commentator for Westwood One's Monday Night Football broadcasts, after Esiason had filled the role for the previous 18 years. Esiason will continue as a studio host for CBS.
In a surprise announcement made two days before its first game, Amazon announced it would provide its own broadcast team for its eleven games, with Hannah Storm and Andrea Kremer serving as the lead broadcast team. The announcement makes Kremer the first-ever female color analyst for an NFL game, the first time a game has been broadcast with no men involved in the broadcast team, and the first time since the 1987 season of ESPN Sunday Night NFL that no former coach or player served on the broadcast team in any capacity. Amazon will offer the standard Fox broadcast team, a British broadcasting team, and a Spanish language feed as alternate audio choices.
The kick-off times for all three primetime series were moved up to start 5 to 15 minutes earlier to facilitate local newscasts and SportsCenter to start earlier and cause less disruption to late night television schedules in the Eastern and Central time zones. Thursday and Sunday Night games now kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET, while Monday Night games now kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET.
After two years of decline, television viewership for the NFL slightly rebounded in 2018, with ratings up 3% as a whole through the first ten weeks of the season, despite a major decline (16%) in other programming on the same networks. The season finished with ratings up 5% compared to 2017.
^ PHI/DAL was shown in 84% of the markets durinig the late doubleheader time slot of Fox coverage.
^ NE/PIT was shown in 100% of the markets during the late doubleheader time slot of CBS coverage.
^ PIT/NO was shown in 100% of the markets during the late doubleheader time slot of CBS coverage.
^ PIT/DEN was shown in 87% of the markets during the late doubleheader time slot of CBS coverage.
^ DAL/CAR was shown in 80% of the markets during the late doubleheader time slot of Fox coverage.
^ MIN/NE was shown in 90% of the markets during the late doubleheader time slot of Fox coverage.
^ DAL/SEA was shown in 85% of the markets during the late doubleheader time slot of Fox coverage.
^ "2018 NFL Free Agent Tracker". Retrieved March 15, 2018.
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The central European land that is now Austria was overrun in pre-Roman times by various tribes, including the Celts. After the fall of the Roman Empire, of which Austria was part, the area was invaded by Bavarians and Slavic Avars. Charlemagne conquered the area in 788 and encouraged colonization and Christianity. In 1252, Ottokar, king of Bohemia, gained possession, only to lose the territories to Rudolf of Hapsburg in 1278. Thereafter, until World War I, Austria's history was largely that of its ruling house, the Hapsburgs. Austria emerged from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as the continent's dominant power. The Ausgleich of 1867 provided for a dual sovereignty, the empire of Austria and the kingdom of Hungary, under Franz Joseph I, who ruled until his death on Nov. 21, 1916. The Austrian-Hungarian minority rule of this immensely diverse empire, which included German, Czech, Romanian, Serbian, and many other lands, became increasingly difficult in an age of emerging nationalist movements. When Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo in 1914, World War I, as well as the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, began.
During World War I, Austria-Hungary was one of the Central powers with Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and the conflict left the country in political chaos and economic ruin. Austria was proclaimed a republic in 1918, and the monarchy was dissolved in 1919. A parliamentary democracy was set up by the constitution of Nov. 10, 1920. To check the power of Nazis advocating union with Germany, Chancellor Engelbert Dolfuss in 1933 established a dictatorship, but he was assassinated by the Nazis on July 25, 1934. Kurt von Schuschnigg, his successor, struggled to keep Austria independent, but on March 12, 1938, German troops occupied the country, and Hitler proclaimed its Anschluss (union) with Germany, annexing it to the Third Reich.
After World War II, the U.S. and Britain declared the Austrians a “liberated” people, but the Russians prolonged the occupation. Finally Austria concluded a state treaty with the USSR and the other occupying powers and regained its independence on May 15, 1955. The second Austrian republic was established on 19 December 1945.
On June 8, 1986, former UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim was elected to the ceremonial office of president in a campaign marked by controversy over his alleged links to Nazi war crimes in Yugoslavia. Austria became a member of the European Union in 1995.
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Berchtesgaden (German pronunciation: [bɛʁçtəzˈɡaːdən]) is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich. It is situated north of the Nationalpark Berchtesgaden.
Berchtesgaden is often associated with the Mount Watzmann, at 2713 m the third-highest mountain in Germany (after Zugspitze and Hochwanner), which is renowned in the rock climbing community for its Ostwand (East Face), and a deep glacial lake by the name of Königssee (5.2 km²). Another notable peak is the Kehlstein mountain (1835 m) with its Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), which offers spectacular views to its visitors.
Berchtesgaden's neighbouring towns are Bischofswiesen, Marktschellenberg, Ramsau and Schönau am Königssee.
First historical note dates back to 1102 and it mentions the area because of its rich salt deposits. Much of Berchtesgaden's wealth has been derived from its salt mines. The town served as independent Fürstpropstei until the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803. During the Napoleonic wars, Berchtesgaden changed hands a few times such as in 1805 under the Treaty of Pressburg when the area was ceded to Austria. Salzburg was always interested in Berchtesgaden and French troops occupied the area a short time. Berchtesgaden came under Bavarian rule in 1810 and became instantly popular with the Bavarian royal family, which often visited Königssee and maintained a royal hunting residence in the town itself. Nascent tourism started to evolve and a number of artists came to the area, which reportedly gave rise to "Malereck" (literally painter's corner) on the shore of Königssee. The most famous author who lived in Berchtesgaden was Ludwig Ganghofer.
The area of Obersalzberg was purchased by the Nazis in the 1920s for their senior leaders to enjoy. Hitler's mountain residence, the Berghof, was located here. Berchtesgaden and its environs (Stanggass) were fitted to serve as an outpost of the German Reichskanzlei office (Imperial Chancellery), which sealed the area's fate as a strategic objective for Allied forces in World War II. Some typical Third Reich buildings in Berchtesgaden include the railway station, that had a reception area for Hitler and his guests, and the post office next to the railway station. The Berchtesgadener Hof Hotel was a hotel where famous visitors stayed, such as Eva Braun, Erwin Rommel, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler, as well as Neville Chamberlain and David Lloyd George. The hotel was torn down in 2006. There is a museum on the spot now, called Haus der Berge.
A number of other relics of the Nazi era can still be found in the area, although only few of them are still well preserved. There is the Kehlsteinhaus (nicknamed "Eagle's Nest" by a French diplomat), which was built as a present for Hitler's 50th birthday in 1939. The remnants of homes of former Nazi leaders such as Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring and Martin Bormann were all demolished in the early post war years.
The Platterhof was retained and served as a retreat for the American military. It was known as the General Walker Hotel. It was demolished in 2000. The only remaining buildings are the former SS HQ at Hotel Zum Türken and the Kehlsteinhaus. A small part of the Platterhof is also still there. The information centre on the mountain is the former guesthouse Höher Göll. It has an entrance to the Obersalzberg bunker system.
After the war, Obersalzberg became a military zone and most of its buildings were seized by the US Army. Hotel Platterhof was rebuilt and renamed General Walker Hotel in 1952. It served as an integral part of the US Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) for the duration of the Cold War and beyond. The Berghof was demolished in 1953.
In 1995, 50 years after the end of World War II and five years after German reunification, the AFRC Berchtesgaden was turned over to Bavarian authorities to facilitate military spending reductions mandated within the Base Realignment and Closure programme by the United States Congress and the Pentagon during the administration of US President Bill Clinton. The General Walker Hotel was demolished shortly thereafter. Its ruins, along with the remnants of the Berghof, were removed in 1996 to make room for a new bus station serving the bus line to the Kehlsteinhaus and a for the new InterContinental Hotel Resort. The former guest house "Hoher Goell" now serves a new documentation centre. It is the first German museum of its kind to chronicle the entire span of World War II in one spot.
In 1972, local government reform united the then independent municipalities of Salzberg, Maria Gern and Au (consisting of Oberau and Unterau) under the administration of the town of Berchtesgaden. Another suggested reform uniting all remaining five municipalities in Berchtesgaden valley (Bischofswiesen, Ramsau, Marktschellenberg and Schönau) failed to gain enough popular support; it passed in Berchtesgaden and failed everywhere else.
The Nationalpark Berchtesgaden was established in 1978 and has gradually become one of Berchtesgaden's largest draws. Luckily, mass tourism is confined to a few popular spots, which gives alternative, nature seeking tourists more than enough space to find peace and quiet in the park. Major tourist draws are the Königssee, the salt mine (with a new sound and light show inaugurated in 2007), the Kehlsteinhaus and the new Dokumentationszentrum Obersalzberg.
Recreational and competitive sports have also grown in importance. Although Berchtesgaden's ski slopes are not among the largest in the Alps, they can easily accommodate everyone; from beginners to very competitive skiers and boarders. The Königssee bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track has hosted ski-running and a number of international bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events and competitions. Berchtesgaden's most famous sports personality is Georg Hackl, a multiple Olympic medal winner. The city is also home to the International Luge Federation (FIL).
Berchtesgaden has virtually no manufacturing industry, unlike the northern part of Berchtesgadener Land and the Salzburg area.
There is a Berchtesgaden train stop in Salzburgerland.
The ski mountaineers Silvia Treimer, Judith and Franz Graßl were born in Berchtesgaden.
PhotoGlobe - Berchtesgadener Land offers high quality photos of the area around Berchtesgaden together with GPS coordinates.
Berchtesgaden is a small, picturesque and historic town (population 9,000) located in the southeast of the German state of Bavaria, within a small enclave surrounded on three sides by the Austrian border. The town lies some 30 km south of the Austrian city of Salzburg and some 180 km south-east of Munich.
The town is located in a valley at 500 to 1100 m altitude in the south-eastern part of the German Alps and is surrounded by high mountains called Untersberg in the North, Obersalzberg in the east and further south by the Watzmann. Berchtesgaden and neighbouring Bad Reichenhall are famous for their salt mines. The production of table salt guaranteed in the medieval ages a safe source of revenue and it still does today. Therefore, a visit to the salt mine of Berchtesgaden is definitely on the to do list.
In more recent history, the name of Berchtesgaden became well known to the general public for more unfortunate reasons: the Nazi dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, had his summer getaway on the peak in a complex of buildings known as the Berghof at Obersalzberg. A house was built for him at the peak of the mountain above Obersalzberg, but he only visited it a couple of times. It is known in German as the Kehlsteinhaus, and was dubbed “The Eagles Nest” by the occupying American forces after the war. All the buildings and bunkers of the Berghof were destroyed at the end of the World War II and nowadays a documentation centre can be found close to the place on the Obersalzberg. The Kehlsteinhaus is accessible via bus from Obersalzberg, and has now been converted to a restaurant.
Berchtesgaden has its fair share of tourism all around the year, and has retained its original charming character. House fronts around the market place, palace and elsewhere in Berchtesgaden are decorated with murals.
Standard German is well understood in Bavaria; most local people, however, speak their local dialect between themselves. Being a tourist destination, English and often French are usually understood.
International travellers wishing to visit Bavaria and Berchtesgaden should have no problems to book a flight to Munich, home to a large international airport. Alternatively, if there is no direct flight to Munich with your airline, you could book a flight via Frankfurt and travel to Munich with the ICE high speed train. Alternatively you can fly to Salzburg in Austria and travel then to Berchtesgaden via train (70 minutes) or bus (~40 minutes), both direct connections. The distances are only 20 km from Salzburg and about 190 km from Munich Airport. Crossing the German-Austrian border is no problem due to the Schengen Treaty.
Berchtesgaden has a train station and is well connected to Munich and Frankfurt. From Austria, a train from Salzburg is likely the best option.
Driving from Munich on the A8 to Salzburg you find Berchtesgaden sign posted shortly before the Austrian border and it is another 20 km from there to Berchtesgaden. (If you travel in a hire car make sure that you pre-order winter equipment since most of the rental car companies in Germany provide you only with “summer wheels” which are most unsuitable in and around Berchtesgaden from October to April). Note also that in order to drive on a motorway in Austria it is necessary to purchase and display a 'vignette', or tax disk. These can be bought from roadside service stations.
The bus system in Berchtesgaden is as good as in the rest of Bavaria: buses run twice or once an hour and you can reach the outmost places with them. Be sure to get a timetable (”Busfahrplan“).
Kehlsteinhaus (the "Eagle's Nest") is located at 1,834 m altitude on top of Berchtesgaden and provides a marvellous and unforgettable view over the eastern alps. You can reach it by foot, public transport, but it is not accessible by car. The Kehlsteinhaus was constructed as a present for Hitler on his 50th birthday, although he visited relatively few times. However, the house is interesting as a historical site because it remains with only minor alterations from its original state. At the end of the war, the famed American 101st Airborne Division took control of the house, and it was spared from the destruction suffered by other Nazi leadership buildings in Berchtesgaden, although most of the Nazi era artifacts were looted. Tickets for this attraction can be purchased at the tour center above Berchtesgaden in the village of Obersalzberg.
Königsee is located 3 miles south of Berchtesgaden and is famous for the lake Königsee, which is the deepest lake in the alps and is surrounded by very steep mountain that raise up 2000 m above the lake level. You can make a boat trip to the other side of the lake to visit the world famous “Kloster St. Bartolomä”, the smaller lake “Obersee” and enjoy the wildlife of the national park. Hiking is very popular in summer and tours around the lake are sign posted. Routes are prepared by the “Deutsche Alpenverein” and they indicate usually how long it takes to get to your destination and they indicate how difficult they are.
Jenner Mountain is on the east side of the Königssee and due to the cable car an easy possibility to have an excellent view over the Berchtesgaden valley.
The Hintersee is a small lake in nearby Ramsau b. Berchtesgaden.
Berchtesgaden Salt Mine is one of the two saltmines in the Salzberg. The other one is on the Austrian side.
Rossfeld is 3 miles from Berchtesgaden and 1600 m high a very beautiful spot for walks in the sunshine and above the clouds or skiing. There are several restaurants that offer local food at reasonable pricing and you can rest there and take a bath in the sun on chairs that are provided on a rental bases. The Rossfeld can be reached on a toll road or by bus. The toll road is very well maintained and free of snow and ice all around the year.
Obersalzbergbahn is the second, smaller cable car in Berchtesgaden and will bring you onto the Obersalzberg but not upon it's top. The the upper station you can enjoy a summer bob sledding run.
Despite being in a remote location, Berchtesgaden and nearby Königsee possess world class sport facilities. The bobsleigh run (Bobbahn) at Königssee is regular venue for world-cup races, but tourists also can run it down in guest-bobs. The ice arena (“Eishalle”) in Berchtesgaden is opened half the year and popular among locals and sportsmen from nearby Austria. There's a cheap combi-ticket for ice arena and “Watzmanntherme”. The Therme is just a few meters away and probably unmatched for being embedded in a spectacular scenic landscape, surrounded by mountains and snow caped peaks and features as giant action whirl pool, hydro massage facilities, salt water pools, 80m slide with light and sound effects www.watzmanntherme.de.
Around Berchtesgaden are several slopes for skiing such as Golf and Ski am Obersalzberg, Götschen, Rossfeld and Jenner. First one is fitted for beginners, the Jenner is for advanced skiers. There are also several runs for cross-country skiing and very advanced skiers might be interested in ski touring in the Berchtesgaden Alps. From late January on sunny weather is common but the risk of avalanches is rising.
If you stay in Berchtesgaden you will have significant reduction of most entrance fees via the “Kurtaxe”.
You will find plenty of nice and original Bavarian restaurants as well as Greek, Chinese, Turkish and Italian restaurants. The pricing in most places is modest by German standards and international visitors will often view that as a bargain. Obviously being in Bavaria and in the middle of the alps you should try the local specialities such as Knödel, Schweinehaxe, wild deer (very seldom), Bratwurst, Leberkase, Weisswurst, Kartoffelsalat, Gulasch Bratkartoffeln, Kaiserschmarn, fish - and lots of more things.
Berggaststätte Kehlsteinhaus 1.834 m 83471 Berchtesgaden Obersalzberg +49(0)8652/2969. Enjoy your drink and food above the clouds.
Braustüberl Berchtesgaden Brauhausstraße 13 83471 Berchtesgaden +49(0)8652/976724. This is local beer brewery and a possibility to taste Berchtesgadener beer.
Gasthaus Bier-Adam Marktplatz 22 83471 Berchtesgaden +49(0)8652/2390. If you like to enjoy dinner in a smoke free atmosphere go here.
Gasthof Goldener Bär Weihnachtsschützenplatz 4 83471 Berchtesgaden +49(0)8652/2590. Good local food, a bit smoky though.
Bavarians love their beer and one of the most beloved is the wheat beer (Weißbier). It is a cloudy, unfiltered beer commonly consumed earlier in the day with a Weißwurst and sweet mustard. In the cold wintertime it is nice to finish your diner with a local “Schnaps” from the Enzian Brauerei Grassl. It makes you feel nice and warm after a long day out on slopes.
There is a good range of accommodation ranging from budget to moderately expensive. Many local people enjoy “bed and breakfast” for a very good price. You can spot those places by searching for the signs that read “Zimmer frei” or “Zimmer zu vermieten”, or use the web link from Berchtesgadener Land. In the last years holiday flats became very popular, you will find them via “Ferienwohnung”.
Treff Alpenhotel Kronprinz Berchtesgaden, am Brandholz. Near the city center.
Hotel InterContinental Resort Berchtesgaden, situated high above Berchtesgaden on the Obersalzberg. The hotel is a modern building and offers rooms and suites for up to 2500 Euro/day and is therefore Berchtesgaden's most expensive place to sleep.
BERCHTESGADEN, a town of Germany, beautifully situated on the south-eastern confines of the kingdom of Bavaria, 1700 ft. above the sea on the southern declivity of the Untersberg, 6 m. S.S.E. from Reichenhall by rail. Pop. (1900) 10,046. It is celebrated for its extensive mines of rock-salt, which were worked as early as 1174. The town contains three old churches, of which the early Gothic abbey church with its Romanesque cloister is most notable, and some good houses. Apart from the salt-mines, its industries include toys and other small articles of wood, horn and ivory, for which the place has long been famous. The district of Berchtesgaden was formerly an independent spiritual principality, founded in ltoo and secularized in 1803. The abbey is now a royal castle, and in the neighbourhtood a hunting-lodge was built by King Maximilian II. in 1852.
Berchtesgaden (IPA: [bɛʁçtəsˈgaːdən]) is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is found in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border to Austria. It lies north of the Nationalpark Berchtesgaden.
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If you’re planning a vacation to Disney World, ask twenty different people what their favorite planning tip is, and you’ll get thirty different answers!
Vacationing is meant to be fun, but with Advanced Dining Reservations, FastPass+, Extra Magic Hours, and ParkHoppers, a Disney World vacation can seem pretty daunting. It doesn’t have to be, though!
If you’re aware of some insider information, you can navigate your vacation planning and the parks with no problem even on the busiest days!
I’ve compiled the top 15 Disney vacation planning secrets that only the pros know, and I’m going to share them with you!
This one is a little tricky because Disney doesn’t offer many specials, but they can occasionally be found.
For starters, if you’re an Annual Passholder, a Disney Vacation Club Member, a Disney Visa cardholder, a AAA member, or a member of the military, you can get discounts on everything from park tickets to souvenirs. Check with Disney for details if any of these apply to you.
Disney is well known for offering two deals: free dining or room discounts. When the free dining is available, people often run for it, but the room discount can be the better value since the dining plans usually include more food than most people will eat, and you pay full rate for an expensive room. Plus, you don’t have to purchase a Magic Your Way Package to get a room discount and you do with free dining.
Finally, unless you’re a Cast Member, you won’t get employee discounts. However, Epcot has several pavilions that are sponsored by companies and this comes with perks. For example, Chevrolet sponsors Test Track. It has a special lounge designated for employees of these company who are visiting the parks. The Epcot lounges are beautiful and well appointed, so if you work for a company that sponsors an Epcot attraction, be sure to check into your eligibility!
Ticket prices for theme parks rise every year, so if you know well in advance that you’re going to be visiting Disney World, go ahead and buy your tickets. You’ll have to know what kind of ticket you’re going to buy (Park Hopper, water parks and More, etc.) but you just might save some money if the tickets get a price hike.
If you can buy things in a package, it’s sometimes a better deal. A Magic Your Way vacation package includes transportation to and from Orlando International, transportation around Disney property, park tickets, lodging, and sometimes a Disney Dining Plan. Buying all of this as a package can save you a significant amount of money as opposed to buying them individually. If you can bundle in Free Dining, you’ll get even bigger perks!
However, be sure to check the math. Price out your choices both ways to see which is a better deal. Run the numbers yourself, or get help from a recommended travel agent who specializes in Disney vacations.
Just because you paid for your tickets, lodging, and dining in advance, doesn’t mean you won’t have some costs in the parks. Although Disney is pretty good about being inclusive, you’ll still have some expenses – not least of all souvenirs. If you’re driving, you’ll have to pay for parking and you should tip anyone that provides you a service. If you plan on renting a locker in the park, that will be extra, too. And there’s no doubt you’ll want a Mickey Ice Cream at some point during your visit. Budgeting for these expenses ahead of time will help you be prepared when these expenses arise.
Disney uses demand pricing, and Magic Kingdom is the most expensive park. On the busiest days, Magic Kingdom tickets are well over three figures. On slower days, the cost is just over $100. Other parks are around $100 for peak days and you’ll save even more on slower days. Basically, a one-day park ticket will cost you about the same as a Broadway show.
If you can be flexible with your travel dates though, you can maximize your savings by visiting during the least expensive value days. Value days are usually when students are in school including January, February, and September. Most of March, June, and July are peak for spring and summer vacations, and the other months are regular. The exceptions are during Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are peak for school breaks.
Another secret with ticket discounts is to buy an annual pass. It might seem counter intuitive, but you can actually save money by spending more initially. This works in a couple ways.
First, AP holders are eligible for discounts in restaurants, resorts, and gift shops among other things. Plus, you get free parking! Even if one person in your group has the annual pass, you’ll get these discounts.
Second, you can save money on park tickets by getting an annual pass if you’re going to visit more than one time in a calendar year (no more than 364 days between check in one and check in two).
Here’s how it works: Say you’re going to take the family on a Disney vacation for Thanksgiving this year, and you want to see Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party next year. Go ahead and get your annual pass in November (it’ll be activated when you first use it in the parks) then come back next October for Halloween. You won’t have to purchase tickets the second time around because your annual pass will cover it! If you can plan this far in advance and visit for a longer stretch, it can result in a huge savings!
Fortunately, Disney World has something for everyone! The littlest riders will love Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Peter Pan’s Flight while the more adventurous thrill seekers will get their kicks on Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. However, when both of these people are in the same family, things can get tricky.
Choose parks that best fit your needs and work your touring plan accordingly. If you want to go to all the parks but you only have a few days, be sure to get the Park Hopper. If you’re going to be in Disney for a week, you might not need the Park Hopper since you’ll have enough days to devote one day (or more) to each park.
You should also consider whether you’ll be visiting the water parks. The Water Parks and More Option is a popular but pricey ticket upgrade. If your family really likes big water slides and attractions, the water parks are for you! However, if you just want to splash around and maybe hit a few slides, choose a Disney World Resort that has these features as many of the Deluxe resorts do. Stormalong Bay at Disney’s Yacht Club and Disney’s Beach Club is basically a water park in itself with a lazy river, a sand bottom pool, and, yes, water slides.
We all know that weather in Florida is usually hot or rainy. Hot days tend to draw crowds, but many fans stay away on cloudy days. This is especially helpful if you live in the area. Visiting on a cloudy day will mean lighter crowds and shorter wait times.
Cloudy days mean smaller crowds.
Since Disney World provides complimentary transportation to all guests saying on-property, you won’t need a rental car. Even if you’re staying off-property, most hotels in the Orlando area provide shuttles not only to Disney World but also to Universal Studios and Sea World (although the scheduled running times may not be frequent or convenient).
Paying for a rental car is usually an added and unnecessary expense, and you can always use a taxi or Uber.
Arriving for rope drop is not only a magical experience, it’s becoming more and more necessary. Crowds reach their peak around mid-day. If you’re at the park when it opens (I’m talking about being there at 8:30AM when it opens at 9), you’ll maximize your park time and be able to take a mid-day break during the busiest time of day. Hit the most popular attractions first since the wait times will be short and you’ll essentially be able to walk on attractions that may have an hour or more wait later in the day. After you’ve rested by the pool, head back to the parks for the evening. Crowds will be dying down and you’ll be able to enjoy the parks at night. Spoiler alert: the parks are beautiful at nighttime!
If you’re a Disney World Resort guest, take advantage of Extra Magic Hours whether they’re in the morning or at night. During these times, the general public is not allowed in the parks, and the wait times will be much shorter than during regular hours.
As a little extra, if you’re willing to forgo the fireworks, you can usually walk onto very busy attractions like the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train during Happily Ever After or Test Track during Illuminations.
A Disney World vacation should be a time to put the technology away and enjoy the time with your family, right? Well, kind of. You shouldn’t be taking business calls or answering e-mails, but you should be using the MyDisneyExperience app to check wait times, read menus, and find the closest restrooms and transportation directions. The information that this app provides is invaluable. You can thank me later.
Of all the complimentary extras that Disney provides free with your base ticket, the FastPass+ has got to be the best! FP+ is a virtual queuing system that allows guests to essentially make reservations for attractions and shows that they’d like to visit during their vacation. It’s important to choose these FastPasses wisely, but that’s a topic for another post.
All you need to know right now is that Disney Resort Guests can book their FastPasses up to 60 days in advance and non-resort guests 30 days in advance. Using the FP+ system will allow you to enter a different line that will move much faster than the standby line because only a certain amount of people are allowed to enter per hour. Don’t underestimate the power of the FP!
Did you know that you can take a cooler into the Disney theme parks? That’s right! As long as it measures 24″x15″x18″ or smaller, you can bring it into the parks. You’re not allowed to bring any glass bottles or alcoholic beverages, but water, soda, energy drinks, and non-perishable foods are all excellent things to pack in your Disney day bag. You can pack whole meals or just snacks, but no matter what you pack, it’s one less thing you have to buy in the parks.
If you get a Disney Dining Plan, you’ll get a refillable resort mug with your plan.
However, you can also purchase these mugs without having a DDP. Once you purchase the mug, you can refill your mug at any Disney Resort (but not in the parks). If you plan to take a mid-day break or even spend a whole day enjoying your resort or any of the other resorts on property, buying a refillable resort mug may be a good idea for you. The price tag may make you flinch a little at first, but you’ll easily pay for the mug in just a few refills.
Some restaurants in the parks, including Epcot’s Sunshine Seasons and the Electric Umbrella, also have self-serve fountain drinks. Once you buy a drink you can refill that cup.
Finally, you should know that you can get water for free at any counter-service location in Disney World. There’s no charge. Just tell them you’d like a glass of water, and they’ll be happy to give you as many as you want!
It’s natural for us to turn right and follow the flow of traffic, but if you turn left when you enter the parks, you’ll find that the left side of the park is almost desolate in the mornings. Attractions on the left side will have very short or nonexistent wait times as will those toward the back of the park. You might be fighting crowds mid-day, but since you’ll be heading back to your hotel for a mid-day break anyway, you won’t have a problem. When you come back for the evening, turn right and you’ll find that many people are on the left side of the park at this time of day.
The main difference between a theme park and an amusement park is that a theme park is more than just a bunch of attractions set onto a concrete parking lot. A theme park has themed lands and plenty of details.
In my opinion, Disney does this best. Don’t forget to enjoy the details: the smells, the lights, the shops, the decorations. It’s all part of the bigger picture that you’ll only appreciate if you look at the small picture first.
What’s your favorite Disney vacation planning secret?
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What does "RA" mean in the poker room when referring to Buy-Ins?
The “RA” in “Free + $1 RA” for example when referring to freerolls under the buy-in stands for Re-Buy/Add On. So although the tourney is free to enter it is $1 to Re-Buy or Add On.
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There is no better time to restore the nutrients to your skin than the summer. Your skin will look much better when the nutrients are restored, and it will produce a beautiful, summer glow. Here are a few products you should use when you shower.
Body wash - Body wash is necessary when it comes to showering. Body wash works great because you can quickly lather it on your skin, and it usually has a delicious smell to it. The best body washes produce a thick lather.
Start your shower off the right way by using a body wash that works with your skin type. Body washes can be made for different skin types, but body washes that contain oatmeal and aloe vera are a great combination for most skin types. They work with sensitive skin types, including children skin.
Bar soap - If you don't prefer body soap to body wash, that is another option for you. Find soap that has natural ingredients in it. Good options are soap that has coconut, palm and Castor oil. Cocoa butter also does great with hydrating skin.
Soapmaking gives you the chance to find ingredients that you want in your soap. Soapmaking allows you to choose what you want in it. Soapmaking lets you choose the color, scents, and ingredients in it. Heck, it even allows you to put your soap on a string if you want to.
Body Scrub - Body scrub works great to exfoliate skin. You need to exfoliate your skin regularly if you want it to be healthy. Use it in the shower and it will quickly wash off, keeping your skin looking fresh.
When you find a body scrub you want to be sure that it is grainy but not too harsh on your skin. You don't want it to be rubbed raw, you just want it to take off the layer of dead skin. If you want a good scent to it, find one that has lemon and sage.
Moisturizer - Moisturizers are very important for skin care as well. Once you are out of the shower and dried off apply some lotion and moisturizer to your skin. Find a mix that is natural and doesn't contain any harsh chemicals. Good mixes are jojoba, sesame, and chamomile.
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What ecoregions occur in Washington?
Washington state contains portions of nine ecoregions, each of which is described on the following pages. These descriptions are intended to provide the reader with a snapshot of each ecoregion, and the statements regarding biodiversity highlights and conservation needs are not meant to be comprehensive.
The Pacific Northwest Coast ecoregion includes most of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington.
The Puget Trough ecoregion includes Puget Sound and surrounding foothills.
The ecoregion includes the Cascade Mountains north of Snoqualmie Pass and west of the Cascade crest northward into British Columbia. It contains some of the largest expanses of wilderness in the lower forty-eight.
In Washington, the West Cascades run southward from Snoqualmie Pass to the Columbia Gorge.
The East Cascades ecoregion includes the mountains that lie east of the Cascade crest and the foothills as they flatten into the Columbia Plateau. In Washington, it stretches from roughly Lake Chelan in the north to the Columbia River Gorge in the south.
The Okanogan ecoregion could be called the mountains between mountains - the broad highland area separating the North Cascades and the Northern Rockies in northeastern Washington.
The western edge of the Rocky Mountains form this ecoregion in Washington's northeastern corner. This area is also known as the Selkirk Mountains.
The Blue Mountains spill over into Washington's extreme southeastern corner. They are the westernmost ranges of the Middle Rockies that extend south into Oregon and east across central Idaho and into Montana.
The semi-arid Columbia Plateau occupies nearly one-third of the state. It is bordered by the Cascades to the west, the Okanogan Highlands to the north, the Rockies to the east, and the Blue Mountains to the southeast.
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I create woven paper art for my greeting cards and thought it would make for a cool painting. To create this piece, I painted two pieces of unstretched canvases, cut them and wove them together. The yellow splatters have all-purpose flour in them. Why? Because I randomly like to experiment with different materials to see how it might interact with the paint and the canvas.
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Brass Family of Instruments: What instruments are in the Brass Family?
Like the woodwind family, brass players use their breath to produce sound, but instead of blowing into a reed, you vibrate your own lips by buzzing them against a metal cup-shaped mouthpiece. The mouthpiece helps to amplify the buzzing of the lips, which creates the sound. Most brass instruments have valves attached to their long pipes; the valves look like buttons. When you press down on the valves, they open and close different parts of the pipe. You change the pitch and sound by pressing different valves and buzzing your lips harder or softer. The brass family members that are most commonly used in the orchestra include the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and the tuba.
The ancestors of the modern trumpet have been a part of human culture for a very long time. Old trumpet-like instruments played by ancient peoples were made of conch-shell, animal horn, wood or metal. Throughout history the trumpet has been used to sound alarms, gather people together, as a call to war, and to add luster to parade music. Like the violin, the trumpet is the smallest member of its family and plays the highest pitches with its bright and vibrant sound. Today's modern trumpet is a slender brass pipe with three attached valves, which is curved and bent into long loops. If you stretched out the trumpet to its full length, it would be 6 ½ feet long! There are 2 to 4 trumpets in an orchestra and they play both melody and harmony and also support the rhythm. You play the trumpet by holding it horizontally, buzzing your lips into the mouthpiece, and pressing down the three valves in various combinations to change pitch.
Unlike the English horn, which is neither English nor a horn, the French horn does originally come from France and is unquestionably a horn. It comes from the French hunting horn of the 1600s, and produces a wide variety of sound ranging from very loud to very soft, and from harsh and blaring to mellow and smooth. The French horn's 18 feet of tubing is rolled up into a circular shape, with a large bell at its end. There are anywhere from 2 to 8 French horns in an orchestra, and they play both melody and harmony as well as rhythm. To play the French horn, hold it with the bell curving downward and buzz into the mouthpiece. Your left hand plays the three valves and you can change the type of sound you make by the way you place your right hand in the bell.
This is the grandfather of the brass family. The tuba is the largest and lowest brass instrument and anchors the harmony not only of the brass family but the whole orchestra with its deep rich sound. Like the other brasses, the tuba is a long metal tube, curved into an oblong shape, with a huge bell at the end. Tubas range in size from 9 to 18 feet; the longer they are, the lower they sound. Standard tubas have about 16 feet of tubing. There is generally only one tuba in an orchestra and it usually plays harmony. You play the tuba sitting down with the instrument on your lap and the bell facing up. You blow and buzz into a very large mouthpiece and use your hand to press down on the valves which changes the sound. It takes a lot of breath to make sound with the tuba!
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Tanya Fredman is an artist and community art educator who makes art as a celebration of life and people. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Tanya moved to Israel in 2011 and currently lives in Kibbutz Shluhot with her husband and two children. Tanya received her studio art degree from Brandeis University and did postgraduate work at The HaMidrasha School of Art in Israel. She has exhibited in many locations in the U.S., including The Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art and The Jewish Education Project in New York, NY. She creates paintings and collages that explore movement, dance, and connections across cultures.
Tanya works with people of all ages to create murals and public art installations that transform spaces and impact communities. She helped create the art program at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, painted murals with immigrant youth in Israel, and currently works in the education department at the Mishkan Museum of Art in Ein Harod, Israel.
Myrna Beth Haskell, managing editor, asked Tanya about her work in Rwanda and Israel and her thoughts about how art has impacted those communities.
Could you tell me about the inspiration behind working on art projects with groups of people in communities around the world? What do you hope to accomplish?
Creating art for me is about giving people an opportunity to slow down and to appreciate the world around them – more specifically, to appreciate the people around them. In 2007, during my senior year studying art at Brandeis University, I painted a series of portraits of "unseen" individuals - mainly janitorial and cafeteria workers. I found it very powerful to learn and share these individuals' stories through painting portraits. But I decided that it was not enough to make art about different kinds of people, I wanted to make art with different kinds of people. After graduating from Brandeis in 2008, I went to Israel to volunteer at Yemin Orde youth village, a home for at-risk immigrant youth. At the youth village, I used art to give kids from around the world an opportunity to express their own rich heritages, while beautifying their surroundings and connecting with one another. The kids felt ownership over the murals and mosaics they made, and were proud to share their vision with others.
I have since directed many different community art projects in Rwanda, the US, and Israel, and in each project I seek to give the local community an opportunity to express its unique voice. In my most recent project in the small Israeli town of Pardes Chana, I worked with over 200 community members of different ages and backgrounds to create twelve wooden pillars in a communal park. Each pillar was painted and mosaicked with images and colors representing the diversity of cultures and experiences in the town. I love working with all ages, from small children to elderly men and women, hearing their stories and helping them give color and form to their visions. Through my community artwork, I hope to give people an opportunity to express themselves, make their surroundings more beautiful, and learn about one another.
Could you tell me a bit more about your work in Rwanda with the orphaned children?
In 2009, I went to a small village in Rwanda to volunteer at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) for nine months. ASYV is an amazing place, modeled after Israeli youth villages and designed to be a supportive home and comprehensive learning environment for Rwandan orphans and vulnerable youth. I volunteered at ASYV during its first year, and I had the amazing opportunity to help create an art program, complete with studio art, music, dance, and traditional arts, together with other volunteers and Rwandan staff. We lacked running water and ate mostly rice and beans, but the students' motivation and enthusiasm to learn was incredible. I led the student art club in creating a number of community artworks, including a giant mural along the entire facade of the dining hall which represented the students' hopes for their future. I also learned some basic words in Kinyarwanda and how to do traditional Rwandan dance!
Why does art make such a big impact on peoples' lives?
Looking at art forces us to slow down our frenetic routine and think about what we see and feel. Creating art forces us to reach something deep within us and bring it out for others to see - a challenging yet powerful process. When people come together to make art for their community, they feel more connected to the place in which they live and to one another.
"Standing Tall, Dancing Together: Assemblages from Rwanda and Israel"
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1.1111111111111113e+50 as a decimal - solution and the full explanation with calculations.
What is 1.1111111111111113e+50 as a decimal?
To write 1.1111111111111113e+50 as a decimal you have to divide numerator by the denominator of the fraction.
1.1111111111111113e+50 is not a fraction so it is a decimal already.
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Lake sediment records from the Cordillera de Mérida in the northern Venezuelan Andes document the history of local glacial variability and climate changes during the Holocene (∼12 ka to the present). The valleys that contain these lakes have similar bedrock compositions and hypsometries, but have different headwall elevations and aspects, which makes them useful for investigating the magnitude of past glaciations. There was widespread glacial retreat in the Venezuelan Andes during the early Holocene, after which most watersheds remained ice free, and thus far only valleys with headwalls higher than ∼4400 m asl contain evidence of glaciation during the last ∼10 ka. There was a pronounced shift in sediment composition for the Montos (headwall: ∼4750 m asl) and Los Anteojos (headwall: ∼4400 m asl) records during the middle Holocene from ∼8.0 to 7.7 ka when conditions appear to have become ice free and drier. There is tentative evidence that the glacier in the Mucubají valley (headwall: ∼4609 m asl) advanced from ∼8.1 to 6.6 ka and then retreated during the latter stages of the middle Holocene. Clastic sediment accumulation in other nearby lake basins was either low or decreased throughout most of the middle Holocene as watersheds stabilized under warmer and/or drier conditions. In the Montos record, there was another major shift in sediment composition that occurred from ∼6.5 to 5.7 ka, similar to other regional records that suggest conditions were drier during this period. Overall, the late Holocene was a period of warmer and wetter conditions with ice extent at a minimum in the northern tropical Andes. There were also punctuated decadal to multi-centennial periods of higher clastic sediment accumulation during the last ∼4 ka, likely in response to periods of cooling and/or local precipitation changes. In watersheds with headwalls above 4600 m asl, there is evidence of glacial advances during the Little Ice Age (∼0.6–0.1 ka). The pattern of glacial variability is generally similar in both the northern and southern tropics during the Little Ice Age, suggesting that ice margins in both regions were responding to colder and wetter conditions during the latest Holocene. The observed pattern of Holocene climate variability in the Venezuelan Andes cannot be explained by insolation forcing alone, and tropical ocean influences were likely associated with the observed glacial and lake level changes.
We present new geomorphic, stratigraphic, and chronologic data for Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Lago Argentino basin on the eastern side of the southern Patagonian Andes. Chronologic control is based on 14C and surface-exposure 10Be dating. After the Lateglacial maximum at 13,000 cal yrs BP, the large ice lobes that filled the eastern reaches of Lago Argentino retreated and separated into individual outlet glaciers; this recession was interrupted only by a stillstand or minor readvance at 12,200 cal yrs BP. The eight largest of these individual outlet glaciers are, from north to south: Upsala, Agassiz, Onelli, Spegazzini, Mayo, Ameghino, Perito Moreno, and Grande (formerly Frías). Holocene recession of Upsala Glacier exposed Brazo Cristina more than 10,115 ± 100 cal yrs BP, and reached inboard of the Holocene moraines in Agassiz Este Valley by 9205 ± 85 cal yrs BP; ice remained in an inboard position until 7730 ± 50 cal yrs BP. Several subsequent glacier readvances are well documented for the Upsala and Frías glaciers. The Upsala Glacier readvanced at least seven times, the first being a relatively minor expansion – documented only in stratigraphic sections – between 7730 ± 50 and 7210 ± 45 cal yrs BP. The most extensive Holocene advances of Upsala Glacier resulted in the deposition of the Pearson 1 moraines and related landforms, which are divided into three systems. The Pearson 1a advance occurred about 6000–5000 cal yrs BP and was followed by the slightly less-extensive Pearson 1b and 1c advances dated to 2500–2000 and 1500–1100 cal yrs BP, respectively. Subsequent advances of Upsala Glacier resulted in deposition of the Pearson 2 moraines and corresponding landforms, also separated into three systems, Pearson 2a, 2b, and 2c, constructed respectively at ∼700, >400, and <300 cal yrs BP to the early 20th century. Similar advances are also recorded by moraine systems in front of Grande Glacier and herein separated into the Frías 1 and Frías 2a, 2b, and 2c.
The reconstruction shows pronounced sub-decadal–multi-decadal variability with cold phases in the 5th, 7th and 9th centuries, during parts of the Little Ice Age chronozone (16th and 18th centuries) and in the beginning of the 20th century. The most prominent warm phase is the 19th century which is as warm as the second half of the 20th century, emphasizing a delayed recent global warming in the Southern Hemisphere.
Abbildung 1: Temperaturentwicklung in Nordpatagonien während der vergangenen 500 Jahre. Die wärmste Episode ereignete sich während des19. Jahrhunderts. Quelle: modifiziert nach Elbert et a. 2013.
This discussion paper has been under review for the journal Climate of the Past (CP). A final paper in CP is not foreseen.
Natürlich wollten die Gutachter des Papers anonym bleiben, daher muss es eine Vermutung bleiben, dass die Schiedsrichter vermutlich eng mit dem IPCC verbandelt sind und nichts anbrennen lassen wollten.
Our reconstruction of the inter-seasonal coupling back to 1530 AD reproduces many features of existing PDO reconstructions from the Pacific suggesting that Lago Plomo provides a record for the regional expression of the PDO in Patagonia.
Im nächsten Teil unserer Gletscher-Serie geht es dann nach Asien.
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Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, or simply called Aussie rules, football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of eighteen players on an oval-shaped field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval-shaped ball between goal posts (worth six points) or between behind posts (worth one point).
An Australian rules football playing field is a venue where Australian rules football is played.
During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field and use any part of their bodies to move the ball. The primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled: for example, players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch the ball from a kick (with specific conditions) are awarded possession. Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick or mark is paid. Players can tackle using their hands or use their whole body to obstruct opponents. Dangerous physical contact (such as pushing an opponent in the back), interference when marking and deliberately slowing the play are discouraged with free kicks, distance penalties or suspension for a certain number of matches, depending on the seriousness of the infringement. The game features frequent physical contests, spectacular marking, fast movement of both players and the ball and high scoring.
A running bounce, or simply bounce, is a skill in the sport of Australian rules football when a player, while running, bounces the ball on the ground and back in their hands.
During the early modern era pupils, former pupils and teachers at English public schools developed and wrote down the first codes of football, most notably the Eton College (1815) and Aldenham school (1825) football rules. The most well-known of these is rugby football (1845). British public school football also directly influenced the rules of Association football.
Australian football has the highest spectator attendance and television viewership of all sports in Australia, while the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's only fully professional competition, is the nation's wealthiest sporting body. The AFL Grand Final, held annually at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, is the highest attended club championship event in the world. The sport is also played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations. Its rules are governed by the AFL Commission with the advice of the AFL's Laws of the Game Committee.
St Kilda is an inner suburb of the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Port Phillip. At the 2016 Census, St Kilda had a population of 20,230.
The rules were distributed throughout the colony; Thompson in particular did much to promote the new code in his capacity as a journalist. Australian football's date of codification predates that of any other major football code, including soccer (codified in 1863) and rugby union (codified in 1871).
Football became organised in South Australia in 1860 with the formation of the Adelaide Football Club, the oldest football club in Australia outside Victoria. It devised its own rules, and, along with other Adelaide-based clubs, played a variety of codes until 1876, when they agreed to uniformly adopt most of the Victorian rules, with South Australian football pioneer Charles Kingston noting their similarity to "the old Adelaide rules". Likewise, Tasmanian clubs quarrelled over different rules until they adopted a slightly modified version of the Victorian game in 1879. The South Australian Football Association (SAFA), the sport's first governing body, formed on 30 April 1877, firmly establishing Victorian rules as the preferred code in that colony. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) formed the following month.
In 1896, delegates from six of the wealthiest VFA clubs—Carlton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne—met to discuss the formation of a breakaway professional competition. Later joined by Collingwood and St Kilda, the clubs formed the Victorian Football League (VFL), which held its inaugural season in 1897. The VFL's popularity grew rapidly as it made several innovations, such as instituting a finals system, reducing teams from 20 to 18 players, and introducing the behind as a score. Richmond and University joined the VFL in 1908, and by 1925, with the addition of Hawthorn, Footscray and North Melbourne, it had become the preeminent league in the country and would take a leading role in many aspects of the sport.
Both World War I and World War II had a devastating effect on Australian football and on Australian sport in general. While scratch matches were played by Australian "diggers" in remote locations around the world, the game lost many of its great players to wartime service. Some clubs and competitions never fully recovered. Between 1914 and 1915, a proposed hybrid code of Australian football and rugby league, the predominant code of football in New South Wales and Queensland, was trialed without success. World War I saw the game in New Zealand go into recess for three quarters of a century. In Queensland, the state league went into recess for the duration of the war. VFL club University left the league and went into recess due to severe casualties. The WAFL lost two clubs and the SANFL was suspended for one year in 1916 due to heavy club losses. The ANZAC Day clash, the annual game between Essendon and Collingwood on ANZAC Day, is one example of how the war continues to be remembered in the football community.
With the lack of international competition, state representative matches were regarded with great importance. The Australian Football Council co-ordinated regular interstate carnivals, including the Australasian Football Jubilee, held in Melbourne in 1908 to celebrate the game's semicentenary. Due in part to the VFL poaching talent from other states, Victoria dominated interstate matches for three quarters of a century. State of Origin rules, introduced in 1977, stipulated that rather than representing the state of their adopted club, players would return to play for the state they were first recruited in. This instantly broke Victoria's stranglehold over state titles and Western Australia and South Australia began to win more of their games against Victoria. Both New South Wales and Tasmania scored surprise victories at home against Victoria in 1990.
In 1982, in a move that heralded big changes within the sport, one of the original VFL clubs, South Melbourne, relocated to Sydney and became known as the Sydney Swans. In the late 1980s, due to the poor financial standing of many of the Victorian clubs, and a similar situation existing in Western Australia in the sport, the VFL pursued a more national competition. Two more non-Victorian clubs, West Coast and Brisbane, joined the league in 1987. In their early years, the Sydney and Brisbane clubs struggled both on and off-field because the substantial TV revenues they generated by playing on a Sunday went to the VFL. To protect these revenues the VFL granted significant draft concessions and financial aid to keep the expansion clubs competitive. Each club was required to pay a licence fee which allowed the Victorian-based clubs to survive.
The football season proper is from March to August (early autumn to late winter in Australia) with finals being held in September and October. In the tropics, the game is sometimes played in the wet season (October to March). Pre-season competitions in southern Australia usually begin in late February.
The AFL is recognised by the Australian Sports Commission as being the National Sporting Organisation for Australian Football. There are also seven state/territory-based organisations in Australia, most of which are now either owned by or affiliated to the AFL. Most of these hold annual semi-professional club competitions while the others oversee more than one league. Local semi-professional or amateur organisations and competitions are often affiliated to their state organisations.
The similarities between Australian football and the Irish sport of Gaelic football have allowed for the creation of a hybrid code known as international rules football. The first international rules matches were contested in Ireland during the 1967 Australian Football World Tour. Since then, various sets of compromise rules have been trialed, and in 1984 the International Rules Series commenced with national representative sides selected by Australia's state leagues (later by the AFL) and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The competition became an annual event in 1998, but was postponed indefinitely in 2007 when the GAA pulled out due to Australia's severe and aggressive style of play. It resumed in Australia in 2008 under new rules to protect the player with the ball.
Australian rules football was played outside Australasia as early as 1888 when Australians studying at Edinburgh University and London University formed teams and competed in London. Today, the sport is played at an amateur level in various countries throughout the world. Twenty countries participated in the Euro Cup and 23 countries have participated in the International Cup with both competitions prohibiting Australian players. Over 20 countries have either affiliation or working agreements with the AFL. There have been many VFL/AFL players who were born outside Australia, an increasing number of which have been recruited through initiatives and, more recently, international scholarship programs.
Most of the current amateur clubs and leagues in existence have developed since the 1980s, when leagues began to be established in North America, Europe and Asia. The sport developed a cult following in the United States when matches were broadcast on the fledgling ESPN network in the 1980s. As the size of the Australian diaspora has increased, so has the number of clubs outside Australia. This expansion has been further aided by multiculturalism and assisted by exhibition matches as well as exposure generated through players who have converted to and from other football codes. In Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and the United States there are many thousands of players.
Australian football has been an inspiration for writers and poets including Manning Clarke, Bruce Dawe and Philip Hodgins. Paintings by Arthur Streeton (The National Game, 1889) and Sidney Nolan ( Footballer , 1946) helped to establish Australian football as a serious subject for artists. Many Aboriginal artists have explored the game, often fusing it with the mythology of their region. Statues of Australian football identities can be found throughout the country. In cartooning, WEG's VFL/AFL premiership posters—inaugurated in 1954—have achieved iconic status among Australian football fans. Dance sequences based on Australian football feature heavily in Robert Helpmann's 1964 ballet The Display , his first and most famous work for the Australian Ballet. The game has also inspired well-known plays such as And the Big Men Fly (1963) by Alan Hopgood and David Williamson's The Club (1977), which was adapted into a 1980 film, directed by Bruce Beresford. Mike Brady's 1979 hit "Up There Cazaly" is considered an Australian football anthem, and references to the sport can be found in works by popular musicians, from singer-songwriter Paul Kelly to the alternative rock band TISM. Many Australian football video games have been released, most notably the AFL series.
The 1901 Victorian Football League season was the fifth season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The Australian Football League pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the AFL Pre-season Challenge, was an annual Australian rules football tournament held amongst Australian Football League (AFL) senior clubs prior to the premiership season between 1988 and 2013. The pre-season competition culminated annually in a Grand Final and pre-season premier.
In the Australian state of Victoria, the sport of Australian rules football is the most popular football code. The game's popularity in Victoria stems from its origins in Melbourne in the 1850s, with the first club and the first league both based in the city. Ten of the eighteen teams participating in the Australian Football League (AFL) are based in Victoria, as a result of the league's origins as the Victorian Football League (VFL). The Melbourne Cricket Ground, with a capacity of 100,024 people, is considered the "spiritual home" of the game, and hosts the sport's largest event, the AFL Grand Final, yearly.
Australian rules football was invented in Melbourne, Australia, in 1858. The first match identified as a direct precursor to the codification of Australian football was organised and umpired by Tom Wills and contested on 31 July between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, adjacent to the Melbourne Cricket Ground at the Richmond Paddock. The oldest surviving set of rules of Australian rules football were drawn up on 17 May 1859, three days after the formation of the Melbourne Football Club.
The 1911 Victorian Football League season was the 15th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1912 Victorian Football League season was the 16th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1914 Victorian Football League season was the 18th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1985 Victorian Football League season was the 89th season of the elite Australian rules football competition. This season commenced in March 1985 and concluded on 28 September 1985 with Essendon winning their second consecutive premiership in a third consecutive Grand Final against Hawthorn.
The 1921 Victorian Football League season was the 25th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1939 Victorian Football League season was the 43rd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1948 Victorian Football League season was the 52nd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
Australian rules football was heavily affected by both World War I and World War II. Hundreds of leading players served their country abroad, and many lost their lives. On the home front, competitions like the Victorian Football League (VFL) went ahead during these wars, but faced many restrictions.
1 2 Collins, Ben (22 November 2016). "Women's football explosion results in record participation", AFL. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
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↑ Kwek, Glenda (26 March 2013). "AFL leaves other codes in the dust", The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
↑ "AFL is clearly Australia’s most watched Football Code, while V8 Supercars have the local edge over Formula 1" (14 March 2014), Roy Morgan. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
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↑ Connolly, Rohan (22 March 2012). "Name of the game is up in the air in NSW". The Age . Retrieved 4 April 2012.
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↑ Ken Piesse (1995). The Complete Guide to Australian Football. Pan Macmillan Australia. ISBN 0-330-35712-3. p303.
↑ Paproth, Daniel (4 June 2012). "The oldest of school rivals". The Weekly Review Stonnington. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
↑ Collins, Tony (2011). "Chapter 1: National Myths, Imperial Pasts and the Origins of Australian Rules Football". In Wagg, Stephen (ed.). Myths and Milestones in the History of Sport. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 14. ISBN 0-230-24125-5.
↑ Blainey 2010, pp. 187–196.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, p. 8.
↑ de Moore 2011, pp. 322–323.
↑ Pennings 2011, p. 15.
↑ Pennings 2012, p. 11.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell, pp. 14–15.
1 2 Coventry 2015, p. 2.
↑ Pennings 2011, p. 9.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, p. 7.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, p. 17.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, pp. 10–12.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, p. 11.
↑ Penings 2012, p. 25.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, p. 20.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, pp. 18–20.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2009, pp. 22–23.
↑ Coventry 2015, pp. 16–17, 20.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell, p. 9.
↑ de Moore 2011, pp. 87, 288–289.
1 2 Hess 2008, p. 44.
↑ Pill, Shane; Frost, Lionel (17 January 2016). "R.E.N. Twopeny and the Establishment of Australian Football in Adelaide". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 33 (8): 797–812. doi:10.1080/09523367.2016.1173033.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2010, pp. 22–24.
1 2 Hibbins & Ruddell 2010, p. 24.
↑ Hibbins & Ruddell 2010, pp. 22–23.
1 2 Blainey 2010, pp. 107–108.
↑ Pramberg, Bernie (15 June 2015). "Love of the Game: Aussie rules a dominant sport in early Queensland", The Courier-Mail . Retrieved 24 April 2016.
↑ Healy, Matthew (2002). Hard Sell: Australian Football in Sydney (PDF). Melbourne, Vic.: Victoria University. pp. 20–28.
↑ Nauright & Parrish 2012, p. 351.
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↑ "Football in Australia". Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 122. New Zealand. 19 November 1914. p. 8. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
↑ "Football amalgamation". Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27. New Zealand. 2 February 1915. p. 8. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
↑ "A False Dawn". AustralianFootball.com. 20 August 1908. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
↑ Marshall, Konrad (26 February 2016). "Where do rugby codes' strongholds turn to rules? At the 'Barassi Line', of course...", The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 21 April 2016.
1 2 Nauright & Parrish 2012, p. 342.
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↑ "'We need to work together': Tasmanians need united front for AFL team, researcher says" (21 August 2015), ABC News. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
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1 2 Niall, Jake (20 June 2007). "More chase Sherrin than before". Real Footy. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Australian rules football .
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Australian Rules Football .
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Hello and welcome to my soccer article about Atkins Diet and its effect on soccer player's performance.
Atkins diet is a nutritional plan that focuses on eliminating carbohydrates and fueling the body with protein which is exactly the opposite of what a soccer player athlete needs.
Soccer players performance on the field will suffer greatly using the Atkins Diet as a fuel for soccer players body because carbohydrates is the premium fuel for soccer players.
Before every practice and game soccer players should fill their bodies with plenty of carbohydrates to ensure best performance on the field, especially the second half of the game.
Not fueling our body with proper amount of carbs will greatly impact our game on the field due to quick fatigue setting in and throwing our whole game off.
With fatigue come mistakes on the field and our brain not being able to receive the proper amount of oxygen so our concentration suffers a great deal.
Consuming the Atkins Diet can and will greatly impact the performance on the field for any soccer player.
Atkins diet and soccer do not go well together as Atkins Diet mainly focuses on loosing weight rather than fueling our body for the exhausting and very physically demanding game of soccer.
Low carbohydrate diet for athletes such is the Atkins Diet mainly focuses on eliminating carbohydrates and focusing on intake of a lot of protein.
Nutrition for soccer players is totally the opposite as we should focus on a good soccer diet containing at least 40% carbohydrates, 30% of protein and 30% of fat.
This means that the main food source for soccer players should include carbohydrates which can be found in pasta, potato and rice just to name a few.
Protein is also important for soccer players diet and should be consumed along with the carbohydrates because protein will help players muscles recover faster while playing this high tempo game of soccer.
Protein can be found in foods such are red meat, chicken and fish just to name a few.
Fat is the last source of soccer players diet as it not necessarily helps on the field but is rather used to keep the players healthy because fat helps to build a better immune system defense, protecting the soccer players from diseases and helping the players stay healthy.
Atkins diet and soccer players diet should not be mistaken because the Atkins Diet can be a very good diet for people that are trying to shed the excess pounds off while it will effect soccer players performance on the field greatly.
Good diet for soccer players should focus primarily on eating plenty of carbs while the Atkins Diet main goal is to focus on eating plenty of protein while eliminating the carbohydrates as much as possible.
Carbohydrates for soccer athletes diet is like a premium fuel for cars.
Eating a lot of carbohydrates will produce a chemical called glycogen that is stored in our muscles and liver.
Glycogen is used as instant fuel and burns quickly in our body providing us with energy to keep going through the whole 90 minutes of the game or practice.
If you would like to increase your performance on the soccer field, than you should definitely avoid the Atkins Diet.
Instead, focus on the opposite of what Atkins Diet does, which is not eliminating carbs but instead eating plenty of foods that are rich in carbohydrates.
In other words, if you would like to increase your soccer performance on the field you should definitely avoid Atkins Diet in soccer.
I hope you have a better understanding on why Atkins Diet and soccer players diet are not such a good match.
Nutrition for Soccer is fuel for the body. Learn more about soccer nutrition importance.
Soccer Hydration - Why is Hydration so important to soccer players.
Soccer Nutrition Myths that have been proven wrong over the history of the game.
Carbohydrates Definition in basic terms is carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, hence the word CARBOHYDRATE.
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Established in the 1930s, molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, and learning how these interactions are regulated.
In recent years the study of gene structure and function has been the most prominent sub-field of molecular biology.
Over the last 40 years, molecular biologists have learned to characterise, isolate, and manipulate the molecular components of cells and organisms. These components include DNA, the repository of genetic information; RNA, a close relative of DNA whose functions range from serving as a temporary working copy of DNA to actual structural and enzymatic functions as well as a functional and structural part of the translational apparatus; and proteins, the major structural and enzymatic type of molecule in cells.
One of the most basic techniques of molecular biology to study protein function is expression cloning. In this technique, DNA coding for a protein of interest is cloned (using PCR and/or restriction enzymes into a plasmid (known as an expression vector). This plasmid may have special promoter elements to drive production of the protein of interest, and may also have antibiotic resistance markers to help follow the plasmid.
This plasmid can be inserted into either bacterial or animal cells. Introduding DNA into bacterial cells is called transformation, and can be effected by several methods, including electroporation, microinjection[?] and chemically. Introducing DNA into eukaryotic cells, such as animal cells, is called transfection. Several different transfection technqiues are available, including calcium phosphate transfection, liposomes, and proprietary transfection reagents such as Fugene. DNA can also be introduced into cells using viruses as a carrier. In such cases, the technique is called viral transduction, and the cells are said to be transduced.
In either case, DNA coding for a protein of interest is now inside a cell, and the protein is now being expressed.. A variety of systems, such as inducible promoters and specific cell-signaling factors, are available to help express the protein of interest at high level. Large quantities of a protein can then be extracted from the bacterial or eukaryotic cell. The protein can be tested for enzymatic activity under a variety of situations, the protein may be crystallized so its tertiary structure can be studied, or, in the pharmaceutical industry, the activity of new drugs against the protein can be studied.
The polymerase chain reaction is an extremely versatile technique for copying DNA and RNA. In brief, PCR allows a single DNA to be copied (millions of times), and altered in predetermined ways. For example, PCR can be used to introduce restriction enzyme sites, or mutate a particular piece of DNA. PCR can also be used to find a particular gene in a cDNA library.
Gel electrophoresis is one of the principal tools of molecular biology. The basic principle is that DNA, RNA, and proteins can all be separated using an electric field. In agarose gel electrophoresis, DNA and RNA can be separated based on size by running the DNA through an agarose gel. Proteins can be separated based on size using an SDS-PAGE gel. Proteins can also be separated based on their electric charge, using what is known as an isoelectric gel.
Antibodies to any protein can be created by injecting small amounts of protein into an animal such as a mouse, rabbit, sheep, or donkey. These antibodies can be used for a variety of analytical and preprative techniques.
In Western blotting, proteins are first separated by size, on an SDS page gel. The proteins on the gel are then tranferred to a PVDF or nitrocellulose membrane. This membrane can then be probed with solutions of antibodies. Antibodies that bind to the protein of interest can then be visualized by a variety of techniques, including chemoluminescence or radioactivity.
Antibodies can also be used to purify proteins. Antibodies to a protein are generated, and then bind to the protein. Another protein can then be used to pull down the antibodies, bringing the first protein with it.
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Saints Clement, Bishop of Ochrid, Equal of the Apostles, Naum, Sava, Gorazd and Angelar were Slavs, disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius (May 11). At first they lived as ascetics in Moravia, where Saint Gorazd succeded Saint Methodius as bishop. He was fluent in Slavonic, Greek and Latin. Saints Clement, Naum, Angelar and Sava were priests.
The proponents of the three-tongued heresy (who wanted to use only Hebrew, Greek, or Latin for Church purposes), after setting aside the ancestral language of the Slavic peoples, brought the disciples of Saint Methodius to trial, including Saint Clement. They subjected them to fierce torture: dragging them through thorns, and holding them in prison for a long time, just as they had done with their spiritual Father, Saint Methodius.
In 886, some of the prisoners were sold to slave-traders, and ended up in the Venice marketplace. The ambassador of the Byzantine Emperor Basil the Macedonian went to Venice, ransomed the saints and brought them to Constantinople. The older confessors were banished. It is not known where Saint Gorazd went, nor where Saint Sava found shelter. Naum and Angelar went to Bulgaria.
In 907 Moravia collapsed under the onslaught of the Magyars, and Moravian refugees escaped along those same paths followed earlier by the saints they had exiled.
The Bulgarians received the Slavonic confessors with respect and requested them to conduct divine services in the Slavonic language. The Bulgarian prince Boris sought out such people as the disciples of Saint Methodius, who labored for the enlightenment of his nation. The saints immediately began to study Slavonic books collected by the Bulgarian nobles.
Saint Angelar soon died, and Saint Clement received the appointment to teach at Kutmichivitsa, a region in southwest Macedonia. In the Eastern Church a worthy man was chosen to be a teacher, someone known for his pious life, and possessed with a gift of words. Saint Clement was a teacher while he was still in Moravia. In Bulgaria, Saint Clement worked as an instructor until 893. He organized a school at the princely court, which attained high esteem during the reign of Simeon. In southwest Macedonia he created separate schools for adults and for children.
Saint Clement instructed the children in reading and in writing. The total number of his students was enormous. Those chosen and accepted for the clergy amounted to 3500 men. In the year 893, Saint Clement became Bishop of Dremvitsa, or Velitsa, and Saint Naum took his place.
Saint Clement was the first Bulgarian hierarch to serve, preach and write in the Slavonic language. To this end he systematically prepared clergy from among the Slavic people. The holy bishop labored for the glory of God into his old age. When his strength failed, and he was unable to fulfill his responsibilities in the cathedral, he asked Tsar Simeon to let him retire.
The Tsar urged the saint not to forsake the cathedral, and Saint Clement agreed to continue his episcopal service. After this he went to Ochrid, to a monastery he founded. There the saint continued with his translation activities and translated important parts of the PENTEKOSTARION.
Soon the saint became seriously ill and departed to the Lord in the year 916. The saint’s body was placed in a coffin he made with his own hands, and was buried in Ochrid’s Saint Panteleimon monastery.
Saint Clement is considered the first Slavonic author. He not only continued the translation work begun by Saints Cyril and Methodius, but also left behind works of his own composition, the first samples of Slavonic spiritual literature.
Many of the lessons and sermons of Saint Clement were brought to Russia, where they were read and lovingly copied by pious Russian Christians.
Saint Clement is also commemorated on July 27.
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Speech perception problems lead to many different forms of communication difficulties, and remediation for these problems remains of critical interest. A recent study by Kraus et al. (2014b) published in the Journal of Neuroscience, used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) approach to identify how low intensity community-based musical enrichment for “at-risk children” improved neural discrimination of “ba/ga” syllables. In the study, forty-four children aged six to nine years from “gang reduction zones” received 2 hours of musical training each week arranged in two 1 hour sessions. A control group received a single year of training following a one year delay, whilst the experimental group received two full years of training without delay. They found that auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to the “ba/ga” syllables were changed in the experimental group, but only after more than one year of training. ABRs were not changed in the control group, either following the delay or after the first full year of training. We endorse the use of a randomized control trial (RCT) to evaluate this educational programme, but argue that several additional criteria must be met before firm conclusions can be drawn about the benefits of the intervention.
Kraus et al. argue their results provide evidence that “community music programs may stave off certain language-based challenges” (Kraus et al., 2014b, p. 11915), but this claim is hard to sustain without behavioral data (e.g., of concomitant improvements in speech perception or literacy). For the current paper, it would be necessary to show group differences in behavior that relate to the educational program, and explore the ways that individual differences in neural and behavioral profiles vary with the speech and literacy measures. This is particularly important given that a meaningful musicianship advantage in speech perception can be hard to demonstrate, as the size of the advantage shown for musicians (compared to non-musicians) is small (<1 dB) (Parbery-Clark et al., 2009) and has not been consistently replicated (Fuller et al., 2014; Ruggles et al., 2014). We also note a more recent follow up study (Kraus et al., 2014a) shows no improvement in literacy skills associated with active musical engagement.
There are other important issues: for example, Kraus et al. presented a single pair of synthesized “ba” and “ga” syllables 6000 times, at a rate of 4.35 repetitions per second, to each participant. No naturally occurring human speech sequences occur like this: speech tokens are never identical, and repetition itself is normally avoided as it is low in informational value (change, not repetition, conveys information) and leads to illusory percepts (cf. the verbal transformation effect, Pitt and Shoaf, 2002).
In addition, these items were synthesized speech tokens in which a single acoustic cue (the trajectory of the second format, F2) was manipulated. Notably, the major frequency difference where the F2s are maximally different between ba and ga (900–2480 Hz) are not investigated as the cross-phaseogram measurements are restricted to 900–1500 Hz, due to a lack of phase locking above 1500 Hz (Aiken and Picton, 2008). This frequency “window” restricts the analysis to a range where the whole F2 sweep for “ba” is included, but most of that for “ga” is excluded from the analysis (see Figure in Supplementary Materials, Hornickel et al., 2009). This suggests that the response is not specifically discriminant per se, and may be associated with detection of the presence of “ba” stimuli. A contrast of “ba” with “da,” which has a lower F2 sweep, would be a way to address this. To further develop our understanding of these ABR effects, it is also essential to understand how the measurements used in this study relate to the auditory brain stem and cortex measures used in other investigations, of the effects of musical training. Table 1 shows a summary of the ABR papers on musical training in children which illustrates the wide variety of measures used and their significance across studies.
Table 1. A summary of the ABR papers on musical training in children which illustrates the wide variety of measures used and their significance across studies.
RCTs involve certain design features, which Kraus et al. do not always fully exploit: for example, the difference in the size between the control (n = 18) and the experimental (n = 26) groups is unexplained, and may require a different statistical approach (Keselman and Keselman, 1990). The lack of an active control group prevents us from understanding whether the reported neural changes could be induced by an alternative enrichment activity (which is acknowledged by the authors), or whether a more focused language or literacy intervention would have yielded more effective results. It is also important to stress that while the paper makes specific claims about treatment effects for “impoverished brains” (e.g., individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds), no direct evidence of this impoverishment is provided, nor evidence that the effects on “impoverished” brains are any different to the effects on non-impoverished brains, e.g., by including another control group. RCT methodology requires the reporting of the system used to generate the random allocation sequence, as well as mentioning participant drop-out rates, means, SDs, effect sizes and associated confidence intervals. Although an important first step, this paper falls some way short of suggested recommendations for the reporting of RCTs (Schulz et al., 2010).
To conclude, we have critiqued a recent high impact intervention study examining the effect of musical training on neural responses. Ineffective interventions provide false hope and waste financial resources (Strong et al., 2011) and therefore intervention programmes need to be evaluated rigorously. It is admirable to investigate the potential of community based musical training to improve neural coding of speech, but we argue that a stronger standard of evidence is required before concluding that musical enrichment enhances speech, language and literacy skills.
This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (WT074414MA to S.K.S.).
Keselman, J. C., and Keselman, H. J. (1990). Analysing unbalanced repeated measures designs. Br. J. Math. Stat. Psychol. 43, 265–282.
Copyright © 2014 Evans, Meekings, Nuttall, Jasmin, Boebinger, Adank and Scott. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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Is an economic downturn bad for the field of employer branding?
The global economy declined since the last few months of 2015. Just when we thought we were going to recover, the OECD announced lower expected economic growth. Since November the consumer confidence, the confidence of purchasing managers and the stock market dropped. Companies that have been around a long time, sometimes for over 100 years, disappeared. Particularly the retail sector has suffered intensely: consumers are tempted by continuing low economic growth to save rather than spend their money. The money they do spend, on clothes for example, happen to be bought more and more online. As a result, retail stores and their employees become obsolete. Purchases of durable goods, such as cars, televisions and washing machines, aren't bought in large numbers. And when they are bought, European consumers often prefer these products from Asia, particularly China: there simple cheaper. Spending on a global level this makes no difference, but revenue for European companies is thus back. Economic growth, as indicated by the OECD, will indeed be lower.
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When will Linux be ready for mass adoption?
Well yeah I can probably set some such system up, but my sister? my mother?, my niece?
To be ready for the masses backup and disaster recovery needs to be as easy, point & click, follow the wizard as it has been in Windows for over a decade.
Until that's true, Linux is for data-loss, not mass usage! Because Joe-Average Newbie can't back his data up, & faces a reinstall to recover even if he does set one of the (not usually included by default) GUI file backup programs up.
Installability has been cracked, now easy instead of requiring a geek like my early experiences.
Day-to-day useability has been solved.
Interoperability is there or thereabouts.
Reliable, easy, backup / disaster recovery is long overdue some attention!
I'd post "Include a good GUI backup solution" in Development & suggestions for Lithium, only I can't name one.
Hey this gnu/nix, no doubt tons of existing ways to do this. From enterprise to personal. See stuff like this. Haven't used most of them but sure there are plenty of solutions for what you describe.
Might look over what the new user niche distros offer by way of pointy-clicky backup, Linux Mint and similar.
My point is, it won't do what I'm describing without lots of manual config, hunting it down & setting it up, and the vast majority of the pointy-clicky solutions you find are on a par with what was built into Win 95, i.e. file based & no snapshots, so no use for backup/restore of an entire system.
Windows has had a good disaster recovery system (well OK adequate) built in since Vista launched, and there were good 3rd party solutions, some free (as in beer), going back to windows 2000.. 19 years later and Linux still doesn't have one I know of, I've spent hours looking for something I could *recommend* as opposed to something I could *set up myself* but the "New user" target asking me what to use will find too complex.
Direct challenge *name something* a new user from Windows could install & use without reinstalling their fresh default Debian+xfce install using LVM instead, which will functionally replace "Windows Image Backup" and not require them to boot a live CD & lose access to the system while running it.
Without something, Linux & Debian in particular is not ready for the masses. Much less a "Universal Operating System."
I am quite happy with Linux *not* being ready for the masses.
This close https://linuxmint-installation-guide.re … shift.html ? 'Universal' probably means it can run on variety of platforms.
This close https://linuxmint-installation-guide.re … shift.html ?
No cigar though, you get no guarantee that the created snapshot is consistent like Windows gives with any VSS enabled backup solution, & it's unclear how you'd recover from hard drive failure without first reinstalling your OS (hoping you remember the options used) & THEN seeing if the snapshot will even apply.
It's more analogous to "system-restore" than "Windows Image Backup" brtrfs might, but that misses the "default install" criteron.
It's more analogous to "system-restore" than "Windows Image Backup"
Not sure how to compare those, for example "Windows Image Backup" will only ever restore to exactly and only 'this' machine right? Where mint's solution seems to be clickable rsync type of solution (Which I assume, but haven't tested, will apply on any kind of underlying solution or any other machine).
WIB keeps improving, it was moderately hardware specific for Vista, machine had to require the same HAL, called for difficult manual intervention to correct otherwise (offline reg edits & such difficulty comparable to chroot & repair something in Linux), given that it'd *usually* sort drivers out, W10's incarnation copes with that better, 7 in between. Leaving aside the conversation with Microsoft about activation anyhow, which given "disaster recovery" they *usually* permitted, NP if you were "moving" a retail install, more pleading if it was OEM (worst case a license purchase) & if you're comparing W10 & sign on using an M$ account, I believe that's been mostly eliminated as an issue too.
You might have fun even with rsync to different hardware equally, initramfs doesn't have needed drivers as per e.g. or new mobo needs newer kernel.. comperable there I suggest.
I'm tempted to play, good test, can you restore a virtualbox install to vmware or vice versa. (Would for sure break the VmWare > V-Box direction pae kernel & non-pae required in target.. so chroot games).
Doesn't the question of mass adoption depend on how you view Linux? I mean it's already the server operating system of choice, and to be honest I have never really thought of it as being a true desktop operating system, but as a sort of hobbyist GUI sitting on top of a server OS. A bit like one of those drag-racing cars that look like a normal road car until you see them go down a track.
I dont believe the linux desktop computer will ever be as ubiquitous as windows or an Apple operating system, even if it had a load of fancy backup software and the other things you mention. Users are scared of using what they think is different to the stuff they use at work.
Seriously I still get calls from people saying things like "windows keeps crashing" when what they mean is "Microsoft Office keeps crashing", they still call a web browser "The internet".
I dont think it will happen any time soon no matter what changes Linux undergoes.
Different doesn't stop ppl using Kindle Fire tablets, or Chrome & Android tablets (those have decent DR recovery options by the way, often cloud-based but easy DR regardless).
Timeshift seems to lack a few functions WIB has, like.. the ability to save to a network location (neither NFS or SMB shares supported) WIB isn't perfect there either will only save ONE backup to network which it overwrites (work around by diff scedules to different shares). Nor the ability to restore to a blank replacement disk, you have to repartition & format file systems first. No network/NAS backup's a doozy though.. puts it out of the running.
So time-shift == Closest yet but still not quite a "Out of Support & don't want W10" ex earlier Windows refugee friendly DR solution.
Well there's some point there, you do have to keep an eye on the native Windows solution, else backups fail silently, twisting alerts out of Windoze for that's harder than it used to be & a somewhat obscure manual process. Can be done, but easier to download one of the many more feature rich solutions. Plenty (rather than none) to choose from.
Point is to not shut down to do DR backups, I've an eye to moving ppl off Windows when support for 7 ends, given hardware that won't support 10, and I know from experience going RIGHT back to Ghost & Win95 that they WILL NOT backup if it means having to reboot, not even start backups at bedtime, hell they won't even point & click to start backups manually, set up once yes, click regularly no-way.
This makes them fairly typical Windows users it's not merely my family who won't backup if it's an inconvenience it's most PC users, Win or Lin. If I personally had to go back to rebooting like for the DOS version of Ghost I would, *most users* won't and end up losing data because offline backup is too much hassle.
Companies pay consultants (or hire staff) to set things up, if setting it up on Linux is more hassle & requires writing bash scripts, said consultants don't mind being paid the extra hours involved.
Windows nags you into setting up an adequate if fairly feature poor set-&-forget DR solution or else deliberately turn the nagging off.
I don't believe Linux should nag, but there not being an easy solution for Windows refugees.. is really a genuine missing feature.
Short answer to: When will Linux be ready for mass adoption?
Never, cause it shouldn't have to.
I detest statements like these, because they are highly suggestive: suggesting that of course everyone agrees that Linux should become ready for mass adoption, the only question is when.
Like a pep talk from the human resources department of your corporate employer.
Like communist propaganda (five-year plan).
Well I actively disagree with the presumption and so I have no answer to it either.
My opinion on the matter: Open Source Software just doesn't work this way, and that's one important reason why I use it (and I suspect I am not the only one).
Also statements like "Linux still doesn't have an easy solution for _____ (backups in this case)" only betray two things: ignorance and laziness.
Ignorance because these solutions very well exist, and have been around for decades.
Laziness again because a person who says things like that usually gave up before they even finished the README, or because their demands for a shiny GUI haven't been met or because they got "stuck" after a few clicks or after the first command entered failed.
Ignorance again because it is effectively just another of those cases where someone tries to superimpose the structure of Windows (a completely different OS to all UNIX-like OSs, that has grown in a completely diffeent way from day one, for 4 decades) onto GNU/Linux as a whole (!), so the statement really reads: "You idiots, you've been trying for 30 years and GNU/Linux still doesn't work exactly like Windows!!!"
Ignorance again - of all the ways that GNU/Linux is better than anything else out there - and maybe the complainers perceived disadvantages are directly related to that. See below.
oh and by the way: operating systems based on the Linux kernel are the most-used in the world, and have been for many years already. Oh, that's not what you meant?
Anyhow, how about pointing out how the multitude of Linux distros out there is better than any proprietary OS in so many ways?
the multitude for one. the diversity, configurability, flexibility etc. "freedom" some like to call it.
especially the installable images. Just Works (tm) on 90+% of all devices. Devices made by manufacturers that don't give a tinker's cuss about working with Linux. You ever tried that with Windows?
almost infinitely more secure, compared to all its consumer-level proprietary alternatives.
When you have removed all choice and created a uniform system that can be used in one way only, when you have taken that freedom from the developers, too, that's when Linux becomes ready for mass adoption.
Throw it on some hardware and call it Cotton Candy, boom. Ready.
At first I thought this was a conclusion that was a little bit harsh but then I realised there is some truth in it. Apple and MS strive very hard to create an operating system where users dont have to apply any effort to achieve results, this comes at a cost (not necessarily a financial cost to the user). The main cost is choice. Imagine if MS or Apple had to have support teams specialised in tens of different programs all with the same basic goal but completely different methodologies. Linux achieves this but then that is choice, to get help you can either chance a reply on a general forum or you can go to the developers forum and get help for what software you chose. Not quite the same if MS or Apple are creating lots of choice, they just couldnt sustain the support at any cost so offer no choice.
MS/Apple like backup solutions, point and click, no thought required. I mean, after all, Mint created its own desktop - Cinnamon, surely they have devs who could put in online system backup/restore, etc etc etc. Then it struck me that for this to happen means users would be asking why cant we also have xyz and abc and efg. It is because then a distro would have to offer fewer choices but have more developers, use more resources and time, and for no purpose other than to emulate windows. Things such as cinnamon were developed because there was a split community, a community that wanted choice, not because there was a community that wanted a single way of using their computer.
So I would agree with ohnonot's post in its entirety, even though it came across as a little bit harsh.
When the average user can walk into a retail outlet and buy a Linux laptop or desktop that will work out of the box when they get it home. All comes down to marketing and retail access. One creative, well timed commerciall put Apple on the map (and pretty much started the Super Bowl Commercial phenomenon); IBM's Linux commercial during the Super Bowl is the gold standard of epic failures, and a lesson in "what not to do".
Need commercials of happy people doing productive stuff with their Linux computers; not sure Chromebook fits that bill yet.
What doesn't grsync do for you? Should be in the repos.
Linux is already mainstream in smartphones and the like, its just that android/google have the monopoly on it, hopefully not for too much longer.
But i agree with lowrider, it shouldn't have to become adopted by the masses, that is the mentality of Microsoft.
In regards to backup im pretty sure this is why system rescue cd has gone over to archlinux as the bleeding edge there has better updated options and ease of use maintainability to back up and recover over gentoo linux, whereas debian stable seems to fall behind in this regard, but that is not to say it cant be done with a little research, but getting to BB's point, the average joe point and click person just wants a hassle free backup experience, in that case he/she better stop using computers.
Really think BB was just trying to get some convo going and that this is just well intended flame bait. Saying if only gnu/nix had/could, Ms has been doing it for years. Is bound sooner or later to draw out an empassioned rebuttal from nixers. Ohnonot's post was really good.
Also kind of silly to let someone define something so complex down to, if only gnu/nix had or did xyz, that would be pivotal, make all the difference. That's just not at all realistic. Which am sure, like everything else, there's no shortage of point-click backup/restore software for gnu/nix. Not installed default but as Ohnonot said, it doesn't work that way.
Don't think gnu/nix will ever be ready for us unwashed masses, unless like Ms os's, consumers aren't given a choice and it comes pre-installed, retailers wouldn't have to pay any licensing fees but there's a lot more to it than that surely.
Guessing the "avg computer user", would have a fine experience in such a dream world scenario but things as they stand imo, gnu/nix doesn't attract the so called avg comp user. Draws people who actually are into tech and comps, are willing to invest time and effort because they/we have a real interest in such and are rewarded with an amazing platform full of diversity and options.
It'd be trifling to say, if only windows had add-endless-list, it'd be ready for mass consumption. Still doesn't change that it's the mainstay personal computer platform. I'd argue compared to gnu/nix, windows has a long way to go before it'd be ready but still doesn't change the reality.
This is like oil on the fire, but: Linux will be ready for mass adoption as soon as a company starts pouring BILLIONS of US$ on a year-to-year basis into desktop Linux in the form of engineering time. All the money the big businesses like RedHat/IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, etc are putting into Linux doesn't go to desktop Linux, it goes to exactly the opposite thing, non-desktop Linux. Desktop Linux is in large parts a volunteer effort. It has some rock-solid components like Qt available, but the desktops themselves are a side-effect of a) Volunteering or b) RedHat needing something (GNOME) to slap onto their RHEL OS. Canonical had something interesting going for a while but now they are in the GNOME camp too and focus on Ubuntu Server first (because that's where at least some money is, it sure wasn't to be found in Unity).
Ironically, the systemd/pulseaudio/udev (PoetteringSoft(TM)) is the effort that is most suited to bring Linux towards a more integrated desktop experience like macOS and Windows (all heavily service-based, centralized management components etc, also see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_AIw9bGogo).
This is like oil on the fire, but: Linux will be ready for mass adoption as soon as a company starts pouring BILLIONS of US$ on a year-to-year basis into desktop Linux in the form of engineering time.
Indeed, compared to MS and Apple, Linux, on average, is quite unpolished, and that seems to be one of the main reasons ordinary people are unattracted to it.
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Does every interesting photograph have a story to tell?
Should a photograph with an interesting composition necessarily have a story to tell? I have been told that if you can't tell a story behind a photograph, it is not worth pressing the shutter button. I have dumped many photographs which had an interesting composition but no story to tell. Even when I shooting, I am guided by my intuition and so-called "composition rules" (rule of thirds, leading lines) but many a times, I don't have a story to tell.
You can tell a "story" without necessarily creating a "narrative". I think you may be hung up on believing the only form a story can have is to create a narrative.
Some images very clearly create a narrative. Here a young person has been frightened by an older person wearing a mask that is a bit spooky. The body language of both subjects and the facial features of the mask speak in a near universal human language that communicates the narrative.
Does the following image tell a story? If so, what, if any, is the narrative?
For those who have experienced a climate where leaves change colors and fall with the seasons the image might evoke memories of a particular place and time where a similar scene was experienced. At the very least for those viewers the image does tell a more generalized story of sorts: It reminds them that when the days become shorter and the temperatures become cooler the green of summer gives way to the colors of autumn. But for someone who has spent their entire life in a desert or tropical climate that does not experience the four seasons and who has not learned about the four seasons that occur in other parts of the world the image doesn't tell that story.
This is because the story is only implied, rather than being explicitly narrated, in the image. It isn't a narrative in the sense that we aren't really informed of where a particular clump of leaves on a particular tree in a particular place at a specific time became the colors we see. We're not told what color(s) they were before they became the colors in the photo. Rather it is more of a universal symbol for any leaves that change color in the fall.
Beyond that, I'm not sure that I agree that every good photograph must even "tell a story". I think the purpose of the visual arts in general, and photography as a visual art in particular, is to evoke an emotional and/or an intellectual response. It matters not whether a work of art includes a narrative or even a story at all, as long as it invokes a reaction from the viewer.
This image, in and of itself, doesn't create or illustrate a narrative. One would have to really stretch the meaning of the word story to say that it tells a story at all. What it (hopefully) does is allow the viewer to bring their own story to this fairly abstract image of fireworks and give the image meaning that draws from each viewer's own experience. A botanist who cultivates flowers and dandelions may have an entirely different interpretation and reaction than a combat veteran who has survived anti-aircraft flak over Europe during the Second World War.
On the other hand, if one were to place a title that references an existing cultural or literary narrative beneath the above image then the image could illustrate that existing narrative, at least for those who recognize the reference(s) in the title. Let's call this one "Michael - Lucifer - Gabriel". Now something that was fairly abstract visually has been assigned a meaning and those who recognize the literary reference¹ may began to see a relationship between certain forms in the image and the narrative of Lucifer's fall from heaven.
Whether narrative or not, some works will contain culturally conditioned elements such that the emotional response from most viewers will be similar to most other viewers from the same culture. Other works may be more abstract and invoke different types of responses from different observers based on their own life experiences.
¹ Michael, Lucifer, and Gabriel are the traditional names in the Judeo/Christian tradition given to the three archangels of heaven before one of them, Lucifer, fell and was banished from heaven, along with one third of all of the angels in heaven who followed him, for daring to consider himself as equal to God.
Could you expand on the idea of stories that aren't narrative in nature? The two words are often synonymous, especially in the context of tell a story.
An image is usually only showing a moment. Unless it depicts the story as it unfolds and shows the "action", it doesn't narrate the story. It might show you a particular slice in time of the story. Your imagination and other sources of information create the story, but the image alone is rarely telling it all.
I think the distinction between "narrative" as a subset of the more general "story" is somewhere in between the two poles expressed in the two comments cited. One extreme sees "narrative" and "story" as having near identical meaning. The other sees "narrative" as applicable only when everything in the story is visually made explicit.
In reality it seems to me to be more of a gradual continuum. In much the same way that we use the concept of depth of field there may not be a clear cut "line" that divides a more complete and explicitly expressed "narrative" from a more general "story" that depends on the observer to fill in the details with their own experience. The three examples I've added above move from more explicit narrative to more generalized "story". In any case I think we would all pretty well agree that all narratives are also stories, but perhaps not all stories are narratives, at least not explicitly so with regard to the visual arts.
This question has been tagged under "composition" and "Street-Photography", so I'll keep that in mind with my answer.
The purpose of photography depends on the type of photography. It ranges in extremes from being used to document a scene or subjects to being used as an art form.
Under the visual arts umbrella, photography is about invoking an emotional response, not necessarily to "tell a story". You can accomplish both in a photograph, but the primary purpose is to invoke an emotional response. In street photography, you can very well accomplish both, but invoking or interesting line patterns can and do invoke emotional responses.
Honestly, because as an art form, photography is so subjective and relative to the viewer, let your own instincts guide you.
If you're studying photojournalism, then of course your goal should be to capture stories in your photographs. But photographs can be so abstract that the viewer can't even tell what the subject is, let alone what (if anything) is happening. A photograph can state a fact or inspire a question, neither of which is really the same as telling a story.
There's a lot going on here: runner sliding into home plate, pitcher ready to catch the ball just thrown by the catcher, batter walking off after a sacrifice bunt, on-deck batter watching the action, umpire ready to call the play. Even though the photo is just a moment in time, there's a lot for the viewer to take in and piece together. Contrast that with a still life or an abstract photo which might have beautiful colors arranged in a pleasing way, or just a collection of interesting textures: there's still plenty to look at and enjoy, but it's not a story in any meaningful way that's similar to the photo above.
Ideally, there should be something of interest that the eye is drawn to in your compositions.
I have a relative who likes painting. She is fond of landscapes but she doesn't like doing people or animals. Her work is nicely composed and the eye is drawn to the centre of the paintings, where there is -- nothing. I have never had the heart to tell her and we have some of her work hanging on our walls.
As for always telling a story? I don't think so, but it's great if your photos are intriguing.
Join a photography club if you can find one. You will see lots of other people's work and get feedback on your own.
I have been told that if you can't tell a story behind a photograph, it is not worth pressing the shutter button.
Trust your intuition and if you feel you should hit the shutter button, do it. Decide later if the picture has any emotions to share.
Should a photograph with an interesting composition necessarily have a story to tell?
I think it depends on definition of "story". Photograph can be nearly abstract and I don't think abstract art has a story - they surely convey some message to the viewer, but message is not the same thing as story, I think.
You are doing it right if your photograph has an emotional impact on a viewer other than you.
Maybe more attention to subject would improve your photos. Maybe not. The idea is that depending on context it could be constructive critique.
It's your photograph. If someone thinks photographs should tell a story, they can jolly well get their own camera and make them.
My advice, try telling some stories and see what happens. Maybe your photos get better. Maybe they get worse. Probably, you'll learn something. Which is why I'm not telling you not to try it.
"Story" is a fun word to work with. It's a linguistic concept that proves useful in many many environments.
If I were to translate "every interesting photograph has a story" into the kind of linguistic jargon I am comfortable with, I'd suggest that the thing which makes a photograph interesting is that it leads the viewer to play out a story in their own mind. The key there is the idea of it playing out. You have a very static medium, as a photographer. Once you hit that shutter, the picture never changes. However, the "interesting" photos don't feel static. You almost feel like there's motion inside of you as you look at them. I believe that is what they are trying to capture when they say "every interesting photograph has a story." It's not that you've got a story embedded in the scene so much as the viewer begins their own little story, if for nothing but a brief moment, when they look at the picture. Its the thing which defines the difference between a picture that you simply walk past and a picture that you pause and try to let it all soak in.
I think the purpose of telling new photographers "every interesting photograph has a story" is to give you a hint as to how to refine your art. It's very hard to explain what makes a person feel like there is a story in a picture. However, it is very easy to feel it. The suggestion is to try to make the pictures tell a story to you, because then it is more likely that that picture will touch some common thread in all of our lives and tell a story to the viewer. It's intentionally nebulous. It's not like lighting or polarizer tricks where we can say "you do X to get result Y." It's something you have to explore on your own, and find your own approach. The allusions to "stories" are merely an effective word choice to capture a very nuanced concept in a very short sentence.
For me, as an amateur who thinks they know more than they really know, my test for an "interesting" picture taken by the professionals is if I feel the motion of a story unfolding in my mind while I look at it. Sometimes that's easy. Some pictures have human emotion baked into them, such as the strain on a runner's face as they sprint the last 5 feet before the finish line. Other pictures are more subtle. I can look at a picture of El Capitan or the Teton mountains shot by Ansel Adams and feel movement. In that case, it's not the rabid energy of a few seconds of a race, but the slow purposeful movement of geologic time. In my entire lifetime, the captain will not budge so far as to shift the picture a single crystal of silver halide. And yet, somehow I feel it's movement.
In either case, the picture itself is static. It's just a bunch pigments on a page organized in a very particular arrangement. The life and movement is created in my own mind, borrowing from my past experiences. The truly evocative pictures are just that... they evoke something living inside of you that you did not know was there.
Answering to the point, Not necessarily composition would narrate a story... if you concentrate on just the composition!
Street photography might just be colorful. If it is a well maintained street. or maybe the infrastructure is stunning. it might also tell the story of people who built it, who maintain it or who are just using it. and the colors would say the story.
It applies to the other kinds of streets too.. If you have taken a photo of a street where poor ones live, it would again speak its story.
In also depends on the mindset of the photographer who clicked, as framing the perfect shot is a very important aspect, the one who clicks might not be aware of the story, since he may not be very familiar with the place. But the pic says it all to the one who walks the same street every night after work, had a nice time with his loved one, had a fight or has spent months together building the infrastructure and planning the same. and to the people who live by.
i am talking only about the picture of the street. street photography includes a wide variety of pictures with another set of stories to tell.
As it's said Photos are memories, every pic has a story! You need not dump any pic just because it doesn't say anything to you. it might, to someone else.
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The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, they were some of the largest wars that had ever taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian", with reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry.
The main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily (which at that time was a cultural melting pot), part of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the start of the First Punic War (264–241 BC), Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italy, but it lacked the naval power of Carthage. The Second Punic War (218–201 BC) witnessed Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 BC, followed by a prolonged but ultimately failed campaign of Carthage's Hannibal in mainland Italy. By the end of the Third Punic War (149–146 BC), after more than a hundred years and the loss of many hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides, Rome had conquered Carthage's empire, completely destroyed the city, and became the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean.
With the end of the Macedonian Wars – which ran concurrently with the Punic Wars – and the defeat of the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great in the Roman–Seleucid War (Treaty of Apamea, 188 BC) in the eastern sea, Rome emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power and one of the most powerful cities in classical antiquity. The Roman victories over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the 5th century AD.
During the mid-3rd century BC, Carthage was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. Founded by the Phoenicians in the mid-9th century BC, it was a powerful thalassocratic city-state with a vast commercial network. Of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. While Carthage's navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, standing army. Instead, Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars. These mercenaries were primarily led by officers who were Carthaginian citizens. The Carthaginians were famed for their abilities as sailors, and many Carthaginians from the lower classes served in their navy, which provided them with a stable income and career.
In 200 BC, the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po River. Unlike Carthage, Rome had a large and disciplined army, but lacked a navy at the start of the First Punic War. This left the Romans at a disadvantage until the construction of large fleets during the war.
The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa, but was largely a naval war. It began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The Mamertines enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage. The Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. Tensions quickly escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily.
After a harsh defeat at the Battle of Agrigentum in 262 BC, the Carthaginian leadership resolved to avoid further direct land-based engagements with the powerful Roman legions, and concentrate on the sea where they believed Carthage's large navy had the advantage. Initially the Carthaginian navy prevailed. In 260 BC, they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Lipari Islands. Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months, the Romans had a fleet of over one hundred warships.
Aware that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in traditional ramming combat, the Romans used the corvus, an assault bridge, to leverage their superior infantry. The hinged bridge would be swung down onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike to secure the two ships together. Roman legionaries could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. This innovative Roman tactic reduced the Carthaginian navy's advantage in ship-to-ship engagements.
However, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Roman navy became more experienced and tactically proficient. Save for the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Tunis in Africa, and the early naval defeats, the First Punic War was a nearly unbroken string of Roman victories. In 241 BC, Carthage signed a peace treaty under the terms of which they evacuated Sicily and paid Rome a large war indemnity. The long war was costly to both powers, but Carthage was more seriously destabilized.
According to Polybius, there had been several trade agreements between Rome and Carthage, even a mutual alliance against king Pyrrhus of Epirus. When Rome and Carthage made peace in 241 BC, Rome secured the release of all 8,000 prisoners of war without ransom and, furthermore, received a considerable amount of silver as a war indemnity. However, Carthage refused to deliver to Rome the Roman deserters serving among their troops. A first issue for dispute was that the initial treaty, agreed upon by Hamilcar Barca and the Roman commander in Sicily, had a clause stipulating that the Roman popular assembly had to accept the treaty in order for it to be valid. The assembly not only rejected the treaty but increased the indemnity Carthage had to pay.
Carthage had a liquidity problem and attempted to gain financial help from Egypt, a mutual ally of Rome and Carthage, but failed. This resulted in delay of payments owed to the mercenary troops that had served Carthage in Sicily, leading to a climate of mutual mistrust and, finally, a revolt supported by the Libyan natives, known as the Mercenary War (240–238 BC). During this war, Rome and Syracuse both aided Carthage, although traders from Italy seem to have done business with the insurgents. Some of them were caught and punished by Carthage, aggravating the political climate, which had started to improve in recognition of the old alliance and treaties.
During the uprising in the Punic mainland, the mercenary troops in Corsica and Sardinia toppled Punic rule and briefly established their own, but were expelled by a native uprising. After securing aid from Rome, the exiled mercenaries then regained authority on the island of Sicily. For several years, a brutal campaign was fought to quell the insurgent natives. Like many Sicilians, they would ultimately rise again in support of Carthage during the Second Punic War.
Eventually, Rome annexed Corsica and Sardinia by revisiting the terms of the treaty that ended the first Punic War. As Carthage was under siege and engaged in a difficult civil war, they grudgingly accepted the loss of these islands and the subsequent Roman conditions for ongoing peace, which also increased the war indemnity levied against Carthage after the first Punic War. This eventually plunged relations between the two powers to a new low point.
After Carthage emerged victorious from the Mercenary War there were two opposing factions: the reformist party was led by Hamilcar Barca while the other, more conservative, faction was represented by Hanno the Great and the old Carthaginian aristocracy. Hamilcar had led the initial Carthaginian peace negotiations and was blamed for the clause that allowed the Roman popular assembly to increase the war indemnity and annex Corsica and Sardinia, but his superlative generalship was instrumental in enabling Carthage to ultimately quell the mercenary uprising, ironically fought against many of the same mercenary troops he had trained. Hamilcar ultimately left Carthage for the Iberian peninsula where he captured rich silver mines and subdued many tribes who fortified his army with levies of native troops.
Hanno had lost many elephants and soldiers when he became complacent after a victory in the Mercenary War. Further, when he and Hamilcar were supreme commanders of Carthage's field armies, the soldiers had supported Hamilcar when his and Hamilcar's personalities clashed. On the other hand, he was responsible for the greatest territorial expansion of Carthage's hinterland during his rule as strategus and wanted to continue such expansion. However, the Numidian king of the relevant area was now a son-in-law of Hamilcar and had supported Carthage during a crucial moment in the Mercenary War. While Hamilcar was able to obtain the resources for his aim, the Numidians in the Atlas Mountains were not conquered, like Hanno suggested, but became vassals of Carthage.
The Iberian conquest was begun by Hamilcar Barca and his other son-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, who ruled relatively independently of Carthage and signed the Ebro Treaty with Rome. Hamilcar died in battle in 228 BC. Around this time, Hasdrubal became Carthaginian commander in Iberia (229 BC). He maintained this post for some eight years until 221 BC. Soon the Romans became aware of a burgeoning alliance between Carthage and the Celts of the Po river valley in northern Italy. The latter were amassing forces to invade Italy, presumably with Carthaginian backing. Thus, the Romans preemptively invaded the Po region in 225 BC. By 220 BC, the Romans had annexed the area as Gallia Cisalpina. Hasdrubal was assassinated around the same time (221 BC), bringing Hannibal to the fore. It seems that, having apparently dealt with the threat of a Gallo-Carthaginian invasion of Italy (and perhaps with the original Carthaginian commander killed), the Romans lulled themselves into a false sense of security. Thus, Hannibal took the Romans by surprise a mere two years later (218 BC) by merely reviving and adapting the original Gallo-Carthaginian invasion plan of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal.
After Hasdrubal's assassination by a Celtic assassin, Hamilcar's young sons took over, with Hannibal becoming the strategus of Iberia, although this decision was not undisputed in Carthage. The output of the Iberian silver mines allowed for the financing of a standing army and the payment of the war indemnity to Rome. The mines also served as a tool for political influence, creating a faction in Carthage's magistrate that was called the Barcino.
In 219 BC, Hannibal attacked the town of Saguntum, which stood under the special protection of Rome. According to Roman tradition, Hannibal had been made to swear by his father never to be a friend of Rome, and he certainly did not take a conciliatory attitude when the Romans berated him for crossing the river Iberus (Ebro), which Carthage was bound by treaty not to cross. Hannibal did not cross the Ebro River (Saguntum was near modern Valencia – well south of the river) in arms, and the Saguntines provoked his attack by attacking their neighboring tribes who were Carthaginian protectorates and by massacring pro-Punic factions in their city. Rome had no legal protection pact with any tribe south of the Ebro River. Nonetheless, they asked Carthage to hand Hannibal over, and when the Carthaginian oligarchy refused, Rome declared war on Carthage.
The Second Punic War (218–201 BC) is most remembered for the Carthaginian general Hannibal's crossing of the Alps. His army invaded Italy from the north and resoundingly defeated the Roman army in several battles, but never achieved the ultimate goal of causing a political break between Rome and its allies.
While fighting Hannibal in Italy, Hispania, and Sicily, Rome simultaneously fought against Macedon in the First Macedonian War. Eventually, the war was taken to Africa, where Carthage was defeated at the Battle of Zama (201 BC) by Scipio Africanus. The end of the war saw Carthage's control reduced to only the city itself.
There were three military theaters in this war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly; Hispania, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success until eventually retreating into Italy; and Sicily, where the Romans held military supremacy.
After assaulting Saguntum in Hispania (219 BC), Hannibal attacked Italy in 218 BC by leading the Iberians and three dozen elephants through the Alps. Although Hannibal surprised the Romans and thoroughly beat them on the battlefields of Italy, he lost his only siege engines and most of his elephants to the cold temperatures and icy mountain paths. In the end he could defeat the Romans in the field, but not in the strategically crucial city of Rome itself, thus leaving him unable to win the war.
Hannibal defeated the Roman legions in several major engagements, including the Battle of the Trebia (December 218 BC), the Battle of Lake Trasimene (217 BC) and most famously the Battle of Cannae (216 BC), but his long-term strategy failed. Lacking siege engines and sufficient manpower to take the city of Rome itself, he had planned to turn the Italian allies against Rome and to starve the city out through a siege. However, with the exception of a few of the southern city-states, the majority of the Roman allies remained loyal and continued to fight alongside Rome, despite Hannibal's near-invincible seeming army devastating the Italian countryside. Rome also exhibited an impressive ability to draft army after army of conscripts after each crushing defeat by Hannibal, allowing them to recover from the defeats at Cannae and elsewhere and to keep Hannibal cut off from aid.
Hannibal never successfully received any significant reinforcements from Carthage. Despite his many pleas, Carthage only ever sent reinforcements successfully to Hispania. This lack of reinforcements prevented Hannibal from decisively ending the conflict by conquering Rome through force of arms.
The Roman army under Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus intentionally deprived Hannibal of open battle in Italy for the rest of the war, while making it difficult for Hannibal to forage for supplies. Nevertheless, Rome was also incapable of bringing the conflict in the Italian theatre to a decisive close. Not only did Roman legions contend with Hannibal in Italy and with Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal in Hispania, but Rome had embroiled itself in yet another foreign war, the first of its Macedonian wars against Carthage's ally Philip V, at the same time.
Through Hannibal's inability to take strategically important Italian cities, through the general loyalty Italian allies showed to Rome, and through Rome's own inability to counter Hannibal as a master general, Hannibal's campaign continued in Italy inconclusively for sixteen years. Though he managed to sustain his forces for 15 years, Hannibal did so only by ravaging farm-lands, keeping his army healthy, which brought anger among the Romans' subject states. Realizing that Hannibal's army was outrunning its supply lines quickly, Rome took countermeasures against Hannibal's home base in Africa by sea command and stopped the flow of supplies. Hannibal quickly turned back and rushed to home defense, but suffered defeat in the Battle of Zama (202 BC).
In Hispania, a young Roman commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio (later to be given the agnomen Africanus because of his feats during this war), eventually defeated the larger but divided Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal and two other Carthaginian generals. Abandoning Hispania, Hasdrubal moved to bring his mercenary army into Italy to reinforce Hannibal, but never made it and was defeated by Roman forces near the Alps.
The Third Punic War (149–146 BC) involved an extended siege of Carthage, ending in the city's thorough destruction. The resurgence of the struggle can be explained by growing anti-Roman agitations in Hispania and Greece, and the visible improvement of Carthaginian wealth and martial power in the fifty years since the Second War.
With no military, Carthage suffered raids from its neighbor Numidia. Under the terms of the treaty with Rome, such disputes were arbitrated by the Roman Senate. Because Numidia was a favored client state of Rome, Roman rulings were slanted heavily in favor of the Numidians. After some fifty years of this condition, Carthage had managed to discharge its war indemnity to Rome, and considered itself no longer bound by the restrictions of the treaty, although Rome believed otherwise. Carthage mustered an army to repel Numidian forces. It immediately lost the war with Numidia, placing itself in debt yet again, this time to Numidia.
This new-found Punic militarism alarmed many Romans, including Cato the Elder who, after a voyage to Carthage, ended all his speeches, no matter what the topic, by saying: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" – "And I also think that Carthage must be destroyed".
In 149 BC, in an attempt to draw Carthage into open conflict, Rome made a series of escalating demands, one being the surrender of three hundred children of the nobility as hostages, and finally ending with the near-impossible demand that the city be demolished and rebuilt away from the coast, deeper into Africa. When the Carthaginians refused this last demand, Rome declared the Third Punic War. Having previously relied on mercenaries to fight their wars for them, the Carthaginians were now forced into a more active role in the defense of their city. They made thousands of makeshift weapons in a short time, even using women's hair for catapult strings, and were able to hold off the initial Roman attack. A second offensive under the command of Scipio Aemilianus resulted in a three-year siege before he breached the walls, sacked the city, and systematically burned Carthage to the ground in 146 BC. When the war ended, the remaining 50,000 Carthaginians, a small part of the original pre-war population, were sold into slavery by the victors – the normal fate in antiquity of inhabitants of sacked cities. Carthage was systematically burned for 17 days; the city's walls and buildings were utterly destroyed. The remaining Carthaginian territories were annexed by Rome and reconstituted to become the Roman province of Africa.
After Rome emerged as victorious, significant Carthaginian settlements, such as those in Mauretania, were taken over and aggrandized by the Romans. Volubilis, for example, was an important Roman town situated near the westernmost border of the Roman conquests. It was built on the site of the previous Carthaginian settlement that overlies an earlier neolithic habitation.
^ Chris Scarre, "The Wars with Carthage," The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (London: Penguin Books, 1995), 24–25.
^ Sidwell, Keith C; Jones, Peter V (1997). The world of Rome: an introduction to Roman culture. Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-521-38600-5.
^ Fagan, Garret G. The History of Ancient Rome. Lecture 13: "The Second Punic War". Teaching Company, "Great Courses" series.
^ Eckstein, Arthur M. Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome University of California Press (2009) ISBN 978-0-520-25992-8, p. 167.
^ a b Pollard, Elizabeth (2015). Worlds Together Worlds Apart. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-393-92207-3.
^ a b "The Romans: From Village to Empire: A History of Rome from Earliest Times to the End of the Western Empire" by M. Boatwright, et al. 2nd edition. 2011.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Punic Wars.
Bagnall, Nige (1990). The Punic Wars. London: Hutchinson.
––– (2003). The Punic Wars 264–146 BC. New York: Routledge.
Hoyos, B.D. (2011). A Companion to the Punic Wars. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Miles, Richard (2011). Carthage must be destroyed: The rise and fall of an ancient superpower. New York: Viking.
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Mehmed II, the Conqueror (ca. 1432-1481) was a Turkish sultan who conquered Constantinople and ruthlessly consolidated and enlarged the Ottoman Empire with a military crusade into Asia and Europe.
Mehmed Celebi, the third son of the Ottoman sultan Murad II, was born on March 30, 1432 (or 1430, as cited in some sources). Though much is known of his father, very little is known of his mother. According to some traditions she was a French princess, while others refer to her simply as an Italian woman named Estella. In later custom, she is referred to as Huma Hatan, after the bird of paradise of Persian legend. Yet most likely, Mehmed's mother was a slave, and there is evidence to suggest that she was a recent convert from Judaism.
The first years of the prince were spent in the harem of the palace at Erdine (in the European territories of the Empire), although in 1434 he was sent to Amaysa, in eastern Anatolia. According to custom, at five years of age he was given the governorship of the city, with a number of carefully chosen councillors, for his first taste of authority. In 1439, he was brought back to Erdine for his circumcision ceremonies whereupon he was given a different governorship.
Mehmed had not been his father's favorite son. The impetuous and headstrong prince had been difficult to control and to educate. Yet when his brother was strangled one night in bed, the 11-year-old Mehmed became the heir to his father's throne and was summoned to Erdine to learn of the workings of government.
Although Murad had made numerous military excursions himself, he hoped generally to secure peace to the east and to the west of the Empire. Yet in 1444, Christian forces advanced into Ottoman territory on the second crusade in two years. Leaving his son in charge at court, Murad prepared to meet this threat to his state. That summer, while his father was away, Mehmed briefly enjoyed the authority of the sultanate for the first time.
On November 10, in a major battle at Varna on the Black Sea, the Turkish army defeated the Crusaders, and the Christian prospect of pushing Islam off the European continent no longer seemed likely. Yet in the wake of this victory, Murad somewhat surprisingly abdicated the throne to his son, who had not won great respect during his recent regency. The young Mehmed already entertained the bold notion of attacking Constantinople, the capital of the waning Byzantine Empire that sat in the midst of Ottoman territories on the straits between the Mediterranean and Black seas. At the behest of his former councillors, however, Murad returned to the throne on May 5, 1446, to replace the unpopular, and unready, Mehmed and to turn his military attention toward a renewed threat from the West.
In a successful battle against Hungarian forces in October 1448, Mehmed was given his first experience of battle. In January of that same year, his first son was born to a slave girl, Gulbahar, a Christian of Albanian origin. Quickly thereafter, according to his father's wishes, he was properly married to a more suitable noblewoman, Sitt Hatun. The wedding was magnificently celebrated over a three-month period, but unfortunately for the two, their marriage was unhappy and remained childless.
In February 1451, Murad II died leaving the ambitious Mehmed II as sultan. Since the laws of succession were not entirely clear during this period, Mehmed typically had his brother drowned to eliminate potential opposition to his claim. Later, he was to formalize fratricide in law claiming, "whichever of my sons inherits the sultan's throne, it behooves him to kill his brothers in the interest of the world order." The Ottoman state had been growing in strength and organization since early in the century, but it was far from unified and stable. Mehmed was to spend his entire reign trying to consolidate his authority and to invigorate his state. Thus, his initial efforts were to the elimination of all resistance to his rule within the Empire.
With the news of Mehmed's accession to the throne, many European powers felt that affairs had changed to their advantage. Indeed, he was preoccupied with various rebellions along the eastern frontier of the Empire. Moreover, he had to face a revolt among the Janissaries, an elite military corps which he was able later to reorganize under his direct authority to enforce his will within the Empire and in newly conquered territories. Soon Mehmed no longer felt it necessary to maintain good relations with his neighbors to the west.
Throughout his life, Mehmed had declared his hatred of Christianity and his desire to destroy it. Thus, when his attentions turned toward the West his first major act was the construction of a fortress on the European side of the Bosporus straits with which to police all shipping to the Black Sea. This was a virtual declaration of war on nearby Constantinople which was thereby further isolated from its Western allies. According to Mehmed, "The ghaza (Holy War) is our basic duty, as it was in the case of our fathers." Specifically, he felt, "The conquest of (Constantinople) is …essential to the future and the safety of the Ottoman state." The remaining inhabitants of this once vibrant and important city were justifiably frightened by Mehmed's intentions. From April 6, 1453, Mehmed, with the help of huge cannon, laid siege to the final remnant of Christian greatness in the East. Venetian and Hungarian forces were mobilized for the city's defense, but Mehmed acted quickly. By May 29, when his terms were refused by the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Paleologus, Muslim forces were ordered to storm the city which was quickly overrun and looted.
For many, the fall of Byzantium and the foundation of a unified Islamic Empire straddling Europe and Asia marks the division between the Middle Ages and the modern era. For Mehmed, who immediately became the most important sultan in the Muslim world, it marked the beginning of a dream to create a universal empire based on his new capital, henceforth to be called Istanbul. In an attempt to rebuild the city to its former glory, he repaired the ancient walls and built many public buildings. Among the most prominent of these were his palaces and the great Mosque of the Conqueror, with its hospitals, colleges, and public baths. His city was to be the center of the world—politically, culturally, and spiritually. To this end, he forced resettlement from all parts of the Empire of people of all religions.
As the heir to the Byzantine Empire, Mehmed was forced to modify slightly the system of government that he had inherited and to incorporate some foreign administrative and cultural institutions. All of this he codified in his Book of Laws which thereafter defined the unique character of the Ottoman Empire with its Islamic, Ottoman-Turk, Byzantine, and other influences. Under Mehmed II, now known as The Conqueror, some significant measure of local tradition and religious practice could remain under the new administration of conquered territory (if necessary), though effective and direct control remained in his hands. Clearly, Mehmed's predominant concern was with his own authority. After the fall of Constantinople, for example, he dismissed his powerful chief councillor whom he had inherited from the reign of his father. Henceforth, he would make all of his own appointments to important positions (usually from among his personal slaves). Determined to rule firmly and effectively, Mehmed was often brutal and cruel. It has been said that he delighted in killing people as someone else might kill fleas.
Further conquest was the most passionate pursuit of Mehmed II. For him, the non-Muslim world was "war territory" ordained by the Koran to be subjected. Thus, the glory of the sultan's authority and the Ottoman state was to be based primarily on the pursuit of Holy War inspired by the duty to spread Islam and the benefits of Ottoman rule.
From 1454, Mehmed turned actively against the islands in the Aegean Sea and against the Balkan Peninsula at the expense of both Serbia and Hungary. He met with much success in the Aegean, and to the north he forced an annual tribute from Moldavia. Initial expeditions into Serbia brought it more closely under Ottoman control, but the first large-scale military operation after the fall of Constantinople was directed against Hungary. Arriving at Belgrade, considered essential for further expansion into the European continent, Mehmed began his ill-fated siege in June 1456. After heavily bombarding the city over an extended period, the Turks were compelled to retreat, and Mehmed, wounded in the thigh, was forced to spend the next year at court.
Later, in April 1458, he set forth again at the head of an army toward Greece, and in August he entered Athens, which was to remain under Ottoman control for over 300 years. In 1459, the Serbian city of Smederevo capitulated without a struggle, and by the end of the year all of Serbia was occupied. In 1460, he subjugated Morea, the southern peninsula of the Greek mainland. Efforts to unite Western resistance to the powerful Ottoman threat in another crusade were largely unsuccessful, as were similar attempts by threatened princes to the east of the Empire. Indeed, the next year, Mehmed quickly became master of Trebizond which lay along the northern coast of Asia Minor on the Black Sea.
In 1462, he subdued Walachian resistance to Ottoman suzerainty, and later turned easily against the island of Lesbos with the navy that he was building up. Meanwhile, it was obvious to most observers that Mehmed was preparing another major campaign against the West, particularly against the possessions of Venice. By March 1463, his forces were afoot, and the immediate target of hostilities was Bosnia. Soon the greater part of the region was overrun. This advance terrified the Venetians. Clearly, Venice would have to give up all its possessions in Greece and the East or fight the Turk. When Ottoman forces attacked the Venetian holding of Argos in Greece that same year, Venice, with the support of Hungary, declared war against Mehmed II.
Yet Mehmed had a powerful rival to the east in Prince Uzan Hasan of the House of Karaman in southeastern Anatolia. He also had conquered many territories and now held the title of king of Persia. Karaman was annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1468, though Hasan and his Eastern allies still presented one of Mehmed's greatest challenges. In 1472, Hasan's forces raided the city of Tokat and marched well into western Anatolia. Mehmed spent that year preparing to meet this renewed challenge. Finally, in July of 1473, the two armies met on the plain of Erzincan by the Euphrates River, and on August 11 Mehmed won another great victory extending his authority well into Asia Minor.
Though he was greatly distracted by these events in the East, the West was not spared. Ottoman raiders had long been making excursions to the eastern shore of the Adriatic sea, and in 1469 earnest preparations were undertaken for the transport of troops to Negropont in Greece, the Aegean naval base of Venice. Soon, a massive military expedition set out and the siege of Negropont began. After a long, brutal, and bloody siege that almost exhausted both parties, Negropont capitulated on July 12. This was a terrible blow to Venice and a grave portent of danger to the rest of Europe.
In the area of the Black Sea, Mehmed was also successful. Since early in his reign, he had forced tribute from the various Genoese colonies, later occuping them outright. By 1475, he had made the Crimea a vassal state of the Empire, making the entire sea virtually an Ottoman lake.
Despite recent successes, 1474 was a relatively quiet year for Mehmed, perhaps because of the greatly distressing death of his favorite son, Mustapha, or perhaps because of his own illness. Nevertheless Ottoman forces continued to raid Albania, Walachia, and even Hungary with some Ottoman raiders appearing within sight of Venice itself. By 1476, well enough again to lead his armies, Mehmed almost completely overran Albania.
Peace was concluded with Venice in 1479, ending what had become a long, troublesome struggle. Although the Italian city-state maintained many of its former trading privileges, it was forced to pay tribute to the sultan. Mehmed now looked beyond Venice. On August 11, 1480, Otranto in the south of Italy was overrun, and all the male inhabitants were killed by the invading forces. From this base, the Turks laid waste to the countryside for miles around, threatening the entire Italian peninsula.
Ottoman forces were concurrently involved in many other areas. They were storming the Aegean Islands and laid siege to the fortress on Rhodes. There were continuing raids into the Balkans, but most significantly, the Empire was involved in another struggle in southeastern Anatolia with the sultan of Syria and Egypt.
Despite the military success of the Empire, Mehmed himself was not well. Throughout his life, the sultan increasingly suffered from gout and rheumatism. An abscess had recently grossly disfigured his leg, a divine affliction (it seemed to some) for a life of gluttony. This pushed the moody Mehmed further into seclusion from the public eye. Now, on May 1, 1481, as he prepared for further conflict against the Egyptian sultan, he was struck with severe abdominal pains and died two days later. Since Mehmed had always feared being poisoned and dined alone, there was immediate suspicion that he had been murdered, perhaps even by his son and heir Bayezid, who was eager to secure his position quickly.
Although Mehmed II died unsatisfied in his goal to build a universal empire, he had established the primacy of the Ottoman Turks within the Muslim world. In his dedication to conquest, he extended Ottoman influence east as far as the Euphrates and west throughout the Balkans and even onto the Italian peninsula. Whether reviled for his brutality and his fervor or saluted for these successes, Mehmed II, the Conqueror, affirmed the authority of the sultanate and secured the character of the Ottoman Empire. From the remains of Byzantium, he built a vibrant capital of a growing Turkish Empire which would be a major world power over the next four centuries.
Mehmet II (Ottoman Turkish: محمد الثانى Meḥmed-i s̠ānī, Turkish: II. Mehmet),(also known as el-Fātiḥ (الفاتح), "the Conqueror", in Ottoman Turkish, or, in modern Turkish, Fatih Sultan Mehmet; Known as Mahomet II in early modern Europe) (March 30, 1432, Edirne – May 3, 1481, Hünkârçayırı, near Gebze) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Rûm until the conquest) for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire. Mehmet continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as Belgrade. Administrative actions of note include amalgamating the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state. It is notable that Mehmet II is not considered the first ruler of Constantinople of Turkic origin. Before him, the Christian Leo IV the Khazar was a de jure Roman Emperor. Beside Turkish, he spoke French, Latin, Greek, Serbian, Persian, Arabic and Hebrew.
He had several wives: Valide Sultan Amina Gul-Bahar , an Orthodox Greek woman of noble birth from the village of Douvera, Trabzon, who died in 1492, the mother of Bayezid II, and Gevher Sultana; Gulshah Hatun; Sitti Mukrime Hatun; Hatun Çiçek; Helene Hatun, who died in 1481, daughter of Demetrios II Palaiologos, the Despot of Morea; briefly Anna Hatun, the daughter of the Emperor of Trebizond; and Hatun Alexias, a Byzantine princess. Another son of his was Djem Zizim, who died in 1495.
Mehmed II was born in Edirne, the then-capital city of the Ottoman state, on March 30, 1432. His father was Sultan Murad II (1404–51) and his mother Valide Sultan Hüma Hatun, born in Devrekani county of Kastamonu province, was a daughter of Abd'Allah of Hum (Huma meaning a girl/woman from Hum). When Mehmed II was 11 years old he was sent to Amasya to govern and thus gain experience, as per the custom of Ottoman rulers before his time. After Murad II made peace with the Karaman Emirate in Anatolia in August 1444, he abdicated the throne to his 12-year-old son Mehmed II.
During his first reign, Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne in anticipation of the Battle of Varna, but Murad II refused. Enraged at his father, who had long since retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote: "If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." It was upon this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army in the Battle of Varna in 1444.
It is said Murad II's return to the throne was forced by Chandarli Khalil Pasha, the grand vizier at the time, who was not fond of Mehmed II's rule, since Mehmed II's teacher was influential on him and did not like Chandarli. Chandarli was later executed by Mehmed II during the siege of Constantinople on the grounds that he had been bribed by or had somehow helped the defenders.
He married Valide Sultan Amina Gul-Bahar, of Greek descent of noble birth from the village of Douvera, Trabzon, who died in 1492. She was the mother of Bayezid II.
When Mehmed II ascended the throne in 1451 he devoted himself to strengthening the Ottoman navy, and in the same year made preparations for the taking of Constantinople. In the narrow Bosporus Straits, the fortress Anadoluhisarı had been built by his great-grandfather Bayezid I on the Asiatic side; Mehmed erected an even stronger fortress called Rumelihisarı on the European side, and thus having complete control of the strait. Having completed his fortresses, Mehmet proceeded to levy a toll on ships passing within reach of their cannon. A Venetian vessel refusing signals to stop, was sunk with a single shot.
In 1453 Mehmed commenced the siege of Constantinople with an army between 80,000 to 200,000 troops and a navy of 320 vessels, though the bulk of them were transports and storeships. The city was now surrounded by sea and land; the fleet at the entrance of the Bosphorus was stretched from shore to shore in the form of a crescent, to intercept or repel any assistance from the sea for the besieged.
Map of Constantinople and its land walls and harbor.
In early April, the Siege of Constantinople began. After several fruitless assaults, the city's walls held off the Turks with little difficulty, even with the use of the new Orban's bombard, a cannon similar to the Dardanelles Gun. The harbor of the Golden Horn was blocked by a boom chain and defended by twenty-eight warships. On April 22, Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland, around the Genoese colony Galata and onto the Golden Horn's northern shore; eighty galleys were transported from the Bosphorus after paving a little over one-mile route with wood. Thus the Byzantines stretched their troops over a longer portion of the walls. A little over a month later Constantinople fell on May 29 following a fifty-seven day siege. After this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople.
the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab.
After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed claimed the title of "Caesar" of Rome (Kayser-i Rûm), although this claim was not recognized by the Patriarch of Constantinople, or Christian Europe. Mehmed's claim rested with the concept that Constantinople was the seat of the Roman Empire, after the transfer of its capital to Constantinople in 330 AD and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family, as his predecessors like Sultan Orhan I had married a Byzantine princess. He was not the only ruler to claim such a title, as there was the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, whose emperor, Frederick III, traced his titular lineage from Charlemagne who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned by Pope Leo III in 800 - although never recognized as such by the Byzantine Empire.
Steven Runciman recounts a story by the Byzantine historian Doukas, known for his colorful and dramatic descriptions, in which Mehmed II, upon the conquest of Constantinople, was said to have ordered the 14-year old son of the Grand Duke Lucas Notaras brought to him for his personal pleasure. When the father refused to deliver his son to such a fate he had them both decapitated on the spot. Another contemporary Greek source, Leonard of Chios, professor of theology and Archbishop of Mytilene, tells the same story in his letter to Pope Nicholas. He describes Mehmed II requesting for the 14 year old handsome youth to be brought "for his pleasure" .
Reference is made to the prospective conquest of Constantinople in an authentic hadith, attributed to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad. "Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!" Ten years after the conquest of Constantinople Mehmed II visited the site of Troy and boasted that he had avenged the Trojans by having conquered the Greeks (Byzantines).
The conquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention to Anatolia. Mehmed II tried to create a single political entity in Anatolia by capturing Turkish states called Beyliks and the Greek Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia and allied himself with the Golden Horde in the Crimea. Uniting the Anatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by Sultan Bayezid I, more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II but after the destructive Battle of Ankara back in 1402, the newly formed Anatolian unification was gone. Mehmed II recovered the Ottoman power on other Turkish states. These conquests allowed him to push further into Europe.
Another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was the White Sheep Turcomans. With the leadership of Uzun Hasan, this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like Empire of Trebizond and the Republic of Venice and the alliance between Turcomans and Karamanoğlu Tribe, Mehmed saw them as a threat to his own power. He led a successful campaign against Uzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Otlukbeli.
After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed would also go on to conquer the Despotate of Morea in the Peloponnese in 1460, and the Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia in 1461. The last two vestiges of Byzantine rule were thus absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople bestowed immense glory and prestige on the country.
Mehmed II advanced toward Eastern Europe as far as Belgrade, and attempted to conquer the city from John Hunyadi at the Siege of Belgrade in 1456. Hungarian commanders successfully defended the city and Ottomans retreated with heavy losses but at the end, Ottomans occupied nearly all of Serbia.
In 1463, after a dispute over the tribute paid annually by the Bosnian kingdom, Mehmed invaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomašević.
He also came into conflict with and was defeated by Prince Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia in 1462 at the Night Attack. Then, Mehmed II helped Radu Ţepeş, the brother of Vlad, to take the revenge of the Ottoman military losses. Very soon Radu and his battalion of Romanian Janissary as a single force managed to defeat Vlad III Dracula north of the Danube after months of lingering fighting, Radu also managed to take the control of Wallachia and was honored the title of Bey in the same year. His brother Vlad (the Dracula) lost all his power and escaped from his country.
In 1475, the Ottomans suffered a great defeat at the hands of Stephen the Great of Moldavia at the Battle of Vaslui. In 1476, Mehmed won a victory against Stephen at the Battle of Valea Albă and nearly destroyed all of the relatively small Moldovian army. Then, he sacked the capital of Suceava, but could not take the castle of Târgu Neamţ, nor the citadel of Suceava. With a plague running in his camp and food and water being very scarce, Mehmed was forced to retreat as Stephen was reinforcing his army and Dracula, turning from exile, was marching with a 30,000-strong army to aid the Moldavians.
Mehmed II invaded Italy in 1480. The intent of his invasion was to capture Rome and "reunite the Roman Empire", and, at first, looked like he might be able to do it with the easy capture of Otranto in 1480 but Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481 after the death of Mehmed.
The Albanian resistance in Albania between 1443 and 1468 led by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg (İskender Bey), an Albanian noble and a former member of the Ottoman ruling elite, prevented the Ottoman expansion into the Italian peninsula. Skanderbeg had united the Albanian Principalities in a fight against the Empire in the League of Lezhë in 1444. Mehmed II eventually reversed the momentum of Skanderbeg, by creating an autonomous Albanian Muslims force under the leadership of Iljaz Hoxha, Hamza Kastrioti and the Albanian Janissary battalion, the new force eventually captured Kruje and was indeed loyal to the Sultan and the entire Ottoman Empire.
These military conflicts between the Ottomans and the European forces showed that the Ottoman presence in Europe was not a temporary situation. During the reign of Mehmed II, the Balkan forces were not completely surpassed by the Ottoman war machine, but could not stop it either.
Mehmed II amalgamated the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state. He first introduced the word Politics into Arabic "Siyasah" from a book he published and claimed to be the collection of Politics doctrines of the Byzantine Caesars before him. He gathered Italian artists, humanists and Greek scholars at his court, kept the Byzantine Church functioning, ordered the patriarch to translate the Christian faith into Turkish and called Gentile Bellini from Venice to paint his portrait. He was extremely serious about his efforts to continue the Roman Empire, with him as its Caesar, and came closer than most people realize to capturing Rome and conquering Italy. Mehmed II also tried to get Muslim scientists and artists to his court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques e.g. the Fatih Mosque, waterways, and the Topkapı Palace.
Mehmed II's reign is also well-known for the religious tolerance with which he treated his subjects, especially among the conquered Christians, which was very unusual for Europe in the Middle Ages. However, his army was recruited from the Devshirme. This group took Christian subjects at a young age. They were split up: those regarded as more able were destined for the sultans court, the less able but physically strong were put into the army or the sultan's personal guard, the Janissaries.
Within the conquered city, Mehmed established a millet or an autonomous religious community, and he appointed the former Patriarch as essentially governor of the city. His authority extended only to the Orthodox Christians of the city, and this excluded the Genoese and Venetian settlements in the suburbs, and excluded the coming Muslim and Jewish settlers entirely. This method allowed for an indirect rule of the Christian Byzantines and allowed the occupants to feel relatively autonomous even as Mehmed II began the Turkish remodeling of the city, eventually turning it into the Turkish capital, which it remained until the 1920s.
Mehmed II spoke seven languages (including Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and Latin) when he was 21 years old (the age at which he conquered Constantinople). After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many universities and colleges in the city, some of which are still active. Mehmed II is also recognized as the first Sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law long before Suleiman the Magnificent (also "the Lawmaker" or "Kanuni") and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan (padishah). Mehmed II's tomb is located at Fatih Mosque in Istanbul; the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge is also named after him.
On May 3, 1481, Mehmed II mysteriously died at the age of 52. It is said from a poisoning instigated by his son Bayezid.
No one shall disturb or give harm to these people and their churches! They shall live in peace in my state. These people who have become emigrants, shall have security and liberty. They may return to their monasteries which are located in the borders of my state.
No one from my empire notable, viziers, clerks or my maids will break their honour or give any harm to them!
No one shall insult, put in danger or attack these lives, properties, and churches of these people!
By declaring this firman, I swear on my sword by the holy name of Allah who has created the ground and sky, Allah's prophet Mohammed, and 124.000 former prophets that; no one from my citizens will react or behave the opposite of this firman!"
This oath firman, which has provided independence and tolerance to the ones who are from another religion, belief, and race was declared by Mehmed II the Conqueror and granted to Angjeo Zvizdovic of the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina after the conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 28 of 1463. The firman has been recently raised and published by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey for the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman State. The edict was issued by the Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror to protect the basic rights of the Bosnian Christians when he conquered that territory in 1463. The original edict is still kept in the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica.
It is one of the oldest documents on religious freedom. Mehmed II's oath was entered into force in the Ottoman Empire on May 28, 1463. In 1971, the United Nations published a translation of the document in all the official U.N. languages.
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At the time of the Abbasid Caliphate, such methods of cooking rice at first spread through a vast territory from Spain to Afghanistan, and eventually to a wider world. The Spanish paella,[note 5] and the South Asian pilau or pulao,[note 6] and biryani,[note 7] evolved from such dishes.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition (2006) the English word pilaf, which is the later and North American English form of spelling the word pilau, is a borrowing from Turkish, its etymon, or linguistic ancestor, the Turkish pilav, whose etymon is the Persian pilāv; "pilaf" is found more commonly in North American dictionaries than pilau.
The British and Commonwealth English spelling, pilau, has etymon Persian pulaw (in form palāv , pilāv , or pulāv in the 16th century), whose line of descent is: Hindi pulāv (dish of rice and meat), Sanskrit pulāka (ball of rice), which in turn is probably of Dravidian descent (in the modern Dravidian language Tamil puḷukku means (adjective) simmered, (noun) boiled or parboiled food, puḷukkal cooked rice).
Although the cultivation of rice had spread much earlier from South Asia to Central and West Asia, it was at the time of the Abbasid Caliphate that methods of cooking rice which approximate modern styles of cooking the pilaf at first spread through a vast territory from Spain to Afghanistan, and eventually to a wider world. The Spanish paella,[note 8] and the South Asian pilau or pulao,[note 9] and biryani,[note 10] evolved from such dishes.
According to author K. T. Achaya, the Indian epic Mahabharata mentions an instance of rice and meat cooked together. Also, according to Achaya, "pulao" or "pallao" is used to refer to a rice dish in ancient Sanskrit works such as the Yājñavalkya Smṛti. However, according food writers Colleen Taylor Sen and Charles Perry, and social theorist Ashis Nandy, these references do not substantially correlate to the commonly used meaning and history implied in pilafs, which appear in Indian accounts after the medieval Central Asian Muslim invasions in northern India.
Similarly Alexander the Great and his army have been reported to be so impressed with Bactrian and Sogdian pilavs that his soldiers brought the recipes back to Macedonia when they returned. Similar stories exist of Alexander introducing pilaf to Samarkand; however, they are considered apocryphal by art historian John Boardman.
The earliest documented recipe for pilaf comes from the tenth-century Persian scholar Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), who in his books on medical sciences dedicated a whole section to preparing various dishes, including several types of pilaf. In doing so, he described the advantages and disadvantages of every item used for preparing the dish. Accordingly, Persians consider Ibn Sina to be the "father" of modern pilaf. Thirteenth-century Arab texts describe the consistency of pilaf that the grains should be plump and somewhat firm to resemble peppercorns with no mushiness, and each grain should be separate with no clumping.
Another primary source for pilaf dishes comes from the 17th-century Iranian philosopher Molla Sadra.
Some cooks prefer to use basmati because it is easier to prepare a pilaf where the grains stay "light, fluffy and separate" with this type of rice. However, other types of long-grain rice are also used. The rice is rinsed thoroughly before use to remove the starch. Pilaf can be cooked in water or stock. Common additions include fried onions and fragrant spices like cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon. Pilaf is usually made with meat or vegetables, but it can also be made plain which is called sade pilav in Turkish, chelo in Farsi and ruzz mufalfal in Arabic. On special occasions saffron may be used to give the rice a yellow color. Pilaf is often made by adding the rice to hot fat and stirring briefly before adding the cooking liquid. The fat used varies from recipe to recipe. Cooking methods vary with respect to details such as pre-soaking the rice and steaming after boiling.
There are thousands of variations of pilaf made with rice or other grains like bulgur. In Central Asia there are plov, pilau on the Indian subcontinent, and variations from Turkmenistan and Turkey. Some include different combinations of meats, fruits or vegetables, while others are simple and served plain. In the present day, Central Asian, Indian, Turkish cuisine, Iranian and Caribbean cuisine are considered the five major schools of pilaf.
In Afghan cuisine, Kabuli palaw or qabili palaw (Dari : قابلی پلو ) is made by cooking basmati with mutton, lamb, beef or chicken, and oil. Kabuli Palaw is cooked in large shallow and thick dishes. Fried sliced carrots and raisins are added. Chopped nuts like pistachios, walnuts, or almonds may be added as well. The meat is covered by the rice or buried in the middle of the dish. The Kabuli Palaw rice with carrots and raisins is very popular in Saudi Arabia, where it is known as roz Bukhari (Arabic: رز بخاري), meaning Bukharan rice.
Armenians use a lot of bulgur (cracked wheat) in their pilaf dishes. Armenian recipes may combine vermicelli or orzo with rice cooked in stock seasoned with mint, parsley and allspice. One traditional Armenian pilaf is made with the same noodle rice mixture cooked in stock with raisins, almonds and allspice.
Armenian kinds of rice are discussed by Rose Baboian in her cookbook from 1964 which includes recipes for different pilafs, most rooted in her birthplace of Aintab in Turkey. Baboian recommends that the noodles be stir-fried first in chicken fat before being added to the pilaf. Another Armenian cookbook written by Vağinag Pürad recommends to render poultry fat in the oven with red pepper until the fat mixture turns a red color before using the strained fat to prepare pilaf.
Lapa is an Armenian word with several meanings one of which is a "watery boiled rice, thick rice soup, mush" and lepe which refers to various rice dishes differing by region. Antranig Azhderian describes Armenian pilaf as "dish resembling porridge".
Azerbaijani cuisine includes more than 40 different plov recipes. One of the most reputed dishes is plov from saffron-covered rice, served with various herbs and greens, a combination distinctive from Uzbek plovs. Traditional Azerbaijani plov consists of three distinct components, served simultaneously but on separate platters: rice (warm, never hot), gara (fried meat, dried fruits, eggs, or fish prepared as an accompaniment to rice), and aromatic herbs. Rice is not mixed with the other components even when eating plov.
In Bangladesh, Pulao (পোলাও), Fulao, Holao or Fulab, is a popular dish cooked with rice and meat (chicken or mutton or beef). Pulao is a rice dish, cooked in seasoned broth with rice, meat and spices. A pulao is often complimented with raita. The rice is made in mutton or beef or chicken stock and an array of spices including: coriander seeds, cumin, cardamom, cloves and others. The Morog Pulao in the division of Dhaka is prepared with chicken. It is prepared in marriage ceremonies, condolence meetings, and other occasions. It is often complimented with borhani.
A significantly modified version of the recipe, often seen as influenced by what is called arroz pilau there, is known in Brazil as arroz de frango desfiado or incorrectly risoto de frango (Portuguese: [aˈʁoʒ dʒi ˈfɾɐ̃gu dʒisfiˈadu], "shredded chicken rice", [ʁiˈzotu], "chicken risotto"). Rice lightly fried (and optionally seasoned), salted and cooked until soft (but neither soupy nor sticky) in either water or chicken stock is added to chicken stock, onions and sometimes cubed bell peppers (cooked in the stock), shredded chicken breast, green peas, tomato sauce, shoyu, and optionally vegetables (e.g. canned sweet corn, cooked carrot cubes, courgette cubes, broccolini flowers, chopped broccoli or broccolini stalks/leaves fried in garlic seasoning) and/or herbs (e.g. mint, like in canja) to form a distantly risotto-like dish – but it is generally fluffy (depending on the texture of the rice being added), as generally, once all ingredients are mixed, it is not left to cook longer than 5 minutes. In the case shredded chicken breast is not added, with the rice being instead served alongside chicken and sauce suprême, it is known as arroz suprême de frango (Portuguese: [ɐˈʁo s(ː)uˈpɾẽm(i) dʒi ˈfɾɐ̃gu], "chicken supreme rice").
In the Eastern Caribbean and other Caribbean territories there are variations of pelau which include a wide range of ingredients such as pigeon peas, green peas, string beans, corn, carrots, pumpkin, and meat such as beef or chicken, or cured pig tail. The seasoned meat is usually cooked in a stew, with the rice and other vegetables added afterwards. Coconut milk and spices are also key additions in some islands.
Trinidad is recognized for its pelau, a layered rice with meats and vegetables. It is a mix of traditional African cuisine and "New World" ingredients like ketchup. The process of browning the meat (usually chicken, but also stew beef or lamb) in sugar is an African technique.
In Tobago pelau is commonly made with crab.
Central Asian, e.g. Tajik and Uzbek plov (Tajik: палав, Uzbek: palov) or osh differs from other preparations in that rice is not steamed, but instead simmered in a rich stew of meat and vegetables called zirvak, until all the liquid is absorbed into the rice. A limited degree of steaming is commonly achieved by covering the pot. It is usually cooked in a kazan (or deghi) over an open fire. The cooking tradition includes many regional and occasional variations. Commonly, it is prepared with lamb, browned in lamb fat or oil, and then stewed with fried onions, garlic and carrots. Chicken plov is rare but found in traditional recipes originating in Bukhara. Plov is usually spiced with whole black cumin, coriander, barberries, red pepper, marigold, and pepper. Heads of garlic and garbanzo beans are buried into the rice during cooking. Sweet variations with dried apricots, cranberries and raisins are prepared on special occasions.
Although often prepared at home for family and guests by the head of household or the housewife, plov is made on special occasions by the oshpaz (osh master chef), who cooks the national dish over an open flame, sometimes serving up to 1,000 people from a single cauldron on holidays or occasions such as weddings. Oshi nahor, or "morning plov", is served in the early morning (between 6 and 9 am) to large gatherings of guests, typically as part of an ongoing wedding celebration.
The Uzbek-style plov cooking recipes are spread nowadays throughout all post-Soviet countries and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
In the Greek cuisine, piláfi (πιλάφι) is the fluffy and soft, but neither soupy nor sticky, rice that has been boiled in a meat stock or bouillon broth. In Northern Greece, it is considered poor form to prepare piláfi on a stovetop; the pot is properly placed in the oven. Gamopílafo ("wedding pilaf") is the prized pilaf served traditionally at weddings and major celebrations in Crete: rice is boiled in lamb or goat broth, then finished with lemon juice. Gamopílafo though it bears the name is not a pilaf but rather a kind of risotto, with creamy and not fluffy texture.
Pulao is usually associated with Moghul cuisine. The dish consists of rice and a mixture of either lentils or vegetables, mainly including peas, potatoes, french beans, carrots or meat, mainly chicken, fish, lamb, pork or prawn. There are very elaborate pulaos with Persianized names like hazar pasand ("a thousand delights"). It is usually served on special occasions and weddings, though it is not uncommon to eat it for a regular lunch or dinner meal. It is considered very high in food energy and fat. A pulao is often complemented with either spiced yogurt or raita.
Persian culinary terms referring to rice preparation are numerous and have found their way into the neighbouring languages: polo (rice cooked in broth while the grains remain separate, straining the half cooked rice before adding the broth and then "brewing"), chelo (white rice with separate grains), kateh (sticky rice) and tajine (slow cooked rice, vegetables, and meat cooked in a specially designed dish also called a tajine). There are also varieties of different rice dishes with vegetables and herbs which are very popular among Iranians.
Chelo: rice that is carefully prepared through soaking and parboiling, at which point the water is drained and the rice is steamed. This method results in an exceptionally fluffy rice with the grains separated and not sticky; it also results in a golden rice crust at the bottom of the pot called tahdig (literally "bottom of the pot").
Polo: rice that is cooked exactly the same as chelo, with the exception that after draining the rice, other ingredients are layered with the rice, and they are then steamed together.
In Pakistan, Pulao (پلاؤ) is a popular dish cooked with Basmati rice and meat (chicken or mutton or beef). Pulao is a rice dish, cooked in seasoned broth with rice, meat and spices. A pulao is often complimented with raita. The rice is made in mutton or beef or chicken stock and an array of spices including: coriander seeds, cumin, cardamom, cloves and others. Mutton and beef have, with time, been replaced with chicken due to higher prices of mutton. The Sindhi pulao (Sindhi: سنڌي پُلاءُ) in the province of Sindh, prepared with mutton or beef or chicken. It is prepared by Sindhi people of Pakistan in their marriage ceremonies, condolence meetings, and other occasions.
Traditional Levantine cooking includes a variety of Pilaf known as "Maqlubeh", known across the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The rice pilaf which is traditionally cooked with meats, eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, and cauliflower also has a fish variety known as "Sayyadiyeh", or the Fishermen's Dish.
Historically, mutton stock was the most common cooking liquid for Turkish pilafs, which according to 19th century American sources was called pirinç.
Turkish cuisine contains many different pilaf types and is the inspiration behind most of the variations in Armenia, Balkans, Greece, and Arab countries due to their past under Ottoman Empire rule. Some of these variations are pirinc (rice) pilaf, bulgur pilaf, and arpa şehriye (orzo) pilaf. Using mainly these three types, Turkish people make many dishes such as perdeli pilav, and etli pilav (rice cooked with cubed beef). Unlike Chinese rice, if Turkish rice is sticky, it is considered unsuccessful. To make the best rice according to Turkish people, one must rinse the rice, cook in butter, then add the water and let it sit until it soaks all the water. This results in a pilaf that is not sticky and every single rice grain falls off of the spoon separately.
^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary 2006b.
^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary 2019.
^ a b Perry 2014, p. 624.
^ a b Roger 2000, p. 1144.
^ a b c d Roger 2000, p. 1143.
^ a b c d Nandy 2004, p. 11.
^ a b c d Sengupta 2014, p. 74.
^ Oxford English Dictionary 2006a.
^ Sen, Colleen Taylor (2014), Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India, Reaktion Books, pp. 164–5, ISBN 978-1-78023-391-8 Quote: "(pp. 164–165) "Descriptions of the basic technique appear in thirteenth-century Arab cookbooks, although the name pulao is not used. The word itself is medieval Farsi, and the dish may have been created in the early sixteenth century at the Safavid court in Persia. ... Although dishes combining rice, meat and spices were prepared in ancient times, the technique of first sautéing the rice in ghee and then cooking it slowly to keep the grains separate probably came later with the Mughals."
^ Perry, Charles (December 15, 1994), "Annual Cookbook Issue : BOOK REVIEW : An Armchair Guide to the Indian Table : INDIAN FOOD: A Historical Companion By K. T. Achaya (Oxford University Press: 1994; $35; 290 pp.)", Los Angeles Times Quote: "The other flaw is more serious. Achaya has clearly read a lot about Indian food, but it was in what historians call secondary sources. In other words, he's mostly reporting what other people have concluded from the primary evidence. Rarely, if ever, does he go to the original data to verify their conclusions. This is a dangerous practice, particularly in India, because certain Indian scholars like to claim that everything in the world originated in India a long time ago. ... Achaya even invents one or two myths of his own. He says there is evidence that south Indians were making pilaf 2,000 years ago, but if you look up the book he footnotes, you find that the Old Tamil word pulavu had nothing to do with pilaf. It meant raw meat or fish."
^ Nandy, Ashis (2004), "The Changing Popular Culture of Indian Food: Preliminary Notes", South Asia Research, 24 (1): 9–19, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.830.7136, doi:10.1177/0262728004042760, ISSN 0262-7280 Quote: " (p. 11) Not merely ingredients came to the subcontinent, but also recipes. ... All around India one finds preparations that came originally from outside South Asia. Kebabs came from West and Central Asia and underwent radical metamorphosis in the hot and dusty plains of India. So did biryani and pulao, two rice preparations, usually with meat. Without them, ceremonial dining in many parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is incomplete. Even the term pulao or pilav seems to have come from Arabic and Persian. It is true that in Sanskrit — in the Yajnavalkya Smriti — and in old Tamil, the term pulao occurs (Achaya, 1998b: 11), but it is also true that biryani and pulao today carry mainly the stamp of the Mughal times and its Persianized high culture.
^ a b Nabhan, Gary Paul (2014). Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520267206.
^ Boardman 2019, p. 102.
^ a b c d e "How to cook perfect pilaf". The Guardian. 2012-09-26.
^ Algat, Ayla (2013-07-30). Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the America. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062039118.
^ Davidson 2014, p. 624.
^ Perry, Charles (1992-04-28). "Rice Pilaf: Ingredients, Texture Varies". Sun Sentinel.
^ Davidson, Alan (2006). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-280681-9. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
^ "Recipe for Armenian-style rice pilaf with vermicelli, peas, and herbs". Boston Globe. 2014-01-14.
^ "Armenian Rice Pilaf With Raisins and Almonds". New York Times.
^ From Ajem Pilaf to Yalanchi Dolma: Armenian Cookbooks Added to Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. University of Michigan Library.
^ Dankoff, Robert (1995). Armenian Loanwords in Turkish. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 53. ISBN 978-3-447-03640-5.
^ Azhderian, Antranig (1898). The Turk and the Land of Haig; Or, Turkey and Armenia: Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesque. Mershon Company. pp. 171–172.
^ Interview with Jabar Mamedov Archived 2008-12-21 at the Wayback Machine, Head Chef at the "Shirvan Shah" Azerbaijani restaurant in Kiev, 31 January 2005.
^ a b Ganeshram, Ramin (2005-10-31). Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 9780781811255.
^ a b Cite error: The named reference Davidson2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Reejhsinghani, Aroona (2004). Essential Sindhi Cookbook. Penguin Books India. p. 237. ISBN 9780143032014. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
^ Reejhsinghani, Aroona (2013-07-25). The Sindhi Kitchen. ISBN 9789383260171. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
^ "Good Housekeeping". 18. 1894.
^ Oxford English Dictionary (subscription requied): "A dish, partly of Middle Eastern, partly and ultimately of South Asian origin, consisting of rice (or, in certain areas, wheat) cooked in stock with spices, usually mixed with meat and various other ingredients.
^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (subscription required): "rice usually combined with meat and vegetables, fried in oil, steamed in stock, and seasoned with any of numerous herbs (as saffron or curry)."
^ Perry: "A Middle-Eastern method of cooking rice so that every grain remains separate. ...However, there is no evidence that rice was cooked by this technique in India before the Muslim invasions, and Indians themselves associate pilaf-making with Muslim cities such as Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Delhi. .... The first descriptions of the pilaf technique appear in the 13th-century Arabic books Kitab al-Tabikh and Kitab al-Witsla ila al Habib, written in Baghdad and Syria, respectively. They show the technique in its entirety, including the cloth beneath the lid, and describe still-current flavourings such as meat, pulses, and fruit.
^ Roger: "As noted, Iranians have a unique method of preparing rice. This method is designed to leave the grains separate and tasty, making the rice fluffy and very flavorful. After soaking, parboiling, and draining, the rice is poured into a dish smeared with melted butter. The lid is then sealed tightly with a cloth and a paste of flour and water. The last stage is to steam it on low heat for about half an hour, after which the rice is removed and fluffed."
^ Roger: " (p. 1143) Under the Abbassids, for example (ninth to twelfth century), during the Golden Age of Islam, there was one single empire from Afghanistan to Spain and the North of Arabia. The size of the empire allowed many foods to spread throughout the Middle East. From India, rice went to Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and eventually, it became known and cultivated all the way to Spain. .... Many dishes of that period are still prepared today with ingredients available to the common people. Some of these are vinegar preserves, roasted meat, and cooked livers, which could be bought in the streets, eaten in the shops, or taken home. Such dishes considerably influenced medieval European and Indian cookery; for example, paella, which evolved from pulao, and pilaf and meat patties that started out as samosa or sambusak."
^ Nandy: "(p. 11) All around India one finds preparations that came originally from outside South Asia. Kebabs came from West and Central Asia and underwent radical metamorphosis in the hot and dusty plains of India. So did biryani and pulao, two rice preparations, usually with meat. Without them, ceremonial dining in many parts of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is incomplete."
^ Sengupta: "(p. 74) Muslim influence on the style and substance of Indian food was profound. K.T. Achaya writes that the Muslims imported a new refinement and a courtly etiquette of both group and individual dining into the austere dining ambience of Hindu society. ... Babur's son, Humayun, came back to India after spending a long period of exile in Kabul and the Safavid imperial court in Iran. He brought with him an entourage of Persian cooks who introduced the rich and elaborate rice cookery of the Safavid courts to India, combining Indian spices and Persian arts into a rich fusion that became the iconic dish of Islamic South Asian cuisine, the biryani."
This page was last edited on 16 April 2019, at 01:41 (UTC).
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What was the best part of 2008? It depends on the person.
“Seeing Santa Claus.” — Chris B.
“Going to Santa’s Village.” — Andy W.
“Starting a new job.” — Betsy, nurse.
“Graduating from nursing school.” — Stephanie, nurse.
“Dyanne ended preschool.” — Damaris B.
“Dyanne started kindergarten.” — David B.
“Playing soccer.” — Dyanne B.
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Volcán Popocatepetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, towers to 5426 m 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America's 2nd-highest volcano . The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 250-450 m deep crater . The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano. At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene , producing massive debris- avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano. The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone. Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatepetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano. Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since precolumbian time.
Popocatepetl, the second highest volcano in Mexico, is a giant stratovolcano, 70 km (~45 miles) southeast of downtown Mexico City, and 45 km (~30 miles) southwest of the city of Puebla.
Popo - as many people call it rather than struggling with its full name (Popo-cat-e-petal) - became active just before Christmas after five decades of quiet. During the last two years the volcano has frequently had a small column of steam rising from its summit crater. After midnight on December 21, 1994 a series of earthquakes signaled that eruptions had started. That morning a gray ash cloud was visible over the top of the volcano, and ash fell on Puebla.
During the afternoon, the eruptions increased. Because most of the ash was blowing to the east, civil defense authorities decided to evacuate 19 villages (31,000 people) east of Popo. Moderate eruptions have continued, and according to newspapers the total number of evacuees was about 75,000 people by December 26. The United States Geologic Survey has sent a team of volcano experts to Mexico to help Mexican scientists evaluate what the volcano may do in the near future. The volcano has been quite for more than a week now.
Popo is one of the most active volcanoes in Mexico, having had 15 eruptions since the arrival of the Spanish in 1519 AD. The Aztec Indians who lived in Central Mexico recorded additional eruptions in 1347 and 1354. Most of the eruptions in the past 600 years were relatively mild, with ash columns rising only a few kilometers above the summit.
Volcanologists have studied Popo because most volcanoes tend to have future eruptions that are like their earlier ones. Thus, the volcano's past history helps us prepare for possible future activity. One very important reason to try to predict future eruptions is that more than 20 million Mexican people live close enough to the volcano to be threatened by its eruptions.
NASA satellite image and information about Popocatepetl .
Additional NOAA images of Popocatepetl taken on 10 October 1996 .
Additional information about Popocatepetl is available on the homepage of the Cascade Volcano Observatory .
Popocatepetl Volcano News provides additional information about the eruption.
CENAPRED , additional disaster preparation information.
Summary by Charles Wood, 26 December, 1994 and updated 4 Jan., 1995.
Smithsonian Institution E-Mail Report by Servando De la Cruz-Reyna (Univ. of Mexico) on Dec 23, 1994.
Global Volcanism Network report posted in Volcano homepage of Michigan Tech University.
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In 1823, a worker repairing the roof of Rome's Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls accidentally started a fire that resulted in its almost total destruction. The church, built under Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, had retained its original character for nearly 1,500 years. Reconstruction work began almost immediately with the aim of recreating the original structure. The viceroy of Egypt contributed alabaster pillars to the rebuilding effort, while the Russian emperor sent what?
Sumptuary laws are laws directed against overindulgence or extravagance in diet, drink, and dress based on social, religious, or moral grounds. Historically, these statutes often varied according to rank and were mainly used to mark class distinctions and prevent people from assuming the appearance of a superior class. They were also used to stigmatize disfavored groups, who could be required to wear identifying apparel. How rich did one need to be to wear a belt in the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
Derrida was an Algerian-born French philosopher whose critique of Western philosophy encompasses literature, linguistics, and psychoanalysis. In his famously dense and complex writings, he attempted to take apart, or "deconstruct," the edifice of Western metaphysics and reveal what he deemed its incompatible foundations. His thought is based on his disapproval of the search for an ultimate metaphysical certainty. Why was Derrida so controversial among many of his fellow philosophers?
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My latest book "The funny side of lung cancer" is about my experiences in the hospital, it also recounts some epizodes from my life. First and foremost it is a message to people in adversity - never give up hope! This book is quite a departure from my previous works, photo-essays, Australian travel journals and my digital camera guidebook.
Originally from Hungary, how did you end up writing about Australia?
Following the surpression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising some 200,000 people escaped to the West, in search of a new life. I was one of them. Since 1957 I have been living in Australia, most of the time in Melbourne. I studied industrial chemistry, worked in the plastics industry for some 45 years. After my retirement in 2002, I became a writer-photographer. My illustrated books contain information about the wildlife, nature, National Parks and many other tourist attractions of Australia.
When you're not writing, you're a keen photographer. How do you blend these two passions?
I have been taking photographs since the age of about 13. First it was a hobby, but later (much later) I attended several courses on photography to improve my skills. My wife and I have travelled all over Australia and taken many photos. Once back in Melbourne, I might sit down and write a book selecting the best photographs for the illustrations. I do not limit photography to travel photos, I might just go out to our garden and take photos there or approach interesting people and ask them to model for me for a portrait.
Do you have any tips for others wanting to enter this genre?
My recommendation can be condensed into one word: perseverance!
My books are published through the Internet publishers Lulu and CreateSpace. My most important marketing tool is the press release, there are several press release sites on the Internet. Why, even this particular interview is part of the marketing strategy!
On my website www.australiantravelstories.com - the site has links to my books and to some of my photos as well.
Thank you for the opportunity you have given me to talk to you!
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Now they say "Jidenna why you dressing so classic?"
“Long Live the Chief” tells the story of Jidenna’s upbringing and aspirations. As a proclamation of purpose, it is the perfect complement to the “Classic Man” single, explaining Jidenna’s intent to continue his father’s legacy as a “chief” or dignified leader. Jidenna himself has used the “chief” label since the mid-00s, and the term is a favorite of his Fear and Fancy Social Club.
This one-verse banger is rife with references to political terminology and categories of leader, often woven in via double-entendre: along with chief, we have captain, 100 year plan, run, party, lobby, fresh prince, dead presidents, governor, and diplomat; additionally he name-drops Shaka Zulu, the Kennedy clan, and U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Is this the song from Marvel's Luke Cage on Netflix?
Yes, the fifth episode of Netflix’s Luke Cage features a musical performance from Jidenna of “Long Live the Chief."
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Loose the loins of kings "ungird the loins of kings" - See the note on Isaiah 5:27. Xenophon gives the following list of the nations conquered by Cyrus: the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians. He moreover reigned over the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, the Sacae Paphlagones, and ldariandyni. - Cyrop., lib. 1 p. 4, Edit. Hutchinson, Quarto. All these kingdoms he acknowledges, in his decree for the restoration of the Jews, to have been given to him by Jehovah, the God of heaven. Ezra 1:2.
To open before him the two leaved gates, etc. "That I may open before him the valves; and the gates shall not be shut" - The gates of Babylon within the city leading from the streets to the river, were providentially left open, when Cyrus's forces entered the city in the night through the channel of the river, in the general disorder occasioned by the great feast which was then celebrated; otherwise, says Herodotus, 1:191, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river, and taken as in a net, and all destroyed. And the gates of the palace were opened imprudently by the king's orders, to inquire what was the cause of the tumult without; when the two parties under Gobrias and Gadatas rushed in, got possession of the palace, and slew the king. - Xenoph., Cyrop. 7 p. 528.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed - This is a direct apostrophe to Cyrus, though it was uttered not less than one hundred and fifty years before Babylon was taken by him. The word ‹anointed‘ is that which is usually rendered “Messiah” (משׁיח mâshı̂yach ), and here is rendered by the Septuagint, Τῷ χριστῷ μου Κύρῳ Tō christō mou Kurō - ‹To Cyrus, my Christ,‘ i. e, my anointed. It properly means “the anointed,” and was a title which was commonly given to the kings of Israel, because they were set apart to their office by the ceremony of anointing, who hence were called οι χρυστοὶ Κυρίου hoi christoi Kuriou - ‘The anointed of the Lord‘ 1 Samuel 2:10, 1 Samuel 2:35; 1 Samuel 12:3, 1 Samuel 12:5; 1 Samuel 16:6; 1 Samuel 24:7, 1 Samuel 24:11; 1 Samuel 26:9, 1 Samuel 26:11, 1 Samuel 26:23; 2 Samuel 1:14, 2 Samuel 1:16; 2 Samuel 19:22-23. There is no evidence that the Persian kings were inaugurated or consecrated by oil, but this is an appellation which was common among the Jews, and is applied to Cyrus in accordance with their usual mode of designating kings. It means here that God had solemnly set apart Cyrus to perform an important public service in his cause. It does not mean that Cyrus was a man of piety, or a worshipper of the true God, of which there is no certain evidence, but that his appointment as king was owing to the arrangement of God‘s providence, and that he was to be employed in accomplishing his purposes. The title does not designate holiness of character, but appointment to an office.
To open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut - The folding gates of a city, or a palace. It so happened in the scene of revelry which prevailed in Babylon when Cyrus took it, that the gates within the city which led from the streets to the river were left open. The city was not only enclosed with walls, but there were walls within the city on each side of the river Euphrates with gates, by which the inhabitants had access to the water of the river. Had not these gates been left open on that occasion, contrary to the usual custom, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river, and could all have been destroyed. It also happened in the revelry of that night, that the gates of the palace were left open, so that there was access to every part of the city. Herodotus (i. 191) says, ‹If the besieged had been aware of the designs of Cyrus, or had discovered the project before its actual accomplishment, they might have effected the total destruction of these troops. They had only to secure the little gates which led to the river, and to have manned the embankments on either side, and they might have enclosed the Persians in a net from which they could never have escaped; as it happened they were taken by surprise; and such is the extent of that city, that, as the inhabitants themselves affirm, they who lived in the extremities were made prisoners before the alarm was communicated to the center of the palace.‘ None but an omniscient Being could have predicted, a hundred and fifty years before it occurred, that such an event would take place; and this is one of the many prophecies which demonstrate in the most particular manner that Isaiah was inspired.
Cyrus is called God's anointed; he was designed and qualified for his great service by the counsel of God. The gates of Babylon which led to the river, were left open the night that Cyrus marched his army into the empty channel. The Lord went before him, giving entrance to the cities he besieged. He gave him also treasures, which had been hidden in secret places. The true God was to Cyrus an unknown God; yet God foreknew him; he called him by his name. The exact fulfilment of this must have shown Cyrus that Jehovah was the only true God, and that it was for the sake of Israel that he was prospered. In all the changes of states and kingdoms, God works out the good of his church.
1. To his anointed, to Cyrus. The thought of ch. 44 continues without a break (see ch. 44:28). The title “anointed,” Heb. mashiach (Messiah), was applied by the Hebrews to both the high priest (Ex. 30:30) and the king (1 Sam. 24:6). See on Ps. 2:2. Christ (Gr. Christos, “anointed”) was anointed by the Holy Ghost for His work in behalf of fallen man (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; see on Matt. 1:1). Ancient writers speak of Cyrus as a man of singular nobility and uprightness of character.
The gates. The Greek historian Herodotus relates that on the night of Cyrus’ capture of Babylon the city gates along the Euphrates were not closed. A festival was in progress, and people were to be permitted to cross the river at will.
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The expected output for this task is a patch against rtems-docs which adds all missing prototypes to a single file, and a built HTML page showing the modification. The mentor should ensure the patch does add all missing prototypes to the patched file and that the documentation builds. If the mentor has commit privileges, they can commit the patch.
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A major challenge for solo travelers is to get around on a budget, and there are many people who choose to use hitchhiking as a method of traveling from one destination to the next, and this works whether you are on a short journey or looking to cover long distances. Many people who do stick their thumbs out to travel also talk about the additional benefits such as being offered free accommodation or meals by those who give them a ride. While there are those who will find that hitchhiking isn't for them, it can still be a good way to get around and can be a good way to explore the world on a budget.
The most obvious reason to travel in this way is that it is inexpensive, and although you may sometimes need to use some funds to get to a good hitchhiking spot using public transport, the majority of the transportation is free. However, many people who can afford to travel by coach or airplane will choose to stick their thumb out simply because it is a very interesting way to travel. Not every person who gives you a ride will be a charming conversationalist who will have great stories, but you will get many more interesting experiences and you will often meet some genuinely interesting people by hitchhiking.
Where Are the Best Countries to Hitchhike?
One of the most popular countries in the world for hitchhiking is New Zealand, which has a reputation for being a very friendly country (and road tripping), and in most cases, it will be easy to get a ride throughout most of the area. While not all of Europe is particularly good for getting a ride, Germany and the Netherlands are both countries with friendly drivers, and in the Netherlands, there are even designated spots for those looking for a ride. Visitors to Cuba also praise the system, and although there is a small fee given to the driver, government cars and private drivers in the country are encouraged to stop for those looking for a ride meaning that most people can find a ride quite easily.
The key to hitchhiking successfully depends as much on your ability to choose a good spot as it depends on the drivers heading towards your destination, and most importantly you will be looking for locations with space for drivers to stop and a steady flow of traffic. Most hitchhikers will look for the roads that access the equivalent of interstates or highways, and the on-ramps are particularly good for getting a ride. Another good piece of advice is to have a simple cardboard sign showing drivers where you would like to go, which will help drivers to know before pulling over that they will be able to help you.
The most important piece of advice for anyone trying to thumb a ride is to hitchhike safely and to not get in any vehicles that you don't feel comfortable getting into. Of course you will want to get to your destination as soon as possible, but this doesn't mean that you should take obvious risks in order to get there. If anything feels wrong, or the driver appears drunk or under the influence of drugs, follow your intuition, apologize to the driver, and wait for the next ride to come along. It is also wise to try and make sure you get to your destination before dark, as this is certainly not a suggested nocturnal activity.
Getting a ride will often depend on how drivers will perceive you on the side of the road, so those who are clean and dressed in nicer attire are more likely to be picked up than those in dirty or unkempt clothes. It is also important to appear confident at the side of the road, so look at the drivers on the road, smile, and try to avoid eating or smoking while you are waiting for a ride. If you appear friendly and interesting, you are much more likely to get a ride from a driver that is both friendly and a safe ride option.
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Article Summary: Although you don't need to be an accountant or financial expert to build a successful and thriving business, there are a handful of financial metrics you need to have at your fingertips. These metrics will help you monitor the financial health of your business, make you aware of potential challenges so you're not blindsided by a problem you didn't foresee, and otherwise give you the financial tools you need to grow your business.
Not only are these metrics important to help you build your business, having this information at your fingertips is a good idea when applying for a small business loan. Although it's no guarantee of an approved application, a lender will be more likely to give preference to a business owner who understands and can articulate how their business is performing at a financial level. Keep reading to learn more.
Next: What is Collateral and Do I Really Need it for a Business Loan?
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Is wearing a turban, a headscarf or a cap in prayer obligatory or not?
So if part of beautification is that a person wears something on his head such as a turban, a headscarf or a cap, then it is recommended for him to wear that during the prayer. As for when you are in a land of a people who do not have this as a custom, and this is not from their beautification then stay as you are.
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1. Add to your bath: I do this all the time, but in case you didn't know, you can sprinkle a few drops in with the bath water (preferably when it's running) for a calming, aromatherapy experience. My fave = lavender.
2. Make a face spritzer: In a clean spray bottle, mix 6 drops per 1 oz. of water and create a soothing skin mist.
Clean your house naturally:__ Combine with baking soda and a spritz of lemon to create a natural scouring powder.
4. Create natural dryer sheets: Add several drops to a small hand towel and toss into the dryer for clothes that smell great, sans chemicals.
Help yourself fall asleep:__ Put a couple drops of calming essential oils on your pillow at night for sweet dreams.
I love the dryer sheet idea, you? What do you do with essential oils?
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I invited Viola over for dinner. I cooked and lit some scented candles and then she arrived.
She hadn't taken two steps into my apartment when she sniffed the air, grabbed her throat, and ran for my bathroom. I heard her heaving through the closed door and I asked her what was wrong.
She said it was my candles and so I was quick to blow them out and and toss them in a closet. Viola remained in my bathroom for a good 20 minutes before she finally exited. The food was cold and I directed her to the table to eat when she gagged again, grabbed at her throat, and stumbled out of my apartment, into the hallway, and far away from where I'd ever follow her. And that was the end of it all.
"Come on in, I made us dinner!"
Yeah, candles weren't going to help you out there OP.
Were they poop scented by any chance?
Corpse scented candles are all the rage right now, what was this chick's problem?
As a Clevelander I could probably see those candles being made. GO CAVS!
Personally, I bet she was put off by his Axe body spray, instead of the candles.
I bought a candle that smelled like fresh cut grass and it did indeed smell like fresh cut grass minus the exhaust emissions.I think Viola(Mama's Family!)suffers from a a case of chemical sensitivity.I have a friend who has it and she get's very sick with certain scents.It did not matter that OP blew the candles out,the smell would still linger.I'm indeed curious of what scented candle OP was using.It really did set the mood that evening.Just not the right mood OP was opting for.
Chemo patients can be incredibly sensitive to artificial fragrances. I get sick if I smell that someone sprayed Febreeze in a room five days ago. Scented candles make me toss my cookies.
Nom!!!! We missed you (okay, I missed you).
My fan club of 1! I missed you too.
Maybe she didn't like the smell of a hamper full of dirty undies mixed with a Febreeze candle!
The part of this story that makes no sense is that you lit scented candles.
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What can I use as a substitute for cane vinegar?
I have almost every other type of vinegar. I need 1 cup.
Cane vinegar is south asian and has a bit of sweetness to it. I would easily substitute some japanese rice wine vinegar as it too has a bit of sweetness and lower acidity. Look for "un seasoned" although either will work.
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Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- Maoists in Nepal have threatened an indefinite general strike starting Sunday in a bid to force the country's prime minister to resign.
On Saturday, Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" said if the government does step down, he will become the new prime minister.
However, minutes after Dahal spoke to CNN, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal urged the Maoists to cancel their protests in a televised address that also called for dialogue, indicating he will not resign.
Nepal became prime minister in June after Dahal resigned following a row over the sacking of the army chief.
In a show of strength and as part of May Day celebrations, Maoists brought tens of thousands of people from different parts of the country for a protest rally on Saturday.
"Our minimum demand is the formation of a national government for peace and a constitution," Dahal told CNN. "I am confident that a conducive atmosphere will be built in a couple of days to build consensus."
The Maoists and governing coalition have been in intense consultation in the past few days without a resolution.
The protests come as Nepal passes through a difficult political phase with the deadline to draft the constitution coming at the end of the month.
Nepal's parties also need to decide on the future of the U.N.-verified 19,000 Maoist combatants.
The Maoists fought a 10-year insurgency that ended in 2006 after a peace deal. The constituent assembly elected in 2008 declared Nepal a republic after centuries of monarchy. Maoist supporters marched to the center of the city where Dahal addressed the protesters.
"The strike from tomorrow is our compulsion," he said "All political changes in the country have come from the streets." "People's movement is the most sovereign."
He also came down on India for interference in Nepal's internal affairs and said the government's tone had changed after the prime minister met his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Bhutan at a regional summit last week.
"It is clear whose language they are speaking after he returned from Thimpu," he told the rally.
In the interview with CNN later he explained, "[Our party's relationship] with India is not so warm."
About 15,000 riot police were deployed around the city Saturday for the protests, but they were peaceful.
Police said 60,000 people came to Kathmandu from all across the country for the rally, but the Maoists put the figure at 250,000.
The protesters shouted slogans asking the "puppet" government to resign and that they were ready to fight a war if the party ordered them to.
Nepal spent the bulk of the 15-minute address blaming the Maoists for not adhering to past agreements. The coalition parties want the Maoists to disband its paramilitary wing the Young Communist League and return properties seized during the insurgency to their rightful owners.
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What are codes? A code is any system used to simplify information, whether as a code of conduct, a building code, or programming code. .CODES provides a domain namespace for all uses of the term “code” and can be utilized by any individual, company, or organization, making it the perfect extension for creating glossaries of code terms, giving advice on performing to code or coding, and establishing peer forums for code-sharing and problem-solving.
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Biotic factors in a forest ecosystem are living things that are necessary to ensure that life is sustained within the forest. The word biotic is translated to mean "things that have life" or "living things."
Biotic factors in a forest ecosystem are made up of three categories: producers, consumers and decomposers. Producers are basically plants, which are the only organisms on Earth able to produce their own food. Plants create their food through a process called photosynthesis with the aid of sunlight. Once they have produced their food, it is turned into various nutrients that are able to sustain life.
Consumers are mainly animals that either feed on other animals or plants. Once plants have developed, animals consume them in order to grow and reproduce. Animals help keep the soil fertile since their wastes act like manure or their activities facilitate better development of plants within the forest environment. Examples of consumers include wolves, whales, sharks, bears, bobcats, lions and elephants.
Decomposers are organisms, such as bacteria, earthworms, cockroaches and crabs, which facilitate general break down of waste substances. Without these organisms, the environment would be rendered uninhabitable since waste would cause pollution and potential disease outbreak within the forest.
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Context Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is increasingly used in borderline resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer to facilitate surgical resection. Objective To compare progression free survival and overall survival in patients receiving neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX with those receiving gemcitabine/abraxane. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting University of Colorado Hospital from 2012-2016. Participants Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Interventions Neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine/abraxane. Outcome Measures Perioperative outcomes, progression free survival, and overall survival were compared between groups. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard model was applied to evaluate survival outcomes. Results We identified 120 patients: 83 (69.2%) FOLFIRINOX and 37 (30.8%) gemcitabine/abraxane. The FOLIFRINOX group was younger and had a lower ECOG performance status (p<0.05). Patients in the FOLFIRINOX group were more likely to undergo surgical resection compared to gemcitabine/abraxane (66.3% vs. 32.4%, p=0.002). Among all patients, median follow up was 16.9 months and FOLFIRINOX was associated with improved PFS (15.3 vs. 8.2 months, p=0.006), but not overall survival (23.5 vs. 18.7 months, p=0.228). In these patients, insulin-dependent diabetes was associated with a worse progression free survival and overall survival and surgical resection was protective. Among surgically resected patients, median follow up was 21.1 months and there was no difference in progression free survival (19.5 vs. 15.1 months) or overall survival (27.4 vs. 19.8 months) between the FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine/abraxane groups, respectively (p>0.05). Insulin-dependent diabetes and a poor-to-moderate pathologic response was associated with worse progression free survival and overall survival. Conclusion Neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX may improve progression free survival by increasing the proportion of patients undergoing surgical resection. Improved understanding of the role for selection bias and longer follow up are needed to better define the impact of neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX on overall survival.
The incidence of pancreatic cancer in the United States is increasing and is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. It is estimated that greater than 43,000 people in United States will die from pancreatic cancer in the year 2017 . In the absence of metastatic disease, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines classify pancreatic adenocarcinoma as resectable, borderline resectable (BR), or locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) based upon tumor location within the pancreas and extent of arterial and venous involvement . Although a surgery-first approach is indicated in the 10-15% of patients presenting with potentially resectable disease, NCCN guidelines recommend neoadjuvant therapy in the 40% of patients presenting with BR or LAPC .
Neoadjuvant therapy in patients with BR or LAPC may offer several potential advantages. First, neoadjuvant therapy increases the proportion of patients with resectable disease receiving multimodality therapy. Second, treating the local tumor in patients with BR and LAPC may reduce tumor volume and downstage tumors enabling surgical resection with a lower risk of an R1 resection. Third, neoadjuvant chemotherapy may also allow earlier treatment of radiographically occult micrometastasis. Lastly, neoadjuvant treatment may identify patients with favorable cancer biology that have the greatest benefit from surgical resection [2, 4].
Despite the known advantages of neoadjuvant therapy in patients with BR and LAPC, the optimal neoadjuvant regimen is controversial. The objective of this study is to compare the proportion of patients that undergoing surgical resection and survival outcomes in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma receiving neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX to those receiving neoadjuvant gemcitabine/abraxane (Gem/Abx).
We retrospectively identified all patients that were evaluated at the University of Colorado Hospital for pancreatic adenocarcinoma between June 2012 to December 2016 from a prospectively maintained database using REDCap. Only patients with biopsy proven BR or LAPC adenocarcinoma defined by the NCCN receiving neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine/abraxane were included.
The neoadjuvant therapy regimen selected for each patient was based upon a general consensus by the pancreatic and biliary multidisciplinary team. A typical cycle of FOLIFRINOX consists of oxaliplatin, 85 mg/ m2; irinotecan, 180 mg/m2; leucovorin, 400 mg/m2; and 5-FU, 400 mg/m2 bolus followed by 2400 mg/m2 46-hour continuous infusion, once every two weeks. A typical cycle of gemcitabine/abraxane consists of gemcitabine, 1000 mg/m2, combined with abraxane, 125 mg/m2, administered on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle. In general, patients in the neoadjuvant FOLIFIRNOX group typically completed 2 cycles (4 treatments) and patients in the Gem/Abx group completed 2 cycles (6 treatments).
Following completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or in the case of excessive toxicities, soon after interruption of treatment, treatment effects were evaluated by an abdominal multiphasic pancreatic protocol CT or MRI. Radiographic response to neoadjuvant therapy was defined according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria . Patients with LAPC who demonstrated a tumor response or patients with stable BR disease proceeded to curative intent surgical resection or neoadjuvant radiation followed by surgical resection.
Patient demographics including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status , current hypertension requiring medication, and diabetes mellitus were recorded. Patients were classified as having a low serum albumin if albumin was <3.5 g/dL and an elevated baseline creatinine if creatinine >1.1 mg/dL.
Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) (U/mL) on diagnosis was recorded if the total bilirubin at the time of collection was ≤2 mg/dL and CA19-9 were >1 mg/dL. Tumor size (cm), location, and baseline clinical stage was evaluated using CT of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis; MRI of the abdomen and pelvis with chest CT, and/or EUS if available. Clinical stage was defined according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual, 7th Edition (2010).
Medical records were reviewed for the use of neoadjuvant radiation, number of completed cycles, drug-related adverse events requiring hospitalization, dose reduction, or change in chemotherapy regimen, and chemotherapy outcome.
Intra-operative outcomes including type of pancreatic resection, need for vein resection, type of vein resection, estimated blood loss (ml), and operative time (minutes) were recorded. Perioperative complications were graded based upon the Accordion Severity Grading System classification . Pathologic reports were reviewed for T-stage, N-stage, tumor size (cm), total number of lymph nodes evaluated, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and margin status. The patients response to neoadjuvant was recorded and defined according to the College of American Pathologist grading . A positive margin was defined as presence of tumor cells on any surgical specimen margin.
Long-term oncologic outcomes including follow up duration (months), progression free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. PFS was defined as the duration in months from the date of diagnosis (first abnormal imaging) until the date they either progressed (not surgically resected) or had a local/distant recurrence (surgically resected). OS was defined as the duration in months from the date of diagnosis until the date of death from any cause.
The study protocol conforms to the ethical guidelines of the “World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects” adopted by the 18th WMA General Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964 and amended by the 59th WMA General Assembly, Seoul, South Korea, October 2008, as reflected by a priori approval by the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (Protocol 16-1248).
The data was analyzed using Stata 14.1 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX). An intention-to-treat analysis was performed in all patients, including those who remained unresectable or progressed on therapy, according to their initial chemotherapy regimen. A Wilcoxon ranksum (Mann-Whitney) test or student’s t-test were used for continues variables where appropriate and the chisquare test was used for categorical variables. PFS and OS estimates were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with log rank test. A multivariable Cox proportional hazard model was applied to estimate hazard ratios (HR) of predictors of PFS and OS. All variables with a p-value of 0.10 or less on univariable analysis were utilized on multivariable analysis. However, a p-value of 0.05 or less on univariable analysis were utilized for patients that underwent surgical resection due to the limited number of events in this group. Additionally, neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen was included in the multivariable model due to the clinical significance and variable of interest. Surgical resection was included as a time-varying covariate. Statistical significance was defined as a p<0.05.
We identified 120 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma: 83 (69.2%) patients received neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX and 37 (30.8%) received neoadjuvant Gem/Abx. Patients in the FOLFIRINOX were younger, more likely to have an ECOG performance status of 0, less likely to have an elevated baseline creatinine, and more likely to have hypertension compared to the Gem/ Abx group (all p<0.05). There was no difference in gender, BMI, preoperative diabetes mellitus, or baseline albumin levels between the groups (all p>0.05) (Table 1).
Patients in the FOLFIRINOX group were more likely to have tumors in the pancreatic head/uncinate process compared to the Gem/Abx group (p=0.031). There was no difference in NCCN resectability status, baseline CA19-9 levels, tumor size, clinically T-stage, or clinical N-stage (all p>0.05) (Table 1).
As expected, patients in the Gem/Abx group completed a greater number of chemotherapy treatments compared to the FOLFIRINOX group (p<0.001), but there was no difference in the percentage of patients completing the treatment as planned, adverse effects requiring dose reduction, hospitalization, or change in chemotherapy regimens, or likelihood of receiving neoadjuvant radiation between the two groups (all p>0.05). Although no patient had a complete radiographic response, only 13.3% of patients progressed on FOLFIRINOX compared to 40.5% in the Gem/Abx group (p=0.001). Similarly, a significantly higher percentage of patients in the FOLFIRINOX group were surgically resected compared to the Gem/Abx group (66.3% vs. 32.4%; p=0.002) (Table 1). None of the patients deemed non-surgical candidates were due to poor performance status.
There was no difference in the time from diagnosis to surgery, type of operation performed, intraoperative blood loss, operative time, or the proportion of patients requiring vein resection between the groups (all p>0.05). Although there was a trend towards a higher incidence of perioperative complications in the Gem/Abx group compared to the FOLFIRINOX group (83.3% vs. 52.7%; p=0.051), there was no difference in complication severity between the two groups (p=0.886). There was no difference in length of hospital stay, 90-day readmission rates, 90-day mortality, use of adjuvant chemotherapy, T-stage, N-stage, the number of lymph nodes evaluated, lymphovascular/perineural invasion, margin status, or pathologic tumor response between the two groups (all p>0.05) (Table 2).
Figure 1. (a). PFS among all patients on unadjusted and (b). adjusted analysis without surgical resection variable and, (c). adjusted analysis with surgical resection variable. (d). OS among all patients on unadjusted and (e). adjusted analysis without surgical resection variable, and (f). adjusted analysis with surgical resection variable.
The median follow-up time among surgically resected patients in the FOLFIRINOX group was 22.2 months compared to 15.6 months in the Gem/Abx group (p=0.233). Median PFS (19.5 vs. 15.1 months, respectively) and OS (27.4 vs. 19.8 months, respectively) was similar in the FOLFIRINOX group compared to the Gem/Abx group (both p>0.05) (Table 3, Figure 2a, 2c). After multivariable adjustment, preoperative insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and a poor-to-moderate pathologic response to neoadjuvant treatment were associated with a worse PFS and OS (both p<0.05) (Table 5, Figure 2b, 2d).
Figure 2. (a). PFS among surgically resected patients on unadjusted and (b). adjusted analysis. (c). OS among surgically resected patients on unadjusted and (d). adjusted analysis.
In this single institutional retrospective study of 120 patients with BR and LAPC, neoadjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFIRINOX was associated with 66% of patients undergoing surgical resection compared to only 32% of patients receiving neoadjuvant Gem/Abx. FOLFIRINOX was associated with improved PFS compared to Gem/ Abx, but not OS. However, this effect was no longer evident after controlling for surgical resection suggesting that FOLFIRINOX may be associated with improved PFS by increasing the proportion of patients that undergo surgical resection.
Historically, single agent gemcitabine was considered standard of care in patients with metastatic or locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer . Although most combination therapies using gemcitabine failed to improve survival outcomes, the landmark ACCORD-11 trial demonstrated superior response rates (31.6% vs. 9.4%), improved PFS (6.4 vs. 3.3 months), and longer OS (11.1 vs. 6.8 months) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer randomized to FOLFIRINOX compared to single agent gemcitabine . Subsequently, the multi-institutional randomized MPACT trial demonstrated significant improvement in both median OS (8.5 vs. 6.7 months) and median PFS (5.5 vs. 3.7 months) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer randomized to combination Gem/Abx therapy compared to single agent gemcitabine . Based on these findings and extrapolation of the data to patients with BR and LAPC, the 2017 NCCN guidelines recommend more intensive therapy with FOLFIRINOX or Gem/Abx in patients with good performance status .
FOLFIRINOX has been associated with significant adverse effects and concerns about its toxicity limits its use in patients with a poor performance status . At our institution, patients with a poor performance status generally are preferentially given Gem/Abx to minimize adverse effects. Consequently, in this study, patients in the FOLFIRINOX group were younger and more likely to have an ECOG performance status of 0 compared to patients in the Gem/Abx group. Overall, there was no difference in adverse effects between the two groups. Interestingly, patients undergoing surgical resection in the Gem/Abx group, tended to have more complications than the FOLFIRINOX group and is likely related to their poor performance status at baseline. However, there was no difference in complication severity, length of hospital stay, 90-day readmission, or 90-day mortality between the groups.
Prior studies suggest that the rate of progression on FOLFIRINOX in patients with LAPC based on the RECIST criteria ranges from 0-17% [12, 13, 14]. However, the rate of progression in patients with non-metastatic disease receiving neoadjuvant Gem/Abx remains unknown. In the present study, patients in the FOLFIRINOX group were less likely to progress on chemotherapy (13.3% vs. 40.5%) and more likely to undergo surgical resection compared to the Gem/Abx group (66.3% vs. 32.4%). Additionally, PFS was significantly improved in the FOLFIRINOX group compared to the Gem/Abx group on adjusted analysis. However, after including surgical resection as a variable in the model, Gem/ Abx was no longer associated with PFS. These findings suggest that neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX may be associated with improved PFS by increasing the proportion of patients undergoing surgical resection. Conversely, FOLFIRINOX was not associated with improved OS compared to Gem/ Abx and may be secondary to a small sample size and limited follow up. Alternatively, FOLFIRINOX may delay disease progression without necessarily increasing the cure rate of patients with pancreatic cancer.
In the present study, there was a significant relationship with preoperative insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and both PFS and OS. Previous studies have concluded that not only is hyperinsulinemia an independent risk factor for pancreatic cancer [15, 16, 17], but patients with pancreatic cancer and diabetes have a significantly lower OS than those without diabetes [18, 19]. In an in vitro cell model designed to mimic the progression of pancreatic cancer in vivo, Chan et al. found that hyperinsulinemia accelerated the progression of pancreatic cancer via increased RAF1- ERK-dependent cell survival . Although this may be one possible explanation of the increased risk of mortality in patients with preoperative insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, further study is needed.
Among patients undergoing surgical resection, the most significant risk factor for a worse PFS and OS was a poor-to-moderate pathologic response to chemotherapy. Previous studies suggested that up to 25% of patients may have a complete pathologic response following neoadjuvant therapy [21, 22, 23, 24]. In the present study, 4 (6%) patients had a complete pathologic response: 3 (5.5%) in the FOLFIRINOX group and 1 (8.3%) in the Gem/Abx group. At a median follow up time of 29 (range 14.7-40.0) months, 3 of these patients are alive without recurrence and 1 died from recurrent disease 27 months following diagnosis.
This study does have limitations. This is an observational study which limited data collection variables, particularly in patients referred from outside institutions. Additionally, patients selected for neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX were younger and have a better performance status and may impact survival outcomes. Lastly, our small sample size and limited follow up may limit the power to detect differences in OS between the two groups.
In conclusion, administration of neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX to patients with BR and LAPC may improve PFS by increasing the proportion of patients undergoing surgical resection. However, increased sample size and longer follow up are necessary to better define the impact of neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX on overall survival. Additionally, randomized prospective studies are needed to improve understanding of the role for selection bias and identify which patients may benefit from neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX.
The authors thank Dr. Allan Prochazka of the Masters of Science in Clinical Science program at the University of Colorado Denver serving as Brandon Chapman’s committee chair for completion of his degree of Master of Science in Clinical Science. This study was supported by NIH/NCATS Colorado CTSI Grant Number UL1 TR001082. Contents are the authors’ sole responsibility and do not necessarily represent official NIH views.
Authors are declared that there is no conflict of Interest.
Network NCC. NCCN guidelines version 1.2017. Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. In. 2017.
Ryan DP MH. Initial chemotherapy and radiation for nonmetastatic locally advanced unresectable and borderline resectable exocrine pancreatic cancer. In Goldberg RM AS, Willett CG, Savarese DMF. (ed). Up To Date.
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Debido a estas fechas navideñas, queremos compartir con vosotros lo que es muy tradicional en Toledo y resto de Castilla-La Mancha, comer unas migas manchegas tradicionales los días 24 y 31 de Diciembre.
Os indicamos a continuación, los ingredientes para preparar estas migas manchegas tradicionales para 8 comensales, acompañadas de unas uvas, sobre todo para el día del 31.
Con 5 barras de pan duro, eso sí, sin picos, será suficiente, unas cuatro o cinco tiras de panceta, cinco chorizos oreados, bastantes ajos (unos veinte dientes), pimiento choricero seco, aunque también podríamos utilizar 1 cucharadita de postre de pimentón, aceite de oliva (medio vaso), agua (un vaso), sal fina y unas uvas para acompañar.
Comenzamos cortando el pan duro y lo extendemos sobre varios paños estirados. A continuación las mojamos con pequeñas gotas de agua y las cubrimos con un paño húmedo, dejándolas reposar al menos dos horas. Tenemos que tener en cuenta que lo que queremos es humedecer un poco el pan, de nada sirve si está completamente mojado.
Preparamos el chorizo en pequeños trozos (desmigado) al igual que la panceta, reservamos junto con los ajos sin pelar. Después, calentamos el aceite de oliva a fuego alto y freímos primeramente los ajos. Cuando estén dorados los retiramos e incorporamos en la sartén, en este orden, los siguientes ingredientes: pimiento choricero desbinzado, panceta sin corteza y en trozos pequeños y el chorizo desmigado. A continuación, reservamos los ingredientes en papel absorbente y un poco de aceite de fritura para aromatizar más adelante. Cuando esté frío, machacamos en un mortero el pimiento choricero hasta que se quede como polvo.
Para hacer las migas utilizaremos un rondón grande, con aceite de oliva nuevo y mezcla con el que hemos guardado. A fuego moderado, comenzamos rehogando los ajos, y seguidamente los trozos de pan humedecidos. Importante que volteemos constantemente el pan para que dore por todo el conjunto hasta que veamos que queda suelto y con un toque dorado. En este punto añadimos el polvo de choricero y la picada de panceta y chorizo y removemos el conjunto.
Servimos las migas manchegas tradicionales acompañadas de jugosas uvas.
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I am thinking about a surf trip to the north coast of the Dominican Republic in July and August, but have a few questions.
Anyone have any recommendations for good places to stay.
Anyone else going to be there in July / August and wants to meet up?
Surfing in the Dominican Republic in summer time is excellent if you like surfing waist to head high waves. Fun waves, but make sure to do your surfing before noon, then the wind might pick up, and people go kitesurfing.
Cabarete is a great town with a good variety of accommodation in all price ranges. Condo's starting at 100+ USD per night or stay at Swell Surf Camp for good food and social vibes.
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Queer gender identities are both ridiculously straightforward and endlessly complex.
As our understanding of gender and sexuality develops as a society, the LGBTQ community is on the front lines of figuring out what words to use to express gender identity. When I said this to a straight, cisgender family member, she asked, “Who makes the rules?” The answer is both no one and all of us.
Language has always grown to fit people’s needs, and it is no different in the modern queer community. Terms like masc and femme aren’t put in place by a rule maker, but over time, through how people identify themselves and the conversations they have about what those identities mean.
That being said, because these definitions are developed personally and across international discourses, they’re not always straightforward, and they can mean different things for different people. You might intuitively infer masc meaning masculine and femme meaning feminine, but they stand for much more, and their meanings can change with context.
Femme meaning: What does femme mean?
That’s the base definition, but the term is often used in conjunction with others that add additional meaning or context.
Another common use of these terms is in combination with trans: transmasculine or transfeminine (transmasc and transfemme for short). Transfemme people are typically assigned male at birth (AMAB) but identify more with feminity. Examples of people who might identify with this word include trans women, demi girls, genderfluid people, agender people, and non-binary people.
Transfemme can be used as an identity, but it’s also useful for describing shared experiences and organizing events or spaces for people. While there are many experiences shared by trans people regardless of gender, some experiences are unique to transfemme folks.
Many queer women also use femme to describe themselves, and while some use masc, butch is a more common term in this subgroup of the LGBTQ community. Femme and butch were terms originally coined by the lesbian community, but they’re now also used by queer women of other identities as well. Some LGBTQ women who are between butch and femme use the word “futch” to describe themselves, combining the two.
Masc meaning: What does masc mean?
The same principle for femmes can be applied to mascs: They are masculine and fall somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum.
According to the Gender Wiki, transmasc people are typically assigned female at birth (AFAB) but identify more with masculinity. Examples of people who might identify as transmasc include trans men, demiguys, genderfluid people, agender people, and non-binary people.
Both masc and femme can have less-positive connotations in the LGBTQ community, too.
Masc and femme (usually shortened to fem) are used as shorthand for masculine and feminine by gay men, and the terms have gotten a bad reputation for how they’re used in the gay dating scene. “No fats, no fems” was such a popular phrase in profiles on dating apps like Grindr that someone made a shirt of it. Grindr ended up changing its community guidelines to not allow “language that is used to openly discriminate against other users’ traits and characteristics” to combat the pervasive problem on their platform. “Masc4masc” is a less-aggressive common phrase used on dating apps to send a similar message.
The language of gender is evolving, and as such, there’s no way to completely capture the full variety of what masc and femme mean for the people who use them. Just as each non-binary person has a unique experience of their gender, the reasons people use the terms masc and femme are equally varied. In an effort to show what these words can mean for those who identify, the Daily Dot interviewed several LGBTQ people about their relationship with the terms.
In a similar fashion, Max, a transmasculine non-binary person from Washington, D.C., takes the traditional use of masculinity and puts a non-toxic spin on it. “[Masculinity] exists primarily in my relation to other people,” they said. While it looks like being with “other mascs or men and participating in bonding rituals,” these rituals do not have to be about bro-ing down.
To some people, femme simply means what has been traditionally defined as feminine. “I wear lots of dresses, have long hair, love jewelry and a feminine figure, so I call myself femme,” said Alexa, who is agender.
The definitions of femme and masc are both ridiculously straightforward and endlessly complex. While they correspond to feminine and masculine, the connotations in any specific LGBTQ community, or to any specific person, can vary a lot. Just as with new words for sexualities, ultimately, it’s about people finding words that feel comfortable. While there are general ideas of what femme and masc mean, the most important thing is respecting how people identify and present that identity.
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Finding the important genes: "selection bias"
This is a web interface to help in the process of building a "good predictor." We have implemented a few strategies that seem to be relatively popular. However, as the name of the application suggests, "This is Not A Substitute for A Statistician".
We hope that, by making available a tool that builds simple, yet ---if we believe the literature; see below-- powerful predictors, AND cross-validating the whole process, we can make people aware of the widespread problem of "selection bias". At the same time, we hope to make it easy for people to see that some data sets are "easy", and some are "hard": whatever the method you use, with some data sets you always can do a great job, and with others the situation seems hopeless. Finally, Tnasas can be used as a benchmark against some (overly) optimistic claims that occasionally are attached to new methods and algorithms. This is a particularly important feature, since many new predictor methods are being proposed in the literature often without careful comparisons with alternative methods; Tnasas can be used as a simple, effective way of comparing the peformance of the newly proposed methods and can, itself, become a benchmarking tool. As a side issue, we hope it will be easy to see that with many data sets it is often very hard to do a good predictive job with only a few genes (this is often a mirage from selection bias).
In addition, we want to make people aware of the problems related to the instability of solutions: we often find many solutions that are equally good from the point of view of prediction error rate, but that share very few, if any, genes.
Tnasas allows you to combine several classification algorithms with different methods for gene selection.
We have included several methods, support vector machines (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (NN), diagonal linear discriminant analysis (DLDA), random forest, and shrunken centroids that have been shown to perform very well with microarray data ( Dudoit et al., 2002 ; Romualdi et al., 2003 ; Díaz-Uriarte and Alvarez de Andrés, 2005 ).
Diagonal Linear Discriminant Analysis (DLDA) DLDA is the maximum likelihood discriminant rule, for multivariate normal class densities, when the class densities have the same diagonal variance-covariance matrix (i.e., variables are uncorrelated, and for each variable, its variance is the same in all classes). This yields a simple linear rule, where a sample is assigned to the class k which minimizes , where p is the number of variables, is the value on variable (gene) j of the test sample, is the sample mean of class k and variable (gene) j, and is the (pooled) estimate of the variance of gene j. In spite of its simplicity and its somewhat unrealistic assumptions (independent multivariate normal class densities), this method has been found to work very well. In contrast to the more common Fisher's LDA technique, DLDA works even when the number of cases is smaller than the number of variables. Details and explanations of DLDA can be found in Dudoit et al. 2002 .
Nearest neighbor (KNN) KNN is a non-parametric classification method that predicts the sample of a test case as the majority vote among the k nearest neighbors of the test case ( Ripley 1996 ; Hastie et al., 2001 ). To decide on ``nearest'' here we use, as in Dudoit et al. (2002) the Euclidean distance. The number of neighbors used (k) is often chosen by cross-validation (for a given training set, the performance of the KNN for a set of values of k is determined by cross-validation, and the k that produces the smallest error is used). However, since finding the optimal k by cross-validation is time consuming, we have set k = 1, as this is often a successful rule ( Ripley 1996 ; Hastie et al., 2001 ).
Support Vector Machines (SVM)SVM are becoming increasingly popular classifiers in many areas, including microarrays ( Furey et al., 2000 ; Lee & Lee, 2003 ; Ramaswamy et al., 2001 ). SVM (with linear kernel, as used here) try to find an optimal separating hyperplane between the classes. When the classes are linearly separable, the hyperplane is located so that it has maximal margin (i.e., so that there is maximal distance between the hyperplane and the nearest point of any of the classes) which should lead to better performance on test data. When the data are not separable, there is no separating hyperplane; in this case, we still try to maximize the margin but allow some classification errors subject to the constraint that the total error (distance from the hyperplane in the ``wrong side'') is less than a constant. For problems involving more than two classes there are several possible approaches; the one used here is the ``one-against-one'' approach, as implemented in libsvm ( Chang & Lin, 2003 ). Reviews and introductions to SVM can be found in Burgues, 1998 and Hastie et al., 2001 .
Random forests Random forests are an ensemble of classification trees, that can be used directly with a number of variables much larger than the number of samples; random forests show very good predictive performance, comparable to SVMs and are quite resistant to overfitting ( Breiman, 2001, 2003 ; see also Liaw and Wiener, 2002 ). Random forests return a prediction as the unweighted majority of predictions from a very large (e.g., 5000) collection of classification trees; the important features about these trees are that each is grown using a bootstrap sample of the data set, and that at each node only a random subset of the original variables is examined. As part of a random forest run, we also obtain measures of the importance of variables, and classification trees implicitly include possible interactions (non-additive effects) of predictor variables. We have recently exhaustively examined the performance of random forest with microarray data ( Díaz-Uriarte and Alvarez de Andrés, 2005 ).
Shrunken centroidsThe method of ``nerest shrunken centroids'' was originally described in Tibshiranie et al., 2002 . It uses ``de-noised'' versions of centroids to classify a new observations to the nearest centroid. The ``de-noising'' is achieved using soft-thresholding or penalization, so that for each gene, class centroids are shrunken towards the overall centroid. This method is very similar to a DLDA with shrinkage on the centroids. The optimal amount of shrinkage can be found with cross-validation, and used to select the number of genes to retain in the final classifier. To determine the best number of features we choose the number of genes that minimizes the cross-validated error rate and, in case of several solutions with minimal error rates, we choose the one with smallest number of genes (larger penalty).
Variable selection: finding the "important genes"
What genes should we use when building the predictor? Often, researchers would like to build the predictor using only genes that are "relevant" for the prediction. In addition, using only "relevant" genes can lead to "better" predictions ("better" in the sense of, e.g., smaller variance). How should we select those genes?
A popular approach is to first select a set of genes, with some relatively simple, fast, method, and then feed these selected genes to our predictor. This is called, in the machine learning literature, the "filter approach" (e.g., Kohavi & John, 1998 ) because we first "filter" the predictor variables (in our case genes), keep only a subest, and then build the predictor. We provide three ways of ranking genes, and each can be used with any of the above class-prediction algorithms (except PAM, which includes gene selection as part of the algorithm itself).
F-ratio, or between to within classes sums of squares, the popular ANOVA F-ratio, used also in Dudoit et al., 2002 .
Wilcoxon statistic a non-parametric test for differences between two classes. When there are more than two classes we use a "one-vs-all" approach.
Random forests We use random forest to obtain variable importances, and rank genes based on those variable importances.
After ranking the genes, we examine the performance of the class prediction algorithm using different numbers of the best ranked genes and select the best performing predictor. In the current version of Tnasas we build the predictor using the best g =2, 5, 10, 20, 35, 50, 75, 120, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and the total number of genes.
Suppose we select the first 50 genes with the F-ratio, as explained above; then we use, e.g., DLDA, and we report the error rate of our classifier using 10-fold cross-validation. This sounds familiar, … but is actually a bad idea: the error rate we just estimated can be severely biased down.
This is the problem of selection bias, which has been discussed in the microarray literature by Ambroise & McLachlan (2002) and Simon et al. (2003) (this problem has been well known in statistics for a long time). Essentially, the problem is that we use all the subjects to do the filtering, and therefore the cross-validation of only the DLDA, with an already selected set of genes, cannot account for the effect of pre-selecting the genes. As just said, this can lead to severe underestimates of prediction error (and the references given provide several alarming examples). In addition it is very easily to obtain "excellent" predictors with completely random data, if we do not account for the preselection (we present some numerical examples with KNN and SVM in our R course.
A way to obtain better estimates of the prediction error is to use cross-validation over the whole process of "select-genes-then-build-predictor": leave aside a set of samples, and with the remaining samples do the gene selection and building of the predictor, and then predict the left out samples. This way, the left-out samples do not participate in the selection of the genes, and the "selection bias" problem is avoided.
In the procedures we have implemented, the problem of selection bias is taken into account: all the cross-validated error rates include the process of gene selection.
OK, so we have taken care of selection bias. But what if we repeat the process of selecting a number of genes for different numbers of genes, say 10, 50, 200, and 500, and then keep the one that leads to the smallest cross-validated error rate? We have a similar problem to selection bias; here the bias comes from selecting, a posteriori, the "best" number of predictors based on the performance of each of a number of predictors with our data set.
To give an example, suppose we use DLDA, and we use either 10, 50, or 100 genes. And suppose the cross-validated error rates (cross-validated including variable selection) are 15%, 12%, and 20%. Now, we select the DLDA with 50 genes. But we cannot say that the expected error rate, when applied to a new sample, will be 12%; it will probably be higher. We cannot know how much of our low error rates is due to our "capitalizing on chance".
Thus, we need to add another layer of cross-validation (or bootstrap if we prefer). We need to evaluate the error rate of a prediction rule that is built by selecting among a set of rules the one with the smallest error. Because that is what we are doing: we are building, say, 3 prediction rules (one with 10 genes, one with 50, one with 100), and then choosing the rule with the smallest error rate.
If we need to add this extra lyaer of cross-validation, why do we use, to select the number of of genes, the cross-validated error rate accounting for "selection bias"? This certainly takes a lot more time. The reason is that, a priori, selecting the number of genes this way should lead to better predictors, since we base our choice on an estimate of prediction error rate that accounts for selection bias.
The methods we have implemented return, as part of their final output, the cross-validated error rate of the complete process; in other words, we cross-validate the process of "building several predictors and then choosing the one with the smallest error rate".
Essentially, this is what the program does.
Rank the genes using one of the ranking methods above.
For each g number of genes (where g is 2, 5, 10, 20, 35, 50, 75, 120, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and the total number of genes).
Build the predictor using those g genes.
Compute the cross-validation error corresponding to each g number of genes.
Select as the "best number of genes" gb the one that results in the smallest cross-validation error. If there are several equally good, choose the one corresponding to the smaller number of genes.
Now run the gene ranking method on the complete sample, and select the top gb genes.
If using shrunken centroids a somewhat similar procedure is used implicitly by the method.
Divide the whole data set in 10 approximately equal subsets.
Leave aside this subset; these data left aside are "out-of-bag".
With the other 9 subsets, (the "in-bag") use the procedure above to find the best number of genes, and train a predictor with those genes (but, again, only using the "in-bag" samples).
Predict the out-of-bag samples with the predictor just found.
At the end of the process, each sample has been in the "out-of-bag" set exactly once. Thus, for each sample we have a prediction where that sample has been out-of-bag. Using the out-of-bag predictions, and comparing them with the true class labels we obtain the "error rate".
The number of folds we use is 10 if possible. If there are not enough samples, we use as many folds as possible given the data (so that there is at least one testing sample in the testing data set, and so that there is at least one training sample from each class in every training sample). The cross-validation samples are selected so that the relative proportions of each class are the same (or as close to the same as possible) in all training and test samples.
Some procedures are faster than others. NN and DLDA with randking based on the F-ratio are relatively fast (< 3 minutes). SVM and random forest are slower than NN and DLDA. The Wilcoxon and random forest ranking are slower than the F-ratio. Shrunken centroids is relatively fast.
The file with the covariates; generally the gene expression data. In this file, rows represent variables (generally genes), and columns represent subjects, or samples, or arrays.
Data should conform to the "genes in rows, patients (or arrays) in columns". In other words, each row of the data file is supposed to represent a different gene or variable.
Use tab (\t) as the field separator within rows.
Use newline or carriage return (\n) between rows. It is also convenient to finish each file with one carriage return (\n).
Write the array names (separated by tabs).
The first column is assumed to contain the ID information for genes, marker, or whatever. This will be used to label the output (but it also means that whatever is in the first column is not used in the analyses).
You can have an arbitrary number of rows with comments. These rows must always start with an "#".
Gene names and array names MUST be unique. If they are not, the program will let you know. If you do not want to provide array names, that is OK, and we will name them with sequential integers starting at 1. If you do not want to provide gene names, then put some arbitrary labels on the first column (e.g., fill it with a sequence of integers). Why do we need gene and array names to be unique? Because in many steps, we need to provide either where we classify a given array (and what should we do if two or more arrays are named "A"?), or the genes used in the classifier (and what should we do if two or more genes are named "gene B"?).
Missing values are NOT allowed. You can use the preprocessor and do several things with your data before sending it to Tnasas. We would probably recommend you do imputation after eliminating genes with too many (more than, say, 20%?) missing. Anyway, how best to deal with missing values is not a trivial issue and is outside the scope of this help file.
These are the class labels (e.g., healthy or affected, or different types of cancer) that group the samples. Our predictor will try to predict these class labels.
Please note that we do not allow any data set with 3 or fewer cases in any class. Why? Because, on the one hand, any results from such data would be hard to believe; on the other hand, that would result in some cross-validation samples having some training samples with 0 elements from one of the classes.
Separate values by tab (\t), and finish the file with a carriage return or newline. No missing values are allowed here. Class labels can be anything you wish; they can be integers, they can be words, whatever.
If you use any of the currently standard identifiers for your gene IDs for either human, mouse, or rat genomes, you can obtain additional information by clicking on the gene names in the output. This information is returned from IDClight based on that provided by our IDConverter tool.
This plot shows the cross-validated error rate of the predictor when built using different numbers of genes. This already accounts for selection bias. The final model selected will be the one with the smallest cross-validated error rate.
With gray lines we show the same type of error vs. number of genes as obtained with each of the cross-validation samples.
For comparison, the plots shows the error rate we can achieve by always betting on the most frequent class (a dotted blue line) and the estimate of the error rate from the 10-fold cross-validation (a dotted red line) that is returned also in the Results).
OPTIONS: information about the options and defaults used by the run.
Error Rate: the 10-fold cross-validated error rate of the predictor built by choosing the predictor with the set of genes that leads to smallest error (as seen in the figure). Thus, this estimate of the error rate takes care of the two potential types of severe underestimates of error rates (see Selection bias and Further biases). (Technically, this estimate of the error rate is not unbiased, but the amount of bias is negligible compared to the severe biased introduced if not accounting for selection of genes and number of genes).
Confussion matrix: a 2-way table of true class ("Observed"), in the horizontal, and predicted, in the vertical. This confussion matrix is based on "out-of-bag" predictions. In other words, for each case, its prediction is based on a model (number of genes + predictor) where this case did not participate; so it did not participate in the selection of genes, it did not participate in the selection of the nubmer of genes, and it did not participate in the fitting of the model. We also provide the total error (i.e., the number of missclassifications relative to the total number of cases) broken down by original class, and the relative error per class (number of misclassifications relative to the size of the class). Precisely because these confussion matrix is based on "out-of-bag" predictions, the sum of the entries in the "Total Error" column is identical to the "error rate".
The Total Error is obtained as the number of misclassifications relative to the total number of predictions. The total number of missclassifications is 3 + 1 = 4, and the total number of predictions is 50. As said before, all these are "out-of-bag" predictions. So the "Error rate" here is 4/50 = 0.08.
The "TotalError" column entries are 3/50 = 0.06 and 1/50 = 0.02, when the true, observed, classes are "N" and "T" respectively. Sure enough, the "Error rate" = 0.08 = 0.06 + 0.02.
The "RelativeErrorPerClass" give you a view of how well it is doing relative to the size of the class. It is 3/7 = 0.429 when the true class is "N" and 1/43 = 0.023 when the true class is "T". In other words, the overall error rate of the predictor is not bad (0.08), but the error rate for those of class "N" is not good (almost 50%); how can these two facts be reconciled? Notice that the size of class "N" is very small compared to that of "T" (7 vs. 43). And, as you can see, the predictor in this case can do a good job by emphasizing good predictions for the large class ("T").
The above comments are something to pay attention to with very unbalanced classes. An extreme example: if we have a situation where 99% of the cases are class "A" and 1% of the cases are of class "B", we can achieve a very low prediction error (1%) if we always assign every case to class "A".
Number of predictors that yields minimum error. Well, the number of predictors that yields the minimum median 10-fold cross-validated error rate accounting for selection bias. This is something you get directly from the figure.
Selected predictor genes: if the previous output says its 50 genes, these are the top 50 genes, according to the ranking criterion you choose.
OOB predictions: the OOB predictions. We also provide the true class and the labels. You can use these data to reproduce the confussion matrix above.
Cases with incorrect predictions (errors). If there are any incorrect predictions, we show those, indicating the true class and the predicted class.
Genes selected in each of the cross-validation runs.
Number of shared genes. The number of genes selected in common between any two runs (e.g., between the run with the complete sample and the 2nd cross-validated run, or between the 4th and 7th cv run). Of course, this is a symmetric matrix.
Proportion of shared genes (relative to row total). This is the above table divided by the total number of gene selected by the procedure of the given row. So suppose the third row, the 2nd cv run, selected 20 genes. Then the third row of this table is the same as the third row of the table above divided by 20. Thus, this is not a symmetric matrix.
Gene freqs. in cross-validated runs of genes selected in model with all data. Take each of the genes selected from the complete data run, and count how many times it shows up in the selections from the cross-validation runs.
Gene frequencies in cross-validated runs. Count how many times any gene (that shows up at least once in the cross-validation runs) appeared among the selected ones in the cross-validation runs.
It is now possible to send the results to PaLS. PaLS "analyzes sets of lists of genes or single lists of genes. It filters those genes/clones/proteins that are referenced by a given percentage of PubMed references, Gene Ontology terms, KEGG pathways or Reactome pathways." (from PalS's help). By sending your results to PaLS, it might be easier to make biological sense of your results, because you are "annotating" your results with additional biological information.
Scroll to the bottom of the main outpu, where you will find the PaLS icon and the gene lists. When you click on any of the links, the corresponding list of genes will be sent to PaLS. There, you can configure the options as you want (please, consult PalS's help for details) and then submit the list. In PaLS, you can always go back, and keep playing with the very same gene list, modifying the options.
For individual genes, recall that the names in the tables are clickable, and display additional information from IDClight.
Examples of several runs, one with fully commented results, are available here.
This program was developped by Juan M. Vaquerizas and Ramón Díaz-Uriarte, from the Bioinformatics Unit at CNIO. This tool is, essentially, a web interface to a set of R functions, plus a small piece of C++ code (for the dlda part), written by Ramón. Some of these functions themselves call functions in the packages e1071 (by E. Dimitriadou, K. Hornik, F. Leisch, D. Meyer, and A. Weingessel), class (by W. Venables and B. Ripley), pamr (by T. Hastie, R. Tibshirani, Balasubramanian Narasimhan, G. Chu), supclust (by M. Dettling and M. Maechler), multtest (by Y. Ge and S. Dudoit) and randomForest (by A. Liaw, M. Wiener, with Fortran code by L. Breiman and A. Cutler). Our set of functions themselves will (soon) be converted into an R package and released under the GPL.
We want to thank all these authors for the great tools that they have made available for all to use. If you find this useful, and since R and Bioconductor are developed by a team of volunteers, we suggest you consider making a donation to the R foundation for statistical computing.
You acknowledge that the Tnasas Software is experimental in nature and is supplied "AS IS", without obligation by the authors, the CNIO's Bioinformatics Unit or the CNIO to provide accompanying services or support. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Software is with you. The CNIO and the authors expressly disclaim any and all warranties regarding the software, whether express or implied, including but not limited to warranties pertaining to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
If you use Tnasas for any publication, we would appreciate if you could let us know and if you cite our program (you know, "credit where credit is due"). For now, you can give the main web site: http://tnasas.iib.uam.es) in that publication.
We appreciate if you give us feedback concerning bugs, errors or misconfigurations. Complaints or suggestions are welcome.
Uploaded data set are saved in temporary directories in the server and are accessible through the web until they are erased after some time. Anybody can access those directories, nevertheless the name of the directories are not trivial, thus it is not easy for a third person to access your data.
In any case, you should keep in mind that communications between the client (your computer) and the server are not encripted at all, thus it is also possible for somebody else to look at your data while you are uploading or dowloading them.
This software is experimental in nature and is supplied "AS IS", without obligation by the authors or the CNIO the to provide accompanying services or support. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software is with you. The authors expressly disclaim any and all warranties regarding the software, whether express or implied, including but not limited to warranties pertaining to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Ambroise C, McLachlan GJ (2002) Selection bias in gene extraction on the basis of microarray gene-expression data. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99: 6562--6566.
Breiman L (2001) Random forests. Machine Learning 45: 5--32 (Tech. report).
Breiman L (2003) Manual--Setting Up, Using, And Understanding Random Forests V4.0.
Furey TS, Cristianini N, Duffy N, Bednarski DW, Schummer M, et~al. (2000) Support vector machine classification and validation of cancer tissue samples using microarray expression data. Bioinformatics 16: 906--914.
Harrell JFE (2001) Regression modeling strategies. New York: Springer.
Hastie T, Tibshirani R, Friedman J (2001) The elements of statistical learning. New York: Springer.
Kohavi R, John GH (1998) The Wrapper Approach, in Feature Selection for Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, H. Liu & H. Motoda (Ed.), Kluwer, 33-50 (reprint).
Lee Y, Lee CK (2003) Classification of multiple cancer types by multicategory support vector machines using gene expression data. Bioinformatics 19: 1132--1139.
Liaw A, Wiener M (2002) Classification and regression by randomForest. R News, 2: 18--22.
Ramaswamy S, Tamayo P, Rifkin R, Mukherjee S, Yeang C, et~al. (2001) Multiclass cancer diagnosis using tumor gene expression signatures. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98: 15149--15154.
Ripley BD (1996) Pattern recognition and neural networks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Romualdi C, Campanaro S, Campagna D, Celegato B, Cannata N, et~al. (2003) Pattern recognition in gene expression profiling using DNA array: a comparative study of different statistical methods applied to cancer classification. Hum Mol Genet 12: 823--836..
Simon R, Radmacher MD, Dobbin K, McShane LM (2003) Pitfalls in the use of DNA microarray data for diagnostic and prognostic classification. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 95: 14--18.
Tibshirani, R., Hastie, T., Narasimhan, B. & Chu, G. (2002) Diagnosis of multiple cancer types by shrunken centroids of gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 99: 6567--6572.
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0.950976 |
User rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars with 493 reviews.
In my room - I have a custom build PC, XBOX, and a 40" TV. Now as you can imagine, all these things turning on together and staying on tend to build up quite a bit of heat, enough to make me sweat. I dealt with this for a while cause my brother wouldn't be playing the consoles a lot back then, but now he plays for literally the same amount of time I'm on the PC...4 hours or so. One day I said enough is enough! I didn't like sweating in my own room after a long day, so I decided to buy a fan. I went through a few pages before getting to the Vornado. What actually drew me here was the price, it was much higher then all the other fans I had looked at. So the question came to mind....is it really that good? Unfortunately, fan reviews are not easy to come by, which is understandable. So I just did some research on what made a Vornado so special from other fans. This fan actually circulates the air in your room and it feels like a light breeze all over your room. It brought down the temperature in my room by about 3 degrees, but on top of that it's a constant breeze that cools you off, so it feels even better then what the thermal reads. Because of the way this circulates air, I actually had to not use my ceiling fan so it would not disrupt the circulation process. This fan blows out a TON more air then any fan I have ever had before. forewarning though, please be advised that it circulates air, that means it will not do it's job if it's pointed directly at you, it has to be pointing to some top corner of the room to move the air round properly. As far as the settings go, 1=Literally no sound at all, 2=Still pretty quite, 3=Now you might want to put a few notches up on your TV, 4= sounds like a normal fan now, it's not super loud, but enough to notice a fan is on somewhere. As a suggestion I would get this fan above all the other Vornado whole room fans. Because what this fan can do on setting 2 and 3 is the high setting for the lower priced models and I like having the choice to go up or down to what I need. Now there is another model called 733, know that the 660 ( this one) is a lot better at energy conserving and can blow more amount of air at a quieter level.
I replaced my ceiling fan for this, and I love it!
I've never bought a fan that's not a Vornado.
This Vornado is slightly smaller than those I'd owned earlier, but it's just as efficient as the larger ones I was used to. I expected complete satisfaction, based on my long experience with Vornado fans, and that's exactly what I got. My one quibble is that when the fan is turned on, it always starts on the highest speed, even though I usually use a lower speed, which means I have to select speed after turning it on. I wish the fan would come on at the speed at which it was turned off. Also, since I want to see some "brainwork" in the fan, I'd like to have a remote that would turn on/off, change speed and maybe even change the tilt (up and down). Anyway, I don't plan on buying another fan for several years now (Vornados last a long, long time, even when used for virtually 24 hours every day of the year). If I live long enough to need another fan, I'll consider nothing but another Vornado, as always.
This fan is awesome! I'm not a huge fan of the buttons, but it is what it is. The design of the fan looks modern and slick. Wish it could oscilate, but that's not what it's built for: it's built to just push air far and hard enough that the air circulates back towards the fan. Using this in a medium sized room and at setting 2 (out of 4, 1 being lowest, 4 being the turbo speed) it circulates the air very well. During the warmer days of spring (upper 70s) it definitely helps air from being stale. Setting 1 has got to be my favorite. It still pushes air but it's low enough to be inaudible. I use this setting to help push air during warm but not hot days. Turbo mode or setting 4 is the worse in terms of audio. It certainly pushes air very well, to the point that you may not want to do it with loose papers or napkins around. Overall this is the best fan I've purchased in a long time. But time will tell if the cost justifies it's life span.
The selling point for most Vornado fans is that they move more air than other fans. This I found to be true. The fan will not pivot below the horizontal position (down). This is in keeping with Vornado's intended use for the fan (on the ground or at a low point to force colder air up and thus cause circulation through the room) but does limit where it can be placed. I also dislike the user interface. There is a power button and then three buttons for low, medium, and high. Every time you turn the fan on it defaults to high. It also, as far as I can tell, will not restore its on/off state if power is lost (so if it's running and you pull the plug it won't be running when you plug it back in). This means that smart home gadgets won't really work with this fan other than for shutting it off. Earlier models of Vornado fans had a simple dial which would retain the chosen speed setting if power was cut.
It is NOT a "fan"
This is our second Vornado air circulator. The first was the mid-size, purchased two years ago to be used in an upstairs bedroom. It does not blow air on you. It circulates the air and the reduction in temperature is dramatic. I've read of complaints about it being too "loud". No, what is too loud is the traffic and neighbors that come courtesy of daylight savings time. The Vornado then becomes the perfect "white noise" making it serve two purposes for the price of one. We recently bought a second, the largest model, only to have as a back-up and to use in the downstairs area when no a/c is required and yet it might still be a "bit too warm". A "fan" is great if you just come in from mowing the grass and want to "cool down" quickly but if you want a large area to actually be cooler, get one of these.
One Powerful Fan!!! I hate spending $100 on a fan, because you can by fans for $20-45 anywhere. But it has good reviews, so I caved in and bought it for spring and fall nights. Living in southern California, it gets pretty darn hot, but some parts of the year it actually cools down at night. This fan is amazing! It's powerful, and very quiet considering how strong it is. I can go into the technical CFM details and such, but that doesn't help many people. I also didn't believe that the fan circulated air like it does in the demo videos. So I put it in my hallway, and turned it on. Within seconds, my office door closed. But wait, the office door closes in. So why was it closing? The fan was shooting air into the office, making it "spin" and "turn upside" down, and it caused the air to fully circulate and close my office door. Amazing! This fan truly works great!
I'll be honest, I was EXTREMELY skeptic that this very expensive fan would work, and I didn't clear up any the first night I used it. HOWEVER, I am now a firm believer in the vornado! Might take some time to find the best spot to place and aim it (for me it was in one corner of the room aimed diagonally towards my door.) With the door open, it pushes air into the hall way sucking cool air into my room the the AC vent, with it closed, it circulates the already cool air in my room gloriously. With all the hot air blowing electronics in my room along with 2 fans, it was at least 5 degrees hotter than any other room in the house. Now? Coolest room in the whole house and I have just the vornado! I highly recommend this "fan" to anyone. Remember though, this isn't a "point in your face" fan, this is an air circulator (although I do have it towards me at night).
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0.940401 |
A form of insurance that covers a policyholder?s belongings against perils such as fire, theft, windstorm, hail, explosion, vandalism, riots, and others. It also provides personal liability coverage for damage the policyholder or dependents cause to third parties. It also provides additional living expenses, known as loss-of-use coverage, if a policy-holder must move while his or her dwelling is repaired.
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0.999997 |
Give me a minute or three to extol the virtues of The Gotobeds, the modern rock and roll sensation that has always sounded like they love to play. Never maligned by having the world’s weight on their backs, The Gotobeds - Cary, TFP, Eli and Gavin - return to the fray with their third full lengther, ‘Debt Begins at 30’. The esprit de corps and anxiety-free joy that permeates their other LPs and EPs remains intact. The octane is high-test, the engine still has knocks and pings and the battery is overcharged. The Gotobeds - as Pittsburgh as it gets, the folk music of the Steel City - have more tar for us to swallow. Debt Begins at 30 is an old-fashioned blast furnace and the liquid iron flows. Debt Begins at 30 is not “pub sop” in any way or shape.
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0.945816 |
If the product of X and Y is a positive number, is the sum of X and Y a negative number?
Since Y is raised to an odd exponent, the sign of the base (i.e., the sign of Y) is the same as the sign of the entire expression (i.e., the sign of Y5).
There is no way of distinguishing whether we are in Case (1) or (2) and the answer to the resulting question of whether X + Y is negative can be different depending on the chosen values of X and Y. Consider two examples, one from each case.
Since there is no way to determine whether X + Y is positive, Statement (1) is not sufficient.
Y6 must be a positive number since, even if Y were negative, raising it to an even exponent would make the entire quantity positive.
X must be positive since any number that is larger than a positive number is itself positive.
Since X is positive, in order for XY to be positive, Y must also be positive (i.e., we are dealing with Case (1) from above). Consequently, a positive number (i.e., X) plus a positive number (i.e., Y) must itself be positive.
We can definitively answer "no" to the original question.
Since Statement (1) alone is NOT SUFFICIENT but Statement (2) alone is SUFFICIENT, answer B is correct.
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0.982618 |
Jason is the son of Jupiter and Piper is the daughter of Aphrodite. Leo is the son of Hephaestus. Annabeth is the daughter of Athena. Coach Hedge is a satyr and this takes place on Long Island Sound an the Wolf House, and San Francisco.
Jason wakes up in the back of a bus heading for the Grand Canyon Skywalk. he gets in trouble there and goes to a place called "Camp Half-Blood" with, apparently, a best friend named Leo, and a girlfriend named Piper. he gets a quest while the daughter of Athena, Annabeth Chase looks for her boyfriend, a guy named Percy Jackson. Read the book to find out all the details.
I thought about what I'd do in Jason's situation. I would have made a lot of different decisions but generally the same idea to go solve Piper's problem and complete the quest. I would recommend this book to my smart Percy Jackson lover friends in fifth grade. It is because they would probably read it nonstop from cover to cover. I did that. I also have no doubt that they would read it in less than a week. My opinion about this book is that I thought that "The Lost Hero" was AWESOME!! It was heart-thrilling, adventure-packed, and it was surprise after surprise It exceeded all my expectations.
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0.999814 |
What do these two words have in common?
Yes, listen and silent have the same letters. Yes, being a good listener requires being silent. However, there’s more than just being silent when you listen.
One of the best ways you can actively listen is to quiet your distracting thoughts while the other person is speaking. It’s hard to do! But by getting so engrossed in your thoughts and your response, you can miss what the other person is saying. Be present when you’re silent.
And, if you’re the speaker, be okay with the moment of silence before the response. It means the other person is listening.
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0.999999 |
Is there an encryption method where the order of decryption is irrelevant to the order of encryption?
With most encryption methods, if a message is encrypted first using key $k_1$ and then using $k_2$, to decrypt it you have to use first $k_2$ and then $k_1$.
I was wondering if there are any encryption methods that can be decrypted using the keys in any order. For example, if a message is encrypted using the keys $k_1$, $k_2$ and $k_3$, in this order, then it could be decrypted in the order of $k_2$, $k_3$, $k_1$ or in any other order, as long as all 3 keys are used.
Simple XORing the keys and the message is possible (where the key space is the same as the message space) but if multiple messages are encrypted, it is not secure.
So my question is: Is there an encryption method where the order of decryption is irrelevant to encryption, but which is also secure with multiple messages? The size of the keys doesn't matter.
Any synchronous stream cipher, or block cipher in a stream-like mode of operation (such as counter-based modes), will have this property. That's because they are, in essence, stretching a user-supplied key to an arbitrary length, and then using it as an XOR mask to encrypt (or decrypt) the message. Since the message content isn't relevant to cipher stream, and the actual encrypt/decrypt operation is just XOR, the order is unimportant.
Note that ciphers like this are extremely vulnerable to some classes of attacks, such as a bit-flipping attack. It is therefore crucial that you include an integrity check, such as an HMAC, with your ciphertext.
In order to make this secure with multiple messages, you have to do the same thing you do with most ciphers when reusing a key: you need a new nonce or initialization vector (IV). This value is randomly generated for each message, and sent along with the ciphertext in the clear. It is useless for the attacker unless the attacker also has the key, but it allows the same shared key to produce different ciphertexts even when encrypting the same plaintext message. This means an attacker can't determine anything about the plaintext (other than its length, which can be mitigated via padding and so on) by comparing ciphertext messages, even if the attacker knows they were encrypted with the same key.
You do need to be absolutely sure to never re-use the IV, though. IV re-use makes it quite easy to break many crypto schemes. For example, the old Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption used for early WiFi had short IV (only 24 bits) and this was weak enough that often possible to break the encryption with only a few minutes of analysis if the network was busy (and therefore had to generate a large number of IVs to encrypt all the packets it was sending).
With all that said... schemes like you describe aren't as secure as you might expect them to be. While they should remain at least as secure as only doing a single round of encryption, they might not be any better than that. Due to attacks such as meet-in-the-middle, using the same cipher for multiple operations (even with different keys) is less secure than you'd expect. Mixing encrypt and decrypt operations is more secure for ciphers where encrypt and decrypt are different operations (which is not the case for cipher classes mentioned above) but even then, it's less secure than you might expect. A real-world example of this is the Triple-DES cipher, which attempts to fix the weakness of the DES cipher's 56-bit key by using three keys, and doing encrypt-decrypt-encrypt (or the reverse, for the decrypt operation). You might think that would produce 168 bits of effective security, but due to meet-in-the-middle, it's actually only 112 bits effective (although you do still need all three keys to be distinct, which is 168 bits of key material).
Still, if you want to generate a bunch of independent keys, encrypt a message with all of them, and then require them all to be re-entered before the message is decrypted without caring about the order of re-entry... this scheme should work. Just don't expect it to be more resistant to cryptanalysis than just encrypting the message once.
Is there a system where multiple people can encrypt a message and then decrypt it in any order?
How can 3DES encryption use decryption in the middle step?
Can we decrypt in this order when the message is encrypted twice?
How 3DES work in a simple way?
Is this construction a secure MAC?
How can I get the message which was encrypted before (when decrypting a product cipher) ?
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0.999994 |
Can you be factually wrong, but morally right?
Cortez (some American politician I admittedly don't know much about) has been in the news recently because she is getting corrected by fact checkers and they have been giving her some stick for putting out some wrong information.
She claims that people are getting hung up on what she said but not why she said it.
I'm no Cortez fan, and tend to be much more conservative, and certainly don't agree with her saying the things which she has which are incorrect, but it has been raising some interesting statements from the conservatives responding to her.
The claim being put forward by her opposition is that you cannot be factually incorrect, and morally right at the same time. The two don't mix, or rather to be factual is synonymous with being moral. But is this true?
You live in Germany during Hitlers reign, and a Nazi knocks on your door and asks you to give him back the rifle he lent you, and asks for information on the location of a Jewish family you know so he can go murder them.
If Justice is to give back what is owed and to speak the truth, then that would force one to give the rifle to the nazi, and tell him the Jewish family he is looking for are hiding in your basement.
Is it not fair to say with this example in mind, despite what the conservatives are saying against Cortez (who again, I am not fan of), that one can actually be factually incorrect, AND morally right at the same time? It is circumstantial and one is not synonymous with the other.
Concerning Cortez original statement, I think it was more a criticism of missing the forest for the trees. That is discussing details without engaging with the larger whole. Whether or not this criticism is warranted, I cannot say.
Now, to your question: I think there is a distinction between being correct and being truthful. In your example, the person might be said to tell a moral lie, but they are not factually incorrect.
I think being correct about what is and being correct about what should be are unrelated. You can be wrong about one and right about the other. Of course moral judgements require a set of circumstances to apply them to. But a moral act based on incorrect information is still moral, it just is not effective.
It's not possible to be morally wrong or right. It is possible to be factually wrong or right.
Seems to me necessarily - though perhaps trivially - "you" can be morally correct but factually wrong.
In a dilemma, you have apparent choices A, B,..., K, (each of the A, B,...,K, perhaps being itself a set of choices) . As it turns out though, no matter what you choose, you always get the same result R. In a true dilemma, then, R always follows. To be on the horns of a dilemma is descriptive of the structure of the argument (following the branch, or horn, to the single conclusion). Or more figuratively, whatever you do you get the horn!
Our AMJ corresponds to the R of the dilemma. In a sense, the result doesn't depend on the choices made, nor the moral quality of the judgment on the accuracy of the proposition.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then, is exactly correct.
The real question, however, is not the academic question of the quality of AMJs, but whether you can make law with them.
Moral right/wrong don't have anything to do with being factually correct. There are no moral facts, aside from the fact that someone has the moral views that they do.
I prefer progressive politicians to conservative ones, but I am getting tired of hearing about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But then, I read the New York Times every day which is in love with her, so her name pops up in its pages a lot. And the Bronx and Queens is in the NYT service area.
But she could site incorrect facts in support of a moral argument. Maybe the percentage of electricity generated with coal is higher than she said; maybe the unemployment rate is lower than she said. But her concern about global warming and the status of the working class is morally justified.
How problematic "bad information" is depends on how it ended up in a statement. Finding faulty information in a usually reliable source is one thing, making them up out of thin air is something else. Sloppy research is one thing for an upstart (not the same as uppity) candidate, something else for the White House Budget Office.
Bill, who is not poor, is believed to have stolen $100 from Joan, who is poor. Bill denies this. Joan is too upset to testify, but she has friends who do so on her behalf, based on what they believe is the case. Sanjeev is the neighbourhood leader who has been called upon to adjudicate. He makes Bill give $100 to Joan, as he believes the statements by others that Bill stole $100 from her..
In fact Bill did not steal $100 from Joan. But he did, in an act of spite because she rejected his sexual advances, entered her house and smashed up her crockery, which would cost slightly more than $100 to replace.
Do you think it is the case that Sanjeev is factually wrong but morally right?
I think he's morally wrong because he's deciding guilt based on mere testimony.
I don't think you can accidentally be morally right. You could accidently pick a moral path, but that doesn't mean you've made a moral choice.
Before your question can be asked, let alone answered, you need to establish what it could mean to be morally correct.
You can be factually wrong and morally correct. Isn't this the problem of unsound arguments (false premises specifically) with true conclusions?
This is a lame and unlikely scenario. Why would Joan and her friends blame Bill for stealing money that wasnt stolen, rather her crockery was broken that was worth more? The scenario doesnt make any sense.
There is no such thing as being morally right or wrong. There are only goals that we have and the actions of others that either promote or hinder our goals.
Quite sure of that? As to "thingness," no contest. Is that what you meant?
Morals are misconstrued ideas about one's goals and how others either promote or hinder their goals.
I've chewed on this for a while, but I'm not getting it. Expand on it a little (or more than a little, or just the right amount)?
It does seem to me that if a moral is a misconstrued idea, then that it is a misconstrued idea is right, and with respect to what it misconstrues, is wrong, right?
Which wouldn't itself be moral utterances.
What exactly are these incorrect claims being made? I see people say this, but they routinely seem to themselves be stating falsehoods based on talking points (I've noticed a lot of people flip their lids because they don't know what marginal tax rates are, for example). What I've see her say is that people jump on extremely minor details that don't affect the overall point (a couple weeks back she accidentally said "All three branches of Congress" instead of "government" in an interview,.for example... Like come on).
That aside... aside, it seems like you can be wrong about a fact and yet still be correct about some moral statement. Cortez, for example, champions "Medicare for all" as moral, and has cited studies saying it is overall a net savings when compared to the current patchwork health Care system in the U.S. Now even if that claim was false (it appears to be quite true) I don't see how that would affect the moral claim. Few who promote universal health care systems say they're moral because they save money, after all. It's supposed to be an added benefit to cut off certain untrue claims (e.g. "We can't afford X and that's why I'm against it" has been a long-standing conservative response to such things).
I mean, doesn't this basically come down to whether one accepts "ought implies can" or not?
What would one think that moral utterances are in that case? Any arbitrary expression about anything?
I think you're talking about being factually right or wrong here. It is factually right, or correct, that morals, or morality (the idea of moral right and wrong) are misconstrued ideas. What one misconstrues is that moral right and wrong are objective and exist independent of one's goals (like as a set of rules handed down by God). If goals are subjective then so are morals. Because morals are subjective it doesn't make sense to say that they can be right or wrong.
Can one be factually wrong but morally right?
If one holds that facts have to do with empirical objective reality, and morality has to do with rational subjective reality, then yes, of course. Any ignorance of fact with respect to a given circumstance, which is far more likely than ignorance of a personal moral agenda, is sufficient to affirm the question.
It's a complicated question, but generally, truth is necessary to justice. Think of a defendant in court who tells lies. If his lies are believed - the judicial process continues toward a falsely just conclusion.
I have heard of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez - she's a democratic socialist, fiercely intelligent, and super easy on the eye. I like her. She's got fire in her belly, but she's new to politics - and new to the utter hypocrisy she will encounter.
Googling this subject, the only supposed "lie" I could find is some amateur twitter speculation that she's secretly rich, because she wore two coats, or something. This thread doesn't specify what lie she's supposed to have told. So this thread answers itself. Is it moral to lie to malign this woman?
There's also a lie of omission. Why seek to malign this woman? Is it misogyny? Racism? Political ideology? You deny knowledge of your motives, again - to pervert the calculus of moral reason.
Political ideology most likely, There is a large segment of both Republicans and Democrats who'll look for any reason to criticize or "rip apart" anyone from the other side, merely because they're on the other side.
I just watched the SOTU. I think they've all got the clap!! President Evil took a swipe at AOC too. The cameras were looking at Bernie Sanders, but that's not who he was talking about. I've never really understood the lasting effect of McCarthyism on American political discourse. I don't know how you get ordinary people - earning miserable wages to resist healthcare and education as "socialism." Do they not understand there's a difference between socialist government, and social provision. They have trash collected, I suppose, street lights, armed forces, police, prisons - a long list of public goods to which they could easily add health and education without becoming a socialist country. It's very strange.
I think a lot of that just stems from America's history and geography. While there are very few people at present who don't use any government services, it's important to remember that it's a relatively young country, it's a huge country (the entire UK, for example, would fit in just the state of Oregon, and Oregon is only the 9th largest state), and even now, there are still a lot of rural or semi-rural areas. Rural and semi-rural locales are still the vast majority of the country by area (though not by population of course). Places where historically, up to not too long ago, people did have to do everything themselves, and a lot of people still live in relatively remote or secluded places, down dirt roads that aren't very often maintained, they home-school their kids, etc. There's a more recent tradition in the U.S. (compared to Europe, for example) of having to be self-sufficient, having to pull yourself and your own family up from your bootstraps basically, That became normalized. because historically it was necessary for it to be, so that people who weren't self-sufficient, especially if there was any impression of that being due to not wanting to work your fingers to the bone, etc., were seen negatively.
And those values might have disappeared more quickly if it weren't for the Great Depression in the earlier 20th Century. That tended to reinforce for many people that they needed to be self-sufficient and not rely on the government. The Great Depression wasn't that long ago. My grandfather was in his mid 20s to mid 30s during it, and my mother was born at the end of it. So its influence on the current population is still strong, even if it's fading away a bit now.
Also, if you're living down a dirt road, home-schooling your kids, you're on a well, you're not on public sewers, etc., maybe you've got a farm, even if just a small farm, and you're mostly eating your own food/other local farmers' food, etc., you're more likely to resent the government demanding part of the money you're making (if you're selling some of your food, for example), demanding property tax, etc.
Can there be an action that is morally wrong but contextually right?
Is it morally wrong to not use a gift?
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0.971152 |
How do the signs of sign language differ from the gestures that speakers produce when they talk? We address this question by focusing on pointing. Pointing signs play an important role in sign languages, with some types functioning like pronouns in spoken language (e.g., Sandler & Lillo-Martin 2006). Pointing gestures, in contrast, are not usually described in linguistic terms even though they play an important role in everyday communication. Researchers have focused on the similarities between pointing in signers and speakers (e.g., Cormier et al. 2013), but no studies to date have directly compared the two at a fine-grained level. In this paper, we compare the formational features of 574 pointing signs produced by British Sign Language signers (BSL Corpus) and 543 pointing gestures produced by American English speakers (Tavis Smiley Corpus) with respect to three characteristics typically associated with language systems: conventionalization, reduction, and integration. We find that, although pointing signs and pointing gestures both exhibit regularities of form, pointing signs are more consistent across uses, more reduced, and more integrated into prosodic structure than pointing gestures. Pointing is thus constrained differently when it is produced along with a signed language vs. when it is produced along with a spoken language; we discuss possible sources of these constraints.
How do the signs of sign language differ from the gestures that speakers produce when they talk? Although signs and gestures are produced in the same modality and can look superficially similar, they have been given different theoretical treatments. Since the 1960s, sign languages have typically been described within theoretical frameworks used to describe spoken languages. In contrast, gesture—and, in particular, co-speech gesture—has traditionally been viewed as external to language (Kendon 2004; Goldin-Meadow & Brentari 2017). Since theories about gesture and sign have developed independently along these diverging lines, it is not surprising that these two forms of communication are treated as fundamentally different. However, few studies to date have directly compared the two to determine exactly how they differ.
We investigate the similarities and differences in pointing signs and pointing gestures with respect to form. We focus on pointing for a few reasons. First, pointing is ubiquitous in both spoken and signed communication and, importantly, is used in both cases for the same broad function of drawing attention to locations or entities; pointing thus presents a critical opportunity to examine how communicative forms differ when used within a sign language versus a spoken language system. Second, although pointing has been described as being part of the pronominal system in sign languages (as well as having other functions) (e.g., Klima & Bellugi 1979; Padden 1983; Lillo-Martin & Klima 1990; Meier 1990; Sandler & Lillo-Martin 2006; Meier & Lillo-Martin 2010), several authors have noted that, to fully evaluate this claim, comparable data on pointing gestures in hearing speakers is critically needed (e.g., Cormier et al. 2013). In this paper, we compare 574 pointing signs produced by British Sign Language (BSL) signers, all of which are assumed to have a pronominal function, to 543 comparable pointing gestures produced by American English speakers. Our aim is to determine how—and to what degree—points in sign language and points in gesture differ in form.
Our investigation focuses narrowly on pointing to entities—people or things—and excludes points to locations (i.e., locative points) as well as pointing signs functioning as determiners. We distinguish three types of points to entities: self-points (i.e., typically a point to one’s own chest), addressee-points (i.e., typically a point to the person with whom one is communicating) and other-entity points (i.e., a point to some other entity, whether present or non-present). Although these categories roughly correspond to what are typically described as first, second, and third person pronominal points within the sign language literature, we adopt the more theoretically neutral terms self-points, addressee-points, and other-entity points. Throughout the paper, we use the term pointing signs to refer to points in sign languages that are assumed to have a pronominal function, and pointing gestures to refer to comparable points in gesture.
2.1 Why compare points in sign language and gesture?
First, why is it illuminating to compare pointing signs and pointing gestures? Although pointing is widespread in spoken and signed communication and functions to draw attention to entities in both, the two are usually described in strikingly different terms. The pointing signs that we focus on are described as being part of a linguistic system, in particular, a pronominal system, and have been argued to serve many of the functions that pronouns in spoken languages serve (e.g., Meier & Lillo-Martin 2010). Pointing gestures, in contrast, have not been subject to such linguistic analysis, and are typically described as instances of non-verbal communication that can be used concurrently with, or instead of, speech (Kita 2003; Kendon 2004). Nevertheless, points produced by signers and speakers are similar in form (see Figure 1). This similarity is, of course, no accident. Not only are gesturers and signers subject to the same bodily resources and constraints, but they also appear to be subject to the same cultural conventions. For example, in western cultures, pointing to the self is typically performed by pointing to the chest in both co-speech gesture and in western sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL). In contrast, in Japan, pointing to the self is often performed by pointing to the nose in both gesture and Japanese Sign Language (McBurney 2002). Another reason points in gesture and sign may be similar is that pointing gestures are also a likely source of input for the first generation of signers developing a new sign language (Coppola & Senghas 2010).
Examples of pointing signs (top) and pointing gestures (bottom) indicating the self, addressee, or some other entity.
The formational similarities between pointing signs and pointing gestures have not gone unnoticed by sign language researchers. There are, nonetheless, different opinions as to the extent to which pointing signs constitute a separate category from pointing gestures. Some sign linguists (e.g., Klima & Bellugi 1979; Padden 1983; Lillo-Martin & Klima 1990; Meier 1990; Meier & Lillo-Martin 2010) argue, with reference to formational and distributional criteria, that pointing signs function like pronominals in spoken language. Other sign linguists (e.g., Cormier et al. 2013) note that pointing signs share properties not only with spoken language pronouns, but also with pointing gestures, which blurs the distinction between the two communicative forms (see also Johnston 2013). What is notable, however, is that these positions have been argued in the absence of much empirical comparative data. The few empirical studies that have looked at other aspects of points in signers and speakers suggest differences on both functional and formational grounds. For example, Zwets (2014) investigated the functions of pointing signs produced by signers of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) vs. pointing gestures produced by speakers of Dutch, and found that signers were more likely to use arbitrary locations in space to refer to non-present referents than speakers. Mesh (2017) compared locative points produced by signers and speakers in San Juan Quiahije Chatino and found that the two groups differed in their choice of handshape for distant targets. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, there are no studies that directly align pointing signs assumed to be functioning as pronominals with comparable pointing gestures in order to characterize and quantify the formational differences between the two. Instead, formational similarities observed between pointing signs and pointing gestures have typically been based on coarse-grained descriptions (e.g., descriptions made across studies or based on cursory observation) and sometimes draw solely on intuitions. This gap motivates our study––a fine-grained, direct comparison of spontaneous pointing in signers and speakers. We ask: Which formational features do pointing signs and pointing gestures share, and which features, if any, distinguish the two communicative forms? Here we consider three types of distinctions that have been proposed to mark the transition from gesture to sign: conventionalization, reduction, and integration.
A first potential change that communicative forms undergo over time is conventionalization—that is, the use of a consistent form (i.e., showing less variation in formational features across uses) for a given meaning. Conventionalization of form has been considered an important developmental marker in studies looking at the emergence of sign languages such as Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) (e.g., Sandler et al. 2011). Studies comparing sign language with silent gestures (i.e., gestures produced by non-signers asked to communicate using only their hands and not their mouths, e.g., Goldin-Meadow et al. 1996) have also focused on conventionalization. In Brentari et al. (2012), the handshapes produced by signers of ASL or Lingua dei Segni Italiana in an elicitation task was limited to a specific and relatively small set. In contrast, hearing non-signers performing the same task using silent gesture exhibited significantly more variation in handshape. The authors argue that the variation across signers is grounded within a morphological and phonological system, and is thus more limited than the variation across silent gesturers, which is not similarly constrained. These studies suggest that the signs of a sign language may be more conventionalized than the spontaneous gestures used by hearing speakers. We might therefore expect pointing signs to exhibit more formational consistency across uses and users than pointing gestures.
A second change that communicative forms undergo over time is reduction. Reduction is seen in grammaticalization—in, for example, the transition from content word to function word (Hopper & Traugott 2003). While grammaticalization is considered to be modality independent, the process in sign languages may differ from the process in spoken language since grammaticalization does not always begin with a lexical sign, but may begin with a gesture used by the surrounding speech community (Janzen & Shaffer 2002; Pfau & Steinbach 2006). The grammaticalization of pointing signs from pointing gestures has been proposed as an example of this pathway. Pfau & Steinbach (2006) suggest that, over time, pointing gestures become locative signs, then demonstrative pronominal signs, and finally personal pronominal signs. Indeed, locative pointing signs appear to occur before pronominal pointing signs in an emerging language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) (Coppola & Senghas 2010), and pronominal points in NSL, the more grammaticalized forms, are articulated more quickly and with less movement than locative points, the less grammaticalized forms. Extrapolating from these findings, we hypothesize that pointing signs may be more reduced than pointing gestures simply because they have been grammaticalized.
The third change that communicative forms can undergo is that they become integrated with other aspects of the language, such as prosodic structure. Sandler et al. (2011b) and Sandler (2012) describe how prosodic structure develops alongside grammatical structure with each generation of ABSL, a sign language emerging in Israel. Over time, prosodic cues effectively group together signs at a syntactic level (e.g., noun phrases are prosodically associated with their predicates) and these cues are more salient in later generations. The fact that prosodic organization (specifically, timing cues) is closely entwined with syntactic structure is important to our study. Pointing signs serving as pronouns indicate arguments within a clause and therefore display a maximal level of syntactic integration (de Vos 2015). If pointing signs are fully integrated within the grammar of sign language (i.e., if they appear in specific sequential slots), then we hypothesize that they should exhibit prosodic characteristics generally found in sign languages. For example, signs appearing at the ends of intonational phrases tend to be longer in duration than signs appearing in other positions (Nespor & Sandler 1999; Wilbur 1999). Pointing signs might then display this lengthening when they appear in phrase-final position. It is not clear, however, whether pointing gestures will display this feature.
In the present study, we investigate whether pointing signs are formationally distinct from pointing gestures and focus, in particular, on whether pointing signs are more conventionalized, more reduced, and more integrated into prosodic structure than pointing gestures. To do so, we analyze the formational features identified by Johnston (2013) in his description of pointing signs in Auslan: handshape, hand use (i.e., whether one or two hands are used and, for one-handed points, whether the dominant hand is used), duration, and (for self-points) contact with the chest.
In this section, we review work on the particular formational features that are of interest in this study.
Pointing signs in sign languages are widely reported to have conventionalized handshapes. For personal pronominal reference, sign languages such as ASL and BSL typically use the index finger handshape (Sutton-Spence & Woll 1999; Sandler & Lillo-Martin 2006). This handshape contrasts with handshapes used for possessive pronominal reference, a B-handshape in ASL and a closed fist handshape in BSL. Variation in handshape has also been documented within pronominal signs. Using a large ASL corpus, Bayley et al. (2002) found that first person points varied more in handshape (81% did not use an index finger handshape), than second person points (34%) and third person points (45%). Similar findings have been reported for BSL (Fenlon et al. 2013).
The index-finger handshape is also the most common form in pointing gestures, at least in Anglophone and European cultures (Cochet & Vauclair 2014; Cooperrider et al. 2018; Flack et al. 2018). Interestingly, however, this form preference is most often attributed to biomechanics in gesture (Povinelli & Davis 1994; Liszkowski et al. 2012), rather than to convention or linguistic function, the causes most often cited in sign languages. But culture-specific ways of pointing have also been described, including using particular handshapes for specific discourse functions (Kendon & Versante 2003; Wilkins 2003) and particular conventions for non-manual pointing (Enfield 2001; Cooperrider & Núñez 2012).
The citation form for pointing signs is typically one-handed, although two-handed points have been reported in some sign languages (e.g., Johnston 2013). Similarly, although the canonical pointing gesture is one-handed, both one-handed and two-handed points are attested in pointing gestures to the self (Cooperrider 2014).
The preference for one hand over the other is well documented in the sign language literature, with researchers making a distinction between the dominant hand (i.e., the hand more frequently used) and the subordinate hand (Johnston & Schembri 2007). Dominance is typically determined by whether a signer is left-handed or right-handed (Johnston & Schembri 2007)––right-handed signers tend to produce one-handed signs with their right hand; left-handed signers tend to produce one-handed signs with their left hand (but see Sáfár et al. 2010). This preference has also been demonstrated for pointing signs in Auslan where approximately 90% of points were articulated with the dominant hand (Johnston 2013).
Many studies of gesture report a preference for the dominant hand for gesture generally (e.g., Kimura 1972; Kimura 1973; Kita et al. 2007) and studies looking specifically at pointing in relation to handedness report a moderate correlation between the two (Cochet & Vauclair 2012). However, developmental studies have also reported an association between rate of language development and preference for the right hand for pointing in toddlers (Vauclair & Cochet 2013).
Another formational feature of interest is duration. Börstell et al. (2016) have found pointing signs to be shorter in duration than lexical signs in Swedish Sign Language (SSL). They suggest that this difference may be due to frequency; pointing signs are generally the most frequent signs in conversations, and more frequent signs tend to be shorter in duration than less frequent signs. In addition, Johnston (2013) found that self-points tend to be shorter than other types of pointing signs in Auslan.
One aspect of pointing duration that has not been considered in these earlier studies is whether duration is affected by phrase position. As described earlier, signs in phrase-final position are generally longer than signs in other positions (Nespor & Sandler 1999; Wilbur 1999). It is not clear whether this effect holds for pointing signs, particularly since points often occur in prosodically weak positions within a phrase (Nespor & Sandler 1999).
Comparable data from gesture is not available, but microanalytic descriptions of pointing gestures indicate considerable variability in their length (Kendon 2004). A point may be articulated with a word, a phrase, a clause, or larger constituents at the discourse level, but we do not yet understand which aspects of the speech that accompanies a pointing gesture (if any) determine the length of that gesture.
A final formational feature of interest is whether, in a self-point, the hand contacts the chest. Self-points are often argued to be distinct from other types of points in sign languages because they are the only type of point to make contact with a place of articulation (i.e., the signer’s chest) (e.g., Engberg-Pedersen 1993). However, based on a random sample of 50 self-points in the Auslan Corpus, Johnston (2013) found that 10% did not contact the chest, suggesting that contact is not essential in self-points in sign. The feature contact has been used to argue for a person distinction in sign languages such as Danish Sign Language (DSL) (Engberg-Pedersen 1993). Since self-points are the only points that make contact with something, they are formationally distinct from other pointing types and this, in turn, suggests a distinction between first and non-first pronominal points in DSL. McBurney (2002), however, argues that this difference can be explained with reference to phonological well-formedness (i.e., signs articulated at the chest typically make contact at the chest) rather than being indicative of person-marking.
There is a paucity of detailed quantitative data on self-points in gesture, although it has been noted that points to self sometimes do, and sometimes do not, make contact with the chest (Kendon 2010).
In summary, the goal of our study is to characterize and quantify several formational features of pointing signs vs. pointing gestures: handshape, hand use, duration, and contact (for self points only). We analyze whatever formational differences we find between pointing signs and pointing gestures in terms of the three changes that have been described in evolving languages: conventionalization, reduction, and integration. We use these data to provide insight into the status of pointing in sign languages.
We examined points from two datasets: the BSL Corpus (Schembri et al. 2014) and the Tavis Smiley Corpus (Cooperrider 2014). In this section, we describe both datasets, explain the process by which pointing tokens were identified, and outline our annotation scheme.
For the sign data, we focused on the points produced by 24 BSL signers (13 men, 11 women) from London, produced within the conversation component of the BSL Corpus (Schembri et al. 2014). All participants reported using BSL as their first and preferred language and having learned the language before the age of seven. Participants were filmed in pairs seated next to one another in a studio setting (with three cameras in front of a blue screen); for the conversational component of the corpus, participants were left alone with the camera recording so that they were not directly observed by the researchers. Participants were asked to talk about whatever topic they wanted. To ensure that the data were as naturalistic as possible, participants were paired with individuals of a similar age whom they knew well. A screenshot of the studio set-up is provided in Figure 2.
Studio set-up of the BSL Corpus and the Tavis Smiley Corpus.
For the gesture data, we focused on the points produced by 27 speakers of American English (14 men, 13 women) who participated in interviews that were later broadcast on the Tavis Smiley Show, a television program (Cooperrider 2014). Each interview involved two people seated next to one another in a studio setting. Importantly, although the arrangement appears more formal than the BSL Corpus, the interview was conducted as a casual conversation, with no notes or prompts visible. Moreover, no studio audience was present. One participant, the interviewer Tavis Smiley, is present in all interviews (he is one of the 14 men); the remaining 26 participants were the interviewees. The set-up is the same across interviews, with Tavis Smiley always seated across from, and to the left of, the interviewee (see Figure 2).
In examining these datasets, not only are we comparing speakers to signers, but we are also comparing American to British participants. However, we have no a priori reason to suspect differences between these two cultural groups. For example, recent studies report a preponderance of index-finger pointing in both cultures (Cooperrider et al. 2018; Flack et al. 2018), and corpus data from BSL (Fenlon et al. 2013) and ASL (Bayley et al. 2002) reveal very similar levels of handshape variation in pointing signs in the two languages. Thus, although subtle differences in pointing between American and British participants cannot be ruled out, the broad cultural similarities and existing evidence suggest that the comparison is worthwhile.
In total, we examined 574 points from the BSL Corpus, corresponding to the categories of first person, second person, and third person singular pronouns. Since pointing signs were previously identified as part of a lexical frequency study (Fenlon et al. 2014), selecting signs for inclusion in the study involved searching these annotations for the glosses of PT:PRO1SG, PT:PRO2SG, and PT:PRO3SG.1 We did not include pointing signs that functioned as determiners (coded as PT.DET).2 The pointing signs we did include were previously identified in the corpus on the basis of form (i.e., a movement, usually articulated with an index finger, indicating a particular location in space) and meaning (i.e., the token in question indexed a first, second, or third person referent and functioned as a complete noun phrase within an utterance). As pointing signs were the most frequent type of signs in casual conversation, we limited our selection to the first 10 tokens of each pointing sign type for each participant, giving us a possible maximum of 30 tokens per participant. However, some participants did not produce 10 tokens of each type resulting in fewer than the expected 720 tokens. Examples of 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd points in the BSL corpus are provided in Figures 3 and 4. Note that a point to 1st person and 2nd person is directed at a present entity (i.e., either the signer or the addressee); however, points to a 3rd person referent in the BSL corpus were typically directed at a non-present entity (to an imagined referent or to an arbitrary locus).
An example of a self-point (PT.PRO1SG) in context from the BSL corpus.
An example of an addressee (PT.PRO2SG) and other-entity (PT.PRO3SG) point in context from the BSL corpus.
In total, 543 points were examined from the Tavis Smiley Corpus. In contrast to our approach with the BSL Corpus, we coded every pointing gesture that occurred for 27 randomly selected speakers (out of 40 total), yielding a dataset of pointing gestures that was comparable in number to our dataset of pointing signs. For the pointing gestures, we defined a point as a movement toward a region in space with the apparent intention of directing the listener’s attention to that region (Cooperrider et al. 2018). To maximize comparability with the BSL dataset, we focused only on pointing gestures to self, addressee, or some other entity (again, this was typically a non-present entity either in an imagined or an arbitrary locus),3 corresponding to first, second, and third person pronominals in BSL. To meet this criterion, we identified, in each case, the lexical affiliate (i.e., the spoken word associated with the meaning of the pointing gesture) to confirm the point’s function. Such affiliates included possessive pronouns (e.g., my book, your last show), noun phrases (e.g., Bette Midler’s suit, a doctor, a man) and adverbials (e.g., last summer, a few weeks ago). Pointing gestures were only included if they were affiliated with a corresponding personal pronoun or noun phrase. Examples of each type of pointing gesture are provided in Figures 5, 6, 7 (the lexical affiliate in each case is indicated in bold).
An example of a self-point in context from the Tavis Smiley corpus.
An example of an addressee point in context from the Tavis Smiley corpus.
An example of an other-entity point in context from the Tavis Smiley corpus.
Overall, in our BSL dataset, we analysed a total of 574 pointing signs: 238 self-points, 112 addressee-points, and 224 other-entity points. In our Tavis Smiley dataset, we analysed a total of 543 pointing gestures: 137 self-points, 158 addressee-points, and 248 other-entity points.
Using ELAN4 (Wittenburg et al. 2006), we annotated each token for the following formational features: handshape, hand use (the number of hands used and, for one-handed points, the choice of a right or left hand), duration, and contact.
For handshape, points were coded as belonging to either the 1-handshape or the B-handshape family. Tokens belonging to the 1-handshape family typically featured a handshape with the index finger extended and all other fingers closed or partially closed; in addition, the thumb may also be closed or fully extended. For the B-handshape family, all four fingers are extended and the thumb may be unopposed or opposed to some degree. Several examples of 1-handshape and B-handshapes are provided in Figure 8.
Pointing signs and gestures using either the 1- or B-handshape.
For hand use, tiers corresponding to the right hand and left hand were created, and points were annotated on these tiers depending on the hand used. Two-handed points were those in which both hands indicated the same referent in tandem (see Figure 9). In addition to observing hand preference patterns in pointing, we referred to the signers’ reported hand preference in the participant metadata collected as part of the BSL Corpus Project. For the gesturers, handedness was determined by searching the internet for pictures or videos of each interviewee signing autographs. Using this method, we were able to determine handedness for all but four of the gesturers.
Two-handed points in our data.
For duration, we identified the first frame where the hand visibly started moving towards articulating a point. This starting point may occur when the hands are at rest (e.g., in the lap) and beginning to move towards a point, or when the hands have just completed a prior sign/gesture. In the latter case, the first frame in which the hand begins to move towards the next sign (signaled either by a change in path movement or a change in handshape) was taken to be the starting point. The end of a point was considered to be the frame immediately prior to the frame in which the hand moves to articulate the next sign/gesture, or begins to return to rest. Again, the end point could be signaled by a change in path movement or a change in handshape.
For contact, all self-points were analyzed for whether they made contact with the participant’s chest or not (see Figure 10).
Self-points displaying contact and no contact with the chest.
We also coded whether points occurred in final or non-final position in an utterance. Utterances in BSL were identified with reference to prosodic and syntactic structure (following Sandler et al. 2005). That is, we used meaning as a guide to group signs together (i.e., identifying a verb and its arguments) and also referred to prosodic cues, such as a change in facial expression and pauses, to further justify how signs were grouped together. Similarly, we used meaning and prosody to identify whether pointing gestures occupied a final or non-final position in the spoken utterance. The addressee point in Figure 4 and the self-point in Figure 5 were coded as final according to these criteria, whereas the other points in Figures 3, 6 and 7 were coded as non-final.
All the annotation work was completed by the first author and a research assistant. Approximately 13% of the overall data (balanced between the BSL and Tavis Smiley data) was checked by a second researcher, resulting in an agreement level of 94%. This process involved checking all the identified points to determine whether they had been classified appropriately (e.g., given the correct label for handshape).
In each case, the formational features of pointing signs and pointing gestures were compared using a hierarchical (also known as a mixed effects) regression model. The statistical models were fit using R (R Core Team 2016) and the lme4 package (Bates et al. 2015). Calculating p-values for hierarchical linear regressions is not straightforward since it is not clear how degrees of freedom should be calculated. Instead, following Gelman & Tuerlinckx (2000), we use 95% confidence intervals to determine the direction and magnitude of the effect within each model prediction. Additionally, bootstrap sampling was used to generate confidence intervals for each subject, providing a measure of how accurately the model can predict the formational features of the points produced by each individual. Each model reports the likelihood of the occurrence of a categorical outcome (e.g., whether a B- or 1-handshape was used), or the specific value of a continuous outcome (e.g., point duration), and most are presented with the predictors (sometimes known as fixed effects) of group (signers or gesturers) and point type (self, addressee, other-entity). In each case, we also tested for an interaction between the two predictors. Furthermore, we included intercept adjustments (sometimes known as random effects), as well as slope adjustments (also sometimes known as random effects); both intercept and slope adjustments were by subject.5 In the text of this article, to maximize clarity and approachability, we use estimates from the model in their natural interpretation space (probabilities, untransformed milliseconds, etc.) along with confidence intervals, rather than coefficient estimates and standard errors. The full model output (including additional statistical information such as coefficients and standard errors) is provided in the appendix.
Signers generally preferred 1-handshapes for pointing signs (Figure 11). However, handshape interacted with pointing type: 1-handshapes were used less for self-points than for addressee-points and other-entity points. There was a 65.2% probability of a 1-handshape with self-points (95% CI: 53.1–75.7%),6 99.8% probability of a 1-handshape with addressee points (95% CI: 90–100%), and 95.2% probability of a 1-handshape with other-entity points (95% CI: 90.0–97.7%). Overall, the gesturers differed significantly from signers in their choice of handshape (i.e., the mean confidence intervals do not overlap), with gesturers preferring B-handshapes overall. However, as in the signers, the handshape gesturers used for pointing interacted with pointing type, with 1-handshapes more strongly dispreferred in self-points. There was a 6.6% probability of a 1-handshape with self-points (95% CI: 2.7–15.7%), 12.0% probability of a 1-handshape with addressee points (95% CI: 1.5–54.4%) and 33.5% probability of a 1-handshape with other-entity points (95% CI: 21.9–47.4%). Importantly, the signers’ addressee and other-entity points were the only groups of points that were near categorical: they appeared in the 1-handshape form almost all of the time (the range of individual subject predictions for probability of a 1-handshape for addressee points was 94.1–99.8% and, for other-entity points, 91.6–97.2%).7 The gesturers’ self-points were also near categorical, but took on a different form: they appeared in the B-handshape form almost all of the time (the range of individual predictions for probability of a 1-handshape was 5.1–18.6%, equivalent to a likelihood between 81.4–94.9% of a B-handshape).
Handshape preference according to the following predictors: participant group (signers or gesturers) and point type (self, addressee, and other-entity). The y-axis shows the probability of a 1-handshape (as opposed to a B-handshape). That is, a prediction close to 1 represents a strong likelihood that a 1-handshape will be used, whereas a figure close to 0 represents a strong likelihood that a B-handshape will be used. In all figures, the small multi-colored dots represent mean predictions from the hierarchical logistic regression for each participant; black dots represent the group means. Lines represent 95% confidence intervals for both individuals (each colored line represents a participant) and groups (black).
We next analyzed how often one vs. two hands were used to point (Figure 12). Signers rarely used two-handed points (0.7–3.5% of points are two-handed, depending on category). This finding was consistent across the three pointing types. For the gesturers, however, we not only found that two-handed points were more likely than for signers, but we also found a stronger tendency for two-handed points to occur in self-points (48.3%, 95% CI: 26.0–71.3%) than in addressee points (22.4%, 95% CI: 12.3–37.3%) or other-entity points (8.4%, 95% CI: 2.6–24.1%). There was also more individual variation in the gesturers than in the signers: for self-points in gesturers, the subject predictions (the dots in the figure) ranged from 13.1% to 88.5% probability of being two-handed, whereas the comparable figure for signers was 0.3%–7.3%. Gesturers’ points to the addressee and some other entity also showed greater ranges (addressee: 11.8%–37.2% and other-entity: 1.9%–59.8%) when compared to the signers’ (addressee: 2.4%–8.7% and other-entity: 0.7%–33.5%).
Use of one or two hands according to the following predictors: participant group (signers or gesturers) and point type (self, addressee, and other-entity). The probability of a two-handed point is shown along the y-axis with results closer to 1 indicating a stronger likelihood that a participant will use two hands. The dots and lines have the same interpretation as Figure 11.
We next analyzed the preference for the right or left hand for one-handed points, as a function of participants’ handedness (Figure 13). Within the signers, there were 21 right-dominant and 3 left-dominant participants; within those gesturers whose handedness could be determined, there were 19 right-dominant and 4 left-dominant participants. Right-handed signers were more reliant on their dominant hand (3.42% probability of using a left-hand point, 95% CI: 1.20–9.39) than were right-handed gesturers (39.67%, 95% CI: 18.60–65.42). In contrast, left-handed signers (89.29%, 95%: 37.84–99.13) and left-handed gesturers (86.85%, 95% CI: 34.16–98.82) relied on their dominant hand to the same extent (although there are relatively few data points). Further, there was again more individual variation within the gesturers than the signers: some gesturers used their right hands exclusively whereas others used their left, and many used a combination of both.
Preference for the right or left hand in pointing according to the following predictors: participant group (signers or gesturers) and handedness (right-handed or left-handed). The y-axis shows the probability of a left-hand point with values closer to 1 indicating a strong likelihood that a participant will use the left hand.
We next analyzed the duration of signers’ and gesturers’ points, for each of the three types of points (Figure 14). Pointing signs were consistently shorter than pointing gestures, a pattern that was robust across types: self points points were 245 msec in duration for the signers (95% CI: 217–276 msec), compared to 865 msec for the gesturers (95% CI: 740–1009 msec). Addressee points were 228 msecs for the signers (95% CI: 196–264 msec), and 752 msecs for the gesturers (95% CI: 630–897 msec). Finally, other-entity points were 262 msecs for the signers (95% CI: 235–292 msec), and 790 msecs for the gesturers (95% CI: 700–891 msec). Although other-entity points appeared to be slightly longer than the other two types for both signers and gesturers, there was no significant difference in duration between self, addressee, and other-entity points within each group (i.e., there was considerable overlap in the confidence intervals for each type of point). Finally, there was generally very little individual variation in duration within each group: individual signers ranged from 217–281 msec for self-points, 212–242 msec for addressee-points, and 250–279 msec for other-entity points; individual gesturers ranged from 747–925 msec for self-points, 728–858 msec for addressee-points, and 725–896 msec for other-entity points.
Model predictions for duration according to the following predictors: participant group (signers or gesturers) and point type (self, addressee, and other-entity). The y-axis shows duration (in milliseconds).
Next, to look at the effect of clause position, we fitted a hierarchical linear regression model similar to the duration model just described. We added a predictor for clause position, but removed the pointing type predictor (we did not have a sufficient number of points for each pointing type in each clause position to have confidence in a larger model that included both predictors). Figure 15 reveals that pointing signs in non-final position were significantly shorter than pointing signs in final position. On average, non-final pointing signs were 213 msec (95% CI: 197–232 msec), compared to 416 msec (95% CI: 356–486 msec) for points in final position. In contrast, there was no difference between final and non-final pointing gestures. On average, non-final pointing gestures were 798 msec (95% CI: 727–876 msec), compared to 807 msec (95% CI: 646–1009 msec) for points in final position. Individual signers ranged from 205–223 msec for non-final and 365–467 msec for final points; individual gesturers showed a wider range, from 751–902 msec for non-final and 749–819 msec for final points.
Model predictions for duration according to the following predictors: participant group (signers or gesturers) and clause position (non-final or final position). The y-axis represents duration (in milliseconds).
Finally, we analyzed whether self-points contacted the chest, the probability of contact with the body, and included group (signers or gesturers) as the only predictor (Figure 16). Overall, signers’ self-points were more likely to contact the chest (91%, 95% CI: 84.8–95%) than gesturers’ self-points (15%, 95% CI: 7.9–26%). There was remarkably little individual variation in either group, as evidenced by the narrow distribution across subjects within groups: individual signers ranged from 89.8–91.5% probability of contact; individuals gesturers ranged from 15.0–18.0% probability of contact.
Model predictions for self-points making contact with the chest according to a single predictor: participant group (signers or gesturers). The y-axis represents the probability that a self-point will contact the chest with results closer to 1 indicating a stronger probability.
Pointing signs are typically considered to be part of a linguistic system, whereas pointing gestures are usually considered to be external to such a system. These differing treatments have been put forward despite pointing signs’ and gestures’ apparent superficial similarities and, in particular, without many empirical studies directly comparing spontaneously produced pointing signs and pointing gestures along the same formational dimensions. Our study focused on a set of general characteristics typically associated with linguistic systems. If pointing signs are part of a linguistic system, we might predict them to be more consistent in form from one use to the next (conventionalization), more reduced (reduction), and more integrated with other aspects of the language system (integration), than pointing gestures, which often accompany pronouns but are not themselves pronouns. Overall, our findings are consistent with these predictions. We discuss this evidence in the next sections, along with alternative interpretations.
As languages mature, the forms used to express a given meaning typically become more consistent—a communicative and social process known as conventionalization. In other words, the form used for a specific meaning becomes more stable and is less likely to vary from one use to the next. Evidence for this process has been found in studies of sign language emergence (e.g., Sandler et al. 2011a), and comparisons of sign language with the silent gestures produced by speakers (e.g., Brentari et al. 2012). Given this evidence, we expected that pointing signs would be more consistent in form than pointing gestures. In line with this prediction, we found more consistency in pointing signs relative to pointing gestures along several formational dimensions. First, although each group showed an overall preference for a particular handshape—1-family for signers, B-family for gesturers—the reliance on this preferred family was slightly stronger among the signers. Moreover, with respect to hand use, signers consistently preferred to use one hand for all pointing types; gesturers were less consistent overall and used more two-handed pointing gestures, particularly for self-points. Finally, signers are known to favor their dominant hand when signing (Johnston & Schembri 2007). Our data not only show that this preference extends to pointing signs, but also that signers favor their dominant hand when pointing more strongly than do gesturers. Together these findings are consistent with the conclusion that variation in form amongst signers is grounded within a linguistic system (in this case, a phonological system), whereas variation within gesturers is not similarly constrained.
The overarching trend toward increased formational consistency in pointing signs is robust, but conventionalization may not always be the driving force toward consistency. The term “conventionalization” implies a social and communicative process whereby certain forms become more stabilized through use. However, other forces can lead to consistency, including biomechanical (e.g., articulatory ease) and pragmatic (e.g., repeated mention across a discourse) pressures. Indeed, some of the commonalities that we observed between signers and gesturers might be explained by these forces, rather than by parallel conventionalization. For example, when pointing to the self, both signers and gesturers show a stronger preference for B-handshapes than when pointing to the addressee or to other entities.8 The B-handshape directs attention to a referent less precisely than the 1-handshape––it indicates the direction in which the referent can be found, but does not focus the listener’s line of regard precisely on the referent (Iverson & Goldin-Meadow 1998; Iverson & Goldin-Meadow 2001; Kendon 2004). Both signers and speakers may thus use the less precise B-handshape in self-points rather than a 1-handshape point simply because points to the self are not in danger of being misinterpreted. In contrast, when pointing to third parties, it may be important for both signers and gesturers to specify the location of the referent more precisely because these locations may be shared with other entities (see Bayley et al. 2002; Fenlon et al. 2013). In other cases, observed consistency in a formational feature may actually have different sources in each group. For example, both signers and gestures are highly consistent with respect to contact, although with opposite tendencies: while signers’ self-points consistently contact the chest, gesturers’ self-points consistently avoid contact. One possibility is that this consistency is driven by contrasting conventions in both groups. An alternative is that the high consistency with regard to contact may be driven by conventionalization in signers, but by articulatory constraints (that are currently not well understood) in gesturers.
Importantly, we are not suggesting that regularities in gesture are never due to conventionalization. Emblems are the most obvious example of conventionalization in gesture, but other gestures exhibit a degree of conventionalization too (Kendon 2004). In the case of pointing, some speaking communities have particular conventions for pointing with the face (Enfield 2001; Cooperrider & Núñez 2012), some associate particular handshapes with particular functions (Wilkins 2003), and some observe strict taboos about pointing (e.g., Kita & Essegbey 2001). Conventionalization may thus partly explain some of the patterns we observed in the present study. For instance, the preference we observed for the B-handshape in gesturers (which has not been found in studies focusing on points to locations and objects, e.g., Cooperrider et al. 2018) may reflect a convention whereby the B-handshape is considered more polite, especially in points to persons (Calbris 1990). This politeness convention has also been observed in sign languages (see Berenz 2002). However, the more formal interview setting in the gesture data may have led gesturers to follow this politeness convention more closely than they would have in a less formal setting (i.e., this difference could be attributed to register). Consistency in gesture may thus be driven by conventionalization just as consistency in signing is, although the conventionalization processes that operate in gesture are not yet well understood.
As the forms of a language—whether spoken or signed—become more like words, and later, more like function words, they undergo reduction—that is, they lose phonetic material (Hopper & Traugott 2003). Evidence for this general process is widely attested in spoken language and in language creation experiments involving gesture (Namboodiripad et al. 2016). Overall, our results indicate that pointing signs are more reduced when compared to pointing gestures, along several formational parameters. For one, pointing signs are markedly shorter in duration than pointing gestures. This finding is robust across individuals within each group and for each pointing type, and is reminiscent of a widely attested pattern in spoken languages (Zipf 1949; Wright 1979), and even in animal communication (Ferrer-i-Cancho et al. 2013), where the more frequent a communicative form is, the shorter it tends to be. Such patterns are thought to stem from a drive to conserve bodily effort in communication (Zipf 1949). The shorter duration of pointing signs may be related either to their frequency, since pointing signs are generally amongst the most frequent signs in BSL conversations (Fenlon et al. 2014), or to their grammatical status. This relationship between frequency and duration has been demonstrated in the SSL corpus overall, where high frequency signs (not just pointing signs) are generally shorter in duration than low frequency signs (Börstell et al. 2016). Indeed, grammatical signs (e.g., pronouns, question signs, conjunctions), which are highly frequent, are shorter than the less frequent content signs (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives) (Börstell et al. 2016). Pointing signs thus display formational features usually associated with grammatical signs in sign languages.
Pointing signs were also more reduced along another formational parameter: hand use. Signers generally preferred one-handed points across the board, which take less effort to produce than two-handed points. Gesturers, however, showed a greater tendency to use two-handed pointing gestures. This tendency toward one-handed pointing signs—like the tendency toward shorter pointing signs—is likely related to the drive to conserve effort (Napoli et al. 2014). One interesting question is why conservation of effort seems to impact sign more than gesture. In selecting one or two hands, both signers and gestures may be subject to competing constraints, but the interplay of those constraints is a matter for future research.
The overarching trend for pointing signs to be more reduced than pointing gestures is thus consistent with the possibility that pointing signs are more grammaticalized than pointing gestures. However, there is an important alternative to consider. In signed communication, points are produced in the same articulatory channel as the primary referential content (i.e., by using the hands). However, in spoken communication, points are produced with the hands, but the primary referential content is produced in another channel: speech. As a consequence, in sign, there is not much “space” for points to be held because they must slot into the same linear string as other signs. But, in gesture, there is usually no more than one gesture per intonation unit (McNeill 1992), and points are thus free to span over this unit or even extend across units.
A third change that communicative forms undergo as they become more linguistic is integration. That is, they can become more integrated with the structures of the broader language system, including prosodic structure. Pointing signs—and, in particular, those points that function as personal pronouns—are often described as being maximally integrated within sign languages (e.g., de Vos 2015), and can function as arguments of a predicate. Since prosodic and syntactic structure are closely connected, we might expect that pointing signs will exhibit prosodic characteristics that are typical of signs more generally. Our test of this possibility was to see whether pointing signs exhibit the pattern of lengthening at the end of the utterance, which has been observed for signs generally (Nespor & Sandler 1999; Wilbur 1999). Our results indicate that pointing signs in BSL do indeed vary according to their position within an utterance, with pointing signs in final position being significantly longer than pointing signs in non-final position. Importantly, this pattern is not observed in the gesturers. The pattern is particularly interesting given that spoken utterances, like signed utterances, exhibit phrase-final lengthening (Cruttenden 1995).
Note, however, that gestures can be integrated with speech in a number of ways. For example, beat and representational gestures tend to co-occur within a constrained time window associated with the pitch-accented syllable in a phrase (Krahmer & Swerts 2007; Loehr 2007; Brentari et al. 2013). But pointing gestures may not be as closely tied to speech as other types of gestures. Studies eliciting points in controlled settings suggest that points are closely aligned with speech (Levelt et al. 1985; Krivokapic et al. 2016), but studies using more naturalistic data hint that they may not be (e.g., de Ruiter & Wilkins 1998). Furthermore, whether gestures are integrated with utterance-level prosodic structure has not, to our knowledge, been studied. Our results show that pointing gestures, at least, are not integrated with utterance-level prosodic structure in the same way that pointing signs are. Here again, it is possible that this contrast between pointing signs and pointing gestures is due to the fact that pointing signs are produced in the same articulatory channel as the rest of the referential content. That is, since pointing signs and the other signs of sign language are produced by the hands, pointing signs may inherit some characteristics of the rhythmic structure of sign language. The interesting observation is that pointing gestures do not inherit these same characteristics even though we know that gesture duration is influenced by the language it accompanies. For example, how long a gesture is held is often dictated by the duration of co-occurring speech (Park-Doob 2010). Thus, gesture duration is, at times, influenced by aspects of the spoken signal despite the fact that the signal is in another modality. Our findings highlight a fundamental difference in the way that points are integrated into signed vs. spoken language systems. Why the duration of pointing gestures is not influenced by utterance-level prosody is a question for future work.
5.4 Are pointing signs more linguistic than pointing gestures?
On balance, our findings suggest that pointing signs are different from pointing gestures in that they are more conventionalized, reduced, and integrated than pointing gestures. These patterns are consistent with the hypothesis that pointing signs may have undergone these changes in form as they became more linguistic. However, it is also possible that pointing gestures fail to exhibit these patterns, not because they are not linguistic, but because they are produced by a different articulator than speech. In other words, some of the differences we see between pointing signs and pointing gestures may stem from the fact that pointing signs are produced in the same channel as other referential content, whereas pointing gestures are produced in a different channel from other referential content. When produced in the same channel as other referential content, points may take on sign-like features. For example, pointing signs may favor the dominant hand because most of the referential content in sign is produced with this hand; self-points may contact the chest because, generally, signs produced at the chest tend to contact the chest (cf. McBurney 2002); and pointing signs may be shorter since they must occur in sequence with other referential content.
This “same channel” hypothesis could be investigated in several ways. First, it might be possible to investigate how points change in form as sign languages mature, as in NSL (Coppola & Senghas 2010). If the “same channel” proposal is correct, some properties of pointing signs, such as reduction, should be evident at the very earliest stages of the language. However, if the reduction we observed is chiefly due to diachronic processes such as grammaticalization or increased frequency, then this reduction ought not be present immediately, but should emerge as the system develops and is transmitted across generations of users. Of course, since these possible mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, it may be that pointing signs are significantly reduced immediately and also undergo further reduction as the system matures.
Second, it is possible to investigate these proposals experimentally. Specifically, we could compare co-speech points with the points produced as part of silent gesture—that is, the gestures hearing speakers produce when asked to use only their hands to communicate (e.g., Goldin-Meadow et al. 1996; Goldin-Meadow et al. 2008). Again, if the “same channel” proposal is correct, points in silent gesture should be immediately reduced; but if diachronic processes are critical, points in silent gesture ought not be immediately reduced, but should become reduced as the communication system is transmitted across users. Interestingly, studies involving silent gesture have found some evidence for reduction, even over the course of a single experimental session (Namboodiripad et al. 2016). We have also suggested that the phrase-final lengthening observed in pointing signs, but not pointing gestures, could be due to the “same channel” constraint. However, since it is not known whether phrase-final lengthening is due to diachronic processes or synchronic processes, the predictions for silent gesture are less clear. One possibility is that this feature would not be present immediately but would emerge as the silent gesturers begin to construct a linguistic gestural system (see Goldin-Meadow 2015).
Returning to the question put forth at the beginning of the paper: how do the signs of sign language differ from the gestures that speakers produce when they talk? Our findings have demonstrated that, although points in sign language and points in co-speech gesture appear superficially similar, there are important differences: pointing signs are formationally more consistent, more reduced in form, and more integrated into prosodic structure, than are pointing gestures. Pointing signs are thus integrated into sign language in a fundamentally different way from the way pointing gestures are integrated into spoken language, perhaps because pointing signs have undergone changes associated with linguistic systems. Alternatively, the differences between pointing signs and pointing gestures may stem from the fact that pointing signs are produced with the same articulators as the signs they accompany, whereas pointing gestures are not. We have suggested further research that could help distinguish between these hypotheses.
In conclusion, to better understand the relation between sign language and gesture, it is important to characterize and quantify the differences between the two with respect to a range of features and a large number of individuals, as we do here. In focusing on a range of features, we can see that pointing signs and pointing gestures are different despite being superficially similar. In particular, pointing signs are more constrained, and the sources of these constraints (i.e., whether due to linguistic processes such as grammaticalization or to producing points with the same articulators as other signs) warrant further research.
1These annotations are available for download following registration at www.bslcorpusproject.org/cava.
2Pointing signs were classed as determiners if they could be grouped with an adjacent nominal sign as a single cohesive prosodic unit.
3Zwets (2014) found that NGT signers pointed towards arbitrary locations for non-present referents more frequently than Dutch speakers who were more likely to point to imagined referents. The study did not find a formational difference between points towards these location types although this bears further study.
4ELAN is a tool for creating time-aligned annotations with video made available as part of the Language Archive at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen and can be downloaded for free from http://tla.mpi.nl/tools/tla-tools/elan/.
5Although the names fixed and random effects are fairly widespread in the linguistics literature, we are following Gelman & Hill (2007), among others, who describe them as predictors and grouping variables. We follow this procedure for a number of reasons, the main being that the names fixed and random effects are not transparent as to what they are doing in the model and sometimes have contradictory uses (Gelman & Hill 2007: 245).
6For each group probability reported, we will provide the model prediction first, followed by the lower and upper bounds of the confidence interval in parentheses.
7We are using the range of the model predictions for each individual subject within the groups as a measure of consistency within the group. This is not the only measure of consistency possible, but it is a simple one that gets close enough for our purposes. There are a number of ways that this measure could be misleading; for example, if all of the members of a group are very close together, and a single subject had a very high or low value, the range will be large even though there is by-and-large consistency within the group. For this reason, we urge the reader to refer to the graph in question for the full picture of how subjects vary within each group.
8Following Bayley et al. (2002) and Fenlon et al. (2013), we also considered whether coarticulation effects could account for the differences observed in our study with regards to handshape variation. However, our results suggest that similar coarticulation effects can be found in both the sign language and gesture data. Furthermore, these effects do not appear to be influenced by pointing type.
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On September 15, Kennedy participated in a US District Court for the Eastern District of California The news channel KCRA3 posted video of Kennedys. Ask A Sacramento Expert Easy Breakfast Meals For KidsOn a mission. The brothers were arraigned at Beverly Hills Municipal Court, each charged with. Although the LB City Council voted earlier this year to oppose Sacramento. SACRAMENTO, Calif Prosecutors charged a father Monday Hodges pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance Yolo County District Attorney Jeff. Consultant points to a map showing where land and water stand in Hes standing next to the Sacramento River north of the Delta Everyone has a stake in securing the regional mortise of myThe Delta is the heart and lungs in the state of. "He put Gilroy on the map, before all this other stuff Archer met his wife Donna in 1960 when he was playing in a golf tournament in Sacramento They married in. Rather, the guideline specifies that students should think about how life was for. And the department has worked with code enforcement, other county agencies. She roams the political terrain, both progressive and conservative, and details the cultural geographies of the Mission District of maps that will challenge your view of what atlases can beKevin Winter San.
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Who's done co-writing? What's your experience? What suggestions do you have for other songwriters who want to start co-writing?
I've done some co-writing. In the first case, when I have a song that's mostly done and could use some tweaking - I get assistance from another songwriter or two and they help with input that changes the song. In the second case, starting a song from scratch with other songwriters.
I've had great experiences from both. There's a difference between giving feedback on a song and co-writing. Sometimes it's a fine line. However, if the person giving feedback isn't actually writing parts of the song, it's not co-writing. If they're adding lyrics and melodies, it's a co-write. If it's arrangement of musical parts, it's not co-writing - because the song is still the song without that particular arrangement. The song is the melody, lyrics and chord progression.
Co-writing< I find, takes you places you never would go in your wildest imagination- and in an easy and fun manner- for example- someone will say something that will open a whole new vision for you and you can go running off in that direction on a whole new wave of creativity!
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Who is the new player in the battle for sport broadcast rights?
Eleven sports is the new player for football broadcasting rights in the UK and the Ireland Republic for the next 3 years. They launch their opening event on 9th August in the UK. Their opening event will be to broadcast PGA championship in the US followed by La Liga and Series A football.
Eleven sports already has its footprint in 7 countries. They include Poland, USA, Luxembourg, Taiwan, Belgium, Italy and Singapore. It already airs Series 1, formula 1 and Bundesliga in the 7 countries. This is the first time it will be taking over the UK market. A British company is taking on broadcasting giants the likes of Sky Sports and BT sports that aired Laliga and Serie A respectively.
It is not just in sports broadcast that we have new players coming in. There are new sports betting companies as well, including the likes of Betway and mPesa. Betway, for instance, was founded a few years back, and have already sponsored English Premier League teams like West Ham United.
Eleven sports was founded by Andrea Radrizzani the owner of Leeds United and run by Marc Watson who won the champions league for BT. Currently, Andrea Radrizzani is desperate to get back Leeds United to the Premier League.
Just like new players, Eleven Sports is bound to bring something new to the industry. But one challenge they will have to face is putting themselves on the map especially in the first 18 months. However, Eleven Sports has different tactics to tackle new audiences. For instance, in Taiwan, they use entertainers instead of pros while in Italy they air their matches to a small crowd.
Even though Eleven sports has gotten the airing rights to air La Liga, but they have big shoes to fill. Sky Sports has been airing LA Liga for the past twenty years, and they fought really hard to keep the coverage. But the market has changed since they have been facing stiff competition from Amazon and BT Sports.
As Eleven Sports tries to penetrate the Premier league, they will be facing stiff competition from companies such as Sky Sports which has the most dominating rights. Amazon has already ventured into the Premier League and already have two full match days to air per season.
Eleven sports is targeting a younger audience. Moreover, they are going to change the way sports are being broadcasted. There will be space on Instagram and the F2 Freestylers.
As a sports brand, eleven sports is supposed to bring the people together. They have acquired rights to broadcasts in a country such as Myanmar. Though there are speculations, the country might have been involved in acts of genocide.
All eyes are on Eleven Sports to see if they can make a difference in sports entertainment. What do you think of the development? Let us know in the comments below!
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Addressing the role of Islamic law in Israel and the Palestinian Territories requires addressing the common history of Ottoman Palestine and its period under British mandate authority. This common experience ended in 1948 with the creation of the state of Israel, but it has continued to influence the manner in which Sharīʿah has been interpreted and implemented for Muslims in the region.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Ottoman Empire embarked on a process of legal codification that subsumed all areas of Islamic law, including but not limited to commercial law and civil procedure (dealt with partially in the Mejelle), land ownership and taxation (Ottoman Land Code), and family law (Ottoman Family Law of 1917). With regard to family law, the 1917 code continued the Ottoman/Islamic policy of permitting recognized religious communities within the empire to follow their own religious laws in family matters rather than imposing territorial state law. The drafters of the 1917 Family Law Code employed the technique of talfīq—a technique in Islamic law that allows the legislator to draw selectively on various schools of law in order to achieve some equitable end and reform. Regarding the dissolution of marriage, for example, the legislator turned to the Mālikī school, which allows for a wider range of grounds for women to dissolve a marriage than the standard Ḥanafī law of the Ottomans. In some areas of the law the Ottoman government engaged in even more dramatic reform, adopting translated versions of French law as the law of the land. The Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Law, and the Commercial Code were all based on European models.
After the British defeat of the Ottoman armies in the Middle East, the 1922 Lausanne peace agreement granted an assembly of Ottoman provinces to British control under the title of the Mandate of Palestine. Under the Mandate system, European powers were to shepherd former Ottoman lands toward eventual independence. For a time the British Mandate continued to enforce the Ottoman substantive laws that had been in force prior to 1914 (Article 46 of the Palestine Order in Council). The Mejelle, the Land Code as well as the Ottoman Penal Code remained in force until 1936. The Ottoman Family Law was implemented based on an Ordinance beginning in 1919, although its application was limited to Muslims only. In short, under the British the lands that would later become Israel and Palestine continued for some time to be governed by codified Islamic law, while other mandates were governed by laws transplanted from continental Europe.
The British modified the courts that applied these laws, however. The Ottoman Sharīʿah courts in Mandate Palestine were no longer part of the judicial system that had existed in the Ottoman Empire. Thus, it was no longer appropriate for judges to ask for fatāwā from jurisconsults (muftis) in Istanbul or to appeal cases from Sharīʿah courts of first instance to Ottoman appeals courts outside of Palestine, or to appeal to the Shaykh al-Islam at the head of the then-intact Sharīʿah judiciary in Istanbul. Thus, a new Supreme Muslim Council for Sharīʿah matters was established in 1921. A new Sharīʿah court of appeal was also established with jurisdiction to hear appeals from the Sharīʿah courts in Mandate Palestine. In the Christian court system appeals continued to be submitted to Ottoman-era courts outside of Palestine, where no courts of appeal existed.
As the structure of the judicial system was changing, judicial procedures were changing, too. For example, the principle of binding precedents was adopted as was a new Evidence Ordinance. Eventually, substantive law also began to be revised to reflect British influence. The Torts Ordinance enacted in 1944 annulled many articles of the Mejelle and replaced them with rules derived from secular, European sources (see Eisenman, 1978). As a result, by the 1940s Islamic law had been marginalized. For all practical purposes, it was applied only in the Sharīʿah courts in family law cases in which the litigants were Muslim.
The state of Israel maintained in many elements of the Sharīʿah system that they had inherited from the British.
Israel inherited from the British mandatory government a system in which family law governing Muslim citizens was based entirely on the Ottoman Family Code and its eclectic body of Islamic law. Civil law remained partially based on Islamic law as codified in the Mejelle. Finally, many land transactions had been formed under a statutory Ottoman land law that was based on Islamic law. As time went on Muslim family law continued to be based on Islamic law as interpreted by the Sharīʿah courts and the Israeli Supreme Court as the final court of appeal from the Sharīʿah courts.
In all other areas of law, such as land law and civil law, however, the rules of the Mejelle and other Ottoman-era codes continued to be displaced. Israeli state legislation in civil matters gradually annulled individual relevant clauses until finally, in 1984, the Mejelle was abrogated, although its procedural elements remained valid in the Sharīʿah courts. The Ottoman Land Code of 1858 was abrogated in 1969 and replaced by a law influenced by British common law; this new British-inspired law does not apply retroactively, however, and thus the rights granted before the enactment of that law, on the basis of Islamic legal doctrine regarding the land regime, remain valid in the Israeli legal system.
After the establishment of the state of Israel, no new appointments were made to the Muslim Council for Shariah affairs, and the council was completely abolished in 1961. More consequential, the majority of Muslim waqf assets were confiscated as absentee property. Nevertheless, Sharīʿah courts continued to exist with jurisdiction to hear family law cases involving Muslims. Qāḍīs were appointed to these Sharīʿah courts, and these appointments were approved in 1953. A permanent procedure for qāḍī appointments was adopted in 1961.
In Israel/Palestine currently there are eight Sharīʿah courts and a Sharīʿah court of appeal in West Jerusalem. The Sharīʿah courts try to monopolize the field of Sharīʿah matters. They have established examination committees for Sharīʿah court lawyers. They have also issued circulars regarding Sharīʿah interpretation, organized lectures in the framework of the bar association, and have issued fatāwā on waqf matters. At the same time, however, these Sharīʿah courts have not published their rulings systematically and have provided information regarding them only to a limited, close group of experts and researchers. In contrast to many other countries in which courts apply Islamic law in at least some cases, in Israel there are no muftis or ʿulamāʾ producing legal studies, either private or public (Abou Ramadan, 2008).
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century Israel’s Sharīʿah courts have seen was appears to be a paradoxical process by which the law is simultaneously Islamized and Israelized. Sharīʿah courts profess a policy of applying Islamic principles instead of Israeli law, but their understanding of Islamic law has been increasingly influenced by principles of Israeli law entering the Sharīʿah field. This is not surprising considering that many qāḍīs receive a secular legal education, and none of the currently serving qāḍīs holds a formal degree in Sharīʿah studies.
The process of Israelization has been facilitated by the Israeli supreme court when it acts in its capacity as a final court of appeals for the Sharīʿah courts and as a high court of justice. As an appellate court it supervises the interpretation of the Ottoman Family Law in a manner that is detached from the sources of Islamic legal tradition, arguably distorting the law. As the high court of justice, the Supreme Court sometimes incorporates into the official Israeli interpretation of Islamic law Israeli principles of justice, such as the right of the parties to appear before the court.
Because Islamic family law covers a wide range of issues, it has spilled into other areas of the Israeli court system. Until November 2001 Israel’s family courts had jurisdiction over some issues that were supposed to be resolved according to Islamic law. While the Sharīʿah courts had jurisdiction over questions of Muslim marriage or child custody, the family court had jurisdiction over matters of inheritance between spouses—a matter that was supposed to be resolved according to Islamic law. Similarly, Israel’s labor courts sometimes had to apply Islamic law when dealing with national insurance issues. According to Israeli law, for example, a married woman cannot receive child benefit payments because her husband is obliged to pay alimony. If a Muslim couple in Israel does not actually live together, the question arises whether legal issues pertaining to that period are to be adjudicated according to their formal status or the actual situation. The labor courts apply the reality criterion, that is, they consider the actual situation, while Islamic law tends to follow more formalistic rules. The same holds true for cases in which a husband and wife in a polygamous marriages conceal the marriage in order to obtain benefit payments for the wife as a single mother. Also in such cases the labor courts consider the actual situation rather than the personal status in the registry. The casuistic and equity-oriented adjudication in these Israeli civil courts has influenced their application of Islamic law, giving it a different character than the law as applied in the Sharīʿah family courts. In particular, the rules of evidence and procedure are different. Generally speaking, civil courts may be seen to be characterized by a liberal tendency, whereas Sharīʿah courts appear to retain a patriarchal leaning.
Article 4 of the Palestinian Basic Law of 2003 determines that Sharīʿah is one of the sources of law in the areas under Palestinian Authority administration. In practice, Sharīʿah is found in two main fields: civil law and family law.
Many articles of the Mejelle have remained valid in the civil and Sharīʿah (i.e., family) courts in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There is, however, an attempt to replace the Mejelle with a new civil code. As a result, large sections of the Mejelle have been annulled either explicitly, as in the Torts Ordinance of 1944, or implicitly as in the Law of Evidence, the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law of 2001, and the Labor Law of 2000.
Family law legislation has not yet been unified. The Muslims in the Gaza Strip are still subject to the ordinance of the Egyptian military governor from 1954, and the Muslims in the West Bank to Jordanian family law from 1976. The court in East Jerusalem is subordinate to the Jordanian authorities because Israel refused to grant jurisdiction to the Palestinian Authority. The East Jerusalem court continues to apply the Jordanian law of 1976 rather than the law of 2010 that now applies in Jordan. Shaykh Tamīmī, the former chief justice (qāḍī al-quḍāʾ) of the Jerusalem Sharīʿah court, has published a draft bill of a new family law but it has not yet been enacted.
In the Gaza Strip Hamas, which came to power in 2007, has not yet introduced any substantial legal changes, apart from reinforcing Islamic morality in public life through such measures as prohibiting male hairdressers working in women’s hair salons (2010), banning conventional swimsuits on the beach, or the promotion of officials who learn Qurʾān verses. In law Islamization has been limited. Sharīʿah is still not applied in criminal law, for example, despite rumors of this in 2008. It should be kept in mind that Hamas is primarily a political movement with a religious orientation, just as Fatah is a secular political movement with religious symbols. It has not devoted significant energy to legal reform.
From the Israeli conquest of the West Bank until the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority in 1994, the Sharīʿah court system in the West Bank was subordinated to Jordan. This included the Sharīʿah court in East Jerusalem, which is still subordinate to Jordan.
Today there are three levels (instances) in the Sharīʿah court system. There are thirty-two Sharīʿah courts of first instance in the West Bank. Currently, two women hold a position as qāḍī in these courts. There are four courts of appeal and one appellate Sharīʿah court. In its role as constitutional court, however, the Palestinian Supreme Court ruled the establishment of this Sharīʿah appellate court unconstitutional as it is not based on law but rather on regulations by the chief justice (qāḍī al-quḍāʾ) (Constitutional petition 4/2007X, president of the Palestinian National Authority and others, in ʿAdālah waʾl-qānūn, vol.12, p.115). The president of the Palestinian Authority appointed them the qāḍīs temporarily. As the high court of justice, the Supreme Court refused to review the rulings of the Sharīʿah courts, given that they were judicial rather than administrative rulings. That is in contrast to the Supreme Court in Israel (HCJ 9/2006, Qafisha v. Hebron Qadi, from 19 February 2006).
It should be kept in mind that the Christian courts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip apply Islamic law in inheritance matters; they see it as state law. Thus, the rule that a son gets half of what a daughter gets, for example, is applied in these Christian courts.
The writing of rulings of the supreme Sharīʿah court is a bureaucratic and procedural form of writing that does not contribute to the development of Islamic law but deals mainly with the implementation of the law and with facts. Not only Sharīʿah courts are subordinate to the law but also Dar al-Fatwa. When dealing with family matters, also the latter turns at times to the law rather than to the fiqh sources (Fatawa, vol.1, pp. 105–106; Mukhtarat, vol.3, pp.78–79).
The Hamas government established a Sharīʿah court system of its own, anchored in a law of 2011, including a judicial Sharīʿah council and three instances: the Sharīʿah courts of first instance, two courts of appeal, and a supreme Sharīʿah court.
[See also OTTOMAN EMPIRE, ISLAMIC LAW IN, and TALFīQ/TAKHAYYUR].
Abou Ramadan, Moussa. “Notes on the Anomaly of the shariʿa Field in Israel.” Islamic Law and Society 15, no. 1 (2008): 84–111.
Abou Ramadan, Moussa. “The shariʿa In Israel: Islamicization, Israelization and the Invented Islamic Law.” UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law 5 (2006): 81–129.
Dar al iftaʾ al falastiniya. Fatawa. Vol. 1. Jerusalem, 2009.
Dumper, Michael. Islam and Israel. Muslim Religious Endowments and the Jewish State. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1994.
Eisenman, Robert H. Islamic Law in Palestine and Israel: A History of the Survival of Tanzimat and Shariʿa in the British Mandate and the Jewish State. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1978.
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0.999976 |
I suffer from acne blackheads and pigmentation. In what order should I apply the following products. Acne gel, night mask,blemish repair, blemish lotion and beta hydroxy gel.
*Wash with the Cleanser 2 x pd and rinse off.
*Apply a few drops of the Beta Hydroxy Gel on all affected areas and leave on. This acts as toner and ex-foliater and very healing for acne.
Then the Acne Gel, take care of the clothing as it may stain.
*Apply the Blemish lotion (2 x pd) on the pigmented areas and leave on. Close eyes while applying.
At night the Evening Mask is then applied and left on.
*Safari SPF40 Sunscreen (also provides Day and Night Moisturising.
Additionally one can drink 2x Zinc Skin and Hair Capsules in the morning with breakfast, zinc being very healing.
These steps will become part of the permanent routine after improvement, but the rest may be added with flare ups. Note, while using the Evening Mask, skip the moisturiser at night.
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0.974007 |
Highlights and pitfalls of opening your own brick and mortar shop. Plus, bring on the nitty-gritty SEO education!
I wouldn't call this idea crazy, but will require careful planning so you don't do something crazy. Opening a shop is certainly a challenging commitment whether it's on the street or online.
I see two major issues: time and money. First, it's essential that you create a business plan and a carefully crafted annual budget. Search online for information about writing a business plan before you do anything else. You have all the information you'll need to build a projected budget that includes expenses--both fixed and variable. Fixed expenses include rent, insurance, supplies, and utilities--they're the easy ones. Then there are the variables, which include merchandise (yes merchandise, as the shop will be purchasing your work to sell), staff, and promotions. Those are the biggies when it comes to variables. Since you have no history to refer to, you'll be dealing with these expenses on a totally subjective basis. I'd suggest you estimate on the high side, as it is better to have a surplus rather than a deficit at the end of the year.
Secondly, you have to project your sales. This is tough without any history to rely on, so let's try to work both ends to the middle. For this example, I'm going to set the monthly fixed expenses at $5,000. This means you'd need $5,000 in sales just to keep the space open for business. To budget for variable expenses, you'll have to decide how many hours each month you'll work in the store and how many hours will be covered by an employee.
The promotions budget typically fluctuates within the sales curve, wherein you'd spend more during anticipated bigger sales months. If we add another $5,000 for variables, the break even figure is now $10,000. Here comes the potential deal breaker or plan changer: can you run a shop and make enough jewelry to provide the inventory needed to make the sales projections you need to in order to pay the bills? Only you can answer this one. Whatever your answer is, I'd suggest you consider selling the work of other jewelers and not just your own work. This will do two things: take the production press off you and offer your shoppers a broader selection of merchandise--always a plus for any shop.
I'm aware of craftspeople who have opened shops thinking they could simultaneously make and sell. Most couldn't and needed to choose a direction one way or the other. If this happens to you, you'll want to make the choice that won't make you crazy.
Just as your perfectly crafted object will not be seen by enough eyes if it's not promoted well, the same is true of your website.
Since Google is practically synonymous with ''search engine,'' we view SEO as doing everything we can to put our clients at the top of Google's search results. We call it developing your ''web presence,'' which includes your website and everything that leads to and from it.
Knowing what Google uses to calculate your Search Engine Ranking Placement, or SERP, is the key to higher ranking and better quality traffic. Google is looking for and weighing ''trust factors''--the things that validate your business and website, which include consistency, popularity, relevance, and authority. Your business's name, address, and phone must be consistent wherever it's listed. Your overall web popularity and site popularity shows the value of what you're sharing as indicated by your traffic and keyword search results, social signals, and reviews. If your content is relevant to your business you'll have Google's trust. Your popularity and relevance validate your authority, or recognition as a leader in your industry or field.
Google only uses about 25 percent of the trust factors that are on your website for its formula. They get the other 75 percent of your business's validation from directory listings, social media channels, and other websites.
Claim Google My Business profile, fully fill out the profile, and verify it (by postcard).
Claim or create your Google+ page and build a network. Focus on quality and relevance rather than frequency.
Create a YouTube account and post at least a little video of your portfolio slide show.
Create an analytics account and add the tracking code to your website so you can compare visitor data before and after your SEO efforts.
Create a Webmaster Account, and link to your analytics account to get keyword statistics.
Next, claim directory listings on Bing, Yahoo Local, DMOZ.org, Merchant Circle, Yelp, and Manta. Steer clear of listing services like Yext and LocalSplash, as the gains you might make could disappear if you end your subscription.
After that, create inbound links from relevant sites like galleries, stores, agents, and media driven industry associations like NCECA or American Craft Council. Reciprocal links (when you link to them) engender even more trust. Inbound links from popular artisan shopping sites are valuable. Listing a few items will be enough to establish a presence.
If you've got a few minutes every day, post or share pictures and videos on the visual social media channel(s) where and when your target audience hang out.
As for the 25 percent of information on your website, if the site design and usability are OK, best practices are really all you need for ''on-page SEO'': use one keyword per page, repeat it verbatim in the file name, page title, description, heading tags, images, internal links, and a few times in a page of quality content.
Now you have a full plate and a road map to use with your web designer/master.
Donald Clark is the author of Making a Living in Crafts and was a partner in Ferrin Gallery for 25 years. In addition to writing, he is currently a consultant to artists, a personal property appraiser, and a collection manager. He also continues to create his constructions that have been shown extensively and collected internationally.
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The different Cheetah variants By A. Dyason, IPMS NC.
The Cheetah C fighter jet was built on the frame of the Mirage III South Africa bought from France in the 1960s. The Atlas Cheetah is a South African fighter aircraft, developed for the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was first built as a major upgrade of the Mirage III and is based on the Israeli Kfir fighter. Three different variants were created, 16 dual-seat Cheetah D, 16 single-seat Cheetah E and 38 single-seat Cheetah C. The Cheetah Es were retired in 1992, and the Cheetah Cs and Cheetah Ds in April 2008, being replaced by the Saab Gripen.
An arms embargo against the apartheid regime from 1977 to 1994 meant the French fighter could not be replaced. As an alternative, local experts started upgrading the Mirage's weapon systems and avionics by the mid-1980s, and the Cheetah was born. The Cheetah program to upgrade the South African Air Force's (SAAF) fleet of Dassault Mirage III supersonic fighters was started in 1984, by the then Atlas Aviation (now Denel Aerospace). (Previously, from 1975, Atlas had assembled some of the SAAF's Mirage IIIs as well as its Mirage F1s.) At that time, South Africa operated Mirage IIICZ (Z being the suffix indicating that the aircraft were manufactured for the SAAF), IIIBZ, IIIDZ, IIID2Z, IIIE, IIIRZ and IIIR2Z versions.
Externally, the Cheetah differs from the original Mirage III by having a longer nose, canard foreplanes (to improve manoeuvreability), dog-toothed leading edges to the wings, and an in-flight refuelling probe. The Cheetah C is further distinguished by a refined and improved nose profile, a redesigned and repositioned in-flight refuelling probe (on the C-model it is above and behind the cockpit, on the starboard side), and a single-piece curving windscreen in place of the original three-segment windscreen.
It has been alleged that some Israeli assistance was involved in the Cheetah program, something the SAAF will neither confirm nor deny. However, considering the close ties between South Africa and Israel at the time, especially in the sphere of military research, it can be assumed that at least some of the components were sourced from Israel. However, despite some rumours, the Cheetah is not the Kfir 2000, and aside from a few elements sourced from Israel, the upgrade was entirely South African. There is no evidence of direct Israeli assistance in the upgrade.
Initially, all Cheetah aircraft types were regarded as outright failures. But as more detail became available with the very professional air shows during 1995 and the efforts of "Spotty" [a specially painted display aircraft], public opinion changed virtually overnight. The successful Cheetah program was an impressive achievement by the South African aviation industry.
It was to be replaced by the end of the decade by the multi-role Gripen fighter aircraft, purchased under South Africa's multi-billion rand arms deal. The new jet is produced under a joint venture by Saab of Sweden and the British manufacturer BAE Systems.
Because of earlier international embargoes, the South African Air Force (SAAF) had been obliged to implement expensive measures to extend the lives of its existing aircraft. The Cheetah fighter aircraft is an excellent example of how South Africa successfully used its resources to develop the technology to extend the use of its Mirage III fighter aircraft by 20 years.
All 12 of the South African Cheetah supersonic fighters sold to Ecuador successfully completed their test flights by June 2010 and were ready for deployment by the Ecuadorian air force. Riaz Saloojee, the Group Chief Executive of Denel, said the sale of the 10 Cheetah C (single seat) and two Cheetah D (dual seat) planes is now complete and has been delivered to the complete satisfaction of the client. Denel Aviation will continue to provide a comprehensive maintenance and support service to the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE) for the next five years with an option for renewal.
“This is an exciting business opportunity for Denel Aviation,” says Mr Saloojee. “We successfully sold a fighter plane that was designed in South Africa and used locally for many years to a major international client. “Our future partnership with the Ecuadorian Air Force will provide an important platform to showcase local capabilities for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work to the rest of the world” says Mr Saloojee.
Mike Kgobe, the CEO of Denel Aviation said the agreement to deliver the 12 fighters was signed in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, in November 2010. The government of Ecuador decided to purchase the Cheetahs as part of a program to modernize its aircraft fleet. The Cheetahs were delivered in four batches with the final shipment completed earlier this year. Prior to dispatching the aircraft, they were returned to service and flight-tested before being disassembled locally for shipment and then carefully reassembled and flight-tested in Ecuador.
Denel Aviation provided technical and logistics support to the local teams conducting the tests in Ecuador. Ecuadorian pilots and ground support staff also received extensive conversion training to fly and maintain the South African planes.
Another aspect over looked by historians is the ejection seats as fitted to the Cheetah. The first Cheetah D no 845 had the original Mirage type ejection seats. But due to low-flying operations in the Border War conflict, the SAAF realised it needed a new modern ejection seat with zero-zero capability. No doubt, Arthur Piercy's dreadful accident (see "SAAF at War", S Bouwer, M. Louw), which left him paralysed from the waist down, must have had a positive influence in the procurement of new ejection seats. Closer inspection of later static Cheetah D & E aircraft reveals, that a lighter variant of the Martin Baker Mk 10 was fitted to these aircraft. However, the SAAF has not published exact details of this re fitment. Early photos of the Cheetah show either the ejection seat with a canvas cover or the entire canopy blanked off to hide details of the ejection seat(s).
The Advanced Combat Wing was originally intended as an export item by Atlas for operators of Mirage III/5/50/aircraft and to improve the turn rate of the Cheetah E. At the time the Cheetah program seemed so successful that key components were offered as export items to Mirage III operators. The new ACW featured a fixed, drooped leading edge with no dogtooth. Fuel capacity was increased to extend the aircraft's combat radius on internal fuel. Further gains in sustained turn performance, higher AOA and even lower minimum speeds were obtained. This wing was fitted to the sole Cheetah "R" no 855 and first unveiled in 1994, at an exhibition, at Waterkloof Airbase, that represented the aerospace industry in Southern Africa. This became Aerospace Africa in later years.
Despite the advantages of the new wing, the SAAF did not select the ACW for use on the Cheetah, as the Cheetah E was due for replacement by the advanced Cheetah C, but the existence of the Cheetah C was a closely guarded secret at the time. The only Cheetah "R" was subsequently taken apart. The ACW wing went to the SAAF Museum at Swartkop in 1995 and the rest of the Cheetah "R" found its way into the normal Cheetah program. An ACW was also fitted to Cheetah D no 844. This aircraft is used by Denel as a technology demonstrator and for system testing. This aircraft was exhibited as a static example at the biannual 1995, Paris air show. Cheetah D no 844, is mainly used by Denel and performs on the odd occasion at South African Air Shows.
As a possible upgrade for the F1AZ no 216 was modified by Aerosud and fitted with the Russian Klimov SMR-95 engine. This is essentially the same engine as used in the Mig 29 but with a slight modification to the aft section to fit into the Mirage F1AZ. No 216 is known as the "Super Mirage F1AZ" but the project was discontinued due to costs. See also the F1 knowledge base. During 2001 the project was revived as a demonstrator of Russian/South African cooperation in advanced technology . A single Cheetah D no 847 was also fitted with the same Russian engine. The D model was used as no 847 was already used for system testing and the area of the second ejection seat, once removed, could be used for test instrumentation. But the project was discontinued due to costs and some problems were experienced with the aircraft's centre of gravity. Following the success of the 9K50 engine in Cheetah D no 844 all Cheetah Ds was refitted with the 9K50 engine. No 847 were displayed for a number of years at the SAAF Museum Swartkops, but without the Russian engine. During SAAF 80 the aircraft was on static display and currently in storage with DENEL at AFB Waterkloof.
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0.999765 |
The Inner Planes form a wheel around the Material Plane, enveloped in the Ethereal Plane.
Using the Great Wheel Cosmology, does this mean that the Ethereal Plane does not exist around the Outer Realms?
Could one cast etherealness or use "Oil of Etherealness" in the Outer Planes?
I would also be curious if other spells would be affected, but in the interest of specificity, I am just asking about etherealness.
So no, the Outer Planes don't border the Ethereal, and furthermore the Etherealness spell has no effect when used there.
If you look at page 48-49 in the DMG, you will see that the Ethereal Plane borders only the Inner Planes, Material Plane, Shadowfell and Feywild.
This was also the case in some of the earlier editions of D&D that featured the Great Wheel Cosmology. For example in the 2e Planescape Campaign Setting explicitly stated that the Outer Planes are cut off from the Ethereal. Similarly, the 3.5e Planar Handbook described the Astral Plane as a conduit to all other planes, while the Ethereal was mentioned only as means of transportation within the Material Plane it is coexistent with. The diagram on page 137 of that book shows that the Ethereal is not in contact with the Outer Planes.
Finally, regarding the Oil of Etherealness in particular: Page 46 of the DMG states that the spell Etherealness allows adventurers to enter the Ethereal Plane. Page 184 has a description of the oil, where we learn that the affected creature gains the effect of the etherealness spell. So, we can conclude that the oil is not going to function in the Outer Planes.
None of the Outer Planes are connected to the Ethereal Plane. Instead, they are connected via the Astral Plane.
The Astral Plane connects the Outer Planes, while the Ethereal Plane connects the Inner Planes. There is no connection between Astral and Ethereal. Maybe it would help your intuition of you think of this as the gap between "heaven" and "earth."
If you consult DMG 49, you will see that the Ethereal Curtains directly connect all of the Inner Planes, including the Elemental Chaos, with the Deep Ethereal. The Deep Ethereal is not its own plane, but rather the "deep" portion of the Ethereal Plane.
Finally, if you reference the image on PHB 303, you can see the Ethereal Plane connects with all of the Inner Planes.
You could consult your GM about possible items such as the "Oil of Astralness", which in theory would act in a similar fashion to the "Oil of Etherealness", but such an item would likely be considered a homebrew by the GM, despite its relatively minor alteration in the functionality of the original item. It may be that exposing your mortal form to the raw power of the Astral Plane might have potentially harmful side effects, or in some way limit the functionality of the item being used.
Or it may transform your character into a deity.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged dnd-5e planes or ask your own question.
Can an airship travel to the Astral Plane?
What would happen if a wizard calls a familiar in the Ethereal Plane and then returns to the Material Plane?
Is Etherealness too brief to travel to another plane?
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For other uses, see University (disambiguation).
A university (Latin: universitas, 'a whole') is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines. Universities typically provide undergraduate education and postgraduate education.
The word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". While antecedents had existed in Asia and Africa, the modern university system has roots in the European medieval university, which was created in Italy and evolved from cathedral schools for the clergy during the High Middle Ages.
The original Latin word universitas refers in general to "a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc". At the time of the emergence of urban town life and medieval guilds, specialized "associations of students and teachers with collective legal rights usually guaranteed by charters issued by princes, prelates, or the towns in which they were located" came to be denominated by this general term. Like other guilds, they were self-regulating and determined the qualifications of their members.
In modern usage the word has come to mean "An institution of higher education offering tuition in mainly non-vocational subjects and typically having the power to confer degrees," with the earlier emphasis on its corporate organization considered as applying historically to Medieval universities.
The original Latin word referred to degree-awarding institutions of learning in Western and Central Europe, where this form of legal organisation was prevalent and from where the institution spread around the world.
An important idea in the definition of a university is the notion of academic freedom. The first documentary evidence of this comes from early in the life of the University of Bologna, which adopted an academic charter, the Constitutio Habita, in 1158 or 1155, which guaranteed the right of a traveling scholar to unhindered passage in the interests of education. Today this is claimed as the origin of "academic freedom". This is now widely recognised internationally - on 18 September 1988, 430 university rectors signed the Magna Charta Universitatum, marking the 900th anniversary of Bologna's foundation. The number of universities signing the Magna Charta Universitatum continues to grow, drawing from all parts of the world.
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the earliest universities were founded in Asia and Africa, predating the first European medieval universities. The University of Al Quaraouiyine, founded in Morocco by Fatima al-Fihri in 859, is considered by some to be the oldest degree-granting university.
Their endowment by a prince or monarch and their role in training government officials made early Mediterranean universities similar to Islamic madrasas, although madrasas were generally smaller, and individual teachers, rather than the madrasa itself, granted the license or degree. Scholars like Arnold H. Green and Hossein Nasr have argued that starting in the 10th century, some medieval Islamic madrasas became universities. However, scholars like George Makdisi, Toby Huff and Norman Daniel argue that the European university has no parallel in the medieval Islamic world. Several other scholars consider the university as uniquely European in origin and characteristics. Darleen Pryds questions this view, pointing out that madaris and European universities in the Mediterranean region shared similar foundations by princely patrons and were intended to provide loyal administrators to further the rulers' agenda.
Some scholars, including Makdisi, have argued that early medieval universities were influenced by the madrasas in Al-Andalus, the Emirate of Sicily, and the Middle East during the Crusades. Norman Daniel, however, views this argument as overstated. Roy Lowe and Yoshihito Yasuhara have recently drawn on the well-documented influences of scholarship from the Islamic world on the universities of Western Europe to call for a reconsideration of the development of higher education, turning away from a concern with local institutional structures to a broader consideration within a global context.
The university is generally regarded as a formal institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian tradition. European higher education took place for hundreds of years in cathedral schools or monastic schools (scholae monasticae), in which monks and nuns taught classes; evidence of these immediate forerunners of the later university at many places dates back to the 6th century. The earliest universities were developed under the aegis of the Latin Church by papal bull as studia generalia and perhaps from cathedral schools. It is possible, however, that the development of cathedral schools into universities was quite rare, with the University of Paris being an exception. Later they were also founded by Kings (University of Naples Federico II, Charles University in Prague, Jagiellonian University in Kraków) or municipal administrations (University of Cologne, University of Erfurt). In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarily sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by The residence of a religious community. Pope Gregory VII was critical in promoting and regulating the concept of modern university as his 1079 Papal Decree ordered the regulated establishment of cathedral schools that transformed themselves into the first European universities.
The first universities in Europe with a form of corporate/guild structure were the University of Bologna (1088), the University of Paris (c.1150, later associated with the Sorbonne), and the University of Oxford (1167).
The University of Bologna began as a law school teaching the ius gentium or Roman law of peoples which was in demand across Europe for those defending the right of incipient nations against empire and church. Bologna's special claim to Alma Mater Studiorum[clarification needed] is based on its autonomy, its awarding of degrees, and other structural arrangements, making it the oldest continuously operating institution independent of kings, emperors or any kind of direct religious authority.
The conventional date of 1088, or 1087 according to some, records when Irnerius commences teaching Emperor Justinian's 6th century codification of Roman law, the Corpus Iuris Civilis, recently discovered at Pisa. Lay students arrived in the city from many lands entering into a contract to gain this knowledge, organising themselves into 'Nationes', divided between that of the Cismontanes and that of the Ultramontanes. The students "had all the power … and dominated the masters".
In Europe, young men proceeded to university when they had completed their study of the trivium–the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric and dialectic or logic–and the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.
All over Europe rulers and city governments began to create universities to satisfy a European thirst for knowledge, and the belief that society would benefit from the scholarly expertise generated from these institutions. Princes and leaders of city governments perceived the potential benefits of having a scholarly expertise develop with the ability to address difficult problems and achieve desired ends. The emergence of humanism was essential to this understanding of the possible utility of universities as well as the revival of interest in knowledge gained from ancient Greek texts.
The rediscovery of Aristotle's works–more than 3000 pages of it would eventually be translated–fuelled a spirit of inquiry into natural processes that had already begun to emerge in the 12th century. Some scholars believe that these works represented one of the most important document discoveries in Western intellectual history. Richard Dales, for instance, calls the discovery of Aristotle's works "a turning point in the history of Western thought." After Aristotle re-emerged, a community of scholars, primarily communicating in Latin, accelerated the process and practice of attempting to reconcile the thoughts of Greek antiquity, and especially ideas related to understanding the natural world, with those of the church. The efforts of this "scholasticism" were focused on applying Aristotelian logic and thoughts about natural processes to biblical passages and attempting to prove the viability of those passages through reason. This became the primary mission of lecturers, and the expectation of students.
The university culture developed differently in northern Europe than it did in the south, although the northern (primarily Germany, France and Great Britain) and southern universities (primarily Italy) did have many elements in common. Latin was the language of the university, used for all texts, lectures, disputations and examinations. Professors lectured on the books of Aristotle for logic, natural philosophy, and metaphysics; while Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna were used for medicine. Outside of these commonalities, great differences separated north and south, primarily in subject matter. Italian universities focused on law and medicine, while the northern universities focused on the arts and theology. There were distinct differences in the quality of instruction in these areas which were congruent with their focus, so scholars would travel north or south based on their interests and means. There was also a difference in the types of degrees awarded at these universities. English, French and German universities usually awarded bachelor's degrees, with the exception of degrees in theology, for which the doctorate was more common. Italian universities awarded primarily doctorates. The distinction can be attributed to the intent of the degree holder after graduation – in the north the focus tended to be on acquiring teaching positions, while in the south students often went on to professional positions. The structure of northern universities tended to be modeled after the system of faculty governance developed at the University of Paris. Southern universities tended to be patterned after the student-controlled model begun at the University of Bologna. Among the southern universities, a further distinction has been noted between those of northern Italy, which followed the pattern of Bologna as a "self-regulating, independent corporation of scholars" and those of southern Italy and Iberia, which were "founded by royal and imperial charter to serve the needs of government."
During the Early Modern period (approximately late 15th century to 1800), the universities of Europe would see a tremendous amount of growth, productivity and innovative research. At the end of the Middle Ages, about 400 years after the first European university was founded, there were twenty-nine universities spread throughout Europe. In the 15th century, twenty-eight new ones were created, with another eighteen added between 1500 and 1625. This pace continued until by the end of the 18th century there were approximately 143 universities in Europe, with the highest concentrations in the German Empire (34), Italian countries (26), France (25), and Spain (23) – this was close to a 500% increase over the number of universities toward the end of the Middle Ages. This number does not include the numerous universities that disappeared, or institutions that merged with other universities during this time. The identification of a university was not necessarily obvious during the Early Modern period, as the term is applied to a burgeoning number of institutions. In fact, the term "university" was not always used to designate a higher education institution. In Mediterranean countries, the term studium generale was still often used, while "Academy" was common in Northern European countries.
The propagation of universities was not necessarily a steady progression, as the 17th century was rife with events that adversely affected university expansion. Many wars, and especially the Thirty Years' War, disrupted the university landscape throughout Europe at different times. War, plague, famine, regicide, and changes in religious power and structure often adversely affected the societies that provided support for universities. Internal strife within the universities themselves, such as student brawling and absentee professors, acted to destabilize these institutions as well. Universities were also reluctant to give up older curricula, and the continued reliance on the works of Aristotle defied contemporary advancements in science and the arts. This era was also affected by the rise of the nation-state. As universities increasingly came under state control, or formed under the auspices of the state, the faculty governance model (begun by the University of Paris) became more and more prominent. Although the older student-controlled universities still existed, they slowly started to move toward this structural organization. Control of universities still tended to be independent, although university leadership was increasingly appointed by the state.
Although the structural model provided by the University of Paris, where student members are controlled by faculty "masters", provided a standard for universities, the application of this model took at least three different forms. There were universities that had a system of faculties whose teaching addressed a very specific curriculum; this model tended to train specialists. There was a collegiate or tutorial model based on the system at University of Oxford where teaching and organization was decentralized and knowledge was more of a generalist nature. There were also universities that combined these models, using the collegiate model but having a centralized organization.
Early Modern universities initially continued the curriculum and research of the Middle Ages: natural philosophy, logic, medicine, theology, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, law, grammar and rhetoric. Aristotle was prevalent throughout the curriculum, while medicine also depended on Galen and Arabic scholarship. The importance of humanism for changing this state-of-affairs cannot be underestimated. Once humanist professors joined the university faculty, they began to transform the study of grammar and rhetoric through the studia humanitatis. Humanist professors focused on the ability of students to write and speak with distinction, to translate and interpret classical texts, and to live honorable lives. Other scholars within the university were affected by the humanist approaches to learning and their linguistic expertise in relation to ancient texts, as well as the ideology that advocated the ultimate importance of those texts. Professors of medicine such as Niccolò Leoniceno, Thomas Linacre and William Cop were often trained in and taught from a humanist perspective as well as translated important ancient medical texts. The critical mindset imparted by humanism was imperative for changes in universities and scholarship. For instance, Andreas Vesalius was educated in a humanist fashion before producing a translation of Galen, whose ideas he verified through his own dissections. In law, Andreas Alciatus infused the Corpus Juris with a humanist perspective, while Jacques Cujas humanist writings were paramount to his reputation as a jurist. Philipp Melanchthon cited the works of Erasmus as a highly influential guide for connecting theology back to original texts, which was important for the reform at Protestant universities. Galileo Galilei, who taught at the Universities of Pisa and Padua, and Martin Luther, who taught at the University of Wittenberg (as did Melanchthon), also had humanist training. The task of the humanists was to slowly permeate the university; to increase the humanist presence in professorships and chairs, syllabi and textbooks so that published works would demonstrate the humanistic ideal of science and scholarship.
Although the initial focus of the humanist scholars in the university was the discovery, exposition and insertion of ancient texts and languages into the university, and the ideas of those texts into society generally, their influence was ultimately quite progressive. The emergence of classical texts brought new ideas and led to a more creative university climate (as the notable list of scholars above attests to). A focus on knowledge coming from self, from the human, has a direct implication for new forms of scholarship and instruction, and was the foundation for what is commonly known as the humanities. This disposition toward knowledge manifested in not simply the translation and propagation of ancient texts, but also their adaptation and expansion. For instance, Vesalius was imperative for advocating the use of Galen, but he also invigorated this text with experimentation, disagreements and further research. The propagation of these texts, especially within the universities, was greatly aided by the emergence of the printing press and the beginning of the use of the vernacular, which allowed for the printing of relatively large texts at reasonable prices.
Examining the influence of humanism on scholars in medicine, mathematics, astronomy and physics may suggest that humanism and universities were a strong impetus for the scientific revolution. Although the connection between humanism and the scientific discovery may very well have begun within the confines of the university, the connection has been commonly perceived as having been severed by the changing nature of science during the Scientific Revolution. Historians such as Richard S. Westfall have argued that the overt traditionalism of universities inhibited attempts to re-conceptualize nature and knowledge and caused an indelible tension between universities and scientists. This resistance to changes in science may have been a significant factor in driving many scientists away from the university and toward private benefactors, usually in princely courts, and associations with newly forming scientific societies.
Other historians find incongruity in the proposition that the very place where the vast number of the scholars that influenced the scientific revolution received their education should also be the place that inhibits their research and the advancement of science. In fact, more than 80% of the European scientists between 1450–1650 included in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography were university trained, of which approximately 45% held university posts. It was the case that the academic foundations remaining from the Middle Ages were stable, and they did provide for an environment that fostered considerable growth and development. There was considerable reluctance on the part of universities to relinquish the symmetry and comprehensiveness provided by the Aristotelian system, which was effective as a coherent system for understanding and interpreting the world. However, university professors still utilized some autonomy, at least in the sciences, to choose epistemological foundations and methods. For instance, Melanchthon and his disciples at University of Wittenberg were instrumental for integrating Copernican mathematical constructs into astronomical debate and instruction. Another example was the short-lived but fairly rapid adoption of Cartesian epistemology and methodology in European universities, and the debates surrounding that adoption, which led to more mechanistic approaches to scientific problems as well as demonstrated an openness to change. There are many examples which belie the commonly perceived intransigence of universities. Although universities may have been slow to accept new sciences and methodologies as they emerged, when they did accept new ideas it helped to convey legitimacy and respectability, and supported the scientific changes through providing a stable environment for instruction and material resources.
Regardless of the way the tension between universities, individual scientists, and the scientific revolution itself is perceived, there was a discernible impact on the way that university education was constructed. Aristotelian epistemology provided a coherent framework not simply for knowledge and knowledge construction, but also for the training of scholars within the higher education setting. The creation of new scientific constructs during the scientific revolution, and the epistemological challenges that were inherent within this creation, initiated the idea of both the autonomy of science and the hierarchy of the disciplines. Instead of entering higher education to become a "general scholar" immersed in becoming proficient in the entire curriculum, there emerged a type of scholar that put science first and viewed it as a vocation in itself. The divergence between those focused on science and those still entrenched in the idea of a general scholar exacerbated the epistemological tensions that were already beginning to emerge.
The epistemological tensions between scientists and universities were also heightened by the economic realities of research during this time, as individual scientists, associations and universities were vying for limited resources. There was also competition from the formation of new colleges funded by private benefactors and designed to provide free education to the public, or established by local governments to provide a knowledge hungry populace with an alternative to traditional universities. Even when universities supported new scientific endeavors, and the university provided foundational training and authority for the research and conclusions, they could not compete with the resources available through private benefactors.
By the end of the early modern period, the structure and orientation of higher education had changed in ways that are eminently recognizable for the modern context. Aristotle was no longer a force providing the epistemological and methodological focus for universities and a more mechanistic orientation was emerging. The hierarchical place of theological knowledge had for the most part been displaced and the humanities had become a fixture, and a new openness was beginning to take hold in the construction and dissemination of knowledge that were to become imperative for the formation of the modern state.
King's College London, established by Royal Charter having been founded by King George IV and Duke of Wellington in 1829, is one of the founding colleges of the University of London.
By the 18th century, universities published their own research journals and by the 19th century, the German and the French university models had arisen. The German, or Humboldtian model, was conceived by Wilhelm von Humboldt and based on Friedrich Schleiermacher's liberal ideas pertaining to the importance of freedom, seminars, and laboratories in universities. The French university model involved strict discipline and control over every aspect of the university.
Until the 19th century, religion played a significant role in university curriculum; however, the role of religion in research universities decreased in the 19th century, and by the end of the 19th century, the German university model had spread around the world. Universities concentrated on science in the 19th and 20th centuries and became increasingly accessible to the masses. In the United States, the Johns Hopkins University was the first to adopt the (German) research university model; this pioneered the adoption by most other American universities. In Britain, the move from Industrial Revolution to modernity saw the arrival of new civic universities with an emphasis on science and engineering, a movement initiated in 1960 by Sir Keith Murray (chairman of the University Grants Committee) and Sir Samuel Curran, with the formation of the University of Strathclyde. The British also established universities worldwide, and higher education became available to the masses not only in Europe.
In 1963, the Robbins Report on universities in the United Kingdom concluded that such institutions should have four main "objectives essential to any properly balanced system: instruction in skills; the promotion of the general powers of the mind so as to produce not mere specialists but rather cultivated men and women; to maintain research in balance with teaching, since teaching should not be separated from the advancement of learning and the search for truth; and to transmit a common culture and common standards of citizenship."
In the early 21st century, concerns were raised over the increasing managerialisation and standardisation of universities worldwide. Neo-liberal management models have in this sense been critiqued for creating "corporate universities (where) power is transferred from faculty to managers, economic justifications dominate, and the familiar 'bottom line' ecclipses pedagogical or intellectual concerns". Academics' understanding of time, pedagogical pleasure, vocation, and collegiality have been cited as possible ways of alleviating such problems.
A national university is generally a university created or run by a national state but at the same time represents a state autonomic institution which functions as a completely independent body inside of the same state. Some national universities are closely associated with national cultural, religious or political aspirations, for instance the National University of Ireland, which formed partly from the Catholic University of Ireland which was created almost immediately and specifically in answer to the non-denominational universities which had been set up in Ireland in 1850. In the years leading up to the Easter Rising, and in no small part a result of the Gaelic Romantic revivalists, the NUI collected a large amount of information on the Irish language and Irish culture. Reforms in Argentina were the result of the University Revolution of 1918 and its posterior reforms by incorporating values that sought for a more equal and laic[further explanation needed] higher education system.
Universities created by bilateral or multilateral treaties between states are intergovernmental. An example is the Academy of European Law, which offers training in European law to lawyers, judges, barristers, solicitors, in-house counsel and academics. EUCLID (Pôle Universitaire Euclide, Euclid University) is chartered as a university and umbrella organisation dedicated to sustainable development in signatory countries, and the United Nations University engages in efforts to resolve the pressing global problems that are of concern to the United Nations, its peoples and member states. The European University Institute, a post-graduate university specialised in the social sciences, is officially an intergovernmental organisation, set up by the member states of the European Union.
The University of Sydney is Australia's oldest university.
Although each institution is organized differently, nearly all universities have a board of trustees; a president, chancellor, or rector; at least one vice president, vice-chancellor, or vice-rector; and deans of various divisions. Universities are generally divided into a number of academic departments, schools or faculties. Public university systems are ruled over by government-run higher education boards. They review financial requests and budget proposals and then allocate funds for each university in the system. They also approve new programs of instruction and cancel or make changes in existing programs. In addition, they plan for the further coordinated growth and development of the various institutions of higher education in the state or country. However, many public universities in the world have a considerable degree of financial, research and pedagogical autonomy. Private universities are privately funded and generally have broader independence from state policies. However, they may have less independence from business corporations depending on the source of their finances.
The funding and organization of universities varies widely between different countries around the world. In some countries universities are predominantly funded by the state, while in others funding may come from donors or from fees which students attending the university must pay. In some countries the vast majority of students attend university in their local town, while in other countries universities attract students from all over the world, and may provide university accommodation for their students.
In Australia, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is Australia's independent national regulator of the higher education sector. Students rights within university are also protected by the Education Services for Overseas Students Act (ESOS).
In the United States there is no nationally standardized definition for the term university, although the term has traditionally been used to designate research institutions and was once reserved for doctorate-granting research institutions. Some states, such as Massachusetts, will only grant a school "university status" if it grants at least two doctoral degrees.
In the United Kingdom, the Privy Council is responsible for approving the use of the word university in the name of an institution, under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.
In India, a new designation deemed universities has been created for institutions of higher education that are not universities, but work at a very high standard in a specific area of study ("An Institution of Higher Education, other than universities, working at a very high standard in specific area of study, can be declared by the Central Government on the advice of the University Grants Commission as an Institution 'Deemed-to-be-university'"). Institutions that are 'deemed-to-be-university' enjoy the academic status and the privileges of a university. Through this provision many schools that are commercial in nature and have been established just to exploit the demand for higher education have sprung up.
In Canada, college generally refers to a two-year, non-degree-granting institution, while university connotes a four-year, degree-granting institution. Universities may be sub-classified (as in the Macleans rankings) into large research universities with many PhD-granting programs and medical schools (for example, McGill University); "comprehensive" universities that have some PhDs but are not geared toward research (such as Waterloo); and smaller, primarily undergraduate universities (such as St. Francis Xavier).
In Germany, universities are institutions of higher education which have the power to confer bachelor, master and PhD degrees. They are explicitly recognised as such by law and cannot be founded without government approval. The term Universitaet (i.e. the German term for university) is protected by law and any use without official approval is a criminal offense. Most of them are public institutions, though a few private universities exist. Such universities are always research universities. Apart from these universities, Germany has other institutions of higher education (Hochschule, Fachhochschule). Fachhochschule means a higher education institution which is similar to the former polytechnics in the British education system, the English term used for these German institutions is usually 'university of applied sciences'. They can confer master degrees but no PhDs. They are similar to the model of teaching universities with less research and the research undertaken being highly practical. Hochschule can refer to various kinds of institutions, often specialised in a certain field (e.g. music, fine arts, business). They might or might not have the power to award PhD degrees, depending on the respective government legislation. If they award PhD degrees, their rank is considered equivalent to that of universities proper (Universitaet), if not, their rank is equivalent to universities of applied sciences.
Colloquially, the term university may be used to describe a phase in one's life: "When I was at university..." (in the United States and Ireland, college is often used instead: "When I was in college..."). In Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and the German-speaking countries, university is often contracted to uni. In Ghana, New Zealand, Bangladesh and in South Africa it is sometimes called "varsity" (although this has become uncommon in New Zealand in recent years). "Varsity" was also common usage in the UK in the 19th century. "Varsity" is still in common usage in Scotland.
University of Helsinki, the oldest and largest public university in Finland, founded in 1640.
In many countries, students are required to pay tuition fees. Many students look to get 'student grants' to cover the cost of university. In 2016, the average outstanding student loan balance per borrower in the United States was US$30,000. In many U.S. states, costs are anticipated to rise for students as a result of decreased state funding given to public universities.
There are several major exceptions on tuition fees. In many European countries, it is possible to study without tuition fees. Public universities in Nordic countries were entirely without tuition fees until around 2005. Denmark, Sweden and Finland then moved to put in place tuition fees for foreign students. Citizens of EU and EEA member states and citizens from Switzerland remain exempted from tuition fees, and the amounts of public grants granted to promising foreign students were increased to offset some of the impact. The situation in Germany is similar; public universities usually do not charge tuition fees apart from a small administrative fee. For degrees of a postgraduate professional level sometimes tuition fees are levied. Private universities, however, almost always charge tuition fees.
"Universities" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
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^ "Deemed University". mhrd.gov.in. MHRD. Archived from the original on 7 December 2015.
^ — Peter Drucker. "'Deemed' status distributed freely during Arjun Singh's tenure - LearnHub News". Learnhub.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
^ "Students at Public Universities, Colleges Will Bear the Burden of Reduced Funding for Higher Education". Time. 25 January 2012. Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
Aronowitz, Stanley (2000). The Knowledge Factory: Dismantling the Corporate University and Creating True Higher Learning. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-3122-3.
Barrow, Clyde W. (1990). Universities and the Capitalist State: Corporate Liberalism and the Reconstruction of American Higher Education, 1894-1928. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-12400-7.
Diamond, Sigmund (1992). Compromised Campus: The Collaboration of Universities with the Intelligence Community, 1945-1955. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-505382-1.
Pedersen, Olaf (1997). The First Universities: Studium Generale and the Origins of University Education in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-59431-8.
Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de, ed. (1992). A History of the University in Europe. Volume 1: Universities in the Middle Ages. Rüegg, Walter (general ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36105-7.
Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de, ed. (1996). A History of the University in Europe. Volume 2: Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800). Rüegg, Walter (general ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36106-4.
Rüegg, Walter, ed. (2004). A History of the University in Europe. Volume 3: Universities in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (1800-1945). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36107-1.
Segre, Michael (2015). Higher Education and the Growth of Knowledge: A Historical Outline of Aims and Tensions. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-73566-7.
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Review: A Liberated Lauryn Hill Returns To Form In D.C.
A revitalized Lauryn Hill dispelled uncertainties about her enigmatic career on Sunday evening (Dec. 15), easing a D.C. audience anxious to witness the emancipated hip-hop heroine.
A thick aura of awe filled the intimate 9:30 Club, as Hill arrived on stage in a fur coat, orange sweater, black-and-white checkered bell bottoms and heels. Beginning with her reggae-infused rendition of “Killing Me Softly,” Hill’s harmony quickly became the focal point of the night.
After taking her heels off, Hill urged fans to sing along to the songs they knew, as she drew early from her magnum opus, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Evoking a crippling nostalgia from the latter half of the nineties, Hill effortlessly recited “Everything is Everything” and “Lost Ones,” 15 years after her acclaimed debut ceremoniously hit stores.
The simultaneous head nods combined with the off-key crowd participation signified approval. Delving into her Fugees catalogue, Hill put her versatility on display by rapping her portion to "Zealots," then crooning the "Fu-Gee-La" anthem. Her energy was infectious.
"DC are you ready?" she asked repetitively, interacting with the crowd already on edge. Without hesitation, Hill revived the trio's most popular track, "Ready or Not,” prompting what seemed like the entire venue—bartenders included—to participate in the party at hand. The climactic rendition was followed by a brief intermission, in which Hill left the stage.
She returned with a stool and her guitar, the same instruments she was armed with for her MTV Unplugged performance over a decade ago. While some whispered "Oh lord," the controversial tracks sounded far more appeasing backed by her band.
“I got my freedom; I got my mind I got my heart; I got my soul" she hummed, holding back tears of joy." Hill performed “Guarding Gates” then her latest offering, "Consumerism" to the tune of “Rumble in the Jungle” featuring Busta Rhymes. Regardless of your feelings towards the subject matter in her composition, Hill hit all the right notes for hours.
After a jubilant "Could You Be Loved" performance, cries of "We love you, Lauryn" poured in. When “Doo Wop” dropped, the audience erupted. Hill jumped up and down—freely—as the crowd mirrored her movement.
That thing that Lauryn Hill so elegantly possessed was never lost—perhaps in remission due to circumstance—but she has always had that thing within her. Finally able to connect the faces to the letters she received while behind bars, a liberated Lauryn Hill shook hands with her fans at the end of the concert.
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Bhakti (Sanskrit: भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity". In Hinduism, it refers to devotion to, and love for, a personal god or a representational god by a devotee. In ancient texts such as the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the term simply means participation, devotion and love for any endeavor, while in the Bhagavad Gita, it connotes one of the possible paths of spirituality and towards moksha, as in bhakti marga.
Bhakti in Indian religions is "emotional devotionalism", particularly to a personal god or to spiritual ideas. The term also refers to a movement, pioneered by Alvars and Nayanars, that developed around the gods Vishnu (Vaishnavism), Brahma (Brahmanism), Shiva (Shaivism) and Devi (Shaktism) in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. It grew rapidly in India after the 12th century in the various Hindu traditions, possibly in response to the arrival of Islam in India.
Bhakti ideas have inspired many popular texts and saint-poets in India. The Bhagavata Purana, for example, is a Krishna-related text associated with the Bhakti movement in Hinduism. Bhakti is also found in other religions practiced in India, and it has influenced interactions between Christianity and Hinduism in the modern era. Nirguni bhakti (devotion to the divine without attributes) is found in Sikhism, as well as Hinduism. Outside India, emotional devotion is found in some Southeast Asian and East Asian Buddhist traditions, and it is sometimes referred to as Bhatti.
According to the Sri Lankan Buddhist scholar Sanath Nanayakkara, there is no single term in English that adequately translates or represents the concept of bhakti in Indian religions. Terms such as "devotion, faith, devotional faith" represent certain aspects of bhakti, but it means much more. The concept includes a sense of deep affection, attachment, but not wish because "wish is selfish, affection is unselfish". Some scholars, states Nanayakkara, associate it with saddha (Sanskrit: Sraddha) which means "faith, trust or confidence". However, bhakti can connote an end in itself, or a path to spiritual wisdom.
The term Bhakti refers to one of several alternate spiritual paths to moksha (spiritual freedom, liberation, salvation) in Hinduism, and it is referred to as bhakti marga or bhakti yoga. The other paths are Jnana marga (path of knowledge), Karma marga (path of works), Rāja marga (path of contemplation and meditation).
Meera (1498-1546) was one of the most significant poet-saints in the Vaishnava bhakti movement.
Like the Alvars the Saiva Nayanar poets were influential. The Tirumurai, a compilation of hymns by sixty-three Nayanar poets, is still of great importance in South India. Hymns by three of the most prominent poets, Appar (7th century CE), Campantar (7th century) and Sundarar (9th century), were compiled into the Tevaram, the first volumes of the Tirumurai. The poets' itinerant lifestyle helped create temple and pilgrimage sites and spread devotion to Shiva. Early Tamil-Siva bhakti poets are quoted the Black Yajurveda. The Alwars and Nayanars were instrumental in propagating the Bhakti tradition. The Bhagavata Purana's references to the South Indian Alvar saints, along with its emphasis on bhakti, have led many scholars to give it South Indian origins, though some scholars question whether this evidence excludes the possibility that bhakti movement had parallel developments in other parts of India.
Scholars state that the bhakti movement focused on the gods Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and other deities, that developed and spread in India, was in response to the arrival of Islam in India about 8th century CE, and subsequent religious violence. This view is contested by other scholars.
Bhakti (Pali: bhatti) at a Buddhist temple, Tibet. Chanting during Bhatti Puja (devotional worship) is often a part of the Theravada Buddhist tradition.
Bhakti (called bhatti in Pali language) has been a common aspect of Buddhism, where offerings and group prayers are made to images such the images of the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, or to deities such as wrathful deities. Karel Werner notes that Bhakti has been a significant practice in Theravada Buddhism, and states, "there can be no doubt that deep devotion or bhakti / bhatti does exist in Buddhism and that it had its beginnings in the earliest days".
According to Sri Lankan scholar Indumathie Karunaratna, the meaning of bhatti changed throughout Buddhist history, however. In early Buddhism, such as in the text Theragāthā, bhatti had the meaning of 'faithful adherence to the [Buddhist] religion', and was accompanied with knowledge. In later text tradition, however, the term developed the meaning of an advanced form of emotional devotion. Examples of the latter include the veneration of Buddha Amitabha and those in the Saddharmapundrarika Sutra. This changed the meaning of Buddhist devotion to a more person-centered sense, similar to a theist sense used in Hindu scriptures. This sense of devotion was no longer connected with a belief in a religious system, and had little place for doubt, contradicting the early Buddhist concept of saddhā. Saddhā did not exclude reasonable doubt on the spiritual path, and was a step in reaching the final aim of developing wisdom, not an end in itself.
In early Buddhism, states Sanath Nanayakkara, the concept of taking refuge to the Buddha had the meaning of taking the Buddha as an ideal to live by, rather than the later sense of self-surrender. But already in the Commentary to the Abhidhamma text Puggalapaññatti, it is mentioned that the Buddhist devotee should develop his saddhā until it becomes bhaddi, a sense not mentioned in earlier texts and probably influenced by the Hindu idea of bhakti. There are instances where commentator Buddhaghosa mentions taking refuge in the Buddha in the sense of mere adoration, indicating a historical shift in meaning. Similar developments took place with regard to the term puja (honor) and the role of the Buddha image. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the doctrine of the trikāya (three bodies) and the devotion towards Bodhisattvas all indicating a shift of emphasis toward devotion as a central concept in later Buddhism.
In later faith-oriented literature, such as the Avadānas, faith is given an important role in Buddhist doctrine. Nevertheless, faith (śraddhā) is discussed in different contexts than devotion (bhakti). Bhakti is often used disparagingly to describe acts of worship to deities, often seen as ineffective and improper for a Buddhist. Also, bhakti is clearly connected with a person as an object, whereas śraddhā is less connected with a person, and is more connected with truthfulness and truth. Śraddhā focuses on ideas such as the working of karma and merit transfer.
Nevertheless, affective devotion is an important part of Buddhist practice, not only in Mahāyāna Buddhism. According to Winston King, a scholar on Theravāda Buddhism in Myanmar, "warm, personalized, emotional" bhakti has been a part of the Burmese Buddhist tradition apart from the monastic and lay intellectuals. The Buddha is treasured by the everyday devout Buddhist, just like Catholics treasure Jesus. The orthodox teachers tend to restrain the devotion to the Buddha, but to the devout Buddhist populace, "a very deeply devotional quality" was and remains a part of the actual practice. This is observable, states King, in "multitudes of pagoda worshippers of the Buddha images" and the offerings they make before the image and nowhere else. Another example is the worship of the Bodhisattvas and various deities in Tibetan and other traditions of Buddhism, including the so-called wrathful deities.
Jainism participated in the Bhakti school of medieval India, and has a rich tradition of bhakti literature (stavan) though these have been less studied than those of the Hindu tradition. The Avasyaka sutra of Jains includes, among ethical duties for the devotee, the recitation of "hymns of praise to the Tirthankaras" as the second Obligatory Action. It explains this bhakti as one of the means to destroy negative karma. According to Paul Dundas, such textual references to devotional activity suggests that bhakti was a necessary part of Jainism from an early period.
According to Jeffery Long, along with its strong focus on ethics and ascetic practices, the religiosity in Jainism has had a strong tradition of bhakti or devotion just like their Hindu neighbors. The Jain community built ornate temples and prided in public devotion for its fordmakers, saints and teachers. Abhisekha, festival prayers, community recitals and Murti puja (rituals before an image) are examples of integrated bhakti in Jain practice.
^ a b See Monier-Williams, Sanskrit Dictionary, 1899.
^ John Lochtefeld (2014), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Rosen Publishing (New York), ISBN 978-0823922871, pages 98-100. Also see articles on bhaktimārga and jnanamārga.
^ Hans G. Kippenberg; Yme B. Kuiper; Andy F. Sanders (1990). Concepts of Person in Religion and Thought. Walter de Gruyter. p. 295. ISBN 978-3-11-087437-2. , Quote: "The foundations of emotional devotionalism (bhakti) were laid in south India in the second half of the first millennium of our era (...)".
^ Indira Viswanathan Peterson (2014). Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints. Princeton University Press. pp. 4, footnote 4. ISBN 978-1-4008-6006-7.
^ Rinehart, Robin (2004). Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-57607-905-8.
^ a b Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0.
^ a b c d e Embree, Ainslie Thomas; Stephen N. Hay; William Theodore De Bary (1988). Sources of Indian Tradition. Columbia University Press. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-231-06651-8.
^ Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 120.
^ a b c d e Cutler, Norman (1987). Songs of Experience. Indiana University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-253-35334-4.
^ Flood, Gavin D. (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6.
^ a b Neill, Stephen (2002). A History of Christianity in India, 1707–1858. Cambridge University Press. p. 412. ISBN 978-0-521-89332-9.
^ a b Kelting, Mary Whitney (2001). Singing to the Jinas: Jain Laywomen, Maṇḍaḷ Singing, and the Negotiations of Jain Devotion. Oxford University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-19-514011-8.
^ a b Karunaratna, Indumathie (2000). "Devotion". In Malalasekera, Gunapala Piyasena. Encyclopaedia of Buddhism. IV. Government of Ceylon. p. 435.
^ Sivananda, Swami (2004). Guru Bhakti Yoga. Divine Life Society. ISBN 978-81-7052-168-6.
^ Vivekananda, Swami (1970). The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Advaita Ashrama. p. 62.
^ Neusner, Jacob (2003). World religions in America: an introduction. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-664-22475-2.
^ a b Nanayakkara 1966, pp. 678–80.
^ a b Klostermaier, Klaus (1989). A survey of Hinduism. SUNY Press. pp. 210–212. ISBN 978-0-88706-807-2.
^ a b Lindsay Jones, ed. (2005). Gale Encyclopedia of Religion. Volume 2. Thompson Gale. pp. 856–857. ISBN 978-0-02-865735-6.
^ Monier Monier-Williams; Ernst Leumann (1899). A Sanskrit-English dictionary, etymologically and philologically arranged : with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages (new ed.). Oxford: Clarendon. OCLC 152275976.
^ Singh, R. Raj (2006). Bhakti and philosophy. Lexington Books. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-7391-1424-7.
^ van Buitenen, J. A. B (1996). "The Archaism of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa". In S.S Shashi. Encyclopedia Indica. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. pp. 28–45. ISBN 978-81-7041-859-7.
^ Sundararajan, K. R.; Bithika Mukerji (2003). Hindu Spirituality. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 306. ISBN 978-81-208-1937-5.
^ Frawley 2000, p. 133.
^ Haberman, David L. (2001). Acting as a Way of Salvation. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 133–134. ISBN 978-81-208-1794-4.
^ Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (December 28, 2007). Other Asias. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 197.
^ a b Allport, Gordon W.; Swami Akhilananda (1999). "Its meaning for the West". Hindu Psychology. Routledge. p. 180.
^ a b c Isherwood, Christopher (1980). Ramakrishna and his disciples. Vedanta Press. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-0-87481-037-0.
^ Sarma, Subrahmanya (1971). Essence of Hinduism. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 68.
^ Sharma, Hari Dutt (1999). Glory of Spiritual India. Pustak Mahal. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-81-223-0439-8.
^ Devanand, G.K. Teaching of Yoga. APH Publishing. p. 74.
^ a b Louise Child (2016). Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness: Durkheim, Emotional Energy and Visions of the Consort. Routledge. pp. 138–139. ISBN 978-1-317-04677-6.
^ a b Karunaratna, Indumathie (2000). "Devotion". In Malalasekera, Gunapala Piyasena. Encyclopaedia of Buddhism. IV. Government of Ceylon. pp. 435–7.
^ Nanayakkara 1966, p. 678.
^ Jayatilleke, K.N. (1963). Early Buddhist theory of knowledge (PDF). George Allen & Unwin. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-134-54287-1.
^ Nanayakkara 1966, p. 679.
^ Nanayakkara 1966, pp. 679–81.
^ Rotman, Andy (2008). "Getting and Giving". Thus Have I Seen: Visualizing Faith in Early Indian Buddhism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-045117-2.
^ a b Winston Lee King (1964). A thousand lives away: Buddhism in contemporary Burma. Harvard University Press. pp. 173–176.
^ Gokhale, Balkrishna Govind (1981). "Bhakti in Early Buddhism". In Lele, J. Tradition and modernity in Bhakti movements. 31. Brill Archive. ISBN 978-9004063709.
^ Paul Dundas (2003). The Jains. Routledge. pp. 170–171. ISBN 978-0-415-26605-5.
^ Jeffery D Long (2013). Jainism: An Introduction. I.B.Tauris. pp. 111–114. ISBN 978-0-85771-392-6.
^ Sherry Fohr (2015). Jainism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 91–102. ISBN 978-1-4742-2755-1.
^ Lisa Owen (2012). Carving Devotion in the Jain Caves at Ellora. BRILL Academic. pp. xii, 2, 12–13, 117–126. ISBN 978-90-04-20629-8.
Lorenzen, David N. (1995). Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action. New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2025-6.
Gokhale, B. G. (1980). "Bhakti in Early Buddhism". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 15 (1–2): 16–28. doi:10.1177/002190968001500102.
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Where is Area Code 737?
Area code (737) is in the state of Texas, and there are 5 cities in this area code.
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The word 'orangutan' is derived from the Malay terms 'orang', meaning person, and 'hutan', meaning forest, and few names could be more appropriate, for the future of the orangutan is intricately linked to the future of their rainforest home, and while forest fires, logging and conversion to agriculture are considered the most immediate threats to orangutan populations, the long term composite effects of these actions on the global climate is likely to bring changes and challenges far greater than those seen today.
The entire planet is a vast network of integrated ecosystems and ecosystem services that control and regulate everything humans, and all other animals, depend on for survival, the most fundamental being the air that we breathe and the water we drink (Sekercioglu, 2010). The air that we breathe is regulated by a system, called the carbon cycle, which incorporates the planets four main reservoirs of carbon: the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, the organic carbon compounds within organisms, the dissolved carbon in water systems, and the carbon compounds found within the earth, as part of soil, limestone, peat, coal, natural gas and petroleum (Alexander at al, 1997). Carbon is the dominant force that both shapes life and regulates the world's climate, and plants, which absorb carbon through a system called photosynthesis, play a major role in fixing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, with most terrestrial carbon storage occurring in forest trees (Falkowski et al, 2000). The destruction of these forested areas, and the continued exploitation of buried organic matter, often called fossil fuels, has led to a dramatic increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO2, and a corresponding warming of the world's climate. Since 1750, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased by 34% (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005) and by the end of the century, the average global temperature is projected to rise by 1-8to 6.4 degrees Celsius (IPCC, 2007).
The effects of these rising temperatures are already being felt throughout the world. In Greenland, the melt rate of its glaciers is increasing, and the seismic activity they generate is accelerating (Lovejoy, 2009), and glaciers in most of the world are also in retreat, with those on high peaks in the tropics, like those on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, receding at such a rate they are unlikely to exist in 15 years (UNEP, 2007). Longer summers and an earlier melt of the snow pack have led to an increase in wildfires in the American West (Flannigan et al, 2000), and many species have been observed changing the timing of their life histories, life cycles and their migration patterns to deal with seasonal changes (Root et al, 2003; Dunn and Winkler, 1999). In the tropical climate of Costa Rica, the Monteverde cloud forest, an ecosystem dependent on condensation from clouds for moisture, has been experiencing more frequent dry days, as the elevation at which clouds form has risen, and there are fears the golden toad that inhabits these forests could be the first documented terrestrial extinction caused by climate change (Pounds et al, 1999).
As an archipelago of 17,508 islands, and with one of the world's highest rates of deforestation (FAO, 2005), Indonesia is both one of the world's biggest contributors to climate change, and one of the country's most adversely affected by it.
Indonesia lies within the inter tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), a belt of low air pressure that runs along the equator, where winds originating in the northern and southern hemispheres meet, and its climate is characterized not by temperature, but by two seasons of varying rainfall. Tropical countries in the ITCZ are some of the wettest on earth, and Indonesia's seasonal patterns of rainfall and winds are strongly related to its location on the equator between mainland Asia and Australia. Monsoons blowing in from mainland Asia bring heavy rainfall from November to March, and southeastern winds from Australia bring a period of infrequent rainfall from June to September (Galdikas, 2009). Indonesia receives an average of 70 to 125 inches of rainfall every year in the lowlands, with some mountainous regions receiving up to 240 inches per year (Galdikas, 2009), but the region is also strongly affected by local weather patterns, known as the El Nino/La Nina Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and caused by variations in sea surface temperatures in the pacific, which causes floods, droughts and variations in annual rainfall.
During El Nino years, dry season rainfall can be less than half of normal (Harrison et al, 2009), and particularly severe El Nino years have seen huge fires devastate Indonesia's forests. Once thought to occur around once every seven years, there is evidence that climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and severity of El Nino southern oscillations (Yeager et al, 2003), with Indonesia experiencing drought conditions and corresponding forest fires in 1972-73, 1982-83, 1987, 1991-92, 1997-1998, 2002, 2006 & 2009. The results were devastating. Forest fires in 1982 and 1983 burned around 3.6 million hectares of forest in East Kalimantan alone (Leighton & Wirawan, 1986), and forest fires in 1997 and 1998, usually started by local farmers or plantation companies and exacerbated by drought conditions, are believed to have destroyed at least 9.7 million hectares of forest throughout Indonesia (Case et al, 2009), significantly affected 36 of the 45 major forest blocks in Kalimantan, and devastated the country's national parks (Yeager et al, 2003). It is believed that thousands of orangutans died as the forests burned in 1997/98, with a survey in 2003 showing the wild population in the Sebangau area of central Kalimantan had decreased by 49%, from a total of 13,000 in 1996 (Suhuh & Saleh, 2007). Hundreds of adult orangutans were also killed by villagers as they fled and wandered in to villages in search of food, and orangutan rehabilitation centres were inundated with orphaned babies and infants, otherwise destined for the illegal pet trade (Barber & Schweithelm, 2010).
Of great concern is the amount of carbon dioxide the fires released in to the atmosphere. During the 1997-98 fires, 2 million hectares of the forest burned was carbon rich peat swamp forest (Page et al, 2002), which is believed to have released 0.81-2.57 billion tonnes of carbon in to the atmosphere (Rieley, 2002). The surface air temperature in Asia has already increased by approximately 1-3 degrees over the last century, and annual precipitation has decreased by two to three percent across the whole of Indonesia over the same period (Case et al, 2009). It is feared that the increased frequency of El Nino impacted forest fires could create a positive-feedback loop, whereby increased burning increases atmospheric CO2 concentrations, which raises temperatures, and increases the frequency and severity of ENSO events, thereby increasing the incidence and severity of future fires (Harrison et al, 2009). Additionally, forests that have burned once are then more susceptible to future fires, as the reduced canopy cover reduces humidity levels in the forest, increasing the rate at which biomass dries, and therefore increasing the forests fuel load (Yeager et al, 2003).
While the increase in drought conditions and forest fires is considered one of the most immediate threats to the future of wild orangutan populations and wild orangutan forest habitat, the long term effects of the fires on the quality of the forest, and its susceptibility to future climate change, is also a concern. Orangutans are frugivorous primates, and are known to feed on up to 400 different types of fruit. Their very survival depends on there being enough fruit, and other forest products, to sustain them. During and after the 1997/98 El Nino fires, fruit was abundant in the Kayan Mentarang National Park in East Kalimantan in the months of January to March 1998, but then plummeted and remained low during 1999 and 2000, with some species of the Artocarpus genus failing to produce any fruits from July 1998-October 1999 at all (Suhud & Saleh, 2007). Studies in Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan after the same fires revealed the burned peat swamp had between 13.1-68.9% fewer tree species than unburned forest in the same area, with similar findings for other areas of peat swamp forest in East Kalimantan, and follow up surveys in the same forest eight months later showed tree mortality had increased significantly (Yeager at al, 2003).
Warming temperatures and changes in precipitation and seasonality are likely to affect the phenology of fruiting trees, and the seasonal activities of the forests' flora and fauna (Saleh, 2009). It has been predicted that temperatures in Asia will increase by between 0.72-3.92 degrees between now and the end of the century, and the annual monsoon in Indonesia could be delayed every year by 30 days due to changes in the regional climate (Chase et al, 2009). A longer, more severe dry season is likely to reduce the abundance of fruits (Saleh, 2009), and although orangutans have been shown to store fat during periods of low fruit availability (Knott, 1998), longer periods like these will force orangutans to rely more heavily on low quality fall back foods, such as bark, and struggle to maintain their body weight. This is also likely to have an effect on orangutan reproduction, as females are less likely to conceive during periods of low fruit abundance (Saleh, 2009), and orangutan ranging patterns and social systems, as orangutans change their behavior and locations to deal with the scarcity of suitable forest foods (Suhud & Saleh, 2007).
Orangutans have become the most high profile victim of climate change in Indonesia, but they are not the only species to have suffered over the last few decades, nor is their habitat the only one to have been damaged. Coral reefs are under threat from warming sea-surface temperatures and bleaching, and an increase in extreme weather events, warming temperatures and changes in ocean circulation and salinity patterns may impact Indonesia's marine turtle populations (Case et al, 2009). It is estimated that 34% of Asia's coral reefs were lost during the El Nino fires of 1997/98, and increased temperatures are expected to severely alter fish habitat in the equatorial pacific (Case et al, 2009). Indonesia's coastal mangroves are also threatened by sea-level rises, reduced freshwater flows and salt-water intrusion, and projected changes in the level of precipitation, temperatures and seasonality are expected to adversely affect the regions amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including humans (Case et al, 2009).
Global warming, or climate change, is one of the most challenging and controversial threats facing the planet. Although there are many who claim human activities are unlikely to be the cause of this warming, the overwhelming scientific consensus suggests otherwise, and the effects are largely to be felt everywhere. Conserving tropical rainforests, their plants, leaves and peat bogs, is one of the most effective ways of decreasing the amount of carbon released in to the atmosphere, and is the only way of securing the future of the orangutan species.
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Barber, C.V. & Schweithelm, J. (2010). Trial by Fire. World Resources Institute.
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Rieley J. (2002). Kalimantan tropical peat swamp forest project. Orang Utan Tropical Peatland Project Press Release.
Saleh, C. (2009). Climate change and orangutans. WWF Indonesia.
Suhud, M. & Saleh, C. (2007). Climate change impacts on orangutan habitats. WWF Indonesia.
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If I were having a conversation with the next generation member, a question I would want to ask is this: What did you and your parents agree to when you took the job?
Family governance is a process or structure to educate and facilitate communication between family members.
Whether you are just starting a Family Council or have had one for years, much can be gained by considering the lessons others have learned in making their Family Councils work.
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Misinformation about cats can result in misguided polices that lead to cats being killed. It’s important to look at the facts, rather than believe sensationalized media hype or emotional arguments. You can help protect cats, and debunk misinformation that might come up during discussions or conflicts about community cats, by knowing accurate information.
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Could Bruins' captain Zdeno Chara be on the trade block?
It took just two games for trade rumors to make the rounds in Boston, and those rumors are big ones. According to a report from CSN New England's Joe Haggerty, the Bruins are discussing the possibility of trading veterans Zdeno Chara and Brad Marchand.
This report is surprising both because of the big names involved as well as the fact that both players are currently battling injuries. The 38-year-old Chara missed the first two games of the season with an upper-body injury while Marchand is out indefinitely with a concussion.
The team's start to the season has gone just as poorly as fans feared, as the Bruins allowed 10 goals against in two games, tying them with the Philadelphia Flyers for the worst goals-against through two games in the league. If the Bruins do decide to trade Chara or Marchand, it could be a sign that the team is shifting its focus to the future rather than looking to win now.
Of course these rumors are still very premature. Discussions about trades are hardly real negotiations, and it would be strange to see a lot of interest for an injured player at this stage of the season, but it is definitely something for Bruins fans to keep an eye on.
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Making great pies is one of the fading arts. The truth is that nothing compares to a good home-made crust and pumpkin filling made from scratch. So get crackin.
Whisk the salt into the flour and then cut half of the butter into the flour until you have a grainy texture.
Now add the remaining butter and use both of your hands to mix until the butter is completely covered in the flour.
Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time stirring with a fork until the dough first starts coming together.
Once the dough comes together easily when squeezed in your hand add one or two more tablespoons and then bring the dough together into a pile.
Form into a circle about 1 inch thick.
Wrap in plastic wrap and then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to relax.
Now roll the dough out on a heavily floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Roll from the middle out only, until you have dough that is 3 inches bigger than your pie pan.
Transfer dough to the pie pan cutting the edges, and keep in the fridge until ready to fill.
Mix the filling ingredients together with a whisk until completely incorporated and then pour into the pie crust leaving about a ¼ inch from the top.
Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce heat down to 350° F. Continue baking for another 35-40 minutes until the pie is set around the edges, but a little wobbly in the center.
Remove from oven to cool and it will finish setting. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours and then serve and enjoy.
Serve with whipped cream and chopped pumpkin seeds.
The recipe does not say what size can of pumpkin to use.
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My review: We had a wonderful stay at this Casa. The casa is located in a nice, quit neighborhood in Havana close to the city centre. The host, Jorge, is super friendly and helpful. He can tell you all about Havana and Cuba and will makes sure that your stay is perfect.
How was your room?: Big, comfortable.
My review: Nunca imagine que quedarse en Casa Blanca haría la diferencia a mi visita a Cuba, pues al visitar otros países me había quedado en Hoteles donde solo llegas a dormir, te bañas y te vas. Sin embargo debido a que Aeromexico extravío mis maletas por varios días, no tenía ni ropa limpia que ponerme. Pero don Jorge (propietario de Casa Blanca) y (Yani) la persona que lo ayuda en la limpieza de la misma, nos tendieron la mano. Desde darnos pasta de dientes, cepillo dental, desodorante, prestarme ropa hasta lavarnos la ropa para el otro día. (cosas que en otro país hubieran sido adquiridas fácilmente, pero en Cuba era difícil). Ese gesto me lleno de mucho agradecimiento. Don Jorge nos escucho, nos ayudo a tomar taxi, nos presto un chip para estar comunicados, nos saco copia de los pasaportes, espero nuestras maletas y nos oriento para conocer lugares. Un servicio completo. Cuando regrese a Cuba sin pensarlo me quedo nuevamente en Casa Blanca.
My review: Casa Blanca se encuentra ubicada en uno de los lugares más tranquilos de La Habana, sumado al hecho que está en un lugar de hermosas casas de la burguesía cubana pre revolucionaria que merecen la pena ser admiradas.
Por otra parte las habitaciones son simples pero muy pulcras al igual que la ropa de cama, disponen de aire acondicionado y cajilla de seguridad. La persona encargada de la limpieza, Jany, es alguien muy accesible y confiable.
Asimismo, el dueño de la casa, Jorge, fue una persona extremadamente amable con nosotros y nos orientó en todo momento. De hecho al llegar a La Habana descubrimos que nuestro equipaje no había llegado con nosotros y él junto Jany no dudaron en prestarnos ropa, cepillos de dientes y anti transpirantes (a sabiendas de los difícil que es encontrarlos) para no pasarla tan mal, algo por lo que estamos totalmente agradecidos y es una muestra de su gran humanidad.
La casa se encuentra ubicada cerca de una avenida muy importante para el acceso al casco urbano de La Habana, Cuba.
How was your room?: Sencillas pero muy limpias.
How was the food they offer?: Ofrece desayunos económicos o bien más elaborados si se desean, que van de los 2 CUC a los 5 CUC.
Other services they offer: Te proporciona un chip de CubaCel para poderte comunicar mientras te encuentras en Cuba.
My review: Casa Blanca is wonderfully located away from the main tourist activities and noise in Vieja. It is on a quite tree lined street in the classic residential area of Vedado. Many of the homes there are being rebuilt or reconstructed to their original classic state. Jorge has lovingly brought his back and maintain it in loving memory of his mother who lived there many years.
Jorge is a worldly man having lived in other places and speaks excellent english. He is open and honest in conversation and assures his guests all treated well, going out of his way to make sure we had a memorable vacation. He also helped us tremendously in finding a personal architectural guide and accommodations for the remainder of our trip.
Due to unforeseen circumstances Jorge also helped us resolve some difficulties we had and I can now profess that he is one of my trusted friends and I believe the feeling is mutual. Staying with Jorge or Casa Blanca will only enhance your trip to Cuba.
How was the food they offer?: Every morning there was plenty of fine breakfast goods. Fresh coffee, Juice, homemade breads and eggs of choice. If you have dietary needs I'm sure Jorge will be able to accommodate.
Other services they offer: What ever you need Jorge will try and help. A good friend.
Other comments: It can be challenging traveling in Cuba as they are still developing their infrastructure. With Jorge as your support you will learn the ins and outs to navigate this developing country for their benefit and yours.
My review: Je suis allé a la havane pour la premiere fois en Février 2016 pour un séjour de 3 semaines.
judicieux.Bref, toujours là pour rendre notre séjour dès plus agréable.
Je ne voulais pas etre au coeur de l'action touristique,mais un endroit relax et près des attractions.
demeures coloniales ,grand hotels, ambassades, musées restaurants, bars.
Other services they offer: Ce que j'ai beaucoup apprécié de cet endroit c'est la belle terrase au deuxième étage.
My review: I absolutely LOVED this place! It was so much better than staying at a hotel. The host, Jorge is so friendly and kind to his guests. He answered every question that we had. He is so hard working. It seems like he is continually making improvements to the house! He gave us some great restaurant suggestions and was quick to arrange taxi rides when we needed those.
The common areas are so very nice. I loved seeing the antiques. The neighborhood seemed very safe and is very close to John Lennon park.
How was your room?: My friend and I stayed in the larger room on the second floor and it was very comfortable. We had plenty of room for all of our luggage and I felt very secure with personal safe in our room. We had use of the large bathroom with a very nice shower.
How was the food they offer?: The breakfast started with wonderful Cuban coffee and hot milk and soon a beautiful bowl of fresh local fruit! This was followed up with scrambled eggs and a Cuban sandwich (I often took this with me to snack on later). Everything in the house was so clean and comfortable. It was amazing!
Other comments: I would definitely stay here again. I recommend this casa to all of my friends!
My review: Casa Blanca was a great place to stay. I am a 70 year old male from the Midwest in the United States and was on a research trip looking into Scuba Diving in Cuba. I traveled with a friend and scuba buddy. We stayed at Casa Blanca for 6 nights between 6 June and 13 June. The Greeting and Hospitality we received at Casa Blanca could not have been better. I am recommending Casa Blanca to all my friends and hope to stay there again myself.
How was your room?: Our room was lovely, filled with beautiful antique furniture. It was kept spotlessly clean. It had a nice air conditioner, necessary for a restful nights sleep.
How was the food they offer?: The breakfast was very nice with a large helping of fruit and an egg dish and a pastry.
Other services they offer: Jorge, the owner was always ready to answer our queries and offer informative recommendations. He made our touring the city so much easier.
My review: We spent several nights in the Casa and had a wonderful stay.
The Casa is a beautiful two store villa with a small but excellent garden. It took me back to my childhood.
Jorge is a very welcoming and a polite host a "MENSENMENS" who provided us with a map pointing out all great places.
Ask him anything and he will tell everything.
How was your room?: excellent room with good beds, airco and a fan.
Both were needed because it sure was hot at that time.
How was the food they offer?: We only took breakfast but is was great. Good coffee, lost of fruitsalade and juices.
Every day eggs, a backed bunn with ham and cheese, and some dessert cookies.
Other services they offer: Quiteness, relax on the terras.
My review: I have traveled to Cuba many times the past 5 years to work,have always tried to stay at this casa particular. I have stayed at 5 star hotels when necessary,but they do not compare. Jorge Duany and I have become good friends over these years. There is simply nothing to complain about; the rooms,have stayed in all the different rooms, the staff, and especially the personal service.
Currently have reservations for 2 weeks this coming November and December, 2016.
My review: We really had a great stay at Jorge his place. It is a colonial house with terras and nice rooms. Jorge is a great and friendly host. He will inform you about how thinks work in Havana and give you good tips. Great breakfast. The house is in a residential area which feels very save and it is nice to be amongst the Cubans.
Our daughter and a friend of hers stayed there as well. My daughter got sick and Jorge helped her through this difficult days and informed us as well. He took her to the hospital, arranged a tour by car and the taxi to the airport back.
So an amazing experience and if you are looking for a great and familiar place to stay, we can definitely recommend Casa Blanca!
How was your room?: We had a nice room with airco (although we only realized after two nights...). Next to it a small room and terrace on the first floor.
Other services they offer: Jorge is very helpful. If there is anything you want to know or to arrange he will take care of it. Even for our daughter who wasn't visiting his casa at first, he arranged a taxi pick up from the airport to the Viazul busstation.
Other comments: We definitely recommend Casa Blanca!!
My review: My stay at Casa Blanca is one of the reasons why I will return to Cuba. Jorge could not have been a better host -- his goal was to make us feel at home..something he did very well! The atmosphere was relaxed but also elegant with it's artwork, decor and beautiful antiques. The neighborhood was quiet and safe and a short taxi ride to Old Havana. When we arrived it was close to 10pm and were a bit hungry. Jorge accompanied us to get a bite and then we walked to El Malecon where we were serenaded by a couple of guys with a guitar and maracas..a night I will always remember with a smile!
How was your room?: Extremely pleasant, very clean and spacious.
How was the food they offer?: Excellent and a lot of it!
Other services they offer: All around hospitality. Jorge's suggestions were always spot on.
Other comments: This was the first time I returned to Cuba since leaving 55 yrs ago. Obviously was very emotional, full of contrasts and impressions to process a lifetime. The generous spirit of the people made me and also my friends (not Cubans) feel very welcomed. Our stay in Casa Blanca magnified that feeling. I will always be grateful to Jorge for helping me feel I was home again!
My review: We loved staying at Casa Blanca. The house was comfortable and the host was helpful. We always felt safe and Jorge helped answer many of our questions.
When we go back to visit Cuba, we will stay again at Casa Blanca. We were able to discover the wonderful neighborhood, take a quick taxi to the old town and walk to restaurants each night. I would recommend staying here!
How was your room?: Our room was vintage Cuba. The room was spacious and when the weather was hot, the fan cooled the room to a perfect temperature. Each morning we sat on the upstair balcony enjoying the sounds of the neighborhood...birds included.
How was the food they offer?: We were given a delicious breakfast each morning. We couldn't have asked for more, it was great.
Other services they offer: Jorge was a wealth of information. Whenever we needed anything, Jorge was there to help. When we needed answers, Jorge was there to help. If we needed a cab, Jorge would call. If we needed a place to eat, Jorge gave us suggestions. We were looking for artist studios and Jorge would help us make the calls and help us with directions.
Other comments: We can't wait to visit again and call Jorge our friend.
My review: Casablanca is more than a place to stay, it feels like home to us. Jorge, the owner, takes the utmost care in helping each client with what the need around the city. He gives good, honest recommendations. It's great service. The 1920's mansion is meticulously restored and tucked away in the quiet upscale neighborhood of Vedado. The antiques and lush plants all add to the welcoming atmosphere. You can take taxi collectivas just a couple blocks from this casa particular and get to Habana Vieja for about .50 cents each way! We love it and it's our go to place each time we visit Havana.
How was your room?: The room is air conditioned, has a private bathroom and 120 Volt electricity. Always clean and organized.
How was the food they offer?: The breakfast is the best! Fresh squeezed juice, eggs, ham & cheese, pastries, fruit.... it's a wonderful way to start the day.
My review: We were treated very cordially and given all the direction and support like family members. No question went unanswered, the advice was 'spot-on' and the breakfast was consistently tasty and nourishing, maybe, better than I make at home.
Automobiles were arranged for everything on time and with my budget and a map guided us around the City. The rooms are spacious and comfortable. I will be staying here again in 2017 and I will stay longer.
How was your room?: Spacious and comfortable.
How was the food they offer?: Excellent, better than i prepare for myself.
Other services they offer: Excellent advice about walking and riding around the City of Havana.
Other comments: We feel so lucky to have found this place and the guidance of Jorge was very comforting and useful to enjoy our visits around the City.
My review: We spent three nights in Casa Blanca in march/april 2016 and had a wonderful stay! The Casa is a beautiful two story villa in a small but lush garden. It is has a very homely feeling with old furniture and whimsical and personal decorating details. Jorge is a very welcoming and polite host. He provided us with a map, pointing out all necessities, sights and some great paladares. He gladly helped us arranging taxi rides, gave us great information before our trip to Playa del Este and was always available to us when we had questions.
Visiting Vedado was one of the highlights of our trip to Cuba. We especially enjoyed walking the streets (most of them lined with old trees that provide shade) and taking in all the amazing architecture. It feels like every house in Vedado is different from the next and that they each have a story to tell. There are som great museums to visit, and a huge cemetary. Ask Jorge and he will tell you!
Compared to other parts of Havana, there are not that many tourists around Vedado. The citizens we met were really nice and helpful with giving us directions and tips.
How was your room?: Our room, on the second floor, was very clean and spacious. The room was beautifully decorated with old furniture and had a very high ceiling. There were three tall windows facing the garden and street. There was a free standing fan, easy to move and ajust. The bed was comfortable. The air conditioning was very effective, yet noisy. We had access to the second floor balcony, which was a great place to sit and relax in the evening.
How was the food they offer?: The casa offers a nice breakfast for an additional 5 CUC per day. The plentiful breakfast included coffee, juice, a grilled sandwich with cheese and chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, a big bowl of fresh fruit salad, crackers with butter and marmalade and also a small dessert like a piece of cake. There was milk, two kinds of sugar and honey. Breakfast was served in the lovely dining room at a large table that we we shared with the other guests. We especially liked the fruit salad!
Other services they offer: Beverages, valuable tourist information, Taxi reservation.
Other comments: Booking this Casa particular was really easy. Jorge is quick to reply to e-mails and is very informative so that you feel well taken care of even before the trip starts. Thank you Jorge for your hospitality!
My review: My family and I visited Cuba and stayed at Casa Blance 917 during the time we were in Havana. Even before we flew to Cuba we were in touch with Jorge via e-mail, to which he always replied promptly. Jorge advised us on how to best spend our time in Cuba, what to see and do, and gave us excellent restaurant/bar recommendations. He went above and beyond by helping us arrange rooms at Casa Particulares in other cities we were staying. Jorge made us feel right at home in his beautiful house. We woke up to a gorgeous breakfast. It's only a short walk to the main road and Malecon, and a short taxi ride in a classic car to Old Havana. We will definitely stay at Casa Blanca again the next time we visit Cuba!
How was your room?: Large, spacious, and clean.
How was the food they offer?: The breakfast was delicious and plentiful.
Other services they offer: Jorge went above and beyond. He helped us where ever he could- arranging taxi pick ups to and from the airport as well as any other location, organizing Casa Particulares for us in other cities we were visiting, recommending excellent restauarants / bars within walking distance of the house.
My review: A friend and I recently travelled to Havana. Even before we left The Netherlands, we were well taken care of by Jorge, our host at Casa Blanca 917. Jorge went out of his way to help us organize a taxi for our transit to Vedado where this beautiful Casa Particular is located. Jorge was there to greet us and help us settle in to two very comfortable rooms on the top floor of his classic 1920s Cuban home.
The environment at Casa Blanca 917 is restful. Be prepared to slow down and totally relax! You'll start your day with fresh fruits and delicious coffee in the morning, and Jorge will help you plan your day with his tips and suggestions to get the most out of your visit. He is passionate about his country and wants you to experience and explore as much as possible. The Vedado neighbourhood in which Casa Blanca 917 is located is a feast for the eyes. We got out and walked as much as possible and made it a point to take a different route to and from, each time. There are so many interesting and picturesque historical homes in this charming area.
Jorge has great recommendations for restaurants in Havana; make sure you stop by Nardos for an authentic Cuban meal. And while in Vedado, Doña Juana and Vampirito will be two of your favourites. We were repeat customers at both! A stone's throw away is Café Madrigal which is a fabulous spot for drinks and live music in the evening.
Back at Casa Blanca 917 you can wind down from your day of wandering. Have a seat in the private garden, or up on the balcony taking in views of the neighbourhood.
From start to finish a vacation in Cuba is memorable. It can be made even more special if you stay at Casa Blanca 917 under the care of Jorge and his staff. Jorge will make you feel so welcome, by the end of the week, you won't want to leave!
I highly recommend Casa Blanca 917. Location, service, friendliness, comfort are all five star!
How was your room?: Quiet, comfortable, spacious.
Other services they offer: Jorge goes above and beyond to help with tips on where to visit and explore - restaurants, bars, sights. He's the best host!
My review: Superb hospitality in a pleasant, quiet and fully restored Havana Mansion!
I visited Havana recently and stayed with Jorge in his delightful Spanish style villa called Casa Blanca 917 in Vedado. It came recommended by previous reviewers on TripAdvisor who had all ranked it as excellent. They were right, I was made to feel at home and looked after for 6 days by Jorge and his friendly staff. I would not hesitate to stay there again on a return visit to Cuba.
Jorge speaks excellent English and is very knowledgeable on all aspects of Havana and life in Cuba. During my visit he kindly arranged an overnight night stay in a Casa in Trinidad .His one aim is to ensure his guests have the best possible stay in Havana. The house is tastefully furnished with interesting antiques and is in top class condition. The breakfasts exceeded my expectations with fresh fruit every morning and lots to eat.
My apartment was self-contained with a good bathroom and all the facilities I needed. It was clean, quiet and importantly I felt very safe. This area of Vedado is a pleasant residential area of Havana with many beautiful old mansions, interesting local restaurants ,bars and facilities.
From Vedado it is easy to get into Old Havana by cheap taxi or a 30 minute interesting walk.
This Casa is a home from home and I have no hesitation in recommending it to prospective guests.
Other services they offer: Advice on all Cuba Havana subjects-Invaluable!!
My review: The Casa Blanca 1920 is in a quite area of Cuba, with good accommodation and services.
In the entrance is another place to sit and talk to other guests or Jorge the owner, or Elisabeth the care taker. And both do take care of you as guest.
Jorge arranged for the taxi from the airport to the casa which is a 30~45 minutes drive, but also arrange payment for the taxi as I had no pesos at that moment.
Later he suggested a nearby restaurant which we where allowed to pay later since we have not changed money.
How was your room?: We stayed in the room facing the street which does not have an in-room bathroom, but across the corridor at 2 meters from the room door we had a private spacious bath room with everything in and on it. A balcony adjacent to our room was a great place to relax and read.
How was the food they offer?: A lunch was served for use with a traditional dish and drinks and desert by Elisabeth. Great tasty and well served. It truly was a surprise for us.
Further, drinks can be asked for, nearby shops at 10 minutes supply the needful.
Other services they offer: In the entrance is another place to sit have a drink and talk to other guests or Jorge the owner, or Elisabeth the care taker. And both do take care of you as guest!
Jorge arranged for the taxi from the airport to the casa which is a 30~45 minutes drive, but also arranged payment for the taxi as I had no pesos at that moment.
Later he suggested a nearby restaurant which we where allowed to pay later since we have not changed money. What a service.
When we came back unexpected at a later date there was no vacancy but Jorge guided us to a nearby other Casa and stayed with us until the english speaking owner arrived.
Other comments: Within a 20 minutes nice walk you reach the Malceon at a point where a few Hotels and shops are situated. In the largest hotel you'll find a Cadenca to change money but also along the "Linea" (A street you cross) are plenty Cash machines that accept european credit cards.
Our experience was that the cost for getting money from the machines varies between 6 ~ 8 euro's only for 100 Cuc at an exchange rate of nearly .95 to the euro.
Also on Linea you'll find normal restaurants and snackbars, but for the nicer eateries you'll ask Jorge.. he knows a few very nice once.
My review: This was a great house, very charming and clean. The bed was very comfortable, the room was spacious. I especially liked the balcony. This is definitely the best breakfast I have had in Cuba. Also the host Jorge was very nice and gave us some advice about things to do in Havana. We really liked the place and will definitely stay here again!
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0.932679 |
The city of Istanbul, which extends on both the European and Asian sides of the Bosporus strait, is the only city in the world to span 2 continents. Over the centuries, this area has been under Greek, Roman, Ottoman, and Turkish control. One of the great historic metropolises of the world, Istanbul is Turkey's chief city and seaport as well as its commercial, industrial, and financial center. Istanbul is home to Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, and what other historic sites?
Von Trott was a German citizen who used his role as a lawyer and diplomat to travel to London and Washington, DC, seeking support for the Nazi resistance. In order to better monitor Nazi activities and party information, von Trott joined the Nazi party in 1940. At the same time, he served as a foreign policy advisor to the Kreisau Circle, a clandestine group of intellectuals that planned to overthrow the Nazi regime. Von Trott was hanged in 1944 after being arrested for attempting to do what?
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0.96379 |
Phillip Fulmer is the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers college football team. Fulmer has coached the team since the 1992 season. He resigned on November 3, 2008, although he will remain in his current position through the end of the 2008 season. He is best known for coaching the Volunteers to the national championship in 1998, with Tee Martin as quarterback. Fulmer is the school's 20th head football coach.
Phillip Fulmer served as linebacker coach and defensive coordinator for the Vols freshman team in 1973 before moving to Wichita State University the following season. He spent five years at Wichita State, where he coached the offensive line in 1974 and 1977-78 and served as linebacker coach in 1975-76. He followed those years with a one-season stint at Vanderbilt, serving as an aide to Commodores head coach George MacIntyre.
Fulmer served 13 years as a Vols assistant coach beginning in 1980 before becoming the 20th head football coach at Tennessee, after a controversial decision to replace then-coach Johnny Majors, who had been ill.
In Phillip Fulmer's early career Tennessee won two Southeastern Conference championships, in 1997 and 1998, and a national championship in 1998. The Vols made three other SEC Championship game appearances in 2001, 2004, and 2007 losing all three. Despite the decline over the past several years, Fulmer's winning percentage is still among the top in the country for coaches who have over ten years' experience.
Phillip Fulmer helped return Tennessee to national prominence from 1993 to 1998, when he won the first ever BCS National Championship Game. The Vols appeared in three consecutive Bowl Alliance or BCS games from 1997 to 1999, and posted 10 or more wins from 1995 to 1998. The senior class of the 1998 team compiled a record of 45-5, losing only to Florida (3 times), Nebraska and Memphis.
Fulmer has a reputation as an ace recruiter, leading many analysts to praise him as one of the game's top head coach recruiters. Fulmer has only had one losing season at Tennessee: in 2005, Fulmer's pre-season third-ranked Volunteers went 5-6, losing to in-state SEC rival Vanderbilt for the first time in his 14-year tenure. The losing season also kept Tennessee out of a bowl game for the first time since 1988, a streak of 16 years which was the third-longest in the NCAA.
After a slow start in 2008, Fulmer has come under some boycotts from Vols fans, leaving skepticism about how long he would remain Tennessee's head football coach despite having just received a contract extension after the 2007 season. Tennessee finally notified Fulmer to dismiss him on November 2, 2008. The next day, he agreed to step down as head coach following the season.
DISCLAIMER: PFP Sports Talent Agency does not claim to represent itself as the exclusive agent for Phillip Fulmer. PFP Sports Talent Agency is a booking agency that represents organizations seeking to hire pro athletes and sports personalities such as Phillip Fulmer for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements and corporate entertainment. Fees on this website are estimates and are intended only as a guideline. Exact fees are determined by a number of factors, including the location of event, the talent’s schedule, requested duties and supply and demand. PFP Sports Talent Agency makes no guarantees to the accuracy of information found on this website and does not warrant that any information or representations contained on this website will be accurate or free from errors. We are often asked how can I find out who is Phillip Fulmer's agent? To find Phillip Fulmer appearance fees and booking agent details, you can contact the agent, representative or manager through PFP Sports Talent Agency for speaking fee costs and availability. PFP Sports Talent Agency can help your company choose the ideal sports personality for your next marketing campaign. To hire Phillip Fulmer for an appearance, speaking event or endorsement, contact Phillip Fulmer's booking agent for more information.
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Tuition fees in University of Texas at Austin is $35,000 (אַפּראָקס.).
אלץ איז ביגער אין טעקסאַס, ווי דער זאגן גייט, און עס האלט אמת אין די University of Texas at AustiN, איינער פון די גרעסטע שולן אין דעם לאַנד. די שולע האט איינער פון די ביגאַסט גריכיש סיסטעמען אין די מדינה, צוויי פון די גרעסטן תּלמיד אויסגאבעס און מער ווי 900 קלאַבז און אָרגאַנאַזיישאַנז פֿאַר סטודענטן. The UT at Austin sports teams are notorious competitors in the Division I Big 12 זיצונג, שטיצט דורך מאַסקאַט בעוואָ די לאָנגהאָרן. די וט טורעם, אַ געהויבן קאַמפּאַס סטרוקטור, איז ליט אין דער שולע ס בערנט מאַראַנץ קאָלירן נאָך נאָוטאַבאַל ספּאָרט דערגרייכונגען און גלאָווס אַ '# 1' ווען אַ קאָלעקטיוו ווינס אַ נאציאנאלע טשאַמפּיאַנשיפּ. פרעשמען טאָן ניט האָבן צו לעבן אויף קאַמפּאַס, און מייַ קלייַבן צו לעבן אין ונטערשטאָט אַוסטין, סיטשוייטיד וועגן 1/4 מייל אַוועק. די וויבראַנט שטאָט איז באקאנט פֿאַר זייַן מוזיק, עסנוואַרג, דרויסנדיק אַקטיוויטעטן און נייטלייף, און סטודענטן קענען אַרומפאָרן פֿאַר פּאָטער אויף די קאַפּיטאָל מעטראָ בוסעס מיט דערווייַז פון שייַן.
וט איז צעטיילט אין 18 שולן און קאַלידזשיז, דער גרעסטער פון וואָס איז די קאַלידזש פון ליבעראַל Arts. וט ס גראַדזשאַוואַט מגילה אַרייַננעמען די העכסט ראַנגקט מקקאָמבס שולע פון ביזנעס, קאָלעגע פון בילדונג, קאָקקרעלל שולע פון אינזשעניריע, קאָלעגע פון Fine Arts, שולע פון נורסינג, College of Pharmacy and School of Social Work, אין דערצו צו די געזונט-געקוקט שולע פון אַרטשיטעקטורע. וט Offers הונדערטער פון לערנען אויסלאנד מגילה, מיט די מערסט פאָלקס דעסטאַניישאַנז ווייל ספּאַין, איטאליע, די פֿאַראייניקטע מלכות, France און טשיינאַ. נאָטאַבלע אַלאַמניי אַרייַננעמען פרייַערדיק קרוג ראַדזשער קלעמענס, אַקטיאָר מתיא מקקאָנאַוגהיי פון פֿילמען “די כאַסענע פּלאַננער” און “ווי צו דערלייגן אַ באָכער אין 10 טעג” און ערשטע ערשטער דאַמע לאַוראַ קוסט.
אין 1845, Texas was annexed into the United States. Interestingly, the state’s Constitution of 1845 failed to mention the subject of higher education. on February 11, 1858, the Seventh Texas Legislature approved O.B. 102, an act to establish the University of Texas, which set aside $100,000 in United States bonds toward construction of the state’s first publicly funded university(די $100,000 was an allocation from the $10 million the state received pursuant to the Compromise of 1850 and Texas’ relinquishing claims to lands outside its present boundaries). אין צוגאב, the legislature designated land reserved for the encouragement of railroad construction toward the university’s endowment. אויף יאנואר 31, 1860, the state legislature, wanting to avoid raising taxes, passed an act authorizing the money set aside for the University of Texas to be used for frontier defense in west Texas to protect settlers from Indian attacks. טעקסאַס’ secession from the Union and the American Civil War delayed repayment of the borrowed monies. At the end of the Civil War in 1865, The University of Texas’ endowment consisted of a little over $16,000 in warrants and nothing substantive had been done to organize the university’s operations. This effort to establish a University was again mandated by Article 7, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution of 1876 which directed the legislature to “establish, organize and provide for the maintenance, support and direction of a university of the first class, to be located by a vote of the people of this State, and styled “The University of Texas.” אַדדיטיאָנאַללי, Article 7, Section 11 פון די 1876 Constitution established the Permanent University Fund, a sovereign wealth fund managed by the Board of Regents of the University of Texas and dedicated for the maintenance of the university. Because some state legislators perceived an extravagance in the construction of academic buildings of other universities, Article 7, Section 14 of the Constitution expressly prohibited the legislature from using the state’s general revenue to fund construction of university buildings. Funds for constructing university buildings had to come from the university’s endowment or from private gifts to the university, but operational expenses for the university could come from the state’s general revenues.
די 1876 Constitution also revoked the endowment of the railroad lands of the Act of 1858 but dedicated 1,000,000 ייקערז (4,000 קילאמעטער2) פון לאַנד, along with other property appropriated for the university, to the Permanent University Fund. This was greatly to the detriment of the university as the lands granted the university by the Constitution of 1876 represented less than 5% of the value of the lands granted to the university under the Act of 1858 (the lands close to the railroads were quite valuable while the lands granted the university were in far west Texas, distant from sources of transportation and water). The more valuable lands reverted to the fund to support general education in the state (the Special School Fund). אויף אַפּריל 10, 1883, the legislature supplemented the Permanent University Fund with another 1,000,000 acres of land in west Texas previously granted to the Texas and Pacific Railroad but returned to the state as seemingly too worthless to even survey. The legislature additionally appropriated $256,272.57 to repay the funds taken from the university in 1860 to pay for frontier defense and for transfers to the state’s General Fund in 1861 און 1862. די 1883 grant of land increased the land in the Permanent University Fund to almost 2.2 million acres. Under the Act of 1858, the university was entitled to just over 1,000 acres of land for every mile of railroad built in the state. Had the original 1858 grant of land not been revoked by the 1876 קאָנסטיטוציע, דורך 1883 the university lands would have totaled 3.2 million acres, so the 1883 grant was to restore lands taken from the university by the 1876 קאָנסטיטוציע, not an act of munificence.
אויף מאַרץ 30, 1881, the legislature set forth the structure and organization of the university and called for an election to establish its location. By popular election on September 6, 1881, Austin (מיט 30,913 votes) was chosen as the site of the main university. Galveston, having come in second in the election (20,741 votes) was designated the location of the medical department (Houston was third with 12,586 votes). אויף נאוועמבער 17, 1882, on the original “College Hill,” an official ceremony was held to commemorate the laying of the cornerstone of the Old Main building. University President Ashbel Smith, presiding over the ceremony prophetically proclaimed “Texas holds embedded in its earth rocks and minerals which now lie idle because unknown, resources of incalculable industrial utility, of wealth and power. Smite the earth, smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth.” The University of Texas officially opened its doors on September 15, 1883.
The University of Texas at Austin has experienced a wave of new construction recently with several significant buildings. אויף אַפּריל 30, 2006, the school opened the Blanton Museum of Art. אין אויגוסט 2008, the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center opened, with the hotel and conference center forming part of a new gateway to the university. אויך אין 2008, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium was expanded to a seating capacity of 100,119, making it the largest stadium (by capacity) in the state of Texas at the time.
אויף יאנואר 19, 2011, the university announced the creation of a 24-hour television network in partnership with ESPN, dubbed the Longhorn Network. ESPN will pay a $300 million guaranteed rights fee over 20 years to the university and to IMG College, UT Austin’s multimedia rights partner. The network covers the university’s intercollegiate athletics, מוזיק, cultural arts and academics programs. The channel first aired in September 2011.
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This proud, beautiful and deep part of the world has been plundered, ravished and humiliated for many centuries, first by the Europeans (both the Spaniards and French), then by the Norteamericanos.
The vulgarity and brutality of the conquest had often been unbelievably grotesque, unreal, insane–to the point that I decided to name it a “magical imperialism” (or call it ‘magical colonialism’ if you wish).
Great cultures created by Mayas, Aztecs and other native people–cultures much more advanced than those of the Europeans, have been crushed, tricked, cheated, and finally forced into submission. Local gods were ‘sent to a permanent exile’ and Catholicism, under the threat of death or torture or both, was forced down the throat of everyone.
Yes, Western colonialism often takes truly bizarre, surreal, forms. What example should I provide, to illustrate ‘magic imperialism’? For example, this one: in Cholula, near the city of Puebla, Spaniards slammed their church on top of the biggest (by volume) pyramid on Earth–Tlachihualtepetl. It is still sitting there, even now as I write this essay: the church is sitting on top of the pyramid, unapologetically.Local authorities are even proud of its presence, promoting it as a ‘major tourist site’. I hope, one day, UNESCO includes it in the “memory of humanity” list, as a symbol of cultural vandalism.
We are strongly discouraged from speaking about brutality of the past. Mexico’s attitude towards its own history is truly schizophrenic. On one hand we know that our country was plundered, raped and abused, by the Spanish colonizers, by the French, and then by the U.S. But we, scholars, teachers, curators, are literally ordered to ignore it, to ‘be positive’; to ‘look for good things’ in what was done to us, and what we inherited.
In the past, the church had been hit and damaged by lightning, on several occasions, and the local people believe that it happened because of the wrath of local gods, who were protesting against the desecration of their site and an architectural masterpiece–the pyramid. However, the structure was always quickly restored by the religious and state authorities. The church still dominates the landscape, visible from as far as the city of Puebla, while the grand pyramid looks humiliated and belittled, like nothing more than a forested hill.
Mexico suffered for centuries, and it is suffering now.
It is one of the greatest countries on Earth. In fact, it is not just a country, but a universe, not unlike those ‘universes’ created by other great countries, like‘universe China’, ‘universe India’ or ‘universe Russia’. Mexico is ancient and deep, and as mentioned above, it gave birth to some enormous civilizations, which were self-sufficient and much more advanced than the cultures of those who came to attack it, to plunder and enslave it.
These civilizations, however, were robbed of their identity by the invaders, forcefully Christianized, then reduced to the level of ‘minorities’ in their own land. Natives were forced into slave labor, and used to mine their own silver and other raw materials, which were quickly shipped far away, enriching first Europe and later North America.
Originally, all this was done by the colonists from abroad, and later, by the local elites on behalf of the West.
The same story could be traced to all corners of Latin America; and a similar story to so many parts of the world.
All this was done straight-faced. The West is never famous for soul-searching or spasms of guilt. No justification was provided. After all, there has been a Cross above the country named Mexico, and an imaginary ‘banner of civilization’ (Western one, naturally).
I call all of it a ‘magic imperialism’, because the whole destruction of this ancient and beautiful world was done in an almost ‘poetic’ way: built on faith-based dogmas, as well as on military and expansionist theories, and the myths of racial, cultural and religious supremacy.
All this took place during the colonial period, and it is taking place now, in the days of ‘free market fundamentalism’.
“Is all this good or bad for the Mexican people?” Who cares! Such questions are not allowed. Mexican people are supposed to listen, accept, and obey the West, simply because the West is the most enlightened part of the world, because ‘it knows better’. The word ‘superior’ is hardly used (as it is ‘politically incorrect’), but it is presumed.
Now Mexico is boiling. It has had enough of being treated like a child, like a slave, like an inferior part of the world.
This time I travelled for three weeks all over the country, revisiting my ‘old places’. I wanted to hear what people think and say.
I used to live in this country, for an entire year, some 20 years ago. Deep in my heart, I never really left.
Now, everything looked both familiar, and at the same time, foreign. I spoke to people in Mexico City and Puebla, in Guadalajara, Tequila, Tlaxcala, Tijuana, Merida, Oaxaca, and I went deep into the countryside. Wherever I was, I felt fear. I detected anxiety, terrible anxiety.
Yes, there was fear, but also determination to change everything, and to start from scratch.
I was filming, a documentary here, with the working title: “Mexico–Year Zero”. It was not a binding title, but I was getting used to it, it was somehow fitting.
Left-wing politician Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO) won the Presidential Elections, securing great support in all but two states of the country.
This can mean total overhaul, true change, a new beginning, if Obrador fights, if he is determined, if he serves the interests of his people. Or it may mean nothing, almost zero, if he hesitates, loses guts and surrenders to inertia.
I spoke to at least a hundred people, in many parts of the country, perhaps many more. Not one, not a single one said, that his or her country is doing well! This, despite all sorts of positive economic indicators, despite a good position on the Human Development Index (HDI), and the fact that Mexico is, after all, an OECD country and the 15th largest economy in the world.
‘Magical imperialism’ brought this great nation to its knees.
Everything here is full of contradictions.
Mexico has much greater culture and lifestyle than the United States, but it is subservient to the North. 90% of its exports go straight to North America (U.S. and Canada). The Mexican view of the world is fully shaped by the brainwashing right-wing propaganda, literally flooding the country through such outlets like CNN en Español and FOX.
Outraged by North American behavior, Mexico is nevertheless forced to see the world through the eyes of its great tormentor. RT, CGTN, PressTV, or even Telesur, are only available through the internet.
This has to change. Everybody knows it has to, somehow. But how? So far, there is no plan. Is the President-elect going to come up with the one? And if he does, can he survive, or will he be harassed or even kicked out from his post or killed, as has happened to so many others, including Chavez and Dilma?
Can any Latin American country gain its true independence from the global dictatorship of the West? Cuba did! Or should I write: so far, only Cuba has. And Venezuela, to a great extent, but both are paying a horrendous price.
All over Mexico, there are reminiscences of the Western ‘involvement’, or should I say‘monuments of barbarity’. Often, one has to search for them, or even read between the lines, in order to identify them.
The Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacan, Mexico, accused the Catholic Church of being complicit in the killing of over 24 million Indigenous people.
Some 30 Indigenous communities of Michoacan, Mexico, have released a statement demanding Pope Francis apologize for the genocide committed with the complicity of the Catholic Church against their people during the Spanish invasion of the Americas in the 16th century.
For over 500 years, the original people of the Americas have been ransacked, robbed, murdered, exploited, discriminated and persecuted,” the Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacan said in a statement.
Well, Pope Francis, any comments; at least some desire to speak about justice?
The self-congratulatory, almost poetic language of both the brochure and the introduction to it sounds truly, as if it is trying to fit into a magic imperialist realism. But it is not: it is just how history is taught in the United States, in Europe, and unfortunately, in many schools in the formerly and presently colonized countries.
Then the French massacred people in Mexico City, as well as all over the territory that was left to the Mexicans after the 1846-1848 U.S. invasion. The French ‘intervened’ in Mexico on two occasions: from 1838 to 1839, and from 1862 to 1867, in which conflict, at least 12,000 Mexican people were killed. The French were killing, plundering and imposing their dictate, shamelessly and mercilessly, but that was not really ‘something exceptional’, as they were doing precisely the same, or worse,all over Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean and Oceania.
Now, right at the northern part of the enormous city of Tijuana, the U.S. authorities and their contractors, are building an enormous wall. It does somehow not look unlike the ‘perimeter’ built by Israel, between the occupied Golan Heights and the Syria proper. But then, many things look suspiciously similar, these days.
This wall is a clear expression of a thorough imperialist madness. This entire land used to belong to Mexico, before the 1846 invasion, or call it ‘officially’ Mexican-American War. Both countries are part of one continent. Both sides of the border are inhabited by essentially the same people. There are millions of Mexicans living in California, and there are millions of North Americans who are seeking better life south of the border–in Mexico–either in the retirement colonies, or, for instance, as students at much cheaper and good Mexican universities, or as artists. North Americans travel to Mexico to get their teeth fixed, Mexicans go north to get better paid jobs; the border area is basically an integrated zone, with its own music, traditions, history and folklore. I know it well, and I know that it used to have its own magic and yes, its realism too.
Now it is gone, thoroughly ruined.
But as if in a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, even through all that dust and insanity, one can still feel the magic. Here, I am still in Latin America, at its edge, at the last inch. And, screw the wall!
I face a Mexican woman; whose back is against the U.S. constructed wall. Her house is just one meter from the perimeter. If she sticks her finger through the bars, she is technically in the United States. Her name is Leticia.
She almost brings tears to my eyes. A narco, a ‘small fish narco’ who is accompanying me to the wall, explaining ‘the reality of the border’ and how the drug cartels here work, suddenly produced one short and loud sob. He is a Latino, after all. He may be a gangster, but he has a heart.
I know,mostly it is not Mexicans who are trying to jump the fence. The majority of Mexicans are middle class, and the middle class lives a better life here than in the constantly stressed and overworked U.S. It is those desperate people from Central America who are risking their lives, crossing–from Guatemala, Honduras–people whose governments were overthrown by Washington, people whose countries were destroyed. People who are suffering from gangs and narco-mafias–direct consequences of the civil wars triggered by the West.
These people are traveling on the monstrous Mexican cargo trains called “La Bestia”, “the beast”; they are having their limbs cut off when they fall from the roofs down onto the tracks. I follow them, I film them, I talk to them. They are on the move, from the southern Mexican border towns all the way to the north; to the U.S. border. They have no choice. And Washington knows it. It took socialism away from them–in Honduras and Guatemala it did. Then it rewarded them with this damn wall.
Central America is in ruins. Mexico, potentially one of the greatest nations on Earth, is stagnating, living in fear, suffering from corruption and crime, from servile and obedient (towards the West) elites. This entire mess has been triggered by neo-liberalism, as well as the selfish over-indulgence in the North.
Comes Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Mexico is tired. It does not believe in itself, anymore, but it voted, clearly and proudly. It wants to hope. It wants to believe. It wants to live. It tries.
They have no clue what will come next. Is the man they voted for really with them?
Radical intellectuals at UNAM do not think so, they told me. But the poor Mayan and Azteca villages, the core of this country, are with him. They trust him. They hope. He has no right to fail them.
“If he fails the poor, there will be a civil war. He is our last hope,” I was told in Tijuana.
Hope is all that poor people have. That is why, comrades, do never play with hope!
If Obrador succeeds, if he delivers even half of what he promised, Mexico will dramatically change. The entire Central America will change, perhaps the entire Latin America will. This is the most populous Spanish speaking country, a cultural and intellectual powerhouse that has been asleep for many long and painful decades.
This is where magic realism rubs shoulders with that magic imperialism imported and implemented by the West.
I landed here, symbolically on September 14, the night when Mexican Independence Day is, historically, celebrated. I did not sleep. I went to Zocalo, to see the people. Enormous fireworks illuminated the sky of the city where the Spanish cathedrals are built on top of the ruins of the great native civilizations. Poor and rich were standing, watching the colorful show, looking at an enormous flag.
The day after, I was filming at the splendid Bellas Artes, one of the most beautiful theatres on Earth. There, a Soviet-trained conductor was facing a brilliant ‘youth orchestra’, which consisted of once poor boys and girls from deprived communities. On the stage, the legendary Folkloric Ballet of Mexico was performing; with proud native themes, and with young women holding rifles, marching towards the redness of the revolution. The audience roared. People, strangers, were embracing, shaking hands. There were tears; tears of joy.
Oh Mexico! 2018. Year Zero, I call it. Yes, this is how I will name my film.
Year Zero. The revolution, hopefully. The new beginning. The independence. Hopefully.
I did not vote for Obrador, because I do not believe that what he was promising during his campaign, could be achieved. But I hope that he is real. If I see that he is real, I will drop everything and dedicate my life to supporting him.
To save Mexico is to stop neo-liberalism, dependency on the West, and to join countries that are fighting against the global dictatorship. Can it be done? Will it be done?
In a few short months, the fate of those humble villages of Yucatan and Chiapas will be decided. The entire Latin America is watching.
To change Mexico looks like an impossible task. But it has to be performed. True revolution should put the Mexican people first, and put the final end to those terrible centuries of plunder, humiliation and terror.
To hell with magic imperialism. To hell with any imperialism!
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are his tribute to The Great October Socialist Revolution a revolutionary novel Aurora and a bestselling work of political non-fiction, Exposing Lies Of The Empire. View his other books here. Watch "Rwanda Gambit," his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached via his website or twitter.
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Upon invasion of Afghanistan in 1980 by the Soviets, President Carter sought to reinstitute the draft. Upon doing so, however, some members of Congress felt that all citizens (men and women) should be required to register for the draft. Congress, passed and reinstituted the registration requirement, but did not include the provision requiring female registration. A variety of men sued on this basis, believing that their due process rights were violated.
Whether the male-only draft requirement violates the due process clause of the constitution.
No, order upheld. The court stated that there was a legitimate governmental interest in undertaking gender-based discrimination in this case. The purpose of the draft order was to supply the military with its most advantageous and immediately source of human capital. The court wrote that including women in the draft (which is traditionally a male only undertaking), would provide administrative inconvenience for the legitimate purposes served by undertaking a draft in the first place. The court also stated that there was a legitimate government purpose served in keeping the military primarily a male-only enterprise. They wrote that for functional purposes, co-mingling of the sexes in a military setting would be detrimental to military functioning.
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In most industries, a PhD has negative value.
I am curious about what potential negatives there may be with having a PhD, particularly in industries. For example, my PhD has applications for image sensors, and the potential of working in that field is appealing—would having a PhD be a potential barrier? Would it be a case of how explicit the practicalities of the PhD can be made? Would this make any difference?
Though a Ph.D is not necessarily a disadvantage, depending on the field and the nature of the Ph.D, it may also not be as competitive as the equivalent number of years in industry.
Think from a perspective of a hiring dev team leader who needs a good systems engineer yesterday to help integrate some obscure API from a vendor into their product. You're choosing between a pile of resumes.
On one, you have a candidate who has 3 years as a junior engineer in a company that worked on image sensors, 2 years of work as a systems developer II, and one year as a lead developer on a computer vision project. He's delivered seven projects in total and has worked in a highly cross-functional team of hardware and software engineers, salespeople, and on-site support staff. The products he worked on brought the company revenue of $86.3 million dollars over seven years.
On another, you have a candidate who has done 6 years in a Ph.D and 1 year worth of internships in total. He's worked on a computer vision project and has contributed a novel algorithm to solving "Line tracing under low UV light conditions" (I made that up, I have no idea if that's a real problem in computer vision), and has written six publications. He also has taught a course on 3rd year systems programming and has TAed robotics three times.
I personally feel that the "disadvantage" of a Ph.D is more about lost opportunity cost than an actual disadvantage. In many cases, the culture of academia vs. industry are different enough that it's like switching fields even if the technologies are similar. Basically, someone with 7 years actual work experience has enough to basically go from a new grad hire to a project team lead, whereas someone with 7 years of Ph.D is proven to deliver in an academic setting but not in a for-profit product-based one. However, at the same time, there are many industries that want to have Ph.Ds on their staff as well because they are long-term, deep thinkers who are rigorous and detailed.
In my field (bioinformatics, systems/computational biology) if you don't have a PhD you practically don't exist on the map, but yet it's a very research oriented field.
Overspecialization: In many industries being overspecialized might hurt more than it helps. You might get stuck on obscure case scenarios, or obsess about rigor before anything else. Likewise doing research might have an effect on having a more abstract, rather than practical, way of thinking. Most of us don't really "deliver" a product.
Attitude: While this might not be the general truth, in my experience people in the academic world is much more laid-back than corporate world. While most of my old classmates are expected to be at their desk at 7 or 8 sharp, and expected to leave latest by 5 to avoid working overtime, I can practically show up and leave whenever I feel like. What my boss cares about is whether or not the project progresses as we have decided. A potential employer might be wary of such "bad habits".
As I said, not a factual answer but I hope it provides some insight, anyways.
An important issue associated with having a PhD is that many "traditional" routes into industry are effectively closed off.
For instance, a chemical engineer with a bachelor's or master's degree could take a position in just about any corporate division of a major company—they could work in production, sales, research, or just about any other field, with corporate training providing the requisite skills needed to do the job. By contrast, someone who holds a PhD will simply not be considered for these positions, as they are too specialized, and too far above the requirements for such a position. Any hire into such a position would probably not offer a sufficient "return on investment" to be worthwhile.
It would also be difficult to cross-train for "standard" management positions, as while a PhD does offer some supervisory experience, it's more useful for research-based organizations than industrial positions.
I have never had a problem being overqualified - most employers would rather this than the opposite I imagine.
I think it will be viewed as a major positive by any private company working in this or related fields. A PhD shows you know a particular field very well and also have a number of transferable skills - self motivated, working independently and in a team, management, teaching/tutoring, communication (public speaking and journal articles).
From my personal experience of questions asked in interviews for non-academic jobs, presumably the assumption is that someone with a PhD did this as a cushy option rather than going out in the "real world" of competition, responsibility, long hours, tight deadlines, office politics etc.
Academics are also seen as removed from financial considerations, with their head in the clouds, ignorant of real world issues, pondering on the philosophical rather than the practical (rightly or wrongly - this can be the perception).
An actual I was once asked was, "Can you handle the pressure of a commercial job?"
Another obvious answer is that your PhD does not represent commercial experience. While you have some additional research experience, if your job is not to do research, then this is not seen as much of an asset. Rather you are viewed as behind in your age group by 3-4 years in experience but will probably want the same salary (if not higher).
A PhD degree tells that you can work independently on your own, that you are able to critically decide whether a particular method in a textbook is good or not. PhD holders are needed in industry though in small amount. Industry needs them as PhD holders have been trained to bring innovations and make a field advance. Whether the PhD research field was narrow or not, the skills that you developed while tackling your PhD work will help in many different fields. For example I hold a PhD in a field other than dealing with computer science and yet during my PhD studies I had to choose between a plethora of programming languages available and I learned Object-oriented programming and code re-use. The skills that I have thus mastered in software engineering can be applied to any field that I will work in the future where computer programming is involved.
As one answer pointed out, during the PhD studies you have doubts about your own capabilities. It happens as you may be tackling a problem that has been here for a long time and your analyses over several months are revealing that you are nowhere close to make any new discovery. You may be the best of your batch in your Bachelor degree or be the best of your MSc batch but that is no guarantee that you will be successful in doing a PhD degree. I have seen many intelligent friends putting an end to their PhD studies as after a year or two they see that they cannot handle the stress of not being able to produce any tangible output. PhD studies are not about scoring good grades at exams. You do not have to know equations by heart; You are not sitting for a 3-hour written test to answer questions that are based on your textbooks. No, you are on your own with some support from your supervisor. Your supervisor is here to offer advice but it is up to you to decide what you want to do and convince the funders and other partners of your ideas. You are the one choosing the textbooks and other publications to read. Reading 200 books on the subject rather than say just two is never a guarantee that the PhD studies will be successful; What is required is to think beyond these textbook equations and come up with new ones, with new analysis techniques or with new algorithms that are universally applicable. When you are learning an equation, you are learning it very deeply and then you realise that how much you didn't know about that same equation when you were a Bachelor degree holder or an MSc degree holder. At lower levels, you are only taught what you need to know in order to solve some specific problems.
Doing a PhD degree means that you are excellent at managing your time. You have advanced courses to read, you have some teaching and administrative work to do, and you have to handle your research work with confidence. So you find yourself waking up at night and start doing some analyses by hand or on the computer as you think that you are on the verge of finding some good results which have escaped you for months. You work the whole night and if in the morning you see that you are not getting anywhere, you still have the courage to wake up and go to your office at the University. It is only someone who has done a PhD degree who knows the hard work and patience that is required. So this is why PhD holders will always get the attention of a recruiter who himself/herself is one.
Someone with an MSc degree is limited in his/her own thinking. Every PhD student who has taught MSc students knows this. While an MSc student can perhaps think of one or two methods of tackling a problem, a PhD student or a PhD holder knows many more methods and knows also which method may be the best depending on the situation at hand. This is why in industry, the top posts among researchers are filled by PhD holders. This is because people with the best brains, and who know a whole range of techniques and methods are needed to innovate. This is also why in some countries PhD students are required to read advanced courses since they have to know more than what MSc degree holders do. Among these courses, there may be pedagogy-related courses. But pedagogy courses are only here to improve communication skills and understanding of the audience. Isn't this true? So such a PhD holder with pedagogical skills has learned how to deal with people around him/her of various intellectual levels.
There is the idea that PhD holders do not have business skills. Well, it depends on what you are doing at work. There are lots of successful smaller companies in engineering created by PhD holders. Even during the PhD studies, the PhD student is aware of the funding that he/she has and so he/she finds tools and equipment and software that the budget will allow. Similarly in industry, a PhD holder will use the least resources to get the job done as he/she is very much familiar with costs of equipment and software in his/her field. Would a company not want this PhD holder who already know how to manage the money? A PhD project normally lasts for five years or longer in some cases; This shows that the PhD holder can manage a project spanning over a long period of time.
Business skills can also refer to interaction with other people regarding the scientific research. Many PhD students have to establish cooperation in academia or in industry either at the national level or at the international level. The supervisor may help in this but finally it is the PhD student who decides with whom to work. So the PhD student has to be aware of how much information to divulge to the new partners and how mutual benefit can be achieved. So this demands business skills. Would an employer not want such a person around him/her who knows how to collaborate and negotiate with others? Thus the PhD holder has gained business skills not through books but through real-life experience.
A PhD holder is also someone who can defend his/her ideas successfully in writing or orally. Publishing in very good journals is tough and defending the PhD thesis at the viva can last for hours. Being successful at the viva shows that you are mentally very stable, and are able to withstand pressure and all kinds of irritable questions one after the other for a long time.
A PhD holder after so many years of hard work has already built his/her own toolbox. Just as a carpenter who has to sharpen once in a while the tools that he/she uses daily, so does the PhD holder the same. A PhD holder cannot sit idle; He/she has faced lots of obstacles when for example deriving new equations during the PhD studies, and in his/her free time after getting the PhD degree, he/she will come back to these equations and think again about those obstacles in order to find ways not to meet them in his/her future career. This is what I am doing in parallel with my job.
Yes indeed PhD holders always tend to look for the best solution(s) to a given problem. This is not an indication that he/she will take time to do the job in industry. No, the PhD holder has developed his/her own toolbox as I said before and will be very efficient at finding the best solution(s) in a reasonable amount of time since he/she knows which method works and which does not. It is true though that PhD holders will tend to be accurate and reluctant to use faster algorithms that are not robust. Whom do you trust: A PhD degree who will make the right calculations though perhaps taking a bit longer or the one without the PhD degree making the calculations really fast and present the results to you using fancy colours?
When starting the PhD studies, a PhD student will have to sort of see everything around him/her with new eyes. Anyone who has read The Loss of the Creature from The message in the Bottle: How Queer Man is, How Language is, and What One Has to Do with the Other by Percy Walker will get the point. The PhD student at the beginning of the studies has to unscrew his/her brain and put it aside in order to get rid of any preconceived ideas and replace with an empty brain that is ready to let the PhD holder see beyond the tip of his/her nose so as to make independent progress in a field.
Remember that a PhD holder is a systematic person who does not run from a difficult problem. If the research that he/she had been doing in the PhD studies was not difficult, then the PhD project would not have existed in the first place. Most PhD projects are open. This implies that the PhD student is given a field to work but outputs and outcomes of the work are yet to be known. It is up to the PhD student to think about the strategy to adopt and which path to follow after consultation with the supervisor. After a few years of hard work, the outcomes and results obtained may be very different from what were expected in the beginning of the project. When the research is taking a different direction, sources of funding may change. It is up to the PhD student and to the supervisor to motivate for the change so as to convince the funders of their new research direction that could bring better insights about the original problem. In contrast during a normal MSc thesis project of about six months duration, the project is well structured by the supervisor so that the MSc student is able to finish the work in a timely manner. The MSc holder is working along a well-structured path and is most of the times sure to succeed in the thesis work. But such is not the case for the PhD student. There is no guarantee of success in the PhD studies. So we see that a PhD holder is someone who is very mature and who can embrace failures and successes equally.
A PhD holder is someone modest enough to know that the path of learning has just begun. To get a PhD degree is to have been able to reach the top of the mountain, and realise that there is still much to see and learn. It is thus obvious that persons with MSc degrees who haven't been at the top of the mountain do not recognise how much PhD holders know. So the best prospects of securing a job in industry is to make sure that your future boss also has a PhD degree.
To answer the question about potential pitfalls of having a PhD, I would say none. A PhD holder knows where he/she stands in life and he/she knows what it takes to succeed. He/she is not afraid of failures and of setbacks as he/she has been used to them a lot during the PhD studies. The only mistake is to work in industry under a boss who is not a PhD degree holder; The boss will not recognise the strength and value as well as will not understand the mindset of the PhD holder. Where the boss can only see one or two problems in a given situation, a PhD holder will see many. Communication between the PhD holder and such a boss will hence suffer.
Work experience cannot replace educational qualification. At a job interview with an interviewer holding a PhD degree, you will be asked if you know or do not know something. You will be asked about future changes that you consider might take place in your field of expertise. You will share valuable experiences and talk about limitations of existing tools, algorithms and software. It is only those interviewers with less educational qualifications who will lay emphasis on previous job experience.
And always remember that today most PhD works are applied research; This means that PhD projects are created in order to solve problems that industry face. If industry would have had the necessary skills to solve all their problems, then PhD projects would only be started by Universities alone and the projects would all be dealing with fundamental research. But this is not the case. Doing a PhD degree these days means that the PhD student is gaining much industrial experience as he/she is acting like a bridge between academia and industry and he/she is reinforcing the link between the two. He/she is pinpointing out the obsolete methods that industry is clinging to and is helping industry adopting more reliable methods as a result of the PhD work. What is important is that the PhD work is original. This word "original" has changed meaning over time. Centuries ago, it meant to have a PhD work that builds upon some original concepts which are firmly rooted in place whereas nowadays "original" implies that your PhD work is not someone's else work.
Doing a Ph.D. degree is not for the faint-hearted; You need nerves of steel and you really learn how to manage the vast amount of information that you gather in your research. The successful Ph.D. student is the one who can recover the knowledge already out there and make improvements for the betterment of the society. Doing a Ph.D. degree requires great sacrifice and commitment. This is why it is appropriate for a Ph.D. holder to work with people who also have earned one. But I agree that the level of Ph.D. degrees do vary around the world; A Ph.D. degree spanning over a five-year period with advanced courses to read and with teaching activities should be the norm.
It depends. I believe the closer your PhD research is to applied research, the better your industry job opportunities would be.
Those PhDs who have been doing basic (pure) research tend to have problem with industry job hunting because their skills/knowledge are not immediately usable in industry. It is simply not cost effective for industry companies to hire them. They need to be re-trained to get them to do real practical jobs. Don’t forget one thing, private companies are for profit.
On the other hand, those who have been doing applied research could have readily available skills/knowledge for the employers to use. They naturally have industry jobs lined up for them.
We can see two examples right here. User16371 has a PhD in pure math. He has trouble in finding private industry jobs. NimChimpsky probably has done applied research, he has many job interviews. Whether he will get a real industry job soon is another matter.
As in your case, I think you’ll have a good shot if your research is more toward real application. I am absolutely no expert in image sensors. But, I can imagine that if CT scan manufacturers can use your skills/knowledge, you should be able to find a good job in matter of months. Here, a good job means high salary – a barometer to measure how good an industry job is.
Ph.D. is a mismatched degree for industry. A typical industry employer wants to find smart, witty people with (1) sufficiently high level of specialized skills who would be (2) productive in the existing company environment, and (3) would be able to balance the initiative based on what they know vs. following instructions when a project needs to be pushed in a specific direction and completed by a given deadline.
Out of these, the Ph.D. label only provides the evidence that you are smart, addressing (although still only partially) the requirement (1). Mid- and upper-level technical positions, especially in research departments, would require Ph.D., so there is a qualification issue of door-opening (or rather not opening if you do't have the degree). In many situations, though, the narrow specialization of the "Line tracing under low UV light conditions" is irrelevant for most practical purposes, and the employer would rather want to see a person who can tackle a wider range of light conditions and frequency spectra.
The Ph.D., however, fails to deliver on all other counts. On the second aspect that I brought up, doctorate programs do not teach people and business skills, and most programs even won't touch say computer skills if you are a biologist or may be even a mathematician. It is up to you as a grad student to self-teach project management, version control and all other team-work, productivity-increasing stuff. On the third aspect, the overqualified Ph.D.s may have a tendency to roam towards their own interests, and provide beautiful solutions for narrow problems, as that's what they are used to be doing in academia. Sometimes, though, you just have to shut up and format the Excel report. A decent solution that is delivered on time is MUCH better than a perfect solution delivered two months too late. Academicians are not taught to make these judgement calls of timeliness vs. depth (although the pressure to submit this now before the competitors do is often present in many lines of research) or cost vs. what the client expects (and grad students usually have no idea regarding how to budget a study; most professors also take the zero time cost of their grad students for granted, but that's not how the real world operates).
IMHO I believe the answer to this question is “it depends.” In industry, the answer will always be around demonstrating what value you can bring to the table, and accordingly, why a customer should pay a premium for that. I would highly recommend talking to professionals in the field(s) that you want to eventually leverage your PhD into, and get their opinions on the value of their PhD’s to help you understand how you can flourish in your chosen specialty.
Let me caveat this however by saying the following: I do not have a PhD, but I find the endeavour personally and, depending on how well you can translate your PhD into economic value, professionally, very worthwhile.
Now, I am an Engineering and Project manager in the oil and gas industry, and have nearly 12 years’ experience in the production and management of engineering for projects greater than $US 1Bn. My largest project was over $US 40Bn, and I have worked with, and been served by, many engineers, scientists, and other technologists of many disciplines.
I have encountered many people with PhD’s in that time, most of whom were good people to work with. Almost to an individual, no one ever cared to emphasise their PhD, and in many cases, most chose to suppress it in favour of demonstrating the value delivered on previous projects and engagements that mattered to my needs as a manager or client. Most of the professionals with PhDs who we were paying real money for were not actually delivering any services or products that was connected to their PhDs. However, they were specialists in their fields, and their PhDs were almost always related to their chosen specialty. So if you had studied a PhD in geology or civil engineering (very common), then it would make sense for you to leverage your PhD into a geotechnical engineering firm where you would often be marketed to your client as, eventually, a Principal Geotechnical engineer or similar. This is a specialised role, with a narrow scope (same applies for any discipline), and if you are actually good at your job, you will be high in demand around town. Clients, whilst not necessarily paying an above-market rate for you, will likely insist that they “want you” as part of the delivery team because you are known to be credible at what you do. The PhD itself will have very little to do with that, but you will be rewarded if you are able to translate what you learnt from the PhD into delivering a service your clients will pay real money for. I have had these kinds of people work for me before, and I would seek them out again, but they never emphasised their PhD to me. In fact, I’ve worked with people who were exceptional at what they did, very highly regarded not just in my country but in others around the world, who didn’t have a skerrick of post-graduate education.
If you were to study a PhD (in Psychology say) and tried to leverage that into a non-related field (like management consulting), then the question of value will be even more poignant for you. In this instance, you would likely be relying on the “general” skills that a PhD would afford you (not that they are trivial by any means), and again, you would need to demonstrate to a buyer of your skills that your PhD provides greater value than someone else who may have more direct industry/ field related experience. Firms and industries where these generalised PhD-related skills might be valued (e.g. some investment banks, blue chip corporate strategy companies) are open to candidates with PhD’s but again, you would be required to demonstrate how your PhD translates into products and services your customers want to buy, and even pay a premium for.
I can appreciate the dilemma of someone contemplating the study of a PhD as it is, indeed, difficult to truly understand what kind of value you can demonstrate to a buyer at the end of it. Brian Rushton’s narrative is a fine account of the individual kinds of skill that a PhD can develop, but in industry, I would treat such skills as a given. Moreover, Brian’s description over emphasises the individual skill component, and is notably silent on other critical individual, team, and other “corporate” attributes that are necessary for success in industry. Brian mentions time management: again, this is something that I would expect a graduate engineer to be well on top of by their first or second year in work, so why, as either your manager or your client, should I expect this to be a differentiator for you? Especially given that you’ve invested some three or more years of your life developing this skill! Likewise, Brian also mentions being able to see many possible solutions. Creativity is a valuable thing, but in my industry, this must be executed with discipline, and applied with the necessary soft (emotional intelligence) skills to translate ideas into solutions that can be implemented successfully within a corporate risk and financial framework. I have often come across so-called “experts”, some with PhDs, who waste a lot of peoples’ time and money with ideas that are insensitive to the corporate, political, project and commercial realities surrounding them, and this often harms their reputations. Understandably, their ideas are not implemented, and these kinds of insensitive people are not hired again. Finally, the other skills that Brian mentions (project and cost management, business skills) are fine but these are carried out on a small scale. My question is: clients will pay for demonstrable experience, so how are you going to convince your future employer or client that they should pay good money to entrust you with a project or business that may exceed your PhD undertakings by a factor of thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands, or millions?
So my question is: why should I, either as your manager or your client, be prepared to pay a premium for your skills from a PhD when they can be honed by someone else working “at the coal face” in a demonstrable way over the same amount of time as your PhD? This question will vary depending on your industry. In my industry, real value comes not with the PhD, but your demonstrated experience in delivering valuable services and products, over a sustained time, to real customers. In other, very highly specialised industries, the PhD may serve as an entry point, after which your work performance will likely prevail.
I’ve really emphasised the “economic” aspect of the PhD in my response, and I tender it not to discourage you, but to help you to think very deeply about why you wish to do one before you decide to take the plunge. If you do decide to do one, then I wish you to do so with your eyes open, and, most importantly, sincerely wish you the very best of success with it, both personally and professionally.
I have a PhD in pure mathematics, and the only employers that were interested in me were Epic Healthcare (desperate for anyone they can get a hold of with the affordable care act changes) and universities offering postdocs. Other positions, such as a Boy Scouts position I applied to, told me I was overqualified or misqualified. I programmed video games as a teenager; a lot of companies were willing to interview me based on that alone, but I would be forced to start from the bottom and work my way up, which isn't bad, but you're asking whether a PhD is worth it, and in such a situation, it would certainly not be worth it.
On the other hand, my time studying for my PhD seriously improved my writing skills and analytical thinking skills, and I think that that would help me as a programmer to learn quickly and get promoted. But there's no point in a math PhD for any job besides teaching or a focused job at a national lab/NSA.
One of the potential pitfalls of having a PhD (or indeed any exceptional qualification) is that many managers, being insecure in their positions, will not hire someone whom they perceive may be capable of under-mining their authority and usurping their own position. For a well-managed post-PhD career, unless you are a star in your field and with wise, benevolent guides, it is important to understand about people and power in organisations. I strongly recommend reading a serious academic book on the subject such as, for example, Organisational Behavior by "Huck and Buck". Such a book will provide a more objective overview of social reality than a collection of personal anecdotal musings. That is not to say that the latter are without value as food for thought and context-specific indicators.
PhDs, although highly educated, are not suitable for most of the commercial and non-research related jobs. Not because they can't do those jobs, but those jobs can also be done by someone else without a Phd.
Furthermore, if the management have no Phd themselves, they wouldn't believe in the importance of the Phd title.
From a non PhD perspective, in some fields PhDs are percieved as theorethical entities, far removed from the gross practicalities of thereal world, who sit in cushy ivory towers and try to answer essential and fundamental questions like the ubiquitous : "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"
Getting Ph.D. is an education for research(/academia). Industry needs them as R&D specialists. Your Ph.D. is useless for any company not requiring that special knowledge you have. Ph.D. only shows devotion to that special knowledge. It signals for them that you may be unmotivated to do their monotonic day-to-day business.
Thus it depends on the Ph.D. you have. If it is not business/operations research/industrial engineering/etc. generalistic, there is a high change that your Ph.D. is worth only for a few companies in R&D (but for those companies, your knowledge can be vital).
In my field (clinicians - PAs, NPs, their international equivalents), a master's degree is considered the terminal degree one needs. While a few PhD programs exist, graduates from them generally get the eye roll. This is one of the potential pitfalls of having a PhD.
The title afforded by the degree (Dr.) puts the holder in a position at odds with the jargon of the industry. Using your title identifies you (in the minds of patients and other providers) as a physician (MD/DO), when in reality you are a clinician. This creates numerous issues of misrepresentation, litigation, etc.
It is a similar problem created by clinicians who pursue doctorates in public health, health administration, etc. While they've rightly earned their title, it can create (sometimes deadly) consequences.
It's a similar problem to that which arises with MD/PhD holders. The MD/PhD holder is generally more PhD than MD in terms of their capabilities as a healthcare provider. If you want to practice medicine, holding a PhD is not the way to do it.
If you don't need the degree to do the job, then you don't need the degree for the job. That's the line of thinking.
PhD in Quantum Computing - useful outside of academia?
What are the downsides (if any) of having a PhD to work in the software industry? Any about having technology certifications?
Is it true that a full Ph.D. is a disadvantage for technical positions in the private sector?
What are the benefits of getting a PhD in statistics?
What are the potential pitfalls of having a PhD in machine learning particularly?
Are engineering PhDs more relevant to industry careers than science PhDs?
What are the potential pitfalls of putting a PhD on hold to be employed by the university?
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Is Your Cat Truly Domesticated?
The modern cat (Felis silvestris catus) is descended from one or more of four or five separate wild cats: the Sardinian wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the European wildcat (F. s. silvestris), the Central Asian wildcat (F.s. ornata), the sub-Saharan African wildcat (F.s. cafra), and (perhaps) the Chinese desert cat (F.s. bieti). Each of these species is a distinctive subspecies of F. silvestris, but F.s. lybica was ultimately domesticated and is an ancestor of all modern domesticated cats. Genetic analysis suggests that all domestic cats derive from at least five founder cats from the Fertile Crescent region, from where they (or rather their descendants) were transported around the world.
Researchers analyzing cat mitochondrial DNA have identified evidence that F.s. lybica was distributed across Anatolia from the early Holocene (ca. 11,600 years ago) at the latest. The cats found their way into southeastern Europe before the onset of farming in the Neolithic. They suggest that cat domestication was a complex long-term process, because people took cats with them on overland and ship-board trade facilitating admixture events between geographically separated F.s. lybica and other wild subspecies like F.S. ornata at different times.
How Do You Make a Domestic Cat?
There are two difficulties inherent in determining when and how cats were domesticated: one is that domesticated cats can and do interbreed with their feral cousins; the other is that the primary indicator of cat domestication is their sociability or docility, traits not easily identified in the archaeological record.
Instead, archaeologists rely on the size of animal bones found in archaeological sites (domesticated cats are smaller than feral cats), by their presence outside of their normal range, if they are given burials or have collars or the like, and if there is evidence that they have established a commensal relationship with the humans.
Commensal behavior is the scientific name for "hanging around with humans": the word "commensal" comes from Latin "com" meaning sharing and "mensa" meaning table. As applied to different animal species, true commensals live entirely in houses with us, occasional commensals move between houses and outdoor habitats, and obligate commensals are those that can only survive in an area because of their ability to occupy houses.
Not all commensal relationships are friendly ones: some consume crops, steal food, or harbor disease. Further, commensal does not necessarily mean "invited in": microscopic pathogens and bacteria, insects, and rats have commensal relationships with humans. Black rats in northern Europe are obligate commensals, which is one of the reasons the medieval bubonic plague was so effective at killing people.
The oldest archaeological evidence for cats living with humans is from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where several animal species including cats were introduced by 7500 B.C. The earliest known purposeful cat burial is at the Neolithic site of Shillourokambos. This burial was of a cat buried next to a human between 9500-9200 years ago. The archaeological deposits of Shillourokambos also included the sculpted head of what looks like a combined human-cat being.
There are a few ceramic figurines found in the 6th millennium B.C. site of Haçilar, Turkey, in the shape of women carrying cats or catlike figures in their arms, but there is some debate about the identification of these creatures as cats. The first unquestioned evidence of cats smaller in size than the wildcat is from Tell Sheikh Hassan al Rai, an Uruk period (5500-5000 calendar years ago [cal BP]) Mesopotamian site in Lebanon.
Up until very recently, most sources believed that domesticated cats became widespread only after the Egyptian civilization took its part in the domestication process. Several strands of data indicate that cats were present in Egypt as early as the predynastic period, nearly 6,000 years ago. A cat skeleton discovered in a predynastic tomb (ca. 3700 BC) at Hierakonpolis may be evidence for commensalism. The cat, apparently a young male, had a broken left humerus and right femur, both of which had healed prior to the cat's death and burial. Reanalysis of this cat has identified the species as the jungle or reed cat (Felis chaus), rather than F. silvestris, but the commensal nature of the relation is unquestioned.
Continued excavations at the same cemetery at Hierakonpolis (Van Neer and colleagues) have found a simultaneous burial of six cats, an adult male and female and four kittens belonging to two different litters. The adults are F. silvestris and fall within or near the size ranges for domesticated cats. They were buried during the Naqada IC-IIB period (ca. 5800–5600 cal BP).
The first illustration of a cat with a collar appears on an Egyptian tomb in Saqqara, dated to the 5th dynasty Old Kingdom, ca 2500-2350 BC. By the 12th dynasty (Middle Kingdom, ca 1976-1793 BC), cats are definitely domesticated, and the animals are frequently illustrated in Egyptian art paintings and as mummies. Cats are the most frequently mummified animal in Egypt.
The feline goddesses Mafdet, Mehit, and Bastet all appear in the Egyptian pantheon by the Early Dynastic period—although Bastet is not associated with domesticated cats until later.
In 2014, Hu and colleagues reported evidence for early cat-human interactions during the Middle-Late Yangshao (early Neolithic, 7,000-5,000 cal BP) period at the site of Quanhucun, in Shaanxi province, China. Eight F. silvestris cat bones were recovered from three ashy pits containing animal bones, pottery sherds, bone and stone tools. Two of the cat jaw bones were radiocarbon dated between 5560-5280 cal BP. The size range of these cats falls within that of modern domesticated cats.
The archaeological site of Wuzhuangguoliang contained a nearly complete felid skeleton laid on its left side and dated to 5267-4871 cal BP; and a third site, Xiawanggang, contained cat bones as well. All of these cats were from Shaanxi province, and all were originally identified as F. silvestris.
The presence of F. silvestris in Neolithic China supports the growing evidence of complex trade and exchange routes connecting western Asia to northern China perhaps as long ago as 5,000 years. However, Vigne et al. (2016) examined the evidence and believe that all the Chinese Neolithic period cats are not F. silvestris but rather leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). Vigne et al. suggest that the leopard cat became a commensal species beginning in the mid-sixth millennium BP, evidence of a separate cat domestication event.
Today there are between 40 and 50 recognized cat breeds, which humans created by artificial selection for aesthetic traits they preferred, such as body and facial forms, beginning about 150 years ago. The traits selected by cat breeders include coat color, behavior, and morphology—and many of those traits are shared across breeds, meaning they were descended from the same cats. Some of the traits are also associated with deleterious genetic traits such as osteochondrodysplasia affecting the development of cartilage in Scottish Fold cats and taillessness in Manx cats.
The Persian or Longhair cat has an extremely short muzzle with large round eyes and small ears, a long, dense coat, and a round body. Bertolini and colleagues recently found that candidate genes for the facial morphology may be associated with behavioral disorders, susceptibility to infections, and breathing issues.
Wildcats exhibit a striped coat coloration pattern referred to as mackerel, which in many cats appears to have been modified to the blotched pattern known as "tabby". Tabby colorations are common in many different modern domestic breeds. Ottoni and colleagues note that striped cats are commonly illustrated from the Egyptian New Kingdom through the Middle Ages. By the 18th century AD, the blotched tabby markings were common enough for Linnaeus to include them with his descriptions of the domestic cat.
The Scottish wildcat is a large tabby cat with a bushy black ringed tail that is native to Scotland. There are only about 400 left and are thus among the most endangered species in the United Kingdom. As with other endangered species, threats to the wildcat's survival include habitat fragmentation and loss, illegal killing, and the presence of feral domestic cats in wild Scottish landscapes. This last leads to interbreeding and natural selection resulting in the loss of some of the characteristics which define the species.
Species-based conservation of the Scottish wildcat has included removing them from the wild and placing them into zoos and wildlife sanctuaries for captive breeding, as well as the targeted destruction of feral domestic and hybrid cats in the wild. But that reduces the number of wild animals even further. Fredriksen )2016) has argued that the pursuit of "native' Scottish biodiversity by attempting to stamp out "non-native' feral cats and the hybrids reduces the benefits of natural selection. It may be that the best chance the Scottish wildcat has of surviving in the face of a changing environment is to breed with domestic cats who are better adapted to it.
Bar-Oz G, Weissbrod L, and Tsahar E. 2014. Cats in recent Chinese study on cat domestication are commensal, not domesticated. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(10):E876.
Bertolini F, Gandolfi B, Kim ES, Haase B, Lyons LA, and Rothschild MF. 2016. Evidence of selection signatures that shape the Persian cat breed. Mammalian Genome 27(3):144-155.
Dodson J, and Dong G. 2016. What do we know about domestication in eastern Asia? Quaternary International in press.
Fredriksen A. 2016. Of wildcats and wild cats: Troubling species-based conservation in the Anthropocene. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 34(4):689-705.
Galvan M, and Vonk J. 2016. Man’s other best friend: domestic cats (F. silvestris catus) and their discrimination of human emotion cues. Animal Cognition 19(1):193-205.
Hu Y, Hu S, Wang W, Wu X, Marshall FB, Chen X, Hou L, and Wang C. 2014. Earliest evidence for commensal processes of cat domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(1):116-120.
Hulme-Beaman A, Dobney K, Cucchi T, and Searle JB. 2016. An Ecological and Evolutionary Framework for Commensalism in Anthropogenic Environments. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 31(8):633-645.
Kurushima JD, Ikram S, Knudsen J, Bleiberg E, Grahn RA, and Lyons LA. 2012. Cats of the pharaohs: genetic comparison of Egyptian cat mummies to their feline contemporaries. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(10):3217-3223.
Li G, Hillier LW, Grahn RA, Zimin AV, David VA, Menotti-Raymond M, Middleton R, Hannah S, Hendrickson S, Makunin A et al. 2016. A High-Resolution SNP Array-Based Linkage Map Anchors a New Domestic Cat Draft Genome Assembly and Provides Detailed Patterns of Recombination. G3: Genes Genomes Genetics 6(6):1607-1616.
Mattucci F, Oliveira R, Lyons LA, Alves PC, and Randi E. 2016. European wildcat populations are subdivided into five main biogeographic groups: consequences of Pleistocene climate changes or recent anthropogenic fragmentation? Ecology and Evolution 6(1):3-22.
Montague MJ, Li G, Gandolfi B, Khan R, Aken BL, Searle SMJ, Minx P, Hillier LW, Koboldt DC, Davis BW et al. 2014. Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(48):17230-17235.
Ottoni C, van Neer W, De Cupere B, Daligault J, Guimaraes S, Peters J, Spassov N, Pendergast ME, Boivin N, Morales-Muniz A et al. 2016. Of cats and men: the paleogenetic history of the dispersal of cats in the ancient world. bioRxiv 10.1101/080028.
Platz S, Hertwig ST, Jetschke G, Krüger M, and Fischer MS. 2011. Comparative morphometric study of the Slovakian wildcat population (Felis silvestris silvestris): Evidence for a low rate of introgression? Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 76(2):222-233.
Van Neer W, Linseele V, Friedman R, and De Cupere B. 2014. More evidence for cat taming at the Predynastic elite cemetery of Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt). Journal of Archaeological Science 45:103-111.
Vigne J-D, Evin A, Cucchi T, Dai L, Yu C, Hu S, Soulages N, Wang W, Sun Z, Gao J et al. 2016. Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). PLoS ONE 11(1):e0147295.
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In March 1864, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Ulysses S. Grant to lieutenant general and gave him command of all Union armies. Grant elected to turn over operational control of the western armies to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and shifted his headquarters east to travel with Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Army of the Potomac. Leaving Sherman with orders to press the Confederate Army of Tennessee and take Atlanta, Grant sought to engage General Robert E. Lee in a decisive battle to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. In Grant's mind, this was the key to ending the war, with the capture of Richmond of secondary importance. These initiatives were to be supported by smaller campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley, southern Alabama, and western Virginia.
In early May 1864, Grant began moving south with 101,000 men. Lee, whose army numbered 60,000, moved to intercept and met Grant in a dense forest known as the Wilderness. Adjacent to the 1863 Chancellorsville battlefield, the Wilderness soon became a nightmare as the soldiers fought through the dense, burning woods. While Union attacks initially drove the Confederates back, they were blunted and forced to withdrawal by the late arrival of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps. Assaulting the Union lines, Longstreet recovered the territory that had been lost, but was severely wounded in the fighting.
After three days of the fighting, the battle had turned into a stalemate with Grant having lost 18,400 men and Lee 11,400. While Grant's army had suffered more casualties, they comprised a lesser proportion of his army than Lee's. As the Grant's goal was to destroy Lee's army, this was an acceptable outcome. On May 8, Grant ordered the army to disengage, but rather than withdrawal towards Washington, Grant ordered them to continue moving south.
Marching southeast from the Wilderness, Grant headed for Spotsylvania Court House. Anticipating this move, Lee dispatched Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson with Longstreet's corps to occupy the town. Beating the Union troops to Spotsylvania, the Confederates constructed an elaborate set of earthworks in the rough shape of an inverted horseshoe with a salient at the northern point known as the "Mule Shoe." On May 10, Col. Emory Upton led a twelve regiment, spearhead attack against the Mule Shoe which broke the Confederate line. His assault went unsupported and his men were forced to withdrawal. Despite the failure, Upton's tactics were successful and were later replicated during World War I.
Upton's attack alerted Lee to the weakness of the Mule Shoe section of his lines. To reinforce this area, he ordered a second line built across the salient's base. Grant, realizing how close Upton had been to succeeding ordered a massive assault on the Mule Shoe for May 10. Led by Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock's II Corps, the attack overwhelmed the Mule Shoe, capturing over 4,000 prisoners. With his army about to be split in two, Lee led Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell's Second Corps into the fray. In a full day and night's fighting, they were able to retake the salient. On the 13th, Lee withdrew his men to the new line. Unable to break through, Grant responded as he did after Wilderness and continued moving his men south.
Lee raced south with his army to assume a strong, fortified position along the North Anna River, always keeping his army between the Grant and Richmond. Approaching the North Anna, Grant realized that he would need to split his army to attack Lee's fortifications. Unwilling to do so, he moved around Lee's right flank and marched for the crossroads of Cold Harbor.
The first Union troops arrived at Cold Harbor on May 31 and began skirmishing with the Confederates. Over the next two days the scope of the fighting grew as the main bodies of the armies arrived on the field. Facing the Confederates over a seven mile line, Grant planned a massive assault for dawn on June 3. Firing from behind fortifications, the Confederates butchered the soldiers of the II, XVIII, and IX Corps as they attacked. In the three days of fighting, Grant's army suffered over 12,000 casualties as opposed to only 2,500 for Lee. The victory at Cold Harbor was to be the last for the Army of Northern Virginia and haunted Grant for years. After the war he commented in his memoirs, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made...no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained."
After pausing for nine days at Cold Harbor, Grant stole a march on Lee and crossed the James River. His objective was to take the strategic city of Petersburg, which would cut the supply lines to Richmond and Lee's army. After hearing that Grant crossed the river, Lee rushed south. As the lead elements of the Union army approached, they were prevented from entering by Confederate forces under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. Between June 15-18, Union forces launched a series of attacks, but Grant's subordinates failed to push home their assaults and only forced Beauregard's men to retire to city's inner fortifications.
With the full arrival of both armies, trench warfare ensued, with the two sides facing off in a precursor to World War I. In late June, Grant began a series of battles to extend the Union line west around the south side of the city, with the goal of severing the railroads one by one and overextending Lee's smaller force. On July 30, in an effort to break the siege, he authorized the detonation of a mine under the center of the Lee's lines. While the blast took the Confederates by surprise, they quickly rallied and beat back the mishandled follow-up assault.
In conjunction with his Overland Campaign, Grant ordered Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel to move southwest "up" the Shenandoah Valley to destroy the rail and supply center of Lynchburg. Sigel began his advance but was defeated at New Market on May 15, and replaced by Maj. Gen. David Hunter. Pressing on, Hunter won a victory at the Battle of Piedmont on June 5-6. Concerned about the threat posed to his supply lines and hoping to force Grant to divert forces from Petersburg, Lee dispatched Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early with 15,000 men to the Valley.
After halting Hunter at Lynchburg on June 17-18, Early swept unopposed down the Valley. Entering Maryland, he turned east to menace Washington. As he moved towards the capital, he defeated a small Union force under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace at Monocacy on July 9. Though a defeat, Monocacy delayed Early's advance allowing Washington to be reinforced. On July 11 and 12, Early attacked the Washington defenses at Fort Stevens with no success. On the 12th, Lincoln viewed part of the battle from the fort becoming the only sitting president to be under fire. Following his attack on Washington, Early withdrew to the Valley, burning Chambersburg, PA along the way.
To deal with the Early, Grant dispatched his cavalry commander, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan with an army of 40,000 men. Advancing against Early, Sheridan won victories at Winchester (September 19) and Fisher's Hill (September 21-22) inflicting heavy casualties. The decisive battle of the campaign came at Cedar Creek on October 19. Launching a surprise attack at dawn, Early's men drove the Union troops from their camps. Sheridan, who was away at a meeting in Winchester, raced back to his army and rallied the men. Counterattacking, they broke Early's disorganized lines, routing the Confederates and forcing them to flee the field. The battle effectively ended the fighting in the Valley as both sides rejoined their larger commands at Petersburg.
As military operations continued, President Lincoln stood for reelection. Partnering with War Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, Lincoln ran on the National Union (Republican) ticket under the slogan "Don't Change Horses in the Middle of a Stream." Facing him was his old nemesis Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan who was nominated on a peace platform by the Democrats. Following Sherman's capture of Atlanta and Farragut's triumph at Mobile Bay, Lincoln's reelection was all but assured. His victory was a clear signal to the Confederacy that there would be no political settlement and that war would be prosecuted to end. In the election, Lincoln won 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21.
In January 1865, President Jefferson Davis appointed Lee to command of all Confederate armies. With the western armies decimated, this move came too late for Lee to effectively coordinate a defense of the remaining Confederate territory. The situation worsened that month when Union troops captured Fort Fisher, effectively closing the Confederacy's last major port, Wilmington, NC. At Petersburg, Grant kept pressing his lines west, forcing Lee to further stretch his army. By mid-March, Lee began to consider abandoning the city and making an effort to link up with Confederate forces in North Carolina.
Prior to pulling out, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon suggested a daring attack on the Union lines with the goal of destroying their supply base at City Point and forcing Grant to shorten his lines. Gordon launched his attack on March 25 and overran Fort Stedman in the Union lines. Despite early success, his breakthrough was quickly contained and his men driven back to their own lines.
Sensing Lee was weak, Grant ordered Sheridan to attempt a move around the Confederate right flank to the west of Petersburg. To counter this move, Lee dispatched 9,200 men under Maj. Gen. George Pickett to defend the vital crossroads of Five Forks and the Southside Railroad, with orders to hold them "at all hazards." On March 31, Sheridan's force encountered Pickett's lines and moved to attack. After some initial confusion, Sheridan's men routed the Confederates, inflicting 2,950 casualties. Pickett, who was away at a shad bake when the fighting started, was relieved of his command by Lee.
The following morning, Lee informed President Davis that Richmond and Petersburg would have to be evacuated. Later that day, Grant launched a series of massive assaults all along the Confederate lines. Breaking through in numerous places, Union forces forced the Confederates to surrender the city and flee west. With Lee's army in retreat, Union troops entered Richmond on April 3, finally achieving one of their principle war goals. The next day, President Lincoln arrived to visit the fallen capital.
After occupying Petersburg, Grant began chasing Lee across Virginia with Sheridan's men in the lead. Moving west and harried by Union cavalry, Lee hoped to re-supply his army before heading south to link up with forces under Gen. Joseph Johnston in North Carolina. On April 6, Sheridan was able to cut off approximately 8,000 Confederates under Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell at Sayler's Creek. After some fighting the Confederates, including eight generals, surrendered. Lee, with fewer than 30,000 hungry men, hoped to reach supply trains that were waiting at Appomattox Station. This plan was dashed when Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. George A. Custer arrived in the town and burned the trains.
While most of Lee's officers favored surrender, others did not fearing that it would lead to the end of the war. Lee also sought to prevent his army from melting away to fight on as guerrillas, a move that he felt would have long term harm for the country. At 8:00 AM Lee rode out with three of his aides to make contact with Grant. Several hours of correspondence ensued which led to a cease fire and a formal request from Lee to discuss surrender terms. The home of Wilmer McLean, whose house in Manassas had served as Beauregard's headquarters during the First Battle of Bull Run, was selected to host the negotiations.
Lee arrived first, wearing his finest dress uniform and awaited Grant. The Union commander, who had been suffering a bad headache, arrived late, wearing a worn private's uniform with only his shoulder straps denoting his rank. Overcome by the emotion of the meeting, Grant had difficulty getting to the point, preferring to discuss his previous meeting with Lee during the Mexican-American War. Lee steering the conversation back to the surrender and Grant laid out his terms.
Grant's terms: "I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside."
The celebration of Lee's surrender was muted by the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14 at Ford's Theater in Washington. As some of Lee's officers had feared, their surrender was the first of many. On April 26, Sherman accepted Johnston's surrender near Durham, NC, and the other remaining Confederate armies capitulated one by one over the next six weeks. After four years of fighting, the Civil War was finally over.
What Did the Surrender at Appomattox Mean to the United States?
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Months after sitting down for a deposition in a lawsuit relating to the opening of his oft-plugged new Washington, D.C. hotel, GOP nominee Donald Trump is now facing reality as videos of that deposition have just been released to the public. No matter what the content, that's not a sentence any presidential candidate wants to hear just weeks from election day. But that didn't make him care much about this deposition, which is clear if you watch the videos, as Trump revealed that he didn't prepare for it. In this way, Trump's debate prep and his deposition prep were exactly the same, in that they didn't happen.
In the run-up to the first presidential debate, the Trump campaign was eager to put out the message that its candidate, (unlike the over-prepared Hillary Clinton) was taking a more low-key, low-effort approach to preparing for, you know, the single biggest moment of his political life. And it showed, as you probably saw if you were part of the record-setting audience that watched that debate.
In the opening minutes of his June deposition, Trump made it clear that he takes much the same approach to his legal events as his political ones. When defense attorney Deborah Baum asked him what he'd done to prepare for the deposition ― and this is under oath, mind you ― his answer was pretty unsurprising: "I would say virtually nothing. I spoke with my counsel for a short period of time, I just arrived here, and we proceeded to the deposition."
Trump went on to say he didn't review any documents ahead of the deposition, which, let's be honest, tracks pretty tightly with the expectations he's set for himself to this point in his campaign. Trump's aversion to preparation was the subject of some post-debate reporting, as sources within the campaign conceded that Trump simply didn't put in the work. That led to perhaps the most effective debate rejoinder of the night for Clinton, when Trump needled her for taking time to prepare for the debate.
Clinton replied that she did prepare, and that she's also prepared to be president. It was a punctuation mark on what had already been a nightmarish evening for the Republican standard-bearer, and, as such, it's more than a little funny to see him conceding months prior that he basically didn't prepare for a deposition, either.
It all works to build a pattern, one that might not be all that reassuring to undecided voters ― no matter how big or important something might be, it seems like Trump simply assumes he can wing it. That's a cavalier attitude to take to one's own business and legal dealings, sure, and even more so for a presidential candidate. And what if he actually gets elected president? Let's just say this is a reputation that Trump sorely doesn't need.
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An eight-year-old who was injured in the Manchester bombing and later described as 'so strong' by Ariana Grande says she doesn't think of herself as brave.
Lily Harrison, from Stockport, spent two weeks in hospital after suffering a shrapnel wound and bruised lung after the attack on May 22.
Six months on from the horrific attack Lily has finally been able to resume karate lessons.
On Saturday Lily officially opened her karate teacher's new shitoryu karate dojo in Cheadle on Station Road.
But when asked why she had been chosen by Paul Ferris to cut the ribbon, Lily said she didn't know.
Her Mum, Lauren Thorpe, said: 'When she came back she was due to have her grading for her next grade up and she hadn't been able to go.
'She was so worried about being left behind, but Paul [her karate teacher] said 'don't worry, I've seen how you are'.
'It's made them closer and it's made her love karate even more. She was so keen to be back, I don't think we even realised how much she loved karate until she was missing it.
'We've kind of been pushing for her to get back to [karate] as soon as possible to get back to normal.
Getting back to normal life fro Lily has meant returning to gymnastics and karate lessons and starting school again.
Her mother Lauren says the family have always been honest with Lily about what happened to them.
Lauren said: 'From day one in the hospital all the counsellors said to us you need to be really honest and open with Lily, you can't hide it from her, she'll hear about it on the TV or from her friends and she'll overhear your conversations.
Lily had been at the Arena with her mum and dad, Lauren and Adam, when the terror attack hit.
All three were injured but are now fully recovered.
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What are the penalties for a first offense DUI in Connecticut?
While states have different penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol, in most cases, offenders are fined, lose their licenses and may be subjected to jail time or community service. In Connecticut, there are some specific penalties.
One of the two branches of justice that will affect your standing in the wake of a DUI charge in the state is the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Following your first offense, you must file for a hearing with the DMV no more than seven days after your DUI arrest, when the arresting officer and your DUI lawyer will appear before a DMV official and impartial officer to determine that the arrest was executed properly and establish the specifics of your case.
A number of factors determine the length of a license suspension following a first offense DUI charge, including blood alcohol level and age. If you are over the age of 21 and have a BAC level of between .08 and .159, your license will be suspended for 90 days. If your BAC is .16 or higher, your license will be suspended for 120 days.
If you are under the age of 21, any BAC level equal to or above .02 is considered over the legal limit, and offenders will lose their license for 90 days.
In criminal court, you can be tried for a DUI even if your BAC is under the legal limit. If officers show that you are impaired despite a BAC test that shows you are under .08, you can still be arrested and charged with a DUI.
For your first offense, you will likely have to pay between $500 and $1,000 in court fees, and a criminal trial can result in additional fines as well as a prison term between two days and six months in length. A jail sentence can also be suspended in favor of community service of up to 100 hours.
One important factor to consider following a first offense DUI is insurance. In Connecticut, you must maintain constant car insurance for three years after your DUI under an SR-22 agreement, an insurance specifically designed for individuals convicted of DUI. If your insurance coverage lapses for any reason during this period, your license is subject to additional suspensions.
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When substances are used excessively for pleasure in society, or an individual uses a substance for reasons that challenge normal behaviour, they are in danger as being labelled a Deviant: junkies, addicts, alcoholics, abusers. There is debate about the causes of such behaviour that can be condensed to the question ‘are we born a deviant, or is it influence from our peers, and from other situational factors around us that make us a deviant? `. American sociologist Robert K Merton proposes that deviancy is caused by society and peers and not the body chemistry. (Robert K Merton) However, this is a question that has long caused argument and differentiation among medical and behavioural psychologists, the former believing that we are born that way, and the latter that we are shaped by life experiences.
In order to explore this question I feel it is important to be subjective, as well as objective, and will therefore for this paragraph alone draw on my own personal experiences. Personally I agree with Merton’s theory, due to my own self-analysis and actions that I have observed in myself, from underage drinking aged 15 in the pub, and leading on to smoking from peer pressure, which I have continued to do to this day. Playing sport, Rugby, did at the time change my attitude to smoking and drinking as I peered with different people. Changing friends in the 1990s influenced a change in my person leading to the rave scene and recreational drugs use, through own choice and experiments. As an individual I understood the risks and was conscious of my limitations. Using drinking as an example, I understood that when I was drinking, it was part of a social pattern within a social network, if I exceeded that limitation and drank in excess away from the social network, I would have a possible addiction.
Many substances that are used for pleasure can have an effect on our perspective of time. When we lose a sense of timing we can lose our sense of coherence. Episodes that take us away from coherence of life can threaten isolation (Reith 1999); this is when addiction becomes debilitating. When we lose the timing in life and lose the sense of timing of others around us as human beings, we need something to bring us back to the normal senses and bring us back into the community of other individuals whom we live our lives with. A medium based on performance which can assist with this is the live performance of music. Music therapists provide a solution were we can go into an environment and work with other individuals whom have also extreme deviances. Working on the timing of music can improve our coherent self, leading to a balance in our sense of timing. When focusing on music, an individual can clear their mind of all other problems, therefore allowing themselves a means of escape.
Why use music therapy? Music offers a non-symbolic contact with reality, it can be classed a holistic. Performing music with other people is a way of achieving a connection at a fundamental level; we become entrained with other individuals when performing by attachment and emotional expression. However on the reverse side, a Music therapist could potentially face the problem that the songs and music they are using with their clients may resemble memories. An example of this could be drug memories if that particular piece of music was part of the setting when using the drugs. If this happens it could trigger a craving.
Qualified writers in the subject of general studies are ready and waiting to help you with your studies.
So can music therapy be a good alternative for the cure of addiction? In a comprehensive study of various books, online journals, videos, documentaries, and case studies there is a significant amount of supporting evidence to be found. This essay will aim to explore the various evidence found and reach a comprehensive conclusion as to the strengths and weaknesses of music used as a therapy for drug addicts, and whether it can effectively help to bring an individual out of an addition. The following chapter will focus on what Music Therapy is and how it can assist in the cure of Drug (drug being alcohol, smoking and illegal substances) addiction, outline the effects of the addiction and explain how music therapy can act as a holistic therapy to the addiction.
Positive, balancing moods and emotional states.
Positive feelings towards themselves, self-confidence and feeling of high self-esteem.
Intimacy enhancement of feelings and emotions towards family members and friends.
Learning music skills gives the client the patience and abilities to cope with possible situations that may occur in other aspects of their lives.
Music therapy has had proven results with the development and learning skills with children, adults and the elderly whom have mental health needs and learning disabilities. Music therapy is recommended for age related diseases aged related diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Music therapists work from private practices, rehabilitative facilities, hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.
Music therapists consult with clients and they assess their condition, physical health, social functioning, and cognitive skills. The Music therapist will construct music sessions for individuals or groups of clients. A wide range of treatment is available from lyric discussion, song writing to live performances and receptive music listening.
Experiments by Music therapists have found evidence that their clients have shown remarkable changes in their behaviour of recovering from drug addiction.
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What is the French apple tart?
A custard creamy apple tart from Normandy very popular in France.
Step 1: Preheat oven to 375° F / 190 °C.
Step 2: Peel, quarter, cut the apples into 1/8 inch slices. Toss them in a bowl with 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon. Arrange them in the pastry shell. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Then let cool.
Step 3: Beat the egg and 1/2 cup of sugar until mixture is pale yellow. Beat in the flour, then the whipping cream, and finally the brandy. Pour in the mixture over the apples.
Step 4: Return to oven for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and return again to oven for 20 minutes.
Wine suggestion: Cider (French Wine Guide).
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Why are there no lights on my modem?
If no lights illuminate on your modem, please check the on/ off switch beside the power adapter on the back of the modem. If this is switched on, try switching plug sockets. Or if you are using a multi-plug adapter, please try plugging directly into the wall socket.
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To summarize who I am, I am a theologically conservative Christian who attends a non-denominational church. Politically, I am a registered Republican, but I consider myself a limited-government conservative or maybe even a libertarian conservative. I have many conservative beliefs, but I also believe strongly in limited government. I am pro-life, however, as I believe the government has a duty to protect innocent life, and I believe a fetus is a person at conception, based on scientific and philosophical reasoning. I believe the Republican party, in its current incarnation, is sorely lacking a commitment to limited government and constitutional principles.
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What to setup first on AWS?
is the most important question. AWS is useful, well documented but overwhelming.
Let me introduce my strategy.
keeping useless resources deployed. If not setup one is able to spend a fortune on unfitting infrastructure.
If you never experienced random, rare, hard to replicate bugs, you are lucky. For the rest of us is logging the crucial tool examine behaviour over long period of time and across many deployments and devices.
Rapid7 InsightIps for easy to use filters and setting up event notifications. Plus I like their UI.
Loggly excels with their query language for the logs where you can query across different source of log streams with common value e.g. time stamps.
However, I would like to make another point. IaC is so awesome also because it is an alternative view on the deployment.
One type of documentation already exists. This is the default AWS documentation. The form is well known; Click on resource XY (or use this http request). Select this parameter. Wait few minutes and continue by deploying resource YZ. The typical procedural view.
IaC brings completely different and more concise documentation. Terraform documentation feels very different: Declare resource XY. You have to provide this parameters, and there another three completely optional parameters with sensible defaults. Such documentation offers more high-level overview. I find it much easier to read.
Typically, I read first Terraform documentation to learn the high-level concepts. Later, to understand the documentation more deeply I switch to the AWS documentation. It is very refreshing. IaC gives you benefit of many examples to learn from because there is a lot of open-source development in IaC community.
I really enjoy combining the tools for debugging: Terraform plan & deploy commands are the commands where I discover the bugs. The AWS cli often helps me analyze the problems, but returning to gold old fashion web browser and AWS console gives me alternative view where it is often on the first sight obvious what is wrong.
machines on demand - IaC can be used to build the machine image and also to manage the life cycle of the machine.
autoscaling groups - which can automatically scale number of identical machines based on traffic which the machines serve.
ALB or ELB - load balancers for balancing the traffic among different machines.
ECR - hosted docker container registry.
ECS/Fargate - hosted containers on demand. I have only a little experience with Fargate, but it works like magic, no machines needed to be managed.
CloudWatch - basic tool to collect, display and monitor logs.
S3 - popular object storage.
Route 53 - managed DNS service. Very simple & cool together with Terraform since it allows to change domain names for services.
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