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The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to region of the U.S state of Colorado on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, and east of the population centers of the Front Range.
The Eastern Plains are part of the High Plains, which are the westernmost portion of the Great Plains region.
Colorado Springs is a middle-sized city, located just east of the geographic center of the state of Colorado in the United States.
Colorado is best known as the home of the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, which dominate the western half of the state; eastern Colorado is largely high plains.
Colorado is considered a very independent state politically, with 17 of the governors Democrat and 12 of them Republican in the last 100 years.
The 2000 Census reported Colorado's population as 4,301,261 , and the state's 2004 population is estimated to be 4,601,403 .
As of the 2000 census, Colorado's population is 4,301,261.
East of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Colorado at elevations ranging from 3500 to 7000 ft (1,000 to 2,000 m).
The plains are sparsely settled with most settlements along the South Platte and the Arkansas rivers and the I-70 corridor.
An important feature of the precipitation in the plains is the large proportion of the annual total that falls during the growing season – 70 to 80 percent during the period from April through September.
At the western edge of the plains and near the foothills of the mountains, there are a number of significant changes in climate as compared to the plains proper.
Precipitation, which decreases gradually from the eastern border to a minimum near the mountains, increases rapidly with the increasing elevation of the foothills and increases rapidly with the increasing elevation of the foothills and proximity to higher ranges.
A memorial in Kiowa County on Colorado's eastern plains marks the spot where the bus carrying 20 children slid into a ditch and stalled during a fierce and sudden blizzard nearly 68 years ago.
Eastern Colorado has lost a third of its population since the spring when Rosemary Brown nearly froze to death.
It is located along the Front Range, at the edge of the Colorado Eastern Plains along the border with Wyoming.
An 1886 Colorado Supreme Court decision set the boundary at the Continental Divide, although the land between the Medicine Bow Range and the divide was made part of Jackson County in 1909.
Unlike that of much of Colorado, which was founded on the mining of gold and silver, the settlement of Larimer County was based almost entirely on agriculture, an industry that few that possible in the region during the initial days of the Colorado Gold Rush.
Constituting almost half of the state, the eastern plains are characterized by rolling prairies that flatten into farm land and valleys cut along various rivers and creeks.
Primarily self-sufficient, the plains' communities are dependent on a farming and stock raising economy.
Abandoned sod houses and farm structures are scattered across the countryside, a reminder of the hardships that fated the early settlers.
The name of Colorado came from the Spanish word "colorado" which means "reddish"or "colorful".
The Colorado Gold Rush of 1859 brought large numbers of settlers to the Denver area.
Colorado was organized as a United States territory on February 28, 1861.
Stephen Smith is a CWF member, Colorado Pheasants Forever State Council legislative affairs committee chair, and (especially) PF habitat coordinator for western Morgan County, Wiggins, Colorado, actively involved in conservation legislative activities on behalf of Pheasants Forever and the Colorado Wildlife Federation.
The program here is focused on Colorado's eastern plains, an area of primarily private lands and home to Colorado's pheasant and quail populations.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife will oversee the efforts of local groups to recruit eastern plains landowners willing to allow pheasant and small game hunters on their property as part of the new Walk-in Access program.
The largest were the Cheyenne and Arapaho on the northern and central plains and the Comanche south of the Arkansas River.
The Ute Indians who inhabited the mountains of central Colorado and the southern and western plateau lands were less dependent on the buffalo.
During the decades after 1860s, most of the Indians were pushed out of Colorado by the arrival of thousands of eastern miners, farmers, ranchers, and town dwellers.
In a broad effort being hailed as a national blueprint for species conservation, state and federal government agencies, conservation and agricultural groups, and more than a dozen Colorado landowners have joined forces to conserve the mountain plover, a small prairie bird that nests on the state’s Eastern Plains.
Colorado has eight programs in place to help conserve the mountain plover, including the Colorado Species Conservation Program, which gets part of its funding from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) lottery monies.
“Colorado is kind of the center of breeding for plovers in the United States,” Pusateri said.
Biologists estimate that fl-tailed prairie dogs, which historically inhabited approximately 4.6 million acres in eastern Colorado, now occupy between 570,947 and 691,258 acres in the state, a decline of 85 to 88 percent.
The swift fox historically existed throughout Colorado’s Eastern Plains but by the late 1960s was reported as occurring “sparingly.” Biologists believe its current range is approximately 40% of its historic range.
Swift fox population density in certain areas on the Eastern Plains is thought to be high.
Colorado's Eastern Plains, a portion of the Central Shortgrass Prairie ecoregion, covers approximately one third of the State of Colorado, from approximately I-25 to the Kansas border.
In lieu of project-by-project inventory, analysis, and review, with the assistance of CNHP, the parties have developed an estimate of the collective impacts to the habitats of declining species in the Eastern Plains from proposed transportation projects over the next 20 years.
Representatives from the Colorado Cattleman's Association, the Farm Bureau, the State Department of Agriculture, or similar organizations may be consulted.
Farmland, old windmills and barns lay scattered all over the great plains of eastern Colorado which make excellent photographic subjects.
Below are a few pictures that capture the basic essence of farmscape photography in eastern Colorado.
Calhan, CO This is how the sky looked after several supercells pushed their way southeast on the great plains in eastern Colorado.
FORT COLLINS, Colo.--Human activities such as agriculture and landscaping along Colorado's northern Front Range are changing temperatures, river runoff and tree-distribution patterns in Rocky Mountain National Park and the surrounding region, according to a Colorado State University study.
Normal rainfall on the eastern plains is less than 20 inches a year, Stohlgren said.
Pielke Sr., Colorado State professor of atmospheric sciences; and Timothy G. Kittel, a research scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and with Colorado State's Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory, reported their findings in the June issue of the journal Global Change Biology.
Dr. Fritz Knopf lead Dr. Katy Human on an all-day field excursion to the eastern plains of Colorado to discuss the history and ecology of the plains.
Human is a Ted Scripps (of Scripps-Howard) Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado and is working on a documentary on Colorado landscapes.
The documentary is expected to be completed in the summer of 2001.
Eastern Colorado windbreaks are showing serious symptoms of drought stress.
Winter watering is required on the eastern plains of Colorado and should be applied to the critical root zone of the tree at least once per month during the winter months depending on the amount of snowfall and the moisture content of that snow.
Colorado State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kit Carson, Phillips, Washington and Yuma counties cooperating.
The city is located on the plains just east of the foothills of the Rockies, which form a dramatic skyline to the west.
Also, a row of seats in the upper deck of Coors Field, home of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies (NL), is distinctively marked in purple (one of the team's colors) to indicate that the row is one mile above sea level.
Denver was founded as a city in the Kansas Territory in 1858 and incorporated on November 7, 1861, several months after the formation of the Colorado Territory.
Evaporative cooling caused by irrigation could mean more extreme weather, both in the mountains and in the populated parts of Colorado's eastern plains, says ecologist Thomas Stohlgren with the U.S. Geological Survey at Colorado State.
Looking at an area of mountains and plains about 125 miles on a side and centered on Fort Collins, Stohlgren and his colleagues found that plowing up and irrigating the arid shortgrass prairie produced local cooling in the summer months they believe could match or exceed predicted global warming.
Remember that this was a dry place, years ago." Normal rainfall on the eastern plains is less than 20 inches a year, Stohlgren said.
Colorado Rivers Roundup - Colorado's Rivers offer spectacular scenery, deep canyons, undeveloped wilderness areas, plenty of whitewater excitement and even several stretches of tranquil water suitable for family outings.
Colorado Birding: Sage Grouse and Prairie Chicken Leks - Witness what is surely one of nature's oddest procreative efforts.
Colorado Birding: Wild Turkeys and Wintering Rapters - The lowdown on two November natural spectacles, and where to see them.
Gutmann co-authored the study, to be published this spring in the journal Great Plains Research, with Colorado State University researcher William J. Parton and William R. Travis from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The study analyzed employment and agricultural census data for 27 Colorado Plains counties to explore changes in land use and agricultural productivity and employment over the last half century, reaching some surprising conclusions about how those changes are linked to population size, the growth of cities and the use of irrigation.
After large declines in agricultural employment from 1950 to 1970, the study found, farm and ranch employment in the region has generally remained stable, with the smallest declines occurring in urban fringe regions.
I knew that the soils were richer on Colorado's eastern plains than the western desert dirt.
Out-of-state birders were visiting our part of Colorado, because they thought their chances were better for a number of lifer targets, such as Blue Grouse, Chukar, Gray Flycatcher, Gray Vireo, Pinyon Jay, and Sage Sparrow.
This volume will inspire Eastern Colorado and neighboring states to try to match it.
– The route is an out-and-back from Boulder, Colorado, at the foot of the Colorado Front Range, across the Colorado eastern plains and into the western part of Kansas.
However, it is common to encounter highs in the 90's as you descend into Kansas, and in 2004, temps dipped into the upper 30's the final night in Colorado.
Agriculture, grazing land, and cactus-populated sandhills predominate in eastern Colorado, dryland crops in Kansas.
Much of Colorado’s Eastern Plains is private land, so only a handful of prairie sites are accessible to the public.
A USFS map of the grasslands, available at USFS offices in Colorado, is recommended to help distinguish between public and private lands.
The Colorado Wildlife Viewing Guide is available at many retail outlets or for $12.95 plus $2 shipping and handling from the Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation, 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO 80216.
The base is situated in the center of the state.
Colorado is a dry state, and as such the trees tend toward evergreens.
I've been rather busy with work, and the lack of suitable areas around Denver has hampered my efforts.
Nice to have around because of their appetite for rodents, Bullsnakes are found in a wide variety of habitats, from prairie to woodlands to forests.
They are Colorado's largest snake, growing to over 8 feet in length.
This one was found in a greenhouse front porch of a farmhouse in Adams County.
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Which one of the following is the northernmost city in all of U.S. territory?
The correct answer is B. Barrow, AK, is the northernmost city in all of U.S. territory and most northerly community on the North American mainland. Barrow is 320 miles (515 km) north of the Arctic Circle. Madawaska, ME, is the northernmost town in New England and is the northeastern-most town in the continental United States.
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What's wrong with injecting human brain genes into monkeys?
Some worry that such research blurs the line between humans and animals. When scientists in China added human genes to monkeys, they were hoping to gain a better understanding of how human brains develop.
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Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again. She made her debut as a leading film actress in Little Secrets (2002) and became well-known after her transition to a more adult-oriented Golden Globe-nominated role in the teen drama film Thirteen (2003).
Born Sept. 7, 1987 in Raleigh, NC, Wood's interest in acting may have been due to her family's involvement in show business. Her parents, Ira David Wood and Sara Lynne Moore were actors (Ira was also a theater director and playwright), as was her brother Ira David IV, while her aunt, Carol Winstead Wood, was a production designer in Hollywood. Wood began appearing in her father's plays while still an infant, making her stage debut while only a few months old in "A Christmas Carol," and was later top-billed as Helen Keller in her father's production of "The Miracle Worker."
Wood began appearing in TV movies at the age of seven. After auditioning for and losing the role of child vampire Claudia to Kirsten Dunst in "Interview with the Vampire (1994), her first screen credit was the true crime film "In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride, and Madness" in 1994, as well as several other made-for-TV movies that followed. Wood also appeared in three episodes of Sam Raimi and Shaun Cassidy's supernatural TV series, "American Gothic" in 1995. Two years later, her parents divorced, and Wood relocated to Los Angeles with her mother. Once there, she quickly found more television work, this time as the troubled daughter of Billy Campbell's divorced dad on "Once And Again." She also made her feature film debut at age 11 in two very different films - the big-budget comedy/romance "Practical Magic" (1998), as a member of a family of witches that included Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, and the moving period drama, "Digging to China" (1998) as a neglected young girl who befriends a mentally handicapped adult (Kevin Bacon). The former was a sizable hit, but the latter film, though seen by a much smaller audience, gave a clear indication of the scope of Wood's bourgeoning talents.
That same year, Wood left public school over squabbles with teachers and fellow students, and was home schooled for the remainder of her teen years, receiving her diploma at age 15. During this period, Wood kept busy in a string of film projects that proved her adept at almost every genre of film. Despite being forced to drop out of the lead role in "Raise Your Voice" (2004) due to scheduling conflicts and losing "Mean Girls" (2004) to the nominally more popular Lindsay Lohan, she was an eminently likable heroine in the sweet but little-seen kid comedy, "Little Secrets" (2002), which enjoyed a small following in subsequent TV screenings. Wood also played Al Pacino and Catherine Keener's daughter in the odd science fiction parody "S1m0ne" (2002) and endured a kidnapping at the hands of a Native American medicine man in Ron Howard's gritty Western "The Missing" (2003). Though Wood's work in each film was commendable, none of the films could be considered showcases for her skills.
Then came director Catherine Hardwicke and "Thirteen" (2003), giving critics got a second chance to see Wood at her best. As Tracy, a polite young preteen whose struggle to stay afloat in her family leads to rebellion, self-abuse, and disillusionment, Wood left viewers gasping from the emotional risks she took in the film, sending shivers down the spines of more than one parent. The film earned almost universally excellent notices, and garnered Wood Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, as well as a host of trophies from film festivals around the world. Wood also graced the cover of Vogue magazine that year, which named her one of Hollywood's newest "It Girls." Her status was soon underscored by appearances in videos for popular alt-rock bands Bright Eyes ("At the Bottom of Everything") and Green Day (their epic "Wake Me Up When September Ends," in which she co-starred with British actor Jamie Bell, with whom she was romantically linked). She was also name-checked on the cult TV show "Veronica Mars" (UPN/The CW, 2004-) as the actress that Veronica (Kristen Bell) wanted to play her if a biopic was made of her life.
With the success of "Thirteen," Wood became a popular go-to actress for independent filmmakers seeking someone wise beyond her years. In 2005, she played the youngest of four daughters who each seek their own way of dealing with their missing father and rage-filled and confused mother (Joan Allen) in Mike Binder's smart and bittersweet drama "The Upside of Anger." She also returned to "Thirteen" territory in the heavy-handed black comedy "Pretty Persuasion" (2005), for which she played a vicious and sexually precocious high school girl. Finally, she gave a standout performance in the solid but not spectacular "Running with Scissors" (2006), in which she portrayed the eccentric daughter of an even more unusual psychotherapist father. Wood deflected statements that she was seeking out these attention-grabbing roles by stating that she hoped her performances would help girls who were struggling with their own sexuality by showing them the consequences of unchecked experimentation. Though none of the films were hits, they all supported the growing opinion that Wood was, as one film critic wrote, one of the best actresses of her generation.
Wood made several movies in 2006 - the indie drama "Down in the Valley," in which she starred as a rebellious young woman who becomes the object of affection for a deluded man (Edward Norton) who believes himself to be a cowboy. Wood's other projects, which included "Across the Universe," the long-gestating Julie Taymor historical musical based on the Beatles' music, remained in post-production or distribution limbo. In the meantime, 19-year-old Wood generated considerable attention for what appeared to be a romantic relationship for shock rocker Marilyn Manson, who showcased a pair of portraits he painted of Wood in an art showcase on Halloween 2006. Apart from the head-scratching their coupling elicited, was also the fact that Manson was married at the time to burlesque dancer-model, Dita Von Teese.
View the full website biography of Evan Rachel Wood.
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In this article, Medical Engineers ranked the top five highest paid jobs in the industry.
So, what is the highest paid job in MedTech? The answer is..
The job might involve: Design the blueprints of computers, test, and analyse the result of the design.
If you are currently looking for jobs or interested to find out more about opportunities to work in medical devices industries, then check out our website http://www.medicalengineers.co.uk. Also, follow our Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for daily updates on jobs and news in medical engineers industry.
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Marion Bartoli was said to be preparing to return to professional tennis, RMC Sport had reported earlier. The 2013 Wimbledon Champion had been to national training centre owned by French Federation and she had a racket in her hand.
It was also reported that the FFT Federation had found a fitness trainer to work exclusively with her. However in an interview to Eurosport, Bartoli denied this claim. 'I don't know why everyone wants me to be back, but I won't do it.
I simply visited a doctor at the French Tennis Federation. When I was sick last year, I was followed and helped by professionals who I trust. I still travel much, so I want to make sure not to get sick and be healthy. I was in Paris during fashion week, i stopped there for a few days to visit doctors, get exams done and make sure that everything was going well so that I could start my projects again.
Due to my current life, it's impossible to re start again. I lived hell of a year in 2016 and I want to put it behind me.' Since her last match at the Rogers Cup 2013, did she ever think of picking up racket again? 'When I commentate for the Grand Slams on Eurosport, I always feel memories in my heart, when quarter-finals or finals are played.
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If you've been saving for retirement in a traditional IRA, you can still convert some or all of those funds into a Roth IRA. Is converting to a Roth a good idea for you? It can depend on several factors.
Unlike with traditional IRAs, there's no tax deduction for savings contributions made to a Roth IRA, but earnings are typically tax-free.
When you invest in a Roth IRA, you basically agree to pay tax now in exchange for that tax-free treatment when the funds are withdrawn later. An investor who uses a Roth IRA must defer taking any distributions until at least age 59 1/2 to achieve this completely tax-free status. The funds must also remain invested for at least five years unless some special circumstance permits otherwise.
Absent any exceptional circumstances, withdrawing money from a Roth IRA early incurs not only taxes on the earnings but also a 10 percent penalty.
Traditional IRAs can be either deductible or nondeductible. Deductible traditional IRAs provide for a tax deduction for savings contributions you make. Both your earnings on those contributions and your initial investment are taxed when the funds are eventually withdrawn.
You can claim either a partial or no deduction for savings contributions made to a nondeductible traditional IRA. The earnings are tax-deferred until they're withdrawn, and the portion representing your nondeductible basis is returned to you tax-free.
"Converting to a Roth" essentially means that you're changing the tax treatment of the fund in which your retirement savings have been placed.
Instead of the tax deferral that's available with a traditional IRA, Roth IRAs represent post-tax contributions so converting to a Roth means undoing that deferral: You must pay tax on the accumulated earnings and on any savings contributions for which you took a tax deduction in previous years. This converts the funds into post-tax money.
You can your convert your savings from either a deductible or nondeductible IRA to a Roth IRA by simply telling your bank or other financial institution that you want to do so. You can keep your funds at the same financial institution. You can even keep them in the same investments. All you're doing is changing the type of account that holds them.
The trickier part is figuring out the tax cost of converting to a Roth. When you convert your traditional IRA to a Roth, two things happen. The government taxes the current value of the funds you convert, and those funds now become your basis in a Roth.
First, figure out your Roth conversion income. If you're converting deductible IRA funds, you'd report as income the current value of the funds on the day you make the conversion. Your basis in a deductible IRA is zero because you received a tax deduction for your savings contributions.
If you're converting nondeductible IRA funds, report as income the current value of the funds on the day you convert, less your basis. If you contributed $5,000 to a traditional IRA in 2016 and received no deduction for that contribution, your basis in those funds would be $5,000: $5,000 of income minus zero for the deduction.
Now let's say you decide to convert that IRA to a Roth two years later in 2018. The value is now $5,500. You would report $500 of income on your tax return: $5,500 current value minus the $5,000.
If you own both deductible and nondeductible IRAs, tax law mandates that your basis in the nondeductible funds must be spread out over all your traditional IRA funds, even if they're held in separate accounts at different financial institutions. You would logically want to convert nondeductible IRA funds first because there would seem to be less of a tax impact, but that's not how the tax math works out.
Let's say you contributed $5,000 to a deductible IRA in 2016, which means your basis is now zero in those funds. In 2018, you contributed $5,000 to an entirely nondeductible IRA, which means your basis is now $5,000. You have $10,000 in traditional IRA contributions with a basis of $5,000.
If you were to convert all your traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs and the value of your IRA account was $11,000, you would report as income $11,000 minus $5,000—your basis—which would be $6,000 in income.
Someone with mixed traditional IRAs might think, "Let's convert only the nondeductible IRA," but her basis would still be prorated across all her accounts. Assuming the current value is $5,500 in each IRA fund and she converted only $5,500 from the nondeductible account, the math would still be the same: $5,500 (current value) minus $2,500 (basis prorated). This would result in income to report of $3,000.
You can "isolate" your nondeductible IRA funds by rolling over funds from your traditional IRAs to a qualified plan such as a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, and you can choose to roll over only your deductible traditional IRAs if you do this. By performing such a rollover, you can move all of them to a 401(k) or similar plan, leaving behind only nondeductible funds in your IRA. Then you can roll over your nondeductible funds to a Roth IRA.
This preserves the basis in your nondeductible IRAs. It results in less income recognized on the Roth conversion. But keep in mind that you're only allowed to perform one rollover per year per IRA account. This applies to rollovers from one traditional IRA to another, from one Roth IRA to another, or from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.
Direct trustee-to-trustee transfers from a qualified retirement plan such as a 401(k) or 403(b) account to an IRA don't count. Otherwise, any additional rollover after the first rollover within a 12-month period is treated as a fully taxable distribution and an early distribution penalty might apply.
Roll over your deductible IRAs to a qualified plan in a trustee-to-trustee direct transfer. These transfers don't count toward the one-rollover-per-year limit.
Then convert your nondeductible IRAs to a Roth IRA via another trustee-to-trustee direct transfer so as to avoid the mandatory 20-percent withholding.
Income reported on a conversion to a Roth IRA doesn't always mean that the income will be taxed. The tax impact of reported income can be reduced through various tax deductions or tax credits.
Let's say someone converts an entirely deductible traditional IRA worth $5,500 to a Roth IRA in 2016. Because these funds were entirely deductible, they would report $5,500 in additional income on his 2016 tax return. They are still entitled to take various deductions or tax credits, just as any other taxpayer could.
They could, therefore, offset his $5,500 in additional income with any deductions that were available to him. For example, they might offset the Roth conversion income with $5,500 of qualifying charitable deductions or with a $5,500 business loss. In this case, their amount of taxable income would remain unchanged even though they had $5,500 in conversion income.
That said, income reported on a Roth conversion obviously increases income before credits or deductions so a Roth conversion could potentially increase taxable income and trigger various phaseouts.
An increase in taxable income is fairly easy to figure out. Take a look at the marginal tax rates for the year in which you're converting. An increase in taxable income will cost you roughly your marginal tax rate times the conversion value.
Analyzing various phaseouts is a bit more complicated. Higher income could result in more Social Security benefits being subject to taxation, or it could trigger a phaseout or elimination of various deductions or tax credits.
The best way to figure out the impact of a Roth conversion in these various circumstances is to run a projection in your tax software to analyze the tax increase resulting from a Roth conversion.
You have funds outside of a retirement account which you could use to fully pay the tax for converting to a Roth.
The value of your traditional IRAs has fallen and converting now is more affordable.
You expect to be in roughly the same tax bracket or in a higher tax bracket in retirement than you're in currently.
You can use losses, deductions, or tax credits to help offset the tax impact of a Roth conversion.
You don't have cash funds sufficient to fully pay the tax of the Roth conversion.
You expect to be in a lower tax bracket in retirement than you are in currently.
You might need to tap into your IRA funds in the next five years and you are or will be younger than age 59.5 when that happens.
It doesn't make sense to pay tax now at a higher tax rate if you reasonably expect to be in a lower tax bracket in retirement. It also doesn't make sense to pay tax now if you might have to tap into those funds in the next five years. In this case, you'll essentially be paying tax twice—once on the conversion and again on the withdrawal, plus any penalties that might apply.
You'll receive two tax documents if you convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, and you must report the conversion in two places on your tax return.
You'll receive a Form 1099-R from your financial institution reporting the Roth conversion. It will be coded as a rollover to a Roth IRA. You'll use the information from that form to report your Roth conversion income on Form 8606 with the taxable portion of the conversion income reported on your Form 1040. Forms 1099-R are generally sent out by the end of January of the following year.
Additionally, you should receive Form 5498 from the financial institution that received the Roth IRA funds. This form reports the value of the funds received and the value of the account at the end of the year. This form is generally for information purposes only. The data doesn't have to appear anywhere on your tax return. Form 5468 is usually mailed out by May 31.
Consider consulting with a tax professional before you act because the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in December 2017, eliminates your ability to undo any conversions you make.
It used to be that trustee-to-trustee transfers could effectively be "undone" if you recategorized the conversion before your tax deadline including any extensions but converting to a Roth account no longer qualifies for this treatment. The new rule also applies to rollovers from 401(k) and 403(b) accounts as well as traditional, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs.
Most provisions of the TCJA took effect in 2018, but special rules apply to this change. Roth IRA conversions made in 2017 could be recategorized until October 15, 2018. Unfortunately, any conversions made after January 1, 2018, cannot be undone.
Should You Take Money From Your Retirement Plan?
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Glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) is the main facilitative glucose transporter in neurons. Glucose provides neurons with a critical energy source for neuronal activity. However, the mechanism by which neuronal activity controls glucose influx via GLUT3 is unknown. We investigated the influence of synaptic stimulation on GLUT3 surface expression and glucose import in primary cultured cortical and hippocampal neurons. Synaptic activity increased surface expression of GLUT3 leading to an elevation of intracellular glucose. The effect was blocked by NMDA receptor (NMDAR) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibition. The Akt inhibitor I (Akt-I) blocked NMDAR-induced GLUT3 surface expression while a nNOS-phosphomimetic mutant (S1412D) enhanced GLUT3 expression at cell surface. These results suggest that NMDAR/Akt-dependent nNOS phosphorylation is coupled to GLUT3 trafficking. We demonstrated that activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK) increased the surface expression of GLUT3, which was repressed by Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS, a potent cell-permeable inhibitor of cGKs. These studies characterize the molecular basis for activity-dependent increases in surface GLUT3 after stimulation of the NMDARs. NMDAR-induced increase in surface GLUT3 represents a novel pathway for control of energy supply during neuronal activity that is critical for maintaining glucose homeostasis during neuronal transmission.
Glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) is the most widely expressed glucose transporter in neurons (Nagamatsu et al., 1993; Simpson and Davies, 1994). Transgenic GLUT3 knock-out mice are nonviable, showing arrested embryonic development and embryonic lethality (Ganguly et al., 2007), while GLUT3 knockdown mutants exhibit neurologic dysfunction and altered feeding and energy balance (Schmidt et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2010).
GLUT3 contains 12 transmembrane helices comprising a regulated central hydrophilic pore and intracellular N- and C-terminal ends (Dwyer, 2001). Glucose transporter activity depends on the Kcat, the catalytic constant of an enzyme (Simpson et al., 2007), which is sevenfold higher for GLUT3 in neurons than for GLUT1 in astrocytes (Lowe and Walmsley, 1986). The half-life of GLUT3 is 15 h compared with 6 h for GLUT1 (Khayat et al., 1998). These characteristics of the GLUT3 make it well suited for the high energy demand of neurons.
The NMDA receptor (NMDAR) is critical for activity-dependent plasticity. Ca2+ flux through the NMDAR pore filter domain activates neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), which produces nitric oxide (NO). One of the primary targets of NO in neuronal cells is guanylate cyclase (GC), which produces cGMP to activate cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK). cGKII regulates the AMPA receptor GLUR1 subunit trafficking to the plasma membrane via phosphorylation at S845 (Serulle et al., 2007).
We hypothesized that synaptic activity may regulate the surface expression of GLUT3 by a NO/cGK-dependent mechanism. We examined the expression of surface GLUT3 after treating neurons with bicuculline plus 4-aminopyridine (4-AP). In neurons, both Ca2+ influx via the NMDAR and nNOS phosphorylation at serine 1412 stimulate nNOS activity and increase NO production (Bredt and Snyder, 1989; Garthwaite et al., 1989; Rameau et al., 2007). Since nNOS serine 1412 phosphorylation stimulates NMDAR-induced NO production (Rameau et al., 2007), the coupling of this regulatory phosphorylation to GLUT3 trafficking was also examined. Furthermore, inhibition of the cGK pathway blocks NMDAR-induced expression of surface GLUT3. Together, these results suggest a direct relationship between increased synaptic activity, elevated expression of surface GLUT3, and glucose transport.
Cultured embryonic day (E) 18 rat cortical and hippocampal neurons were prepared as described previously (Rameau et al., 2000). Embryos were obtained from pregnant Sprague Dawley rats. Embryonic brains were excised on E18 with a forceps and put in a tissue culture dish containing cold buffer. Under a dissecting microscope, the cerebellum and the brainstem were separated from the brain. The hippocampi were pooled separately from the cortices, and the rest were discarded. Whole cortical and hippocampal tissues were digested in PBS-HEPES-glucose dissecting solution containing 0.05% trypsin-EDTA for 10 min at 37°C. The neurons were dissociated from the tissues by gentle repeated passages through a 10 ml pipette. Tissue culture dishes (60 mm), previously coated with poly-l-lysine, received 3.0 × 106 cells in 5 ml of MEM plus 10% horse serum and 0.45% (w/v) glucose. Coverslips (22 × 22 mm) installed in a 6 well dish each received 1.5–2 × 105 cells in 3 ml of minimum essential Eagle's plating medium (Eagle) (MEM). All reagents, unless stated otherwise, were obtained from Invitrogen.
Neurons were incubated at 37°C, 5%CO2 in 5 ml of MEM for 3 h, after which the plating medium was removed and replaced with Neurobasal medium supplemented with B27, 0.5% horse serum, and antibiotics. At 5 d in vitro (DIV), neurons were fed with fresh Neurobasal medium containing 5 μm uridine and 5 μm 5-fluor-2′-deoxyuridine (FdU) to prevent the growth of non-neuronal cells. Cells were fed once every week.
Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection and were grown in MEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 2 mm l-glutamine, 1.5 g/L sodium bicarbonate, 0.1 mm nonessential amino acids, and 1 mm sodium pyruvate at 37°C and 5% CO2. Cells were split 1:8 once a week (0.25% trypsin-0.53 mm EDTA), and medium was changed every 2 d.
The human embryonic kidney cell line HEK293T, which contains the SV40 large T antigen (HEK 293T), was cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS, 2 mm l-glutamine, and 100 μg/ml streptomycin at 37°C and 5% CO2. Cells were split 1:l0 twice a week (0.5% trypsin-0.53 mm EDTA), and medium was changed every 2 d.
MDCK and HEK 293T cells, after the fifth passage, were plated on coverslips at a density of 50,000 cells/2 ml and allowed to reach 70–80% of confluence before they were used for immunofluorescent labeling.
Sindbis virus expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) or myc-epitope-tagged nNOS (wild-type and S1412D) was applied to hippocampal cells cultured on coverslips or cortical cells cultured in 60 mm dishes. Infection was performed overnight; the next day, cells were used for biotinylation assay or immunofluorescence.
Cortical neuron cultures 15–21 DIV were washed twice with 2 ml of cold PBS. A solution of freshly made Sulfo-NHS-SS-biotin (Pierce) 1.0 mg/ml dissolved in PBS was applied on the cells for 12 min. The binding reaction was quenched with 100 μl of quenching solution (Pierce). Cells were washed three times with 2 ml of cold PBS. The cells were gently scraped and transferred into a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube, and pelleted by centrifugation at 4000 rpm for 2 min at room temperature. The PBS solution was removed, and the cells were lysed in 150 μl of radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) buffer rocked for 1 h at 4°C, then centrifuged at 14,000 rpm for 15 min. The supernatant was transferred to a new tube containing 100 μl of immobilized NeutrAvidin gel slurry (Pierce). Cell lysates were incubated in the rocking solution for 2 h at 4°C. The lysates were centrifuged at 8000 rpm for 2 min to remove the supernatant. The slurry was washed twice with 1 ml of RIPA buffer containing 500 mm NaCl and once with RIPA buffer containing 150 mm NaCl. This was followed by centrifugation at 4000 rpm for 2 min to remove excess buffer and resuspension of the slurry in 50 μl of 2× SDS-PAGE sample buffer containing 50 mm DTT. After these procedures, the lysates were boiled for 10 min and analyzed by Western blots.
The nucleus accumbens from adult rats was removed and placed in ice-cold solution A (0.32 m sucrose, 1 mm NaHCO3, 1 mm MgCl2, 0.5 mm CaCl2), 0.1 mm PMSF (Sigma) and 1× Complete Protease Inhibitors (Roche Applied Science). Tissue was Dounce homogenized in 40 ml of solution A for each 10 g of wet nucleus accumbens tissue. The homogenates were diluted to 10% w/v with solution A and centrifuged at 1400 × g for 10 min. The supernatant solution was saved, and the pellet was rehomogenized in 10% solution A per 10 g of initial weight and subjected to a centrifugation at 710 × g for 10 min. Supernatants were pooled and subjected to a second centrifugation at 710 × g for 10 min. The supernatants were then spun at 30,000 × g for 15 min to obtain a crude P2 fraction. The pellet was resuspended in solution B (0.32 m sucrose, 1 mm NaHCO3) using 24 ml of solution B per 10 g of starting material. This homogenate was layered on top of a 5.5 ml of 1 m sucrose and 5.5 ml of 1.2 m sucrose gradient, and was centrifuged at 82,500 × g for 2 h. Purified synaptosomes were collected at the 1 and 1.2 m sucrose interface by syringe aspiration. Synaptosomes were resuspended with 4 volumes of solution B and collected by centrifugation at 48,200 × g for 30 min. Pellet was lysed in 100 μl of 2% SDS in 25 mm Tris.
SDS-PAGE and Western blots were performed essentially as described previously (Rameau et al., 2007). Antibodies were used at the following dilutions: anti-GLUT3 (C terminal, 1:1000 dilution; ab-41525, Abcam); anti-phosphoS1412nNOS and anti-phosphoS847nNOS (1:1000 dilution) (Rameau et al., 2007); anti-β-actin (1:1000 dilution; A-2066, Sigma); anti-c-MYC (1:1000 dilution; sc-40, Santa Cruz Biotechnology); anti-nNOS (1:1000 dilution; catalog #610308, BD Biosciences); anti-NMDAR1 (0.5 μg/ml; MAB 363, Millipore Bioscience Research Reagents); anti-postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95) (1:2000 dilution; catalog #73028, NeuroMab). Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies were detected by PICO-ECL (Pierce). Densitometric analysis of Western blots was performed with National Institutes of Health Image software.
For immunostaining, neuronal cultures were fixed and blocked as described previously (Rameau et al., 2003). The same procedure was used for HEK 293T and MDCK cells. For surface staining, incubation with anti-GLUT3 (N-terminal extracellular domain, 1:200 dilution; sc-31838, Santa Cruz Biotechnology) was performed overnight at 4°C without cell permeabilization. For intracellular staining, incubations with anti-c-MYC (1:250 dilution; sc-40, Santa Cruz Biotechnology); anti-microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) (1:300 dilution; 05–346, Millipore); anti-synaptophysin (1:300 dilution; S 5768, Sigma); and anti-GLUT3 (C terminal, 1:250 dilution; ab-41525, Abcam) were performed after cells were permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 for 5 min at room temperature. All secondary antibodies were applied for 1 h at room temperature and were conjugated to Alexa Fluor 488, Alexa Rhodamine Red-X (1: 2000 dilution, Invitrogen), Rhodamine Red-X, Cy5 (Cy5), or fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) (1:300 dilution, Jackson Immunoresearch). Membranes of MDCK and HEK 293T cells were stained with the lipophilic dye DiI C18 (1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate, D-282, Invitrogen/Invitrogen). Images were acquired using an inverted Zeiss LSM 510 laser-scanning confocal microscope or a Nikon PCM 2000 confocal microscope, and analysis was performed blind to the treatment of cells using ImageJ software. Images for all experimental groups were taken using identical acquisition parameters. With images acquired for quantification, background image intensity was determined and subtracted by thresholding during image acquisition. For surface and intracellular GLUT3, the intensity of the antibody-conjugated-fluorochromes (Rhodamine Red-X, or FITC, Jackson Immunoresearch) was measured in primary dendrites within boxes of identical size using identical settings of ImageJ software or Zeiss software. To measure the ratio of surface to intracellular GLUT3, the intensities of both pools were measured from the same dendritic box. Fluorescence measurements from an average of 10–20 neurons per coverslip were averaged to obtain a population mean (presented as mean ± SEM). Statistical significance of differences between means was determined by Student's t test or ANOVA followed by Bonferroni test, using the software GraphPad Prism.
Hippocampal cultures were rinsed with Krebs-Ringers-HEPES (KRH) buffer supplemented with 3.3 mm glucose. The uptake of 2-[N-(7-nitrobenze-2-oxa-1, 3 diazol-4-yl) amino]-2 deoxy-glucose (2-NBDG), a fluorescent glucose tracer was used to measure glucose transport, 2-NBDG (600 μm) was added to the KRH buffer. To study the effect of NOS inhibition on glucose uptake, Nω-nitro-l-arginine (ωNA), a broad inhibitor of NOS, was added 10 min before 2-NBDG uptake. The cells were washed three times with PBS to remove free 2-NBDG from the extracellular space and fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde. Accumulation of intracellular 2-NBDG, excited at 488 nm, was imaged using an inverted Zeiss laser-scanning confocal microscope at 20× magnification. The area defined by labeling with wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) dye defined regions of interest, and nonspecific labeling was eliminated by size exclusion.
Data are presented as means ± SEM. Statistical analysis was performed using the unpaired Student's t test and ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni/Dunn test, using Stat View (Abacus Concepts).
Synaptic transmission depends, in part, on glucose to satisfy the high energy demand of neuronal cells. To assess the mechanism by which synaptic activity regulates surface GLUT3 expression, we treated cortical neuronal cultures with 50 μm bicuculline and 100 μm 4-AP. This treatment caused bursts of action potentials (Hardingham and Bading, 2002). Surface proteins were then isolated by biotin-streptavidin pulldown and analyzed by Western blot. Treatment with bicuculline plus 4-AP induced a gradual increase in surface GLUT3, ∼5-fold at 15 min and 20-fold at 30 min (n = 3; *p ≤ 0.001, **p ≤ 0.0001) relative to the unstimulated control, indicating that synaptic activity increased surface GLUT3 (Fig. 1A,B).
Increased synaptic activity augments GLUT3 expression at cell surface. A, Time course of increased GLUT3. Western blots for actin confirm equal protein loading in each lane. B, Quantification of GLUT3 was performed by determining the ratio of GLUT3 to actin. C–E, GLUT3 expression was examined in hippocampal neurons immunostained with antibodies against total GLUT3 (red label; rhodamine) (C), synaptophysin (green label; fluorescein) (D), and merged images showing the close proximity of synaptophysin and GLUT3 punctae (E). Scale bar, 20 μm. F, GLUT3 localization in synaptosomal preparations from the nucleus accumbens. NR1, PSD-95, and GLUT3 Western blot of total tissue homogenates and synaptosomes. A.U., Arbitrary units. *p < 0.001; **p < 0.0001.
Although synaptic activity appeared to regulate GLUT3 surface expression, the presence of GLUT3 at functional synapses had not been verified. Immunostaining of hippocampal neurons with antibodies against the C-terminal domain of GLUT3 (red label; rhodamine) and synaptophysin (green label; fluorescein) showed GLUT3 staining in dendrites and in the cell body (Fig. 1C); synaptophysin staining was noted in presynaptic nerve terminals (Fig. 1D). Merged images show the juxtaposition of synaptophysin and GLUT3 punctae (Fig. 1E), which suggests a synaptic location of GLUT3. To confirm the localization, we dissected the nucleus accumbens from adult rat brains and prepared total and synaptosomal fraction homogenates for Western blotting. GLUT3 was highly expressed in synaptosomes; Western blots for PSD95 (a postsynaptic density marker) and NR1 (NMDAR subunit1) confirmed the successful isolation of synaptosomes (Fig. 1F).
We determined the ratio of surface to intracellular GLUT3 in hippocampal neuronal cultures using antibodies against the first extracellular loop (N-GLUT3) and the C-terminal domain of GLUT3 (C-GLUT3). First, we characterized the antibodies for immunostaining using HEK293T and MDCK cells. As expected in MDCK cells, which do not express GLUT3, the N-GLUT3 and C-GLUT3 antibodies showed no labeling for GLUT3 (Fig. 2E). In contrast, HEK293T cells, which express GLUT3, showed strong labeling with both N-GLUT3 and C-GLUT3 antibodies. The expression pattern of surface GLUT3 was consistent with the restricted location of cell surface transporters, while labeling for total GLUT3 showed a broader and more diffuse distribution (Fig. 2D), consistent with the expected staining patterns. As a further control, labeling using the antibody directed against the intracellular C-terminal domain of GLUT3 was absent in cells that were not detergent permeabilized (Fig. 2C).
Synaptic activity increases surface expression of GLUT3 in hippocampal neurons. A, Surface expression of GLUT3 induced by stimulation with 50 μm bicuculline plus 100 μm 4-AP for 15 min. Representative images showing surface GLUT3 (red label; rhodamine); and intracellular GLUT3 (green label; fluorescein). B, No drug, as a control showing surface GLUT3 (red label; rhodamine) and intracellular GLUT3 (green label; fluorescein). C, Control for GLUT3 surface-staining, nonpermeabilized cells, C-GLUT3 (green not present on cell surface); MAP-2 (blue label; cyan 5); Dil C18 dye (red)-stained neurons. Characterization of GLUT3 antibodies directed to the N-terminal extracellular domain and C-terminal domain of GLUT3. D, E, Dil C18 dye (red)-stained HEK293T and MDCK cells. D, Expression of surface GLUT3 (green label; fluorescein) and total GLUT3 (blue label; cyan 5) in HEK293T cell line. E, MDCK cell line showed no expression of GLUT3. Scale bars, 20 μm.
In day 21 cultured hippocampal neurons, the levels of GLUT3 were 0.714 ± 0.0358 (n = 60) at the dendritic surface relative to 1.13 ± 0.0768 (n = 60) intracellular levels in nonstimulated cells. This implies a substantial pool of GLUT3 available for translocation to the cell surface. Then, we determined the ratio of surface to intracellular GLUT3 in dendrites of individual hippocampal neurons after stimulation with bicuculline and 4-AP for 15 min. After stimulation, surface GLUT3 increased from 0.505 ± 0.031 to 0.916 ± 0.094 (n = 60, p ≤ 0.0001). Representative images of stimulated and vehicle-treated cells are shown in Figure 2, A and B.
To examine whether NMDAR influences GLUT3 trafficking, surface-expressed proteins were isolated from cultured cortical neurons by the biotin-streptavidin pull-down assays. After treatment with bicuculline plus 4-AP for 15 min, surface GLUT3 increased approximately fivefold (n = 3; *p = 0.005). This was blocked by 30 μm MK801 [(5S,10R)-(+)-5-methyl-10, 11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5,10-imine maleate], an NMDAR open-channel blocker, and by 100 μm ωNA, a nonselective broad nNOS inhibitor (Fig. 3A,B). Examination of surface GLUT3 by quantitative confocal microscopy in cultured hippocampal neurons confirmed the biochemical observations. After stimulation, surface GLUT3 increased fourfold relative to vehicle-treated control (Fig. 3C,E,F). This increase was blocked by the NMDAR antagonist (2R)-amino-5-phosphonopentanoate (AVP) 100 μm (Fig. 3D,F). Together, these results show that increased surface GLUT3 after stimulation depends on NMDAR activation and NMDAR/NO signaling.
NMDAR regulates the surface expression of GLUT3 via production of NO. A, ωNA blocks NMDAR-mediated increased surface GLUT3. Western blotting for actin showed that equivalent levels of protein were loaded in each lane. B, Quantification of A, which showed that the ωNA and MK801 significantly blocked NMDAR-induced surface expression of GLUT3 (n = 3; *p = 0.0025). Inhibition of NMDAR blocks the surface expression of GLUT3. C, Cultured hippocampal neurons immunostained for surface GLUT3 (red label; rhodamine) and MAP-2 (green label; fluorescein). D, Treatment with bicuculline plus 4-AP plus APV. E, No drug, as control. F, Quantification of surface GLUT3 in neuronal dendrites showed that activation of synaptic NMDAR increased surface GLUT3 (n = 50, *p < 0.001). Scale bars, 20 μm.
To assess the role of NO in the expression of surface GLUT3, cultured cortical neurons were incubated with the NO donor (±)-(E)-ethyl-2-[(E)-hydroxyimino]-5-nitro-3-hexeneamide (NOR-3). After treatment with 50 μm NOR-3, surface GLUT3 increased 15-fold at 15 min, remaining at that level for 30 min, relative to control (Fig. 4A,B). This observation was then confirmed by quantitative confocal microscopy in cultured hippocampal neurons. We found that surface GLUT3 increased eightfold (n = 50, p ≤ 0.001) (Fig. 4C,F) relative to vehicle controls or a 5 min incubation with NOR-3 (Fig. 4D–F). These results suggest that NO is sufficient to induce surface expression of GLUT3.
Increased release of NO elevates the expression of surface GLUT3. A, Time course of increase in surface GLUT3. B, Quantification of A expressed as the ratio of surface GLUT3 to actin (n = 3; *p < 0.001). Immunostaining of hippocampal cultured neurons for surface GLUT3 (red label; rhodamine), and for MAP-2 (blue label; cyan 5) and merged images. C, D, Treatment with 50 μm NOR 3 for 15 min (C) and with 50 μm NOR 3 for 5 min (D). E, No drug as control. F, Quantification of surface GLUT3 (n = 50, p ≤ 0.001). Scale bars, 20 μm.
Previously, we showed that neuronal stimulation with 30 μm glutamate leads to biphasic phosphorylation of nNOS at S1412 and S847 (Rameau et al., 2007). Since stimulation with bicuculline and 4-AP increased GLUT3 surface levels via NO, we investigated the differential phosphorylation status of nNOS in cortical neurons. After stimulation with bicuculline plus 4-AP and Western blot analysis with antibodies against nNOS-S1412-PO4 and S847-PO4 (Rameau et al., 2007), neurons showed a biphasic increase in phosphorylation of nNOS at S1412 and S847. The phosphorylation of S1412 increased 5-fold over basal levels at 15 min (n = 3, p ≤ 0.003), followed by a decline and then a second increase at 45–60 min that reached a maximum of ∼20-fold over the basal levels (n = 3, p ≤ 0.0001) (Fig. 5A,C). Incubation with MK801 (30 μm, 15 min) blocked the phosphorylation at S1412 (Fig. 5A, lane 7). Phosphorylation at S847 increased fourfold to fivefold (n = 3, p ≤ 0.0001), reaching a plateau at 45 and 60 min (Fig. 5A,B); it was also sensitive to MK801 inhibition (Fig. 5A, lane 7).
NMDAR stimulation regulates phosphorylation of nNOS at S847 and S1412 sites. A, Time course of increased phosphorylation of nNOS at S1412 and S847. B, C, Quantification of A, performed by taking the ratio of phospho-nNOS to total nNOS. D, Akt-mediated phosphorylation of nNOS increases surface expression of GLUT3. Surface GLUT3 induced by stimulation with bicuculline plus 4-AP for 15 min is blocked by Akt-I. Lane 1, no drug as control; lane 2, 50 μm bicuculline plus 100 μm 4-AP administered after preincubation with 100 μm Akt-I; lane 3, 50 μm bicuculline plus 100 μm 4-AP. E, Quantification of D showed that Akt-I blocked NMDAR-induced surface GLUT3. *p < 0.001.
Previously, we determined that phosphorylation of nNOS at S1412 by Akt was required for NMDAR-induced production of NO in neurons (Rameau et al., 2007). To determine whether phosphorylation of nNOS was coupled to GLUT3 trafficking, we examined the effects of an Akt inhibitor I (Akt-I), a phosphatidyl inositol ether analog, on NMDAR-induced expression of surface GLUT3. After stimulation, surface GLUT3 increased approximately fourfold relative to vehicle controls (Fig. 5D, lane 3, and 5E). Akt-I blocked the increase in surface GLUT3 (n = 3, p ≤ 0.001) (Fig. 5D, lane 2, and 5E), demonstrating that phosphorylation of nNOS by Akt is required for the coupling of NMDAR activity to the increase in surface GLUT3.
To confirm the role of the stimulatory, S1412 phosphorylation of nNOS in GLUT3 trafficking, we expressed the nNOS phosphomimetic mutant nNOS S1412D in cortical neurons. We isolated surface proteins by the biotin-streptavidin pull-down assay and determined the expression of surface GLUT3 by Western blotting. The expression of nNOS-S1412D increased surface GLUT3 by more than twofold (n = 4; p ≤ 0.003) relative to GFP infection controls (Fig. 6A,B). In contrast, the expression of wild-type nNOS showed no increase in surface GLUT3 relative to the GFP control. The effects of the phosphomimetic S1412D mutant on GLUT3 surface expression were not due to differential expression of the nNOS mutant since Western blot analyses had equivalent expression (Fig. 6A).
The expression of nNOS S1412D phosphomimetic mutant increases surface GLUT3. A, Surface GLUT3: lane 1, GFP, infection control; lane 2, wild-type nNOS; lane 3, S1412D; lane 4, no biotin, negative control for the biotin-streptavidin assay. B, Quantification of A showed that exogenous expression of the S1412D mutant significantly increased surface GLUT3 relative to wild-type nNOS and GFP as control. *p < 0.003. C–E, Representative confocal images of hippocampal neurons showing surface GLUT3 levels (red label; rhodamine) and myc-epitope-tagged nNOS (green label; fluorescein), phosphomimetic nNOS-S1412D (C), wild-type nNOS (D), and GFP (E) as control. F, Quantification of surface GLUT3 showed that expression of nNOS-S1412D displayed higher levels of surface GLUT3, fourfold relative to neurons expressing wild-type nNOS or GFP (n = 45, *p < 0.0001). Scale bars, 20 μm.
We also confirmed surface GLUT3 induction by quantitative confocal microscopy after expression of wild-type and S1412D mutant nNOS in hippocampal neurons. Expression of the S1412D mutant in hippocampal neurons increased surface GLUT3 levels twofold (Fig. 6C,F) (n = 45; p ≤ 0.0001) relative to cells expressing wild-type nNOS or GFP as a control (Fig. 6D–F). These results support a model in which NMDAR transmission activates nNOS via phosphorylation at S1412, and reinforces the notion that the increased production of NO regulates the expression of surface GLUT3.
NO stimulates soluble GC (sGC), the enzyme that produces cGMP (Moncada and Higgs, 1991). In neurons, the stimulation of NMDAR increases cGMP (Garthwaite and Garthwaite, 1987), a principal mediator of NO signaling (Garthwaite and Boulton, 1995). To determine the role of cGMP production in GLUT3 trafficking, we examined the expression of surface GLUT3 induced by NMDAR in the presence of ODQ (1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one), a potent inhibitor of sGC. Treatment with ODQ (50 μm; 15 min) blocked the NMDAR-mediated increase in surface GLUT3, relative to the no-drug control (n = 3; *p ≤ 0.005) (Fig. 7A, lanes 1, 2, and 4, and 7B). ODQ inhibition of GLUT3 translocation was similar in magnitude to that seen with MK801 and ωNA (Fig. 7A, lanes 3 and 5, and 7B). Increased cGMP regulates the activity of cGKs leading to an increase in surface GLUR1 (Serulle et al., 2007). Treatment with 8-Br-cGMP, a cell-permeable nonhydrolyzable form of cGMP, mimics the effect of cGMP on cGKs. To examine the role of cGKs in regulating the trafficking of GLUT3, neurons were treated with 8-Br-cGMP. Cultured hippocampal neurons were immunostained for GLUT3 and MAP-2. After treatment with 50 μm 8-Br-cGMP for 15 min, surface GLUT3 increased eightfold (n = 50, p = 0.001) (Fig. 7C,F) relative to stimulation with 50 μm 8-Br-cGMP plus Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS, a potent cell-permeable cGK inhibitor or vehicle control (Fig. 7D–F). The results suggest that 8-Br-cGMP acts via cGK to increase the surface expression of GLUT3. However, the mechanism by which cGK activation regulates GLUT3 trafficking remains to be elucidated.
A cGK-dependent pathway increases the surface expression of GLUT3. A, Cortical cells were preincubated with ωNA (100 μm), ODQ (100 μm), or MK-801 (30 μm) for 15 min prior to the application of 50 μm bicuculline plus 100 μm 4-AP. Western blots for actin showed that equivalent levels of proteins were loaded in each lane. B, Quantification of A, which showed that ODQ, ωNA, and MK801 inhibited NMDAR-induced surface expression of GLUT3. Representative confocal images of neurons in which cGKs were stimulated with 8-Br-cGMP. *p < 0.005. C–E, 50 μm 8-Br-cGMP (C), 50 μm 8-Br-cGMP plus 2 μm Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS (D), no drug (E), as control. Surface GLUT3 (red label; rhodamine) and MAP-2 (blue label; cyan 5). F, The bar graph shows that the fivefold increase in surface GLUT3 after treatment was blocked by Rp-8-pCPT-cGMPS. *p < 0.005.
We examined the coupling of synaptic activity to glucose uptake in cultured hippocampal neurons. We used the fluorescent tracer 2-NBDG, a substrate analog of glucose, which provides a readout of glucose uptake in neuronal cells (Porras et al., 2004). Stimulation of neurons with bicuculline plus 4-AP increased 2-NBDG uptake twofold (Fig. 8D,J) (n = 30, p ≤ 0.0001) relative to vehicle control (Fig. 8A,J). A remarkable increase in the uptake and accumulation of the tracer over that of controls was seen in spines in cells treated with bicuculline (Fig. 8A,D). The appearance of 2-NBDG in spine structures after stimulation with bicuculline suggests that glucose transport occurs at synapses. Significantly, ωNA blocked glucose uptake (Fig. 8G,J), demonstrating the dependence of glucose transport on a NO-mediated mechanism. Together, these results suggest that stimulation of synaptic NMDARs, activity of nNOS, and production of NO are tightly linked to the uptake of glucose.
NO-mediated increase of surface GLUT3 elevates glucose transport. 2-NBDG levels were measured after increased neuronal activity and in the presence or absence of inhibitors of nNOS. A, D, G, Representative images obtained by confocal microscopy show 2-NBDG levels (green) for cells treated with no drug, as control, 50 μm bicuculline plus 100 μm 4-AP and 50 μm bicuculline plus 100 μm 4-AP after preincubation with ωNA, respectively. Arrows show the accumulation of the tracer in dendritic spines. B, C, E, F, H, I, membrane labeling in red with WGA (B, E, H) and merged images (C, F, I), which showed that both the green and the red fluorescent staining belong to the same cell. J, Quantification of optical intensity of the fluorescent tracer 2-NBDG showed that glucose levels are increased after 15 min treatment with 50 μm bicuculline plus 100 μm 4-AP relative to control. ωNA blocked the NMDAR-mediated increase in glucose. *p < 0.0001.
We examined activity-dependent regulation of surface GLUT3 in cultured neurons. We show that synaptic NMDAR activity increases surface GLUT3. This is in agreement with the long-held view that an increase in neuronal activity requires a readily available energy substrate in the form of glucose (Keller et al., 1997). We also show that stimulation of NMDARs at synapses induces sequential stimulatory and inhibitory phosphorylation of nNOS that controls the production of NO. The inhibition of stimulatory phosphorylation of nNOS by Akt-I blocks the increase in surface GLUT3. This indicates a coupling of regulatory nNOS phosphorylation to glucose transport via increased production of NO that is required for the trafficking of GLUT3. The increase in surface GLUT3 after expression of phosphomimetic nNOS confirms the coupling of these events. The NMDAR-mediated increase in NO induces the cGMP/cGK-dependent signaling pathway that facilitates the translocation of GLUT3 to the plasma membrane. The increase in surface GLUT3 increased glucose transport, which is significantly reduced in the presence of a NOS inhibitor. Together, this study shows that synaptic activity regulates surface GLUT3, leading to increased glucose uptake in neuronal cells.
This study characterizes a novel relationship between the induction of neurotransmitter release at synapses and alterations in cellular GLUT3 surface expression. We show that stimulation of neurons with bicuculline plus 4-AP triggers a time-dependent increase in surface expression of GLUT3. The GLUT3 surface expression increases significantly 15 min after transient stimulation of synaptic activity. Since the labeling of total GLUT3 shows a large dendritic pool relative to the surface GLUT3, this suggests the possibility that GLUT3 may be recruited from the dendritic pool. But, the mechanism that mediates the exocytosis of GLUT3 remains to be elucidated.
In HEK 293T, treatment with DETA-NO [(z)-1-[2-amino ethyl-N-(2–ammonioethyl) amino] diazen-1ium-1,2-diolate], an NO donor, increases glucose transport and glycolysis via a mechanism that involves the activation of 5′-AMP-activated protein kinase and GLUT3 (Cidad et al., 2004). NMDARs transduce signals via the influx of Ca2+, which activates Ca2+-regulated targets, including nNOS. We show that the activation of NMDAR and subsequent increase in NO result in a rapid expression of surface GLUT3. To confirm the role of NO, we show that incubation with NOR-3 induces significant translocation of GLUT3 to the plasma membrane. These results suggest that a NO-dependent mechanism increases GLUT3 at the cell surface. However, the details of the mechanism by which NO regulates GLUT3 trafficking remain to be investigated.
Previously, we have shown that bath application of glutamate induces sequential phosphorylation of nNOS at S1412 and S847, respectively. Here, we show that synaptic NMDAR stimulation induces biphasic phosphorylation of nNOS at S1412 and a delayed increase in phosphorylation at S847, but phosphorylation at S1412 returns after an initial decline. The difference in the regulation of phosphorylation at S1412 in this paradigm reflects distinctive properties of synaptic NMDAR signaling cascades that induce differential regulation of kinase and phosphatase pathways for control of the phosphorylation of nNOS. Since, nNOS S1412 phosphorylation is required for NO production in neurons, we test the hypothesis that inhibition of phosphorylation at S1412 may block GLUT3 surface expression. We show that inhibition of Akt activity blocks the NO-dependent increase in GLUT3 at cell surface. The expression of the phosphomimetic nNOS mutation S1412D provides an opportunity to test the sufficiency of S1412 phosphorylation to increase the surface expression of GLUT3. The expression of nNOS mutant S1412D elevates GLUT3 at the plasma membrane, which suggests that stimulatory phosphorylation of nNOS regulates the expression of surface GLUT3. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that constitutive NO production imposes a metabolic burden on the cells, which triggers the increase in surface GLUT3. Given the multiple targets of NO function, it would be difficult to distinguish between several potential mechanisms including the reduction of NADPH, arginine consumption, or protein phosphorylation. Although S1412D expression shows sufficiency and along with the Akt inhibition suggests that S1412 phosphorylation is involved, this does not establish that phosphorylation of S1412 is necessary for the surface expression of GLUT3.
We also show that increased GC activity facilitates the translocation of GLUT3 to the cell surface, since incubation with ODQ blocks NMDAR-induced surface expression of GLUT3. We also show that treatments with 8-Br-cGMP increase surface GLUT3. This implies that activation of a cGK regulates the expression of surface GLUT3. A precedent for cGKII mediating cellular trafficking was described for the regulation of AMPA receptor (Serulle et al., 2007). However, the trafficking step in which the activation of cGK exerts its effects on GLUT3 translocation to plasma membrane remains to be elucidated.
Finally, to monitor glucose uptake in neurons after induction of synaptic activity, we used the fluorescent tracer 2-NBDG. After stimulation with bicuculline, the tracer accumulates in dendritic buttons, which potentially correspond to sites of glutamate release at synapses. However, our results are at odds with a study in which glutamate treatment inhibited glucose transport in hippocampal neurons (Porras et al., 2004). The basis for these discrepancies may lie in part in the methodology of the experiments. In our study, cultured cortical neurons are treated with FdU. The astrocytes that grow in close proximity to neurons could confound the quantification of 2-NBDG in neurons. Significantly, we use a different stimulation protocol that targets synaptic NMDAR. The regulation of glucose uptake under these conditions might well be different from bath application of glutamate or NMDA where extrasynaptic NMDAR becomes stimulated. Further studies will be needed to clarify these issues.
In total, our results suggest a mechanism that regulates surface GLUT3 that may serve homeostatic strategies allowing neuronal cells to meet the changing energy demands brought about by increased synaptic activity. Specifically, synaptic stimulation of NMDARs through the regulation of phosphorylation of nNOS and a NO-dependent pathway induces the surface expression of GLUT3 and subsequent increase in glucose entry (Fig. 9). These results suggest that the regulation of glucose transport is fundamental to the neuronal adaptive response to increased synaptic activity, which is achieved by regulatory induction of the surface expression of GLUT3.
A model coupling synaptic stimulation and glucose transport. Glutamate release at synapses stimulates NMDAR-mediated Ca2+ influx, which increases the production of NO. Increased NO induces the production of cGMP and the activation of cGK pathway that increases the translocation of GLUT3 at cell surface and consequent glucose transport. This suggests a mechanism by which neuronal cells maintain energetic homeostasis during synaptic transmission. CaMKII, Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II.
This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health Grant Supplement 3R01DK64679–03. Special thanks to Dr. Edward Ziff and Joe Hurt for a close reading of the manuscript, and Dr. Mark Mattson for helpful discussions.
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(2001) Model of the 3-D structure of the GLUT3 glucose transporter and molecular dynamics simulation of glucose transport. Proteins 42:531–541.
(2007) Glucose transporter isoform-3 mutations cause early pregnancy loss and fetal growth restriction. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 292:E1241–E1255.
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(1989) NMDA receptor activation induces nitric oxide synthesis from arginine in rat brain slices. Eur J Pharmacol 172:413–416.
(2002) Coupling of extrasynaptic NMDA receptors to a CREB shut-off pathway is developmentally regulated. Biochim Biophys Acta 1600:148–153.
(1997) 17Beta-estradiol attenuates oxidative impairment of synaptic Na+/K+-ATPase activity, glucose transport, and glutamate transport induced by amyloid beta-peptide and iron. J Neurosci Res 50:522–530.
(1998) Unique mechanism of GLUT3 glucose transporter regulation by prolonged energy demand: increased protein half-life. Biochem J 333:713–718.
(1986) The kinetics of glucose transport in human red blood cells. Biochim Biophys Acta 857:146–154.
(1991) Endogenous nitric oxide: physiology, pathology and clinical relevance. Eur J Clin Invest 21:361–374.
(1993) Neuron-specific glucose transporter (NSGT): CNS distribution of GLUT3 rat glucose transporter (RGT3) in rat central neurons. FEBS Lett 334:289–295.
(2004) Glutamate mediates acute glucose transport inhibition in hippocampal neurons. J Neurosci 24:9669–9673.
(2000) Role of NMDA receptor functional domains in excitatory cell death. Neuropharmacology 39:2255–2266.
(2003) NMDA receptor regulation of nNOS phosphorylation and induction of neuron death. Neurobiol Aging 24:1123–1133.
(2007) Biphasic coupling of neuronal nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation to the NMDA receptor regulates AMPA receptor trafficking and neuronal cell death. J Neurosci 27:3445–3455.
(2008) Neuronal functions, feeding behavior, and energy balance in Slc2a3+/- mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 295:E1084–E1094.
(2007) A GluR1-cGKII interaction regulates AMPA receptor trafficking. Neuron 56:670–688.
(1994) Reduced glucose transporter concentrations in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Ann Neurol 36:800–801.
(2007) Supply and demand in cerebral energy metabolism: the role of nutrient transporters. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 27:1766–1791.
(2010) Neuronal glucose transporter isoform 3 deficient mice demonstrate features of autism spectrum disorders. Mol Psychiatry 15:286–299.
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One of the issues the professional interviewer needs to address during many interviews or interrogations is overcoming the resistance of the individual to tell the truth. The resistance may be there for many reasons, some related to deception or fear, and some may be related to other factors, such as the environment of the interview or the relationship between the interviewer and interviewee.
If you can identify why the resistance is there, such as a lack of rapport or trust between you and the individual, then you can work to establish rapport and trust. If it is environmental, such as conducting an interview in an area where other people can overhear the conversation, then you can address that and move to a more private area.
If the individual appears resistant and you believe they are withholding information, you can try to let THEM convince themselves to tell the truth. Ask them questions like, "Why would it be important for someone involved in a situation like this to tell the truth?" Don't let them escape with an 'I-don't-know', try to have them come up with some reasons, they might be very compelling and help you tap into their thoughts and concerns about the situation, and provide a path on how to overcome their resistance. Then you can ask them "What would the positive outcomes be for someone who told the truth?" Again, have them think about it and respond. This may help them find the reasons for them to be truthful. You can then ask "What would the next steps be for a person in this situation?"
This type of questioning taps into their thoughts and motivations on why they are resistant and can lead to a positive change in their mindset. It helps them think through the situation a little better, because they may be caught up in the fear of getting in trouble for something they did but have not taken the time to think of the positive benefits of telling the truth.
The benefits they come up with and verbalize may be as simple as "they will feel better about themselves after telling the truth", "they will get it behind them", "they may be given a second chance" etc. but it is coming from them, not us. If the interviewer tell the person statements like that it will not have the same weight to persuade and motivate as if the individual says the same thing.
A detective I worked with shared a story with me. He stated that another detective was talking with a suspect on a major case, but he was not being cooperative and the detective was not getting through the barrier, or resistance, he was putting up. He took a break from the interview and told the other detective the difficulty he was having and asked if he would try talking with him. The detective went in the room, made good eye contact with the gentleman and sincerely asked, "What's on your mind...what are you concerned about?" The detective said the guy started crying and said his girlfriend was pregnant and he didn't want to go to jail and never see his baby!
In the "old days" overcoming a subject's resistance was dealt with quite differently...rubber hoses, bright lights and phone books come to mind from many old-time cop shows! Contemporary law enforcement and professional interviewers don't have to resort to unethical, illegal and ineffective techniques...they only need proper training, a proper mind-set, and a determination to find the truth.
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Messi (right) receives the congratulations of Dmytro Chygrynskiy after his hat-trick.
(CNN) -- Lionel Messi grabbed a brilliant hat-trick as Barcelona routed Tenerife 5-0 on Sunday to maintain their two-point advantage at the top in the Spain's La Liga over arch rivals Real Madrid.
Barca, who went into the late kickoff temporarily trailing Real, who had won 2-0 at home to Real Mallorca, made a slow start and might have been behind.
Alejandro Alfaro had three good chances to put the hosts ahead but the Tenerife striker hit the crossbar on was denied twice by goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
They were made to pay as World Player of the Year Messi scored the opener in the 36th minute after getting a pass from Bojan Krkic inside the area.
Messi's free kick saw Carles Puyol head home the second in the 44th minute and on the stroke of halftime a move involving Andres Iniesta and Krkic set up Messi for the simplest of third goals.
The Argentina international notched his 12th league goal of the season and his hat-trick with an impudent cruling chip over goalkeeper Sergio Aragoneses into the top corner.
Ezequiel Luna completed the rout with an own-goal in the 85th under pressure from Pedro to leave Barcelona with 43 points from 17 matches.
Real Madrid were totally dominant against a Mallorca side who had exceeded expectations to occupy fourth place in the Primera Liga going into the match.
With freezing weather affecting the bulk of Europe, the match was played wintry conditions, with a snow being seen at a match in the Bernabeu for the first time in 30 years.
But Real put on a performance to warm their fans huddled in the giant stadium, with Gonazalo Higuain putting them ahead with a stunning eighth minute strike as he cut inside to fire past Dudu Aoarte.
The home side should have increased their advantage just before the break as Cristiano Ronaldo shot wide from an excellent position after a flowing home move.
Higuain crossed for Esteban Granero to score Real's second on 50 minutes as he volleyed past Aoarte.
Granero should have notched a clinching third soon afterwards as his fierce shot from a Kaka cutback was brilliantly turned away by Aoarte.
Brazil star Kaka lasted just over an hour after an injury layoff before being replaced by Karim Benzema.
Earlier, Valencia strengthened their grip on third place behind the big two with a 3-1 win at bottom club Xerez.
The home team, who have just seven points after 17 rounds, looked set to spring a surprise when Carlos Calvo equalized Juan Mata's opener.
But Valencia re-established their command with a goal from Spanish international star David Silva and a fine individual strike from Carlos Marchena sealed three points.
Deportivo maintained their bid for a Champions League slot with a 1-0 win over Osasuna to go fourth.
Juan Rodriguez scored the only goal of the game as he met Andres Guardado's cross in the 50th minute.
Osasuna were down to 10 men when midfielder Javad Nekounam was red carded in the 67th minute.
In the relegation battle, Malaga stretched their unbeaten run to 10 matches in all competitions but were held to a 1-1 draw by Athletic Bilbao.
Fernando Llorente denied Malaga a deserved three points with a late penalty for Bilbao to earn a share of the spoil after Weligton's opening goal at the start of the second half.
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Context the 1st: School Without Walls is our elective/credit recovery program. I co-taught a 2 week class called Bike and Hike.
I would do well to remember that teaching is an exercise in listening and trying to figure out what students are trying to tell you.
We (or rather, Y-Bike, a super awesome non-profit through the YMCA) are taking the kiddos biking.
It is a long bike ride, especially if you are not ready.
Fernanda, who I’ve had for 2 years (and introduce accordingly; to her teachers next year, to the nice person at the rock climbing place when she refuses to get shoes, to anyone she makes faces at, to my parents when they volunteer in my classroom, etc), complains (loudly) that she can’t do it. We adjust gears. Nada. We bike in the back. Nada. One of the nice Y-bike people comes back to conference with us (“Well, we trust you to know your students best,” she says, which feels like an accusation in the heat of the moment, but is actually a gentle reminder that I need to listen). As we conference, Fernanda continues to moan. And walk.
I swear she will walk her bike through all the pain. Maybe out of instinct, maybe out of blind rage, maybe to prove she can.
“We should go back,” I say. I wait for Fernanda to disagree. She doesn’t say anything, so we bike back.
Later, when we are sitting and waiting for everyone else to come back, Fernanda says that she has exercised before, but it has never hurt like this. I tell her it’s a good thing she listened to her body. We look at the route the other kiddos are taking and talk about all the teachers she’s had and what she wants to do after high school.
I would do well to listen to the kiddos.
During one of many random bus conversations, I tell Ning that my new favorite game involves what time we can get the field trip back to school. I am trying to get us back as close to the bell as we can (none of these dumb Price-Is-Right rules. Close as we can, even if it’s over, which we frequently are).
We are only about 5 minutes late on our return from the biking trip, which is pretty good considering that trip takes us the furthest (farthest?) away from school. As we walk up to school, the week-long camping trip is exiting the school.
“How was it?” I ask Carlos, one of my kiddos from this year.
It’s definitely time to go home.
Context: School Without Walls is our intersession elective class. (This is all the educational jargon I can handle right now) Because our kiddos arrive at various points in the year and because our master schedule is arranged to maximize content classes, our students don’t get as many elective classes. They need 2 years of PE and 1 year of Art to graduate. As a typical 4-year plan (let alone a 3.5 or 2.5 year plan) won’t get all these credits, we take the last 2 weeks of the year and run PE and Art classes so our students can make up credits. I’m currently co-teaching a class “in the style of” Bike and Hike. In one version, we were kayaking a lot.
#MTBoS30: Online challenge to write a math blog a day for 30 days, inspired by Anne Schwartz. I’ve missed quite a few days and am going back and adding in as I go.
Our class is called Bike and Hike. Today (errr, Tuesday) is a hike day. We take the bus (one of the same buses as yesterday, then a different bus) to a beach far away from school. I’m pretty sure I’ve gone to this beach at least once a year for School Without Walls. It’s comfortable, yet the kiddos always seem to love it.
Everyone seems tired today (and to be fair, we went biking yesterday). One kiddo is absolutely done, though she later says that buses make her moody (and is fine the rest of the day). I forget that School Without Walls has a certain rhythm and energy level to it (damn hippy Californians).
We do a potluck, which is somewhat successful. Maybe having new kiddos bring food the second day of class was a bit of a pipedream. A trip to the local Walgreen’s results in decent food. We try to dip everything in peanut butter, which goes well, up until the BBQ chicken.
We hike around some paths. Kiddos climb rocks that I think are a bit too high for my comfort and turn their backs to the ocean (I can already see my Hawai’ian aunties shaking their heads). One of the kiddos lobs a dead bird at another, at which point we usher everyone back onto the bus.
Peanut butter goes well with everything.
Sam’s first day at school is my first day at school and it’s hard to say who is more confused. I ask my advisory to fill out a “Get To Know Me” sheet. 18 sets of blank eyes stare back at me, including Sam.
We ride the bus back from Target. I talk with Sam and another advisee (probably in Spanish) about speaking Mam. Sam speaks it, the other advisee, Grace (also from Guatemala), does not. I don’t fully understand what this means.
Many times, Sam wanders into my classroom a few minutes before first period and helps to take down chairs. When you’re new, being early to first period is probably better than being alone.
At some point, Sam stops coming to school. I call home, but am only able to reach Mom a few times and with limited results. I see his name on a Wellness referral. I leave a folder for him during Portfolios, which remains empty.
We switch the order of our classes at the semester. Sam’s first period (my class) becomes his last period and vice versa. At some point (March? April?), after many months away, Sam randomly wanders back into my class. Cristina, who was in Sam’s class (originally first period, now last period), but switched back to first period, recognizes him. “What are you doing here, maje?” (I’m pretty sure she says it all in Spanish, despite being one of the better English speakers in the class) I send Sam to English class, not thinking to check in with him. I ask him how he’s doing at the end of the day. He says “fine”. I don’t see him again for a month.
3 of my advisees, including Sam, get SARBed.
We plan an SST for Sam. I call Mom. No one picks up. We hold the SST anyway.
I’m in the office during prep (probably forgot to take attendance again) and I see Sam and his mom. I crouch by his chair and ask how he’s doing. He says he’s moved. I write down Sam’s address and phone number (I later find out that I accidentally wrote Sam’s number under another advisee’s name. Oops). Sam asks someone in the office, in English, if his mom can go home. They don’t hear him so he asks again in Spanish.
A few days before the school year starts, I see Sam’s name on my advisory list, but not my class list. He gets transferred to another advisory where there is another Mam speaker. I go to give his Portfolio to his new advisor, except that there’s nothing to give.
Sam comes back on the first day of school. He looks happy. I grab him outside class and write down his actual phone number.
Sam walks into my classroom, most likely stalling on his way to actual class. Another student jokes with him about something inappropriately adolescent. They leave to go to actual class.
Another teacher and I talk with Sam about being 18 and whether he’ll be back in school next year. We push for him to come back.
I hear another teacher pull Sam aside for ridiculousness in the halls (my words, not theirs). I wonder if this is a phase that he was supposed to go through last year. I hope he grows out of it quick.
The other team calls a flock of students, including Sam, to the stage during the end of year assembly. The other students walk up. I don’t see Sam. I worry that he’s stopped coming to school again. The other team reads Sam’s achievements and calls his name again. Heads turn. Sam walks down the aisle quickly. I think I see a sheepish grin on his face. I chide myself for doubting him.
Not their real name. Obvio.
The 18 students that I am responsible for supporting socioemotionally. Like a homeroom.
Students can be referred to the school Wellness center for a wide rage of health-related issue. All public high schools in our district have them.
Students who are truant are referred to the Student Attendance Review Board (SARB). This is an intervention along the spectrum of truancy intervention.
Student Success Team (meeting). The student, teachers and other people who care about the student talk about how best to support the student.
These days, I’m fascinated with David Coleman, and not just because he shares a name with a dear friend from Peace Corps. Ed policy wonks can read more here (hat tip to journalist Dana Goldstein, whose writing I just can’t get enough of). The short story is that he helped write the Common Core and was recently named to head up the College Board.
Very little of the writing I learned in high school (5 paragraphs, although/because thesis to some extent, concession paragraph, and a concluding paragraph that I still don’t know how to write) comes into play today (to be fair, I work in nonprofit operations). I’ve learned (through ever-patient college newspaper editors and a line-editing boss) to trim my writing down to drive the main point home. No narrative at all, really. Quick, effective writing and supplementary formatting/bolding.
That being said, quite a bit of the work we do externally involves narrative. Our blogs, our emails, our speeches all involve telling stories about what we do and the people we do it with/for. People don’t relate to numbers, they relate to other people. This is especially true (I think) when teaching students – if you don’t engage them, they might not care enough to learn. The takeaway for me is that you need to master both the facts and how to tell them. What’s that saying about silver bullets?
Speaking of narrative, check out “The Experiment” about schools in New Orleans (decidedly pro-charter, but most of the schools in New Orleans are charters these days, apparently).
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Are virtual phone numbers the same as numbers from the phone company?
Actually, virtual phone numbers are much better than the numbers you receive from your local telephone provider.
Your local phone provider will generally require that you purchase their service if you have your phone number registered with them and they will generally charge high fees to forward the number to alternative service (e.g. cell phone). They can also reject your request to take the number with you if you change service providers and move outside of the local area.
When you register your business number with Talkroute, you receive a number that can be registered in all major business directories and when searched, appears just like any other business number. Best of all, you can route the number to any phone(s), regardless of the service provider. If you ever decide to leave Talkroute, there is no hassle to take your number with you.
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Now, Martin is wondering what to do in order to collect the sums owed to him.
There are a few steps he can take in order to execute his judgment.
First, he should formally ask his landlord to comply with the judgment and pay him the sums owed, including interest. He should do this in writing, stating that he wants the payment within a specific time limit, failing which he will have no choice but to take steps for the compulsory execution of the judgment.
If the landlord does not cooperate, Martin will have to wait until the decision becomes executory. Sometimes, the time period until steps can be taken for the compulsory execution of a judgement is set out in the judgment itself. If not, it will depend on the proceedings that were instituted, because the law provides for different time periods. In Martin’s case, the time period is 30 days.
Once the 30 days have elapsed, if the decision has not been contested and Martin is still the tenant and there has been no change of landlord, Martin will be able to collect the amount owed to him by effecting compensation against future rental payments. For example, if he pays a monthly rent of $500, he can effect compensation by not paying his rent for 3 months. It is important to note that Martin cannot effect compensation for his damages before the judgment has been rendered and the execution period has elapsed. He cannot take the law into his own hands.
Seizing movable property: Martin can have a bailiff seize his landlord’s movable property, with the exception of unseizable property, such as the instruments of work used by his landlord for carrying on his professional activities, clothing and furniture necessary for the life of the household, etc. After the movable property has been seized, it will be sold in a judicial sale and Martin will be able to collect the amount owed to him from the proceeds of sale.
Martin should consult a firm of court bailiffs, because bailiffs are the ones responsible for executing judgments. The bailiffs will be able to open a file in the Court of Québec and see to it that a writ of seizure is issued and served. They will also be able to explain the various seizure or execution methods available and determine those that are best suited to his situation. (Chambre des huissiers du Québec: 514-721-1100).
If the decision had only dealt with repairs ordered by the Court, Martin could also have made an application to deposit his rent at the Régie du logement. If the authorization to deposit his rent had been granted, this would have put pressure on the landlord to perform his obligations and comply with the judgment.
Lastly, it is important to remember that a judgment is executory for a period of 10 years.
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Tips of managing stress at work to reduce problems as highlighted below are taken from this article.
Create a lunchtime ritual you enjoy: It's the half-way point of the day, make it yours: music, magazines, go outside, play on Facebook, learn something new on a podcast.
Clear your desk of unnecessary stuff: Don't let outdated debris clutter your workspace. Go feed the recycling barrel.
Have updates for your manager: What did you do today that's useful and helps the company? Keep an ongoing list of projects you've done and save positive feedback you get via email.
Prioritize with honesty: Complete the big projects first and ask for help sooner rather than later. To get up to speed, you can try our free tutorials, videos, and instruction on various Office programs.
Less complaining and more smiling: Avoid drama, gossip less, and watch the people around you respond accordingly to your positive energy.
Admit to mistakes: Reduce complications and increase personal integrity.
Do your job: Be the one who doesn't need micromanaging. Take the initiative, earn trust and simplify your work life.
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I'm trying to replace my takeout habit with healthy home-cooked meals, but the idea of a sink full of pots and pans puts me off every time! Can you suggest some recipes that can be made with just one pot or pan?
Ah, chili: The ultimate one-pot meal! No mixing bowls or other kitchen equipment required for this hearty recipe. Just brown the ground beef, add the remaining ingredients, and cook until veggies are soft. It makes eight servings, so leftovers are likely. This means you only have to clean one pot for several meals!
Stir-frys like this Asian-inspired dish are perfect for those who loathe a lengthy kitchen cleanup. If you're skeptical about tofu, this is a good beginner recipe: The tofu is cooked perfectly, and it's full of flavor! You can also make this recipe with chicken breast or shrimp. Give it a shot!
Here's another stir-fry favorite, this time featuring chicken! It's chock-full of veggies like snap peas and asparagus, plus water chestnuts and almonds for serious crunch. With this recipe, dinner will be ready in under half an hour, and cleanup takes just a few minutes. Who loves you?
Teriyaki marinade + sweet Asian chili sauce = magic! And since eggplant soaks up the flavor of other ingredients, the veggie becomes insanely delicious in this protein-packed stir-fry. Plus, you'll go from chopping to eating in under 30 minutes. Love it!
This dish involves three ingredients, one pan, and zero reasons not to make it all the time! The broccoli cole slaw cooks down to a noodle-like consistency that is soooo good. Top it off with marinara sauce and stir in some shrimp (a freezer staple), and you're DONE. It's simple to make, and all that protein leaves you feeling satisfied. Even more satisfying is the minimal cleanup required!
Chances are, you've got more than a few friends who could use these one-pot meals. Click "Send to a Friend" to make their day!
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Islam is a monotheistic religion like Judaism and Christianity, and like those religions, it teaches that God created the whole universe and everything in it. God is the master designer who put order and purpose in his creation, and he rules over it with compassion and mercy. Everything in creation depends upon God, the Sustainer, for its existence. The purpose of all creation, including humans, is to love and serve God.
The very name of the religion, Islam, means submission or obedience to God, and the Muslim is one who submits or surrenders to God and recognizes Muhammad as God's prophet. All created things fulfill their assigned purpose by serving God. Plants and animals, rocks and minerals, rain and wind, stars and planets all naturally fulfill the purpose for which they were designed. By doing so, they worship and serve God. Everything in nature, by acting according to its design, serves God's will. In a sense, the whole universe is Muslim because it surrenders to the divine purpose.
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those who (portion) is no wrath, and go not astray.
Islam teaches that God created humans from clay and breathed the spirit of life into them. He separated them from the rest of creation by giving them three divine gifts: intelligence to distinguish the true from the false, a will that can freely choose between them, and the power of speech to worship. Because of these gifts, people are the noblest of God's creatures, superior to the rest of nature. However, people are not perfect. Although not sinful by nature, humans are vulnerable to temptation. Because they are rebellious and proud, they often forget that they are dependent on God.
The Quran stresses the mercy and compassion of God, and the words "merciful" (rahmah) and "compassionate" (rahim) come from the same root, rahma, which carries the meaning of forgiveness, and abundant mercy that sustains, protects, and rewards. Because He is the sustainer and protector, God has created a well-regulated and ordered universe in which night regularly follows day so that creatures may rest, and the sun and moon follow predictable patterns, creating seasons so that humans may cultivate plants for food. God also provided animals to assist humans in fulfilling their needs for warmth and food. Those who remember this fulfill their purpose by worshiping and serving Him as stewards of His creation.
What does it mean to serve God, according to Islam? The answer lies in God's books of prophecy. God gave his revelation through the prophets, so that humans may know how to fulfill their purpose as God's agents on earth. They are to assist in realizing God's will for all of creation. In their desire to understand God's plan, most people benefit from God's guidance, which is why God sent prophets. God gave humans the Quran and the law, and together, they are the guide to a peaceful life. Put simply, humans serve God by doing good deeds, telling the truth, and obeying God's instructions contained in the Quran and the law. They serve the underserved. They feed the poor and care for orphans. They are faithful, and when they sin, they seek forgiveness with sincere remorse.
As in Judaism and Christianity, simply following the way of Islam is its own reward. By following the path revealed by God, Muslims live in harmony with God and with all of creation. This brings the great blessings of peace and happiness in life. Those who live according to God's design will find wealth and success, and they will be respected in their communities, because they will always choose the right way. Not only will they be blessed by God, they will be a source of blessing to those who know them.
1. Why is viewing Allah as the creator essential to the behavior of Muslims?
2. What is the role of service within Islam?
3. What is the ultimate reward of working toward a peaceful and service-oriented existence?
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0.999524 |
What it takes to "Go Viral"
It seems like we hear a new story every week: a video, or a rumor, or a song, or a commercial has "gone viral," spreading across the web like wildfire, racing to the top of the most tweeted list, and grabbing headlines in real old fashioned news media. These memes can be disgusting (like the Domino's pizza video), controversial (like the recent Kony 2012 video), and entertaining ("Friday" ?). They can be disasters for companies (see Domino's above), or marketing campaigns that reach hundreds of thousand, or even millions, of viewers for relatively little investment (1300 foot drop, the Old Spice Guy). Given the potential impact of these "memes," there is a lot of interest in what exactly determines whether or not a video, or a message, or a rumor goes viral. Here's a simple model that explains why some things do and some things don't.
Let's consider the example of a YouTube video. Suppose that on average, every person that views the video tells c of their friends about it per day (c stands for contacts), and suppose that some fraction i of the people that hear about the video actually watch it and start telling other people about it themselves (i stands for infectivity, and captures something like how interesting the video is.) Finally, suppose that on average, each person that is actively spreading word of the video does so for d days before they get bored and stop telling people about the video (d stands for duration).
To keep things simple, suppose that there are a total of N people in the population, and every one of these people is either actively spreading the video, or not actively spreading the video, but susceptible to becoming a video spreader. Let I denote the number of people currently spreading (i.e. infected) and S the number of people that are susceptible, but not currently spreading the video. So, I+S=N.
To see if the video goes viral or not, we just have to compare the rate at which people are becoming infected to the rate at which people are discontinuing sharing the video. It helps to think of a bath tub — the level of water in the bath tub represents the number of people spreading the video. The rate that water flows in through the faucet is the rate at which new people are becoming infected with the video spreading virus; the rate at which water drains out is the rate at which people are stopping spreading the video. If the rate at which water flows in is higher than the rate at which it drains out, the tub will keep filling up. On the other hand, if the drain is more open than the faucet, the bath tub will never fill up.
So, we have to figure out the rate at which new people are starting to spread the video and the rate at which people currently sharing the video are stopping. The second one is easier. If I people are currently sharing the video and each one of them shares it for d days on average, then each day we expect I/D people to stop spreading the video. For the first rate, we have I people actively sharing the video. On average, each one of them shares the video with c contacts per day, resulting in a total of cI contacts for the whole population. But, not all of these contacts results in a new person sharing the video. First, some of these people will already be sharing the video. The probability that a given person is not currently sharing the video is S/N, the fraction of "susceptible" people in the population. So, we expect cIS/N instances in which a person shares the video with someone that is currently spreading the video. Given such a contact, we said that a fraction i of these will result in a new person sharing the video. Putting it all together, the rate at which new people are becoming infected with the video sharing virus is ciIS/N.
Now we have to compare our two rates. The video will go viral if ciIS/N>I/d. Dividing both sides by I and multiplying both sides by d, this becomes, cidS/N>1. Finally, we can make life a little simpler by assuming that initially almost no one knows about the video, so the number of susceptible people S and the total population N are about the same. Then S/N is approximately 1, so the equation simplifies to just cid>1.
This simple equation tells us whether or not the video will go viral. It says if the average number of contacts, times the infectivity, times the duration is greater than one, the video will spread, otherwise it will die out. Right at cid=1 there is a tipping point; crossing this threshold causes a discontinuous jump in the future.
This model makes a lot of assumptions that don't really hold (big ones are that people have roughly the same # of contacts on average, and the people basically interact at random), but it gives us a basic understanding of the process. Even in more complicated models, where we make fewer simplifying assumptions, there is typically a similar tipping point, and increasing either contacts, infectivity, or duration increases the chance of crossing that threshold.
So, there you have it — everything you need to go viral: a network with enough contacts (c); a product, or message, that sounds interesting enough to be infectious (i), and with enough staying power so that people keep telling their friends about it for a long time (d).
"Social Media in Tornado Alley"
A recent New York Times newsletter contained an article, "Social Media in Tornado Alley," in which they describe how resident posted YouTube videos and reporter Twitter feeds contributed to their coverage of the tornado devastation in Joplin, Missouri. They created a video by piecing together YouTube clips and their reporter Brian Stelter, "immediately began filing a stream of Twitter updates that provide a unique and up to the second account of what he was seeing on the ground there."
It's interesting to see how the Times and other "traditional" news organizations are folding social media into their portfolio. On the one hand, social media is seen as a challenge to traditional news sources, since so much information is available via the Web. But, I think we're seeing how organizations like the Times can serve as curators of this information by collecting the most interesting/important/reliable pieces and adding expert commentary and analysis.
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0.999728 |
Will an old address on my credit report hurt my credit score?
One section of your credit report lists both your current and previous addresses. Credit bureaus receive updates about your address from creditors and other businesses that report your account information. Each time you notify your creditors of an address change, creditors report the new address along with your other credit report information to the credit bureaus. What does this mean for your credit score?
Fortunately, the addresses on your credit report won't affect your credit score. Even old addresses and addresses where you never resided affect your credit score because they're not even included in the credit scoring calculation. Your credit score is based on five main categories of information: payment history, amount of debt, length of credit history, types of accounts, and recent applications for credit.
As long as the addresses on your credit report are accurate, you don't have much to worry about. However, if you spot the wrong address on your credit report, i.e. an address where you never lived, it could be a sign of fraud or identity theft. Review the rest of your credit report to make sure there are no accounts that don't belong to you.
You're entitled to an accurate credit report and can dispute inaccurate addresses with the credit bureau to have them removed. It's also a good idea to read through every entry on your credit report to be sure they're all accounts that you opened, particularly if you spot inaccurate addresses on your credit report.
Review the inquiries on your credit report and contact the credit bureau if there are inquiries from companies you don't recognize. Note that odd addresses can end up on your credit report if you share an account with someone who's moved around.
Could Moving Alot Get You Denied?
Lenders could use the addresses on your credit report to make a lending decision about you. For example, a lender may check your credit report and interpret several different addresses as instability.
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0.999996 |
The Nikon Coolpix 3500 is a 3.2MP camera that was released in 2002.
Why does my camera not take a charge?
The Coolpix 3500 includes a variety of scene modes including: Fireworks Show, Night Landscape, Museum, Night Portrait, and many more.
Other features include: 3x optical Zoom Digital Camera, a rechargeable battery with a life of 80 minutes, Automatic Noise Reduction, and Versatile White Balance settings.
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0.999384 |
Truebill maintains no partnership or agreement with x.ai. Truebill is an independent third party service that acts as an authorized representative when cancelling subscriptions on your behalf.
Email [email protected] and ask them to cancel your account.
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0.954111 |
Why are twig template comparisons such annoying strings?
That is, a string of the number with a space on either side. Why?
In Drupal it is quite easy to set breadcrumbs with the function drupal_set_breadcrumb(), which takes an array of links (as you would make with the l() function). It's a bit of a blunt instrument but it works (and wins out over hook_menu_breadcrumb_alter()).
In a terminal, go to the directory holding your Vagrantfile and your project code. Then the fun begins.
Views fields offer the opportunity to "Rewrite results: Rewrite the output of this field". The option further specifies "Enable to override the output of this field with custom text or replacement tokens." It then provides a textarea with the instruction: "The text to display for this field. You may include HTML. You may enter data from this view as per the 'Replacement patterns' below." The replacement patterns, in turn, have the introduction: "The following tokens are available for this field.
You've upgraded migrate module from 7.x-2.5-rc2 or such to 7.x-2.6. Your migrations may run, or not run, with this complaining error: "Passing a group object to a migration constructor is now deprecated pass through the arguments array passed to the leaf class instead."
Set old_type if you want to programmatically update a node type / machine name.
This has to be done for each site. This is after installing Memcache on your server.
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0.992411 |
When Does DST Start and End in the Netherlands?
The European mainland of the Netherlands uses Daylight Saving Time (DST) during part of the year. The DST period starts on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday of October, together with most other European countries.
Central European Time (CET) is used as standard time, while Central European Summer Time (CEST) is observed when DST is in force.
Netherlands first observed Daylight Saving Time in 1916.
Netherlands has observed DST for 73 years between 1916 and 2019.
On April 30, 1916, Germany became the 1st country to observe Daylight Saving Time (DST). On the very next day, on May 1, 1916, the Netherlands followed suit.
Until 1940, the Netherlands' standard time was based on solar time at the meridian running through its capital, Amsterdam, instead of GMT, then the world's time standard. From 1916 to 1936, Dutch standard time was 19 minutes and 32 seconds ahead of GMT. When DST was in force, the GMT offset increased to 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 32 seconds.
During World War II, German forces ordered an all-year DST period, which lasted from 1940 to 1942. From 1942 to 1945, Dutch clocks followed Germany's DST schedule. After the country's liberation in 1945, DST was abolished. However, the Netherlands did not revert to Dutch Time but kept Central European Time (CET) as its standard time. Daylight Saving Time was re-introduced in 1977, and DST clock changes are still observed in the Netherlands to the present day.
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0.998479 |
In cricket, one measure of a batsman's worth is the number of runs the player scores per innings, which is known as the player's average. Calculating this statistic is straightforward for any batsman who's obligingly and unfailingly managed to be dismissed prior to the completion of their team's innings as then it's just a simple division of total runs scored by number of innings batted, but it's problematic as soon as a batsmen has registered a "not out".
Treating a not out innings as equivalent to a completed innings seems unfair. In effect such treatment is equivalent to assuming that, had the team's innings continued, the batsman would have scored no further runs. That's a possible outcome, but surely not the most likely one (Chris Martin aside).
Tradition has it that, instead, a player's average will be calculated by dividing the total number of runs the player has scored by the number of completed innings he or she has had. Runs scored in innings where a player remains not out are therefore considered something of a bonus, and a player considered to be playing cautiously near the end of his or her team's innings in an effort to remain not out is sometimes accused of "playing for his (or her) average".
With a little maths we can answer a simple question: after a not out innings, how many extra runs would a player have needed to score before being dismissed in order to have the same average at the end of the innings?
Using these terms, prior to the current innings the player's average would have been R0/I and, after the current innings, it became (R0+S)/I.
We want to know what the value of E is, the extra runs that he or she would have needed to score before being dismissed, so that (RO+S+E)/(I+1) = (RO+S)/I.
The current method of incorporating a not out score in a player's average is equivalent to assuming that he or she would have scored before being dismissed in addition to whatever score he or she had accumulated as many runs as was his or her average prior to the innings.
So, for example, if a player with an average of 30 remains 27 not out at the end of the team's innings, as far as her average is concerned it's as if she batted on and scored 57 - the 27 she already had plus her average.
How reasonable is this assumption is practice?
One obvious criticism is that players tend to have a period of additional vulnerability early in their innings and that the likelihood of their being dismissed diminishes with the length of their innings. If that's the case then effectively crediting them with their average if they remain not out 0 at the completion of their innings seems generous, and doing the same if they're 100 not out seems unfair.
Put another way, what this suggests is that the extra runs a player scores before being dismissed is a function of the runs he or she has already scored.
We can test this hypothesis by calculating conditional averages for the actual scores of some players. Here's Ricky Ponting's (as at 14 Feb 2011).
Looking firstly at the numbers for Tests, we see that, in those innings where he is eventually dismissed, once Ricky has made 0 runs, on average he scores 46.3 runs more before he is dismissed. If we add the runs he scores in not out innings (and divide by the number of completed and not out innings), then this average increases to 47.7 runs.
Perhaps more interestingly, once he gets to 30 he's good for another 54 or so runs.
One thing you'll notice here is that there's no evidence of Ricky scoring a larger number of additional runs before being dismissed once his score reaches about 10. This suggests that the current treatment of not out innings might not have much of a distortionary effect on player averages - well, on Ricky's at least.
Actually, to make that argument we need more than that the number of additional runs scored be roughly constant, we need it to be roughly constant at around Ricky's average.
And, for Tests, it is, give or take a run or two.
For ODI's, however, the treatment of not outs is almost certainly distortionary. Even choosing the most generous example where Ricky has already scored 10 and including all of his not out innings, he still is only good for, on average, an extra 38 runs, not the 43 runs that he's effectively being credited with.
The problem, I think, stems from the inherently truncated nature of the limited overs format, which means that, if anything, a player is more likely to be dismissed as his innings progresses and balls remaining dwindle - a factor that can be seen to some extent in Ricky's statistics for scores of 40 and over.
At this point you might well be wondering if these conclusions apply only to Ricky Ponting. Well, here's the same analysis for Sachin Tendulkar.
For both Tests and ODIs, the overall pattern of Sachin's data is similar to that for Ricky. There's certainly no evidence for the hypothesis that he's likely to score more additional runs the more he's already scored in either form of the game, once he's reached about 20.
Again we need to compare these numbers to his career statistics.
Here too we find for Sachin in Tests that his conditional average scores are just a few runs shy of his traditional average, but for ODIs the difference is much greater.
It would be an interesting exercise to complete this analysis for some other players of different styles and averages - perhaps a Sehwag, a Gilchrist or a Smith - but that's a task for another weekend.
In the meantime, my tentative conclusion would be that the current treatment of not out innings does little to distort a player's test average but probably inflates his ODI average.
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0.943051 |
Notrium is a game of survival. Having crash-landed on an alien planet, your character needs to scavenge for food, keep himself warm and find suitable shelter without being killed off by an array of savage, alien species. The eventual aim is to find the equipment required to repair your escape pod so that you can fly off the planet, but you're more likely to end up dead than end up back in space! Why are you going to be dying so much? Because the game pushes it's survival-based mechanisms really hard, giving your character no less than four different factors to worry about.
The first of these is your hunger meter, which you need to keep topped up by scavenging for food from a variety of sources. Edible fungi will make up most of your diet and these quickly become a valuable resource, but you are also able to eat the meat of any aliens you kill. The hunger meter is eaten up (get it?) continuously, with consumption increasing whenever you walk, throw a punch etc. and is usually your primary concern as a result.
The second factor you need to worry about is your character's temperature. The environment around you will become both too cold (i.e. at night or when you stand in the rain without any cover) and too warm (walking through desert environments), forcing you to make campfires or use ice-packs to maintain a good temperature. Some terrains are impassable without these items available (try crossing a desert map without any ice packs, for instance), which adds a Zelda-esque items vs. passability element to proceedings. Although far from your primary concern, you're definitely going to want to keep an eye on your temperature gauge when entering a new area.
Another factor to consider is the amount of battery power you have, as this is used for devices ranging from torches to radios; these items are often incredibly useful (the radio will help you locate nearby items, for example, and you definitely don't wanna go exploring at night without a torch) so you're gonna want to keep that battery charged.
The final factor is your health, which isn't just affected by taking damage as it is also affected by hunger and temperature; if you get too hungry or you get too hot/cold then you're going to start taking damage. Heat stroke is probably the worst of these as it makes walking, which you need to do in order to get into the shade, much harder.
The interface used in Notrium showing your temperature (purple), battery (blue), hunger (yellow) and health (red).
Overall, I thought that these factors were balanced really well. Being forced to keep a close eye on your item management, coupled with the fact that you know resources are finite, makes exploring the alien planet really taxing (in a good way, of course). Do you want to eat that fungi now or do you want to save it for later? Is it vital that you have your flashlight on or are you sure there's no aliens lurking around in those trees? Just exploring this alien planet is incredibly fun, so much so that it almost makes your end goal irrelevant (something I'd say it has in common with Fallout 3, another game where I spent more time exploring than I did trying to finish the actual game).
The only let down from a gameplay point of view is the combat. Seeing as this is a top-down game, the combat reminded me heavily of the combat in the early Grand Theft Auto games and I was never really impressed with the combat in those games either. There's a number of reasons for this, but the main two revolve around projectile weapons; they were always really hard to use because the bullets moved so slowly and being able to kite around the enemy's slow moving bullets turned their guns into an absolute joke. Both of these problems apply in Notrium and, although the game does make up for it in other ways, having supposedly scary enemies be far too easy to kill or avoid spoils some of the survival elements at play.
I can kite around this alien all day long and he's never gonna catch me!
From an artistic point of view, there isn't much wrong with this game, with the real strong-point being the atmosphere it sets via clever use of sound-effects. Take night-time, for instance; you can hear the rustling of aliens moving around in the trees, their howls and cries making you wonder whether or not one is about to jump out and start attacking you, forcing you to keep your flashlight on even though you know that you want to save the battery power for something else. The atmospherics work really well with the gameplay (you need to conserve resources, but you're constantly scared you're about to get torn to bits!), squeezing every bit of entertainment they can out of what is a relatively simple set of survival mechanisms.
This game takes a bunch of different elements and, with the exception of combat, executes them all brilliantly. Exploration is especially fun and, when combined with a wonderful selection of sound-effects, results in a very tense experience. Definitely worth a play. 7/10.
Doesn't sound like my cup of tea.
I'm with Sucio on this one, but I'm always willing to give things a try.
I would love to play this game, sounds right up my alley. Awesome and well detailed review as well.
Devblog: Riot Grrrl Custom Art!
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0.948033 |
Nothing is perfect'Karen, meanwhile, had spent time in London and Manchester ahead of the current Strictly series, in which she was partnered with Simon Rimmer.Addressing the claims surrounding her marriage, Karen had told The Sun: 'We're just a regular couple, we've been together for seven years and like any other relationship you have your ups and downs.
They said: 'They've met up on a number of occasions the past few weeks and are getting to know each other.
The Strictly Come Dancing professional recently insisted that she and her co-star husband are 'working on their marriage', but new reports have surfaced claiming the beauty is romantically linked to Stuart.
In pictures obtained by The Sun, Stuart and Karen have been spotted together on several occasions outside her home, with the duo leaving the house separately on Saturday morning.
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0.998922 |
The plot takes place at the beginning of the 20th century, in a reality where alchemy is real, extremely developed and respected. The plot features brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric who, after attempting the forbidden technique of human transmutation, suffer the consequences. Alphonse loses his entire body while Edward loses his left leg. Edward then sacrifices his right arm to save his brother's soul by attaching it to a metal suit of armor. Edward is then given mechanical prosthetics known as "automail" in place of his missing arm and leg. Upon acceptance into the State Alchemists, he is given the nickname "Fullmetal Alchemist", all while searching with Alphonse for the legendary philosopher's stone, that will repair their bodies.
Two alchemist brothers go on a quest for the Philosopher's Stone after an attempt to revive their dead mother goes horribly wrong.
After watching this film, I needed a place to process my experience and read similar reviews from others. Yeah, it's that bad. <br/><br/>This movie was an extremely tedious snooze-fest from start to finish, and over two hours of my life that I'm never going to get back. There was precious little action in this film, and even when it happened it felt stilted and wasn't particularly interesting to watch. Also, how many times can you plausibly have a character get attacked while everyone else just stands around watching? Whatever, I don't even care enough about this movie to litigate the merits of whatever narrative choices it thought it was making. <br/><br/>The dialogue was hackneyed and melodramatic, the characters were underdeveloped and completely uninteresting, and it was at least an hour longer than it needed to be. I have a sense that the villains were supposed to be cool, but they were just as bland as everyone else. <br/><br/>I've come to learn that this cinematic monstrosity is based on an anime film of the same name, which may or may not be good. I honestly don't want to have anything to do with this franchise after watching this; I refuse to give a second more of my time to anything that is even remotely associated with this movie. I would gladly trade an arm and a leg to turn back the clock and make the choice not to watch it.
Scenes are bit lousy and theres not much action as expected. though cgi not that bad there are some points of the story is boring, actings are not that much in line with the scenes.
While there are flaws galore in this live-action movie version, you get a sense that the director has a real love for the original source material. The color schemes and costumes have exactly the right hues and texture, and the ambiance is engaging overall.
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0.999731 |
Did you know that most of the ocean has never been seen by humans? Less than 5% of it has been explored. This creates many exciting opportunities for new generations of explorers and scientists. New tools such as underwater robots and new sensors are greatly increasing our ability to explore the unknown parts of the ocean. The ocean is the last great frontier, and a wonderful and exciting challenge.
7: The ocean is largely unexplored.
a. The ocean is the last and largest unexplored place on Earth—less than 5% of it has been explored. This is the great frontier for the next generation’s explorers and researchers, where they will find great opportunities for inquiry and investigation.
b. Understanding the ocean is more than a matter of curiosity. Exploration, inquiry and study are required to better understand ocean systems and processes.
c. Over the last 40 years, use of ocean resources has increased significantly, therefore the future sustainability of ocean resources depends on our understanding of those resources and their potential and limitations.
d. New technologies, sensors and tools are expanding our ability to explore the ocean. Ocean scientists are relying more and more on satellites, drifters, buoys, subsea observatories and unmanned submersibles.
e. Use of mathematical models is now an essential part of ocean sciences. Models help us understand the complexity of the ocean and of its interaction with Earth’s climate. They process observations and help describe the interactions among systems.
f. Ocean exploration is truly interdisciplinary. It requires close collaboration among biologists, chemists, climatologists, computer programmers, engineers, geologists, meteorologists, and physicists, and new ways of thinking.
Real-time data portal: An interactive map that shows the latest weather and ocean observations including winds, waves, air and water temperature, salinity, right whale presence and more.
Graphing and Download Tool: Provides easy access to data on past conditions that can be viewed and analyzed.
Text a buoy and Dial a buoy: Tools that allow mobile access to the latest weather and ocean observations.
Wave Height and Direction Forecast: Maps depict predicted wave conditions across the Gulf of Maine 48 hours in the future.
Coastal Flooding and Erosion Forecast: Decision support tool uses forecasts of water level and waves to predict coastal damage.
Ocean Surface Currents: Maps show speed and direction of currents based on data from high-frequency radar.
Ocean Climatology: An interactive tool that displays the average ocean and weather conditions from buoy locations throughout the northeast.
Ships at Sea – Link to the 4 major American ships exploring the sea floor.
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0.999338 |
EditRocket provides the following information on Network functions in the PHP source code builder.
int checkdnsrr ( string $host [, string $type ] ) - Searches DNS for records of type type corresponding to host.
bool closelog ( void ) - closelog() closes the descriptor being used to write to the system logger. The use of closelog() is optional.
int debugger_off ( void ) - Disable internal PHP debugger.
int debugger_on ( string $address ) - Enables the internal PHP debugger, connecting it to address.
void define_syslog_variables ( void ) - Initializes all constants used in the syslog functions.
array dns_get_record ( string $hostname [, int $type [, array &$authns ]], array &$addtl ) - Fetch DNS Resource Records associated with the given hostname.
resource fsockopen ( string $hostname [, int $port [, int &$errno [, string &$errstr [, float $timeout ]]]] ) - Initiates a socket connection to the resource specified by hostname.
string gethostbyaddr ( string $ip_address ) - Returns the host name of the Internet host specified by ip_address.
string gethostbyname ( string $hostname ) - Returns the IP address of the Internet host specified by hostname.
array gethostbynamel ( string $hostname ) - Returns a list of IP addresses to which the Internet host specified by hostname resolves.
bool getmxrr ( string $hostname , array &$mxhosts [, array &$weight ] ) - Searches DNS for MX records corresponding to hostname.
int getprotobyname ( string $name ) - getprotobyname() returns the protocol number associated with the protocol name as per /etc/protocols.
string getprotobynumber ( int $number ) - getprotobynumber() returns the protocol name associated with protocol number as per /etc/protocols.
int getservbyname ( string $service , string $protocol ) - getservbyname() returns the Internet port which corresponds to service for the specified protocol as per /etc/services.
string getservbyport ( int $port , string $protocol ) - getservbyport() returns the Internet service associated with port for the specified protocol as per /etc/services.
array headers_list ( void ) - headers_list() will return a list of headers to be sent to the browser / client.
bool headers_sent ([ string &$file [, int &$line ]] ) - Checks if or where headers have been sent.
string inet_pton ( string $address ) - This function converts a human readable IPv4 or IPv6 address (if PHP was built with IPv6 support enabled) into an address family appropriate 32bit or 128bit binary structure.
int ip2long ( string $ip_address ) - The function ip2long() generates an IPv4 Internet network address from its Internet standard format (dotted string) representation.
string long2ip ( int $proper_address ) - The function long2ip() generates an Internet address in dotted format (i.e.: aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd) from the proper address representation.
bool openlog ( string $ident , int $option , int $facility ) - openlog() opens a connection to the system logger for a program.
bool setcookie ( string $name [, string $value [, int $expire [, string $path [, string $domain [, bool $secure [, bool $httponly ]]]]]] ) - setcookie() defines a cookie to be sent along with the rest of the HTTP headers. Like other headers, cookies must be sent before any output from your script (this is a protocol restriction). This requires that you place calls to this function prior to any output, including and tags as well as any whitespace.
bool syslog ( int $priority , string $message ) - syslog() generates a log message that will be distributed by the system logger.
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0.99998 |
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Aldiss propone, en una serie de relatos cortos, una historia de la humanidad que abarca millones de años, desde nuestras estúpidas guerras en la Tierra hasta la inevitable decadencia de nuestra querida galaxia. Cada relato toca un tema específico en la historia de la humanidad; algunos de estos relatos son bastante buenos mientras que otros se quedan un poco cortos pero sin llegar a ser malos. Para mí el mejor relato ha sido el último: Los milenios finales.Tiene algunos de mis temas favoritos como, por ejemplo, robots, civilizaciones extraterrestres y colonización de planetas. Este libro tiene un poco de todo y lo que más me sorprendió fue su gigantesca línea de tiempo (comparada con otros libros que he leído este año como los de Scalzi o James S.A. Corey).Me imagino a Aldiss escribiendo este libro con el ceño fruncido, víctima de la preocupación por nuestro futuro, por el futuro de la humanidad. A reflexionar.
Curiosamente este libro, al igual que el que leí inmediatamente antes (334), consta de varios relatos entrelazados que forman una historia más compleja sobre el futuro de la humanidad.En el caso del libro de Aldiss, la trama es lineal, desde un futuro cercano hasta el fin de nuestra galaxia. Está lleno de ideas originales que valdría la pena explorar en relatos más largos.Las 3 estrellas son porque los relatos son de calidad e interés muy desparejos, aunque el libro es corto y las viñetas individualmente no son largas, algunos relatos me parecieron somníferos en comparación con otros. Mis favoritos: el de los robots, el del ser mutante, y el relato final.Me queda la duda, al pensar en el futuro de nuestra especie, si ser o no optimista. Sin duda este libro plantea posibilidades en uno y otro sentido.
My second read by Aldiss and just as enjoyable. This is from the golden age of scifi or thereabout, 9 thematically connected stories about the future of the Earth. Of course that is much too vague, since most if not all science fiction deals with that very subject, but this is specifically the projected future that spans millennia and then some. So it's a very lofty, very ambitious premise and the execution, while somewhat uneven, is quite good too. Not great, mind you, for me it never really exceeds the terrific first story, but very interesting still. Aldiss gives himself 40 million years to play with and each story visits pivotal moments in that timeline, the highs and lows and various oscillations in between. It's wildly inventive and often has a moral, but then again can just be read as an entertaining tale. Originally published in 1959 in UK under The Canopy of Time and 1960 in USA under author's preferred title seen above, it doesn't really reflect its age with the sort of dated references some genre books from that era tend to. This is pure imagination shaped by a good grasp of historical references, social psychology and politics. Despite all the serious implications such a collection might have found itself weighted down with, this is still pretty light reading, mostly entertaining, though might make you think now and again. Not sure if it was ever meant to be more, it's quite slender and unimposing for all that it is. Fun read. Recommended for science fiction fans.
Galaxies Like Grains of Sandis a solid work of science fiction. It accomplishes what so many books in the genre surprisingly fail to do, which is to raise questions about our collective future based upon our past and present conditions. For those that want to consider far reaching ideas about our long-term societal and human evolutionary paths, Galaxies Like Grains of Sandhas no shortage of such ideas.My issues with Galaxies stem from its structure. It attempts to be one complete text that presents fragments of Earth's history through countless millennia into the future. To accomplish this structure, the book is comprised of several short stories that are tied together with brief prefaces that focus on the book's historical theme.Aldiss' approach fragments the characters and the setting of each story while the central them of Earth's history is carried through to the end. Consequently, the characters and settings of each story serve Aldiss' purpose, but they fail to elicit any lasting sympathy. The characters simply vanish as the next fragment begins.The end result feels more like a recital of Aldiss' version of Revelation, and the human implications associated with Aldiss' visions are left to a sort of faith in him as the all-knowing writer. In the absence of sympathy, there is no way to feel a sense of truth in Aldiss' words.I think science fiction is capable of a literary story; complete with characters that communicate the nature of their existence, a setting that extrapolates realistic speculations on science, and a plot that strikes close to a human understanding of life. But so far, such a book has been elusive.
This is easily one of the best sci-fi novel, or just book, that I have ever read. This book is old and I had to obtain my copy via eBay, but it was worth it. The eight interconnected stories come to a surprising conclusion, and overall is very thought-provoking. I liked how each chapter focused on a different part in human history. While I do feel that this book could have used some more detail (the book is fairly slim compared to other books such as say, Dune) it is still a wonderful and thought-provoking read, with some juicy nugget of philosophy or thought in each section. My favorites were the 'Mutant' and the 'Ultimate' Millennia chapters.
Visionary history of mankind as told in nine installments by its replacement. Tells the tale like a geologist would - using million, thousand, and hundred year increments - Aldiss shows how man is the perfect seedling for populating the universe as well as the ultimate vehicle for its self-destruction. Man ruins the Earth, leaves Earth for the stars, tackles the problems of time travel through an integrated form of speech-like alchemy, rediscovers a still populated Earth but does not believe it to be the Earth of myth, renames Earth as there are already hundreds of planets in the universe laying claim to that distinction, unifies the universe, institutes galactic warfare as a necessary economical device, and destroys the universe in a truly unique battle against man's successor. Time is the constant, and Aldiss makes us aware that we are just a silly soap opera for the infinite to enjoy for but a minute or two.
A collection of short stories that Aldiss wrote many years ago, recompiled and republished recently. The stories stitch together the future history of mankind from the near future through to the galaxy's demise due to a form of proton decay. It is quaintly anachronistic, referring to 'reels' of holographic 3-D cinematography, intelligent machines communicating their digital information to each other by punch card, and using the term 'island universe' for the Milky Way galaxy--a term that fell out of favor in the first half of the 20th century.Yet most of the stories themselves remain imaginative and fresh for this new generation audience. Aldiss' distinctive world-view (and the primary mode of human space travel he depicts) incorporates and heavily depends on elements of eastern religious mysticism. This is sure to irk hard sci-fi fans - there is no attempt to extrapolate these imagined 'technologies' from known science concepts. I think this is Aldiss' attempt to foresee what cannot be foreseen, and so I find it a laudable enterprise. I'm not averse to finding spiritual elements in my imagined future worlds, so I enjoyed this, but I would not choose to call this science fiction. For me, it crosses the threshold into fantasy.A few of the stories suffer from a disease started by Isaac Asimov - I call it 'board-room-itis', a malady whose symptoms are the desire to write about people sitting about facing one another in a board room discussing the action and its futuristic settings rather than boldly venturing out into the rich, colorfully envisioned world itself and showing it to the reader first-hand.I believe Aldiss may have been the first to explore the demise of the universe as we know it. At a time when most science fiction writers were content with envisioning events of the next few tens of thousands of years, Aldiss was seeking the end-game. For this alone, I believe 'Galaxies like Grains of Sand' is a worthwhile read.
This is from my Dad's collection. Before I get to the substance of the book, I think it's worth mentioning that my Dad's copy is from 1960 and it has a cigarette ad right in the middle of the book. Wow. Anyway, the novel is about the history of the Earth and our Galaxy in the very distant future. It reminds me a lot of Cloud Atlas, even though it was written so long before Cloud Atlas. I enjoyed it a great deal, and the story felt cohesive though I just noticed when examining the book that many of the chapters were published as short stories before being combined into novel form. Because of this short story format, and because the the story spans millions of years, there isn't a central character, but many small under-developed characters. The story is more central than the characters.
The book is a collection of short stories published in the pulps between 1957-1958. Aldiss has added some new interstitial material to connect the stories by way of describing them as historical fragments of life in the Milky Way galaxy. Most of the stories are merely average at best. Only two managed to hold my interest: Who Can Replace a Man?, about robots who do their best to carry on after the last human dies, and Visiting Amoeba, about the newest lifeform in a nearby galaxy stopping in to say goodbye to mankind, the most advanced lifeform in the dying Milky Way galaxy. Visiting Amoeba is also the origin of the title phrase "Galaxies Like Grains of Sand" and is probably the strongest story in the book. Worth a read if you come across it but not worth seeking out.
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Why has the multi-use trail layout changed since the trail concept was first introduced in the 2013 public workshops?
Originally, the multi-use trail was just a vision by neighbors wanting to see improved connectivity in and around the park. When funding was identified in 2016, the PATH Foundation began working with the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia to formalize the design and layout. The PATH Foundation also worked with the Bobby Jones Golf Course Foundation to determine the best routing that would work with the renovated golf course design.
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I had a terrible experience. Had booked both manicure and pedicure but it took 3 hours for just a spa pedicure and so I did not get the manicure. The person who did my pedicure did a really bad job and I ended up walking them through the steps and had to do some of it on my own.
First time using nails did and I'm not sure I'd be going back. I went in for a extension removal and a classic gel manicure. They didn't remove all the acrylic from my nails in the removal and the 'classic gel' was done in 20 minutes. They didn't push my cuticles back and have got gel polish on my cuticles and the top coat is not even.
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The highest priced four year colleges in Texas are listed by one year's out of state tuition list price for the 2017/2018 school year.
What is the most expensive college in Texas? Leading the colleges list is Southern Methodist University in Dallas with an out of state tuition of $46,594.
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A Southern Living article about Margaret Moseley, written by Steve Bender, starts out thusly: "Some people capture memories in photos. Others preserve them on video. Margaret Moseley grows her memories in a garden filled with plants handed down by generous gardeners. From a comfortable chair in her sunroom, she says, 'I think I can name every friend I have just by looking out there.'"
I can't look out of any window of my house and see such memories. But beginning in August and going through October, I can walk out of a door, and I immediately think of Abie Little. Abie, who died September 24th at age 85, gave me some ginger lilies many years ago, and I have been captivated by their sweet fragrance every year since.
Abie was a true character. She was an avid bridge player, and in her younger years sang with symphony choruses in Norfolk, Virginia, her hometown, and in Richmond. In fact, she met her husband Pete in rehearsals for Bach's Mass in B-Minor. Abie did a lot of unorthodox things like take her four boys on camping trips across the U.S. and Canada. She even piled them into an old Volkswagen bus when they were ages 11, 13, 15 and 17 and took them camping throughout Europe.
She was a highly accomplished gardener and filled her large flood plain lot on one of Atlanta's most prestigious and beautiful streets with wonderful plants. She had a long line of camellias of every color and stripe along the highest point. She also had a path of yellow primroses which bloomed every April next to bleeding hearts and hostas. Ginger lilies thrived in the ever-moist conditions, and Abie was forever giving the plants away. She was a dedicated volunteer at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and Southeastern Flower Show, and past president of both the Atlanta Begonia Society and the Gardenia Garden Club.
On her frequent trips to England, she would inevitably bring back seeds of primroses of every color. These flowers (except for the yellow cowslips, Primula veris) aren't reliably perennial here, to say the least. However, she would coax them into bloom at least for one year, if not the next. Once in a while she would call and invite me to see ones that had actually come back. Abie kept trying, and when she moved to a smaller lot, she finally had great success with some pink ones, this after years of sowing seeds. She was not one to give up easily.
My introduction to Abie, though, was not through the gardening world, although we connected that way later, but through tennis. She was an Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association member for almost 30 years and played until age 82. I was petrified every time I stepped onto the court across from her. She played what I'd call an unorthodox game (they say her bridge playing was like this, too); she was a master of placing the ball just where you were not. I dare say I ever won a match against her, even when we were playing just for fun.
The photograph above shows yesterday's bloom on one of Abie's ginger lilies. I walked out to feed the birds and caught the sweet fragrance. It so happened that I had not picked the individual flowers as I often do to bring in the house. I can put just one small flower in my kitchen, and the heavenly scent will waft through the surrounding rooms.
I loved that her sons described her as "a hardy perennial." She was truly that, despite the fact that many of those stubborn primroses were not. When someone said she was one of a kind, a son piped up and said she was more like "one and a half of a kind." I feel lucky to have these ginger lilies to remind me of such an extraordinary and engaging person. I will certainly treasure them for the rest of my life.
I have a ginger that hasn't bloomed since I planted it. It is 3 years old. Any idea what I should do?
I would recommend keeping the plant well watered. I wonder if it got too dry during the summer and didn't get enough water to set blooms. Mine are in filtered sun and bloom well. But, I had to water them during the dry times. Really, if I could have them in a boggier place, I'd move them. Just don't have a site with enough sun. I think yours might need more consistent moisture? Just guessing!
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Billy Bowlegs, a hereditary war chief (also known as Holata Mico, Halpatter-Micco, and Halpuda Mikko, all meaning "Alligator Chief"), headed one of the last bands of Seminoles to stay in Florida and fight U.S. authorities. He was born in the Alchua Savannah (present-day Cuscowilla, Florida) of full-blooded Seminole parents; his father was called Secoffee. It is said that his nickname stemmed from Boleg or Bowleck, the surname of a prominent trader. The common assumption that he was bowlegged from horseback riding cannot be substantiated. It is thought that Chief Micanopy was his uncle. Although he signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832, Bowlegs subsequently avoided the removal of his band to Native American Territory for over twenty years. He was known as a skilled warrior; to be sure, he eluded the U.S. Army long after Wild Cat's, Osceola's, and other Seminole bands had been apprehended. Through an excellent knowledge of the Everglades, Bowlegs and his band maintained an independent existence unhindered by U.S. authorities until the eve of the Civil War. From 1835 to 1842, Billy Bowlegs was a significant leader in the Second Seminole War along with Arpeika, Osceola, Micanopy, Jumper, Wild Cat, and Alligator. Even after the death of Osceola and the surrender of Micanopy, head chief of the Seminoles, in 1837, Bowlegs and his two hundred warriors continued to resist removal to Indian Territory. On July 22, 1839, his name is mentioned in government reports relating to an attack on a Camp Harney. This raid was one of a series of successful forays against the army and settlers by Bowlegs, the new Chief of the Florida Seminoles. His guerilla tactics enabled him to secure, on August 14, 1842, a peace treaty that ended over seven years of hostilities. This eight-year war cost the U.S. government $30 million and fifteen hundred dead. To secure an enduring peace and impress Bowlegs and other Seminole chiefs with American might, a group of Seminole chiefs were brought to Washington, D.C., to see the power of the U.S. capital. As a result, from 1842 to 1855 a period of relative peace prevailed in Florida. However, a small group of army engineers and surveyors in 1855 invaded Bowleg's homeland in the Great Cypress Swamp, stealing crops, cutting down banana trees, and destroying property only two miles from Bowleg's main village just to see how he would react. This created what some have called the Third Seminole War. When the engineers and surveyors were confronted about their depredations, they proffered the Seminoles neither restitution nor remorse. Consequently, the Seminoles in southern Florida under Bowlegs launched two years of sporadic raids against Anglo trappers, settlers, and traders in the area. Settlers demanded that the U.S. Army mount a campaign to remove all remaining Seminoles. Containing the ravages of the Seminole militants once again proved difficult for the U.S. military. In 1858, a group of Western Seminoles that were under the leadership of Wild Cat and that had been removed to Native American Territory were brought back to convince Bowlegs and his followers of the wisdom of moving west. Bowlegs, upon hearing that Wild Cat was coming, stated, "Tell him not to come out to our country until I send for him." Bowleg was offered $10,000 and each of his followers $1,000 if they agreed to go to Native American Territory, but they initially refused, fearing harsh treatment in the West. Under enormous pressure, Bowlegs and 123 of his followers, plus 41 captives, finally agreed to removal in 1858. After his arrival in the West, Bowlegs became an important Seminole village chief in Native American Territory. At the start of the Civil War, he became a leader of the pro-Union Seminole forces (the Loyal Seminoles); his unit fought on the Union side in Kansas.
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I love parkour, motorcycles and skiing!
What kind of motorcycle do you ride? I just bought a Triumph and I love it.
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Who won the mid-terms? Donald Trump's election night tweet - 'Tremendous success tonight. Thank you all!’ - glossed over the fact that the Republicans had lost control of the House of Representatives. They had strengthened their majority in the Senate, and that was enough for the President to declare a win.
Meanwhile, the Democrats celebrated their ‘blue’ wave but it was not the tsunami they had been hoping for.
What is certain is that the next two years, leading up to the presidential election in 2020, will witness an intense partisan battle.
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The Battle of Wetzell's Mill (the name may also be spelled Weitzell, Weitzel, Whitesell, or Whitsall) was a skirmish fought between detachments of Major General Nathanael Greene's Continental Army and Colonel Banastre Tarleton's Loyalist provincial troops.
Greene was trying to avoid encounters with the larger British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis' larger army while awaiting the arrival of additional troops, and had sent Williams and several hundred men on reconnaissance to watch Cornwallis' movements. Cornwallis learned where Williams was on March 4, and, realizing he could be trapped because he was separated from Greene's army by Reedy Ford Creek, sent Tarleton and 1,200 men toward the ford at Wetzell's Mill.
Early on March 6, Tarleton's men tried to sneak up on Williams' position, then about ten miles south of the ford. After a brief skirmish, the two forces raced toward the ford. Williams kept Brigadier General Harry "Light Horse" Lee in the rear to cover their retreat, and reached the ford ahead of Tarleton. His army crossed, at which point he decided to make a stand at the crossing.
Tarleton's first attempt to cross was repulsed, but the second succeeded, and Williams retreated.
Armies - American Forces was commanded by Col. Otho Williams and consisted of about 700 Soldiers. British Forces was commanded by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarlton and consisted of about 1,200 Soldiers.
Casualties - American casualties were 50 killed/wounded. British casualties were 21 killed/wounded. The battle was part of the Southern Theater 1780-83.
Outcome - The result of the battle was Inconclusive. The battle was part of the Southern Theater 1775-82.
The situation of Cornwallis was full of peril. The country around Hillsborough was speedily stripped of provision by his army, 18 and he found it expedient to fall back and take a new position upon the south side of the Allamance, west of the Haw River.
On February 27, Lee and Colonel Andrew Pickens, with their respective forces, joined the main body of the American light infantry, and the whole corps crossed the Haw, a little below the mouth of Buffalo Creek.
On February 28, Greene, with the main army augmented by the North Carolina militia, crossed above Buffalo Creek that morning, and encamped between Troublesome Creek and Reedy Fork. It was an ineligible place; and, hoping to gain time for all his expected re-enforcements to come in, Greene constantly changed his position, and placed Colonel Williams and his light corps between the two armies, now within a score of miles of each other. Tarleton occupied the same relative position to the British army, and he and Williams frequently menaced each other.
On March 2, the latter having approached to within a mile of the British camp, Tarleton attacked him and a brief but warm skirmish ensued. This encounter was sustained, on the part of the Americans, chiefly by Lee’s legion and Preston’s riflemen. About 30 of the British were killed and wounded. The Americans sustained no loss.
In the mean while, Greene’s constant change of position, sometimes seen on the Troublesome Creek, and sometimes appearing near Guilford, gave the impression that his force was larger than it really was, and Cornwallis was much perplexed. Well knowing that the American army was augmenting by the arrival of militia, he resolved to bring Greene to action at once.
On March 6, under cover of a thick fog, he crossed the Allamance, hoping to beat up Williams’s quarters, then between that stream and Reedy Fork, and surprise Greene. Williams’s vigilant patrols discovered the approach of the enemy at about 8:00 AM, on the road to Wetzell’s Mill, an important pass on the Reedy Fork. Lee’s legion immediately maneuvered in front of the British, while Williams withdrew his light troops and other corps of regulars and militia across the stream.
A covering party, composed of 150 Virginia militia, were attacked by Webster, with one thousand British infantry and a portion of Tarleton’s cavalry. The militia boldly returned the-fire, and then fled across the creek. The British infantry followed, and met with a severe attack from Campbell’s riflemen and Lee’s infantry. Webster was quickly re-enforced by some Hessians and chasseurs, and the whole were supported by field-pieces planted by Cornwallis upon an eminence near the banks of the stream.
The artillery dismayed the militia, which Williams perceiving, ordered them to retire. He followed with Howard’s battalion, flanked by Kirkwood’s Delaware infantry and the infantry of Lee’s legion, the whole covered by Washington’s cavalry. The day was far spent, and Cornwallis did not pursue.
It was claimed the British were not able to follow up the victory due the Americans’ superiority in cavalry. Tarleton, however, later criticized Cornwallis’ not continuing and resuming the action. Colonel William Preston’s and Colonel Hugh Crockett’s Virginia militia left Greene’s army after the battle based on the charge that Williams deliberately exposed them to protect his Continentals.
Greene to Washington, 10 March 1781. "Tarleton states the Americans lost 100 men killed, wounded and taken, while the British suffered 30 killed and wounded. Joseph Graham, who was present, gave American casualties as 2 regulars killed, 3 wounded and between 20 and 25 militiamen killed or wounded. Boatner speaks of each side losing 50. Webster, as he passed over Reedy Fork with his men, almost miraculously, escaped being shot by some of Campbell’s riflemen -- who had been posted in a log hut close by -- only to be mortally wounded at Guilford Court House a few days later."
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Will you give me detail about the Cultural Fest of National Institute of Technology Raipur?
Eclectika, The Cultural Festival of National Institute of Technology Raipur. It is an biggest College festival of Central India.
Eclectika 2015 was conducted on 20th-22nd February 2015.
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Questions about example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "Vivid"
What does the truth has to be made vivid mean?
Please show me example sentences with vivid.
“The painting was full of vivid colours”. “Macy vividly remembered that night”.
The colors were very vivid. They really stood out. My memory of it is vivid/I have a vivid memory of it.
What is the difference between your room has vibrant colors. and your room has vivid colors. ?
@overrunie The most common use of vivid is when describing a dream. Normally dreams are something you don't remember when you wake up, but occasionally you have a really strong dream that sticks in your mind. That is a vivid dream. There are also strong memories. People use the phrase "I remember like it was yesterday" to mean that they can recall that memory easily. They remember the clothes they wore that day or other small details. In this case, they vividly recall that memory. Vibrant is mostly just tied to brightness. Normally vibrant colors stick out so vibrant colors are also vivid colors, but a dark color is never vibrant, but can still be vivid. I hope that makes more sense.
What is the difference between the truth has to be made vivid and the truth has to be made clear ?
Mr. Trump's habit of not thinking much of people who support him and getting rid of them whenever he wants was portrayed throughout his career. This is further evidenced by his recent action of firing the F.B.I. Director. All these make it such that people are not inclined to step in front to protect him (his views/tweets etc). Some context: There is a wide believe among Hillary supporters that Director Comey's action of re-initiating investigation on Hillary's email scandal a week before the election played a big role in helping Trump win. Trump himself congratulated Comey's action at that time. Yet, now that he has won (and being investigated for the Russian involvement scandal by Comey) , he seems to forget those and decides to fire him instead. p.s. I'm not a USA citizen, therefore please excuse me if I got any facts wrong. But the explanation should answer the question.
Please show me how to pronounce vivid.
I've made some further corrections and additions to 's answer Technology has been of great importance all throughout history. These days, however, some people claim that technology makes children less creative than they were in the past. As far as I am concerned, I disagree with this notion and instead believe that technology is playing a crucial role in the creativity of children. First of all, as computers have become all the more popular in modern times, children can use them to do a lot of things which help them improve their ability to create things. Thanks to advanced technology, children have more ways to train their creativity. For instance, there are many kinds of puzzle games on the computer. By playing these interesting games, children not only enjoy themselves but also cultivate their ability to think independently, which is good for creativity. Technology allows children to be involved in more activities which are beneficial for their intellectual development. Secondly, with advanced technology, children have a wider access to learn about a variety of things. By gaining more knowledge, children can be more intelligent and creative. For instance, there are many ways for children to choose to learn through the Internet such as online classes, educational TV shows, documentaries and so on. Through watching those shows and programmes, children can gain additional knowledge which otherwise are not covered by their school curriculum. Due to the advancement in technology, it has become a trend nowadays for children to learn far more easier through the internet, than it was in the past. Lastly, with accelerated growth in technology, children now are able to watch movies with high quality visual effects, in the cinema theatres, which opens them up to recognise the world and visually inspire their imagination. Imagination is one of the crucial elements in creativity, as Albert Einstein once rightly said "Imagination is more important than knowledge." For, knowledge is limited to the past, imagination creates the future. there are many kinds of movies which are wonderful and vivid like the Harry Potter series. By watching these movies, children learn how the world works and are encouraged to be imaginative. Through advanced technology, children are now able to watch such wonderful movies that help them become imaginative, which was not possible for them in the past. In conclusion, technology is important to the development of a child's creativity because it allows children to think independently. By playing puzzles and games, they gain problem-solving skills, develop their knowledge in many ways and stimulate their imagination. It should be kept in mind that technology is not only beneficial for the development of children, but also the development of the whole world. I hope this helps.
Please show me how to pronounce a vivid mnemonic .
If I want to say "vivid sexual expression," which word should come first "vivid" or "sexual"?
the way you wrote it is good. "sexual vivid expression" is unnatural I think.
traveling helps me improve myself. I can also have a special experience. If I didn't go to travel a lot, I couldn't have a variety of experience. When I was in Europe, I visited a lot of historical places. ... does this sound natural?
Traveling helps me improve myself. I can also have special experiences. If I didn't travel a lot, I couldn't have such a wide variety of experiences. When I was in Europe, I visited a lot of historical places. I learned about the vivid histories of these countries by seeing their art and buildings. I also tried nice foods and attended (or went to) cultural events. All of these things improved me.
I don’t have vivid memories of my childhood. Only pieces of memories do I have. does this sound natural?
What are idioms for? As I feel and think, they enliven written and oral speech, make it more various, vivid and expressive. Or maybe it just my personal preferences and only that. And what do you think ab... does this sound natural?
What you say is perfect ...you express this well. If this is what you want to say I would advise you to put....'I feel that they...speech, and make..
Example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "viveros"
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Example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "Viviada"
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Example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "vividly"
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Example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "vivify"
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Gina Cheri Haspel (née Walker, October 1, 1956) is an American intelligence officer serving as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since 2018. She is the first woman to hold the post on a permanent basis and was previously the Deputy Director under Mike Pompeo during the early presidency of Donald Trump.
She became Acting Director following Pompeo's resignation to become United States Secretary of State and was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the official Director of the CIA. On May 17, 2018, she was confirmed as the Director of the CIA, making her the first female Director of the CIA in history. She was officially sworn as Director of the CIA on May 21, 2018. She was also the second female Deputy Director of the agency.
Haspel has attracted controversy for her role as chief of a CIA black site in Thailand in 2002 in which prisoners were tortured with so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques", including waterboarding. At that time, the Bush Administration considered the techniques legal based on a set of secret, now-rescinded legal opinions that expansively defined executive authority and narrowly defined torture. Haspel's involvement in enhanced interrogation techniques was confirmed in August 2018 when a Freedom of Information lawsuit by the George Washington University-based National Security Archive brought to light CIA cables either authorized by or written by Haspel while base chief at the Thailand black site. The cables describe acts of deliberate physical torture of detainees, including waterboarding and confinement.
Haspel was born Gina Cheri Walker on October 1, 1956 in Ashland, Kentucky. Her father served in the United States Air Force. She has four siblings.
Haspel attended high school in the United Kingdom. She was a student at the University of Kentucky for three years and transferred for her senior year to the University of Louisville, where she graduated in May 1978 with a BS degree in languages and journalism. From 1980 to 1981, she worked as a civilian library coordinator at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. She received a paralegal certificate from Northeastern University in 1982 and went on to work as a paralegal until she was hired by the CIA.
Haspel joined the CIA in January 1985 as a reports officer. She held several undercover overseas positions, for many of which she was station chief. Her first field assignment was from 1987–1989 in Ethiopia, Central Eurasia, Turkey, followed by several assignments in Europe and Central Eurasia from 1990 to 2001. From 1996 to 1998, Haspel served as station chief in Baku, Azerbaijan.
From 2001 to 2003, her position was listed as Deputy Group Chief, Counterterrorism Center.
Between October and December 2002, Haspel was assigned to oversee a secret CIA prison in Thailand Detention Site GREEN, code-named Cat's Eye, that housed persons suspected of involvement in Al-Qaeda. The prison was part of the US government's extraordinary rendition program after the September 11 attacks, and used "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as waterboarding that are widely considered to be torture, although those methods were deemed legal at the time by agency lawyers. According to a former senior CIA official, Haspel arrived as station chief after the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah but was chief during the waterboarding of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
On January 8, 2019, Carol Rosenberg, of the Miami Herald, reported that partially redacted transcripts from a pre-trial hearing of Guantanamo Military Commission of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, seemed to indicate that Haspel had been the "Chief of Base" of a clandestine CIA detention site on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, in the 2003-2004 period.
In late October 2002, Haspel became a chief of base for a "black site" CIA torture prison located in Thailand. She worked at a site that was codenamed "Cat's Eye", which would later become known as the place where suspected al Qaeda terrorist members Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah were detained and tortured with waterboarding. In early February 2017, The New York Times and ProPublica reported that these waterboardings were both conducted under Haspel. In March 2018, U.S. officials said that Haspel was not involved in the torture of Zubaydah, as she only became chief of base after Zubaydah was tortured. ProPublica and The New York Times issued corrections to their stories but noted that Haspel was involved in the torture of al-Nashiri. In August 2018, cables from the site, dating from November 2002 and likely authorized by if not written by Haspel, were released because of a Freedom of Information lawsuit, and they describe the torture of Nashiri in detail, including slamming him against a wall, confining him to a small box, waterboarding him, and depriving him of sleep and clothing, while threatening to turn him over to others who would kill him and calling him "a little girl," "a spoiled little rich Saudi," and a "sissy."
Haspel played a role in the destruction of 92 interrogation videotapes that showed the torture of detainees both at the black site she ran and other secret agency locations. A partially-declassified CIA document shows that the instruction for a new method of record keeping at the black site in Thailand, re-recording over the videos, took place in late October 2002, soon after Base Chief Haspel's arrival.
On December 17, 2014, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) pressed criminal charges against unidentified CIA operatives, after the US Senate Select Committee published its report on torture by US intelligence agencies. On June 7, 2017, the ECCHR called on the Public Prosecutor General of Germany to issue an arrest warrant against Haspel over claims she oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects. The accusation against her is centered on the case of Saudi national Abu Zubaydah. Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union described Haspel as "quite literally a war criminal."
On May 1, 2018, Spencer Ackerman, writing in The Daily Beast, reported that former CIA analyst Gail Helt had been told that some of the controversial torture recordings had not been destroyed, after all. On May 9, 2018, the day prior to her confirmation vote, The New York Times reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, architect of the 9/11 attacks and victim of various forms of torture, requested to submit six paragraphs of information for the Senate committee to review before its vote.
From 2004 to 2005, Haspel was Deputy Chief of the National Resources Division.
After the service in Thailand, she served as an operations officer in Counterterrorism Center near Washington, DC. She later served as the CIA's station chief in London and, in 2011, New York.
Haspel served as the Deputy Director of the National Clandestine Service, Deputy Director of the National Clandestine Service for Foreign Intelligence and Covert Action, and Chief of Staff for the Director of the National Clandestine Service.
In 2005, Haspel was the chief of staff to Jose Rodriguez, Director of the National Clandestine Service. In his memoir, Rodriguez wrote that Haspel had drafted a cable in 2005 ordering the destruction of dozens of videotapes made at the black site in Thailand in response to mounting public scrutiny of the program. At the Senate confirmation hearing considering her nomination to head the CIA, Haspel explained that the tapes were destroyed in order to protect the identities of CIA officers whose faces were visible, at a time when leaks of US intelligence were rampant. In 2013, John Brennan, then the director of Central Intelligence, named Haspel as acting Director of the National Clandestine Service, which carries out covert operations around the globe. However, she was not appointed to the position permanently due to criticism about her involvement in the Rendition, Detention and Interrogation program. Her permanent appointment was opposed by Dianne Feinstein and others in the Senate.
With more than thirty years of service to the CIA and extensive overseas experience, Gina has worked closely with the House Intelligence Committee and has impressed us with her dedication, forthrightness, and her deep commitment to the Intelligence Community. She is undoubtedly the right person for the job, and the Committee looks forward to working with her in the future.
I am especially concerned by reports that this individual was involved in the unauthorized destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, which documented the CIA's use of torture against two CIA detainees. My colleagues Senators Wyden and Heinrich have stated that classified information details why the newly appointed Deputy Director is 'unsuitable' for the position and have requested that this information is declassified. I join their request.
On February 15, 2017, Spencer Ackerman reported on psychologists Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell, the architects of the "enhanced interrogation" program that was designed to break Zubaydah and was subsequently used on other detainees at the CIA's secret prisons around the world. Jessen and Mitchell are being sued by Sulaiman Abdulla Salim, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and Obaid Ullah over torture designed by the psychologists. Jessen and Mitchell are seeking to compel Haspel, and her colleague James Cotsana, to testify on their behalf.
On March 13, 2018, President Donald Trump announced he would nominate Haspel to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, replacing Mike Pompeo—whom he tapped to become the new Secretary of State. Once confirmed by the Senate, Haspel became the first woman to serve as permanent Director of the CIA (Meroe Park served as Associate Deputy Director from 2013-2017 and acting director for three days in January 2017). Robert Baer, who supervised Haspel at the Central Intelligence Agency, found her to be "smart, tough and effective. Foreign liaison services who have worked with her uniformly walked away impressed."
Republican Senator Rand Paul stated that he would oppose the nomination saying "To really appoint the head cheerleader for waterboarding to be head of the CIA? I mean, how could you trust somebody who did that to be in charge of the CIA? To read of her glee during the waterboarding is just absolutely appalling." Soon after Paul made this statement, the allegation that Haspel mocked those being interrogated was retracted. Doug Stafford, an aide for Rand Paul, said, "According to multiple published, undisputed accounts, she oversaw a black site and she further destroyed evidence of torture. This should preclude her from ever running the CIA."
Republican Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain called on Haspel to provide a detailed account of her participation in the CIA's detention program from 2001–2009, including whether she directed the use of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" and to clarify her role in the 2005 destruction of interrogation videotapes. In the Senate, McCain was a staunch opponent of torture, having been tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. McCain further called upon Haspel to commit to declassifying the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture.
Multiple senators have criticized the CIA for what they believe is selectivity in declassifying superficial and positive information about her career to generate positive coverage, while simultaneously refusing to declassify any "meaningful" information about her career.
More than 50 former senior U.S. government officials, including six former Directors of the CIA and three former directors of national intelligence, signed a letter supporting her nomination. They included former Directors of the CIA John Brennan, Leon Panetta and Michael Morell, former Director of the NSA and CIA Michael Hayden, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. In April, a group of 109 retired generals and admirals signed a letter expressing "profound concern" over Haspel's nomination due to her record and alleged involvement in the CIA's use of torture and the subsequent destruction of evidence. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting criticized the press coverage that portrays Haspel's nomination as a victory for feminism. On May 10, The Washington Post Editorial Board expressed its opposition to Ms. Haspel's nomination for not condemning the CIA's now-defunct torture program as immoral. On May 12, the first two Senate Democrats, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, announced their support for Haspel's nomination.
On May 9, 2018, Haspel appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee for a confirmation hearing.
On May 14, Haspel sent a letter to Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia stating that in hindsight, the CIA should not have operated its interrogation and detention program. Shortly thereafter, Sen. Warner announced he would back Haspel when the Senate Intelligence Committee voted on whether to refer her nomination to the full Senate.
She was approved for confirmation by the Senate Intelligence Committee on May 16 by a 10–5 vote, with two Democrats voting in favor. The next day, Haspel was confirmed by the full Senate, on a mostly party-line, 54–45 vote. Paul and Jeff Flake of Arizona were the only Republican nays, and six Democrats — Joe Donnelly, Joe Manchin, Mark Warner, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire — voted yes. McCain, who had urged his colleagues to reject her nomination, did not cast a vote, as he was hospitalized at the time.
Haspel was officially sworn in on May 21, 2018 becoming the first woman to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on a permanent basis.
On January 29, 2019, during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Haspel reported that the CIA was "pleased" with the Trump administration's March 2018 expulsion of 61 Russian diplomats following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Haspel added that the CIA did not object to the Treasury Department’s decision in December 2018 to remove sanctions on three Russian companies tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the subject of recent relations between North Korea and the United States, Haspel stated, "I think our analysts would assess that they value the dialogue with the United States, and we do see indications that Kim Jong-un is trying to navigate a path toward some kind of better future for the North Korean people."
Haspel has received a number of awards, including the George H. W. Bush Award for excellence in counterterrorism, the Donovan Award, the Intelligence Medal of Merit, and the Presidential Rank Award.
Haspel married Jeff Haspel, who served in the United States Army, c. 1976; they were divorced by 1985. Haspel currently lives in Ashburn, Virginia. She does not use social media.
^ "Gina Haspel Assumes Role of Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" (Press release). Central Intelligence Agency. April 26, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
^ "Gina Haspel Selected to be Deputy Director of CIA". Central Intelligence Agency. February 2, 2017. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017. Ms. Haspel is the first female career CIA officer to be named Deputy Director.
^ a b Glenn Greenwald (February 2, 2017). "The CIA's New Deputy Director Ran a Black Site for Torture". The Intercept. Retrieved February 3, 2017. That CIA official's name whose torture activities the Post described is Gina Haspel. Today, as BuzzFeed's Jason Leopold noted, CIA Director Mike Pompeo announced that Haspel was selected by Trump to be Deputy Director of the CIA.
^ a b "Gina Haspel becomes first female CIA deputy director". WDSU. February 2, 2017. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
^ Harris, Shane (May 17, 2018). "Gina Haspel confirmed as CIA chief despite scrutiny of her role in interrogation program". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 17, 2018 – via MSN. The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Gina Haspel as the next CIA director after several Democrats were persuaded to support her despite lingering concerns about her role in the brutal interrogation of suspected terrorists captured after 9/11.
^ News, VOA. "Veteran Spy Haspel Sworn In as New CIA Chief".
^ Berenson, Tessa (March 13, 2018). "Who Is Gina Haspel, President Trump's Pick for CIA Director?". Time. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ Suman Varandani (February 3, 2017). "Who Is Gina Haspel? 5 Facts About Trump's CIA Deputy Director Pick". International Business Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017. Haspel joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1985, and spent most of her career undercover. She has been part of several controversies, including her involvement in several torture programs conducted by the U.S. She also ran waterboarding and other interrogation techniques at some of CIA's "black sites" or secret prisons. She has not yet been indicted for war crimes.
^ Paul Handley (February 2, 2017). "Woman tied to secret interrogations to be CIA No. 2". Washington DC: Yahoo News. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017. A longtime CIA clandestine operations official reportedly involved in its much-criticized "black site" interrogations after the 9/11 attacks was named number two at the US spy agency Thursday.
^ a b Holpuch, Amanda (March 13, 2018). "Who is Gina Haspel? Trump's pick for CIA chief linked to torture site". The Guardian.
^ a b Allen, Nick (March 13, 2018). "Gina Haspel: Donald Trump's new CIA director ran torture site in Thailand". The Daily Telegraph.
^ a b Washington, Boer Deng (March 14, 2018). "New CIA chief Gina Haspel helped run torture site in Thailand". The Times.
^ Ward, Alex (March 13, 2018). "Gina Haspel, Trump's CIA director pick, oversaw the torture of dozens of people". Vox.
^ Mora, Alberto (March 15, 2018). "Gina Haspel Is a Torturer. What Else Does the Senate Need to Know?". Politico Magazine. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
^ Peralta, Eyder (December 16, 2014). "'Torture Report': A Closer Look At When And What President Bush Knew". NPR. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ "Bush on waterboarding: 'Damn right'". CNN. November 5, 2010. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ Tom Blanton, ed. (August 10, 2018). "Gina Gaspel CIA Torture Cables Declassified". National Security Archive. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
^ "CIA chief Gina Haspel faces a grilling". The Australian. March 18, 2018. Even the most basic facts about Ms Haspel's life are hard to establish. She was born Gina Cherie [sic] Walker in Kentucky in 1956. At 20, she married Jeff Haspel, an army officer, but they were divorced by the time she joined the CIA in 1985 as a reports officer, specializing in Russia. By 1988, she was listed as "acting head of administration" at the US embassy in Addis Ababa. ... Her subsequent postings remain classified but she was based in Ankara in 2003 and was CIA station chief in New York.
^ a b c "Haspel's nomination questionnaire" (PDF). Senate Intelligence Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
^ Myre, Greg (April 20, 2018). "The CIA Introduces Gina Haspel After Her Long Career Undercover". NPR. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ "Get to Know our Deputy Director". CIA. March 23, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ a b c "CIA chief Gina Haspel faces a grilling". The Australian. March 18, 2018. Even the most basic facts about Ms Haspel's life are hard to establish. She was born Gina Cherie [sic] Walker in Kentucky in 1956. At 20, she married Jeff Haspel, an army officer, but they were divorced by the time she joined the CIA in 1985 as a reports officer, specialising in Russia. By 1988, she was listed as "acting head of administration" at the US embassy in Addis Ababa. ... Her subsequent postings remain classified but she was based in Ankara in 2003 and was CIA station chief in New York.
^ a b c d e f g Gazis, Olivia (May 1, 2018). "CIA Director nominee Gina Haspel: CIA releases timeline of her clandestine career". CBS News. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
^ a b c Toosi, Nahal (February 2, 2017). "Trump taps former 'black site' prison operator for CIA deputy". Politico.
^ a b c "Gina Haspel". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ a b Stein, Jeff (March 13, 2018). "Trump's new CIA Director Nominee embraced Waterboarding, but Torture not likely to return at the Agency". Newsweek. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
^ a b c d e Goldman, Adam (March 13, 2018). "Gina Haspel, Trump's Choice for C.I.A., Played Role in Torture Program". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
^ Carol Rosenberg (January 8, 2019). "Did CIA Director Gina Haspel run a black site at Guantánamo?". McClatchy News Service. Guantanamo. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. The claim by Rita Radostitz, a lawyer for Khalid Sheik Mohammed, appears in one paragraph of a partially redacted transcript of a secret hearing held at Guantánamo on Nov. 16. Defense lawyers were arguing, in a motion that ultimately failed, that Haspel’s role at the prison precludes the possibility of a fair trial for the men accused of orchestrating the 9/11 attacks who were also held for years in covert CIA prisons.
^ Riechmann, Deb (February 2, 2017). "Seasoned spymaster linked to waterboarding named CIA deputy". San Francisco Chronicle. AP. Archived from the original on February 28, 2017.
^ a b c Bonner, Raymond (March 15, 2018). "Correction: Trump's Pick to Head CIA Did Not Oversee Waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah". ProPublica. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
^ a b Miller, Greg (February 2, 2017). "CIA officer with ties to 'black sites' named deputy director". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
^ a b Rosenberg, Matthew (February 2, 2017). "Gina Haspel, C.I.A. Deputy Director, Had Role in Torture". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
^ Bonner, Raymond (February 22, 2017). "CIA Cables Detail Its New Deputy Director's Role in Torture". ProPublica. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
^ Barnes, Julian; Shane, Scott (August 10, 2018). "Cables Detail C.I.A. Waterboarding at Secret Prison Run by Gina Haspel". New York Times. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
^ Mazzetti, Mark (December 7, 2007). "C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations". The New York Times.
^ Parton, Heather Digby (March 17, 2018). "New Report on CIA Nominee Gina Haspel May Rescue Her – But It Shouldn't". Salon.com. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
^ Prados, John (May 9, 2018). "The CIA Black Sites Program and the Gina Haspel Nomination". The National Security Archive.
^ "The National Security Archive". nsarchive2.gwu.edu.
^ Knight, Ben (June 7, 2017). "NGO seeks arrest warrant for Donald Trump's deputy CIA director". Deutsche Welle.
^ "Rights Group Asks Germany to Arrest CIA Deputy Director". U.S. News & World Report. AP. June 7, 2017.
^ Fuchs, Christian (June 7, 2017). "CIA: Trump's Darling". Die Zeit.
^ Miller, Greg; Harris, Shane (March 13, 2018). "Gina Haspel, Trump's pick for CIA director, tied to use of brutal interrogation measures". The Washington Post.
^ O'Brien, Cortney (March 13, 2018). "Critics Label Trump's New CIA Director a 'War Criminal'". Townhall. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
^ Spencer Ackerman (May 1, 2018). "Ex-CIA Official Says Some Torture Videotapes May Still Exist". Daily Beast. Retrieved May 1, 2018. But the now-retired analyst, Gail Helt, said she memorialized their conversation in a notebook she kept at the time, a copy of which The Daily Beast has seen. Haspel's nomination has compelled her to disclose what she heard, Helt said.
^ Savage, Charlie (May 8, 2018). "9/11 Planner, Tortured by C.I.A., Asks to Tell Senators About Gina Haspel". The New York Times. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
^ a b Mazzetti, Mark (May 7, 2013). "New Head of C.I.A.'s Clandestine Service Is Chosen". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
^ Taddonio, Patrice (May 9, 2018). "CIA Director Nominee Supported Destruction of Torture Tapes". Frontline. PBS. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
^ Filkins, Dexter (February 3, 2017). "The New CIA Deputy Chief's Black-Site Past". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
^ Miller, Greg (May 7, 2013). "National Security CIA selects new head of clandestine service, passing over female officer". The Washington Post.
^ Johnson, Tim (February 2, 2017). "New CIA deputy director is 1st career female officer in the post". Miami Herald. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ Nunes, Devin (February 2, 2017). "Nunes Statement on Appointment of Gina Haspel as CIA Deputy Director" (Press release). US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ Katie Bo Williams (February 8, 2017). "Third Dem urges removal of Trump's pick for top CIA deputy". The Hill. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017. Trump's pick of 30-year veteran Gina Haspel to serve as deputy director of the CIA – which is not a Senate-confirmable position – has reinvigorated fears that the administration is weighing a return to the use of banned techniques now considered torture, such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation.
^ Spencer Ackerman (February 15, 2017). "Deputy CIA director could face court deposition over post-9/11 role in torture". The Guardian. Retrieved February 15, 2017. In a court filing on Tuesday, attorneys for two CIA contract psychologists who helped design the agency's brutal interrogations for terrorism suspects have asked a federal judge to order Gina Haspel, a career CIA officer recently appointed as the agency's No2 official, to provide a deposition discussing her allegedly pivotal involvement in an episode the CIA has tried repeatedly to put behind it.
^ Spencer Ackerman (February 22, 2017). "DoJ moves to prevent CIA official from detailing role in Bush-era torture". New York City: The Guardian (UK). Retrieved March 27, 2017. The government asked the court to permit it to formally submit on 8 March its state-secrets argument preventing them and another CIA witness, James Cotsana, from being deposed. It is believed to be the first assertion of the state secrets privilege under the Trump administration.
^ Vitali, Ali; Mitchell, Andrea (March 13, 2018). "Trump fires Rex Tillerson, selects Mike Pompeo as new Secretary of State". NBC News. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
^ Demirjian, Karoun; Kim, Seung Min; DeBonis, Mike (March 13, 2018). "Nominees for secretary of state and CIA director face probable backlash in Senate". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
^ Press, Associated (March 13, 2018). "Gina Haspel named by Trump to be CIA director, replacing Pompeo, who will replace Tillerson at State". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ @realdonaldtrump (March 13, 2018). "Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 13, 2018 – via Twitter.
^ Baer, Robert (March 19, 2018). "Gina Haspel Used To Work For Me. She's A Great Choice For CIA Director". NPR. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
^ Smith, David (March 14, 2018). "Rand Paul to oppose Gina Haspel as CIA director over her 'gleeful joy' at torture". The Guardian. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
^ He, Alan (March 16, 2018). "CIA Director nominee Gina Haspel did not mock tortured detainee". CBS News. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
^ Zengerle, Patricia (March 23, 2018). "McCain presses Trump CIA nominee over her record on interrogations". Reuters. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
^ Demirjian, Karoun (March 23, 2018). "McCain asks CIA director nominee Haspel to explain role in post-9/11 interrogations". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
^ Frank, Thomas (March 23, 2018). "Fatima Boudchar Was Bound, Gagged And Photographed Naked. John McCain Wants To Know If Gina Haspel's Okay With That". Buzzfeed News. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
^ Goldman, Adam; Rosenberg, Matthew (April 20, 2018). "How the C.I.A. Is Waging an Influence Campaign to Get Its Next Director Confirmed". The New York Times. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ Demirjian, Karoun (April 25, 2018). "CIA refuses to declassify more information about Gina Haspel, Trump's pick to lead the agency". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ "Former CIA chiefs endorse Haspel nomination". Politico. April 9, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ Greenwald, Glenn (May 8, 2018). "Will Democrats Unite to Block Trump's Torturer, Gina Haspel, as CIA Chief? If Not, What Do They #Resist?". The Intercept. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ Rizzo, Jennifer (April 9, 2018). "Former intelligence heavyweights endorse Trump's CIA pick". CNN. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ Syeed, Nafeesa (April 23, 2018). "Former Generals Oppose Trump's CIA Nominee". Bloomberg News. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ Krueger, Katherine (May 11, 2018). "WaPo Positions Support for Torturer as Vote for Feminism". Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ Editorial (May 10, 2018). "Gina Haspel fails the test". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ Pengelly, Martin (May 12, 2018). "Gina Haspel: Democrat Donnelly backs CIA pick beset by torture questions". The Guardian. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ "CIA Director Confirmation Hearing". C-SPAN. May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
^ a b Myre, Greg (May 15, 2018). "Gina Haspel: CIA Should Not Have Carried Out 'Enhanced Interrogation'". NPR. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
^ Herb, Jeremy (May 16, 2018). "Committee approves Trump's CIA director nominee, setting up full Senate vote". CNN. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
^ Fandos, Nicholas (May 17, 2018). "Senate Confirms Gina Haspel to Lead C.I.A. Despite Torture Concerns". The New York Times. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
^ a b Herb, Jeremy; Diaz, Daniella (May 17, 2018). "Controversial nominee Gina Haspel confirmed as first female CIA director". CNN. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
^ "Haspel: Intelligence panel 'pleased' with decision to expel 61 Russian officers". February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
^ Jansen, Bart (March 13, 2018). "Gina Haspel, nominated by Trump as first woman to lead CIA, has controversial past". USA Today. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
^ Manson, Katrina (March 16, 2018). "Gina Haspel, the undercover spy picked to head the CIA". Financial Times. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
^ "Trump Names Gina Cheri Haspel to Head CIA". Newsmax. Associated Press. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gina Haspel.
This page was last edited on 24 April 2019, at 15:29 (UTC).
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Which story द्वारा Edgar Allen Poe involved a psychotic man and a murdered elderly man with the eye?
Edgar Allan Poe - 'The Raven', performed द्वारा Christopher Walken.
The Raven (2012) - "What's Going On?"
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What could have been a great new sci-fi horror ultimately fell flat as a rehash of better films.
Life opens with an impressive long-take, moving the audience through the interiors of the International Space Station as the crew prepares for an encounter with debris. While gorgeous to look at and technically impressive, it is very reminiscent of the 2013 film Gravity, which opens on a long-take that concludes with a space debris collision. It was at this point that similarities to other classic sci-fi films could be tracked: the title card with wide letter spacing from Alien; the wheel-chaired astronaut from Avatar; the crew member with secret headquarter orders from Alien; the colorfully distorted point of view from Predator; and the small creature that crawls inside the mouth of a human to grow larger from Alien. It is very obvious that the film was heavily inspired by Alien, but seems more so as if the writers wanted to remake the sci-fi classic instead of creating their own original story. Although this is not entirely detrimental (to some it could be seen as what Prometheus should have been), the plot heavily suffers from irrational choices and nonsensical events.
There is a suspension of disbelief that permeates the entire film, enhanced by skilled scientists quickly evolving into teen slasher fodder when under stress. Every obstacle the characters faced was either from their own poor decision-making or equipment malfunctioning. Very rarely were they ever in danger solely because of the supposedly highly intelligent alien causing harm. Instead, the scientists with wavering motivations were their own worst enemies, forcing the film to replace an overall sense of tension with unbelievable convenience. While the humans had their own character flaws, the monster’s motives, tactics , and design were inconsistent throughout and caused more confusion than suspense.
Despite these flaws, the exceptional aspect of the film was seeing the actors in constant anti-gravity, enhanced by the floating and often upside-down camera to give a disorienting view. The detail in the set, the performances, and views of space are all impressive, but cannot ultimately save a glorified B-movie.
Overall, Life is a fairly entertaining couple of hours that would be more enjoyable if no other sci-fi horror had been seen before.
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What is a Machine Readable Visa?
The Automated Fingerprint Identification System, more commonly known as AFIS, is a type of biometric system that uses digital imaging to capture a fingerprint, which then can then be compared to a database of fingerprint records to help determine the identity of an individual. The AFIS is a biometric system commonly used both in law enforcement and in the application of international travel procedures. The AFIS is currently one of the main security systems used around the world to identify people who may have had criminal records in the past, or to identify them as the true owners of any identification document they may be carrying.
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将主题作为主语，更为客观：Changes in Antarctic ice layers demonstrate that global warming is a real phenomenon.
被动语态的使用使表达更为客观：The reality of Global warming can be demonstrated by studying changes in Antarctic ice layers.
口语化：For this experiment, twenty subjects will do.
学术化：For the experiment to be viable, twenty subjects are sufficient.
口语化：This treatment does appear to work.
学术化：This treatment in fact / indeed / definitely appears effective.
口语化：The intervention has been underway for four years now. How successful has it been?
学术化：Given that the intervention has been underway for four years, it should be possible to measure its success.
不准确的表达: Most people didn’t trust the government to do the right thing about climate change, but it still changed their vote.
准确的表达: While the majority of survey respondents professed low levels of trust in government, the link between voting intention, climate change belief, and climate-related behaviours is strong.
All this strange weather is definitely caused by global warming.
Current abnormal weather conditions may be shown with reasonable certainty to be products of global warming.
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Where is Santa Lucia (Argentina) located on the world maps.
To determine geographic coordinates of Santa Lucia (latitude and longitude) is not as trivial task as it may first appear. Usually these coordinates are attached to the point where the center of Santa Lucia is located. But note that the coordinates of the center point may vary from map services. Used coordinate system - latitude from -90º to +90º, longitude from -180º to + 180º, in degrees (º), decimal.
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Make a detailed map of an object you can't even see!
Suppose someone shows you a box and says it contains a mysterious object. Figure out what's in the box without looking or touching and the object is yours!
The box has no lid, but is covered by a piece of paper so you can't see inside. You are allowed to poke small holes in the paper with a sharp, straight stick of some kind, like a knitting needle, but you can't peek inside. How would you discover what's in the box?
Well, one way is to poke the stick straight down into the box until it touches something. Mark with your fingers how far the stick went in. Take out the stick and measure how far it went into the box. Mark that hole with that measurement. You could use numbers for the measurements, but an easier way is to use colors. For example, 5 inches deep is blue, 6 inches is purple.
After you have almost covered the paper with color-coded holes, you could color in the areas with same-colored holes. You would then have a topographical map of the object inside the box!
You might not be able to tell exactly what the object is even from its "topo" map. But, if you know what colors stand for what heights, you could imagine how the object might look in three dimensions.
Like the paper that hides our Teddy bear, clouds often hide large areas of the Earth's surface. But, just as we can map the bear through the paper, we can use radar to make detailed maps of Earth right through clouds or darkness.
Radar is a kind of light energy, but we can't see it. It also acts like sound, because it bounces off surfaces making "echoes," which are "heard" by the radar antenna.
The Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission flew in February 2000. As the Space Shuttle orbited Earth, radar instruments inside and outside the Shuttle made a 3-D map of almost the whole world. In just 11 days, this mission produced enough information to fill 20,000 CDs!
Isn't it amazing what we can do once we understand some simple things about light and radar waves?
Learn more about this amazing technology and see some of the 3-D maps of Earth it made.
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New to the game? Never took the time to learn the game? Here ya' go!
To win the game - One team must score more goals than the opposing team.
1. A goal is scored each time the puck goes past the goal line of the opposing team’s net.
2. A goal does not count if it is purposely kicked in by the foot, thrown in by the hand, or hit in by a high stick.
3. A goal accidentally deflected off of a player does count.
1. Six players from each team are allowed on the ice at one time. For each team this includes one goalie, two defenders, and three forwards.
2. There is a right defender and a left defender, although usually defenders may choose to rotate.
3. Among the forwards, there is a center, a right wing, and a left wing.
4. For a team playing in a league, there is usually a designated captain and assistant captain. These players are allowed to talk to the referees if any problems arise in the game.
1. A typical hockey rink has two blue lines defining the offensive and defensive zones for each team and a red line dividing the rink in half.
2. A team’s offensive zone is the area above the far blue line guarded by the opposing team.
3. A team’s defensive zone is the area below the near blue line guarded by its own team.
4. The zone between the two blue lines is called the neutral zone.
5. Circles on the left and right side of the goal nets define face-off dots for face-offs called in that zone. Centers line up in the centers of the circles, and wings usually line up on the sides of the circles. Defensemen usually line up in back of their wings outside of the circles. The defending team may reposition their forwards to better cover the offensive defensemen.
1. In a face-off, the center lines up against the opposing center. The centers take the face-off each time a puck is dropped by a referee in the game. They are the first to fight for the puck once it is dropped by a referee. Sometimes, either by a team's own decision or the referee's, another player may take a face-off instead of the center.
2. The right and left wings line up on the right and left sides of their center. They are lined up directly opposite the opposing team's wings.
3. The defenders line up in back of the forwards on the right and left sides.
4. The puck is dropped in the center ice at the start of the game.
5. Based on where a puck goes out of play, all other face-offs can occur anywhere on the ice. If the call is an icing or offsides, the play usually begins on the closest dot on either the right or left side. If the puck is flung outside of the rink, the play resumes at a place designated by the referee to be closest to where the puck went out of play.
1. When a player is completely across the blue line of his offensive side before the puck, the player is offsides, and the referee will stop the play if the player does not return to the blue line before returning to the offensive zone.
2. A new face-off is called right outside the offensive zone.
3. A player may straddle the blue line before going after the puck, after it passes the blue line.
4. A player may linger in his offensive zone even if the puck is not in the zone, but the player must make sure that when the puck enters the offensive zone, he is not offsides. The player must let the puck enter the offensive zone first before going after it.
1. If a puck that does not score is hit by a player before the red line and goes past the goal line of his offensive zone without being intercepted by a teammate or the opposing goalie, it is called an icing.
2. A new face-off is called in the defensive zone of the team that hit the puck.
1. A typical game is played in three periods, each twenty minutes long. Running time stops when the whistle is blown by the referee and starts when the puck is dropped into play.
2. Penalties, called by the referee, can be 2 minutes or longer, depending on if it is a major penalty, minor penalty, or misconduct. When a penalty is called, the referee will raise his hand. Time stops and the whistle is blown when a member of the team that committed the penalty touches the puck. The penalized player is sent to the penalty box.
3. Overtime may be called if the game is tied at the end. Other rules may call for a shoot-off if the game is tied at the end of the third period.
1. When a team has more players than the other on the ice, that team is said to be on the power play. This occurs when players on the opposing team have committed penalties.
2. The team with less players on the ice is said to be on a penalty kill. Icings are allowed for teams that are on a penalty kill.
1. While the puck is in play, offensive and defensive players may switch on and off the ice. Usually, once a player is within 5-10 feet of the bench, the other player can start getting on the ice. A penalty for having too many men on the ice may be called depending on the discretion of the referee.
2. Changes can also be made before each face-off. If an excessively long time has already elapsed, a referee may disallow any player changes to be made before that face-off.
3. Sometimes to boost the chance of scoring offensively, especially at the end of a game, the goalie may be called in to let another offensive player on the ice.
Blue Line: Two lines running across the width of the rink, one on either side of the red line. The area between the blue lines is called the neutral zone.
Boards: The walls around a hockey rink which are made of fiberglass measuring about 42 inches high and topped off by synthetic glass to protect the spectators while giving them a good view of the action.
Body Check: A body check is where you use your body against an opponent who has possession of the puck. Legal body checking must be done only with the hips or shoulders and must be above the opponent's knees and below the neck. Unnecessarily rough body checking is penalized.
Breakaway: A player in control of the puck has a breakaway when the only opponent between him and opposition's goal is the goalie.
Catcher: The goalies glove which looks like a fancy baseball catcher's mitt, that goes on the non-stick hand.
Center: In a traditional alignment with three forwards, the center plays between the left and right wings.
Changing on the fly: When players from the bench substitute for players on the ice, while the clock is running.
Charging: Taking more than three strides before deliberately checking an opponent.
Clearing the Puck: When the puck is passed, knocked, or shot away from the front of the goal net or other areas.
Crease: The semi-circular area in front of each goal is called the crease. If any offensive player is in the goal crease when a goal is scored, the goal is not allowed. The crease is painted blue on the ice. The goal crease is designed to protect the goalies from interference by attacking players. The area marked on the ice in front of the penalty timekeeper's seat is for the use of the referee.
Cross Checking: Hitting an opponent with the shaft of the stick while both hands are on the stick and no part of the stick is on the ice.
Defending Zone: When the other team is on the attack, the defending zone is the area between your goal line and your blue line.
Defensemen: Two defensemen usually try to stop the opponent's play at their own blue line. The defensemen block shots and also clear the puck from in front of their goal. Offensively, defensemen take the puck up the ice or pass the puck ahead to the forwards; they then follow the play into the attacking zone and help keep it there.
Delay of game: This is called when a player purposely delays the game. Delay of game is commonly called when a goalies shoots the puck into the stands with the puck deflecting off a skater or the glass. Delay of game also occurs when a player intentionally knocks a goalpost out of its stand (usually in an attempt to prevent a goal from being scored).
Delayed off-side: In this situation, an attacking player has preceded the puck into the offensive zone (normally a case for off-side), but the defending team has gained possession of the puck and can bring it out of their defensive zone without any delay or contact with an opposing player.
Diamond: A defensive alignment often used by a team defending against a power play.
Dig: An attempt to gain possession of the puck in the corners of the rink.
Directing the Puck: Changing the course of the puck in a desired direction by using the body, skate, or stick.
Dive: When a player exaggerates being hooked or tripped in an attempt to draw a penalty.
Elbowing: Using the elbow to impede or disrupt the opponent.
Empty Net Goal: A goal scored against an opponent that has pulled the goalie from the crease to add an extra attacker.
Face-off: The action of an official dropping the puck between the sticks of two opposing players to start play.
Fisticuffs: When a player throws a punch (closed fist) and makes contact with an opponent.
Five-hole: The area in the opening between a goalie's leg pads.
Flat pass: A pass where the puck remains on the surface of the ice.
Flex: Hockey sticks come in different degrees of flex - medium, stiff, and extra stiff. A stronger player, who hits more powerful shots, usually wants a stiffer stick.
Flip Pass: A pass where the puck is lifted so that it goes over an opponent or his stick.
Forecheck: Forwards forecheck by hurrying into the opponent's defensive zone to either keep the puck there or take it away.
Forward: The center and wings are traditionally considered to be the forwards.
Freezing the puck: A player freezes the puck by holding it against the boards with the stick or skates. A goalie freezes the puck (when the opposition is threatening to score) by either holding the puck in the glove or trapping it on the ice. Note:: A delay of game penalty can be called if the goalie freezes the puck when the opposition is not threatening.
"G": An abbreviation for "goals"
Game suspension : When a player, coach, or manager receives a game suspension, that person can't participate in the next scheduled game.
Goal: A goal is achieved when the entire puck crosses the goal line and enters the net. You can't deliberately kick it in or bat at it with a glove, although a goal is counted when a puck deflects off a player (but not off an official). A goal is worth one point.
Goal Judge: A goal judge sits behind each goal (off-ice) and signals when the puck has crossed the red goal line by turning on a red light above his station. The referee can ask the goal judge's advice on disputed goals, but the referee has final authority and can overrule the goal judge.
Goaltender: The goaltender's main job is to keep the puck from entering the goal net. The goaltender is also known as the goalie, the goal keeper, or the netminder.
"GP": An abbreviation for "games played"
Hat trick: A player who scores three goals in one game achieves a "hat trick".
area; or using the head to strike an opponent.
Heel of the stick: The point where the shaft of the stick and the bottom of the blade meet.
High-sticking: Carrying the stick above the shoulder to use against the opponent.
Holding: Using your hands on an opponent or the opponent's equipment to impede your opponent's progress.
Hooking: Applying the blade of the stick to any part of an opponent's body or stick and pulling or tugging with the stick in order to disrupt that opponent.
Icing: An infraction called when a player shoots the puck from his side of the red line across the opponent's goal line. Play is stopped when an opponent (other than the goalie) touches the puck. The face-off is held in the offending team's end of the ice. A team that is short-handed can ice the puck without being penalized.
Injury potential penalties: Injury potential penalties include checking from behind, head butting, spearing, boarding, charging, cross checking, elbowing, kneeing, high-sticking, hold the face mask, slashing and roughing. A linesman may report these infractions occurring behind the play to the referee (following the next stoppage of play) if the referee did not see them.
Interference: Making body contact with an opponent who does not have possession of the puck. Interference is also called when a player is standing in the crease or otherwise making contact with the goaltender.
Kneeing: Using the knee in an effort to impede or foul an opponent.
Linesman: Two linesmen are used to call offside, offside passes, icing and handle all face-offs not occurring at center ice. Although they don't call penalties, they can recommend to the referee that a penalty be called.
Neutral zone: The central ice area between the two blue lines (neither defending nor the attacking zone).
Obstruction Penalty: An obstruction penalty will be assessed for holding, holding the opponent's stick, hooking, interference and tripping infractions which occur away from the puck carrier. The penalty will be announced as, "two minutes for obstruction holding."
Off-ice (minor) official: These officials include the official scorer, game timekeeper, penalty timekeeper, and the two goal judges. The referee has full control of all game officials and final decision.
Offside: A team is offside when a player crosses the attacking blue line before the puck does. A face-off then takes place just outside that blue line (in the offending player's defensive zone). The determining factor in most offside situations is the position of the skates Both skates must be completely over the blue line ahead of the puck for the play to be offside.
Offside pass: An offside pass (also known as a "two-line pass) occurs when a member of the attacking team passes the puck from behind his own defending blue line to a teammate across the center red line. If the puck precedes the player across the red line, the pass is legal. Also, an attacking player may pass the puck over the center red line and the attacking blue line to a teammate if the puck precedes that teammate across the blue line. The face-off after an offside pass takes place at the spot where the pass originated.
One-timer: Shooting the puck immediately upon receiving it without stopping it first. A one-timer is an effective way to beat the goalie before he can slide from one side of the crease to another.
Penalty: A penalty is the result of an infraction of the rules by a player of team official. A penalty usually results in the removal of the offending player (or team official) for a specified period of time. In some cases, the penalty maybe the awarding of a penalty shot on goal or the actual awarding of a goal.
Penalty killing: When a team is shorthanded and attempts to prevent the opposition from scoring, this activity is known as "penalty killing.
Penalty-killing unit: The group of players brought in by a shorthanded team in order to defend against a power play.
Penalty shot: A penalty shot is awarded to an offensive player who - on a breakaway- is illegally checked or impeded. The puck is placed at the center face-off spot, and the player has a free try at the opposing goal with no other defenders on the ice besides the goalie.
"PIM": An abbreviation for "penalties in minutes" (penalty minutes accumulated).
Point: The point is the area just inside the opposition's blue line close to the boards on either side of the rink. A defenseman usually occupies the area when his team is in control of the puck in the opposition's defensive zone.
Possession of the puck: The last player or goalie to make contact with the puck is the one who has possession. This definition includes a puck that is deflected off a player or any part of his equipment.
Power play: When a team has more players on the ice than the opposition due to one or more penalties against the opposing team.
"Pts.": An abbreviation for "total points".
Pulling of a goalie: A team that is losing will sometimes take their own goalie off the ice and use another forward. This situation occurs most frequently near the end of the game when a team is behind and needs some emergency offense.
Red line: The line that divides the rink into two equal parts. This area is center ice.
Referee: The referee supervises the game, calls the penalties, determines if goals are scored, and handles face-off's at center ice at the start of each period and after goals. The referees has the final decision over all of the officials.
Roughing: Engaging in fisticuffs (fighting) or shoving.
Save: A shot blocked by the goalie - a shot that otherwise would have gone into the net!
Shadow: When a player covers an opponent one-on-one everywhere on the ice in order to limit the effectiveness of this opponent.
Shorthanded: A shorthanded team is below the numerical strength of it's opponents on the ice. When a goal is scored against a shorthanded team, the penalty that caused the team scored against to be shorthanded is terminated, and both teams are again at equal strength.
Slap shot: A slap shot occurs when the player swings the stick back and then quickly forward, slapping the puck ahead with a forehand shot.
Slashing: When a player swings the stick at an opponent. Slashing merits a penalty, whether contact is made or not. Tapping an opponent's stick is not slashing.
Slot: The prime scoring area up the middle of the ice, between the face-off circles. When you "clear the slot", you shove an opposing player out of the area in front of your goal.
Smothering the puck: When a goalie or other players fall on the puck. Smothering is legal when done by the goalie or accidentally by another player.
Sniper: A player who is a pure goal scorer and who doesn't hit other players or the boards all that much.
Spearing: Poking or attempting to poke an opponent with the tip of the blade of the stick while holding the stick with one or both hands.
Splitting the defense: When a player in possession of the puck goes between two opposing defender while attacking.
Stick checking: Using the stick or its blade to poke or strike an opponent's stick or puck in an attempt get possession of the puck.
Stickhandling: A term for carrying the puck along the ice with the stick.
Sweater: A term used to designate a hockey jersey.
Sweep check: Using the entire length of the stick with a sweeping motion along the surface of the ice in order to dislodge the puck from an opponent. A team that is shorthanded on a power play often employs a sweep check.
Team official: A person responsible for the operation of a team, such as a coach, manager or trainer.
Trap: Traps are defensive formations designed to minimize the opposition's scoring opportunities and keep it's offense from functioning. The idea is to trap the puck in the neutral zone, halting the opponents and regaining control of the puck.
Tripping: Using a stick, arm, or leg to cause an opponent to trip or fall.
Turnover: Just as in basketball or football, you can make a turnover in hockey by losing control of the puck to the opposing team.
Two-line pass: An offside pass (that actually crosses two lines).
Wings: The left wing and the right wing (also known as forwards) move up and down the sides of the rink. Offensively, they skate on each side of the center, exchanging passes with him, while trying themselves for a shot on goal and/or a rebound of a shot from the point. Defensively, they watch the opponent's wings.
Wrist shot: A wrist shot is used to shoot the puck off the blade of the stick with a flicking motion of the wrist.
Zamboni: The vehicle used to prepare the rink's ice surface before the game, and after each period. The Zamboni scrapes a thin layer off the ice, heats the ice, and puts down a fresh layer of heated water that freezes to form a new layer of ice.
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Everyone wants to become the best version of themselves that they can, but is that even possible? It sounds great, but becoming the best version of ourselves is extremely difficult, and maintaining it over an extended period is even harder.
The idea of becoming the "best" version of ourselves is, for the most part, an unreachable and unrealistic goal, but we can certainly strive towards becoming a better version of who we are today. That's for sure!
The benefits of being a better person, a better human being, are long and amazing. Not only will we help ourselves to live a better life, we would also be in a better position to help other people, and contribute towards improving our environment and also the world. We would become enlightened spiritually, enriching our lives in numerous ways, and in every aspect of our life-wellness.
Some of the people that are reading this article may be telling themselves that it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. It's too challenging and complicated, and therefore not worth the effort.
Becoming a "better" person does require some effort, but it is not that complicated or difficult to achieve. The thing to remember is that it doesn't all happen in one day. It mostly happens in small incremental steps, each one better than the previous one. It's a lifelong, ongoing process that can always be improved. Since we are imperfect human beings, there is always room for improvement.
Everyone agrees that becoming a better person is better, and that we should do everything we can to become the best version of ourselves possible, and for as long as possible.
If you're not sure how to get started, let's begin with the following.
First and foremost, we should have a clear understanding of who we are today and who do we want to become tomorrow. Although it's fair to say that our idea of who we are, and who we want to be, is skewed to our own way of thinking. Even if we think we know, we can always learn more and improve on our way of thinking.
Have you ever stopped to think about your potential and your available options? Do you have a clear vision of who you really want to be, and how you want to live your life?
You know that you can do better and that you are destined for much more in life, but you're not sure how to go about it.
Look for small and sometimes insignificant things that you can do to improve in every area of your daily routine and activities, and just expand from there. Search for techniques and exercises that will help you create healthy habits, as well as a healthy outlook on life. Changing the way we think, and our habits, will change our lives for the better.
It's vital that you transform from having a vague idea of who you want to become, to a crystal clear, and detailed vision of who you will become right now and also in the future.
It doesn't matter if you call this exercise the Dream Exercise, Eulogy Exercise, or the Vision Exercise. What does matter, is that you do it as often as you can, and that you make your vision as clear and detailed as possible. Having fun and being creative will improve your chances of achieving your goals and objectives. Learn to use your senses: feel, see, smell, hear, and taste, to enhance the experience.
The exercise will take a little more time in the beginning, but that will decrease the more that you do it.
The objective is to have a crystal clear picture of your “best self”, and a doable action plan on how to make your vision a reality.
1) Try to find a peaceful resting place.
2) Close your eyes and take a couple of deep, cleansing breaths.
3) Imagine that you' are sitting and looking at a stage.
5) Now, with clarity, envision each person coming out, and hear each word that they are saying about you. Smile as you hear them say positive thoughts about you.
6) What are they saying? How do you want them to describe you? What kind of person do you want to be? What exceptional personality traits do you have?
7) Now, envision that it's your turn to go onto the stage and talk about and describe the type of person you want to become, and the steps, in detail, that you are taking to be the best version of you.
Take a good look at who you are and how you are living today. Now, create a doable action plan that you can start right now. Start now. Do something now, to work towards becoming the person you want to be tomorrow. Make a conscious effort to create positive results. Get into character, as though you're an actor in your own movie.
Have fun with this exercise. Use your imagination to envision and create a vivid movie in your mind, and the more that you will get out of the exercise. Write it down. Journal your thoughts and expand on it. Make it a game that you submerge yourself in, and get lost in your imagination. Do this several times per day.
It's your life, do what you want with it, but just make sure that doing amazing things with it.
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First, Chinese emphasized biological continuance through descendants to whom they gave the gift of life and for whom they sacrificed many of life's material pleasures. Moreover, personal sacrifice was not rooted in a belief in asceticism per se but in a belief that sacrificing for one's offspring would engender in them obligations toward elders and ancestors. As stated in the ancient text, Scripture of Filiality (Warring States Period, 453-221 B.C.E. ), these included obligations to care for one's body as a gift from one's parents and to succeed in life so as to glorify the family ancestors. Thus, one lived beyond the grave above all through the health and success of one's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Finally, there was a stress on mutual obligations between the living and the dead; in other words, an emphasis on the same principle of reciprocity that governed relations among the living members of a Chinese community. It was assumed that the dead could influence the quality of life for those still in this world—either for good or for ill. On the one hand, proper burial, careful observance of mourning practices, and ongoing offerings of food and gifts for ancestors assured their continued aid. On the other hand, failure to observe ritual obligations might bring on the wrath of one's ancestors, resulting in family disharmony, economic ruin, or sickness. Ancestral souls for whom no one cared would become "hungry ghosts" ( egui ), which might attack anyone in the community. Royal ancestors, whose worship was the special responsibility of the reigning emperor, could aid or harm people throughout the empire, depending on whether or not the emperor upheld ritual obligations to his ancestors.
There is evidence from as early as the Shang period (c. 1500–1050 B.C.E. ) that Chinese cared for ancestors as well as feared them. This may well have been the main factor in the development of beliefs in dual and multiple souls. Late in the Zhou dynasty (1050–256 B.C.E. ), cosmological thought was dominated by the yin-yang dichotomy, according to which all aspects of existence were a result of alternation and interplay between passive (yin) and active (yang) forces. Philosophers applied the dichotomy to soul theory. Lacking any absolute distinction between physical and spiritual, they considered the yin soul ( po ) as more material, and the yang soul ( hun ) as more ethereal. In practice, the po was linked to the body and the grave. The less fearsome hun was linked to the ancestral tablet kept in the family home and the one installed in an ancestral hall (if the family's clan could afford to build one). For some, this meant there were two hun, just as, for others, there might be multiple po. One common view included the idea of three hun and seven po. These multiple soul theories were among the factors in popular religion that mitigated widespread acceptance of belief in salvation of the individual soul. At the same time, however, multiple soul theories helped Chinese to manage contrasting perceptions of ancestral souls (as benevolent or malevolent, for example) and to provide an explanatory framework for the differing rituals of the domestic, gravesite, and clan hall cults for ancestors.
While the intent of all these rites was clear—to comfort ancestors rather than to suffer their wrath—the nature of ancestral existence was relatively undefined. Generally speaking, the world of the ancestors was conceived as a murky, dark realm, a "yin" space ( yinjian ). While not clear on the exact details, Chinese considered the world of departed spirits similar to the world of the living in key ways. They believed residents of the other realm need money and sustenance, must deal with bureaucrats, and should work (with the help of the living) to improve their fate. After the arrival of Buddhism in the early centuries of the common era, it contributed more specific ideas about the realm of the dead as well as more exact conceptions of the relationship between one's deeds while alive and one's fate afterward.
Over the course of Chinese history, classical texts on ritual and commentaries on them had increasing influence on the practice of rites for the dead. The text Records of Rituals ( Liji ), after being designated one of Confucianism's "Five Scriptures" during the Han era (206 B.C.E. –220 C.E. ), became the most influential book in this regard. The Family Rituals according to Master Zhu ( Zhuzi jiali ), by the leading thinker of later Confucianism (Zhu Xi, 1130–1200 C.E.), became the most influential commentary. The influence of these texts resulted in widespread standardization of funeral rites in particular and rites for the dead in general. According to the cultural anthropologist James Watson, standardized funeral rites became a marker of "Chineseness" for Han (ethnically Chinese) people in their interactions with other ethnic groups as they spread into new territories.
The procession to the gravesite of this funeral in China signifies a completion of the funeral rites .
grave. Among these observances were very complex mourning customs. They were governed by the general principle that the closeness of one's relationship to the deceased determined the degree of mourning one must observe (symbolized by the coarseness of one's clothes and the length of the mourning period, for example). In addition to observing mourning customs, relatives of the deceased were obliged to care for his or her soul(s) at the home altar and at the clan ancestral hall, if one existed. At the home altar the family remembered a recently deceased relative through highly personalized offerings of favorite foods and other items. They remembered more distant relatives as a group in generic ancestral rites, such as those which occurred prior to family feasts at the New Year, mid-Autumn, and other festivals. Indeed, one of the most significant symbolic reminders that ancestors were still part of the family was their inclusion as honored guests at holiday meals.
Lay Buddhists have been interested to an even greater extent than their monastic counterparts in the goal of rebirth in the Western paradise, or "Pure Land" ( jingtu ), of Amitabha Buddha. Unlike the ordinary realm of ancestors, which mirrors this world in most ways, the Pure Land is desired for ways in which it differs from this world. It is inhabited not by relatives, but by wise and compassionate teachers of the Buddhist Dharma, and it is free of the impurities and sufferings of the mortal realm. For some it is not a place at all, only a symbol of the peace of nirvana (enlightened state beyond cyclical existence).
Legge, James, trans. The Hsiao Ching. ( Scripture of Filiality ) 1899. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1963.
How do they mourn? Is there any specific details? i.e. do they cry? for how long? is there any other gatherings? Do they talk about the deceased? Is it a private event?
Thank you for such an interesting, well-researched and clearly written overview of Chinese Death Beliefs.
I was wondering if you could supply a little more information regarding cremation in China. Are ashes kept in the home, shrine, or are they buried?
To learn more about cultural ghost beliefs, you should read the e-book "Love of the Dead", a true story about young exorcist. He recounted the process using his magic to fight and neutralize the guilty souls, to help them have a optimistic view of the afterlife to integrate and regeneration... The book can be downloaded The book can be downloaded at "Smashwords".
It didn't answer my question, What are the rituals Confucianism regards before death?
What is the relation between confucianism and buddism?
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I How do we know electromagnetic waves are light?
Per the maxwell equations, we know that em waves travel at the velocity of light, but that is not a sufficient condition to say that electromagnetic waves are light. How do we know that electromagnetic waves are light? They could just be something that has the same velocity as light.
I don't understand. The word "light" is just a name given to EM radiation in a particular frequency range. You seem to think they are two different things. What do you think the word "light" means?
...although sometimes the word "light" is used to name the entire EM spectrum. Usually context will tell you which is being used.
For instance, the fact that good electrical conductors are also often mirror-like reflectors is consistent with light being an electromagnetic phenomenon.
did not divide by, then it counts as light.
What I mean is: Maxwell proved that light is an EM wave by showing that v = c via the wave function. But I don't see how showing via the wave function that v = c, automatically means that light is an EM wave.
The speed of light had already been measured when Maxwell derived his equations and he merely surmised the speed being the same wasn't a coincidence.
When it meets those criteria, it behaves like a wave, and works with the wave equations.
You could say most of the same things for sound waves, but the "c" is different.
Yes, you asked a good question.
Hm. If we see light as a wave, which "wave" is the light that we usually show in diagrams, the B-field or the E-field?
For freely-propagating wave in vacuum, it can be either one, because showing one automatically defines the other one.
In a waveguide, this is not so obvious and the geometry of the waveguide determines what the E and B field will look like.
Thanks a lot George! That was nice of you. So now I get it: without Hertz proving that all of the other properties of EM have in fact the same results of "macroscopic" light i.e. interference, refraction, reflection polarisation and etc., then it wouldn't have been enough just to use the wave function and have shown that they both have the same velocity.
Is this why in Optics there is first electromagnetic waves and then geometric/wave optics? Is this to essentially prove the two are one in the same?
Yes. For example, gravitational radiation propagates at c, but gravitational radiation is not light.
I think it is because they have been demonstrated to be the same thing by observations of loads of phenomena, so waves are studied in optics, and the ray approximation of light also is studied.
You can blue-shift light up into UV and higher. Blue shift it enough and it will be detectable as X-rays.
You can also red-shift it down to IR or lower. Red shift it enough and it will be detectable as radio.
In other words, the only difference between light and other parts of the EM spectrum is the frequency.
How do we know that electromagnetic waves are light?
Because we have well developed instruments (cameras being one of them), which can only work given this supposition.
Since they do work, the supposition is reasonable.
I'm not totally sure we have already proved it experimentally. We have indirect indications (Mossbauer effect, galactic red shift, etc) but do we really proved it in laboratory?
It generates light by making electrons oscillate. So light must be an electromagnetic wave.
Of course electrons "oscillate" in a sense even when atoms emit light when they undergo a transition from an excited level to the fundamental one (for example) but I don't consider this as a real "prove" that making a charge oscillate at high frequency it generates light, we only have indirect informations that this can be considered as an actual oscillation of the charges, AFAIK.
It has crossed into the mundane, with every day uses like weather and police radar.
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0.999977 |
Where should I camp in Switzerland with my kids?
As much as backpacking is associated with Europe, you'd think camping would be a more popular recreation among travelers there. But when it comes to trips across the pond it seems backpacks more often end up on hostel floors than inside tents. That's not to say that there isn't any camping on the continentquite the opposite, in fact. There are thousands of campgrounds (or, campings as they're called overseas) all over Europetucked away in countrysides and lying just beyond big city borders, as well as a good portion in between. Most are well organized, family-friendly, and offer good facilities.
Switzerland is easily one of your best bets for finding campsites to suit your family's preferences. The spectacular natural attractions and Swiss affinity for the outdoors make the chance of a "parking lot" feel less probable than, say, a campground just outside of Paris. You will also find plenty of outdoor activities for the whole brood to enjoy in just about every region of the country. That being said, the Bernese Oberland is ideal for families who want to immerse themselves in both the beauty and adventure of Switzerland. Situated in the canton of Bern, the Oberland includes peaks and valleys of the Bernese Alps, as well as Lake Thun and Lake Brienze and their surrounding areas. Interlaken is the most touristed town in the region, and, hence, has the largest selection of campings.
There are a couple standouts of Interlaken's array of places to sleep under the starts. Camping Aaregg, on the eastern shore of Lake Brienz, gets loads of raves with over 240 plots for short-term camping, some of them at lakeside. Facilities are clean and updated (circa 2006), and a large playground really makes it a family place. Adults stay for about $11/night, children over six are $7/night, and little ones five and under are free. A lakefront tent is about $14, and there are some small taxes as well. Essentially, accommodations for a family of five are around $50/night. Camping Jungfraublick is another ideal family campsite with modern facilities, laundry, a playground, and even a pool. Rates during the high season begin around $9/night for adults, $4.50 for children over four (three and under stay free). Pitching a tent is anywhere from $10 to $30/night depending on the size of the plot.
While the campings themselves make for a comfortable family stay, one of the best amenities is their proximity to a seemingly limitless amount of outdoor action. Excellent hiking, biking, skiing, paddling, and paragliding are just a few of the adventures that draw outdoor entusiasts to the locale, and you can access most of them right outside your door (or tent flap).
ACSI EuroCampings is a good place to begin your research on campsites in Europe. The organization touts itself as "Europe's leading camp site specialist" and, judging by its website, may be just that. An interactive map lets you search for campings by country, then regions within countries, and provides details on individual campsites, including photos and URLs to check out sites more closely, as well as 1-to-10 scale ratings and camper reviews. ACSI also sells the CampingCard, which offers reduced rates at participating campings (similar to America's KOA, except the campgrounds aren't owned by ACSI). The one negative about the card? You could miss out on a great campsite if it's not part of the ACSI systemonly about 1,600 campings out of over 8,000 participate in the CampingCard program. But if you have a specific place in mind, it's worth finding out of it's in the mix.
If you want to leave the research and planning to someone else, Canvas Holidays is a UK-based company that will find a campsite and make all of the reservations for you. It does somewhat deflate the DIY mentality of camping, but it might work for those who have time to travel, but not to coordinate the details.
Finally, the Swiss Tourism Board is an excellent resource for general travel in Switzerland, plus a solid authority for information on camping there. If you can't find what you are looking for online, try contacting them with specific questions. In true Swiss fashion, they are reliable and efficient about responding to queries.
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The ancient fossil, just discovered in China, could upend our understanding of how all vertebrates evolved over time.
Sure, it’s not much to look at. But stare long enough, and you’ll see a jaw (jutting out towards the right), a pair of nostrils (small perforations directly above the mouth cavity) and even a tiny eye socket (just above the mouth, to the left of the nostrils, staring out sideways).
This admittedly homely fish fossil, the 419-million-year old Entelognathus primordialis, was recently discovered in China and described for the first time in an article published today in Nature. What makes it remarkable is everything that’s come after it: It’s the oldest known creature with a face, and may have given rise to virtually all the faces that have followed in the hundreds of millions of years since, including our own.
The uncommonly well-preserved, three-dimensional fossil, analyzed by a group of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was excavated near Xiaoxiang Reservoir in Southeast China, in a layer of sediment that dates to the Silurian period, which ranged from roughly 419 to 443 million years ago. All other fish specimens from this era are jawless fish (a group of more primitive creatures that still live on today as lampreys and hagfish), so this is the first one that has what we might call a face: a mouth, nose and two eyes.
It’s difficult to conclude very much about the behavior or lifestyle of the ancient creature, but we do know that it swam in water (land animals didn’t begin to evolve until the Devonian period, which spanned 359 to 419 million years ago) and was likely a top-level predator of the early ocean ecosystem.
Friedman and others find the fossil so remarkable because it combines a series of characteristics from two different groups: placoderms, an ancient class of armored fish that went extinct millions of years ago, and bony fish, a lineage that gave rise to all modern fish with jaws and bone skeletons. Previously, it was assumed that placoderms died out completely (and that the other, more recent types of fish with similar armor plating had independently re-evolved it much later), while a different, shark-like group of fish called acanthodians led to the bony fishes.
This is significant because of what happened next: bony fish gave rise to all modern vertebrate fish, along with all amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including ourselves. In other words, this fossil might mean that the placoderms didn’t go extinct, but rather evolved into the tremendous diversity of animals that live on both land and sea—and that this ancient, strange-looking face belongs to one of your oldest ancestors.
Eventually, though, this finding could help transform our understanding of just how evolution occurred in our planet’s ancient oceans—and how the primitive creatures that swam in them eventually gave rise to the faces we see everyday.
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This essay is a brief account of the history of Musa Dagh Armenians from mid-nineteenth century to the present. Musa Dagh was situated by the Mediterranean Sea, in the Svedia sub-district within the Antioch district of the Ottoman Province of Aleppo. Presently, it is located in the Samandagh district in the Hatay province of Turkey. Armenians are believed to have lived in Musa Dagh since antiquity. To date, their origins remain shrouded in uncertainty. They spoke a dialect called Kistinik, meaning, the language of Christians. In nineteenth century, six main Armenian villages existed: Bitias, Haji Habibli, Yoghunoluk, Kheder Beg, Vakef, and Kabusiye, with a total of about 6,000 inhabitants. The original villages from which the others emerged were Haji Habibli, Yoghunoluk, and Kabusiye.
The nineteenth and early twentieth century proved a period of change that transformed the Musa Daghtsis from an isolated, obscure, and ignorant lot to a conscious collectivity fighting for its very existence as part of the larger Ottoman Armenian community facing total annihilation by its own, Young Turk government. Several factors effected this transformation. A retired British diplomat by the name of John Barker, who had a summer residence at Bitias and other property in Kheder Beg, experimented with new vegetables and fruits acquired from around the world, improved the silkworm seeds for sericulture, the main occupation in the area, and introduced medicines to fight epidemic diseases. Equally important, foreign travelers visiting him exposed Musa Dagh to the outside world for the first time through their published accounts. American Protestant missionaries likewise made inroads in Musa Dagh beginning in 1840, leading to the establishment of Protestant churches in Bitias in 1857 and in Yoghunoluk in 1869-70. The direct or indirect teachings of the American ideals of equality and freedom must have impacted the people’s thinking to some extent. Then came Capuchin missionaries from Europe and established the St. Paul congregation in Kheder Beg in 1891. Their presence, too, must have influenced the locals in terms of European notions of human rights.
Armenian clergymen, educators, and revolutionaries likewise stopped by Musa Dagh beginning mid-nineteenth century. When the Armenian National Constitution was promulgated in the Ottoman Empire in 1863, the Prelacy in Aleppo dispatched clergymen to its parishes in northwestern Syria to introduce reforms. As a result, the majority Apostolic community of Musa Dagh underwent some positive changes, albeit with difficulty. Similarly, as a consequence of the ongoing Armenian social, cultural, and political Renaissance across the empire, “national” primary schools were established in Musa Dagh, whereby youngsters began to learn about Armenian civilization with its accomplishments.
Revolutionary societies penetrated Musa Dagh beginning in the 1890s. Outside activists belonging to the Social Democrat Hnchakian Party (SDHP) established there what they termed “absolute monarchy” from 1893-96. Many Musa Daghtsis, including large numbers of women, adhered to the SDHP, were indoctrinated, and underwent some military training. A degree of “racial “awareness” was thus attained. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) became interested in Musa Dagh during the Zeytun uprising of 1895-96. Agents were sent to Musa Dagh in the early 1890s to introduce the party’s ideology and platform. An actual ARF sub-committee was formed in 1908. The Reformed Hnchakian Party had a cell in Haji Habibli beginning in 1911, and a few followers in some of the other villages. All three parties smuggled arms into Musa Dagh for self-defense, although their respective quantities cannot be verified. The need for self-defense became more acute during the 1909 Armenian massacres in Cilicia and northwestern Syria. Musa Dagh was spared the carnage thanks to the self-defensive measures it adopted as well as the presence of a British warship that prevented the Muslim ruffians from assailing Musa Dagh.
In late July 1915, when Musa Dagh received a deportation order, two-third of the population chose resistance, whereas one-third complied with the command and was deported to the Syrian city of Hama and environs. More than half perished as a result of exposure, malnutrition, and diseases. The defiant majority fought the Ottoman Army and Muslim irregulars for more than forty days, and was rescued by French warships monitoring the coastline and taken to Egypt, where they would stay for four years in a refugee camp on the eastern banks of the Suez Canal across from Port Said. The international press covered this heroic saga with editorials, articles, and pictures. Material assistance poured into the camp from around the world. In 1933, Franz Werfel, a Jew then living in Vienna, Austria, published a historical novel, titled The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. It was translated from its original German into numerous languages in subsequent years. Musa Dagh became a household name globally, and the saga itself was immortalized. It also inspired artists and intellectuals alike to create works that heartened especially oppressed people with messages of hope for survival. Unfortunately, a film project by the movie giant Metro-Goldwin-Mayer (MGM) was shelved due to pressure exerted by the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the US State Department. Fortunately, another film is currently in the pipeline.
At Port Said, the refugees lived in tents, and were fed through bakeries, a kitchen, and a soup kitchen. Children attended the Sisvan (old name of Cilicia) school run by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU). The infirm were tended to in a clinic-hospital supported by the Armenian Red Cross. Men and women alike worked in various industrial departments operated by the American Red Cross and the British Friends of Armenia Society. Some 500-600 youths in 1916 formed the backbone of the French Légion d’Orient, later renamed the Légion Arménienne. This force, augmented by Armenian volunteers from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, fought victoriously against the Ottoman Army at the Battle of Arara in Palestine on September 19, 1918, thereby facilitating the Allied occupation of the rest of Greater Syria as well as Cilicia.
In 1919, the refugees at Port Said and survivors at Hama repatriated to Musa Dagh. The following two decades witnessed reconstruction and the resumption of old professions such as comb, spoon, and charcoal making, sericulture, and farming. A new textile industry inspired hope for a better future. Bitias, in particular, became a popular tourism and vacationing center. The three denominations reopened their churches and schools. Voluntary associations sought to ameliorate religious, educational, social, and cultural life. The SDHP and the ARF vied for political dominance through local councils and regional legislatures, with the latter party succeeding to a larger extent. Unfortunately, all this would come to an abrupt end in the summer of 1939, when France ceded the Sanjak of Iskenderun/Alexandretta, an autonomous province in northwestern Syria encompassing Musa Dagh and other Armenian communities, to Turkey. The overwhelming majority of Armenians chose to leave the area for other parts of Syria, and Lebanon, fearful of Turkish rule so tarnished with brutality in recent memory. Only 6 percent of Musa Daghtsis elected to stay behind. They are now concentrated in the village of Vakef/Vakifli, which has been showcased in recent years as the only Armenian village left in Turkey.
The majority that departed Musa Dagh encamped temporarily at Ras al-Basit, along the Mediterranean between the Armenian enclave of Kessab and Latakia. They were relocated to a place called Anjar in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Not only did the French High Commission of Syria and Lebanon purchase the land, but it also constructed the houses. With much difficulty, hard work, and perseverance, Anjar in due course became a vibrant rural community. Last year it marked its seventy-fifth anniversary. In 1946-47, more than half of Anjar’s population resettled in Soviet Armenia.
Wherever they may be, the Musa Daghtsis commemorate their heroic feat of 1915 annually. Monuments have also been erected. The Damlajik monument on Musa Dagh itself was inaugurated on September 18, 1932 with pomp and circumstance. The remains of the eighteen fighters who lost their lives during the resistance were interred in a fenced cemetery nearby. In Armenia, a majestic monument and an adjacent museum stand on a hilltop in the town of Musa Ler (Musa Dagh), between the capital of Yerevan and the Holy See of Echmiadzin. In Anjar, a memorial complex is situated between the Harach College (high school) and the St. Paul Apostolic Church. In Cambridge, near Ontario, Canada, an edifice likewise attracts celebrants each September.
On this centennial of the Musa Dagh resistance to the Armenian Genocide, challenges remain. How to preserve Musa Daghtsi identity? How to preserve the dialect? How to impart the history? How to raise future generations conscious of their roots? And so on. Leadership, vision, imagination, ingenuity, technology, and other innovative approaches are key to meeting those challenges. Relegation to oblivion is not an option.
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0.999996 |
Universal Music Corporation filed a DMCA takedown notice to remove from YouTube Stephanie Lenz’s 29 second home video of her two young children dancing to Prince’s song Let’s Go Crazy. Lenz sued Universal for making misrepresentations of infringing use in its takedown notice.
boils down to a question of whether copyright holders have been abusing the extrajudicial takedown procedures provided for in the DMCA by declining to first evaluate whether the content qualifies as fair use.
We hold that the statute requires copyright holders to consider fair use before sending a takedown notification, and that failure to do so raises a triable issue as to whether the copyright holder formed a subjective good faith belief that the use was not authorized by law.
Lenz posted her video on YouTube on February 7, 2007. Upon discovering the video on YouTube, a Universal employee evaluated whether to send a DMCA takedown notice to YouTube. On the basis that the Prince song was recognizable, that it played loudly in the background throughout the entire video, that Lenz named her video Let’s Go Crazy #1 and that Lenz asked her toddler if he liked the song, the Universal employee determined that the Prince song was the focus of the video and that a DMCA takedown notice should be sent. The Universal video evaluation guidelines did not include considering fair use.
YouTube removed the video on June 5, 2007. After a glitch in filing a counter-notification that the video was removed by mistake, the video was reinstated pursuant to Lenz’s June 27, 2007 counter-notification. Lenz sued Universal for misrepresentation under §512(f) of the DMCA. The district court denied Universal’s motion to dismiss. The parties both moved for summary judgment on Lenz’s §512(f) misrepresentation claim. The district court denied both motions, resulting in the appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
Under §512(c)(3)(A), a takedown notice must identify the copyrighted work, identify the allegedly infringing material and include a statement that the copyright holder believes in good faith that the infringing material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
The service provider must notify the user who posted the allegedly infringing content of the takedown. The user can restore the removed content by sending the service provider a counter-notification. §512(g)(1)-(2). The counter-notification must include a statement that the user has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification. The service provider must inform the copyright holder of the counter-notification and must restore the removed content unless the service provider receives notice from the copyright holder that the copyright holder has filed a lawsuit to restrain the user’s infringing behavior.
Subsection (1) of §512(f) is the only subsection at issue in this case.
Section 512(c)(3)(A)(v) requires a takedown notification to include a statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. The parties dispute whether fair use is an authorization under the law as contemplated by the statute—which is so far as we know an issue of first impression in any circuit across the nation. Canons of statutory construction dictate that if the language of a statute is clear, we look no further than that language in determining the statute’s meaning. A court looks to legislative history only if the statute is unclear. We agree with the district court and hold that the statute unambiguously contemplates fair use as a use authorized by the law.
The Ninth Circuit explained its reasoning.
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright….
17 U.S.C. § 107. The statute explains that the fair use of a copyrighted work is permissible because it is a non-infringing use.
Because 17 U.S.C. § 107 both empowers and formally approves the use of copyrighted material if the use constitutes fair use, fair use is ‘authorized by the law’ within the meaning of § 512(c).
The Ninth Circuit rejected Universal’s argument that fair use is not “authorized by the law” within the meaning of §512(c) because it is an affirmative defense. The Ninth Circuit views fair use as a right, not excused conduct.
Even if, as Universal urges, fair use is classified as an ‘affirmative defense,’ we hold—for the purposes of the DMCA—fair use is uniquely situated in copyright law so as to be treated differently than traditional affirmative defenses. We conclude that because 17 U.S.C. § 107 created a type of non-infringing use, fair use is ‘authorized by the law’ and a copyright holder must consider the existence of fair use before sending a takedown notification under § 512(c).
The Ninth Circuit had previously held that the good faith required by §512(f) is subjective good faith that a use is not authorized and not good faith as set by an objective standard. Further, the copyright owner must have actual knowledge of the misrepresentation to be held liable under §512(f). The Ninth Circuit stuck to its previous rulings in this case.
Universal faces liability if it knowingly misrepresented in the takedown notification that it had formed a good faith belief the video was not authorized by the law, i.e., did not constitute fair use. Here, Lenz presented evidence that Universal did not form any subjective belief about the video’s fair use—one way or another— because it failed to consider fair use at all, and knew that it failed to do so. Universal nevertheless contends that its procedures, while not formally labeled consideration of fair use, were tantamount to such consideration. Because the DMCA requires consideration of fair use prior to sending a takedown notification, a jury must determine whether Universal’s actions were sufficient to form a subjective good faith belief about the video’s fair use or lack thereof.
To be clear, if a copyright holder ignores or neglects our unequivocal holding that it must consider fair use before sending a takedown notification, it is liable for damages under §512(f). If, however, a copyright holder forms a subjective good faith belief the allegedly infringing material does not constitute fair use, we are in no position to dispute the copyright holder’s belief even if we would have reached the opposite conclusion. A copyright holder who pays lip service to the consideration of fair use by claiming it formed a good faith belief when there is evidence to the contrary is still subject to § 512(f) liability.
The Ninth Circuit ruled that the plaintiff claiming damages under §512(f) need not show actual monetary loss.
Section 512(f) provides for the recovery of ‘any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, incurred by the alleged infringer who is injured by such misrepresentation, as the result of the service provider relying upon such misrepresentation in removing or disabling access to the material or activity claimed to be infringing.’ We hold a plaintiff may seek recovery of nominal damages for an injury incurred as a result of a § 512(f) misrepresentation.
Lenz may seek recovery of nominal damages due to an unquantifiable harm suffered as a result of Universal’s actions. The DMCA is akin to a statutorily created intentional tort whereby an individual may recover nominal damages for a knowingly material misrepresentation under this section 512.
(Opinion pdf pages 22 – 23).
The Ninth Circuit acknowledged that its ruling increases the responsibilities of copyright holders in the DMCA context.
This case is Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., Nos. 13-16106, 13-16107, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Richard C. Tallman wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge Mary H. Murguia joined.
Judge Milan D. Smith, Jr. concurred in part and dissented in part.
Judge Smith concurred in all of the majority opinion except for the majority’s ruling on the knowing misrepresentation of a good faith belief analysis. Judge Smith questioned the majority’s approach to three issues.
First, I question whether § 512(f) directly prohibits a party from misrepresenting that it has formed a good faith belief that a work is subject to the fair use doctrine. I construe the plain text of the statute to prohibit misrepresentations that a work is infringing, not misrepresentations about the party’s diligence in forming its belief that the work is infringing. Second, I disagree that there is any material dispute about whether Universal considered fair use. Because Universal did not consider fair use, it may be held liable for ‘knowingly’ misrepresenting that the video was infringing, if it should be determined that the video is a non-infringing fair use. Universal’s misrepresentation, if any, was knowing because Universal knew it had not considered fair use, and therefore knew it lacked a basis to conclude that the video was infringing. Third, I do not believe that the willful blindness doctrine applies where, as here, a party has failed to consider fair use and affirmatively misrepresents that a work is infringing.
(Opinion pdf pages 26 – 27).
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HARARE - A stable business environment in Zimbabwe could see a rise in Australian investments in the southern African nation, according to Canberra’s envoy here, following an exodus of investors in recent years.
This comes as Zimbabwe’s empowerment policy that aims to redress colonial-era imbalances by forcing foreign companies to sell majority domestic stakes to local black investors, has spooked foreign investors.
“Australian investors, and local businesses, seek a stable and transparent business environment, underpinned by clear and consistent policies, in order to invest in Zimbabwe,” Australian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Suzanne McCourt said.
McCourt was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day visit to Harare by Australia’s Trade Commissioner for Southern Africa, Patrick Hanlon.
“He will meet a range of private sector contacts, government representatives, Australian businesses, education agents, the Zimbabwe Australia Business Council, and the Zimbabwe Australia Alumni Association.
Hanlon said the visit is an opportunity to strengthen links between Australia and Zimbabwe, as well as share lessons from across the region.
Australia in 2002 banned direct ministerial contact with government ministers in Zimbabwe, and in 2004 imposed travel and financial-transaction bans on members of President Robert Mugabe’s regime and senior supporters over rights violations and electoral fraud.
Australia also tightened scrutiny of student visas for the children of senior Zimbabwean government officials.
Mugabe, 92, who has ruled Zimbabwe since winning power in 1980, after decades of British colonial rule, denies allegations of widespread human rights abuses and ballot fraud and accuses Western powers of working with the opposition MDC to oust him.
Hanlon said: “Australia has a long history of economic engagement in Zimbabwe, and growing trade and investment links across the region.
“In particular, Zimbabwe and Australia share similarities in the mining and agriculture sectors, and there is potential for Australia to share its expertise and technology.
It will be good if yu can come in n get goibg on those diamonds mine.we know yu wont corrupt our politicians into sending al gems n money to Australia.Yu are known to b accountable pple.yu wont us whips on the black workers n yu will pay them on tyme.this we know.BHP was a good mining house,paid taxes n employed citizens,ours.this we know too.we know yu wont tolerate corrupt ion.
if anyone is to read between the lines & decipher the ambassador's tone one can pick that australia has no intention to come here. this is a game of diplomacy being played by a skillful player. can someone read the 3rd paragraph carefully! stable & transparent envro and, clear & consistent policies is what rhobhati & company lack yet McCourt is saying thats what australia need in order to invest here. even the headline is in quotes wani! This is called diplomatic etiquette at its best!
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0.998854 |
Evolution: Why don't we find penguins on the Northern hemisphere?
The most northern situated penguin lives on the Galapagos Islands, 1100 km west of mainland Ecuador(South America). Maybe a few individuals crossed the equator and nest on the northern most island of the Galapagos, but that doesn't count.
A possible explanation for their habitat could be the Humboldt current, which drove them northwards, but the equatorial counter current which comes from the north of the Galapagos could have stopped them from swimming further up north.
Many islands on the northern hemisphere are surrounded by sheer rocks, so penguins can't land on them or else are the habitat for dangerous predators, which especially applies to the coasts of the mainland. On the opposite, auks can nest in chasms where predators can't reach them, but aren't able to stand up against the extreme climates, that adelies and emperors have to face. So both are well adjusted to their own specific conditions of life.
Neither of them would take advantage of moving.
Several times, people have tried to release some caught penguins around northern Norway, but all those experiments failed.
The fact that there are already animals, looking a lot like penguins, namely the Giant Auk (in Latin : pinguïnus impennis), could also be a reason why penguins don't live in the northern hemisphere.
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Simplicity is the magic word when it comes to consumer inputs?
As many of you have discussed about, ease of use is very important for a toolkit. A nice reallife example for this comes from the games industry. Valve, creator of the very popular game Portal 2, released a toolkit that allows the players of this game to make their own maps and share them among their friends and in the community.
This toolkit is called a “map editor” in the games industry, and is far from a new concept. However, creating map editors for games starts getting more tricky as games get more complicated. This is why the programmers had to step in and create a nice tool that simplifies the whole experience and allows people to create an infinity of content. This keeps the game fun for a long time.
The reason why I mention this example in this blog is this: Valve made a big introduction with launching this new map editor, but the weird thing is that Valve already had a map editor. This previous toolkit was so very complicated, that the community only managed to create about 400 maps since the game released a year ago. The only thing Valve did, was create a new toolkit that drastically simplified map creation, removing requirements for programming and standardizing many objects and surroundings.
This leads me to believe that companies have to really think about the simplicity of their toolbox. They need to be designed in a way, which keeps the main goal of the consumer input in mind. For Valve’s game this was entertainment for both user and consumer. Since creating a map and having you friend play it is fun for the creator, the toolkit is succesfull. If the goal of the toolkit is to use consumer inputs for marketing and product development purposes however, the developers need to keep in mind that making too simple, standardized toolkits will give them less valueble consumer input.
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Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (/pɔːrˈkɑːroʊ/; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. In a career that spanned more than 20 years, Porcaro was best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Porcaro is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions. While already an established studio player in the 1970s, he came to prominence in the United States as the drummer on the Steely Dan album Katy Lied. AllMusic has characterized him as "arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-'70s to the early '90s", further stating that "It is no exaggeration to say that the sound of mainstream pop/rock drumming in the 1980s was, to a large extent, the sound of Jeff Porcaro." He was posthumously inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1993.
Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro was born on April 1, 1954, in Hartford, Connecticut, the eldest son of Los Angeles session percussionist of Italian descent Joe Porcaro and his wife, Eileen. His brothers Mike and Steve were also successful studio musicians and members of the band Toto. Porcaro was raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles and attended Ulysses S. Grant High School.
On October 22, 1983, Porcaro married Susan Norris, a Los Angeles television broadcaster. Together, they had three sons, Christopher Joseph (1984), Miles Edwin Crawford (1986–2017), and Nico Hendrix (1991).
When he was seventeen, Porcaro got his first professional gig playing in Sonny & Cher's touring band. He later called Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon his idols at that time. During his twenties, Porcaro played on hundreds of albums, including several for Steely Dan. He toured with Boz Scaggs before co-founding Toto with his brother Steve and childhood friends Steve Lukather and David Paich. Jeff Porcaro is renowned among drummers for the drum pattern he used on the Grammy Award-winning Toto song "Rosanna", from the album Toto IV. The drum pattern, called the Half-Time Shuffle Groove, was originally created by the legendary drummer Bernard Purdie, who called it the "Purdie Shuffle." Porcaro created his own version of this groove by blending the aforementioned shuffle with John Bonham's groove heard in the Led Zeppelin song "Fool in the Rain". Porcaro describes this groove in detail on a Star Licks video (now DVD) he created shortly after "Rosanna" became popular.
Besides his work with Toto, he was also a highly sought-after session musician. Porcaro collaborated with many of the biggest names in music, including George Benson, Larry Carlton, Eric Carmen, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Christopher Cross, Miles Davis, Dire Straits, Donald Fagen, Stan Getz, David Gilmour, James Newton Howard, Al Jarreau, Elton John, Leo Sayer, Rickie Lee Jones, Paul McCartney, Michael McDonald, Sérgio Mendes, Jim Messina, Pink Floyd, Lee Ritenour, Diana Ross, Boz Scaggs, Seals and Crofts, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer and Joe Walsh. Porcaro contributed drums to four tracks on Michael Jackson's Thriller and also played on the Dangerous album hit "Heal the World". He also played on 10cc's ...Meanwhile (1992). On the 1993 10cc Alive album, recorded after his death, the band dedicated "The Night That the Stars Didn't Show" to him.
Richard Marx dedicated the song "One Man" to him and said Porcaro was the best drummer he had ever worked with. Michael Jackson made a dedication to Porcaro in the liner notes for his 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.
Porcaro died on August 5, 1992, at the age of 38. He had fallen ill after spraying insecticide in the yard of his Hidden Hills home and died that evening at Humana Hospital-West Hills. The coroner's office listed his cause of death to be a heart attack from atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Porcaro's funeral was held on August 10 in the Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery, where he was buried on the Lincoln Terrace, lot 120. The Jeff Porcaro Memorial Fund was established to benefit the music and art departments of Grant High School in Los Angeles, California, where he was a student in the early 1970s. A memorial concert took place at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles on December 14, 1992, with an all-star line-up that included George Harrison, Boz Scaggs, Donald Fagen, Don Henley, Michael McDonald, David Crosby, Eddie Van Halen, and the members of Toto. The proceeds of the concert were used to establish an education trust fund for Porcaro's sons.
Porcaro's tombstone was inscribed with the following epitaph, comprising lyrics from Kingdom of Desire track "Wings of Time": "Our love doesn't end here; it lives forever, on the Wings of Time."
Porcaro endorsed Pearl drums, pedals, racks and hardware, Paiste cymbals, Remo drumheads and Regaltip drumsticks. He had his own Regaltip Jeff Porcaro signature drumsticks, which are still made by the company in 2019. He used other brands of drums until joining Pearl in 1982, notably Ludwig-Musser, Gretsch, Camco, and Yamaha Drums.
Paul McCartney – Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984) - "Silly Love Songs"
^ "Freedrumlessons.com". Freedrumlessons.com. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Jeff Porcaro". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
^ "JOE PORCARO PERCUSSIONISTA MADE IN ITALY". Il Volo Srl Editore. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
^ "Jeff Porcaro Throwback Thursday from the MI Vault". Musicians Institute. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
^ "Jeff Porcaro's official discography". Toto99.com. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
^ Nate Brown. "Jeff Porcaro – Rosanna Shuffle". OnlineDrummer.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
^ "liner notes "Paid vacation", see quote about "One man"". Geocities.jp. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
^ "Official TOTO Website – Band History". Toto99.com. August 5, 1992. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
^ "Jeff Porcaro (1954–1992) – Find A Grave Memorial". Findagrave.com. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
^ "Pearl Drums: Remembering Jeff Porcaro". Pearldrum.com. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
^ "James Newton Howard & Friends". Sheffieldlab.com. Retrieved 2016-06-27.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jeff Porcaro.
Tribute site with complete discography of sessions.
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0.999999 |
What are the Different Types of Immigration Employment?
Border Patrol Agents use covert methods to detect and prevent illegal border crossings.
Many immigration services also provide assistance, which may include processing the paperwork that is necessary to receive a worker’s permit.
Immigration workers perform tasks including preventing illegal items from being smuggled into the country.
There are many different jobs related to immigration. Some of the more common types of immigration employment could be working for border patrol or immigration agencies, both of which are usually government controlled. Other immigration employment may be found in the field of immigration law or social services designed for new immigrants.
Requirements for border patrol agencies may be quite different depending on the country, but the job generally involves making sure that people coming into the country are doing so in a legal manner. Most countries have checkpoints for entry by automobile, where border patrol agents check the paperwork of incoming travelers. They may also look for items being smuggled into the country, such as illegal drugs or weapons.
Border patrol agents are typically considered law enforcement officers and often must undergo strenuous physical training. In addition, agents are usually expected to master the use of firearms and other weapons. Border enforcement can also require learning to use sophisticated electronic equipment to monitor unguarded stretches of border. Salaries for border patrol agents vary, depending on the country. In the United States, the average yearly salary for a border patrol agent is around $55,000 US dollars (USD) per year.
Immigration attorneys typically represent those who are petitioning to enter a country or those who have already entered a country illegally. In many cases, their work is related to finding ways for their clients to remain in the country. Immigration usually requires extensive paperwork, some of which can be expedited with the use of an attorney experienced in immigration law. For illegal immigrants, an immigration attorney may be able to delay or stop deportation.
Another area for immigration employment is working within a government immigration bureau. There are many different types of work within these bureaus, including processing work visas, issuing passports, and performing background checks on individuals who wish to immigrate. People interested in working within this field should considered learning a second language, as bilingual applicants often have better success in obtaining this type of immigration employment.
In some cases, people who immigrate to a new country may want to apply for citizenship. Most immigration bureaus have divisions that handle these applications. The process is often very involved and may take years to complete. Those seeking citizenship may be assigned caseworkers whose job is to help expedite the process. This type of immigration employment may require some knowledge of immigration law and a background in social services.
What are the Best Sources of Immigration Advice?
What are the Most Common Immigration Questions?
What is Involved in the Immigration Process?
How do I Choose the Best Free Immigration Lawyer?
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0.999994 |
Are These the Top 10 In-N-Outs in America?
The Daily Meal recently published their picks for the top 10 In-N-Out outposts in the country, from the always-busy location in Fisherman's Wharf, to a long-standing spot with scenic mountain views. Take a look at the slideshow, or scroll down for the full list, with a brief summary of why each location made the cut.
1: Baldwin Park, CA: This outpost got props because it's right next to the company store and a replica of the original burger stand.
2: Draper, UT: The Daily Meal says this location is quieter than most, which makes eating there "an almost peaceful experience". I don't know about you, but when I'm eating at In-N-Out, I can barely hear a thing. Those burgers are like noise cancelling headphones you shove in your face.
3: Las Vegas, NV: The In-N-Out just off the Las Vegas Strip on Dean Martin Drive earned a place on the list for being the perfect spot to celebrate victories and drown your sorrows. Also: when you bet on cheeseburgers, you never lose.
4: Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood CA: This location, right in the middle of Hollywood, was lauded for being efficient (including taking orders from those in line with iPads—something I've only seen at drive-thrus).
5: Upland, CA: You can eat your Double-Double at a picnic table with a view of Mount Baldy at this circa-1987 outpost. You'll have to dine al fresco though, there's no indoor seating.
6: Harbor Boulevard, Ventura, CA Located just off Hwy 101 (and an 8-minute walk from the beach), this location is primely situated.
7: Laguna Hills, CA: There's no drive-thru at this In-N-Out, but the dining area is extra big. That's good news if you want the sit-down experience.
8: Placentia, CA: This location also doesn't have a drive-thru, but makes up for it with lots of indoor seating and a "homey" atmosphere that sometimes gets a little rambunctious due to its proximity to Cal State-Fullerton.
9: Austin, TX: This location got a nod simply for bringing In-N-Out to the excited masses of Austin, including some emotional Calfornia ex-pats who reportedly "shed tears of joy as they took their first bite".
10: Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco: This busy outpost was praised for its people-watching opportunities and waterfront location.
Did your favorite location make the list? At the risk of the list getting even more California-heavy, the one outpost I think The Daily Meal missed is the In-N-Out on S Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles (map), a short drive from LAX. There's nothing like eating a cheeseburger right before a flight (or just after landing) while planes pass directly overhead. Pro tip: if you have a long layover at LAX, you can hitch a ride on the Sepulveda Parking Spot shuttle, which drops you off at a lot right across the street from In-N-Out.
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What is an enrolled agent? An enrolled agent is a person who has earned the privilege of practicing, that is, representing taxpayers, before the Internal Revenue Service. Enrolled agents, like attorneys and certified public accountants (CPAs), are unrestricted as to which taxpayers they can represent, what types of tax matters they can handle, and which IRS offices they can practice before.
The IRS requires 16 hours minimum per year, with a total of 72 hours within 3 years. They also require a minimum of 2 hours of Ethics per year, with a total of 6 hours within 3 years. The 16 hours minimum per year can include 2 hours of Ethics.
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0.975817 |
Create your own rotating planetarium!
This up to date planetarium contains eight planets and the sun. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Each rotates freely around the sun to demonstrate the positioning of the solar system. The earth even comes with it’s own teeny tiny moon! Theres also stickers with the classic astronomical symbols to stick on to the model and identify the planets with.
Once assembled and fully extended, this miniature planetarium measures 34 cm across at it’s longest point. Please note this model is not to scale due to the very large distances and size differences involved.
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0.932599 |
what are you some kind of code-vegan?
I know some code vegans: "I can't eat lisp, it has too many parens." Or, uh, something.
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0.984916 |
How do you use submeshes correctly?
My code generates the desired Hexagons, but the framerate drops to 5 FPS when running it for 100x100 tiles, while the gameobject version runs at 300 FPS. Did I do something wrong or are submeshed not meant to be used in such ways? How are submeshes used correctly to be able to assign different textures to those tiles?
Do you need a new material for each hexagon? You can change the texture of individual hexigons just by changing the uvs for that hex. You can change the color with vertex colors and a shader that supports vertex colors. If you don't need an individual material for each hex, then you will see a dramatic speed improvement.
Yes I would like to use one texture, but where/how would I have to set this texture, so that it gets applied to all submeshes?
edit: so that this texture is displayed repeatedly: I thought by having the same uvs for each hexagon would be sufficient, but then only the first hexagon gets displayed.
Don't create a materials array. Don't assign anything to Renderer.materials. Assign a single material to Renderer.material (no 's' on the end).
thank you for your answers. Well I did what you wrote, but it does not seem to work. I added the uvs, wich are used for each hexagon, to my question.
As a result of your suggestions only one Hexagon gets rendered. I updated my question with the source code for you.
I would suggest having only as many materials, and thus submeshes, as you really need. that means that all tiles that have the same material can share a submesh so you put all the triangles from those tiles together for one submesh, and so on.
The point of using submeshes is basically convenience, for example an animated character that contains several materials (skin, clothes, hair, eyes). The actual performance of submeshes is more or less the same as separate objects, so there's generally no point using submeshes for tiles since you're adding complexity for no gain. The two approaches to a tile system that make sense are 1) create meshes (typically without submeshes) which use a texture atlas and manipulate UVs to display the correct texture on each tile, or 2) create a pooling system where the tiles are separate objects, but only the visible tiles are actually created so as not to overwhelm Unity with umpteen thousand objects.
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0.938977 |
(CNN) First lady Melania Trump spent the early part of the morning on her second day in Japan being a dutiful dignitary spouse, accompanying President Donald Trump first on a stop to pay respects to the Emperor and Empress of Japan.
There, Trump -- dressed in a demure, navy blue Christian Dior dress and not-so-demure ice blue snakeskin Manolo Blahnik pumps -- sat in a low chair and chatted via an interpreter with Empress Michiko, while their husbands, huddled just feet away, separated only by a flowering plant, did the same.
It's these sorts of traditions that Trump is acquainting herself with on this, the President's first visit to Asia as commander in chief.
A meet-up of the Japan and United States dignitaries came next, complete with anthems and red carpet pomp and circumstance. Melania Trump was characteristically stoic for most of the action, walking through the motions until, finally, it was time to split off from her husband and join first lady Akie Abe for their solo afternoon adventures.
While the President relishes displays of military might and ceremonial showing off, his wife has demonstrated she far prefers more intimate interactions, specifically with children. That's likely why she and Mrs. Abe visited Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School.
At the sight of the 200 or so uniformed students assembled to greet her in the school's gymnasium, Trump's face lit up -- she high-fived them, was drowned in hugs and posed for a group photo, where, like the kids, she made a peace sign with her two fingers.
A Japanese calligraphy lesson was next; the fourth-grade classroom erupted in applause as the two first ladies entered, mindfully watching the children draw brush strokes.
"Beautiful characters," Trump said as she paused to admire their work. At one point, she even sat down at a small table, answering, "fantastic, would love to," to a question of whether she, too, would like to try.
After months of relative mystery, often standing quietly beside her husband, eyes hidden behind those ever-present giant sunglasses, the first lady is emerging lately as a soothing presence in an otherwise tumultuous administration. Her recently announced platform centers around helping children, with the goal of leaving the next generation in a better position than current one.
As Abe and Trump left the elementary school, a band played "Over the Rainbow," and the youngest students enthusiastically waved little US and Japanese flags.
Then it was time for lunch with the hostess. The two women said goodbye to the kids and returned to Akasaka Palace.
The media was told the menu consisted of a course with soup, appetizers of salad, bread and fruit, followed by a main entree with Japanese-style portions of beef, chicken, vegetables and a special "tamago" omelet.
However, the reprieve from official bureaucratic duties was brief. By mid-afternoon the first lady was back to a supporting role, seated front row to witness the President's anticipated joint news conference with Abe -- policy and politics pushing peace signs and calligraphy lessons quickly out of the limelight.
CNN's Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
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Orlando is city located in the united states of America. It is widely known for quality services regarding dumpster rentals . Their rental period takes up to ten days of delivery.. Usually, it involves about two tons of debris. Most of the dumpster rentals involved in Maryland are Their rental period takes up to ten days of delivery.
When you are a commercial building or property owner, you already know how important it is for you to make sure that you are able to provide a comfortable environment in your property all year on. For you to be able to do this efficiently, then it is important for you to make sure that you have a good HVAC system in place.
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0.967935 |
in the sentence below, does the clause within the commas depend upon the beginning clause?
"In the event the Company office in which you are employed is closed and you are not offered employment at the same level elsewhere with the Company, or if your employment is terminated by the Company, you may accept emloyment without reimbursement to the Company of your training costs as provided in the paragraph above."
more specifically, would the individual have to pay the training costs if they were terminated for other reasons than the office being closed? this is in an actual contract. i have change the actual name of the company to "Company." thanks for any imput.
you may accept employment without reimbursement to the Company of your training costs as provided in the paragraph above."
It reads to me as though the previous paragraph laid down that you have to reimburse the company for training costs if you leave them for your own reasons, but that you will not have to reimburse them if the company closes the office in which you work, you are not offered a similar position in the company or the company dismisses you.
Questions about As Much...As clause.
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0.999805 |
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the occasion of Independence Day today. In a tweet, Mr Modi said. Independence Day greetings to the people of India. Jai Hind.
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0.999917 |
Knowing how to start the yarn on a crochet hook is your first step to crocheting. To start the yarn on a crochet hook, you first wrap the yarn around your yarn hand and then create a slip knot on your hook.
1Bring the yarn up between your little finger and ring finger.
Start the yarn from underneath your hand.
2Wrap the yarn around your little finger.
Look — it’s a ring made from yarn!
3Draw the yarn under your ring finger and middle finger, then bring the yarn up to the top of your hand between your middle finger and forefinger.
Lay the yarn over your forefinger (or index finger or pointing finger).
4Make a loop that looks somewhat like a pretzel.
Begin about 6 inches from the end of the yarn.
5Insert your hook through the center of the loop and draw the working end of the yarn through.
This step creates a slip knot.
6Pull gently on both ends of the yarn to tighten.
If pulling on the working end of the yarn doesn’t tighten your slip knot on the hook and yanking on the cut end does, you made your slip knot backwards. Simply remove the loop from the hook, tug on both ends to release the knot, and try again.
A starting slip knot should slide easily up and down the crochet hook’s shaft, but shouldn’t be so loose that it slides off over the end of the hook. If it’s too loose, gently pull on the working end of the yarn to snug it up. If your knot is too tight, tug on the loop to loosen it.
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We present a novel method for learning densities with bounded support which enables us to incorporate 'hard' topological constraints. In particular, we show how emerging techniques from computational algebraic topology and the notion of persistent homology can be combined with kernel-based methods from machine learning for the purpose of density estimation. The proposed formalism facilitates learning of models with bounded support in a principled way, and - by incorporating persistent homology techniques in our approach - we are able to encode algebraic-topological constraints which are not addressed in current state of the art probabilistic models. We study the behaviour of our method on two synthetic examples for various sample sizes and exemplify the benefits of the proposed approach on a real-world dataset by learning a motion model for a race car. We show how to learn a model which respects the underlying topological structure of the racetrack, constraining the trajectories of the car.
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0.998488 |
What is chin, cheek, or jaw reshaping?
Plastic surgery to change the shape of the chin, cheek, or jaw may be done. This procedure is typically done to enhance certain facial features, or to bring a certain aspect of the face into proportion with the rest of the face. It may also be done to address a defect present since birth, or as a result of a traumatic injury.
For the reshaping of the chin, cheek, or jaw, the surgeon may insert an implant into the area to redefine its appearance.
Infection. As with any operation, an infection can occur. If this happens, you will be given antibiotics to clear up the infection. If the infection does not resolve, then the implant may have to be temporarily removed and replaced at a later time.
Shifting. A facial implant could move slightly out of alignment. You may need a second operation to put the implant in its proper place.
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0.99782 |
Oops! At two years, the group that doubled its fiber intake had a 27% greater chance of dying and a 23% greater chance of having a heart attack. The extra fiber was coming from whole grains. The difference wasn't statistically significant, so we can't make too much out of this. But at the very least, it doesn't support the idea that increasing grain fiber will extend your life.
Why might fiber be problematic? I read a paper recently that gave a pretty convincing answer to that question: "Dietary Fibre and Mineral Bioavailability", by Dr. Barbara F. Hartland. By definition, fiber is indigestible. We can divide it into two categories: soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fiber is mostly cellulose and it's relatively inert, besides getting fermented a bit by the gut flora. Soluble fiber is anything that can be dissolved in water but not digested by the human digestive tract. It includes a variety of molecules, some of which are quite effective at keeping you from absorbing minerals. Chief among these is phytic acid, with smaller contributions from tannins (polyphenols) and oxalates. The paper makes a strong case that phytic acid is the main reason fiber prevents mineral absorption, rather than the insoluble fiber fraction. This notion was confirmed here.
Whole grains would be a good source of minerals, if it weren't for their very high phytic acid content. Even though whole grains are full of minerals, replacing refined grains with whole grains in the diet (and especially adding extra bran) actually reduces the overall absorption of a number of minerals (free text, check out table 4). This has been confirmed repeatedly for iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.
Brown rice would be quite nutritious if we could absorb all those minerals. There are a few ways to increase mineral absorption from whole grains. One way is to soak them in slightly acidic, warm water, which allows their own phytase enzyme to break down phytic acid. This doesn't seem to do much for brown rice, which doesn't contain much phytase.
A more effective method is to grind grains and soak them before cooking, which helps the phytase function more effectively, especially in gluten grains and buckwheat. The most effective method by far, and the method of choice among healthy traditional cultures around the world, is to soak, grind and ferment whole grains. This breaks down nearly all the phytic acid, making whole grains a good source of both minerals and vitamins.
The paper "Dietary Fibre and Mineral Bioavailability" listed another method of increasing mineral absorption from whole grains. Certain foods can increase the absorption of minerals from whole grains high in phytic acid. These include: foods rich in vitamin C such as fruit or potatoes; meat including fish; and dairy.
Another point the paper made was that the phytic acid content of vegetarian diets is often very high, potentially leading to mineral deficiencies. The typical modern vegetarian diet containing brown rice and unfermented soy products is very high in phytic acid, and therefore it may make sense to ensure plentiful sources of easily absorbed minerals in the diet, such as dairy. The more your diet depends on plant sources for minerals, the more careful you have to be about how you prepare your food.
Pro-Fiber folks don't consider DART trials a good proof against fiber because in those trials the consumption of fiber was very low in both groups. I think it was something like 9g and 12g when daily recommendation is 30-35g.
I think they are trying to tell that there is a threshold value for the benefits of fiber.
What's the best way to secrete uric acid? Is there a food that isn't harmful but causes one to do so?
I know I harp a lot on this subject but perhaps the higher death rate was due to: "The extra fiber was coming from whole grains."
I think Gary Taubes is probably right, fiber probably is at best harmless. Maybe not though. But grains... especially as we eat them now definitely not harmless!
Stephan, what are your feeling toward fruits and vegetables? I think you mentioned before that you didn't consider them essential ... would you consider them beneficial, in spite of the fiber, for all the other nutrients and vitamins A and C?
Perhaps it's necessary to discriminate between fibers? Beneficial bacteria ferment certain fibers.
The prebiotic fiber inulin, often in combination with various types of oligosaccharides, increases calcium and magnesium absorption (PMID 17951508). Galactooligosaccharide supplementation can relive IBS (PMID 19053980) and improve immune function (PMID 18996881).
After a week taking inulin, I have noticed much reduced gas.
People in the DART fiber group increased fiber from 9 to 19 g per day at 6 months, 9 to 17 g at 2 years, so it was roughly doubled. So let me see if I have the high-fiber argument straight: doubling fiber intake will kill you, but quadrupling it is healthy. Forgive me if I'm skeptical, especially considering no one has provided any convincing evidence of fiber's health benefits. Gary Taubes went through the evidence in Good Calories, Bad Calories.
The best way to get yourself to secrete uric acid into the bloodstream is to eat fructose. I wouldn't try too hard to increase your uric acid though, you might end up with gout!
I agree, I think improperly prepared grain fiber is a problem. I don't think it's the cellulose itself that's problematic though, it's probably all the toxins and anti-nutrients that come with it.
My guess is that a moderate intake of vegetables is probably somewhere between neutral and beneficial. Vitamin C is a useful nutrient that's found in vegetables, and they also contain minerals. I do think it's a bad idea to follow mainstream advice to have the majority of the volume of your food come from veggies. Unless maybe they're drenched in pastured butter.
As you pointed out, there are different types of fiber with different effects on the gut. I'm surprised to hear what you said about inulin though, that stuff gives me the worst gas! Jerusalem artichokes are full of it and they turn my colon into a hot air balloon.
I'm not convinced of the benefits of prebiotics, especially in light of what I've been learning about hydrogen gas production by intestinal bacteria. I think there's a reason farts are gross. I know IBS sufferers have seen short-term benefits with supplementing certain types of fiber, but does that hold up in the long term? I've heard theories that fiber is not good for IBS in the long term, and they make more sense to me than the idea that fiber helps.
On a tangentially related topic-what is your opinion on a "healthy" occurance of bowel movements? When I steer clear of most vegetable matter, I may go 3 or 4 days without a movement. Many proponents of fiber claim that the undigested bulk which makes you excrete more often equates to a healtheir intestinal tract/body. It seems that the new fad diet now is colon cleansing. Should I be concerned about how often I go, and if so is it worth increasing my fiber intake?
Great stuff here, I'm learning something new each day.
I eat 4 oz of raw meat or fish with sprouted rice and raw butter for lunch and dinner and 3 eggs for breakfast.
I do 30 to 40 minutes of running every other day and pushups and pullups once in while.
I know protein requirements are different for everyone but in your opinion is this an adequate protein intake?
I don't know how often is ideal, or if there's an ideal at all. I wouldn't worry about increasing fiber to increase bowel movements. If you're constipated, it's probably due to something besides a lack of fiber. Dairy can be constipating, so can a number of drugs.
I think that's plenty. How are you feeling these days?
I am doing quite well, thank you for asking. I recently started with the "good" cod liver oil to go with the butter oil. The redness and dryness in my eyes seems to be clearly up.
I think I need to eat more sprouted rice. In volume the of my meals, the vegetables have been the biggest part with about 4 tablespoons of raw grass-fed butter and 4 oz of meat or fish with about a 1/2 cup of cooked sprouted rice. This has been making me feel like I have less energy. Seems like my body is using the protein, fats, and fat soluble vitamin as energy(eyes starting to burn a little).
Today I have scaled back the butter and vegetables in favor of more rice, about 1.5 to 2 cooked cups per meal. If this rice is sprouted for about 10 to 14 days and is pressure cooked with lots of water and mountain salt, I should remain quite healthy. Would you agree?
Great info on this blog!
well i have added psyllium and oat bran to my diet. do these fall along the same lines as above?
A few points: I find it hard to believe that you can't get enough minerals eating rice considering that half the world eats rice with every meal. Anyway, if you're concerned about minerals, you can always pop a multivitamin with a fatty meal.
Also, fiber is correlated with positive health outcomes in a large number of epidemiological studies. I'm aware that there is confounding, but the same is true for the intervention study that you described (i.e., what else were they eating with that fiber).
Moreover, vegetable oils and polyunsaturated fats are highly correlated with positive mortality and heart disease outcomes in a large number of epidemiological studies. Conversely, saturated fats and glycemic load (that you dismiss) are inversely correlated with these outcomes. Again, I'm aware of the limitations of epidemiological studies, but since there are no controlled intervention studies that are large or long enough to provide much insight, it represents a large fraction of the evidence we have to go on.
Also, this trial is of people that have already had heart attacks - not necessarily of much relevance to a healthy population. Furthermore, if fiber was the cause of the increase in mortality in the high fiber group, you would expect the gap in mortality between the groups to keep increasing over time, but you don't really see that.
I don't know anything about rice that has been sprouted that long. Are there any cultures that traditionally ate sprouted rice? If not, I'd be wary of making it a staple.
In my opinion, oat bran is a bad idea. Psyllium husks also contain phytic acid so I'd be cautious with those too.
Half the world eats rice, but it's mostly white rice. And they don't rely on it for minerals or vitamins. That is a one-way ticket to deficiencies, as numerous populations around the world have demonstrated. That's why they fortify it, but even that doesn't make it a good source of nutrients. Healthy rice-based cultures invariably eat a lot of other mineral-rich foods. For example, Japan has a total fish/meat/egg consumption similar to the US. And a low fiber intake, by the way.
About fiber, are you sure we're looking at the same graph? In the DART graph I posted, there's a clear and consistent enlargement of the mortality difference between low- and high-fiber groups over time. That is the only controlled trial ever performed that didn't change other variables, therefore it's the best data we have. The epidemiology on fiber is inconsistent and totally unconvincing. Gary Taubes blew it to bits in "Good Calories, Bad Calories".
Epidemiology is only good for making hypotheses, unless the association is overwhelming. One well-conducted controlled trial is more significant than a mountain of inconsistent epidemiological studies. There's no explaining away the DART fiber result with epidemiology.
I think it's also worth mentioning that the association between saturated fat intake and CHD mortality in epi studies is exceptionally inconsistent. For example, MONICA, one of the largest international epi studies ever conducted, found no correlation between saturated fat intake and CHD death. In fact, some of the countries with the highest saturated fat intake (like France) had the lowest CHD mortality. MONICA was like a much larger and much more thorough version of Ancel Keys' infamous Seven Countries Study.
Then there are the other paradoxes, such as the fact that the culture with the highest saturated fat intake in the world, the Tokelauans (nearly 50% of calories from sat fat coming from coconuts) have an exceptionally low rate of cardiac events. I think it's time to put the sat fat hypothesis in the "20th century failed hypotheses" bin.
One finding that's somewhat consistent in the epi studies, as well as in the clinical trials, is the omega-6/omega-3 ratio. Lower is better.
Does fermenting veggies counteract their anti nutrients?
I don't know. I do know that fermenting crucifers like cabbage doesn't remove the goitrogens.
I know you've reviewed the Masai before, but they do consume a lot of saturated fat and much less vegetable fat and other processed foods than Americans (even if they do manage to indulge in some of these foods), and have high prevalence of atherosclerosis on autopsy.
Stephan, like I said, profiber folks don't take DART nor epi studies with daily fiber amounts <20g seriously because the recommendation for fiber is over 30g/d.
And you can't say that doubling the amount of fiber kills you cos after 2y that result was not significant.
Anyhow, there is epi evidence for fibers aid in CHD when the amount is over 30g/d. But there is no clinical trials with that amount and with endpoint as death or cardiac event. To profiber folk this somehow constitutes as a strong evidence for fiber.
I myself don't believe that fiber has much to do with CHD but I would be more confident if someone could show me an epi study where >30g/d of fiber did not correlate with better CHD results compared to <30g/d.
I don't dispute the fact that some (but by no means all) epi studies show inverse correlations between fiber, PUFA and CHD. But if those relationships were true, why don't they show up in controlled trials?
About the Masai, the first thing to remember about them is they have a very very low incidence of heart attack (possibly undetectable), even among individuals 60+. Isn't that the reason why we care about atherosclerosis in the first place? I also think it's interesting to note that Dr. George Mann, the lead author of the largest Masai autopsy study, is a vocal critic of the hypothesis that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. The Masai he studied had about the same amount of atherosclerosis as Americans at the time, who were eating 1/3 the saturated fat.
My interpretation of the Masai data is that the foods they gained access to after the muran period, which is when they rapidly developed atherosclerosis, are the most likely cause. When their diets are restricted to milk, blood and meat, they have much less atherosclerosis. Furthermore, the first autopsy study that was performed on the Masai found that they had very little atherosclerosis, and that study was done in a more remote location with less access to modern foods like flour, sugar and vegetable oils.
I just find the pro-fiber argument to be weak. It reeks of changing goalposts to me. OK, they disproved the 20g goalpost, let's move it to 30 where the intervention trials haven't tested it yet. What mechanism could possibly explain a neutral/harmful effect at 20g but a benefit at 30?
It's just not a very parsimonious explanation, and the fact that the totality of the epi studies aren't convincing doesn't help. For example, the Japanese eat a low-fiber diet and they're arguably the healthiest industrial nation. The epi studies are good for making hypotheses, but in the end it needs to be tested rigorously. If they do a controlled trial with 30g and it improves survival, I'll be happy to believe the result. I just think it's unlikely at this point.
The thing that irritates me is the fiber hypothesis has always been ad hoc. It started with observations by Dr. Denis Burkitt in Africa that natives who switched from fermented whole grains/tubers/plantains to white flour and sugar developed an array of degenerative diseases, including bowel cancer, appendicitis and other digestive problems.
The competing, and I believe more accurate, hypothesis is that white flour and sugar cause those problems irrespective of their fiber content. I think that's more in line with the fact that many hunter-gatherer groups ate little to no fiber (because they were carnivorous), yet didn't suffer from the problems Burkitt described until they switched to white flour and sugar.
The fiber story had always been one of changing the hypothesis every time it is disproven, constantly keeping it just beyond the reach of the data.
I agree with you because I have read my Taubes too but I am just playing the devils advocate here to prepare myself for arguing for my position.
I think that they say that there is a threshold value of fiber that gives you benefit and that value is >30g/d. I believe they came up to this conclusion thru epi studies because all epi studies (that I know) show benefit _if_ the amount is over 30g/d. So saying that the evidence is contradictory to profiber folk won't do the job cos they will only take acount studies that have >30g/d fiber amounts. They are not arguing that some fiber is good for you but over 30g/d is good for you. Mechanism for this? No idea.
I think there is also clinical trials (no endpoints, just lipid values etc.) showing benefit from fiber so the position that fiber is good for you is justifiable and so the burden of proof comes to us cos we are arguing against current paradigm.
Too much, too little-- there are always going to be little optimizations with things. The mass public is not going to look at exact fiber amounts- they need a paradigm of eating that is healthy.
I kinda feel like some of the problems with high amounts of fiber is that many foods heavy in fiber also carry large amounts of lectins, or unknown toxins that burden our system. It's very much akin to the fact that peanut butter can cause cardiomyopathy in animals independent of omega 6 imbalances (think lectins, etc).
In my opinion, logically the burden of proof shouldn't be on people who don't believe eating a lot of fiber is important for health. The reason is that our "ecological niche" doesn't necessarily include a lot of fiber. By that I mean historical hunter-gatherers typically ate more meat than plant foods.
Granted, there wasn't white flour and sugar back then, but when you get 75% of your calories from animals and don't eat low-calorie plant foods (vegetables), your fiber intake isn't going to be particularly high. Especially since the richest source of fiber in the modern diet is whole grains and beans, which most HGs wouldn't have eaten.
I agree with you that the perception is that the burden of proof is on those who are trying to swim against the current, which is a shame.
I'm with you. I doubt cellulose is really the problem. It's more likely to be all the nasty crap that comes along with it when it's coming from grains.
I'm still very unsure- I have given up all gluten grains, but include some rice with some of my meat and vegetable meals.
Considering the overall minerals and antinutrients would you recommend white rice or brown rice (soaked 12-16 hours or so)?
Everything about this article helps me understand why I get such bad acid reflux from grains! I am so grateful for your research! I feel alleviated by such sources. I am saddened though by the response that I've received from Dr's when I tell them I would like to fix my problems through nutrition. Maggie.
I'm wondering why the Japanese live longer and enjoy better heart health. They eat rice several times a day, and the only thing they do is rinse the rice thoroughly and then drain it thoroughly before cooking it.
They eat a lot of vegetables, rice, and eat half the meat that Americans and Europeans do. They eat fish but in small amounts, more as condiments to rice and vegetables than anything else.
Ah, that carb-heavy diet. It is lower in calories than what we eat, though.
White rice doesn't contain phytic acid, that's in the hull.
Are you for real? I have Japanese relatives, they LOVE fish. Fish are not condiments to the Japanese, they have one of the highest consumption of seafood in the world.
All the best fish and freshest seafood in Australia gets exported to Japan because the demand there is so big and they're willing to pay a premium for it.
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What is a proper way to install Perl modules on CentOS 7?
I have some Perl modules installed on CentOS 6 and now I'm migrating to CentOS 7. "yum search MODULNAME" return "No matches found". Im not sure which repo should I search. I also don't want any conflicts between repos in the future. There are many ways to install Perl moduls, but what is the proper way? I have nothing super special, all of modules I require are quite old and common.
Please, advice. Althougth I use CentOS for the long time I'm setting it very rare, mostly when moving to the new hardware. Thank you in advance!
Whatever you do, do NOT install via CPAN directly!
"cpanspec" is currently the best of the options IMHO. I have used it exclusively with the Centos7 perl modules I've needed to build. Just "yum install cpanspec" to get the utility and deps. Make sure to setup your .rpmmacros appropriately. There are lots of howto's on setting things up to run cpanspec. It can still be frustrating to need to go through dependency hell sometimes to get perl-wizbang9 installed, however.
Edit: "old and common" should generally mean available from epel, elrepo or similar useful repositories. See https://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResou ... positories for some clues.
Thanks for your help, people. I've installed EPEL and cpanspec. Some modules were found and installed, but some still missed. Fore example I need Net::Twitter but here only perl-Net-Twitter-Lite.noarch, which doesn't work for me. Now I'm confused, what to do next?
There are https://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResou ... positories and https://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/SetupRpmBuildEnvironment - which way should I go?
If no reputable yum repository has the perl packages that you are wanting then you will need to provide them yourself and the best way to do this is by using cpanspec and a program called mock which is in EPEL. Mock will build things in a clean environment so that you do not need to have things like development tools installed by default - mock creates a chroot, installs everything required for the package, builds it and saves it and then you can clean up mock's chroot if disk space is at a premium. Sometimes the spec files emitted by cpanspec need to be edited to add lines like "BuildRequires: perl-some-pther-package" so that mock knows it's required for the build.
might take days to go through.
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A famous photograph of Fallschirmjägern landing on Crete during Operation Mercury.
The quote above by Winston Churchill about "the end of the beginning" was said in November 1942, and not about Operation Mercury. As all students of World War II know, the German invasion of Crete - Operation Mercury - occurred much earlier, in May 1941. I am intentionally wrenching Churchill's well-remembered words completely out of context because, in many ways, Operation Mercury marked the true end of the "beginning" of World War II. By that I mean that the German invasion of British-held Crete was the last true victory of the Wehrmacht, the final link in the unbroken chain of conquests that had begun in the mid-1930s. In Crete, the Wehrmacht captured the final piece of significant ground that it retained to the very end of the conflict. Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, took place a month after Operation Mercury and marked the onset of the middle phase of the war. So, Operation Mercury, as sort of the final chapter of Volume 1 of World War II, is worthy of study, capping a remarkable period of German military conquest.
At this June 1942 meeting with Finland's Marshal Mannerheim (standing), Hitler revealed that his main objective in conquering Greece was to protect his Romanian oil supplies from RAF attack.
Let's take a step back for a moment and take in the broad strategic overview in May 1941. After conquering Poland in 1939 and France in 1940, the Wehrmacht for a variety of somewhat unwelcome reasons found it necessary to subdue Yugoslavia and Greece. These reasons included pro-British sentiment in those countries and, to be blunt, Italian military failures. The Luftwaffe's failure over England in the summer of 1940 had led to a "Mediterranean strategy," and, all else aside, Hitler felt it necessary to evict the British from the Continent. As he confessed to Finland's Marshal Mannerheim a year later, Hitler was petrified of RAF attacks on his sources of oil in Romania, suffering nightmares in which the oil fields were "burning end to end." Thus, everything coalesced around an invasion of the Balkans, which Field Marshal Wilhelm List's 12th Army had completed in April 1941. However, Crete, which held major Royal Navy bases, remained unsubdued. It was this afterthought of Operation Marita, the invasion of Greece, to which the Wehrmacht turned in May 1941.
A Fallschirmjäger dropping over Crete in Operation Mercury.
On 20 April 1941 - Hitler's birthday - the Wehrmacht's eviction of the British from mainland Greece was beginning to look like a certain. Lieutenant General Kurt Student, commander of the XI. Fliegerkorps (German Airborne troops), took the opportunity of the birthday festivities (Hitler's birthday always was a major event in the Third Reich) to approach Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering with a proposition: invade Crete using Student's airborne troops. To date, Student's Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) had had a mixed record. They had successfully completed the capture of the Belgian fortress of Eben Emael in May 1940, which some consider one of the top operations of the entire war, but had had great difficulties near Rotterdam (where Student had been shot in the head) and in Norway. Student thus was eager to prove the worth of his airborne troops (Fallschirmjägern, which include both parachutists and glider forces), so he pointed to the map of the Mediterranean at an objective not yet completely contemplated by the Oberkommando Der Wehrmacht (OKW): the island of Crete.
An autographed photo of Luftwaffe General Kurt Student.
Goering was interested in Student's proposal in part because he wanted to restore his own prestige. Goering's reputation had slipped somewhat following the lost Battle of Britain the previous autumn, and making Crete an exclusively Luftwaffe affair promised to restore him to favor. Goering quickly brought Student in to meet Hitler, who essentially rubberstamped the concept on the spot. The OKW and army high command (OKH) hadn't put much thought into what to do in Greece following the capture of Athens - they were preoccupied with planning for Operation Barbarossa - so Student was filling a sort of planning vacuum. Hitler perhaps felt that an invasion of Crete would be a straightforward affair, and would be achieved cheaply because it would use experimental airborne troops he had no real use for in the Soviet Union campaign anyway. It also would keep the British busy and give General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in Libya some flank support. Thus approved, Student's idea blossomed into Unternehmen Merkur - Operation Mercury.
In hindsight, Austrian Luftwaffe General Alexander Löhr probably had the better plan for the conquest of Crete (Wilhelm Sturm, Federal Archive).
Just because Student was the one who got the "green light" from Hitler, however, did not mean that he necessarily would be given control of Operation Mercury. If nothing else, Goering was not prone to delegating that much authority to an underling; Student was just one of many capable Luftwaffe commanders to be considered for Operation Mercury.
Crete. Máleme is indicated by the red pointer. All of the Luftwaffe's objectives were on the north coast, but widely separated, with Máleme airfield the furthest west (Google maps).
Seizure of multiple points - seven, in fact - on Crete using multiple airdrops by Kurt Student's Fliegerkorps XI, to be concentrated on Máleme, Canea, Rethymnon and Heraklion.
Goering, following a pattern often displayed by Hitler, basically refused to decide the matter. Instead, he approved a compromise plan in which there would be two morning drops around Canea and the airfield at Máleme, and two afternoon drops at the airfields at Heraklion and Rethymnon. Thus, the overall plan of Operation Mercury was for a dispersed invasion at multiple points as proposed by Student, but not quite as dispersed as Student would have liked. The early focus on Máleme airfield somewhat satisfied Lohr's concern that there be a definite focal point (Schwerpunkt, a key component of so-called Blitzkrieg) for the invasion. Even if the invasion widened out later in the day, presumably the vital airfield would be secured by then as a source of supplies and reinforcements.
General Eugen Meindl, who played a key role in Operation Mercury.
Goering's compromise was far from ideal, but it did at least give Operation Mercury multiple chances for success. Staffwork assigned Generalleutnant W. Süssmann's 7th Flieger Division and Generalmajor Eugen Meindl's Luftlande Sturmregiment (Airborne Assault Regiment) the key morning drops. Meindl's troops would both parachute in and land in gliders near Máleme airfield, with Süssmann and his men landing in nearby Prison Valley in gliders. Later, the 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment would arrive near Heráklion, while the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment would land near Rethymnon. Experience at Rotterdam and elsewhere had shown that landing too far from an objective could be inefficient, so the drops were planned closer to the objectives than in previous operations. Later reinforcements by Generalmajor Julius Ringel's 5th Gebirgs Division and other units would follow by air and sea, but it was critical that the initial landings secure territory for their arrival.
The Allies were in disarray on Crete following the shellacking they had taken on the mainland, but they had a number of tactical advantages. For one, they had a huge number of troops on the island: an estimated 32,000 Commonwealth (primarily Australian and New Zealand) and 10,000 Greek men. The Royal Navy also had a huge presence at Crete's ports, which they had built up for support of operations on the mainland.
Major General Bernard Freyberg (right) led a massive jumble of refugees from the mainland and hastily assembled supernumeraries from General Archibald Wavell's Middle East Command on Crete.
In overall command was New Zealand Major General Bernard C. Freyberg, in place as much for political reasons and favoritism by Churchill as for his military prowess. Freyberg - an extremely competent general, to be sure, who later commanded with distinction in Italy - assumed command in Crete on 30 April and found a disorganized mess on the island.
Even the top secret Enigma decrypts from Bletchley Park were not enough to win the Battle of Crete for the British.
The Allies' second tactical advantage was more subtle, but also more significant. The British, with Polish assistance, had been reading some German military codes for some time under code name Enigma. The scientists at Bletchley Park had found in particular that the Luftwaffe, the Wehrmacht's newest service, had the worst security practices in terms of codes. While the German naval codes (Kriegsmarine) were kept very secure, the Luftwaffe operators would blithely send the same messages day after day, making occasional changes in the codes they used easy to decipher. So, while very few people were allowed to know where the information was coming from for security purposes (which did not include Freyberg), the British knew German dispositions almost as fast as their local commanders did. Since the entire advantage of Fallschirmjäger was surprise and placement, an enemy who knew when and where they would arrive was sure to create a disaster for somebody - most likely the arriving Fallschirmjäger.
This photograph reportedly shows local Cretans (partisans) attacking Fallschirmjägern during Operation Mercury. To this day, Cretans harbor ill will toward Germans for events during the long occupation.
The Allies did not have to rely just on Enigma. The Wehrmacht committed also committed some security breaches aside from their insecure wireless communications. One such incident involved a Bf 110 twin-engine fighter which crashed in Suda Bay, Crete and was found to contain plans for Operation Mercury. This obviously resulted from a breach of standing security regulation, but was just one of many such breaches by the Wehrmacht during the war on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. Freyberg, apparently confused as to the reliability of all this intelligence both from the Bf 110 crash and Enigma (the source of which was described to him as a spy in Athens), took it with a grain of salt. He concluded that it was all a massive trick and the main German landing would come by sea, as he had always expected. So, instead of concentrating his men in potential German drop zones, Freyberg strung many units out along the coast defending empty beaches. Still, despite these mistakes, there is no question that the Allied intelligence services greatly aided the defense despite the fact that it was not fully capitalized on.
The Germans initiated Operation Mercury in the early morning hours of 20 May 1941. The timing turned out to be exceptionally fortunate in one often overlooked regard: the Kriegsmarine battleship Bismarck was occupying much of the Royal Navy at the time. While many disregard the effect of this coincidental timing, it most likely prevented the British from reinforcing their naval forces around Crete with Force H from Gibraltar.
Junkers Ju 52 transports based at Corinth, Megara and Tanagra took off before dawn on the 20th, carrying the troops for bound for Canea and the airfield at Máleme. Fliegerkorps VII pitched in with attacks on Crete. However, as usually happens in operations, things began to go wrong. For one, the dusty airfields in Greece slowed down the transports bound for Crete. For another, General Süssmann's glider crashed at Aegina on the way to Crete, killing him. Also, some of the Fallschirmjäger landed in the middle of Allied formations (the New Zealand 21st and 23rd Battalions) and took massive casualties. Still, all in all, the initial landings around Máleme went fairly well, and the initial Fallschirmjäger landings secured a perimeter near the airfield and captured a key bridge over the Tavronitis river. General Meindl, who survived his trip and parachute jump near the Platanias Bridge, ordered his men to take a nearby hill, known as Hill 107, which overlooked the field and was considered the key to its possession.
A Junkers Ju 52 transport comes in low and slow over Crete, 20 May 1941.
At Canea, the other morning drop location, things did not go quite as well for the Fallschirmjäger troops. The Greek (8th Regiment) and New Zealand (4th and 10th Brigades) in the area were quick on the mark and wreaked havoc on the arriving Germans. The Fallschirmjägern did capture the village of Agia and set up a command post there. However, after these initial local successes, neither the landing force at Canea nor the one at Máleme made any further progress on the 20th.
The chaotic scene over Crete during Operation Mercury.
General Student, in control of the operation, was sitting safely in the King George Hotel back in Athens. He assumed - wrongly - from a lack of contrary information that everything was going according to plan on Crete. He therefore ordered the second wave of planes to take off to secure the secondary objectives in other locations on Crete. Once again, dust on the mainland Greek airfields slowed departures, which further dispersed the effort. The 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment dropped near Australian (19th Brigade) and Greek (5th Regiment) formations, but managed to head toward their objective of Rethymnon anyway - where they were stopped cold by the local inhabitants of the town firing with muskets and police weapons. Some German units approached the Rethymnon airfield, but were unable to take it in the face of determined Australian (2/1 Battalion) resistance. At Heráklion, the Fallschirmjäger (2nd Regiment) dropped right in the middle of the British and Australian troops and took horrendous casualties. Some troops managed to make it to the harbor there, but Brigadier Chappell, in local command there, managed to drive them out.
A Junkers Ju 52 dropping supplies on Crete. Until an airfield was secured, this was the only means of sustaining the German invasion.
As the sun went down on the 20th, the Fallschirmjägern were bunched up in essentially four different pockets which were not mutually supporting and which had few means of resupply or reinforcement. General Freyberg had a massive superiority in men and especially armored vehicles and had plenty of opportunity to crush each pocket in turn or even at the same time. Here, however, one of the key advantages of using paratroopers came into play: sheer confusion. With no single point of attack such as a beach or a harbor, the Germans were appearing seemingly everywhere at random, popping up like weeds hither and yon. Freyberg did not know where the next paratrooper drop would occur. In addition, the Germans had silenced many of Freyberg's antiaircraft batteries. So, Freyberg basically took no decisive action and allowed the Germans to retain the initiative - such that it was.
Many brave airmen gave their lives over Crete during Operation Mercury.
At first light on the morning of the 21st, General Student decided to gamble. He heard that the Fallschirmjäger at Máleme had secured a small portion of the airfield, so he sent a Junkers Ju 52 there. It landed successfully - much to the relief of Student's staff officer, a Hauptmann Kleye, on board - and this encouraged Student to send more aircraft. By 08:00, half a dozen Junkers managed to land, bringing the Fallschirmjägern supplies. More planes followed, and Oberst Bernhard Ramcke replaced Meindl (who had been badly wounded and was evacuated). Student dropped more Fallschirmjägern to the west and east of the airfield, some of whom managed to make it to the airfield and reinforce the badly strained men who had arrived the day before.
Máleme Airfield after the battle for Crete. If you think planes shouldn't be parked like that in such a jumble... you are absolutely correct. The planes got down under fire any which way they could, often spinning around in the dirt and on fire. The men got off them as quickly as they could and never looked back.
At this point, Freyberg still could have eliminated the German pockets. He had plenty of men and equipment, and the Fallschirmjägern could hardly squeeze enough supplies onto a few Junkers transports to keep all the men on the ground supplied. However, Freyberg decided to withdraw from Hill 107 and regroup. Ramcke's men attacked Hill 107 around midday and found it abandoned. Freyberg eventually counterattacked with two Australian battalions - hardly a massive response. The Australians made progress and got to the edge of the Máleme airfield again, but the Germans were literally fighting for their lives and stopped them there. Some local counterattacks by New Zealand troops under the command of Lt. Colonel L.W. Andrew also failed. Andrew, in command of local forces, then withdrew as well. The Germans quickly moved in and secured the absolutely critical airfield which, in hindsight, decided the entire campaign.
Many Fallschirmjägern in the first wave came in on DFS 230 gliders.
The original plan for Operation Mercury called for a massive (relatively speaking) seaborne follow-up by the 5th Gebirgs Division. The German convoy duly put to sea, but the Royal Navy, which did not have Freyberg's qualms about the validity of the intelligence intercepts, was waiting. The British sank virtually the entire first German convoy, with only about 100 men reaching Crete and 250 plucked out of the water by the British. A second convoy beat a hasty retreat, aided by the Luftwaffe, which essentially had control of local airspace from its airfields on the mainland and Italian-held islands in the Aegean. The Luftwaffe kept up its pressure throughout the day of the 21st and sank two cruisers and four destroyers, while causing damage to three other ships. Despite the Royal Navy's success at beating off the German convoys, it was a terrible battle for the British at sea.
A destroyed British Matilda tank on Crete after Operation Mercury. The British did not have many tanks... but the invading Germans had none.
General Freyberg now realized his mistake at pulling back his troops to regroup. After dark on the 21st, he mounted a night attack under the command of Brigadier Edward Puttick. The counteroffensive, however, was confused and disorganized, with the Australian forces arriving late and much of the action taking place after daylight when the Luftwaffe could intervene. The German holdouts in various pockets around the drop zones also interfered with the Commonwealth operations. Meanwhile, General Student sent everything he had to Máleme airfield despite horrendous losses from anti-aircraft and RAF defenses. Freyberg was forced to pull his forces at Máleme back even further. German reinforcements of the 5th Gebirgs Division under Generalmajor Julius Ringel took over from the Fallschirmjägern, and they began to gain ground along the coast.
Ultimately, victory in Operation Mercury relied upon hundreds of sorties by Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft which got the job done - at a heavy cost to themselves.
After this, the Germans steadily increased their hold on Máleme, a position which essentially went unchallenged after the 21st. However, General Freyberg still had tens of thousands of soldiers at his disposal and the only tanks on the island. The Germans sluiced in some heavy equipment, including heavy artillery, and the battle began to take a more typical course. Aided by the Luftwaffe, the Germans under General Ringel reached Galatas, which changed hands a couple of times but ultimately fell to the Germans. This opened the way to Canea. This attack occupied the Germans for the next couple of days, but Freyberg now realized that his position on Crete was hopeless. On 27 May, Freyberg and his superiors decided to evacuate Crete by sea from points on the south coast.
As the days went on during Operation Mercury, the Germans were able to bring in some light artillery by air.
Operations continued after this, but they were mainly blocking operations by the Commonwealth troops to secure their withdrawal to the south. Still, it was tough fighting for ten days. The Germans battled the New Zealanders at the village of Stilos and captured a key bridge near Kalami. This enabled further German operations to the east of Crete, and the New Zealanders ultimately broke contact and headed south with the general retreat. Scattered actions then continued along the north coast, with the Germans relieving the forces near Heráklion and occupying the port on the 29th. After that, the Germans focused on Rethymnon and forced the 700 defending Allied troops - who had never been ordered to withdraw south with the others - to surrender.
After the initial fighting, Crete involved a lot of walking down dusty roads, here by Fallschirmjager 13./FjSR 3.
The Allies who were retreating converged on Sphakia on the south coast of Crete. The Germans, basically in control of the entire north coast now, headed south on the 29th. The Commonwealth troops put up a fierce rearguard battle, however, slowing the Germans down. The Allies managed to extract about 14,500 men by sea and air, with General Freyberg leaving by flying boat on the 30th. All other Allied troops on Crete were ordered to surrender as of 09:00 on 1 June 1941.
There is absolutely no question that the Germans won the battle for Crete despite sustained Allied propaganda that has implied down to the present day that it was a "Pyrrhic victory" of some sort. Look, a victory such as Operation Mercury is a victory. However, the victory in Crete did come at the high cost of 3600 dead and missing Wehrmacht men and about another 1900 wounded out of the total of 22,000 troops ultimately committed to Crete. In addition, the Luftwaffe lost about a third of the Junkers transports it committed to the battle, either by being badly damaged or destroyed. The airfields on Crete were littered with shot-up planes from Operation Mercury for years. However, by retaining possession of the battlefield, the Germans could retrieve and repair some equipment and scavenge the rest, so the losses were not quite as bad as might first appear.
Oberst Bernhard-Hermann Ramcke awarding the Iron Cross 1st Class at Maleme, Crete soon after Operation Mercury (Baier, Federal Archive).
The Allies, for their part, lost 1700 killed, 1800 wounded, and almost 12,000 men taken prisoner. The Royal Navy suffered damage to an aircraft carrier, two battleships, six cruisers and seven destroyers in addition to their losses of three cruisers and seven destroyer sunk. In total, the Royal Navy lost over 2,000 sailors in the waters around Crete. The RAF, for its part, lost 47 aircraft, a not inconsiderable number. It must be said that, overall, the Commonwealth troops came out much the worse during Operation Mercury despite the common view that the Germans did.
Oberst Bernhard-Hermann Ramcke decorating some of his men (identified as Oblt. Gerhard Schacht next to Oberst Walter Bräuer) in Crete (Franz Peter Weisler, Federal Archive).
Adolf Hitler never had much faith in his Fallschirmjägern, and Crete reinforced his view that they were rather expensive toys which broke easily. He forbade further use of Fallschirmjägern in the role of conquering enemy positions by air drop. However, the Fallschirmjägern remained in existence and continued to recruit and be used after this in a variety of important roles (including in Russia and on Sicily). In fact, in the view of some, the Fallschirmjägern became the cream of the Wehrmacht's military after Crete. Without Operation Mercury, the Fallschirmjägern could have been put to good use in some later prospective operations such as the seizure of Malta, and some (such as Field Marshal Albert Kesselring) would have preferred that they be used on Malta and not Crete.
Hitler in 1941. In a sense, Operation Mercury was the apex of Hitler's military success.
However, while it is easy now to fault everything that he did, Hitler apparently made the right decision to forbid further use of Fallschirmjägern on offensive operations, even though he did so for debatable reasons. This is because the British code-reading Enigma Operation almost assured that the German paratroopers would receive a hot reception from defenders from this point forward - the element of surprise, the chief advantage of Fallschirmjägern, was gone. The Allies, for their part, retained their faith in paratroopers, but this was shaken by tremendous losses in their own later paratrooper operations such as at the Arnhem bridgehead in September 1944.
Wolfgang Graf von Blücher (31 January 1917 – 21 May 1941), who perished during Operation Mercury. Wolfgang was one of three brothers killed during the fighting to secure Crete.
To sum up, Crete was an expensive victory for the Germans, but a victory it was, and it stood them in good stead for the remainder of the war. While a very close-run affair, Crete capped Hitler's string of victories that had begun in the mid-1930s. While the Axis was unable to make good offensive use of the Cretan ports due to Italian naval timidity, their ultimate value to the Germans lay in denying them to the Royal Navy. The occupation of Crete arguably delayed the British counteroffensive until late 1944, protected the Romanian oilfields and facilitated some minor German successes in the Aegean through late 1943. Basically, occupation of Crete protected the flank of southeastern Europe from Allied incursion.There are many who argue that Crete was a worthless objective and not worth the cost of occupation - and the Germans did maintain an excessive garrison on the island throughout the war - but Crete remained a strong German outpost until the final surrender in May 1945.
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The passage of J.B. Jeyaretnam?
THE trial of opposition leader and lawyer Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam began in Singapore on Monday, August 18, 1997.
Although expected to continue for 12 days, it ended on the fifth day with judgment reserved. Judgment was handed down on September 30, 1997.
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A canoe is a lightweight narrow boat, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel using a single-bladed paddle. In some European countries, like the United Kingdom, the term canoe is often used for both canoes and kayaks, with canoes called Canadian canoes then. This is seen in the International Canoe Federation nomenclature.
Canoes are used for racing, whitewater canoeing, touring and camping, freestyle, and general recreation. The intended use of the canoe dictates its hull shape and length and construction material.
Historically, canoes were dugouts or made of bark on a wood frame, but construction materials evolved to canvas on a wood frame, then to aluminum. Most modern canoes are made of molded plastic or composites such as fiberglass. Until the mid-1800s the canoe was an important means of transport for exploration and trade, but then transitioned to recreational or sporting use. Canoeing has been part of the Olympics since 1936. In places where the canoe played a key role in history, such as the northern United States, Canada, and New Zealand, the canoe remains an important theme in popular culture.
Australian Aboriginal people made canoes using a variety of materials, including bark and hollowed out tree trunks. The indigenous people of the Amazon commonly used Hymenaea trees.
The birch bark canoe was used in a 6,500 kilometres (4,000 mi) supply route from Montreal to the Pacific Ocean and the Mackenzie River, and continued to be used up to the end of the 19th century.
In recent years First Nations in British Columbia, Washington State have been revitalizing the ocean-going canoe tradition. Beginning in the 1980s, the Heiltsuk and Haida were early leaders in this movement. The paddle to Expo '86 in Vancouver by the Heiltsuk, and the 1989 Paddle to Seattle were early instances of this. In 1993 a large number of Canoes paddled from up and down the coast to Bella Bella in its first canoe festival - 'Qatuwas. The revitalization continued - an Tribal Journeys began with trips to various communities held most years.
Length: this is often stated by manufacturers as the overall length of the boat, but what counts in performance terms is the length of the waterline, and more specifically its value relative to the displacement of the canoe. Displacement is the amount of water displaced by the boat. It is equal to the total weight of the boat and its contents, since a floating body displaces its own weight in water. When a canoe is paddled through water, it takes an effort to push all of the displaced water out of the way. Canoes are displacement hulls: the longer the waterline relative to its displacement, the faster it can be paddled. Among general canoeists, 5.2 m (17 ft) is the most popular length, providing a good compromise between maneuverability and speed.
Depth: a higher-sided boat stays drier in rough water. The cost of high sides is extra weight and extra wind resistance.
Stability and bottom shape: the hull can be optimized for initial stability (the boat feels steady when it sits flat on the water) or final stability (resistance to capsizing). A flat-bottomed hull has high initial stability, while a rounded or V-shaped hull has high final stability. The fastest flat water canoes have sharp V-bottoms to cut through the water. But they are difficult to turn and have a deeper draft which makes them less suitable for shallows. Flat-bottomed canoes are most popular among recreational canoeists. At the cost of speed, they have shallow draft, turn better, and more cargo space. The reason a flat bottom canoe has lower final stability is that it the hull must wrap a sharper angle between the bottom and the sides, compared to a more round-bottomed boat.
Profile, the shape of the canoe's sides. Sides which flare out above the waterline deflect water but require the paddler to reach out over the side of the canoe. If the gunwale width is less than the waterline width or the maximum width the canoe is said to have tumblehome. This makes paddling easier.
Plastic: Royalex is a composite material, comprising an outer layer of vinyl and hard acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic (ABS) and an inner layer of ABS foam, bonded by heat treatment. As a canoe material, Royalex lighter, more resistant to UV damage, is more rigid, and has greater structural memory than non-composite plastics such as polyethylene. Royalex canoes are, however, more expensive than aluminium canoes or canoes made from traditionally molded or roto-molded polyethylene hulls. It is heavier, and less suited for high-performance paddling than fiber-reinforced composites, such as fiberglass, kevlar, or graphite. Roto-molded polyethylene is a cheaper alternative to Royalex.
Aluminum: Before the invention of fiberglass, this was the standard choice for whitewater canoeing. It is good value and very strong by weight. This material was once more popular but is being replaced by modern lighter materials. "It is tough, durable, and will take being dragged over the bottom very well", as it has no gel or polymer outer coating which would make it subject to abrasion. The hull does not degrade from long term exposure to sunlight, and "extremes of hot and cold do not [affect] the material". It can dent, is difficult to repair, is noisy, can get stuck on underwater objects, and requires buoyancy chambers to assist in keeping the canoe afloat in a capsize.
In Canada, the canoe has been a theme in history and folklore, and is a symbol of Canadian identity. From 1935 to 1986 the Canadian silver dollar depicted a voyageur and an aboriginal paddling a canoe with the Northern Lights in the background.
Sprint canoe is also known as flatwater racing. The paddler kneels on one knee, and uses a single-blade paddle. Canoes have no rudder, so the boat must be steered by the athlete’s paddle using a j-stroke. Canoes may be entirely open or be partly covered. The minimum length of the opening on a C1 is 280 cm (110 in). Boats are long and streamlined with a narrow beam, which makes them very unstable. A C4 can be up to 9 m (30 ft) long and weigh 30 kg (66 lb). ICF classes include C1 (solo), C2 (crew of two), and C4 (crew of four). Race distances at the 2012 Olympic Games were 200 and 1000 meters.
In North America, a "touring canoe" is a good-tracking boat, good for wind-blown lakes and large rivers. A "tripping canoe" is a touring canoe with larger capacity for wilderness travel and is often designed with more rocker for better maneuverability on whitewater rivers but requiring some skill on the part of the canoeist in open windy waters when lightly loaded. Touring canoes are often made of lighter materials and built for comfort and cargo space. Tripping canoes such as the Chestnut Prospector derivates, and the Old Town Trippers, are typically made of heavier and tougher materials, and are usually a more traditional design. A Prospector canoe is a generic name for copies of the Chestnut model, a popular type of tripping canoe marked by a symmetrical hull and a relatively large amount of rocker, giving a nice balance for wilderness tripping. This model also has the ability to carry large amounts of gear while being maneuverable enough for rapids. This makes it a superb large capacity wilderness boat, but requires skill on windy, broad waters when lightly loaded. It is made in a variety of materials. For home construction, 4 mm (3⁄16 in) plywood is commonly used, mainly marine ply, using the "stitch and glue" technique. Commercially built canoes are commonly built of fibreglass, HDPE, Kevlar, Carbon Fiber, and Royalex which although relatively heavy, is very durable.
A touring canoe is sometimes covered with a greatly extended deck, forming a "cockpit" for the paddlers. A cockpit has the advantage that the gunwales can be made lower and narrower so the paddler can reach the water more easily, and the sides of the boat can be higher, keeping the boat dryer.
This page was last modified on 3 December 2015, at 02:01.
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United States and Canada were parts of the Great Britain Commonwealth and the French Empire respectively, before they gained independence. The Seven Year war was a very important event in the history of the colonies and the British Empire.
The proclamation by King George III of Great Britain, the then ruler of the colonies, was basically an administrative initiative by the crown to establish a better government in the North American colonies and also establish a disciplined rule of the crown, and forms an integral part of the American history.
In order to understand the proclamation, it is necessary to understand the history and background of the colonies and their mother Empires.
The proclamation was made in 1763 after the Treaty of Paris, that concluded the rivalry between the British and French who had fought against each other in the Seven Year war.
The North American colonies belonging to several European powers significantly clashed against each other during the entire war and the British army and navy stationed in the North American areas had a significant advantage over the small number of French troops in the region.
The British military might have proved favorable in the established colonies of America as the empire was able to conquer Canada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago, which were colonies of France.
During the Treaty of Paris, the French colonies of Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tobago were handed over to Great Britain. French Louisiana, a portion that spans from the Mississippi river to the Appalachian mountain range was also handed over to Great Britain.
In addition to that, Great Britain also annexed the Spanish territory of Florida. With effect, a partial modern-day map of the United States of America had already taken physical form with the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris.
With a broader view it must be noted that the French and Spanish gained a lot of territories and advantages in the remaining part of the world, especially Asia. The British crown, however, gained substantially in the New World, that is the Americans.
The proclamation in simple words can be stated as a governance policy by the Crown and an attempt to govern and manage the new lands which had been gained in the treaty. The summary, can be divided into three parts, namely, the new governments, the proclamation line and the relation between the colonies and the British Commonwealth.
One of the initial actions of King George was to establish a concrete method to dominate the North American colonies. This was easily done by establishing the Quebec, West Florida, East Florida, and Grenada governments. The second prominent aspect of the treaty was to bring about a harmony in the settlers, rulers, and the natives.
The land between the Mississippi river and the Appalachian mountain range was dominated by some genuine populations of Native Indians. In the regions around the Great lakes, this aspect of the proclamation was very important owing to the fact that the natives had a very friendly and close alliance with the French, especially in the trading sectors.
In fact, after the treat and implementation of the proclamation, some natives made an attempt to resist the British sovereignty, in a rebellion that is known as Pontiac's rebellion.
In order to further cement the relations between the three parties, the Crown also put forth a line along the Appalachian mountain range, which is known as the 'proclamation line'. The settlers were not exactly happy with line as they were not allowed to move beyond, towards the west of this line.
Apart from that, private land purchase from the Indians were banned. The future purchases and business dealings were strictly to be conducted in the Crowns name and solicitations. Effectively, the Crown had monopoly over several land dealings.
The outrage and objections of the colonists were later resolved with the help of several new treaties namely Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Treaty of Hard Labor, Treaty of Lochaber, which bought in West Virginia and Kentucky for further settlement. The Proclamation and the following three treaties were quite well-balanced proclamations by the British crown.
Some historians mark the Royal Proclamation of 1763 as the beginning of resentment period which finally led to the American revolution and declaration of independence, as the British interference in the colonies began to considerably increase.
The proclamation and its follow-up treaties is one apt example in world history where the decisions were well thought out by a monarch and aimed at the well-being of all the parties involved.
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My 12 year old brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes seven months ago, and his average blood sugar is about 300 mg/dl [16.7 mmol/L]. He does exercise and keeps a strict diet, but there is no improvement, and he has become sick of this state. What should we do?
Your brother needs to be in better control right now. Please, as soon as you can, have your brother go to an endocrinologist, or better to a diabetes team specializing in the care of children, and ask for further studies, appropriate therapy (I would suggest an intensified insulin regimen), and education to achieve the metabolic control. That's the best way to assure a normal life for your brother and to fight complications. I don't know whether these facilities are available in your country, but I do know that there are Italian military hospitals in Albania, and you might want to ask there for further help.
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Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to Mexican Petroleum, but is trademarked and better known as Pemex (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpemeks]), is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company, created in 1938 by nationalization or expropriation of all private, foreign, and domestic oil companies at that time. Pemex had total assets worth $415.75 billion, and was the world's second-largest non-publicly listed company by total market value (in December 2005), and Latin America's second-largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009, surpassed only by Petrobras (the Brazilian National Oil Company). The majority of its shares are not listed publicly and are under control of the Mexican government, with the value of its publicly listed shares totaling $202 billion in 2010, representing approximately one quarter of the company's total net worth.
In an interview on the oil news website in November 2005, a Pemex employee spoke anonymously of the company's inability to grow production, stating that the company and country is at Hubbert's Peak. The person interviewed believed export levels could not be recovered once peak had passed, as the size of current fields that have been discovered or are coming online represent a fraction of the size of the oilfields going into terminal decline. Annual production has dropped each year since 2004. Furthermore, it has been reported the 2005–2006 daily oil production was down by approximately 500,000 barrels per day (79,000 m3/d) (a large proportion of the country's 4,500,000 barrels) on the previous year. Pemex averaged 3.71 MMBPD in 2006. Pemex has never produced 4 MMBPD or higher for a yearly average. Pemex has been replaced as Latin America's largest company by Petrobras, according to the latest Latin Business Chronicle ranking of Latin America's Top 500 companies. To help capitalize the company, former President Vicente Fox brought forward the possibility of making shares of Pemex available to Mexican citizens and pension funds, to complement a current project-specific investment setup known as "Proyectos de Inversión Diferida En El Registro del Gasto" (Deferred Investment Projects in the Expenditure Registry); this proposal, along with alleviating Pemex's heavy tax burden and a substantial budget increase, have met opposition in Congress. President Felipe Calderón made clear at the beginning of his presidency that he would try his best to open up the sector to private investment. Pemex is Latin America's second-largest company measured by revenues, according to a ranking of the region's 500 largest companies by Latin Business Chronicle, behind Brazilian oil company Petrobras. In June 2009, Pemex has asked for an extra $1.5 billion state aid to finance oil fields investments, reported Bloomberg.
President Calderón called for change in Mexico's oil industry after output at Pemex fell at the fastest rate since 1942. His comments came after Petrobras and London-based BP said they made a "giant" oil find of as much as 3 billion barrels (480×10^6 m3) in the Gulf of Mexico southeast of Houston. According to Mexican Energy Minister Georgina Kessel, Mexico may seek to emulate Brazilian Oil rules that strengthened Petroleo Brasileiro SA as it considers regulation changes to revive the oil industry.
In February 2016, Emilio Lozoya Austin stepped down as CEO of Pemex, and was replaced by Dr. José Antonio González Anaya.
On November 27, 2017, Dr. José Antonio González Anaya was appointed to be the Secretary of Finance and Public Credit. Carlos Alberto Treviño Medina was appointed CEO, sequentially.
In February 2015, the board approved a $4.16 billion spending cut, pulling the company's budget down 11.5 percent from the 2015 budget approved by Mexico's congress. The company also said it will delay deepwater exploration plans and cut jobs in response to weak oil prices.
Taxes on Pemex revenue provide about a third of all the tax revenues collected by the Mexican government. Pemex has a debt of $42.5 billion, including $24 billion in off-balance-sheet debt. The state-owned company pays out over 60% of its revenue in royalties and taxes. Mexico exports crude oil, but imports more expensive gasoline. National Hydrocarbons Commission, created in 2008 by the Mexican Congress to increase regulatory oversight, has increased scrutiny over Pemex in 2012.
In 1979, Pemex's Ixtoc I exploratory oil well in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history. Pemex spent $100 million to clean up the spill and avoided most compensation claims by asserting sovereign immunity as a state-run company.
Pemex was blamed for a series of gas explosions in Guadalajara.
On September 19, 2012 an explosion at the Pemex gas plant in Reynosa, Tamaulipas killed 30 and injured 46 people. Pemex Director Juan Jose Suarez said that there was "no evidence that it was a deliberate incident, or some kind of attack".
On April 20, 2016, a large explosion and fire at the company's Chlorinate 3 plant in Coatzacoalcos killed at least 28 people.
On September 24, 2016, a fire broke out on the oil tanker "Burgos", off the coast of Boca del Río, Veracruz, forcing all the crew (31 members) to be evacuated safely. The tanker was carrying 80,000 barrels of diesel and 70,000 barrels of gasoline.
In 2009, the U.S. Justice Department reported that some U.S. refineries had bought millions of dollars' worth of oil stolen from Mexican government pipelines. Criminals, especially drug gangs, tap remote pipelines and sometimes build their own pipelines to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of oil each year. One oil executive has been charged and has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. The U.S. Homeland Security Department will return $2.4 million to Mexico's tax administration—the first money seized during a binational investigation into smuggled oil that authorities expect to lead to more arrests and seizures. The President of Houston-based Trammo Petroleum is set to be sentenced in December after pleading guilty in May.
Pemex has a long history of alleged violation of human and labour rights regarding engineers, unrightfully considered to be "trusted workers" who have tried to unionize since 1995 and succeeded, after several repression episodes, in doing so in 2008 and 2009, although at a high human cost. This included the death of a person who was refused medical service at one of Pemex's hospitals because his son had just been sacked for belonging to this union, the Unión Nacional de Técnicos y Profesionistas (shorthand UNTyPP). It also included forcing union members to resign from the Union from their hospital beds, as happened to three cancer patients in 2009. Up to date, and in spite of pressure by the Mexican Congress, the International Labour Organization, the Global Compact, the Industrial Global Union and thousands of citizens all over the world, workers sacked in 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 haven't been all reinstated nor has there been any reparation otherwise. Pemex has never acknowledged these violations of human rights.
Odebrecht is a Brazilian conglomerate that like Pemex also operates in the field of petroleum. Back in 2010-2012, Emilio Lozoya Austin was part of the PRI's team supporting Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN) during his presidential campaign. After EPN won the elections, Lozoya was promoted to director of Pemex, a role he served for most of EPN's presidency. In 2017, Brazilian news paper O Globo claimed that Odebrecht helped finance EPN's presidential campaign, by giving $10 million to Emilio Lozoya as a bribe during times close to the 2012 elections. Soon after EPN won the elections in 2012, Lozoya was placed as director of Pemex, and Odebrecht "won" huge contracts from Pemex and the Mexican government. The surfacing of the news involving the controversy surfaced in 2017, further revealing Lozoya bought a $38 million house with a single payment before even being declared director of Pemex, affording such house did not fit with his salary at the time. In October 2017, it was confirmed by the presidency that in fact EPN himself, also met with Odebrecht 4 times during his presidential campaign. Thus directly tying EPN into the scandal, albeit EPN claimed not to receive bribes, EPN lacks credibility among Mexican people. A document from Brazil reported Lozoya received $5 million in November, 2014. Santiago Nieto, the man in charge of the FEPADE (an office in charge of investigations against electoral crimes), was controversially fired, soon after the Odebretch scandal started. Santiago was said to be receiving too much pressure from EPN and Lozoya to stop the investigation. The firing was criticized by ex-president Felipe Calderon's wife and independent 2018 presidential candidate Margarita Zavala. President EPN said Santiago's restitution fate was on the Mexican Senate. The organization Borde Politico, had published weeks before that 116 out of the 128 Mexican senators were incompetent.
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^ "Continúan las labores de atención al incendio en la plataforma Abkatun A". pemex.com. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
^ "Flames engulf Mexico oil platform in Gulf, killing 4 workers". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
^ "Pemex raises death toll at petrochemical plant explosion to 28". Reuters. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
^ "Fire breaks out on Pemex tanker in Gulf of Mexico, crew safe". Reuters. September 25, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
^ Nájar, Alberto (2019-01-22). "Qué causó la explosión de Tlahuelilpan y otras 3 incógnitas que quedan sobre la mayor tragedia de México por robo de combustible". Retrieved 2019-02-05.
^ "Mexico pipeline explosion that killed 79 is an 'example' for fuel thieves, officials say - National | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. 2019-01-19. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
^ Mexican Labor News & Analysis June , 2011, Vol. 16, No. 6. Untypp Blog – Accusations of Violation of Labour Rights, http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/mlna_articles.php?id=188#1307.
^ Español, The New York Times en (15 August 2017). "El caso Odebrecht sacude a México por acusaciones contra el exdirector de la petrolera estatal" – via www.nytimes.com.
^ "Pagó Lozoya 38 mdp de contado por casa en 2012". www.reforma.com.
^ "Presidencia admite reuniones EPN-Odebrecht, pero niega participación de la empresa en campaña del PRI - Aristegui Noticias". aristeguinoticias.com.
^ Staff, Forbes (23 October 2017). "MCCI revela vínculo de Odebrecht con campaña presidencial".
^ "En Brasil, este documento involucra a Lozoya con sobornos de Odebrecht - Aristegui Noticias". aristeguinoticias.com.
^ Editorial, Reuters. "Mexican prosecutor says he was unjustly fired as graft dispute brews".
^ "Despido de Santiago Nieto es de una enorme torpeza: Zavala". 25 October 2017.
^ "Futuro de Santiago Nieto, en la cancha del Senado: EPN". 25 October 2017.
^ "Reprobados 116 de 128 senadores en materia de eficiencia: Borde Político - Aristegui Noticias". aristeguinoticias.com.
This page was last edited on 21 February 2019, at 06:26 (UTC).
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0.966631 |
Describe the nurse's role and responsibility as health educator. What strategies, besides the use of learning styles, can a nurse educator consider when developing tailored individual care plans, or for educational programs in health promotion? When should behavioral objectives be utilized in a care plan or health promotion?
integral part of health promotion and construction of comprehensive care standards.
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0.999999 |
Who was the first female national news anchor?
Barbara Walters was the first female national news anchor.
She co-hosted “The ABC Evening News” with Harry Reasoner from 1976 to 1978.
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0.971634 |
What are the difference between Speed and Velocity? They are not the same thing but are similar. All that velocity is speed with a direction. Speed is just a rate that an object is moving cover some distance with no particular direction.
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0.747485 |
ChinaAid Releases Summary Of 2016 Persecution.
ChinaAid is an international non-profit Christian human rights organization committed to promoting religious freedom and the rule of law in China. They believe that religious freedom is the first freedom, which lays the foundation for all other basic human rights. By exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused, and spiritually and legally equipping the leaders to defend their faith and freedom, ChinaAid strives to promote religious freedom for all. It was founded in 2002 after the announcement of death sentences for five Chinese house church leaders by the Beijing government. In response, a mission was conceived, and ChinaAid issued its first press release after meeting with members of the U.S. Congress. It launched its first letter-writing campaign, and sent its first team of trained human rights lawyers to defend those five Chinese house church leaders. The five death sentences were overturned. This article gives us a summary of what has been happening in China to Christians during 2016.
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0.999829 |
Why do you recommend drinking 8-10 glasses of water each day while following the 5-day RESET?
Answer: The 5-day RESET provides approximately 30 grams of dietary fiber each day. Fiber requires an adequate intake of water and other fluids to move the fiber through the gastrointestinal system efficiently.
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0.957497 |
During the Civil War, thousands of Arkansas civilians became displaced and relied on either the Federal or Confederate governments to provide basic necessities. These non-combatants strained military resources, and commanders searched for ways to make these refugees self-sufficient. With many Unionist families in northwestern Arkansas, Federal commanders created a program that allowed groups to grow subsistence crops and work together to provide mutual self-defense from enemy units. The colonies in northwestern Arkansas were established around the families of white Unionists, while other colonies in central and eastern Arkansas were populated by freedmen and their families.
By the spring of 1864, years of war had taken a toll on the agricultural output of northwestern Arkansas, and thousands of people were forced to move to Federal posts in order to obtain food. By May 1864, about 1,000 refugees were at Fort Smith (Sebastian County), and another 1,000 were at Fayetteville (Washington County), relying on support from the Union troops stationed in those towns. Some commanders distributed food to the families of Union soldiers, while others gave cash to women and children in need.
Colonel Marcus LaRue Harrison of the First Arkansas Cavalry (US) wanted to help refugees provide their own sustenance and, by May 1864, was using a home-guard company to guard farms near Pea Ridge (Benton County). An order soon followed that authorized the establishment of such companies to guard loyal farms, and Harrison set out to create a system of farms across the region, called military farm colonies. At the same time, Major General Joseph Reynolds ordered the commander of Fort Smith, Brigadier General Cyrus Bussey, to establish units of soldiers to farm using government-supplied implements and animals. Any food grown at these farms would take some of the pressure off already stretched Federal supply lines.
Harrison created a set of instructions for the establishment of the farm colonies. To begin the process for each colony, at least fifty men who were capable of bearing arms and who would sign an oath of loyalty to the Union were required. Their families would be settled together and would all farm one large tract of land—each was responsible for their own crop and relied on one another only for mutual defense. The land was distributed by vote, and each family received all that they wished to farm. In order to defend themselves effectively, the colonies were required to construct a blockhouse or small fort at a location selected by Harrison. All people living within ten miles of a colony were required to record their names on the roster. Any who refused were deemed to be rebels.
The colonies grew a number of subsistence crops, including corn, potatoes, onions, and wheat. Other crops such as hay and oats were also grown as fodder for farm animals. The land used by the families was not officially seized by the Union army or any other organization. Rather, the civilians at the farm colonies were technically squatters. Other services beyond growing crops were also offered at some of the colonies. At Union Valley in Washington County, a blacksmith shop, church, and public school were all available to members of the colony. The countryside became depopulated as the colonies were established.
Four colonies were created in the areas of Fort Smith and Van Buren (Crawford County) under the direction of Bussey. Another seventeen were under the command of Harrison, spread across Washington, Madison, and Benton counties. About 1,200 men lived in these seventeen colonies, along with women and children. The colonies under Harrison also put around 15,000 acres of land back into agricultural use, taking some of the supply strain off Federal forces. Governor Isaac Murphy recognized the success of the project and pushed Harrison to establish additional colonies, but the officer was unable to do so because he lacked enough men to protect the colonies.
The colonies were successful in offering mutual protection for Union families while providing for their own protection from possible Confederate and guerrilla threats. The men of at least two colonies did participate in active field operations against Confederate forces during the war, although most never saw action while at the colonies. One company operated in the field for almost one year, while two others participated in defending Fayetteville from enemy attack on November 3, 1864.
General Bussey did not approve of the colonies and worked to undermine any success that might come from the experiment. Colonel Harrison was Bussey’s direct subordinate, and the two did not agree on the necessity of the colonies. Although Bussey consistently reported to his commander in Little Rock (Pulaski County) that the experiment was not only unnecessary but likely to fail, he was unable to stop Harrison from supporting the colonies. Despite this lack of support, the colonies were successful in easing the strain on Federal outposts and in providing self-defense forces that could effectively protect the civilians in northwestern Arkansas.
The end of the war saw the demise of the military farm colonies. As landowners returned to reclaim their property, families working the land at the colonies were forced to depart. While the colonies existed for only a year at most during the war, they did provide an effective way for civilians to become self-sufficient.
Bishop, Albert. Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas. Washington DC: 1867.
Hughes, Michael. “Wartime Gristmill Destruction in Northwest Arkansas and Military-Farm Colonies.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 46 (Summer 1987): 167–186.
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vols. 34, 41, 48. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1889.
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0.975556 |
The `` projection '' time of painting and sculpture is highly subjective , varying from person to person and even varying for a given person on different occasions .
Harold indicated the photograph on the wall and asked what church the stone sculpture was in .
In his sculpture therefore it would not be possible for him to project anything of what Jesus felt for his mother ; only what Mary felt for her son .
`` So that 's sculpture '' , commented Argiento wryly , when he had sluiced down the floor for a week , `` making mud pies '' .
That is why our creative people give their time to literature , not to painting or sculpture '' .
Figurines and simple chapels presage the emergence of sculpture and architecture in Greece ; objects in gold , ivory , and bronze grow more numerous .
On this principle of division I must postpone the evolution of sculpture , architecture , society , and politics ; for the developments in these areas make_sense only if they are connected to the age of revolution itself .
But it is the wooden sculpture from Bali , the one representing two men with their heads bent backward and their bodies interlaced by a fish , that I particularly call to your attention .
"sculpt a swan out of a block of ice"
The dumbbell variation develops a most classically sculptured outline to the pecs .
"She is sculpting the block of marble into an image of her husband"
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0.99942 |
What is Liposuction (1 area)?
Liposuction is a procedure designed to reshape specific areas of the body by removing excess fat deposits. It can be done in almost any area with excess fat, improving your body contours and proportions almost immediately. The fat that is removed can be used to sculpt other areas of the body, such as the buttocks.
Typical areas that have excess fat deposits (that are treatable by liposuction) include the thighs, hips and buttocks, abdomen and waist, upper arms, back, inner knee, chest area, calves, and ankles.
The average duration of the procedure is approximately 3 hours, depending on the areas of the body where the procedure is done. In addition, the surgery can also be combined with other plastic surgical procedures for improvement of different areas. Regional anesthesia is used and recovery time is 7 to 10 days.
Ideal liposuction candidates are within 30% of their ideal weight and have firm, elastic skin and good muscle tone. They should have realistic expectations about the range of cosmetic outcomes from the procedure, and typically are bothered by excess fat deposits that do not respond to diet or exercise.
Candidates who smoke or have serious conditions that interfere with the regular healing process are not good candidates for a liposuction.
Like other procedures, liposuction requires certain general surgery procedures such as preoperative blood testing, medications, and cessation of smoking or use of pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
Patients typically experience swelling or bruising, and are required to wear a compression garment or elastic bandages to control swelling and help contour the body during the healing process. There may be bruising, swelling and soreness for a few weeks, but patients generally return to work within two weeks of surgery.
An individual's decision-making for undergoing plastic surgery is extremely personal, and you have to determine if the benefits will achieve your goals, while also considering if the risks and potential complications of a liposuction are acceptable. As with any surgery, there are risks of complications related to infection or adverse reactions to anesthesia.
A proper assessment of every patient, along with complete lab work, will help prevent postoperative complications. After healing, scars are handled with special treatments to minimize their appearance.
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0.999522 |
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal of the decision in R. v. Comeau (the inter-provincial alcohol transport case) on December 6th and 7th. The hearings are scheduled for 930 am (Eastern - 630 am Pacific) on each day. The SCC website contains all of the factums (arguments) that have been filed for the appeal. In addition, the site will host a live webcast of the hearings on each day.
The United States has filed a second WTO complaint regarding the BC "wine in grocery" retail model which appears to be designed to re-start the clock on negotations. This action is reviewed in this Globe & Mail article: US Takes Canada to WTO Over Wine Retailing.
BC's new NDP government was sworn in yesterday. The minister responsible for liquor is David Eby who is the Attorney-General (and who is also responsible for ICBC and lotteries). He is the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey and was previously the opposition critic for liquor issues.
As reported earlier in numerous posts, the BC "wine in grocery" model has triggered an international trade dispute with numerous countries joining the challenge. It is now apparent that the dispute has expanded beyond the original complaint to include a long list of preferential policies as well as those from other provinces. A couple of documents (trade deficit comments and NAFTA comments) filed in relation to the U.S. dispute indicate that the U.S. industry wishes to include challenges to B.C.'s policies related to grocery stores, liquor board markup exemptions, direct delivery, VQA rebates, distribution system advantages, farmers' markets, and NAFTA's retail store exemptions. The policies of other provinces are also included, particularly those of Ontario and Quebec. As such, the dispute has now extended to issues far beyond the original grocery issue - and it would seem likely that the other countries may also raise similar concerns.
In addition, the new U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, recently indicated (see video here starting at the 1 hour 4 minute mark) that he considered this to be a "very serious" and "extraordinary" problem for which there was "no justification". He also indicated that he was "very pro-enforcement" and would either refer the dispute to a full WTO dispute panel or would include it in the upcoming NAFTA re-negotiation. This topic will be the subject of a presentation by myself as part of the Wine Talks forum in Penticton at Okanagan College on Monday evening at 6 pm.
The U.S. Government, through newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, has started the process of re-negotiating NAFTA by delivering a notification letter to Congress. Talks could begin as early as August. The re-negotiation of NAFTA could have consequences for the BC wine industry because NAFTA has, up until now, included language that allowed BC (and other provinces) to provide preferential treatment for domestic wine to a certain extent. Specifically, an allowance was made for a limited number of "preferential" retail licenses selling only BC wine. This exemption became contentious in the past couple of years when the BC government converted freestanding VQA store licenses to supermarket licenses and also auctioned off additional "BC wine only" supermarket licenses. Those actions prompted a WTO challenge by a number of trade partners including the U.S., the E.U., Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. While wine issues are unlikely to be at the top of a list of NAFTA grievances, it would seem likely that those issues and complaints will now become part of these negotiations.
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0.999983 |
(CNN) -- A Holocaust denier Pope Benedict XVI welcomed back into the Roman Catholic Church last month has been removed from his position as head of a seminary in Argentina.
Bishop Richard Williamson, shown in a recent Swedish interview, says he'll recant "if I find this proof."
The views of Bishop Richard Williamson, who has led the seminary in La Reja since 2003, do not reflect those of The Society of St. Pius X, said Christian Bouchacourt, head of its Latin American chapter.
"It's obvious that a Catholic bishop cannot talk with the ecclesiastical authority, but to things related to faith and morality," Bouchacourt said in a written statement.
Williamson, shortly before the pope lifted his excommunication, denied the Nazis had systematically murdered 6 million Jews during World War II.
In his blog Saturday, Williamson, referring to himself, posted a note, saying, "His Excellency is neither dead, dying, nor retired."
Earlier Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Pope Benedict about the issue, though neither side seemed to have shifted its position over Williamson.
"It was a very constructive conversation," the German government and the Vatican said in a joint statement about the call. Merkel and the pope expressed respect for each other's opinion, the release said -- diplomatic-speak for saying neither side budged.
Merkel demanded Tuesday that the pope firmly reject Holocaust denial.
"The pope and the Vatican must make absolutely clear that there can be no denial of the Holocaust," Merkel said.
The Vatican has pointed to several statements by Pope Benedict in the past few years condemning the destruction of European Jewry, including his visits to concentration camps. He has also said he did not know of Williamson's views on the Holocaust when he lifted the excommunication.
"I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against -- is hugely against -- 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler," Williamson said recently in an interview with a Swedish television station, which also appeared on various Web sites after its broadcast. "I believe there were no gas chambers."
Germany's Catholic bishops Saturday called for the expulsion of Williamson, a member of an ultra-conservative group expelled from the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
"Mr. Williamson is impossible and irresponsible," Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, said Saturday, according to Spiegel Online. "I now see no room for him in the Catholic church."
In the Saturday article, Spiegel quotes Williamson saying he will not recant and that he would need more evidence to believe the Holocaust really happened.
"If I find this proof, then I will correct myself," he said. "But that will require some time."
On Wednesday, the Vatican had ordered Williamson to "distance himself" from his views "in an absolutely unequivocal and public manner."
The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Williamson will not be allowed to perform priestly functions if he does not recant. He said the pope was unaware of the comments when he rehabilitated Williamson and three other members of the Society of Saint Pius X.
Williamson apologized last week for the "distress" he has caused the pope, but did not retract his comments.
Williamson, who now lives in Argentina, and three other bishops who belong to the Society of Saint Pius X were excommunicated 20 years ago. The society was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who rebelled against the Vatican's modernizing reforms in the 1960s, and who consecrated the men in unsanctioned ceremonies.
Williamson's reinstatement and comments have been fiercely criticized by Israel, American Jewish groups and political leaders.
The pope -- who was born in Germany and was a child during the Nazi era -- rejected Holocaust denial in public statements on January 28.
At the end of his weekly audience, the pope discussed his trips to the former concentration camp at Auschwitz and the images of "the heinous slaughter of millions of Jews, the innocent victims of a blind racial and religious hatred."
His spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, called Williamson's remarks to Swedish television "absolutely indefensible."
Journalist Brian Byrnes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.
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0.999982 |
Can somebody provide a line by line explanation of the following code. The code is used to upload and download an image.
The method request.getContentType() provides the content type information from the jsp header. Then check the two conditions ((contentType != null) && (contentType.indexOf("multipart/form-data") >= 0)). If the condition is true, create an object of DataInputStream and pass the request.getInputstream() method of Inputstream class to its object. A DataInputstream read primitive Java data types from an underlying input stream.
To get the length of the content type, the method request.getContentLength() is used. Convert the uploaded file into the byte by using while loop and pass the array of dataBytes to the variable file. To save file name, we are using substring() method. After creating sub-string of string, extract the index of file. Then create a new file of same name and write the content in the file using FileOutputStream.
we have created a method that will return the mime type of the uploaded file which is then used for setting the content type and character encoding for the page. The setHeader() method creates a HTTP header and allow the browser to show a pop up a "save as" box. The whole data of the file has been read and written to the attached file using input and output streams.
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0.940555 |
980nm photons more expensive than 808nm?
There weren't that many threads (actually I found a fair amount of threads, but they weren't many considering the thousands regarding 445nm and 532nm lasers) on IR lasers so I didn't find exactly what I was looking for.
So, I'm doing a little search on the web to see which wavelength I should buy. While doing this I noticed a difference (in every website/store I found) in the pricing of 980nm and 808nm diodes. Why is that? Are they less efficient or is there another reason?
Oh, and to avoid making a new thread about this, here's another question (more like questions) I have.
The reason why I'm interested in buying an IR laser is for burning purposes. Now, what would you recommend? A 808nm laser or a 980nm? 980nm is much cooler since the dot will be totally invisible (It would be cool when showing it to friends), but how would I know that it has reached the tightest point that the dot can get to?
808nm diodes are cheaper(in some cases) then 980nm ones since 808 is used in most DPSS process, including 532/473/589/593.5/404/671/1064 etc... since it has more uses, it's cheaper.
or you may be able to use a camera to see the IR, even your phone camera may be able to see it. See in this video about 3 minutes into the video you can see how it looks on camera even though you can't see it with your eyes.
Does it have to be an IR laser for burning? Do you have to have the invisible beam?
But to make the 532nm lasers, aren't you just using the second harmonic of 1064nm? Meaning you double the frequency, therefore the wavelength gets halved. So, from 1064nm you get 532nm. I know that the 532nm lasers leak 808nm radiation, I never knew why though... And how exactly is 808nm used in the making of a 1064nm DPSS laser?
I have never heard of glasses that let you see IR, I think only a camera can do that.
532nm lasers leak 1064nm, the 808nm pump diode is just a light source for a crystal that is the actual lasing medium, that crystal is the 1064nm laser that is then passed through another type of crystal that converts it to 532nm.
The 808nm pumps the ND:YVO4 or ND:YAG and it will fluoresce and when this is placed inside a cavity it will lase on a given wavelength determined by the cavity coatings .
In the case of a 532nm laser the YAG or YVO4 lases at 1064nm .
Easiest way is to use a camera that lacks a IR filter to see the IR light . goggles wont let you see it , they block it .
7W 940nm , the line to the left in the middle is IR light leaking from the fibre .
Actually, unless something has changed, O-like tend to be rather reliable!
If you are going for IR you absolutely need to get safety glasses for the wavelength you are using, seeing as it's impossible to tell where the beam is actually going in many situations. Use an IR card or camera that can see IR to view the dot.
It may be interesting to note here that the infrared leakage is mainly 808nm, not 1064nm. The 1064nm is reflected back into the Nd:YVO4 by the output coupler, however, the output coupler is not coated for 808nm, and this radiation passes through unhindered. As a result, the majority of IR laser radiation leaking from cheap laser pointers and modules is 808nm, not 1064nm. The only time 1064nm will leak out is if the coatings on the output coupler are damaged.
I've read mixed reviews, especially the past two years. I've heard that it was a decent and reliable site, but up to a point.
Yeah, I'll probably buy an IR viewing card. I think I'm going with the eagle pair as far as laser safety goggles go.
I find this scary. No one seems to mention it and that is even scarier.
So you don't mind frying your friends' eyeballs as the specular reflection from burning objects send high power IR to their eyes?
Being not able to see the beam is more dangerous as you have no idea how much laser power is going into your eye. It just burns your retina out.
I am familiar with the dangers of IR lasers. I know that it is obviously much more dangerous since it is invisible to the human eye (you wouldn't close your eyes until it was too late).
It doesn't really give you any when its invisible.
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0.985379 |
Java capable browser required Even before I acquired a working HP-25 specimen, I was already able to experiment with this wonderful small calculator thanks to an amazing Java simulator. To use, wait for the R/S button to appear on the left (you're downloading about 140 kB of data), and then click on it. If your browser supports Java, the calculator will appear. (This HP-25 simulator was written by Larry Leinweber and placed in the public domain. Calculator image is courtesy of The Museum of HP Calculators.) This version of the simulator is preprogrammed with the program shown below; however, you can use it for any other purpose if you clear the program (f PRGM) and registers (f REG).
Introduced shortly after the HP-65, the HP-25 was another source of amazement to its fans. Despite the much lower price, it was also a programmable calculator, with 49 program steps and 8 memory registers. Program steps were fully merged, so the HP-25's 49 steps were nearly equivalent to the 100 steps of the HP-65.
The simulator is sufficiently reliable and accurate to do some programming. This is how I was able to develop yet another implementation of the Gamma function. This program is of a somewhat reduced precision, which was the only way to make it fit within the calculator's limited program memory; in fact, this implementation is very similar to the one I wrote for the TI-57, showing that these calculators are pretty much in the same league.
To use the program, load it into memory and also initialize registers 2-7. Then, enter the argument and hit the R/S button.
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0.969619 |
Statement of topic Did Obama Deserve the Nobel prize? .
founder of the Nobel Prize. .Sweden. Sveriges Riksbank establishedTheSveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. In 1968.The Nobel prize The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm.
. work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.Alfred Nobel Prize should go to the person who shall have done the most. or the best.
. There were 205 nominees out of which Obama was awarded this prize.Some facts They nominated Obama only twelve days after he took office. He was awarded this this prize on the basis of the promises that he had made and not on what he has achieved.
His vision His pledge .
Other deserving nominees Piedad Ruiz A constant supporter of legislation addressing discrimination based on gender. sexual orientation and race. Sima Samar A doctor at the refugee branch of the Mission Hospital .
Hu Jia His work has focused on the Chinese democracy movement. and HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China. Chinese environmentalist movement. .
to resolve international conflicts".2008 Nobel prize winner for peace Martti Ahtisaari He was awarded Nobel prize for his efforts on several continents and over more than three decades. .
Nominated in 1937 1938 1939 1947 1948 In 1948 Gandhiji was not given the prize because Nobel prize committee said that they can t give prize to a dead person .
In the year 2007 Al Gore and IPCC won the Nobel peace prize .Other Nobel prize controversies In the year 1994 Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel prize.
THANK YOU Any questions? .
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0.914994 |
What are Asia's wealthiest countries?
The economy of Asia is the fastest growing continental economy and also the largest continental economy in terms of GDP (PPP). The economy comprises of over 4.4 billion people living in the 49 nations of the continent. The wealth of the continent is unequally distributed both within and between the countries of Asia. Here, we present the 10 wealthiest economies in Asia in terms of GDP per capita.
Bahrain is an island country in the Middle East that is connected to Saudi Arabia via the King Fahd Causeway. The country houses a population of 1,234,571 including 666,172 non-nationals. Bahrain is Asia’s third smallest nation. The country has the fastest growing economy in the Arab world. The economy of Bahrain is the world’s 12th freest and the freest in the Middle East. The most important export of the country is processed petroleum. Aluminum, finance, and construction materials are the other biggest products and services of Bahrain.
Brunei, a Southeast Asian economy, is the ninth richest country in Asia with a GDP per capita of $26,938.5 USD. The country has a stretch of coastline along the South China Sea, and its land borders are with Malaysia. Brunei’s economy is small but rich and factors like efficient government regulation, welfare measures, and a conducive environment for entrepreneurship boost the growth of Brunei’s economy. The exports of crude oil and natural gas are the biggest contributors to the GDP of the country. Brunei is Southeast Asia’s third largest oil producer and the world’s fourth largest LNG (liquefied natural gas) producer. Domestic production is supplemented by overseas investments.
South Korea is located in East Asia in the Korean Peninsula’s southern part. The country has a mixed economy, one of the biggest in Asia with a per capita GDP of $27,538.8 USD. The developed country is known for its internationally famous brands like Samsung and LG Electronics. The country has a highly skilled and educated workforce. The country’s economy is heavily reliant on international trade.
Israel is the seventh richest Asian country in terms of GDP per capita which is $37,292.6 USD. The country has coastlines along the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
The country’s highly educated workforce and well-developed education system have spurred rapid economic development and a technology boom in the country. Israel has the 24th most competitive economy in the world. The country hosts the second highest number of startup companies. Israel is self-sufficient in food production. Machinery, cut diamonds, chemicals, apparel, agricultural products, etc., are the top export products of Israel.
The skyline of Dubai, UAE.
The GDP per capita of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is $37,622.2 USD, the sixth highest in Asia. The country is located in Western Asia in the Arabian Peninsula’s southeast end. UAE houses a population of 9.2 million including 7.8 million expatriates and 1.4 million Emiratis.
The economy of UAE is the second largest among the GCC member countries after Saudi Arabia in terms of GDP. The country is ranked as the 26th best nation for conducting business. UAE’s economy is the most diversified in the GCC. However, still the economy is highly reliant on oil revenues and natural and gas and petroleum are the top exports.
Shibuya crossing is one of the busiest crossings in the world.
The East Asian nation of Japan located in the Pacific Ocean is the fifth richest country in Asia with a GDP per capita of $38,894.5USD.
The Japanese economy is highly reliant on the country’s automobile and electronics goods industry. The country is the 3rd largest automobile manufacturing nation and is also the biggest electronics goods industry in the world. Japan is one of the most innovative nations in the world and the biggest creditor nation globally. However, the Japanese economy also faces considerable threats, the biggest being a steeply falling population.
Hong Kong, a SAR (Special Administrative Region) of China, is an autonomous territory based on the delta of the Pearl River. Hong Kong occupies an area of 1,104 square km and houses a multiethnic population of around 7.2 million. On the basis of GDP per capita, Hong Kong ranks as the fourth richest Asian nation. The GDP per capita of Hong Kong is $43,681.1 USD.
The economy of Hong Kong is highly dependent on international trade and finance. Hong Kong is one of the world’s top-rated international financial centers. The country also has low taxation rates. The economy of Hong Kong ranks number one in terms of the degree of economic freedom. Hong Kong has ample reserves of foreign exchange, little public debt, and an efficient legal system. Hong Kong port is one of the largest in the world in terms of container throughput. There is an abundant supply of cheap and skilled labor in Hong Kong. The SAR also earns huge revenue from the tourism sector.
Singapore is the third richest Asian nation with a GDP per capita of $52,960.7 USD. The Southeast Asian nation consists of one main island and 62 smaller islets.
The country has a well-established trade-oriented market economy. It is one of the least corrupt and most business-friendly economies in the world. The highly conducive investment scenario in Singapore attracts a large number of global investors. The country promotes innovation and entrepreneurship. The country’s port serves as the second busiest port in the world by cargo tonnage.
Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The West Asian nation of Qatar, located in the Arabian Peninsula’s northeastern coast, is the second richest country in Asia with a GDP per capita of $59,330.9 USD. The country shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia and has a coastline along the Persian Gulf.
Qatar’s economy is based on the export of petroleum and liquefied natural gas. It accounts for 70% of the country’s government revenue, over 85% of the export earnings, and over 60% of the GDP. Qatar has an immense reserve of oil that can sustain the economy at the current levels for 23 years. Long term goals of the country include the diversification of the economy to reduce the dependency on oil, a fast-depleting resource.
An autonomous region of East Asia, Macau is the world’s most densely populated region. Macau houses a population of 650,900 within an area of 30.5 square km. The economy of Macau is largely tourism-based. Export-oriented manufacturing of textiles and garments and financial services including banking are the other most profitable economic sectors of Macau. Over 50% of the country’s GDP is contributed by the tourism, gaming, and hospitality industry. Macau has well-established and stable trade relations with more than 120 countries and regions of the world. The tourist arrivals in Macau dramatically increased from 9.1 million in 2000 to 22 million in 2006. The gambling industry also attracts a large number of tourists to Macau. Macau is also considered by many as a tax haven and a free port boosting international trade in the region.
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0.999993 |
I found out recently that the grandfather of a friend of mine has been diagnosed and is fighting cancer. His name is Joe Osborn and he is a legendary bassist having been a member of the studio back-up powerhouse, The Wrecking Crew, back in the 1960's. Here is a brief synopsis of his career from Wikipedia.
Osborn began his career working in local clubs, then played on a hit record by singer Dale Hawkins. He moved to Las Vegas at age 20, and spent a year playing backup for country singer Bob Luman. With legendary guitar player Roy Buchanan among his bandmates, Osborn switched from guitar to electric bass. In 1960, with Allen "Puddler" Harris, a native of Franklin Parish, also in northeastern Louisiana, and James Burton, originally from Webster Parish, he joined pop star Ricky Nelson's backup band, where he spent four years. His playing on such Nelson hits as "Travellin' Man" began attracting wider notice, and he found opportunities to branch out into studio work with artists such as Johnny Rivers.
When the Nelson band dissolved in 1964, Osborn turned to studio work in Los Angeles full-time. For the next ten years, he was considered a "first-call" bassist among Los Angeles studio musicians (known as The Wrecking Crew), and he worked with well-known producers such as Lou Adler and Bones Howe, frequently in combination with drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel—the combination of Blaine, Osborn and Knechtel have been referred to as the Hollywood Golden Trio. His bass can be heard on many of the hit records cut in Los Angeles during that time, along with numerous film scores and television commercials.
His playing can be heard on records by such well-known groups as The Mamas & the Papas, The Association, The Grass Roots and The 5th Dimension. Osborn can be heard on Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" and the 5th Dimension's version of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In". A song featuring prominently mixed bass in melodic counterpoint to acoustic guitars is the 1972 hit single "Ventura Highway" by the group America. He also played on several Johnny Rivers records.
Osborn played on many of Neil Diamond's major hits in the late 1960s and early to middle 1970s, including the hauntingly unique bass lines on "Holly Holy" in 1969. Osborn is also known for his discovery and encouragement of the popular brother-and-sister duo, the Carpenters, on whose albums he played bass throughout their career.
He can be heard playing on several of Nancy Sinatra's 1970's recordings and he was the bassist on the 1977 Christian album Forgiven by Don Francisco.
In 1974, Osborn left Los Angeles and moved to the country and western capital, Nashville. He continued an active studio career, playing behind such vocalists as Kenny Rogers, Mel Tillis, and Hank Williams, Jr. One count listed Osborn as bassist on fifty-three number one hits on the country charts.
Osborn left Nashville in 1988 and settled in Keithville in Caddo Parish near Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana. As of 2005, he lives in semi-retirement and still records occasionally.
My friend, Laina, calls him JoePop and is taking him to his appointments. She says he has still been working and recently went to Nashville to record yet another session. Send some prayers his way.
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0.944611 |
In this case, as there was uncontradicted evidence that decedent survived his injuries, although only for something more than half an hour, and that the injuries were such as to cause extreme pain if he remained conscious, and there was conflicting evidence as to whether he did remain conscious, those questions were properly submitted to the jury, and the question for this Court is not which way the evidence preponderated, but whether there was evidence from which the jury could reasonably find that decedent did endure conscious pain during the period between his injury and death.
While, in this case, there was evidence to go to the jury on those questions, generally such pain and suffering as are substantially contemporaneous with death, or mere incidents to it, afford no estimation or award of damages under such statutes as the Employers' Liability Act.
there was no provision for the survival of the right given to the injured person, and the right as at common law died with him, but under the act as amended in 1910 that right of action survives to the personal representatives of the decedent for the benefit of the widow, husband, children, parents or dependent next of kin, as specified in § 9 of the act as amended.
A provision brought into a federal statute by way of amendment, expressing the deliberate will of Congress, must be given effect, and, construing §§ 1 and 9 of the Employers' Liability Act, as amended, together, the personal representative of a deceased employee is to recover, on the part of the designated beneficiaries, not only such damages as will compensate them for their own pecuniary loss, but also such damages as will be reasonably compensatory for the loss and suffering of decedent while he lived.
Such a recovery is not a double recovery for a single wrong, but a single recovery for a double wrong.
Quaere whether, under the final clause of § 9 of the Employers' Liability Act, as amended in 1910, providing that there shall be only one recovery for one injury, the personal representative of a deceased employee can recover where there has been a recovery by decedent in his lifetime.
The provisions in § 9 of the Employers' Liability Act, as amended in 1910, that there shall be only one recovery for one injury does not restrict the personal representative of a decedent who suffered pain after the injury and before death to one basis of recovery to the exclusion of tho other, or require him to make a choice between them; it does, however, limit him to one recovery of damages for both, and thus avoid needless litigation in separate actions.
While reports of Committees of the different Houses of Congress in regard to bills in their charge cannot be taken as giving to the act as passed a meaning not fairly within its words, they may be persuasive as showing that its words should not be wrongly construed.
The amount of a verdict for damages for suffering, although apparently large, in this case $5,000 for pain endured during a period of thirty minutes, involves only questions of fact, and is not reviewable here under § 237, Judicial Code. The power, and with it the duty and responsibility, of dealing with such questions rests upon the courts below.
Amendment of 1910 and the right of the administrator of an employee killed by negligence of the employer to recover not only for the death of, but also for the pain and suffering endured by, decedent, are stated in the opinion.
of the death and (b) conscious pain and suffering of the decedent before the injuries proved fatal. In the trial court, the plaintiff had a verdict and judgment awarding $1,000 for the pecuniary loss to the father and $11,000 for the pain and suffering of the decedent, and the supreme court of the state, after reducing the latter sum to $5,000, affirmed the judgment. 171 S.W. 1185.
Without questioning that the evidence justified an assessment of damages for the father's pecuniary loss, the defendant insists, as it did in both state courts, that the recovery could not include anything for pain and suffering of the decedent, first because there was no evidence that he endured any conscious pain or suffering, and second because the statute requires that the recovery in such cases be restricted to either the pecuniary loss to the designated beneficiaries or the damage sustained by the injured person while he lived, and does not permit a recovery for both.
of consciousness, and that he seemed to be unconscious from the beginning. The jury found that he was conscious, and both state courts accepted that solution of the dispute. Of course, the question here is not which way the evidence preponderated, but whether there was evidence from which the jury reasonably could find that, while he lived, he endured conscious pain and suffering as a result of his injuries. That question, we are persuaded, must be answered in the affirmative. But, to avoid any misapprehension, it is well to observe that the case is close to the borderline, for such pain and suffering as are substantially contemporaneous with death or mere incidents to it, as also the short periods of insensibility which sometimes intervene between fatal injuries and death, afford no basis for a separate estimation or award of damages under statutes like that which is controlling here. The Corsair, 145 U. S. 335, 145 U. S. 348; Kearney v. Boston & Worcester R. Co., 9 Cush. 108; Kennedy v. Standard Sugar Refinery, 125 Mass. 90; Tully v. Fitchburg R. Co., 134 Mass. 499, 504; Mulchahey v. Washburn Car Wheel Co. 145 Mass. 281; St. Louis &c. Ry. v. Dawson, 68 Ark. 1; Burch v. St. Louis &c. Ry., 108 Ark. 396, 408.
&c. Ry. v. Seale, 229 U. S. 156, 229 U. S. 158; Taylor v. Taylor, 232 U. S. 363. So it is by that act that we must test the objection that the recovery could not include damages for the decedent's conscious pain and suffering along with damages for the father's pecuniary loss.
The original act was adopted by Congress April 22, 1908. In its first section, it provides for two distinct rights of action based upon altogether different principles, although primarily resting upon the same wrongful act or neglect. It invests the injured employee with a right to such damages as will compensate him for his personal loss and suffering -- a right which arises only where his injuries are not immediately fatal. And where his injuries prove fatal, either immediately or subsequently (Michigan Central R. Co. v. Vreeland, supra; Louisville & St.Louis R. Co. v. Clarke, 152 U. S. 230, 152 U. S. 238), it invests his personal representative, as a trustee for designated relatives, with a right to such damages as will compensate the latter for any pecuniary loss which they sustain by the death. At first there was no provision for a survival of the right given to the injured person, and so, under the operation of the rule of the common law, it would die with him.
"This cause of action is independent of any cause of action which the decedent had, and includes no damages which he might have recovered for his injury if he had survived. It is one beyond that which the decedent had -- one proceeding upon altogether different principles. It is a liability for the loss and damage sustained by relatives dependent upon the decedent. It is therefore a liability for the pecuniary damage resulting to them, and for that only."
his death, nor pass to his representatives. But the act, in case of the death of such an employee from his injury, creates a new and distinct right of action for the benefit of the dependent relatives named in the statute. The damages recoverable are limited to such loss as results to them because they have been deprived of a reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefits by the wrongful death of the injured employee. The damage is limited strictly to the financial loss thus sustained."
"amended by adding the following section:"
"Sec. 9. That any right of action given by this Act to a person suffering injury shall survive to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee, and if none, then of such employee's parents, and if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, but in such cases there shall be only one recovery for the same injury."
Eichorn v. New Orleans &c. Power Co., 112 La. 236; Vicksburg & Meridian R. Co. v. Phillips, 64 Miss. 693.
Much stress is laid upon the concluding clause in the new section, "but in such cases there shall be only one recovery for the same injury." Passing and reserving the question of its application where there has been a recovery by the decedent in his lifetime (see Michigan Central R. Co. v. Vreeland, supra, p. 227 U. S. 70), we think this clause, as applied to cases like the present, is not intended to restrict the personal representative to one right to the exclusion of the other, or to require that he make a choice between them, but to limit him to one recovery of damages for both, and so to avoid the needless litigation in separate actions of what would better be settled once for all in a single action. This view gives full effect to every word in the clause and ascribes to it a reasonable purpose without bringing it into conflict with other provisions the terms of which are plain and unequivocal. Had Congress intended that the personal representative should make an election between the two rights of action and sue upon one only, it is not easy to believe that it would have chosen the words in this clause to express that intention.
for the Ninth Circuit, the court saying that "the plain meaning" of the new section is that damages for the deceased's personal loss and suffering and for the pecuniary loss to the designated beneficiaries by the death, "not only may be recovered by the personal representative of the deceased in one action, but must be recovered in one action only, if at all." So far as we are advised by the reported decisions, this is the view which has been taken by all the courts, federal and state, that have had occasion to consider the question.
"as broad, as comprehensive, and as inclusive in its terms as any of the similar remedial statutes existing in any of the states, which are superseded in their operation by force of the federal legislation upon the subject."
Senate Report No. 432, 61st Cong.2d Sess. pp. 12-15; House Report No. 513, 61st Cong.2d Sess. pp. 3-6. While these reports cannot be taken as giving to the new section a meaning not fairly within its words, they persuasively show that it should not be narrowly or restrictively interpreted.
For these reasons, we think the second objection is not tenable.
Finally, it is said that the award of $5,000 as damages for pain and suffering, even though extreme, for so short a period as approximately thirty minutes, is excessive. The award does seem large, but the power, and with it the duty and responsibility, of dealing with this matter rested upon the courts below. It involves only a question of fact, and is not open to reconsideration here. Railroad Co. v. Fraloff, 100 U. S. 24, 100 U. S. 31; The Justices v. Murray, 9 Wall. 274; Erie R. Co. v. Winter, 143 U. S. 60, 143 U. S. 75; Herencia v. Guzman, 219 U. S. 44; Southern Railway v. Bennett, 233 U. S. 80.
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0.997706 |
The famous escaped slave and abolitionist is shown in a stately pose. Sepia-toned likenesses of young Frederick, learning to read and later practicing his gift of great oratory, provide a backdrop.
Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave and an influential force for the abolition of slavery. His speaking skills were so moving that he was encouraged to write an autobiography of his life under slavery. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was the first of his three impactful autobiographies. The exposure created by his work put him in danger of being recaptured and so he chose to flee to Ireland and Britain where slavery had already been abolished. He later returned to America and started the abolitionist newspaper the North Star.
Considered by many to be the most influential African American of the 19th century, Douglass pushed for a variety of reforms including: women's rights, land reform, free public education, and peace. He fervently believed in and promoted agitation as a requirement for social change.
Oil painting portrait of Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave and famous abolitionist.
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0.979962 |
How can I set the system date and time from the command prompt (bash shell)? I don’t have GUI installed and I am login over ssh session. How can I set date under Linux operating systems?
Use the date command to display the current date and time or set the system date / time over ssh session. You can also run the date command from X terminal as root user.
This is useful if the Linux server time and/or date is wrong, and you need to set it to new values from the shell prompt.
You must login as root user to use date command.
# date -s "2 OCT 2006 18:00:00"
# date --set="2 OCT 2006 18:00:00"
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0.936912 |
More than 2.5m patients in England could see their GP practice close in the next five years because most of their doctors are near retirement age, the RCGP has warned.
More than three quarters of GPs are aged over 55 years old at 762 GP practices across the UK, analysis by the RCGP reveals.
The likely retirement of GPs at these practices leaves 2.5m patients in England alone at risk of seeing their practice close within the next five years, the college estimates - warning that the impact on patient care would be 'catastrophic'.
Around 625 practices in England have more than three quarters GPs aged over 55 - roughly one in 11 practices in the country - along with 71 in Scotland, 37 in Wales and 29 in Northern Ireland.
The college has called for 'drastic action' to tackle the problem, demanding £2.5bn more funding per year by 2020/21 for general practice under the government's long-term NHS plan.
RCGP chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: 'These new figures paint an extremely bleak picture of the scale of the GP workforce crisis right across the UK.
'GPs will always work their hardest to try to keep practices open, but the harsh reality is that fantastic, caring GPs are burning out, working in conditions that are unsafe for their own health and that of their patients.
GPonline reported last month that the full-time equivalent GP workforce had dropped by more than 500 in the three months to June 2018 - and the workforce is down by more than 1,400 since former health secretary Jeremy Hunt set a target in September 2015 to increase the GP workforce by 5,000 by 2020/21.
This website also revealed this month that 1,200 GPs were receiving support from the GP Health Service - which offers help to primary care doctors facing problems including burnout, stress or addiction.
Professor Stokes-Lampard added: 'It is a massive loss to the profession – and patients - to lose our most experienced doctors prematurely when they have huge amounts of knowledge and skill.
The RCGP chair urged the government to 'think long and hard' about how to retain GPs and use the £20.5bn funding increase promised for the NHS to ease pressure on general practice.
The five worst-affected CCGs in England were Sandwell and West Birmingham - with 85,105 patients at risk of practice closure, Medway (52,330 patients), Havering (49,761), Ealing (46,909) and Wigan Borough (43,640).
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