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Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative A national working group has begun the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative (CCCII) to develop and disseminate resources and guidelines to assist Catholic elementary and secondary schools in integrating elements of Catholic identity (Catholic values, Scripture, Church social teachings, encyclicals, etc.) into curriculum and instruction based on the Common Core State Standards. The initial phase of CCCII focuses on K-8 English/Language Arts/ Literacy. Resources for other subjects and for 9-12 curriculum will be developed in later phases. Forty-six states have agreed to adopt the Common Core State Standards, a set of high quality K-12 learning standards that includes rigorous content and application of knowledge using higher-order thinking skills, leading students to college and career readiness. Currently, Catholic schools are assessing what the implications of the standards and accompanying assessments may be for them. While Catholic schools have their own local or diocesan standards, their ability to continue to provide high-quality education for their students is compelling them to consider adoption of the common core standards. Catholic schools will be impacted as curriculum resources and professional development opportunities become aligned with Common Core State Standards by producers of instructional materials, college teacher preparation programs, or regulations for participation in the federal programs that currently benefit their students and teachers. Within this environment, maintaining the uniqueness and integrity of the Catholic school will require integrating the demands of their mission and the academic expectations of their constituents and the wider education community. To assist Catholic schools with enhancing Catholic identity integrated into the curriculum, the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative (CCCII) has been launched as a collaborative project involving Catholic universities, corporations and sponsors invested in Catholic education, and the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). The Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative has two goals: - to empower Catholic schools and dioceses to design and direct the implementation of the Common Core standards within the culture and context of a Catholic school curriculum - to infuse the Common Core standards with the faith/principles/values/social justice themes inherent in the mission and Catholic identity of the school. The CCCII project aims to accomplish its goals by creating a process and a product: Phase 1: Gather approximately 35 practitioners and curriculum and catechetics experts to pilot a CCCII ELA Unit development process to be shared with the larger Catholic educational community. (June 2012) Phase 2: Revise and refine the unit development process so that it can be replicated in dioceses around the country. Phase 3: Invite participation in development of additional CCCII ELA Units by Catholic educators around the country. Phase 1: Utilize the expertise and strength of experienced and innovative teachers to develop complete units/exemplars that join Catholic identify with the Common Core curriculum standards. Utilize the expertise of CCCII leaders to develop supporting resources and guidelines. (June 2012) Phase 2: Post exemplar units, guidelines, and resources developed in for the June 2012 launch for open access by Catholic educators on the Catholic School Standards Project Website www.catholicschoolsstandards.org) . (July 2012) Phase 3: Expand exemplar units and Catholic Identity resources available for use by local Catholic schools. Tailor the CCCII Unit development process for Catholic secondary schools. Expand CCCII to include additional subject areas. Meet the CCCII Leadership and Planning Teams

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I've let you buggers off the hook for a few days, so today I'm going to talk about 'that stuff' again. Specifically about Altruism (aka unselfishness)."Beware of altruism, it is based on self-deception, the root of all evil." HeinleinThe last temptation is the highest treason, to do the right thing for the wrong reason" TS Eliot Heinlein was right to give his warning about altruism, because it is so hard to truly 'grok' ;> The ancient Jewish tradition of Qabalah places Altruism in the second sphere - Chokmah, and unselfishness in the 7th, Netzach. For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, The central element of the Qabalah is The tree of life, which is an abstract method of looking at the nature of The Universe, humanity and the Godhead. It is composed of ten spheres, the abyss of Da'ath and the paths between the spheres (called sepiroth). Malkuth , the tenth sphere is the Earthly Plane. Kether, the first sphere is the Crown, the Monad, the final rejoining with the Godhead in order to begin the cycle over once more. The true goal of High Magick is to cleanse and purify the higher self, by enhancing ones virtues and eliminating vices. The Qabalah and the Wiccan degree systems both usually recognise this and are stuctured accordingly. Unselfishness is first studied in Netzach, in the form of unconditional love, mercy, beauty and splendor. It is studied in the Golden Dawn at grade 4=6, and in many Wiccan tradiitons as one of the Elemental Pacts - Fire (which depending upon the tradition may be done at 1st, 2nd or 3rd). True Altruism however is found within the final sphere before Kether - The sphere (or sephira) of Chockmah as mentioned above. And this is where the last temptation comes in to play. The temptation being to do the right thing (be generous in spirit, kind to others and help them however you can) for the wrong reason (because they will like you better, I will be well thought of, you will 'get your reward in heaven', or even 'because I can write it of against tax'). There are a couple of books on this subject that interested Wiccans may wish to study. Ellen Cannon Reed wrote a book called 'The Witches Qabala' which I highly recommend. It is the Qabala from a Wiccan perspective. Once you have digested that, I recommend The Tree of Life and The Middle Pillar, both by Israel Regardie and the Sea Priestess and Moon Magic both by Dion Fortune (which are works of fiction, but which Dion used as a means to get out some highly useful and fundamental information about High Magick). Hope the above make sense. It's Sunday morning and I haven't had my coffee yet :>

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Depository libraries; Electronic government information; Government publications; United States. National Archives and Records Administration; Madison, James, 1751-1836; Freedom of information In 1822, James Madison asserted that "a popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be... Display a larger image and more item information when the pointer pauses over a thumbnail Thumbnail with title Grid with smaller thumbnails and more detail Select the collections to add or remove from your search

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Mary Boyer is the compiler of an extensive collection of postcards of Charlotte in the twentieth century. The postcards are divided into eleven sections and concern such things as views of the city, prominent homes, buildings (both public and private), schools, churches, hospitals, parks, and historical monuments. The Mary Boyer … Steve Perille is a prolific photographer and an award winning photojournalist. While working for The Charlotte Observer, he was the 1975 Southern Photographer of the Year, but his images are more about the social landscape than hard news. Perille, a native of Wisconsin, was introduced to photography as a young boy by his uncle, Jim … The William Hoke Sumner, Jr. collection includes selected digitized images of news events, weddings, buildings, business meetings, sports events, store openings, ribbon cuttings, social gatherings, and numerous other activities. Sumner was a North Carolina photographer who worked in Charlotte; he focused on subjects that interested him … Aerial Photographs of UNC Charlotte and University City illustrate the rapid and extensive growth of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the surrounding neighborhood, University City. The photographs begin in 1959 with the site chosen for Charlotte College and show the progressive area growth through 2008. These images are … This is a bill of sale dated January 2, 1865 for a slave named Loney. The buyer was N. A. Wingate & Co. of Charlotte, North Carolina; and the seller was J. A. Bisaner, of Lincolnton. At the time Loney was about twenty seven years old and was sold for $6,000 in Confederate currency. Atkins Library Special Collections seeks to promote and expand access to our rare and unique materials through an ongoing digitization program. The subject focus of our digitized collections is life in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, from before the Civil War to the late twentieth century. The types of materials include photographs and other visual formats, family papers, and correspondence.

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Irrigation -- South Dakota; Missouri River Basin Project (U.S.). Garrison Diversion Unit; Missouri River Basin Project (U.S.) Oahe Unit; James River (N.D. and S.D.); United States. Bureau of Reclamation Questions asked by people who will be affected by the irrigation project are answered by members of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University who are serving on an Oahe Task Force committee.

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Instructors: Andrea Dykstra, Curt Van Dam, Kelli Ten Haken and Tami De Jong 1. Students will gain interest in the Unit on Alaska. 2. Students will be introduced to Alaska and the Iditarod race that takes place in Alaska every year. 3. Students will be able to appreciate the beauty of Godís creation in Alaska. 4. Students will be able to see Godís majesty and power in their personal experiences. In this lesson, the students will discuss what they know about Alaska. They will watch a movie and then discuss how God shows His power and majesty through creation. Next, they will be introduced to the Iditarod race by reading a story and then the teachers will explain the game the students will play about the Iditarod through the unit. At the end of class, students will have a chance to start work on their maps of Alaska and then the teachers will end in closing prayer. - Psalm 19:1- The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. - Other Scripture references that can be used through out the unit: The Creation story in Gen. 1 and 2 Alaska: Spirit of the Wild 2. DVD player 5. Learning center and trade books 6. Example of the Iditarod Game 7. Book: Iditarod Dream by Ted Wood 8. Overhead projector, overhead and pen 9. Construction paper 10. Markers, crayons, colored pencils 1. On the first day of this unit, teachers should enter the room dressed in parkas, snowshoes, scarves, mittens; anything that looks like what people in Alaska would wear. Motion for the student to sit down. Once they are quiet, ask them where they think the teachers are from and how they came to this conclusion. We would expect conclusions such as the Artic, Antarctica, and possibly Alaska. 2. Have students take out a sheet of paper and write five things down that come to their minds when they think of Alaska. Have them get into groups of three and share what they wrote with their group. The students will be encouraged to share the combined ideas from their group with the whole class. The teacher will write down these ideas on the overhead. 3. Explain to the students that they are going to be learning about all of these of these things and even more about Alaska in the upcoming unit. 4. Have each student write down one or two things about Alaska they would like to know more about. Suggest ideas such as: What sports do they play in Alaska? How many people live there? Is it really cold and snowy year round? Take these ideas into consideration when planning the rest of the unit. 1. Put in the DVD Alaska: Sprit of the Wild. Students will watch the movie. It is forty minutes long. Before they watch it, share with them the beauty that can be found in Alaska. Tell them to look specifically for how they can see God in the things that are shown on the film. 2. After the movie, discuss with the students what they thought of the movie. Ask them questions such as what surprised you about this film? What did you learn about Alaska that you didnít know before? What can we discover about God by watching this movie? How can we get to know God better by studying Alaska? 3. Read Psalm 19:1 aloud. Read it again, this time have the students say it after you. Ask them how this verse relates to Alaska. Hopefully they will make the connection that creation shouts Godís praise. Alaska is so beautiful; this reflects on Godís majesty, creativity and mercy. God loves us enough to give us beautiful creation simply so we can enjoy it. We can see his fingerprints in Alaska. 4. Read Psalm 8 aloud. Again, ask them how this verse relates to Alaska. They will probably have similar responses as above in step three. Share a personal experience of how he/ she has seen Godís power and majesty in His creation. - For example, this is my own experience; you could share something similar to it: One time I climbed the highpoint of Colorado with my dad. We started hiking before the sun was up. As we were walking along the ridge of the mountain, the sun began to rise; the colors were brilliant! We kept on hiking and hiking. I was getting tired and hungry but soon we came close to the top. As I climbed up the last little peak and the top of the mountain, I looked out and the view was breathtaking!!! I had never seen so many snow capped mountains before. Sitting up there on the mountaintop, I felt such a joy and peace. What a great God I serve! He created all of this; His creation alone is enough to tell of His majesty. 5. Ask the students if any of them have had an experience like this; encourage them to share if they would like. 6. Encourage them to find other verses that could relate to our study of Alaska and bring them to class tomorrow to share. 1. Introduce the Iditarod race the studentís will be learning about by reading the book Iditarod Dream by Ted Wood. As you are reading, stop periodically through out the book and ask them to jot down a few of their thoughts. At the end of the book ask them to share a few thoughts they wrote down about the book. 2. Introduce the game the students will be playing throughout the unit. Tell the students they will be having their own Iditarod race in the classroom. Each student will make a map of Alaska on construction paper. On this map, they will draw the trail of the Iditarod race. They will have to map out the different checkpoints of the race on their trails. It is their job to find out how many miles are between each checkpoint and how many miles they can travel in one day. 3. Each day the students will move their markers on their maps how ever many miles we decide as a class they can travel in one day. Every morning the students will receive a ďracerís fateĒ card. These cards will say various things such as, ďyour dog has broken a leg, move back twenty milesĒ, or ď you have found an extra bundle of food on the trail, move ahead twelve milesĒ. The students will have to keep track of where they are on the trail on their own maps and on a large map on the classroom bulletin board. 4. Each afternoon, students will have an opportunity to receive another card if they got their homework done on time that day. This card could be good or bad, but the students get to decide if they want to take it. 5. This activity will be incorporated into language arts. The students will be keeping a race journal. As they play this game they can write their feelings about the race in the journal as if they were an actual racer. 6. This game will also be incorporated into math. Students will need to do calculations to play the game correctly. They will also discover how to find median, mean and using the game. 1. The students will begin making their maps of Alaska for the Iditarod game. The outline of the map of Alaska will be projected on the overhead so the students have something to follow when they draw. Copies of the outline of this map will be available for students to trace if they do not want to draw the map freehand. 2. The students can use crayons or colored pencils to make their maps on. 3. The trail outline and check points will be labeled on the overhead map, but the students will need to research how many miles are in between each check point in a later class 1. Read Psalm 8 one more time and end in prayer, thanking God for His creativity that is evident in all of creation, especially as it has been seen in Alaska today. 1. Students can do more research about the real Iditarod race on the Internet. 2. Students can read one of the many books about Alaska set up in the learning center. 3. Students can complete any activity set up in the learning center, including: math story problems, language arts writing activities, and social studies and science 1. Observe how much students participate in the lesson. Have one teacher walk around with a checklist and put checks by the names of the students who are on task and participating by sharing, asking questions, diligently listening. 2. Observe how diligently students work on their maps. Check the next day to see if they have completed them. Give them a check if they are finished and are done Lesson Plans Unit Outline Home Page Trade Books Learning Center

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Humans are quite remarkable when it comes to determining sizes. We can estimate how many people it will take to complete a job. If blindfolded, we have the skills to determine whether we are in a large amphitheater or small room. We can estimate the size of an airplane by its approaching sound. But music is the ultimate deceiver, isn’t it? Hypothetical and literal size are beautifully separated in the newly released album of music byPeter Garland (b. 1952), Waves Breaking on Rocks. The album consists of his piano work, “Waves Breaking on Rocks (Elegy for All of Us),” and his piece for tenor and chamber ensemble, “The Roque Dalton Songs.” Garland is an American composer whose works have often been considered post-minimal. Waves Breaking on Rocks pairs two very different compositions. The topic of deceptive “sizes” of the pieces spawns from the size of their instrumentation: “Waves Breaking on Rocks (Elegy for All of Us)” is for solo piano while “The Roque Dalton Songs” employ many musicians—but their impressions reflect the opposite. The piano work is expansive and watery, conjuring large images and panoramic landscapes. The songs for tenor travel in a narrower path—tribal in their percussion, gospel-like in their tone pairings, and purposefully targeted, they give off a small, focused vibe. Both of the pieces benefit from their aural sizes, and create an album of sounds that is attention grabbing and varied. Deceiving isn’t always a bad thing. “Waves Breaking on Rocks (Elegy for All of Us)” is a suite of elegies. Divided into six parts, the suite commemorates six different people that Garland has lost in his life. It is composed almost entirely of chords, and creates more of a space than a linear narration. Each section might not get stuck in your head, such as a certain sentence from a lost one might not, but the overall ambiance of that person can be surfaced with subtle things, and this piece creates those moods. Pianist Aki Takahashi could not have performed the piece better—she keeps the serene lines of the suite flowing and consistent with the stories being told. The last piece in the suite, “Waves Breaking on Rocks 2/Autumn (Again),” shows her control and ability to avoid even slight dynamic rises that would break the tranquility of the piece. The suite begins with “The White Place,” referring to the limestone formations in Abiquiu, New Mexico called Plaza Blanca, and commemorates the photographer Walter Chappell. Beautifully piercing, monumental chords set up the foundations for each phrase of the piece and are followed by smaller, controlled hills of hushed tones. The entire suite utilizes ostensibly simple chords, but when listened to they create a dreamy story that is complex in the way nature is seamlessly intricate. Through each of the pieces, the chords unravel into wandering and separated lines. Significant change comes in “A House in Island Bay,” composed for poet Alan Brunton. The listener is reminded of small rocks rippling on a lake as still as glass. It progresses to the intense solidity of previous chords. The last two sections of “Waves Breaking on Rocks” are Americana in their own ways—“Sierra Madre,” composed for composer Lou Harrison, is homey and nostalgic and is the only section to use violin, and appropriate and comfortable addition. “Waves Breaking on Rocks 2/Autumn (Again)” is a still and jazz-tinged piece, and is almost impossible to listen to without stopping for a minute (or five minutes and forty six seconds) and being absorbed by it. “The Roque Dalton Songs,” the second collection on the album, is a collection with much more of a landing spot than “Waves Breaking on Rocks.” Though the instrumentation is larger, it is less expansive, and this isn’t a bad thing. The listener’s brain follows the music in a more direct line—if “Waves Breaking on Rocks” was a walk in a meadow, “The Roque Dalton Songs” are a hike through a specific path. Roque Dalton was a Salvadorian poet and revolutionary who was executed during El Salvador’s civil war. Five of Dalton’s poems were set to music by Garland in this piece. The poems range from free verse to dialogue to prose (“he was a really super cool guy” is probably my favorite line), and they seem very human, like Dalton can be seen scribbling the words onto paper right in front of you. The chamber ensemble, Santa Fe New Music, is comprised of percussion, harp, piano, trumpet, bass clarinet, and violins. The ensemble is successful in layering the very obvious sheets of sound—the percussion, piano, and harp construct a stable foundation, the bass clarinet and trumpet create the walls, and the violins occupy the figurative room of sound. The tenor John Duykers keeps a triumphant tone throughout the entire collection, and conquers the sometimes out-of-the-blue high notes. The music keeps a dance rhythm, resolving itself at the end of each phrase, and doesn’t really break free of this except for the second piece, the smooth and sly “Como La Siempreviva,” and inside the fourth piece, “History of a Poetic.” The final piece, “Como Tú,” employs the harp in a refreshing way by retaining the previous piece’s dance like feel. However, it makes it more of a sensual one, like a dance between two people in privacy. A piano is one object. A chamber ensemble is many. But sound is one idea, and Peter Garland’s album Waves Breaking on Rocks enforces that. Deceived or not, these are waves worth listening to.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013 Starfish and Coffee I always liked Prince's "Starfish and Coffee" but only recently did I learn the full meaning behind this catchy and deceptively simple song. The song's Cynthia Rose character is based on a childhood friend of Susannah Melvoin's; Melvoin was not only a member of Prince's band Revolution but at one time she was engaged to Prince and she also reportedly inspired him to write the song "Nothing Compares to U" (which became a number one hit for Sinead O'Connor but never sounded better than when it was performed by Prince and Rosie Gaines). Prince and Melvoin co-wrote the "Starfish and Coffee" lyrics describing a girl who "always stood at the back of the line/A smile beneath her nose." Cynthia Rose had a favorite number (20), she wore different-colored socks and if you asked her what she had for breakfast she would reply, "Starfish and coffee/Maple syrup and jam/Butterscotch clouds, a tangerine/And a side order of ham." Most people know at least one person like Cynthia Rose, someone who proudly and unashamedly marches to the beat of a different drummer. The song lyrics encourage Cynthia Rose to be herself and not try to conform: "Go on, Cynthia, keep singin.’" Prince videos can be difficult to find on the internet due to copyright restrictions but here is Prince performing a version of "Starfish and Coffee" on the Muppet Show in 1997: Subscribe to Posts [Atom]

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March 19, 2008 For Immediate Release MOST FLOODPRONE BUILDINGS IN THE COUNTY TO BE TORN DOWN Charlotte, North Carolina – The often-flooded Cavalier Apartments will be bought by Mecklenburg County and torn down. This all but eliminates the chance of flood insurance dollars or tax money being spent to rescue people or repair damages from a future flood. Property owner Cavalier Associates, LP, and the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners have agreed to a sale price of $6,590,000. Commissioners formally approved the purchase at the Board's March 18 meeting. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $9.6 million: - $6.6 million to purchase the buildings and land - $3 million for demolition and tenant relocation Sources of funding: - Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Grant: $5.4 million (55% of total project cost) - Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Fees: $4.2 million (45% of total project cost) Cavalier Apartments buyout facts: - Located at 550 Bramlet Road - 192 apartments on nearly 13 acres of land in the regulated floodplain - Northern bank of Briar Creek between Independence Boulevard and Monroe Road - Built in 1971 before restrictions on building in floodplains - Significant flood losses occurred in 1995, 1997 and 2003 - Negotiations took more than 14 months. Benefits of the buyout: - Permanently reduce the threat of loss of life or personal property due to flooding - Save money on flood insurance claims and emergency response services - End the problem of temporarily housing more than 100 families after each flood event Mecklenburg County will take ownership at closing, which is expected in 60 days. In compliance with the federal Uniform Relocation Act, qualifying residents of the apartments will be given a one-time payment to help with moving expenses and higher rental costs for comparable housing. Storm Water Services staff is currently holding meetings with residents to explain the process. Demolition is expected to begin in late 2008. As the site is cleared, County staff will hold public meetings and planning workshops to help determine the future use of the 13 acres of open space. Possible uses of the land might include a greenway, water quality features such as wetlands and rain gardens, recreational opportunities, or a combination. The Board of County Commissioners ultimately will decide what to do with the site along Briar Creek. County Storm Water Services Division Director Dave Canaan says buying the property will save public money in the long run. "It's cheaper for the government to get people and buildings out of harm's way than it is to issue disaster checks after repeated, severe floods," he says. He notes that detailed benefit/cost analysis was required as part of the grant application and approval. "If the apartments remained, future flood damages would cost four times more than we're spending to buy and demolish them now," Canaan says. The cost savings does not include money spent on emergency evacuations by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and Charlotte Fire Departments, or the cost to the Red Cross and other groups who house and feed flood victims. Past rescue and emergency assistance costs associated with flooding at the Cavalier Apartments have cost several hundred thousand dollars. "This is another win-win," says Canaan. "The federal government will no longer pay flood damage claims for Cavalier, local emergency response personnel can focus on other priorities during a flood, and the community gets an additional 13 acres of land for public use." Money for the buyouts comes from a combination of FEMA grants and local (storm water fee) funds. FEMA's Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program provides grants for mitigation, which FEMA defines as "reducing the long-term risk of loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters." For the Cavalier acquisition, Storm Water Services received technical support from the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management. Since 2000, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services has purchased 160-floodprone buildings. Buildings acquired through this program have been torn down and the floodplain has been returned to a more natural and beneficial state.

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The subject, you, sits writing at a desk. Writing not in the sense of putting pen To paper (here there is neither), but in The sense of making meaning out of words. Your fingers tap tap tap the letters on A keypad, sending your computer an Electronic signal, which sends it first To a router, then to a modem then Through a cable to a server to Google Docs, which in turn sends it by The same circuitous route as before Back to your computer, where it makes A digital letter on a screen. The Process repeats until meaning is made. This is known as "Cloud Computing." You No longer sit writing at your desk, you Transmit and receive signals from the clouds. And then the rain begins to fall. It rains. A sentence emerges: You will spend The rest of your life in this place, and will Live each day in sequence, followed by Another, and you will each day wonder How in fact you ended where you are. It is not the place you imagined you Would choose to spend your life. Not this place. A sentence emerges: a set of words Complete in itself, which typically contains A subject, You, a predicate, will spend, Conveys a statement, question, command or Exclamation consisting of a main Clause, You will spend the rest of your life In this place, and sometimes one or more Subordinate clauses, and will live each day In sequence, followed by another, and You will each day wonder how in fact You ended where you are. Etcetera. A house, a car, a job, a pet, a love. You begin to list. This is a form of Reasoning, a making reasonable Of something without reason. You begin To list in the sense of leaning to one Side, typically from a leak, or cargo That's unbalanced. See Heel: to be tilted Temporarily by the pressure of The wind or by the inconsistent Distribution of weight on board a ship. You are listing now: a house, a car, a job, a Pet, a love. Everything in balance, yet 'Desire' is another form of list: As in, I have little list to write. Or, As you might have said, this is an accounting, Or better yet, a counting up. A one And a two and a three and a four and Five and six and seven eight nine. And ten. A thing told is an account, the telling Thereof an accounting. The subject, you, Sits at a desk, making meaning out of words. Or rather you send signals to the clouds To make a list of things that give meaning to Your life. A love, for example, a job, A house, a pet, a car. Is there order To this list? The thing that comes first to mind Is often perceived as the thing that is Closest to mind, and therefore thought to be Closest to the heart, the heart that beats, beats, The heart that pumps the blood that runs through veins Into the brain, where when one is asked to think Of the first thing to come to mind, assumed To be the most important thing to you, The subject. Thus is meaning made. And thus The list that you, the subject, make, is telling. Tell us what the lists you've made should tell us. Why are you here? What are you doing here? Why do you sit listing, making meaning Out of words? Haven't you any better Way to spend your time? Well, no, I don't. Wait, Who said that? I said that. Who are you? I I am you, the subject of this sentence That's emerging on the screen, the result Of a series of rapid information Transfers between a body at a desk And a faraway cloud. It's part of a poem Being written by you, the subject of This sentence, who sits at a desk, making Meaning out of words. The poem is the cloud, Receiving and transmitting information. It mixes signals often, sends them back In different form. A sentence emerges: You will spend the rest of your life in this place. The sentence returns as a thunder clap. Clap clap, clap clap, clap clap, clap clap, clap clap. There's now no telling where the poem might go. No longer clear who is writing, who is Being written about, who is speaking, Who is spoken to. You there, and you and You and you. All are subject to this poem And to the emergence of this sentence Sentencing you to spend your life living Each day in sequence, followed by another, And to each day wonder how you ended Where you are, and for which you, the writer, Must account. Clap Clap Clap. This is the place Where lightning strikes in the poem. Lightning strikes A weeping willow tree. The tree begins To burn. It heels in the wind. It lists. Tears Won't help it now. The night is set ablaze. Thousands of willows spontaneously Combust. Clap clap clap clap. Clap clap clap clap.

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Book publishing is not just printing what the author wrote but to be able to analyze and understand the very need for the book. The publisher must be able to edit, translate and articulate what the author intends to express. Book publishing must be done in a manner that the reader understands what the author intends to say. Above all a publisher must be trustworthy. He must know that what he is entrusted with is a creation in itself.

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As reported in Tuesday’s Maroon, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has issued another volume of its annual report, "The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s Campuses." Of course, a new report means another grade of “red stoplight” (the lowest rung on FIRE’s idiosyncratic grading system) for the U of C and hundreds of other schools that somehow ran afoul of FIRE’s standards for protecting free speech. This is the fifth such report issued by FIRE since 2006, and while it is remarkable in a number of ways—its dogged documentation of speech codes from almost 400 institutions, its willingness to cherry-pick language from those codes and present it in the least flattering context—what’s most striking is that FIRE has managed to prepare five lengthy reports on free speech in higher education while having only the flimsiest understanding of what “free speech in higher education” actually entails. Universities aren’t simply another venue for people to get together and chat politely. They are meant to encourage discussion that is honest and uninhibited, and which would be impossible in many other settings. The very notion of a university presumes that some types of conversations are, if not “better” than others, then at least more productive. To have a university, you have to first accept that not all words and ideas are of equal use. Consistent with that idea, the U of C and many other private universities choose to regulate speech that overwhelmingly tends to stifle productive discussion. Slurs, abusive words, and other forms of intimidating speech can be distinctly counterproductive in a university setting, and so merit varying levels of intervention by administrators. In FIRE’s grade book, schools get dinged for having policies which “clearly and substantially [restrict] freedom of speech” or “could be interpreted to suppress” speech protected by the First Amendment. But universities don’t exist to encourage just any of the myriad forms of speech guaranteed by the Constitution; their mission is more narrow, and oftentimes their speech codes are, accordingly, more pointed. That’s not to say we feel restricted in what we say. U of C guidelines specifically say the administration will neither “attempt to shield people from ideas they may find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even offensive,” nor always “intervene to enforce social standards of civility.” And administrators have encouraged free and productive speech in ways that wouldn’t register on FIRE’s survey of university policies. In the fall of 2009, President Robert Zimmer and Provost Thomas Rosenbaum went so far as to send a campus-wide e-mail discussing the importance of an unencumbered exchange of ideas, and reminding us that open debate requires both freedom and restraint. That’s the kind of balanced, nuanced thought that abounds on this campus and is largely missing in FIRE’s report. Realistically, there’s little chance that FIRE adopts a set of free-speech standards that actually pertain to the work of universities—that would be the reasonable thing to do, and being reasonable rarely gets you the attention of pundits and donors—but as far as we’re concerned, the U of C is doing what it should to protect free speech on campus, and the administrators have the green light to run all the red stoplights FIRE cares to prop up. —The Maroon Editorial Board consists of the Editor-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.

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Welcome to the Child Health in the 21st Century Website. This site is currently for the use of the Child Health in the 21st Century working group, to document progress on the four goals that were identified in the November 17 - 18, 2006, workshop proceedings. This site identifies the four goals and 19 objectives from the proceedings and provides the working group with an opportunity to identify work that has been completed or is in progress, that contributes to these goals. Projects and other work identified here does not necessarily indicate work done by this committee. The work identified here reflects any work, projects, or other resources that would be seen as useful to, or relevant to, individuals who may read the Child Health in the 21st Century proceedings and are interested in how this work ties in with other activities in the child and youth health sector. The authors have attempted to assure the information contained in these pages is accurate however we cannot be sure that we might have included something that is not correct . The information contained in these webpages may have some inaccuracies or be out of date. We would greatly appreciate receiving any comments, updates, information on other relevant activities or corrections you might have. Goal 1:To promote the best healthcare services for all infants, children and youth in Canada. Goal 2:To promote the improved health and healthcare of vulnerable infants, children and youth including, but not limited to, those of aboriginal descent, new immigrants, those living in poverty, those who are maltreated, and those living with chronic illnesses or disabilities. Goal 3:To improve access to mental healthcare services for infants, children and youth. Goal 4: To improve healthcare that is provided to infants, children and youth through interdisciplinary cooperation and collaboration.

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Young Kids May Be Able to Unbuckle Car Seats Survey of Parents Finds Some Kids May Be Unbuckling While Car Is in Motion May 2, 2011 -- Children as young as 1 year old can unbuckle themselves from car safety seats, a new survey of parents finds. "We found that children can unbuckle from their child car safety seats by their fourth birthday, and there is an alarming 43% who do so when the car is in motion," says researcher Lilia Reyes, MD, a clinical fellow in pediatric emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven. "It was reported as early as 12 months." The findings are being presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver. Child Car Seats: How Secure? While working in the pediatric emergency room at Yale, Reyes encountered two different mothers who had minor car accidents. They told her it happened when they turned their heads around after discovering their kids had unbuckled themselves. Trying to determine how frequently it happened, she and her colleagues from Yale surveyed 378 parents of young children. Among the other findings: - 51% or about 191 families reported that at least one of their children had unbuckled their car seats. Of these, 75% were age 3 or younger. The youngest was 12 months old. - Boys unbuckled more than girls; 59% of the kids who unbuckled were boys. Parents were not asked if they were sure they had buckled correctly, Reyes tells WebMD. So there is a possibility the children weren't buckled in correctly. But parents do typically hear a click, like a seat safety belt, when the buckle latches, she says. The problem, she says, is that while children may be able to physically unbuckle the seat, they are just beginning, at around age 3, to develop reasoning skills to appreciate the consequences of unbuckling. Parents used seats of various types. They included the five-point harness, convertible seats, and booster seats, depending on their child's age and weight. Are Car Seats Really Buckled? ''This study raises questions about how the child restraint was used," says Lorrie Walker, training manager and technical advisor for Safe Kids USA, an advocacy group. "Federal motor vehicle safety standard 213 requires the buckle to release using between 9 and 14 pounds of pressure," she says. "It is often challenging for an adult to unbuckle the harness." She wonders if the buckle was not adequately locked in some cases. "A buckle may give the appearance of being buckled when it has not completely latched," she tells WebMD. Among the mistakes many parents make when placing a child in a car seat she says, is to loosely attach the harness straps or place the straps in the wrong harness slots. If these mistakes occur, she says, it makes it easy for a child to climb out. The finding that a child as young as age 1 could unbuckle the seat is a surprise to Jennifer Stockburger, program manager of vehicle and child safety for Consumer Reports. She reviewed the findings for WebMD but was not involved in the study.

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Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treatment and Research Corticosteroids (Prednisone, Prednisolone) Generic Names: prednisone, methylprednisolone Brand Names: Solu-medrol, Medrol, Deltasone, Orapred Drug Class: Corticosteroid What do these medications do? Corticosteroids are used to treat patients with active Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Corticosteroids decrease inflammation in the lining of the intestine by suppressing the activity of the immune system. These medications are effective in treating about 80% of patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and patients will typically experience a reduction of symptoms within 1-2 weeks. Because of the potential for long term side effects, corticosteroids are usually given at full dose for a short period of time, and then the dose is gradually reduced. What are the side effects? Most side effects of corticosteroid use are temporary and resolve once you/your child stops taking this medication. The effects are variable from patient to patient. The most common side effects include: - Weight gain - Puffy cheeks - Mood disturbances - Sleep disturbances Less common side effects include acne, stretch marks, or hair growth. Rare side effects of corticosteroids include stomach ulcers, headaches, or cataracts. Because corticosteroids suppress the activity of the immune system, they can also increase the risk that patients will have complications of certain infections, especially viral infections like chicken pox or mononucleosis (mono)*. However, most patients taking corticosteroids have no problem managing routine illnesses, including colds, earache, or strep throat. Long-term use of corticosteroids can lead to decreased growth and bone thinning, which can cause an increased fracture risk and/or hip pain. For this reason, physicians typically prescribe them on a short term basis to get the inflammation under control quickly during times of disease flare. You should never stop taking corticosteroids abruptly! Your doctor will discuss how to gradually taper your dose over many days. This gradual reduction will prevent a serious side effect known as adrenal insufficiency. Taking steroids affects the adrenal gland’s ability to produce a hormone known as cortisol which helps your body deal with physical stress. Therefore, you should tell your doctor or emergency personnel if you/your child needs surgery or is involved in an accident because you may need a stress dose of steroids. *You should report fever or any signs of infection to your doctor immediately. How to take your medication and miscellaneous facts: - Corticosteroids can be given by mouth or through the vein (IV). - You should take this medication at the same time everyday, preferably in the morning if taken once a day. - You should take this medication with food to reduce GI upset. • While taking this medication, you may also need to take an antacid medication to help prevent stomach ulcers. - If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember. - Check with your doctor or nurse practitioner before starting any new medications, herbs, or vitamins while taking this medication.

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Inherited Metabolic Disease Clinic The Inherited Metabolic Disease Clinic at Children's Hospital & Medical Center provides specialized medical expertise for the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric inherited metabolic diseases in Nebraska and the surrounding region. Inherited metabolic diseases are genetic disorders of metabolism, also known as inborn errors of metabolism. There are hundreds of inherited metabolic diseases in children, each individually rare, but together accounting for about one in 1,000 children in this country. The Inherited Metabolic Disease Clinic at Children's treats approximately 400 patients a year, helping many of these patients effectively manage their disease. The clinic medical director is William Rizzo, M.D., a pediatrician, board certified in medical genetics and biochemical genetics. Richard Lutz, M.D., a pediatrician who specializes in medical genetics, endocrinology and metabolism, is medical director of Children's Bone Metabolism Clinic. There are just three medical geneticists in the state with expertise in inherited metabolic diseases.

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While Chicago competes to show the world it is worthy of hosting the 2016 Olympics, it’s also poised to show it’s a leader in sustainable health care. The Chicago Green Healthcare Initiative, a new collaboration among more than a dozen area hospitals, the city’s Department of Environment, the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council and a foundation run by former President Bill Clinton, will push local hospitals to reduce their carbon footprints, embrace sustainable practices and purchase green technology. While discussions between the hospitals are preliminary, the program is expected to be the first of its kind when finalized in the fall. Nick DeDominicis, a steering committee member of Health Care Without Harm, another organization involved in the talks, says there are “very solid commitments” among a number hospitals, including the University of Chicago Medical Center, Children’s Memorial Hospital, Rush University Medical Center, Swedish Covenant Hospital, University of Illinois Medical Center, Advocate Healthcare and Resurrection Healthcare. DeDominicis says the city approached his organization to put the collaboration in motion. “What we’re seeing is that there’s definitely an uptick in the interest hospitals have in greening their operations,” he says. Area hospitals will have the chance to share information and best practices. “We’re going to have a program to help them improve their green energy efficiency with how much energy they use and what type of energy they use,” DeDominicis says. “More green energy, whether it’s off the grid, or if they do analysis to build an on-site renewable generator.” The city’s involvement stems from Mayor Richard M. Daley’s desire to make Chicago the country’s greenest city. DeDominicis says the city approached Health Care Without Harm to engage area hospitals. As one of the largest energy consumers, the health care industry is ripe to enter into the age of sustainability. But many area hospitals already have taken steps to go green. Joe DeVoss, assistant vice president for transformation at Rush University Medical Center, says the hospital intends to make all its new buildings LEED certified. Rush has instituted more recycling programs, added green building materials and looks to implement energy-saving measures in its new buildings. According the U.S. Department of Energy, American hospitals spend about $5 billion a year on energy, and produce more than 30 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per square foot. Hospitals, he says, are “energy hogs,” but the collaborative is “a great opportunity for us to share information with other institutions in the Chicago area.” DeVoss says Rush is hoping to get grant funding to add a “light harvesting” program in one of its new buildings. Rooms would feature sensors that gauge how much natural light is present, automatically adjust blinds and reduce the need for constant use of artificial light. “I think we’re at a point now that if we don’t reduce our emissions, we’re going to be in trouble,” DeVoss says. Several meetings between stakeholders already have taken place, and more are planned between now and the fall. “I think all the hospitals are very committed. There’s no arm-twisting,” says Jonathan Lind, vice president of operations for Swedish Covenant Hospitals, which in recent years has stepped up its recycling efforts and provides organic foods to patients. Lind says the debate on health care reform has overtaken other important efforts by hospitals, including attempts to green their operations. “There are so many moving parts in health care,” he says. “But we’re here now, and I think that’s important.” Mark Lestina, sustainability manager for the University of Chicago Medical Center, says the early discussions within the collaborative coincide with a university project to measure its greenhouse gas emissions. While patient care comes first, he says, it’s imperative to look at how hospitals impact the environment. “As a leader in health care, we also think it’s important to be a leader in environmental responsibility,” he says. “My thought here is this is a great idea to take a much harder look at our impact on the environment.” Daily News Staff Writer Alex Parker covers public health. He can be reached at 773.362.5002, ext. 17, or alex [at] chitowndailynews [dot] org.

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Today's Tedious Link: Supergrass and Richard IIIToday's Transcript: Rest Assured Treat Infamy - The word “infamy” is applied to people who are famous for doing bad things - A bad thing is the opposite of a “Good Thing”, which was a 1989 hit for the Fine Young Cannibals - Cannibals like to eat other people and cannibal tribes still exist in Papa New Guinea - A guinea was a type of old fashioned coin - The word “coin” shares many of the same letters as the word “loin”, which is a popular type of pork - The non eating of pork is something shared in common by both the Jewish and Muslim faiths - Faith was a 1987 hit for George Michael, who is of Greek descent, as is Nemone - Nemone is like a proper female runner, a bit like a modern day Zola Budd - Zola Budd is famous for not wearing shoes, as is Sandie Shaw - Sandie Shaw shares the same surname as Mark Shaw, who was the lead singer of Then Jericho, whose biggest hit was called Big Area - and when you think of a big area, you probably think of large estates with acres of land that were originally owned by Kings and Queens of Britain, such as William The Conqueror, King Harold and of course Richard III - Which links us to Supergrass and Richard III.Tedious Facts: Released - April 1997 Peak Chart Position - 2 Album - Taken from the 1997 release “In It For The Money”. Now also available on the new Supergrass Best Of Album, which is released today.

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It's all over the Internet and being forwarded by e-mail...one of those videos that you just have to see to believe. But can you really believe it? On YouTube and elsewhere, the video is being called The Megawoosh. The video clip is of a man--engineer Bruno Kammerl--in a neoprene suit, zooming down a slide, soaring off a ramp and traveling an incredibly long distance before ending up splashing into a small wading pool. Is it for real? The answer is NO. Actually, the video wasn't meant to be real...it was developed as a viral ad for Microsoft Germany's Office Project 2007. So how was the video really done? Here's what the website newteevee.com tells us, and I quote: As some bloggers guessed, it’s a case of creative compositing, meaning that the clip we get to see is based on multiple elements that were combined together to create a final video. A stuntman slides down the slide, secured by a rope. Then there’s a body flying through the air, which is animated. And finally, the big splash. "He actually jumped from a wooden ramp into the pool," explains Koenigs. Of course, you don’t get to see any of this in the final clip, thanks to careful editing that makes it look like a single take. Judging by the fact that over a million people viewed the Megawoosh video in just the first week it was on the Internet, it looks like Microsoft accomplished their goal of getting people to watch it! Clearing up another internet rumor, this is Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop...reminding you to check it out BEFORE you hit that "send" button! Here's the video:

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No 498 Posted by fw, June 8, 2012 Back on January 31, 2012 I posted a copy of my letter to the editor of the Windsor Star challenging the factual accuracy of an article by Star reporter Chris Vander Doelen. (Windsor Star misleads public over global warming). Today the Star published another misleading report, this one by Michael Den Tandt of Postmedia News. My letter to the editor appears next followed by Den Tandt’s story. My letter is necessarily abbreviated to comply with the Star’s 250- to 300-word limit. In response to Blind faith won’t make climate science gaps go away by Michael Den Tandt, Windsor Star, page A8, June 8, 2012 – The gap Michael Den Tandt speaks of is not in climate science, it is in his misunderstanding of the scientific method and in his choice of biased sources to support his flawed arguments. “The science isn’t settled” is a popular claim of climate change skeptics. To the extent that this statement is true it is trivial, and to the extent that it is important it is false. No science is ever “settled”; science deals in probabilities, not certainties. When the probability of something approaches 100%, then we can regard the science, colloquially, as “settled”. Outside of logic and mathematics, we do not live in a world of certainties. Science comes to tentative conclusions based on the balance of evidence. Just because some details are still not well understood should not cast into doubt our understanding of the big picture: humans are causing global warming. Turning to Den Tandt’s choice of Professors McKitrick of Guelph and Curry of Georgia, SourceWatch, a resource for citizens looking for authoritative documented sources, offers this assessment of their credibility: “While most of McKitrick’s work in the late 1990′s concentrated on modelling pollution abatement costs and environmental taxes, from 2000 onwards he engaged in efforts to delay action on climate change. His background is as an economist shows no apparent expertise in climate science that would equip him to hold an informed view on global warming.” (Source: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ross_McKitrick) “Curry’s contrarian-leaning ‘public outreach’ public communication is criticized by prominent climate scientists and other science-aligned climate bloggers for a propensity toward ‘inflammatory language and over-the-top accusations …with the…absence of any concrete evidence and [with] errors in matters of simple fact.’” (Source: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Judith_Curry) Climate change is a serious matter. Windsorites deserve better than Den Tandt’s misinformed opinions. Here’s a copy of Den Tandt’s article, Blind faith won’t make climate science gaps go away, Windsor Star, page A8, June 8, 2012 Here’s the irony about Canada’s two-decade, shambolic, inept, half-hearted and contradictory response to the incontrovertible fact that the planet’s surface climate has, over the past 150 years, warmed: It mirrors uncertainty about the predictive ability of climate science. In a way, the chaos of our response epitomizes the gaps in what we know. Our failure is, in fact, a direct consequence of those gaps. More than that, the uncertain response reflects genuine confusion, among ordinary people but also among policymakers, about what Canadians can or should do about climate change. That extends into the federal Conservative caucus: Environment Minister Peter Kent has fielded questions from his colleagues, including the prime minister, about the reliability of climate science. Derided by environmentalists as an apologist for inaction, Kent within his party has played the role of activist. But he faces an uphill fight, one increasingly reflected in public opinion. Abacus Data late last month released a poll showing that 55 per cent of Canadians are quite worried about pollution of drinking water, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and contamination of soil by toxic waste. But only a third of those surveyed said they worry a lot about climate change. This reflects a similar trend in the United States, measured by Gallup this past April. It seems we’re really not all that concerned about climate change, after all. For a politician to utter such heresy in Canada now, as former Alberta premier Ed Stelmach noted following the Alberta provincial election, is fraught with peril. Wildrose leader Danielle Smith lost to Conservative Alison Redford, Stelmach said, because she dared say the scientific debate around climate change is still active. In other words, it’s not entirely settled. In other words, reasonable people can disagree. Unthinkable. This is now the most fraught economic debate we have. It underlies Ontario’s controversial Green Energy Act. It underlies NDP Leader Tom Mulcair’s strategic decision to hurl thunderbolts at the oilpatch. But what if much of what we generally assume about the discussion were off the mark or incomplete? There are credible scientists who belong in neither ideological camp. They agree that global warming, certainly over the past century, is incontrovertible. But they disagree on the level of certainty we can have about its causes. And they raise troubling questions about the wisdom of policy remedies based primarily on faith. For example: Dr. Ross McKitrick, a University of Guelph professor who has delved into the economics of climate change for more than a decade, says the planet’s surface temperature is indeed gradually heating up — though the rate of warming has slowed in the past 10 years. And he allows the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may eventually be proven right, in its finding that carbon dioxide emitted due to fossil fuel consumption is the cause. He also says other human activities may be a factor. McKitrick disagrees profoundly with the notion that the science is settled. More to the point, even if the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is right, he is convinced that all major policy remedies proposed so far would have been ineffective, even if implemented precisely as designed. “There’s no way of fixing it by tinkering around the edges,” he says. “Windmills are irrelevant. We’re talking about shutting down industry and taking cars off the road.” The human toll of rolling back development has yet to be carefully considered, McItrick [sic] says. “Think of the alleviation of suffering that comes when people get electricity, access to motor vehicles, ordinary development. To stop all that from happening, it just seems to me that would be a much heavier human toll than just learning to adapt to climate change as it comes along.” Dr. Judith Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, agrees. She posits human causes, but also other possible causes. One of her concerns is regional climate variability. “In some parts of the world, warming would be good,” she says. Like McKitrick, Curry contends that the cost- benefit analysis — a clear-headed comparison of the benefits of development and better infrastructure, against the benefits of lowering sea levels by perhaps two or three feet, over a century — has yet to be done. And she argues that, rather than developing big global carbon treaties that go nowhere, Western governments ought to put more resources into advancing the science of weather forecasting, to better mitigate the damage caused by hurricanes, floods, droughts and other weatherrelated [sic] disasters, especially in the Third World. There’s more, but you get the point: Why is it, given that so much of the policy debate in our country now concerns what to do about climate change, that speaking about gaps in the science, which clearly do exist, is taboo?

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Censoring Muhammad pics hurt freedom, Levant says TORONTO — Ezra Levant contends that an almost unanimous decision by North American media not to publish controversial Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in 2006 “did more to harm our culture and liberty than 9/11 itself.” The author and Sun Media newspaper columnist and TV host was speaking Dec. 4 at City Playhouse Theatre in Thornhill, at an event sponsored by Canadian Hadassah-WIZO’s Hatikvah chapter. His topic for the evening was “Political Correctness and the Rise of Islamism.” Levant recalled his decision as publisher of the now-defunct Western Standard, a bi-weekly publication, to publish the cartoons. “They’re news, and I’m a newspaper,” he said. Although he said he got a lot of support from Muslims and Arabs for his decision, he was the subject of an investigation by the Alberta Human Rights Commission, one of 14 such commissions in Canada. “Of course I was guilty,” Levant said. “I did something to cause someone else to feel some way.” More recently, Levant’s Sept. 5 on-air rant on Sun News against Canada’s Roma community prompted the Toronto Roma Community Centre to launch a hate speech complaint with Toronto police that is currently under investigation. He likened the reaction to his publication of the Muhammad cartoons to the movie Minority Report, which featured a department of “pre-crime.” Hatred and contempt are feelings, he said. “You are not normal if in your life you do not feel feelings… That’s part of being a grown-up, to take those feelings and transform them into something positive. “It’s no longer acceptable to criticize Islam,” he said. “We must tolerate offensive ideas.” Levant said that, rather, “the No. 1 way to fight back against radical Islam is by speaking the truth about it, by criticizing it. “I want to know who the antisemites are – don’t you?” he asked. “That way, you know who to like, who to vote for, and who to oppose.” He believes that Holocaust denial, too, provides “what the left would call a teachable moment. “A hateful comment shouldn’t be something to fear… It’s a lot easier to call in the hate crime cops than to mobilize the truth about Israel, than to build a coalition with other students – Christian and Arab students. At the end of the day, not only will the country be stronger, but you will, too.” The right not to be offended is not a real right. It’s a counterfeit right. It’s another way of saying ‘the power to shut someone else up.’ And that is my deepest grievance with these so-called human right commissions. They undermine our real human rights,” he said, emphasizing the word “real.” Levant said that “liberal human rights” can be traced to post-Holocaust Jews who pushed for “censorship” laws to prosecute John Ross Taylor, a pro-Hitler “eccentric” who “made it his life’s hobby to try to convince Canadians to be fascists.” Levant noted that Canada’s Jewish population, numbering less than 400,000, is now outnumbered by a Muslim population of just under one million. “You cannot pass a law just for your team,” Levant said. “I think it was a disaster that we eroded freedom of speech as much as we did, but it was harmless then.”

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We have three 6th grade Science classes and two 8th grade Science classes blogging here from the Pacific Northwest in Chimacum, WA! Sixth graders are learning a bit about Mt Saint Helens, environmental science through fresh water ecology, and physical science this year. Eighth graders are learning about life science this year. Please join us as we learn Science by exploring our world. Mr. G's Blog Mr. G's Class Facebook Page

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 29, 2010 CONTACT: Paul Karr, 917-208-5155, email@example.com Looming Deadline to Force Hundreds of Port Truck Drivers Deeper Into Debt or Out on the Streets in the New Year Truck Drivers, Environmentalists, Labor Advocates United in Opposition to Ineffective, Misguided Port Authority Truck Ban NEW YORK – For more than a decade Kirby Reyes’ livelihood as a port truck driver has depended on his 1991 Peterbuilt truck. But under an important but deeply flawed environmental Port Authority rule, drivers like Kirby, who studies show average $28,700 a year, face unemployment or massive debt starting January 1. The new rule banning big rigs built before 1994 from port property requires these low-income truck drivers to purchase expensive low-emissions vehicles, subsidized by taxpayers, in order to keep their jobs. “We all want to drive clean trucks, but the Port Authority should make the shipping and trucking companies foot the bill, not individual workers like me,” said Kirby Reyes, a single-father living in the Bronx who is considered an independent driver, just as the vast majority of the nation’s 110,000 truck drivers are. “This ends my career as a port truck driver because I can’t afford a new loan for a $120,000 truck and still put food on the table for my 11-year-old daughter. What truck driver can?” The truck ban is meant to reduce toxic diesel emissions from old trucks that move containers in and out of the largest port complex on the East coast. But leading environmentalists like Rev. Fletcher Harper from GreenFaith say that the Port Authority’s truck ban will fail to clean the air. “The only thing aggressive about this environmental measure is that it places a severe economic burden on individuals who earn $10 an hour, rather than the giant shipping companies like Target and Wal-Mart and the trucking outfits that profit from goods movement. The Port Authority program is a disaster of a policy because it ignores the pernicious business model that wrongly forces a low-wage contract workforce to own and operate the fleet. These sophisticated technology trucks don’t maintain themselves. It’s as immoral as it is unsustainable.” Labor advocates who have long asserted port drivers are “independent” in name only agree. “U.S. ports have earned the notorious reputation as ‘the place where old trucks go to die,’” says Fred Potter, head of the Port Division at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. “Not because truck drivers in this critical American industry want to drive dirty trucks, but because lax regulation, little oversight, and lousy enforcement force them to drive dirty trucks.” GreenFaith has joined with the New Jersey Environmental Federation and the Teamsters, and an unprecedented nationwide alliance of 150 public health, civil rights, labor, community, business and faith-based organizations are actively advocating for clean truck programs that require trucking companies to directly employ their drivers as the logical means to shift financial and legal accountability for clean truck replacement and maintenance onto companies with the capital to afford it, a model advanced by the nation’s largest port. The Los Angeles Clean Truck Program put more than 8,500 clean trucks into service, reduced diesel emissions by more than 80 percent, and cleared the way for job-creating infrastructure projects that had been blocked for years, despite numerous industry efforts to gut the green-growth policy in court. A Federal judge has upheld the Port of Los Angeles program in its entirety. The Port Authority has another reason to emulate Los Angeles’ EPA-award winning program: A recent report by National Employment Law Project and Change to Win found that the vast majority of truck drivers at the largest ports are illegally misclassified as independent contractors, which saves employers up to 30 percent in payroll costs, undercuts businesses who pay taxes, and puts workers in precarious circumstances where they don’t qualify for unemployment protection, workers’ compensation or even social security. The Obama Administration has made it a priority to crack down on this growing illegal employer tactic across industries, but there are even greater consequences in port trucking. “Coast to coast, the industry forces the cost of truck operation and maintenance onto the workers behind the wheel, and as a result, old, diesel-spewing rigs fill U.S. transportation corridors because that’s all these low-wage earners can afford,” said Carl Pope, Chairman of the Sierra Club in a recent report on misclassification in the port trucking industry. “Dire economic conditions led to the environmental crisis in the first place – we strongly suspect the culprit is not misbehavior by a few companies, but rampant misclassification in port trucking on the whole.” “If the trucking company I work for gave me a W-2 like other workers then I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now,” said Kirby Reyes, who after ten years on the job will be ineligible for unemployment benefits because he is treated as a contractor. “I can’t understand why the Port Authority is punishing drivers like me, when they should be going after the industry that is polluting the air and breaking the law.”

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GEF and UNEP Launch Global Platform for Efficient Lighting 25 September 2009: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have launched the “Global Market Transformation for Efficient Lighting Platform,” a public-private partnership directed at reducing global energy demand for lighting. The Platform aims to transform lighting markets, primarily in developing countries, by fostering the usage and production of energy efficient lighting while gradually discontinuing use of incandescent lighting, and substituting traditional fuel-based lighting with modern, efficient alternatives such as solid-state lighting (SSL) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps. It is hoped that, through these efforts, global demand for lighting energy can eventually be reduced by up to 18 percent. In attendance for the event was UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, who noted that “in terms of climate change, this is among the lowest of low-hanging fruit. Eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked with lighting; this project can by 2014 make a big dent in these while saving people money too.” [UN News Centre] [GEF press release]

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Miller et al (GRL 2012) url has attracted much recent attention for its argument that volcanism can account for the MWP-LIA transition. In my opinion, it is important for another reason, a reason not mentioned and apparently not noticed by the authors themselves. It offers a highly plausible re-interpretation of Arctic varve series, an interpretation that, in effect, stands the temperature interpretation of the important Big Round Lake, Baffin Island varve series on its head. Arctic varve series, including Big Round Lake, have become a mainstay of temperature reconstructions used in AR5 (FOD) and likely to be used in AR5 (e.g. Kaufman et al 2009) and Miller’s interpretation of varve data impacts multiple “new” AR5 studies. CA readers are familiar with climate scientists having trouble with the orientation of varve data e.g. the use of Tiljander’s varve data in Mann et al 2008-2009 (the latter frequently cited in AR5). Over the past few years, Miller and associates have radiocarbon dated mosses at 90 sites revealed by receding Baffin Island glaciers, observing a concentration of kill dates in the late 13th century and again in the early 15th century. This is interesting and useful new data that is helpful to disentangling the climate history of the area. They interpret the lack of kill dates in the MWP (from ~950-1250) as due to relative warmth, resulting in recession and/or absence of the small Baffin Island glaciers: Here we present precisely dated records of ice-cap growth from Arctic Canada and Iceland showing that LIA summer cold and ice growth began abruptly between 1275 and 1300 AD, followed by a substantial intensification 1430–1455 AD. They interpreted the lack of kill dates from 1450 to the late 20th century as due to continuous ice cover until recent glacier recession. See their Figure 2C, excerpted in the top panel below: From Miller et al 2012 Figure 2C-D. (c) Ice cap expansion dates based on a composite of 94 Arctic Canada calibrated 14C PDFs. (d) 30-year running mean varve thickness in Hvítárvatn sediment core HVT03-2 [Larsen et al., 2011]. Their Figure 2D (the bottom panel of the above graphic) is a smoothed version of varve thicknesses from Hvítárvatn, a proglacial lake in Iceland. Juxtaposing the information from kill dates with varve information, Miller et al concluded that the narrow varves from 950-1250 corresponded to glacier absence (or recession), indicating relative warmth, while the wider varves in the Little Ice Age showed the existence of active glaciers, indicating relative cold. Miller et al: Baffin Island kill dates define abrupt and sustained summer cooling in the late 13th Century, which is matched by the start of a centennial trend of increasing Hvítárvatn varve thickness (Figure 2d), consistent with our predictions. A second abrupt increase in varve thickness in the 15th Century, and continuously thick varves through the following century, is consistent with persistent ice-cap expansion in the Canadian record at the same time. Hvítárvatn varves attain their maximum LIA thickness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, decreasing again in the late 20th Century as Langjökull receded. The picture, thus far, is consistent with the “traditional” perspective on the MWP and LIA – unsurprising since Baffin Island and Iceland are within the heart of the region conceded even by opponents. Miller et al argue (passim) that modern warmth is greater than medieval warmth. However, while the authors undoubtedly believe this, this point is made more as a genuflection than as a central focus of the article. Varves of Baffin Island However, this picture differs sharply from recent temperature reconstructions using Baffin Island varve data. For example, Thomas and Briner 2009, writing about the Big Round Lake (Baffin Island) varve series, reported that the period 1400-1575, rather than being a period of intensified cold with a “final pulse of ice-cap growth (as Miller et al concluded), had stated that it was relatively warm: The warmest pre-twentieth century period in this 1000 year record, 1375–1575 AD, Their temperature reconstruction, rather than interpreting narrow 11th century varves as evidence of warmth (as Miller et al 2012 did), concluded that the 11th century was exceptionally cold (despite the historical traditions.) This temperature reconstruction has been widely used in recent multiproxy reconstructions. In the figure below, I’ve plotted the Big Round varve series on the same scale as the Hvitarvatn varve series, showing some important similarities. For example, both the Big Round varve series and Hvitarvatn varve series show relatively thick varves in the 1400s and 1500s, with a local minimum in the late 1600s, then strong increases through the 18th, 19th and 20th century, perhaps tailing off a little towards the end. Despite this seeming similarity, opposite conclusions about the temperature implications were drawn by authors of the two series. Thomas and Briner 2009 had interpreted the varve thickness increase at Big Round Lake in the 15th century as evidence of warmth, whereas Miller et al 2012 had interpreted a seemingly similar increase at Hvitarvatn as evidence of increasing cold. In the 11th century (critical for medieval-modern comparisons), Miller et al 2012 interpreted narrow Hvitarvatn varves as evidence of glacier recession and/or absence i.e. local warmth, whereas the Thomas and Briner reconstruction (applying a postulated linear relationship between varve thickness and temperature) deduced that the MWP was very cold in Baffin Island. (This conclusion was not articulated or discussed in Thomas and Briner but is inherent in their reconstruction.) Varve series from Baffin Island (Big Round, Donard, Soper) have been used in recent temperature reconstructions (Mann et al 2008, Kaufman et al 2009, Kinnard et al 2011, Ljungqvist 2009, 2010, Ljungqvist et al 2011 (CPD), Christensen and Ljungqvist 2011 (J Clim; CPD). Polissar et al 2006 Another example of using proglacial sediments to interpret glacier recession/advance is Polissar (Bradley) et al 2006, which studied sediments in a proglacial lake in the Venezuelan Andes (prior CA discussion here). Polissar et al Figure 2A,B shows increased magnetic susceptibility (more iron minerals) during periods of glacier activity (see below): Figure 2. Excerpt from Polissar et al 2006 Figure 2: Glacial advances, indicated by increases of sediment MS in L. Mucubajı´ (A) (vertical gray shading), coincide with an increase in precipitation, shown by higher MS in L. Blanca (B). Polissar concluded that local glaciers in the Venezuelan Andes had been absent in the MWP, but had reformed in the Little Ice Age (hence the different character of the sediments) prior to receding with increased warmth in the 20th century. In this example, there was increased glacier activity in the Little Ice Age, resulting in more iron minerals in the sediments, a phenomenon seemingly analgous to Miller et al’s attribution of increased varve thickness in the LIA to increased glacier activity. The recent articles on varves underpinning the AR5 citations (e.g. Kaufman et al 2009 and its underlying studies such as Thomas and Briner 2009) attempt to interpret varves solely in terms of temperature. Most of the articles show positive correlations between late 20th century and varve thickness. Narrow varves (of MWP type) are not observed in the calibration period. This requires extrapolation of a relationship established over thick varves to the perhaps different circumstances of thin varves – a rather adventurous extrapolation of the sort that is typically discouraged in statistical literature. There is considerable older literature on varves, principally in connection with LGM deglaciation. There is a prominent varve outcrop (see Tufts varve webpage here) about half a mile from my house. (The varves were re-exposed last year during straightening of Pottery Road). In the older literature on the LGM e.g. Agterberg and Banerjee 1969, varve thickness was held to depend on proximity to the ice front: Both the silt (summer) and the clay (winter) layers in a varve couplet show an approximately exponential decrease in thickness away from the icefront. This trend is more conspicuous in the sill When the Laurentide ice sheet had sufficiently receded, so did the varve series. When Miller et al 2012 attribute the narrow 11th century varves to glacier recession/absence, it seems to me that they are observing more or less the same phenomenon, though on a much diminished scale. Thus, as Miller et al 2012 imply, thin varves could result from either glacier recession/absence (cumulative warmth in the 11th century) or relative cold (in the late 17th century) – confounding efforts to reconstruct past temperatures using a linear relationship to varve thickness. Efforts to reconstruct past temperature using simplistic linear relationships to varve thicknesses (as in the studies applied in Kaufman et al 2009) had already struck me as problematic though, prior to Miller et al 2012, the precise problem had not been diagnosed. In my opinion, Miller et al 2012 provides substantial support for rejecting the interpretation of narrow 11th century varves as evidence of medieval cold (the Big Round temperature reconstruction) and requires analysis of the effect of this (and similar data) on downstream multiproxy reconstructions. Postscript: I’ve managed to write this post without referring to Kortajarvi sediments other than once in passing. Mia Tiljander had interpreted narrow varves as evidence of medieval warmth and wide varves as evidence of the LIA. The data was used in opposite orientations in the corrigendum to Kaufman et al 2009 and in Mann et al 2008-2009, with Raymond Bradley ironically being a coauthor of both studies. In Mann’s recent book, he argued, in effect, that it doesn’t matter whether the Tiljander data is used upside down or not in Mann et al 2008 and 2009. I disagree, but, regardless of its orientation “matters” in the Mann et al articles, it seems reasonable to expect scientists in the field to develop consistent scientific interpretations of narrow 11th century varves.

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Fukushima: Meltdown at Unit 1. Maybe at Unit 2. Maybe at Unit 3. American Media: Nothing to see here, move along. May 12, 2011 You know that water you were told was covering up and cooling fuel in the damaged reactors? Turns out, not so much. The first team of human observers entered Fukushima Unit 1, to find that company reassurances that fuel rods were covered with water were erroneous. In fact, water levels have been up to 16 feet lower than needed to cover the fuel, water has been draining out of the vessel, the fuel has been uncovered, and may have melted through the containment structures. Coolant is escaping through a newly discovered opening in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s No. 1 reactor pressure vessel, a development that could slow efforts to prevent potential further radiation releases from the Japanese facility, Reuters reported on Thursday (see GSN, May 11). Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power learned the container held less water than previously believed following repairs to monitoring equipment this week; the tank’s fluid quantity was roughly 16 feet short of the depth required to fully submerge atomic fuel if the material had remained in its intended position. The six-reactor site was severely damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan. “There must be a large leak,” Tokyo Electric Power official Junichi Matsumoto said to reporters on Thursday. “The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged … the pressure vessel itself and created a hole,” he said. Thousands of tons of water, now highly radioactive, has unexpectedly rushed out to parts unknown, according to the company – and the same thing may have been happening in units 2 and 3. The reactor has received just under 10,400 metric tons of water to date, and the destination of the escaping fluid was uncertain, he said, adding powerful radioactivity complicated a possible direct inspection of the area by plant personnel (Yuto Kubota, Reuters, May 12). Much of the fluid could have moved to the reactor’s outer containment vessel, Kyodo News reported (Kyodo News I/Mainichi Daily News, May 12). Similar ruptures might have developed in the plant’s No. 2 and No. 3 reactors if their nuclear material had heated to the point of losing its structure, Reuters quoted Matsumoto as saying. The firm was planning similar cooling efforts for those systems. Meanwhile, the mainstream media’s “nothing to see here, move along” policy continues.

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Genomic/ Proteomic/ Metabonomic Profiling in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic disease characterized by progressive airflow obstruction, chronic cough and dyspnoea in advanced stages. Techniques such as genomics, proteomics and metabonomics, Technologies that aim to identify and quantify the dynamic set of all small molecules and metabolites present in an organism or a biological sample, offer the prospect of efficiently distinguishing individuals with particular diseases. The advantages of proteomics and metabonomics is that it can be carried out on a standard preparation of serum, plasma or urine, circumventing the need for specialist preparation of cellular mRNA required for genomics This methodology is based on mass spectrometry (MS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to analyze metabolites. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) may also be applied. Several peak alignment algorithms have been developed to match the chromatograms before applying pattern recognition. Based on the pattern recognition, several potential biomarkers may be found and further identified by MS.. Finally, a number of potential biomarkers will be identified for distinguishing asthma and COPD. We hope to develop a better understanding of lung disease. Information from these studies will only be used for research purposes, to help develop safer and more effective treatments for asthma and COPD. Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive Procedure: sputum, blood, urine, exhaled breath, lung function |Study Design:||Observational Model: Cohort Time Perspective: Prospective |Official Title:||A Non Interventional Study to Asses the Utility of Genomic/ Proteomic/ Metabonomic Profiling Approaches to the Classification and Pathological Basis of Inflammatory Lung Disease in Smokers, and ex-Smokers vs. Non-Smokers and Asthmatics| |National Heart and Lung Institute| |London, United Kingdom, SW3 6LY| |Principal Investigator:||Sergei A Kharitonov, MD PhD||National Heart and Lung Institute|

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Multicenter Study on Fibrotic Valvular Heart Disease in Patients With Parkinson's Disease Treated With Dopamine Agonists Fibrotic valvular heart diseases are known as rare complications of long-time therapy of Parkinson's disease with ergot-derivatives including some ergot-dopamine agonists. The aim of this study is to assess the incidence of valvular heart disease, which may be an ergot-drug agonists side-effect or an overall complication of all dopamine agonists. Incidence, prevalence and addiction of dose or intake duration are not known so far. The reversibility of the changes is unknown too. To answer these questions the present study is designed as a cross sectional study followed by a 2 year follow-up prospective cohort study. Heart Valve Diseases |Study Design:||Observational Model: Cohort Time Perspective: Prospective |Official Title:||A National, Multicenter Study on Fibrotic Valvular Heart Disease in Patients With Parkinson´s Disease Treated With Dopamine Agonists| |Study Start Date:||March 2005| |Estimated Study Completion Date:||December 2013| Rare incidence of pleuropulmonary and retroperitoneal fibrosis are known complications during the long-time therapy of Parkinson's disease (PD) with ergot-drug derivatives including some ergot dopamine agonists. Particularly the appearance of fibrotic valvular heart disease of Parkinson patients under Pergolide therapy caused an intense discussion about the safety of dopamine agonists at all. Single case reports of similar heart valve changes under the therapy of Bromocriptin and probably Cabergoline pointed to an effect of the whole substance class of the ergot-dopamine agonists. Cross-Sectional Study (part I): Within this study an initial cross-sectional analysis of the prevalence of fibrotic heart valvular disease will be done. Patients with Parkinson's disease with different exposition status will be recruited. An transthoracal echocardiographic examination (TTE) of the heart will be performed. - patients with ergot-derived dopamine agonists - patients with non-ergot-derived dopamine agonists - After the TTE-report the study population is divided in affected (= pathological TTE-report: fibrotic valvular heart diseases) and healthy persons (= non-pathological TTE-report: no fibrotic valvular heart diseases). The therapy with dopamine agonist will be stopped in patients with a pathological TTE-report. Instead these patients will be treated with an equivalent dose of L-Dopa with or without COMT-inhibitors. The existing therapy regime will remain in patients without pathological findings. Longitudinal Section (part II and III): The cross-sectional study (part I) is followed by a two year follow-up study. - patients with pathological TTE-report: fibrotic valvular heart disease - patients without pathological TTE-report: no fibrotic valvular heart disease Part II: Within cohort I the reversibility of fibrotic valvular heart disease will be analysed with regard to the previously taken cumulative dose of dopamine agonists. Part III: Within cohort II there will be a prospective analysis of the (cumulative) incidence of fibrotic valvular heart disease in PD patients with different exposition status. If fibrotic valvular heart disease occurs, a patient will be changed from cohort II to cohort I. Cross-sectional study (part I): - What is the prevalence of fibrotic valvular heart disease in PD patients under therapy with ergot-derived dopamine agonists and non-ergot-derived dopamine agonists? - Is there an influence to the cumulative dose of dopamine agonists? Longitudinal study (prospective cohort study): - (Part II) Is fibrotic valvular heart disease under therapy of ergot-derived dopamine agonists and non-ergot-derived dopamine agonists reversible? - (Part III) What is the (cumulative) incidence of fibrotic valvular heart disease under the therapy of ergot-derived dopamine agonists and non-ergot-derived dopamine agonists? |Contact: Karla Eggert, Dr.||+49 (0)6421 firstname.lastname@example.org| |Contact: Wolfgang M. Oertel, Prof. Dr.||+49 (0) 6421 email@example.com| |Universitätsklinikum Marburg und Gießen, Neurologische Klinik||Recruiting| |Marburg, Hessen, Germany, 35033| |Contact: Wolfgang H. Oertel, Prof. Dr. + 49 6421- 28 66278 firstname.lastname@example.org| |Contact: Karla M. Eggert, Dr. + 49 6421- 28 65443 email@example.com| |Principal Investigator: Wolfgang H. Oertel, Prof. Dr.| |Principal Investigator: Karla M Eggert, Dr.| |Study Chair:||Wolfgang Oertel, Prof. Dr.||Universitätsklinikum Marburg und Gießen|

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HIV Prevention and Care of Psychological Trauma in Vulnerable Rwandan Youth The investigators propose a prospective single arm pilot cohort study of 100 youth (ages 15-25) to evaluate the feasibility of this project. A convenience sample of subjects will be enrolled on a voluntary basis from those who come to the day care center located in Nyanza, a district of the Southern province, in Rwanda. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic |Study Design:||Allocation: Randomized Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment Masking: Open Label |Official Title:||A PILOT STUDY Integrating HIV Prevention and Care With Treatment of Psychological Trauma in Vulnerable Rwandan Youth: A Community-based Pilot Intervention| - psychosocial interventions [ Time Frame: 1 year ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]Trauma symptoms and PTSD questionnaires. - HIV treatment adherence and medical follow-up adherence questionnaires [ Time Frame: 1 year ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]HIV treatment adherence questionnaires, medical follow-up questionnaires |Study Start Date:||October 2009| |Study Completion Date:||June 2011| |Primary Completion Date:||December 2010 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)| questionnaires at entry, month 4, 8 and 12 Other Name: trauma counseling The investigators propose a prospective single arm pilot cohort study of 100 youth (ages 15-25) to evaluate the feasibility of this project. A convenience sample of subjects will be enrolled on a voluntary basis from those who come to the day care center located in Nyanza, a district of the Southern province, in Rwanda. UYISENGA N'MANZI identified 400 youths in Nyanza region, organized in 4 groups, each of them between 160 to 100 youths. Many of those orphans go to school in any school in the country. This situation will be taken into account for the calendar of activities and for organization of the regular interviews and evaluations. Random selection of the participant will be ensured by choosing study subjects from a list and attributing them an arbitrary number. The random selection will be weighted by the size of the household group across the 4 groups in the Nyanza region. Selection will also be in proportion of sex and age groups. In this manner 100 youth will be picked with 20 "backup" to account for refusals and drop-outs. Those selected youth will be asked to participate to the pilot study and will fill the consent form under the guidance of an external observer (not one of the service providers of the project to avoid consent obtained by social pressure). Once enrolled, the subjects will be followed during 1 year with serial evaluations at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. |United States, California| |Stanford University School of Medicine| |Stanford, California, United States, 94305| |Kigali, KG, Rwanda| |Principal Investigator:||Andrew R Zolopa||Stanford University|

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Criminal immigrants held in British jails cost the taxpayer £283 million per year, new figures have revealed. This means that the annual total cost of immigration to the British taxpayer is now set at just over £13 billion per year. According to official figures revealed in Parliament, the bill for keeping foreign prisoners in British jails has been £3.4 billion since 1997. This equates to £283 million per year. According to figures compiled earlier by Oxford Professor of Demography, David Coleman, and released by independent think tank Migrationwatch, immigration already costs the British taxpayer some £12.8 billion per year. This figure does not include the cost of housing and feeding foreign prisoners generated by the imprisonment of 11,350 foreign convicts in Britain’s overcrowded jails. Foreign prisoners have taken up 48 percent of all new jail cells built since 1999, the parliamentary figures also revealed. Some 12,549 new jail cells have been built in the last ten years, while the foreign inmate population grew by 5,962 over the same period. When the foreign inmate cost is added to Professor Coleman’s figures, the total cost per year ramps up to the £13 billion figure. This is ten times the National Health Service Deficit and 40 percent more than the foreign aid budget. The number of foreign criminals has increased by over 110 percent since 1999, compared to an increase of 20 percent in UK offenders. Of the latter number, statistics show further that large numbers are from first or second generation immigrants. According to figures from the Office of National Statistics, immigrants also send home about £4 billion a year in remittances back to their home countries. The £4 billion figure is thought to be an underestimate, as it does not include money sent from Britain by unofficial banking channels. In contrast, just £2.3 billion a year flows into the country from British ex-pats working overseas. A House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs last year found “no evidence” to show that net immigration generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population. The latest set of figures show even this to be somewhat of an understatement. Source BNP main website http://www.bnp.org.uk/

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Tornadoes are the most intense storms on the planet, and they’re never discussed without at least some mention of the term wind shear. Many of us sitting at home, though, have no idea what wind shear is, or if we do, how it affects tornado production. What is Wind Shear Wind shear, although it might sound complex, is a simple concept. Wind shear is merely the change in wind with height, in terms of wind direction and speed. I think that we all understand that the wind is generally stronger in the atmosphere over our heads than it is here on the ground, and if we think of the atmosphere in terms of the three dimensions that it has, it should not be surprising that the wind above us might also be blowing from a different direction than the wind at the ground. When that happens–the wind speed and direction vary with height–wind shear is occurring. Wind Shear and Supercell Thunderstorms This wind shear is an important part of the process in the development of a supercell thunderstorm, from which the vast majority of strong tornadoes form. All thunderstorms are produced by a powerful updraft–a surge of air that rises from the ground into the upper levels of the atmosphere, and when this updraft forms in an area where wind shear is present, the updraft is influence by this speed and different direction of the wind above, pushing the column of air in the updraft into a more vertical alignment. Rain’s Influence on Tornado Production Needless to say, thunderstorms typically produce very heavy rain, and rain-cooled air is much heavier than the warm air of the updraft, so the rain-cooled air, produces a compensating downdraft (what comes up, must come down). This downdraft pushes the part of the rotating air that was forced in its direction by the stronger wind aloft downward, and the result is a horizontal column of rotating air. That’s Not a Tornado! I know what you’re thinking that you’ve seen enough TLC or Discovery Channel shows to know that a horizontal column of air is NOT a tornado; you need a vertical column of air. This Can Be a Tornado You’re right, but remember the updraft that is driving the thunderstorm is still working, and it’s able to pull the horizontal, spinning column of air into the thunderstorm, resulting in a vertical column of spinning air. (NOAA image showing vertical column of air in a supercell thunderstorm) The result is a rotating thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado, and it would not be possible without wind shear. (NOAA image showing tornado formation in supercell thunderstorm)

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Thousands of research materials from Archives and Special Collections are available globally through the Digital Media Repository and Cardinal Scholar Institutional Repository. Digital Media Repository The Digital Media Repository (DMR) is a collaborative effort by University Libraries to provide access to digital resources, including numerous collections from Archives and Special Collections. Cardinal Scholar Institutional Repository Cardinal Scholar, Ball State University's Institutional Repository, is maintained by the administration, faculty, and staff of the Ball State University as well as the University Archivist. It features financial reports, organizational charts, facts and figures, and committee minutes. Additionally, the repository documents the scholastic achievements and intellectual output of BSU faculty and students.

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Reversal of fortune To unlock the vast, untapped potential of the world’s drylands, we must learn from the people who live in them, says Dr Jonathan Davies. Drylands are a major global biome, home to a great diversity of species and some of our most treasured natural heritage. They are also home to over 2 billion people and in the developing world in particular they are associated with poverty and social inequity. Global development and environment goals are not being met in the drylands: by 2015 many dryland regions are set to fail to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, whilst progress towards the goals and objectives of the UN environmental conventions (the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity in particular) is generally poor. Recent experiences in the drylands of emerging countries, such as China and India, illustrate that economic development in drylands can outpace that in areas that are usually considered “high potential”. Although development is often associated with degradation, experiences in Sub Saharan Africa illustrate that economic development can be greatly enhanced through protection of biodiversity as a source of income. By taking an even broader, global view of drylands and examining industrialised dryland countries, it becomes clear that for every seemingly-insurmountable challenge we are able to find evidence of a viable solution somewhere in the world. To address the challenges of the drylands, we need to understand their unique features and how these have to be managed. Perhaps the most important of these is climate unpredictability: the amount of precipitation varies enormously between areas, between seasons and between years. The sheer magnitude of this uncertainty is hard to grasp, but in many drylands the normal range of rainfall, drought-years aside, can be plus or minus 50% of the average. Yet development in many water-deficit areas continues to favour agricultural practices that expose farmers to huge risks whilst simultaneously degrading the natural resource base on which they depend. Climate change is a cause for concern in dryland areas, but also an opportunity for new approaches and new learning that illustrate the value of dryland areas. Dryland ecosystems and people are highly adaptable and can survive in their uncertain climate.. Whether drylands become wetter or drier as a result of climate change, they will almost invariably become more unpredictable and their adaptive capacity will be vital to their future. Drylands more than any other ecosystem have the capacity to deal with that unpredictability and we have a great deal to learn from them. Contrary to popular perception, drylands are not necessarily poverty traps. Dryland ecosystems and their goods and services already contribute significantly to national and international economies. The vibrant tourism sector in Eastern and Southern Africa relies heavily on the biodiversity of drylands. Globally-important dryland commodities include grain, meat and milk and dryland goods like Gum Arabic, Henna, Aloe, and Frankincense. Recent years have seen the commercial development of natural medicines from drylands, and untold numbers of medicinal plants remain un-researched, known only to the dryland inhabitants who have used and conserved them for centuries. Local knowledge of the drylands is rich and is a powerful resource to be harnessed. There has been a tendency to dismiss this knowledge, because local dryland practices have been portrayed as backward or inappropriate and in need of replacing. The current emergency in the Horn of Africa graphically illustrates the outcome of this attitude: populations are exposed to insupportable risk as a result of losing their traditional strategies and being pushed into new ways of life that simply don’t work. Where people are driven towards catastrophe it is almost guaranteed that the environment will face similar consequences. Customs and cultures that are intimately connected to biodiversity become contorted into a system of pure survival where respect for the environment becomes an unaffordable luxury. The scientific explanation of the rationale behind traditional strategies has been known for long enough to develop innovative new approaches to sustainable drylands management. Development support has to enable management of the extreme climatic uncertainty of drylands and needs to be built on understanding of the drivers of continuous change in dryland ecosystems. These are dynamic ecosystems in which adaptation and flexibility are pre-requisites for survival. We need to learn from past failures and successes and ensure that development and humanitarian interventions recognize dryland characteristics and build on local knowledge and capacity to turn the existing opportunities into equitable and sustainable wealth creation. In particular we need to generate greater awareness of the tremendous opportunities for strengthening biodiversity-based livelihoods to diversify dryland economies and strengthen resilience. IUCN’s vision 2020 emphasizes the need to strengthen the Union’s work on conserving the diversity of life while also connecting nature conservation to wider societal objectives such as security and poverty reduction. This vision cannot be reached if we fail to understand and address the unique challenges of the drylands. IUCN, with its great diversity of members and commission members, has a vital role to play in securing effective global action to address dryland issues and in enabling dryland communities to develop their nature-based solutions to risk management and sustainable development. Dr Jonathan Davies is Coordinator of IUCN’s Global Drylands Initiative.

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IUCN, NGOs, fishery managers and tuna industry groups plot way forward for sustainable tuna 20 May 2008 | News story The report from the Tuna Roundtable co-hosted by IUCN in Brussels in April 2008 calls for greater collaboration between different interest groups and industry players to move towards adoption of legally-binding measures to fish tuna sustainably, a common set of standard to assess industry performance and harmonised certification programmes for marine capture fisheries. The Sustainable Tuna Roundtable brought key industry interests together to reach agreement on how to employ market-driven incentives to contribute to producing sustainable tuna fisheries. Participants were from the tuna fishing industry, retail/foodservice industries, buyers, distributors, processors, and intergovernmental organizations, including regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and other regional fishery bodies. Environmental non-governmental organizations, and to a degree, consumers, are increasingly demanding that seafood (both from marine capture fisheries and aquaculture) sold by retailers and restaurants be produced and processed in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner. Approaches by major grocery retailers to demonstrate that their seafood comes from sustainable fisheries have been diverse, with each individual chain employing different measures. There has been a recent proliferation of programmes assessing the sustainability of individual fisheries or seafood species available to retailers. These include in-house retailer programmes, ranging from the assessment of fisheries against retailer-established sustainability criteria; individual retailer partnerships with environmental non-governmental organizations who conduct assessments and make recommendations for sustainable seafood sourcing; and use of a retailer eco-label. There are also numerous third-party programmes for marine capture fisheries, including eco-labelling programmes, and consumer guides, which assess the sustainability of individual fisheries, rank the relative sustainability of individual seafood species, or rank retailers based on the sustainability of their seafood sourcing practices. Roundtable participants agreed that international management of commercial tuna fisheries’ sustainability through regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) requires improvements. Tuna fishing companies want RFMOs to be successful, recognizing that the long-term viability of their businesses rely on the availability of tuna resources at sustainable and optimal levels. In some areas, RFMO management improvements are required to address the overcapacity of tuna fleets, allow rebuilding needed for some tuna stocks and avoid and minimize adverse ecosystem effects of tuna fisheries, including bycatch of sensitive species groups and the catch and discarded bycatch of juvenile and undersized tunas. Furthermore, international management has generally not been successful in addressing problems created by substantial illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which hampers the effective management of tuna fisheries. RFMO management ineffectiveness has occurred, in part, due to low compliance by member states with RFMO measures and because consensus-based decision-making has often prevented the adoption of appropriate measures. The tuna industry recognizes it can play a significant role towards preventing overexploitation of tuna stocks and reversing it when it occurs, addressing bycatch issues, enhancing data collection and communication, and improving management. To address these problems, participants agreed to increase retail, processor, buyer, distributor and tuna fishing industry participation in RFMO activities to push for adoption of and compliance with legally binding measures to achieve sustainable tuna fisheries. Participants discussed benefits from the establishment of national competent authorities for fishery sustainability certification and labelling. Eco-labelling and other certification programmes were seen as having the potential to provide an important, complementary, market-driven incentive to improve tuna fisheries’ sustainability. There was discussion, but a lack of consensus, regarding the utility of certification programmes in providing independent, third-party (in some cases, peer-reviewed) verification of the success of fishery management. Participants discussed how third party assessments rely largely on government-collected fishery data, including fishery data held by RFMOs. There was, however, general consensus that certification programmes provide the fishing industry with incentives to push their national governments and RFMOs to engage in better management. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries was agreed to be an appropriate starting point as a global, single set of standards against which to assess the sustainability of individual marine capture fisheries. These minimum standards address the: (i) adequacy of the fisheries management systems, (ii) the health of stocks under consideration, and (iii) ecosystem effects (e.g., bycatch of sensitive species groups, habitat effects from fishing gear, status of stocks of non-target catch, impacts on dependent predators). Roundtable participants recognized that several programmes which assess the sustainability of marine capture fisheries already exist, and that some have room for improvement, including in their accuracy and scientific rigor, and in how they convey results to consumers. Participants identified examples of programmes that make recommendations on seafood procurement, including some seafood certification programmes, which have been overly simplistic, relied on incorrect or incomplete information, made broad generalizations, and disseminated misleading or incorrect information. These concerns could be addressed through augmented scientific vigour in assessment methods, and improvements in how information is conveyed to the consumer. To this end, participants agreed to improve communication of how to improve tuna fisheries’ sustainability and the basis for tuna sourcing decisions. Furthermore, participants expressed interest in a single set of global minimum sustainability standards as a means to address confusion and diminished confidence by consumers, environmental groups, and the fishing and seafood industries in assessment results created by there being numerous and a rapidly growing number of competing programmes. Examples of competing certification programmes with conflicting opinions on the sustainability of individual fisheries were noted to highlight this issue. Participants agreed that, while the development of assessment methods and certification programmes for marine capture fisheries are in an initial stage, sustainability issues and certification in fisheries are likely to remain key issues in seafood markets for the foreseeable future. Participants agreed to continue communication between the retailer, buyer, distributor, processor and fishing industry sectors to address their demand for global, harmonized standards against which the sustainability of tuna fisheries can be assessed, and involvement in the evolving use of market-based tools for sustainable sourcing of tuna products. The meeting was co-hosted by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) (www.iucn.org) and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (www.wpcouncil.org) with sponsorship provided by the Sea Fish Industry Authority, UK (www.seafish.org), Royal Caribbean International (www.royalcaribbean.com) and the Hawaii Longline Association (hawaiilongline.org). The Roundtable was organized by IUCN’s Eric Gilman.

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|Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) Detachment Signs and Symptoms In most instances, serous detachment of the RPE occurs asymptomatically. Only in those cases in which the macula is affected will patients report blurred vision, metamorphopsia, micropsia, or positive scotomas. Other associated clinical findings may include induced hyperopia and delayed retinal recovery time on the photostress test. Most individuals with RPE detachment are male, between the ages of 20 and 60 years. The history often reveals predisposing or concurrent ocular conditions such as macular degeneration, idiopathic central serous chorioretinopathy (ICSC), angioid streaks, presumed ocular histoplasmosis syndrome (POHS), or hereditary choroidal degeneration. In other cases, the condition occurs idiopathically. RPE detachment appears ophthalmoscopically as single or multiple, well-circumscribed round or oval lesions within the posterior fundus. The lesions are typically dome-shaped with slight elevation and appear yellow to orange in color. A reddish "halo" is often seen around the base of the detachment, and overlying pigment defects such as clumping or mottling are commonplace. Lesions may vary in size from one-fifth to over 5 disc diameters (DD), but most are less than 1 DD. Fluorescein and indocyanine green (ICG) angiography show early hyperfluorescence of the entire RPE detachment, which persists throughout the angiogram demonstrating late pooling. Leakage into the sensory retina occurs only in cases of concurrent serous retinal detachment. RPE detachment is a non-specific anatomical alteration that may result from any number of choroidal disorders that disrupt the normal junction between the basement membrane of the RPE and the inner collagenous layer of Bruchs membrane. This disruption permits serous fluid from the underlying choriocapillaris to gain access into the sub-RPE space. Age-related macular degeneration, choroidal neovascular membranes, high myopia, angioid streaks, hereditary choroidal degeneration, POHS, and tumors of the choroid have all been identified as precipitating conditions in the development of RPE detachment. Idiopathic cases are sometimes associated with ICSC; some believe these two conditions to represent a continuum of a similar underlying pathology. Uncomplicated idiopathic serous detachments of the RPE often resolve spontaneously, however, those associated with more generalized damage to the choriocapillaris may be complicated by hemorrhage, choroidal neovascular membrane formation, and disciform scarring. Most patients under the age of 55 who present with small serous RPE detachments without evidence of other retinal or choroidal disease enjoy an excellent prognosis without intervention. This is particularly true if the lesion is outside of the fovea and there is no associated subretinal fluid. Older patients who manifest RPE detachment without angiographic evidence of a choroidal neovascular membrane have a 25-30 percent chance of developing such membranes during their lifetime, and therefore warrant careful observation as well as weekly home monitoring with an Amsler grid. Those patients over the age of 55 who present with associated choroidal neovascular membranes and/or hemorrhagic RPE detachments have an exceedingly poor visual prognosis. Focal laser photocoagulation is indicated for these patients. Approximately 90 percent of cases of RPE detachment have or will manifest concurrent serous retinal detachment over the natural history of the disorder. In cases of idiopathic RPE detachment, a striking similarity with ICSC is seen in the predisposed patient population; i.e. male, average age of 44 years, and a moderate to severe emotional stress level. The presentation of RPE detachment is quite characteristic. Nonetheless, one must be sure to rule out other conditions that may appear similar from an ophthalmoscopic perspective. These include: ICSC, malignant melanoma, metastatic carcinoma, choroidal hemangioma, and Bests disease (vitelliform dystrophy). History and angiography are the most helpful factors in making this RPE detachment in patients over 55 years of age should be considered secondary to choroidal neovascular membrane, rather than idiopathic, until proven otherwise. Prompt fluorescein angiography is mandatory in these cases. Other reports in this section

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Bastoy, Norway (CNN) -- Jan Petter Vala, who is serving a prison sentence for murder, has hands the size of dinner plates and shoulders like those of an ox. In an alcoholic rage, he used his brutish strength to strangle his girlfriend to death a few years ago. On a recent Thursday, however, at this summer-camp-like island prison in southern Norway, where convicts hold keys to their rooms and there are no armed guards or fences, Vala used those same enormous hands to help bring life into the world. The 42-year-old murderer stood watch while an oversize cow gave birth to a wobbly, long-legged, brown-and-white calf. He cried as the baby was born, he said, and wiped slime off of the newborn's face so she could gulp her first breath. Afterward, Vala called his own mother to share the good news. "I told my family that I'm going to be a dad," he said, beaming with pride. This is exactly the type of dramatic turnabout -- enraged killer to gentle-giant midwife -- that corrections officials in Norway hope to create with this controversial, one-of-a-kind prison, arguably the cushiest the world has to offer. Founded in 1982, Bastoy Prison is located on a lush, 1-square-mile island of pine trees and rocky coasts, with views of the ocean that are postcard-worthy. It feels more like a resort than jail, and prisoners here enjoy freedoms that would be unthinkable elsewhere. It's the holiday version of Alcatraz. There's a beach where prisoners sunbathe in the summer, plenty of good fishing spots, a sauna and tennis courts. Horses roam gravel roads. Some of the 115 prisoners here -- all men and serving time for murder, rape and trafficking heroin, among other crimes -- stay in wooden cottages, painted cheery red. They come and go as they please. Others live in "The Big House," a white mansion on a hill that, on the inside, looks like a college dorm. A chicken lives in the basement, a guard said, and provides eggs for the inmates. When you ask the cook what's for dinner, he offers up menu choices like "fish balls with white sauce, with shrimps" and "everything from chicken con carne to salmon." Plenty of people would pay to vacation in a place like this. On first read, all of that probably sounds infuriating. Shouldn't these men be punished? Why do they get access to all these comforts while others live in poverty? But if the goal of prison is to change people, Bastoy seems to work. "If we have created a holiday camp for criminals here, so what?" asked Arne Kvernvik Nilsen, the prison's governor and a former minister and psychologist. He added, "We should reduce the risk of reoffending, because if we don't, what's the point of punishment, except for leaning toward the primitive side of humanity?" Take a quick look at the numbers: Only 20% of prisoners who come through Norway's prisons reoffend within two years of being released, according to a 2010 report commissioned by the governments of several Nordic countries. At Bastoy, that figure is even lower, officials say: about 16%. Compare that with the three-year re-offense rate for state prisons in the U.S.: 43%, according to a 2011 report from the Pew Center on the States, a nonpartisan research group. Older government reports put that number even higher, at more than five in 10. Ryan King, a research director at Pew and an author of the group's recent report, said it's difficult to compare recidivism rates from state to state, much less from country to country. Instead of focusing on the numbers, he said, one should focus on what a country is or isn't doing to tackle re-offense rates. Still, Bastoy remains controversial even in academia. Irvin Waller, president of the International Organization for Victim Assistance and a professor at the University of Ottawa, said in an e-mail that the relative niceness of a prison has no effect on whether people commit crimes when they're released. "The key is not that much what happens in prison but what happens when the men are released," he said. But officials here maintain that their methods do make a difference, and they follow it up with post-release programs. The aim of Bastoy is not to punish or seek revenge, Nilsen said. The only punishment is to take away the prisoner's right to be a free member of society. Even at a time when Anders Behring Breivik is on trial in Norway for killing 77 people in a terror attack last year -- and the remote possibility he could end up at Bastoy or a similar prison some day -- Nilsen and others stand up for this brand of justice. Life at Bastoy To understand Norway's pleasant-prison philosophy, first you have to get a sense of how life at a cushy, low-security prison like Bastoy actually plays out. There are few rules here. Prisoners can have TVs in their rooms, provided they bring them from "outside" when they're sentenced. They wear whatever clothes they want: jeans, T-shirts. One man had a sweater with pink-and-gray horizontal stripes, but that's as close as it got to the jailbird look. Even guards aren't dressed in uniform, which makes conducting interviews tricky. It's impossible to tell an officer from a drug trafficker. A common opening question: "So, do you live here?" Everyone at Bastoy has a job, and prisoners must report to work from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays. Some people garden; others farm. Some chop down trees and slice them into firewood (It's hard not to think about the wood chipper scene in "Fargo" when you see inmates filleting tree trunks with an enormous circular saw). Others tend to a team of horses, which are used to cart wood and supplies from one part of the island to another. Everyone moves about freely during these tasks. Guards are sometimes present, sometimes not. No one wears shackles or electronic monitoring bracelets. The idea is for prison to function like a small, self-sustaining village. For their work, inmates are paid. They get a stipend of 59 Norwegian kroner per day, about $10. They can save that money or spend it on odds and ends in a local shop. Additionally, they get a monthly stipend of about $125 for their food. Kitchen workers -- that's another inmate job -- serve Bastoy residents dinner each day. For breakfast and lunch, inmates use their stipend to make purchases in the local shop and then cook for themselves at home. Many live in small houses that have full kitchens. Others have access to shared cooking space. The goal, Nilsen said, is to create an environment where people can build self-esteem and reform their lives. "They look at themselves in the mirror, and they think, 'I am s***. I don't care. I am nothing,' " he said. This prison, he says, gives them a chance to see they have worth, "to discover, 'I'm not such a bad guy.' " In locked-down prisons, inmates are treated "like animals or robots," he said, moving from one planned station to the next, with no choice in the matter. Here, inmates are forced to make choices -- to learn how to be better people. Prisoners, of course, appreciate this approach. Kjell Amundsen, a 70-year-old who said he is in jail for a white-collar financial crime, was terrified when he rode the 15-minute ferry from the mainland out to Bastoy. On a recent afternoon, he was sweeping up in a plant nursery while John Lennon's "Imagine" played on the radio. "I think it's marvelous to be in a prison this way," he said. He plans to keep up the task after his sentence ends. "I'm living in a flat (when I get out), but I am convinced I should have a little garden," he said. Some prisoners get schooling in a yellow Bavarian-style building near the center of the island. On a recent afternoon, three young men were learning to use computer programs to create 3-D models of cars. All expressed interest in doing this sort of work after their prison terms end. Tom Remi Berg, a 22-year-old who said he is in prison for the third time after getting into a bar fight and beating a man nearly to death, said he is finally learning his lesson at Bastoy. He works in the kitchen and is seeking training to become a chef when he's released. He also plays in the prison blues band -- Guilty as Hell -- and lives with his bandmates. "It's good to have a prison like this," he said. "You can learn to start a new page again." If escaped, please call The prisoners are required to check in several times a day so guards can make sure they're still on the island. Nothing but 1½ miles of seawater stops them from leaving; they'd only have to steal one of the prison's boats to cross it, several inmates said. An escape would be relatively easy. Prisoners have tried to escape in the past. One swam halfway across the channel and became stranded on a buoy and screamed for rescuers to help, prison officials said. Another made it across the channel by stealing a boat but was caught on the other side. Many, however, don't want to leave. If they tried and failed, they would be forced to go to a higher-security prison and could have their sentences extended. When inmates come to his island jail, Nilsen, the governor, gives them a little talk. Among the wisdom he imparts is this: If you should escape and make it across the water to the free shore, find a phone and call so I know you're OK and "so we don't have to send the coast guard looking for you." This kind of trust may seem shocking or naïve from the outside, but it's the entire basis for Bastoy's existence. Overnight, only three or four guards (the prison employs 71 administrative staff, including the guards) stay on the island with this group of people who have been convicted of serious crimes. If guards carried weapons (which they don't) it might encourage inmates to take up arms, too, he said. Further complicating the security situation, some inmates, toward the end of their terms, are allowed to leave the island on a daily ferry to work or attend classes on the mainland. They're expected to come back on their own free will. Inmates are screened to make sure they're mentally stable and unlikely to plot an escape before they come to Bastoy. The vast majority -- 97%, according to Nilsen -- have served part of their sentences at higher-security jails in Norway. In the four years Nilsen has been heading up the prison, there have been no "serious" incidents of violence, he said. By the time they get to Bastoy, inmates view the island as a relief. 'It's still prison' There's a question inmates here get asked frequently: When your sentence is up, will you want to leave? The answer, despite the nice conditions, is always an emphatic yes. "It's still prison," said Luke, 23. He didn't want his full name used for fear future employers would see it. "In your mind, you are locked (up)." The simple fact of being taken away from family members is enough to stop Benny, 40, from wanting to offend again. The refugee from Kosovo said he was convicted on drug charges after he was found with 13 pounds of heroin. He didn't want his full name used because he doesn't want to embarrass his family or jeopardize his chance of finding a job after he's released. Before coming to Bastoy, he sat in a higher-security prison while one of his children was born. "It doesn't matter how long the sentences get. The sentence doesn't matter," Benny said. "When you take freedom from people, that's what's scary." There are only 3,600 people in prison in this country, compared with 2.3 million in the United States, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Relative to population, the U.S. has about 10 times as many inmates as Norway. More than 89% of Norway's jail sentences are less than a year, officials said. In U.S. federal prisons, longer sentences are much more common, with fewer than 2% serving a year or less, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Some researchers support Norway's efforts to lighten sentences. Think of prison like parenting and it starts to make sense, said Mark A.R. Kleiman, a professor of public policy at UCLA and author of "When Brute Force Fails." "Every parent knows this. What if you tried to discipline your kid by saying, 'If you don't clean your room, there's a 10% chance I'll kick you out of the house and never see you again'?" he said, referencing the fact that many crimes in America go unpunished, but the justice system issues harsh sentences when offenders are caught. Grounding the child immediately, a softer sentence, would work better, even though the punishment is less severe, he said. "We have a criminal justice system (in the United States) that, if it were a parent, we would say it's abusive and neglectful." Kleiman said victims do have a right to see offenders punished. But in Norway, a country with one of the highest standards of living in the world, staying on a resort-like island with horses might feel like punishment to many people, he said. Research also suggests that programs like Bastoy that train inmates for their transition back into the free world -- with education, counseling and such -- do help prisoners adjust. "There is overwhelming evidence that rehabilitation works much better than deterrence as a means of reducing re-offending," said Gerhard Ploeg, a senior adviser at the Ministry of Justice, which oversees Norway's corrections system. "It's all in the name of reintegration," he added. "You won't be suddenly one day standing on the street with a plastic bag of things you had when you came in." Mass shooting challenges system Norway's unusual prison policies have been pushed into the international spotlight after a bombing and shooting spree last year in which 77 people were killed, including children. There's a chance -- although minimal -- that Anders Behring Breivik, who confessed to those crimes, could end up in Bastoy, one of Norway's "open prisons," Nilsen said. It's more likely Breivik will be sent to one of Norway's many high-security "closed" prisons, which look much more like their U.S. counterparts. He also could be set free some day. Norway has a maximum jail sentence of 21 years, which can be extended only when an inmate is deemed to be a real and imminent threat to society. The country expects nearly every prisoner to be returned to society, which influences its efforts to create jail environments that reduce re-offense rates. "The question we must ask is, 'What kind of person do I want as my neighbor?' " Ploeg said. "How do we want people to come out of prison? If your neighbor were to come out of prison, what would you want him to be like?" Still, it's likely Breivik's sentence will be extended to the point that he will spend his life in a high-security prison, he said. Or he could go into life-long psychiatric care. Breivik's case challenges a system that hopes to fix everyone. The case has unearthed levels of anger that are uncharacteristic of Norway, which prides itself as a home for conflict mediation and human rights, a place that hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and has one of the best standards of living in the world. Last week, a man lit himself on fire outside the Oslo courthouse where Breivik's trial is taking place. His motives were unclear, police said. "(Breivik) doesn't deserve to go to prison," said Camilla Bjerke, 27, who tends bar in Horten, the town on the other side of the water from Bastoy. "He deserves to be hanged outside the courthouse. ... He's just going to go into prison and watch TV and download movies." Then there's this sentiment: If Breivik were ever released into the public, someone would kill him, several Norwegians said. Inmates at Bastoy echoed those sentiments, saying he would have to be quarantined or he wouldn't be safe on the island. Others are trying to fight that anger. Bjorn Ihler, a 20-year-old who narrowly escaped Breivik's shooting spree by diving into the ocean with two children while bullets flew at them, said, "it's very important that we don't let this terrorist change the way we are and the way things work." "The prison system in Norway is based around the principle of getting criminals back into society, really, and away from their criminal life -- and to get them normal jobs and stuff like that," he said. He doesn't know how he would feel if Breivik were to be released, but he would like the system to function as usual. "So prisons must be very much focused on getting people to a place where they are able to live normal, non-criminal lives. And that's the best way of preserving society from crime, I think." Looking to the future All of these efforts aim to help a person like Vala, the gentle giant who strangled his girlfriend, to get ready for release back into society at the end of his 10-year sentence. After he helped a toddling calf come into the world, Vala said, he leaned on a rail next to the cow's pen and thought about his life and the murder that landed him here. The symbolism that he had used his hands to end one life and help begin another was not lost on him. "I stayed for six hours," he said. "It was very beautiful." The night he killed his girlfriend, Vala says, he blacked out and then came to with his hands around her neck, after she was dead. "We never fight," he said. "We never do. So I don't know what happened." He felt helpless and out of control when he came to. But now he's trying to pull it together. He decided to quit drinking for good. And when he's working with animals, he said, feels a new calm wash over him. It's a change the prison guards have noted, too. Sigurd Vedvik said he met Vala while he was serving out the earlier part of his sentence in a high-security prison. Vedvik was screening him for entry into Bastoy. Vala barely could communicate. He seemed broken. "When he first came here, he was very afraid of many people," said Vedvik, who sees himself as more of a teacher or social worker than a person who enforces security. Now, Vala is making friends. Talking more. Taking responsibility for the cattle he's tasked with caring for. He strokes the cows' necks so gently, it seems as if he's worried they will shatter. When Vala leaves Bastoy, he plans to go into the construction business and hopes to find some way to spend time on a farm. "I'm trying to think to my future." That's something he couldn't do after the murder. And it took a posh prison -- one with cattle and horses -- to get him into that state of mind.

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WASHINGTON — As Marylanders join millions of others nationwide in the computer shopping blitz that’s become known as Cyber Monday, they should think about this: If they paid the sales tax they owe to the state for such purchases, Maryland would be $200 million richer. The problem is, virtually no one pays, and the state’s top tax enforcement officer doesn’t believe they should. Online buyers are supposed to pay sales taxes for their purchases by Jan. 21, 2013, one of the four deadlines a year for Maryland residents to file their “use tax.” This use tax is imposed on any purchase that is not taxed by the seller, whether it be out of a catalog, from an Internet retailer or even from a store in Delaware, which does not impose sales taxes. If the good is being used in Maryland by a state resident and has not been taxed, that person is required to pay the 6 percent tax. State Comptroller Peter Franchot said between consumers’ lack of knowledge of this tax and an inability to enforce it, over 95 percent of the Maryland public is breaking the law. However, the comptroller said he would not enforce it. “I am not comfortable in enforcing that and will not,” said Franchot, who said it is not the citizen’s fault there is not a “sensible” compliance program for online sales tax. “The collection of sales tax is a responsibility of government and industry, not the consumer.” This use tax is almost impossible to enforce, Franchot said, and is costing the state around $200 million a year in tax revenue, with that number only increasing as e-commerce grows. The comptroller’s office estimates that by 2020 the lost tax revenue will be more than $310 million. Even if this lost tax revenue was collected, Franchot said it’s unlikely that other tax increases, like the recent tax hike on those making $100,000 or more, would go away. “Maryland has an insatiable appetite to raise taxes, so I would doubt that the Internet tax revenues would substitute for some other tax increase,” said Franchot. “They’d just do both.” Dee Hodges, president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association, said her organization opposes the use tax, saying it is “more regulation of the Internet,” and “a way of shutting down commerce.” If the tax replaced another tax in the state, Hodges said she would consider supporting it. Maryland already grossly overtaxes its residents, she said. “Pretty soon they’ll have a bill to tax oxygen,” said Hodges. Franchot said this problem is better solved by the U.S. government than the state, as it involves interstate commerce and companies outside Maryland’s jurisdiction. For many bricks-and-mortar retailers, the issue is one of equality. They say they can’t fairly compete against online retailers who don’t charge sales tax, while the state’s physical retailers must. Multiple bills in the House and Senate tackle this problem, including the Main Street Fairness Act, the Marketplace Equity Act and the Marketplace Fairness Act. In the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, the court found that a business does not have to collect taxes on customer purchases unless it has a physical location in the state. However, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court “that the underlying issue is not only one that Congress may be better qualified to resolve, but also one that Congress has the ultimate power to resolve.” U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Baltimore, is a cosponsor of the Marketplace Fairness Act, which was introduced over a year ago and is yet to come out of committee. “Maryland retailers aren’t looking for special treatment but simply a fair way to compete against large Internet sellers who charge similar prices but get away without collecting sales tax,” Cardin said in an April hearing on the bill. Maryland Retailers Association President Patrick Donoho agreed, saying this “give(s) an added incentive to use one retailer over another.” Donoho says while 6 percent may not sound like a lot, the success of the state’s summer, tax-free week underscores the fact that consumers do care. Donoho cited the example of a jeweler who had a customer come in with a $10,000 ring purchased online. When the jeweler said it would cost $100 to resize, the customer was upset. Meanwhile, by purchasing the ring from an online retailer without a state location, the customer avoided paying the $600 in sales tax. “I think what has happened is that technology and the market has so radically changed that our laws don’t, have not kept up with them,” said Donoho. “It has to get fixed because you can’t pick winners and losers.” Joseph Bailey, a research associate professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, said he sees why this tax is so impossible to collect. “The burden of collecting the tax moves from the seller to the buyer,” said Bailey. While he agrees the federal government needs to solve the problem, he said it might be the rough economy, and not partisan gridlock, that is stopping bills like the Marketplace Fairness Act from moving through. “I think it’s a very difficult thing to do regardless of politics,” said Bailey, who added he believes the economic landscape has to change before customers will accept another tax. Amy Gruner, 20, said she often shops online at places like Nordstrom, Forever 21 and Amazon, but had not noticed that some places charge sales tax while others do not. The Annapolis native said she was slightly alarmed to find out she should be paying sales tax on all purchases online. “It will hurt (Maryland businesses) if Amazon is not charging. Then people would go to Amazon more often than going to other places that do have that sales tax,” said Gruner. Robert Craynon, an 18-year-old Bowie resident, said he understands the problem for businesses in the state. “It gives the online (retailers) a kind of unfair advantage in some ways,” said Craynon. Franchot agreed not enforcing the tax hurts Maryland businesses, but because he can’t fix the problem, he won’t be collecting the tax anytime soon. “I have zero interest in making the overtaxed citizens of the state of Maryland guilty of some kind of felony for non-payment of a remote sales tax.”

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Dubious manufacturers of chocolates of low distinction like to pull a fast one on chocolate lovers that has many of us gagging, but a great many more, those that have never had any other kind, content to swallow chemicals instead of cocoa. The nefarious choco-mongers swap Polyglycerol polyricinoleate for cocoa butter (so they can sell you cheaper-to-make chocolate that tastes like cardboard and has been stripped of some of it’s most beneficial antioxidants it and then turn around and sell you the cocoa butter they removed as skin cream). Ever wonder what that awful aftertaste is as you’re spitting out a bite of substandard chocolate? It’s PGPR, the chocolate industrial complex’s latest evil answer to if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Gone is the awesome taste of unsullied chocolate. Behold the gnarly taste of chocolate made from the fatty acids of castor oil. For years, sub-quality chocolate manufacturers (Hershey’s, Nestle, Mars, et al) have been trying to get the FDA to allow them to replace the naturally-occurring cocoa butter with vegetable oil. Failing that, they succeeded in getting the cocoa butter – PGPR swap approved, ostensibly in the name of cost savings, but of course there’s a profit to made from that freed-up cocoa butter and hungry consumers with unhappy faces. Not only does PGPR taste like crap, it also replaces a healthful component of chocolate. A 1996 UC Davis study on the health benefits of chocolate revealed that the powerful antioxidants in chocolate actually derived from cocoa butter and the stearic acid it produces. So that’s the hand you’ve been dealt by the big money chocolateers: a substandard(er) bar of chocolate with an unsavory aftertaste and the healthful ingredients removed. And in return, we are able to give those chocalateers bigger profits. See! Everyone wins!!

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Right, so lets get to the proper end of this first. Today’s article is a response to the story written in the Evening Standard (a British newspaper) sometime last week about the London riots. The sub-headline read “Children as young as ten, inspired by video games, among the looters.“ Well, of course this got all kind of gaming news sites riled up about the affair! Pitchforks and torches raised by all! Pitorches in fact! While this is based on a “claim” made by an officer, I’m a bit disappointed in the news media (ok, I shouldn’t be so surprised, but I thought foreign news was a bit more level headed) for just posting inflammatory nonsense. The fact of the matter is, videogames are the new scape goat of global society. The cause of all social ills. “What’s this? Civil unrest? Murders? Vandalism? Theft? Obviously this is a new development in global society! We were such civil people until these video games corrupted our youth!” Right, get over it media! I will say this, the newspaper reprinted the edition with a new sub-headline “Children as young as ten hunted by police after riots across city.“ Guess outside pressure forced them to change (so says another article… see source). Good move, but the newspaper shouldn’t have to change its position because of community outrage. There shouldn’t be any outrage to begin with. How hard is it to be objective? Lol, I guess hard cause I can’t objectively read any news from any source. They spin so much BS into it. Ah well… still, I’m glad they had the good sense to retract that statement. (I apologize in advance for the following statement) For the record, the original statement said GTA was to blame, though I think we all know what kind of game is more likely to cause rioting in the streets… Ah… sorry bout that, please don’t hate! Also… I have no idea what British newscasters look like… just assumed they all have monocles. XD OOOOOOOOOOOK! That’s that for this segment of Tooned News. Hope you’ve enjoyed. In my head, I’d take some hot headlines involving the new core direction of CC “gaming and geeking”, so along those lines. I was inspired by reading lots of news articles and having comic ideas popping into my head. So why not make a comic and toss in my 2 copper? Not really sure where to go with these… Maybe a weekly thing? More? Color? B&W? idk… What say you good people of the interweblands?

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en

First - you might want to redefine you search. Are you looking for happiness or rather positive affect? Happiness is fairly ambigious term, and it's much more associated with positive psychology studies on well-being. If you are interested in more global definition of happiness, check the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. On the other hand, there is a large number of studies on physiological measurements of positive affect. One such physiological measurement is Electromyography (EMG) - recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. EMG will detect very brief smiles or higher activity in cheek muscles (zygomaticus major) which are correlated with positive affect. There is quite classic (but very quoted) paper on that: Cacioppo JT, Petty RE, Losch ME, Kim HS. (1986) Electromyographic Activity Over Facial Muscle Regions Can Differentiate the Valence and Intensity of Affective Reactions. J Pers Soc Psychol., 50(2):260-8. download Another simple physiological assesment is heart rate measured by the interbeat interval (IBI). For example, study by Brosschot & Thayer (2003) shows that heart rate response is longer after negative emotions than after positive emotions. Brosschot JF, Thayer JF. (2003) Heart rate response is longer after negative emotions than after positive emotions. Int J Psychophysiol., In fact, the full spectrum of somatic measurements have been used along heart rate including pulse transmission time to the finger, skin conductance level or pupil dilation (Partala, 2003). All those are a bit less reliable methods and usually they detect arousal rather then indicate physiological differences between positive and negative affect. Partala T.; Surakka V. (2003) Pupil size variation as an indication of affective processing. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Finally, I would advise browsing literature on measurements of negative affect. You are likely to find some interesting methods there, like in this paper on the psychophysiology of crying (Gross et al., 1994). Gross JJ, Frederickson BL, Levenson RW. (1994) The psychophysiology of crying. Psychophysiology, 31(5):460-8. download

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en

Is this bone a Neanderthal flute? Cave Bear femur fragment from Slovenia, 43+kya DOUBTS AIRED OVER NEANDERTHAL BONE 'FLUTE' (AND REPLY BY MUSICOLOGIST BOB FINK) Science News 153 (April 4, 1998): 215. By B. Bower Amid much media fanfare, a research team in 1996 trumpeted an ancient, hollowed out bear bone pierced on one side with four complete or partial holes as the earliest known musical instrument. The perforated bone, found in an Eastern European cave, represents a flute made and played by Neandertals at least 43,000 ye us ago, the scientists contended. Now it's time to stop the music, say two archaeologists who examined the purported flute last spring. On closer inspection, the bone appears to have been punctured and gnawed by the teeth of an animal -- perhaps a wolf -- as it stripped the limb of meat and marrow report, April Nowell and Philip G. Chase, both of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "The bone was heavily chewed by one or more carnivores, creating holes that became more rounded due to natural processes after burial," Nowell says. "It provides very weak evidence for the origins of [Stone Age] music." Nowell presented the new analysis at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society in Seattle last week. Nowell and Chase examined the bone with the permission of its discoverer, Ivan Turk of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences in Ljubljana (S.N.: 11/23/96, p. 328). Turk knows of their conclusion but still views the specimen as a flute. Both open ends of the thighbone contain clear signs of gnawing by carnivores, Nowell asserts. Wolves and other animals typically bite off nutrient-rich tissue at the ends of limb bones and extract available marrow. If Neandertals had hollowed out the bone and fashioned holes in it, animals would not have bothered to gnaw it, she says. Complete and partial holes on the bone's shaft were also made by carnivores, says Nowell. Carnivores typically break open bones with their scissor like cheek teeth. Uneven bone thickness and signs of wear along the borders of the holes, products of extended burial in the soil, indicate that openings made by cheek teeth were at first less rounded and slightly smaller, the researchers hold. Moreover, the simultaneous pressure of an upper and lower tooth produced a set of opposing holes, one partial and one complete, they maintain. Prehistoric, carnivore-chewed bear bones in two Spanish caves display circular punctures aligned in much the same way as those on the Slovenian find. In the March Antiquity, Francesco d'Errico of the Institute of Quaternary Prehistory and Geology in Talence, France, and his colleagues describe the Spanish bones. In a different twist, Bob Fink, an independent musicologist in Canada, has reported on the Internet (http://www.webster.sk.ca/greenwich/fl-compl.htm) that the spacing of the two complete and two partial holes on the back of the Slovenian bone conforms to musical notes on the diatonic (do, re, mi. . .) scale. The bone is too short to incorporate the diatonic scale's seven notes, counter Nowell and Chase. Working with Pennsylvania musicologist Robert Judd, they estimate that the find's 5.7-inch length is less than half that needed to cover the diatonic spectrum. The recent meeting presentation is "a most convincing analysis," comments J. Desmond Clark of the University of California, Berkeley, although it's possible that Neandertals blew single notes through carnivore-chewed holes in the bone. "We can't exclude that possibility," Nowell responds. "But it's a big leap of faith to conclude that this was an intentionally constructed flute." TO THE EDITOR, SCIENCE NEWS (REPLY BY BOB FINK, May 1998) (See an update of this discussion on Bob Fink's web site, November 2000) The doubts raised by Nowell and Chase (April 4th, DOUBTS AIRED OVER NEANDERTHAL BONE 'FLUTE') saying the Neanderthal Bone is not a flute have these weaknesses: The alignment of the holes -- all in a row, and all of equivalent diameter, appear to be contrary to most teeth marks, unless some holes were made independently by several animals. The latter case boggles the odds for the holes ending up being in line. It also would be strange that animals homed in on this one bone in a cave full of bones, where no reports of similarly chewed bones have been made. This claim is harder to believe when it is calculated that chances for holes to be arranged, by chance, in a pattern that matches the spacings of 4 notes of a diatonic flute, are only one in hundreds to occur . The analysis I made on the Internet (http://www.webster.sk.ca/greenwich/fl-compl.htm) regarding the bone being capable of matching 4 notes of the do, re, mi (diatonic) scale included the possibility that the bone was extended with another bone "mouthpiece" sufficiently long to make the notes sound fairly in tune. While Nowell says "it's a big leap of faith to conclude that this was an intentionally constructed flute," it's a bigger leap of faith to accept the immense coincidence that animals blindly created a hole-spacing pattern with holes all in line (in what clearly looks like so many other known bone flutes which are made to play notes in a step-wise scale) and blindly create a pattern that also could play a known acoustic scale if the bone was extended. That's too much coincidence for me to accept. It is more likely that it is an intentionally made flute, although admittedly with only the barest of clues regarding its original condition. The 5.7 inch figure your article quoted appears erroneous, as the centimeter scale provided by its discoverer, Ivan Turk, indicates the artifact is about 4.3 inches long. However, the unbroken femur would originally have been about 8.5 inches, and the possibility of an additional hole or two exists, to complete a full scale, perhaps aided by the possible thumbhole. However, the full diatonic spectrum is not required as indicated by Nowell and Chase: It could also have been a simpler (but still diatonic) 4 or 5 note scale. Such short-scale flutes are plentiful in homo sapiens history. Finally, a worn-out or broken flute bone can serve as a scoop for manipulation of food, explaining why animals might chew on its ends later. It is also well-known that dogs chase and maul even sticks, despite their non-nutritional nature. What appears "weak" is not the case for a flute, but the case against it by Nowell and Chase. Letter to the Editor: Antiquity Journal: "A Bone to Pick" By Bob Fink I have a bone to pick with Francesco d'Errico's viewpoint in the March issue of Antiquity (article too long to reproduce here) regarding the Neanderthal flute found in Slovenia by Ivan Turk. D'Errico argues the bone artifact is not a flute. D'Errico omits dealing with the best evidence that this bone find is a flute. Regarding the most important evidence, that of the holes being lined up, neither d'Errico nor Turk make mention of this. This line-up is remarkable especially if they were made by more than one carnivore, which apparently they'd have to be, based on Turk's analysis of the center-spans of the holes precluding their being made by a single carnivore or bite (Turk,* pp.171-175). To account for this possible difficulty, some doubters do mention "one or more" carnivores (Chase & Nowell, Science News 4/4/98). My arguments over the past year pointed out the mathematical odds of the lining up of the holes occurring by chance-chewing are too difficult to believe. The Appendix in my essay ("Neanderthal Flute --A Musicological Analysis") proves that the number of ways a set of 4 random holes could be differently spaced (to produce an audibly different set of tones) are 680 ways. The chances a random set would match the existing fragment's spacing [which also could produce a match to four diatonic notes of the scale] are therefore only one in hundreds. If, in calculating the odds, you also allowed the holes to be out of line, or to be less than 4 holes as well, then the chance of a line-up match is only one from many tens of thousands. And yet randomness and animal bites still are acceptable to account for holes being in line that could also play some notes of the scale? This is too much coincidence for me to believe occurred by chance. D'Errico mentions my essay in his article and what he thought it was about, but he overstates my case into being a less believable one. My case simply was that if the bone was long enough (or a shorter bone extended by a mouthpiece insert) then the 4 holes would be consistent and in tune with the sounds of Do, Re, Mi, Fa (or flat Mi, Fa, Sol, and flat La in a minor scale). In the 5 points I list below, extracted from Turk's monograph in support of this being a flute, d'Errico omits dealing with much of the first, and all of the second, fourth and sixth points. Turk & Co's monograph shows the presence on site of boring tools, and includes experiments made by Turk's colleague Guiliano Bastiani who successfully produced similar holes in fresh bone using tools of the type found at the site (pp. 176-78 Turk). They also wrote (pp. 171-75) that: 1. The center-to-center distances of the holes in the artifact are smaller than that of the tooth spans of most carnivores. The smallest tooth spans they found were 45mm, and the holes on the bone are 35mm (or less) apart; 2. Holes bitten are usually at the ends of bones rather than in the center of them; 3. There is an absence of dents, scratches and other signs of gnawing and counter-bites on the artifact; 4. The center-to-center distances do not correspond to the spans of carnivores which could pierce the bone; 5. The diameters of the holes are greater than that producible by a wolf exerting the greatest jaw pressure it had available -- it's doubtful that a wolf's jaws would be strong enough (like a hyena's) to have made the holes, especially in the thickest part of the wall of the artifact. 6. If you accept one or more carnivores, then why did they over-target one bone, when there were so many other bones in the cave site? Only about 4.5% of the juvenile bones were chewed or had holes, according to Turk (p. 117). * Turk, Ivan (ed.) (1997). Mousterian Bone Flute. Znanstvenoraziskovalni Center Sazu, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Maintained by Francis F. Steen, Communication Studies, University of California Los Angeles

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The plant collections of the Smithsonian Institution began with the acquisition of specimens collected by the United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842). These formed the foundation of a national herbarium which today numbers 4.8 million historical plant records, placing it among the world's largest and most important. Nearly 800,000 specimen records (including over 90,000 type specimens with images) are currently available in this online catalog. Select a tab on this page to search by Keyword or Selected Fields. If you don't know what you want to see, you may want to look at the sample records in the Quick Browse section below. Searches are limited to 2000 records and the results are sorted by taxonomic group. If you need to retrieve a larger record set, contact the Department of Botany's Data Manager. See the Help tab to learn more about searching and then exploring your returned results (sorting, exporting, etc.). ||Sample Records from the DC Flora Collection ||2205692 2197595 2191752 2175968 2213272 2196389 2200318 2192830 2219158 2200909 2208745 2223985 2175937 2192264 2220376 ||Sample Records from the Botanical Type Register ||2119407 2149872 2161549 2790611 2105614 2099734 2134596 2116358 2166713 2151580 2158541 2143664 2097212 2076608 2167306 2121665 2095940 2075490 ||Sample Records from the Wilkes Expedition ||2524597 2705372 2705371 2743367 2699717 2741233 2741229 2733613 2741227 2680776 2741226 2741217 2741216 2687168 2702446 2684992 2680753 2680752 2741176 2741175 2693758 2680751 2678261 Enter your keywords separated by spaces and click Search. Records that match your search terms will be returned. - Using parentheses to clarify the logic, you can create complex queries with OR and NOT (here capital letters are required, otherwise they will be treated as keyword terms). - You can also use double-quotes to specify terms that should be treated as one. - Lastly, you can include the terms image(s) or type(s) to find records that have images or that are type specimens. Note that searching for common (vernacular) names may not yield the expected results. Associating common names with specimen records is a work in progress. Keyword search example: marantaceae ("new guinea" OR australia) images Use the By Field search to find specimen data that match values in specific database fields. Enter a value or choose one from the dropdown lists. - Click the Search button to initiate a search. Clear resets all fields. - Some lists are linked, so for example, choosing a Country narrows the choices for Province/State/Territory, and District/County. Dropdown choices also narrow as you type, for example, typing zing in the Family field might narrow the choice to Zingiberaceae. - Note that the Province/State dropdown is populated only after you have chosen a Country. You can type a Province/State without selecting a Country. - Check Only Records with Images if you want to restrict the search to records with multimedia content. - You will receive a warning when you enter invalid information in the text fields. For example, Catalog Numbers are composed strictly of letters and numbers; other characters will raise a warning. The results of your searches can be displayed in Grid (a sortable, customizable table) or Gallery View (best for reviewing images). Use the Switch button to cycle between these views. - You can choose whether to display 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 records at a time. In Sheet View: - Click on the scientific name to view the full record. - Click on the thumbnail to view larger resolutions of the image. Use Control+Click (Command+Click) to open a new browser tab. In Grid View: - You can choose the columns to display from any column's dropdown menu (mouse into a column header and click the dropdown icon). Under Columns, click the name to display or hide the field (you do not need to click the checkbox specifically). - You can drag a column header to change its order of appearance in the grid. - You can also drag the edge of a column to make it wider or narrower. - Click in the expansion () column to view the full record. In Gallery View: - Click the image to view the full record. See Exporting Results for information on downloading results to, for example, Excel or Google Earth. Open the full collection record by clicking the expansion button () in Grid View, on the scientific name in Sheet View, or anywhere within the image frame in Gallery View. Inverse expansion buttons () indicate records with multimedia (typically, images). - In the Record window, metadata for the multimedia content is available when you mouseover the thumbnail. - Clicking the thumbnail opens the content in your browser or other appropriate application. - Record windows may be resized or moved within the browser window. - You may have up to ten Record windows open at any one time. Sort results in Grid View by clicking the column header (or by choosing Sort from the column's dropdown menu). - Sort on multiple columns by consecutively sorting columns in reverse order. For example, to view results sorted by Country and Province/State, first sort by Province/State and then sort again by Country. - For any column you can choose to sort in Ascending or Descending order. Export all or selected results by clicking the Export Results as CSV button in the bottom toolbar in Grid, or Gallery View. - Select individual records for Export by checking the export selection box (along the left edge of the Grid View grid). - Clear all selections with the Clear Selections button in the bottom toolbar. - Results are exported as comma-separated-values, one record per line, which can be saved to disk or opened directly with applications such as Microsoft Excel. You can also export all or selected results to a KML file for viewing with Google Earth or other KML viewers, by clicking the Export as KML button. This button is grayed when all or selected results lack latitude/longitude values. To create a link to specific records at NMNH provide the appropriate unit and querystring to: where UNIT is: - anth, birds, botany, ento, fishes, herps, iz, mammals, ms, or paleo and QUERYSTRING is (use a plus-sign to separate words): - One or more CATALOG NUMBERS, e.g. - One or more BARCODES, e.g. - The NAME of a TYPE specimen, e.g.: - The NAME of a specimen or object, e.g.: - The NAME (qn) and/or TYPE STATUS (qt) of a specimen, and/or its COLLECTOR (co), and/or the COLLECTION (cn) it is part of, e.g.: (Holotypes whose name includes Torre and Bartsch collected by Webb and part of the Henderson Collection) - To open the Collections Search to a specific search tab, e.g. Tabs are numbered left to right, beginning with zero. - iz/?ti=1 (Invertebrate Zoology Keywords Search) - mammals/?ti=3 (Mammals Whale Collection Search) There are ways to speed up your queries (or slow them down!) and to find specific information. - The more specific you make your queries the faster they will execute. Using more, rather than fewer, terms will very likely speed up your search. - These following special characters modify the interpretation of search terms (use with as many other terms as possible to avoid slowing your search): - * matches any number of characters, e.g. *pseudo* - ? matches a single character, e.g. young?lus frank? - ! negates the presence of a term, e.g. !new - ~ matches all terms with the given stem, e.g. ~spear for spear, spears, spearing, etc. - = match is case-sensitive, e.g. =Paris - Query results are typically limited to 5000 records. Avoid general queries, when you can, that are likely to bring back very large numbers of records, e.g. searching for poaceae. - Long running queries are automatically terminated, with no results returned. Please use the Feedback page to report back any problems you find with the data, or with using these search pages.

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At least initially, most Master Gardener activities center around the Extension Service office. The first 20 volunteer service hours are spent there. This is in fact a continuation of the training so the new volunteers can become familiar with the office, its personnel and resources, and so the Extension Service faculty and staff can become familiar with their new volunteer assistants. The remaining service hours are spent in a wide variety of activities, which are related to some aspect of gardening and contribute to community education and service. Many Master Gardeners continue their association with the office by answering telephones during Plant Clinic hours, mailing out brochures in response to requests, developing demonstration gardens, or working with 4-H leaders and youth of Collier County. Master Gardeners can also participate in the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program as Yard Advisors. Other activities include, but are not limited to, plant clinics in other areas of the county, manning information booths at fairs and shows, and preparing informational brochures. There is something for almost every skill at every level. Many Master Gardeners far surpass the mandatory 75 volunteer service hours, with some volunteering several hundred hours in a year. Training never ceases for the certified and working Master Gardener. Programming and field visits are scheduled for Master Gardeners to boost their horticultural understanding. Specialized knowledge is gained to better enable the Master Gardener to give expert advice. Outings are also used for planning and exchanging information on various projects. Once a year the University of Florida conducts "post graduate" Master Gardener training at the State Master Gardener Conference. This is a voluntary, two-three day conference that Master Gardeners attend to receive training and meet other Master Gardeners from throughout the state. Para la traduccíon al español, escoja la bandera española arriba. El servicio tradutor utilizado aqui puede hacerle publicidad a una variedad de bienes o servicios. La Universidad de Florida y el Servicio de Extension de IFAS no tiene ningún control sobre aquel publicidad, ni aproba los bienes o servicios así ofrecidos.

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Colombia Hostage Rescue Endangers Lives of Journalists and Aid Workers Amidst all the joy and celebration resulting from the Colombian military’s successful rescue of 15 hostages last week, the fact that the tactics utilized in the mission will likely endanger the lives of journalists and aid workers in the future has been completely ignored. By having soldiers pose as journalists and aid workers in order to gain access to the hostages, the Colombian government has increased the already high risks faced by legitimate reporters and NGO workers. In a country that is already one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to work as a journalist or a defender of human rights, the armed actors will now be even more suspicious of anyone claiming to work in those fields. Last week’s rescue mission — assuming it did occur as the Colombian government claims and that a ransom was not paid to secure the release of the hostages — was not the first time that the Uribe administration has used the strategy of disguising state security forces as journalists to gain access to hostages. Only last month, a grenade-toting former soldier took 19 people hostage in the government’s pension office in the Colombian capital, Bogotá. The hostage-taker allowed reporters and camera crews to enter the building so he could publicly state his demands that he be paid a pension for his two decades of military service. Undercover police officers posed as journalists in order to gain access to the building and then successfully subdued the man and freed the hostages. The tactics used last week to rescue the 15 hostages — including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors — held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) mimicked that earlier operation. The rescue mission also replicated many aspects of a humanitarian operation conducted by the Venezuelan government three months ago that secured the release of four hostages held by the FARC. Participants in that operation included legitimate journalists and NGO workers who arrived at the remote rendezvous point in an unmarked helicopter to receive the released hostages. According to General Fredy Padilla de Leon, commander of the Colombian army, the soldiers who participated in last week’s rescue operation took acting classes for a week and a half to learn how to impersonate, not only guerrillas, but also journalists and aid workers. After convincing the guerrilla in charge of the hostages that his captives were to be transported to where the FARC’s supreme commander Alfonso Cano was located, the soldiers arrived at the rendezvous point in two white helicopters devoid of markings. Four of the soldiers on board were disguised as aid workers and two others impersonated a television journalist and cameraman in order to convince the rebels that a fictional NGO was helping to coordinate a prisoner exchange. The tactics used by the Colombian government will undoubtedly increase the risks faced by journalists and NGO workers who operate in the country’s rural conflict zones. Colombia’s armed groups, particularly the FARC, will now be even more distrustful of anyone who claims to be a reporter or aid worker. This is likely of little concern to Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe, who has repeatedly endangered the lives of human rights defenders critical of his security policies by accusing them of being spokespersons for the guerrillas. On one prime time national television broadcast in 2003, Uribe accused the country’s NGOs of “politicking at the service of terrorism.” Having worked for years in Colombia’s rural conflict zones, I have been detained on several occasions by FARC guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries who have accused me of being an informer for the Colombian military. In a country that is among the world’s leaders in the number of journalists assassinated, such moments are tense and nerve-wracking. Sometimes, it wasn’t easy to convince the armed groups that I was indeed a legitimate journalist and not an informer. Because of the tactics used in last week’s rescue operation, there is no telling how the FARC might respond to the next legitimate journalist who enters a region under the rebel group’s control. Or how the guerrillas will react in the future when a genuine medical boat belonging to the International Red Cross gets stopped at a rebel checkpoint on a remote jungle river. So while the world is awash in joy over the liberation of the 15 hostages, people should take a moment to reflect on the possibility that journalists and aid workers might be killed in the future because of the irresponsible tactics used by the Uribe administration.

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CAES Researchers Earn $18.2 Million, Provide Significant Return On Investment For Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter announced today that the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) during the past year provided Idaho taxpayers with an 11-to-1 return on their $1.6 million investment in the partnership – a rate most investors would envy. CAES researchers earned $18.2 million in competitive research grants, infrastructure and other funding in federal fiscal year 2011 – which ran through September – pushing the center’s cumulative earnings to $41.9 million. A University of Idaho economist estimates that CAES generated $26.8 million in regional sales, 366 jobs and $620,000 in tax revenue in fiscal 2011 alone. “CAES is a great example of what the Idaho universities and Idaho National Laboratory can accomplish by working together,” Governor Otter said. “The CAES partnership has proven to be a great investment for taxpayers, and you’re going to see more of that kind of collaborative public-private effort from my administration in the years to come.” CAES researchers earned more than 25 different grants and competitive awards in fiscal 2011. Some of the projects funded include: a center that will train engineering students to assess the energy efficiency of manufacturing facilities; researching methods to recover uranium from seawater; a software tool to help developers identify preferred locations for solar energy farms; and developing sensors to monitor conditions inside a nuclear waste container. “It was a great year for the CAES partnership,” said CAES Director Bill Rogers. “The collaborations we have built between the CAES partner institutions and with industry are starting to flourish and result in new research grants and other funding.” CAES, which was created in 2005, is a partnership between Idaho National Laboratory and the State of Idaho through its three researcher universities – Boise State University, Idaho State University and University of Idaho. The State of Idaho has contributed $4.8 million over the past three years – $1.6 million annually – to help support university researchers’ involvement in the CAES partnership. The U.S. Department of Energy and Battelle Energy Alliance, the contractor that runs Idaho National Laboratory, also have contributed significantly to the partnership. Battelle Energy Alliance recently invested more than $6 million to equip the CAES Microscopy and Characterization Suite (MaCS) with an atom probe and other high-end instruments to advance materials research. The lab also provided CAES with $1.4 million in funding for exploratory research projects. For more information about the CAES partnership, visitwww.caesenergy.org.

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It's been at least two days since my baby has pooped. In the fewdays before, he'd poop about once every 24-25 hours , and before that about twice a day. He's got plenty of wet diapers and is still passing gas. Can he be constipated? You can try the thermometer trick, just have a diaper and wipes handy! Get the thermometer and rectally take the temp. Just insert the very tip. This relaxes their booty and poop will come pouring out of they are constipated. Good luck ! Your baby's emotions are becoming more obvious. Over the next few months, she may learn to assess and imitate moods and might show the first stirrings of empathy. For instance, if she hears someone crying, she may start crying too. Read More Your baby's newfound mobility means that he's now entering the land of bumps and falls. These are an inevitable part of childhood, and although your heart may occasionally skip a beat or two, try to enjoy watching your baby... Read More Your baby's now exploring objects by shaking them, banging them, dropping them, and throwing them before falling back on the tried-and-true method of gumming them. The idea that you do something with an object is beginning to emerge... Read More Your baby's vision - previously about 20/40 at best - is now almost adult-like in its clarity and depth perception. Though your baby's short-range sight is still best, his long-range vision is good enough to recognize people and objects across a room. Read More

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Community-Based Research Canada Founded in 2008, Community Based Research Canada’s (CBRC) vision is to be a national champion and facilitator for community based research (CBR) and campus-community engagement in Canada that is of socio-cultural, economic and environmental benefit to Canadians and Indigenous peoples in Canada. CBRC’s Steering Committee brings together key players of community-campus partnerships. CBRC is a network that builds capacity for academia and the wider community to collaborate and use research as a tool to mobilize community, participation and action. CBRC supports and connects Canadian networks such as the Canadian Alliance for Community Service Learning, Research Impact and Campus Community Partnerships for Health and global networks such as the Living Knowledge Network in Europe, the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement in the United Kingdom and the Global Alliance for Community Engaged Research. Since 2008, CBRC has focused on leading and supporting research and policy papers, convening annual CBR gatherings, supporting two CU Expo’s and developing a national and globally connected community of CBR and community-university engagement leaders. CBRC supported the development of the new UNESCO Chair in Social Responsibility in CBR and Higher Educations (held between Canada and India). - Become a member. Sign up as an organization or individual. For more information visit our “Members” page or email firstname.lastname@example.org - Subscribe to our Quarterly E-News and Monthly Listserve on our “Members” page - Attend the annual CU Expo. See our upcoming events to find out when the next conference is taking place. Links to past CU Expos are listed on our “Resources” page. - Share your vision for the CBRC and the Canadian university-engagement and research movement. Submit your ideas to email@example.com. We will report back on results in September 2013.

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Bees are vital for pollination. You can buy leafcutter bee houses to attract the bees to your garden. The leaf-cutter bees are solitary and unlike honey bees do not swarm like honey bees so they are little or no danger to humans or pets. Bees are vital for pollination. You can buy leafcutter bee houses to attract the bees to your garden. Leafcutter bee house. Leaf cutter bees like hollow tubes and bamboo are ideal. They also excavate tunnels in flower pots where light gritty compost is used. The female has used the circular cuts to seal off the ends of the chamber, whereas the longer cuts are wrapped around the sides. The adult bee will provision the chamber with pollen and lay an egg. The larva feeds of the pollen. The female larva are the first to be layed and are deepest in the line. This means that if the nest is predated by a woodpecker, the feamles have a better chance of avoiding being eaten. The male larva is nearst the exit and will be the first to be eaten. Although this larva will probably die, I carefully replaced the bamboo and sealed it with wax to keep the chambers intact and dry. Leaf damage on rose by leaf cutter bees

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24-Sep-2006 -- After hearing about the Degree Confluence Project I did some research on the northern territory of Australia and discovered there is a confluence situated “near” an area I frequently spend time in the dry season. A friend of mine runs a hunting safari business NW of the Confluence and during the hunting season,(May to October) I help when he has larger groups of clients booked. After doing some exploratory trips with the GPS to establish the location of 12 degrees South in relation to the access tracks used to get from camp to various areas of the hunting concession, I discovered that the main access track, which is 60 klm in length and depending on the time of year and amount of water in the various creek crossings and lower lying sections, can take anything up to18 hours to travel, crosses 12 deg south 10 klm to the West of 133 deg East. This was the closest point to the confluence that any of the access tracks could get me, so as a result I had no option but to start the trip to the confluence from here. I spent the next couple of years doing nothing more than research on the confluence this was mostly spent studying maps of various scales trying to establish the type of terrain I would encounter on the trip to the confluence, most of which would be through dense scrub with a couple of creek crossings and some large sandstone outcrops and at least one large open area of thin vegetation, none of this seemed too much of an obstacle to warrant research into an alternative route, although the confluence could be approached from the West, using the main road to Coguburg peninsula as a starting point. Prior to the trip to the confluence I had been out bush for about 6 weeks assisting with the day to day running of the camp and had decided that this presented the best opportunity to do the visit, after discussing my plans with a senior traditional owner who had some knowledge of the area I set myself a date and started making plans for what I was sure would be a successful visit to the confluence. All the travelling between camp and hunting areas is done using 4x4 quad bikes (ATV’s) one of which I had been using on a daily basis and was set up with my GPS mounted to the handle bars, this is not used when out hunting but it’s a great game we play while out in the field having lunch to see which of the clients can guess the distance from and direction to camp. The night before I planned to do the visit I prepped the bike for a trip into unknown territory, checking things like puncture repair materials, tools, re-filling the onboard water tank, filling the bike with fuel, checking oil levels and tyre pressures. I was leaving nothing to chance so I also strapped on some extra fuel and another water bottle as well as packing my rifle and some ammunition. Make no mistake, Arnhemland covers a huge area, and is for the most part uninhabited. I was planning to do this trip when I was the only person out at camp and a very long way from help if required. D-day started with a light breakfast and packing the last few items onto the bike, lunch, camera etc, I left camp at around 7:30am and as always, with early departures from camp, was no sooner up to cruising speed than I was shivering in the early morning light mist hovering just above the ground, I knew this wouldn’t last long once the suns rays broke through the trees ,the daytime temperatures had been rising in the last week to the mid 30’s centigrade and as always when at ground level far from the coast in thick vegetation it doesn’t take long to warm up. About 20 minutes after leaving camp I stopped to turn on the GPS and started travelling at what would be my average speed for the next couple of hours, about 3kmh, once I had reached 12 degrees South I turned sharp left off the track and started my journey into the unknown, this started with an extremely thick section of Acacia, which was difficult to negotiate but not entirely impossible and I certainly wasn’t about to give up this early in the trip, once through the Acacia there was a slight down hill run to the first of the days creek crossings ,the only one to have running water too, then once across the bush changed again into what would become the type of vegetation encountered on most of the trip, large Gum trees, tall grass, both large and small termite mounds and numerous fallen branches. Usually by this time of year much of this type of vegetation has been cleared by fire, enabling a good view of what obstacles are likely to be encountered, unfortunately for me this was not the case limiting my view of what obstacles lay in the grass and only allowing about a 10 metre field of view. The next obstacle encountered was a large sandstone out crop and at this stage I was still trying to travel in as straight a line as possible to the confluence, unfortunately after searching for an easy way through this obstacle I was left with no choice but to backtrack and travel around the outer edge of this large rock formation, after doing so I realised this was the sensible choice as the rocks ended abruptly and with about a 10 metre shear drop. There are a lot of things quad bikes can do but soft landings aren’t one of them. travelling East towards the confluence through a couple of dry sandy creeks and more of the same vegetation as before it wasn’t long before another rock formation loomed in the distance, this time there was a clear path through ,almost exactly on 12 degrees South, at this stage I had only about 2.5 klm left to travel. After about another 1.5 klm travel through, what would in the wet season be, a table top swamp my journey on foot would begin, this was due to the fact that a large dry creek presented too large an obstacle to even attempt this far from where I had set off from about two hours earlier. I parked the bike in the shade and headed off on foot towards the confluence, the creek that had halted my progress was lined on both sides by sheer sandy banks of about 5 meters in height, on the other side of which was the back of yet another rock formation, so travelling on foot was the easiest and obvious choice. 12 S,133 E lies on top of a large sandstone escarpment much of which has been eroded by the forces of nature over time leaving various features in the rock from small holes to caves to large crevasses all of these had to be negotiated in the last few hundred meters from my final destination, all was going well until I was about 50 meters away from the confluence when my path was split be a large crevasse which was too large to jump across or simply step over as I had done previously, I had no choice but to walk 200m along one side until an opportunity to cross became available, then travel back along the other side and locate the confluence. Once I had found the exact spot there was little else to do but take the obligatory photos and enjoy the scenery. The return journey to the bike was interrupted by me startling a pair of grey kangaroos, I’m still not sure who got the bigger fright, after returning to the bike and re-hydrating I decided that the dry creek bed presented too much of a temptation to ignore ,so I loaded my rifle and re-filled my water bottles and set off on a solo hunt. I will not go into details for the benefit of those who don’t share my passion, but having said that, midday walking a dry creek bed alone in the middle of nowhere knowing that the animals you may encounter could provide a once in a life time trophy opportunity is too good to ignore .After a tyring but successful hunt I returned to the bike to have lunch and ensure all was in order for the return journey to camp, stopping briefly at the last creek crossing for a refreshing swim, then it was back onto the main access track and an easy ride to camp where I knew there was a nice cold celebratory beer waiting

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As you’ve probably heard, the longstanding rule that classifies 1/8 cup of tomato paste as a serving of vegetables in kids’ school lunches — thus allowing a slice of pizza to qualify as a serving of veggies — was set to be changed, but political maneuvering recently scuttled that change. And not everyone is thrilled with that. The last place you might expect to see someone commenting in a snarky fashion about this news is on the marquee outside a pizza joint. But according to folks in San Antonio, TX, this Pizza Hut recently posted the sign “NOW SERVING VEGETABLES!” Of course, Pizza Hut and most every other pizza place, has always served veggies in addition to the red sauce on the pie. Perhaps this Hut was just touting up some new line of salads? We’ve reached out to reps for Pizza Hut HQ to see what they think about this sign and will update if we get a response. Pizza Hut, you’re doing it right! [Reddit] ‘Pizza vegetable’ controversy is hot potato [L.A. Times]

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nanopositioner; dual-stage; polysilicon process; electron micrographs A nanopositioner is presented that has two stages for independent coarse and fine position control. Thermal microactuators operate both stages. The first stage includes a bistable mechanism: it travels 52 micrometers between two discrete positions. The second stage is mounted on the first stage and moves continuously through an additional 8 micrometers in the same direction as the first stage. Three approaches to the control of the second stage were evaluated in terms of accuracy and manufacturability, and one was selected for the design of the nanopositioner. The device was surface micromachined in a two-layer polysilicon process. Experiments were performed to characterize the resolution, repeatability, hysteresis, and thermal drift of the second stage of the nanopositioner with open-loop control. Position measurements were obtained from scanning electron micrographs by a numerical procedure, which is described in detail. The nanopositioner demonstrated 170-nanometer resolution and repeatability within 124 nanometers. The hysteresis of the second stage was 6% of its full range. The nanopositioner drifted 25 nanometers in the first 60 minutes of operation with a time constant of about 6 minutes. The dual-stage nanopositioner may be useful for applications such as variable optical attenuators or wavelength-specific add-drop devices.

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Hydration numbers aren't that meaningful by themselves -- whether an 80% hydration level can produce a high-rising free-form loaf will depend on a lot on the types of flours or grains that are used. (Usually, 80% hydration is most appropriate for flatter or roughly shaped breads: ciabatta, focaccia, pizza dough, rustic baguettes, etc.) With the specific mixture of spelt and "strong white flour" (high protein) you mention, it should be possible to get a loaf with a little more lift. But it's hard to say for certain -- the flour itself will affect whether it's actually possible to do what you want. Frankly, there are a lot of variables that could be creating problems beyond the ingredients. A sourdough culture that produces a lot of acid quickly can make it quite difficult to get a tall loaf. Or, if your sourdough yeast is weak and takes more than a couple hours for each rise, you might be producing too much acid. The acidic environment will tend to weaken the gluten, and you'll inevitably get a loaf that spreads. If this is the problem, you'll need to refresh the starter with a few closely spaced builds that really dilute the starter (e.g., dilute your starter 1:4 or even more with new flour/water in each build). That will strengthen the yeast but cut down on the early development of acidity. Unless you're a sourdough expert, I might actually suggest trying to get good results with regular baker's yeast in your recipe before doing the sourdough conversion, since the sourdough may be contributing more than anything else to the spreading. If the starter isn't the problem and the ingredients can hold up the loaf, the next options are alterations to technique. The best suggestion I can give is to introduce "stretch-and-fold" maneuvers into the first rise. After you mix the final dough (which doesn't necessarily need to be heavily kneaded), come back every 30-45 minutes or so and stretch the dough from each side at a time. Pull out, lift up, and fold on top of the rest of the dough. Do this from each of the four sides of the dough. Let rest for 30-45 minutes again and repeat as often as you need until you feel the dough strengthen significantly. If you adopt stretch-and-folds, you may not see the same amount of rise you saw without them, so you need to just keep your eye on the clock and use the same amount of time you did before for the first rise. By the time you reach the shaping phase, the dough should be much more taught and elastic. The other significant issue is shaping. Do you do a pre-shape and bench rest before the final shaping? That can also help. Preshape by pulling the dough taught, folding in upon itself a number of times, then let rest for 15 minutes or so before doing final shaping. Basically, the more times you stretch the gluten and let it rest, the stronger the dough will get -- whether you do that in folding during the first rise or in a preshaping before bench rest, it will help. The shaping technique itself can also significantly affect the stability of the final loaf (but that's hard to explain in a text response). Also, you may be waiting too long in the final proof if you wait to fully double in size. Unless the sourdough culture is very strong, you might have better results by waiting for only a 1.5 or 1.75 rise. If you do that, you may want to be somewhat gentle during the final shaping to preserve some of the gas from the first proof. In fact -- if all of this sounds way too fussy for you, another option may be to skip all the stretching, folding, shaping, etc. and avoid the final rise almost altogether. Let the dough roughly double in size during the first rise, then shape very gently into a rough ball, rest just a short time until it starts to expand again (no more than an hour or so), and then throw it in to bake. Lastly, the baking method could change things. If you're baking on a flat stone, the dough can just spread significantly during baking itself. I've sometimes seen this with high hydration sourdough -- I load it on a peel, and it looks okay before it goes in the oven, but during the oven spring phase, it just becomes wider instead of taller. Baking in a pot or round pan could help to restrain that spreading a bit without making it look too much like bread from a pan. And, if you cover a pre-heated pot for the first 15 minutes or so of the bake, it will help the oven spring and crust development. It's hard to know which of these options will work best for you, since there are a large number of issues that could be at fault in this case. In my experience, however, the two most likely causes for spreading are a weak sourdough starter or inadequate strengthening of the gluten during shaping.

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In the context of boiling water for pasta or other purposes, all over the Internet the advise is oft-repeated that salt should not be added to the water when it is cold in order to prevent damage to ... I've seen this question and obviously carbon steel (not stainless) knives look quite bad without extra care (picture from the linked to question) Now my question is - why face the trouble? Why ... I use stainless steel pots on an induction cooker for boiling water for preparing food for an infant. I use bottled and supposedly clear and soft water. When I pour the water into the pot it is ... I have a set of stainless steel pans that I absolutely love, and my 12" frying pan has received LOTS of use since I bought it. This is my first ever stainless steel pan and I'm pretty aware of all the ... Just started using a stainless steel pan. First thing I cooked in it was bacon followed by some fried rice. Stuff stuck to it, but a quick soak and it all came off. However, once I cleaned and dried ... Okay, I received a nice stainless steel saute pan for Christmas and in looking around online there are people that say I need to season it. Most of the techniques I've seen involve oil and salt and ... I bought a hand crank can opener (Oxo) because of the good online feedback and only use the "shake" dry approach. It quickly developed rust in between the metal. If I invest the time and scrub, I can ... I just looked on the All-Clad website (faq 7 and faq 13). It says that because the MC2 has a brushed aluminum alloy exterior, it mush be hand washed. Why is the dishwasher bad for it? It's just soap ... This is somewhat related to the question about copper vs. cast iron, but this is about copper vs. pure stainless steel. I had an old stainless steel stockpot that warped (it was very, very cheap ... Lots of times in recipes, they'll specify using a stainless steel pan, but I find the non-stick aspect of Teflon to be an advantage. Is stainless steel really better, and if so ,What about it makes it ...

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The Ford Volunteer Corps was cooking, baking and boiling, and slicing and dicing on a Ford Accelerated Action Day dedicated to feeding the hungry. More than 600 Ford employees teamed up with nonprofit partners to feed men, women and children in need. The Ford Volunteer Corps works around the world and throughout the year to help people and strengthen communities. It's a team effort involving Ford's employees, retirees, dealers and nonprofit partners. We tackle hundreds of projects with thousands of volunteers. This video features one recent project in Billings, Montana. For one sunny spring day, cars and trucks took a backseat to the birds and the bees, flowers and trees for hundreds of Ford volunteers participating in the Better World Ford Accelerated Action Day. The Ford Volunteer Corps mobilized nearly 1,000 employees in 10 states to work on outdoor environmental projects in local communities.

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Gunman severely wounds Swedish woman in Pakistan A gunman on a motorcycle shot and severely wounded an elderly Swedish woman who worked at a church in eastern Pakistan on Monday, officials said. The woman, who was identified by Pakistani police as Bargetta Emmi, was getting out of her car in front of her home in the city of Lahore when she was shot in the neck by an unknown assailant. Her servants reported the incident to police, said Pakistani police officer Malik Awais. She was a director of FGA Church (Full Gospel Assemblies of Pakistan), Awais said. Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman Teo Zetterman confirmed en elderly Swedish woman was shot and severely wounded in Lahore. He said she was a volunteer worker in her 70s, but did not provide her name or where she worked. The woman is a Swedish citizen but has lived and worked in Pakistan for several years, said Zetterman. The gunman who shot Emmi escaped, and the motive was unclear. Also in Lahore, gunmen on Monday desecrated over 100 graves of Ahmadis, members of a persecuted religious sect in Pakistan, said Awais, the police officer. More than a dozen gunmen held the caretakers of the graveyard hostage while they defaced the graves. "You can't inscribe verses from the holy Quran on the graves. You are Ahmadis. You are not Muslims," one of the attackers told the caretakers, according to Awais. Parliament amended Pakistan's constitution in 1974 to declare that Ahmadis were not considered Muslims under the law. Ahmadis believe their spiritual leader, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908, was a messiah - a position rejected by the government in response to a mass movement led by Pakistan's major Islamic parties. The Ahmadis' plight - along with that of Pakistan's other religious minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Christians and Hindus - has deepened in recent years as hard-line interpretations of Islam have gained ground and militants have stepped up attacks against groups they oppose. Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims. Also Monday, a roadside bomb ripped through a police van as it was patrolling on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing two officers and wounding two others, said senior police officer Javed Khan. Peshwar is on the edge of Pakistan's tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban militants in the country, and has been hit by frequent bombings over the past few years. In the southern city of Karachi, a gunman riding on a motorcycle killed the leader of an Islamic seminary, sparking a riot by hundreds of seminary students, who stoned shops and set vehicles on fire, said police officer Azhar Iqbal. Karachi has a long history of political, sectarian and ethnic strife, which has been on the rise this year. Associated Press writers Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm, Adil Jawad in Karachi, Pakistan and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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There's a document called the Brookings Report that was written when NASA was first formed. It's a very long document covering at length the implications of civilian space exploration. There are, I think, two mentions in there that the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life could be upsetting to certain establishments of our civilization. The woo-woos have latched onto this as evidence that NASA would cover up any such finding, even though they're the only ones who even seem to remember the Brookings Report any more. Originally Posted by Sticks Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

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The richness of fabric, design and variance of textures creates a striking contrast between light and dark as the quilters create a variety of everything from quilts to wall hangings, table runners, place mats, photo-sized, etc. Several of the mostly female quilters are members of a quilt club and/or the River Valley Quilters, which was formed in 1985 to promote the appreciation of the rich heritage of the art of quilting. Their aim is to enhance knowledge through sharing skills and ideas with members and others with a purpose of preserving the art of quilting for future generations. Many of the exhibitors will share stories of who the quilt was made for, what it represents and the inspiration for the quilt. The exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. A Sunday Family Funday is held in the classroom at the same time as the reception. This is a time for parents to introduce young children to the exhibit in the gallery and for them to create an art project to take home. All supplies and an instructor are provided. “One of the greatest challenges for even some of the larger museums and arts centers today is finding ways to remove barriers to community participation, including admission charges,” D. Bacigalupi, executive director of the Crystal Bridges Museum, said. “We are pleased that we’ve been able to bring quality exhibits and exhibit receptions that can be enjoyed by area residents and visitors that are free and open to the public,” Betty LaGrone, executive director of the River Valley Arts Center, said. “We appreciate all our members and supporters for making admissions and many of our programs free of charge to the public.”

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Lecture 12: Flexible polyhedra, Bellows Theorem; folding polygons into polyhedra, gluings, convex polyhedral metrics, Aleksandrov's Theorem, Sabitov's algorithm, ungluable polygons Page 4: Algorithms for Aleksandrov's Theorem: Sabitov's (highly exponential) algorithm You can view the Fedorchuk and Pak paper on volume polynomials and algorithms for Aleksandrov's Theorem, which also summarizes Sabitov's work. These are rough, personal lecture notes handwritten by Erik Demaine used during lecture. Their primary purpose is for reading/review by students of the class.

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Coyotes spend a good deal of their day sleeping. Members of a pack or family may sleep within close proximity of each other, or they may sleep much further apart, but probably within the same couple of acres of each other. They have amazing built-in time clocks, but they also are influenced by circumstances of the moment. My own dog could tell the time and knew what was to be done at that time. For example, I always set off, with my dog, at exactly 2:40 to pick up one of my kids at school. But one day I fell asleep — I would not have made it on time except that my dog began poking me with her muzzle at exactly 2:40. Needless to say, I was amazed. The same is true for coyotes — they seem to know when it is time to meet up, but if people or dogs are around, they will delay. Most coyotes I know like to go trekking alone. After all, their staple diet consists of voles and gophers — animals that really can’t be divvied up very well. Might as well hunt alone. But some coyotes do enjoy trekking together, usually in pairs. When they hunt in pairs, there is usually a rendezvous beforehand. Rendezvous locations can remain the same for a while, or they can change drastically from day to day, but coyotes seem to have various favorite meeting spots which they alternate between for a while, before changing these altogether . This is where they congregate to then move together for their foraging. In this case here, the older female had spent her day sleeping in the sun quite some distance from where the young male had been also sleeping in the sun. The female was the first to move around — she disappeared into some bushes. In the meantime, I watched the male who moved from where he had been sleeping to a new location where he curled up and then dozed a while longer. Finally, he got up, stretched, scratched, and began to forage. I watched him catch a vole and toy with it. He continued searching for voles and then looked up ahead. He must have seen the female approaching, because he sat down and watched intently. She trotted over, and arrived on the scene. The ritual began with hugs and kisses. They are hidden in the grass in these photos, but you can see what is going on. It was intense, but lasted only about a minute. That was the first phase of the meeting. Then there was a pause where all activity ceased. I think the male was waiting for something, but since nothing happened he turned around and backed into her — it looked like a request. He did it again and then looked over his shoulder: “well?”. The older female was obliging. She began grooming the young fellow, pulling off burrs and bugs. He accepted this, repeatedly laying his ears back against his head — he seemed to melt with the attention. There was care, affection, and intensity here which few animals that I have seen show each other. The next phase of the meeting involved trotting off together. From what I have seen in the past — though I did not follow them this time — they will spend their time together trekking, marking their territory, hunting, playing, exploring and maybe even meeting up briefly with a couple of lone coyotes who live adjacent to this territory, before again returning to separate localities to rest.

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LEGAL GUEST BLOG -- SARA J. FAGNILLI Temper, temper! Anger management issues in the workplace Blog entry: November 21, 2012, 4:30 am | Author: SARA J. FAGNILLI It's a subject made for the movies! But, unlike its depiction in the 2003 film, Anger Management, treatment for anger management issues is very serious business. Haven't we all been in a work situation where someone loses their temper? Know the employee with a reputation as the “office screamer?” Sometimes it can even be a boss! While some people may be prone to outbursts of emotion at work, are these incidents simply a reflection of human nature or are they, perhaps, something more serious that an employer must address? Believe it or not, an employee with significant anger issues may be protected by various laws, if that anger is caused by or related to a medical condition. As is the case with most employment-related disciplinary matters, the answer to the question of how to manage an employee with anger issues is - carefully. Each individual situation requires analysis to assess the issues involved and to determine how an employer should proceed. Are you dealing with the “office bully,” with an employee who consistently loses his or her temper with other employees, customers or clients, or with someone who just has a poor daily demeanor that manifests itself in regular outbursts, perhaps directed at no one in particular? In short, is this just an office bully or someone who has a mental impairment? Workplace bullying, according to the Workplace Bullying Institute, is “repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons …one or more perpetrators…in the form of verbal abuse, offensive conduct/behaviors (including nonverbal) which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating or work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done.” Obviously, this definition covers someone who simply behaves badly in the workplace, but it also may describe the actions of an employee with a more serious, underlying behavioral problem. Employers may not, however, play psychologist/psychiatrist in attempting to assess an individual's actions. Therein lies the challenge for the employer, as it must make an effort to determine the best, most appropriate way to handle such behavioral issues without placing a "label" upon the employee. If the incident is one for which discipline is appropriate, a part of that discipline could presumably involve the requirement that the employee get counseling – seems simple and straightforward, right? Maybe not. Requiring an employee with anger problems to get counseling could trigger certain issues and protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and by the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). Requiring an employee to obtain counseling could be found to be equivalent to requiring a medical exam. In order for an employer to avoid a violation of the ADAAA, it must demonstrate that such an exam (or counseling) is job-related and that it is a business necessity. So what do you do with the “office screamer” - the person who doesn't necessarily become involved in a confrontation with a co-worker or third party, but who has an unpleasant office demeanor that might not otherwise be subject to discipline? While that type of behavior could certainly lead to disciplinary action, a wise employer will want to derail that behavior before it escalates into a disciplinary event. It is possible for an employer - without running afoul of ADAAA regulations - to require that an employee attend a group anger management class. This type of group training can assist the employee in managing his or her interactions in the workplace, without necessarily implying that the employee has a mental impairment. Anger is a significant workplace and societal issue, and there are professionals who deal specifically with anger management. The basic question, of course, centers around a determination of the source of one's anger which, in today's world, can stem from outside forces that ultimately manifest themselves within the workplace. While the majority of employees will not want their personal issues to impact their job situation, some people are unable to prevent that anger from manifesting itself at work. This situation is much more difficult to deal with from an employer's standpoint. While an employer should be reluctant to delve into an employee's personal situation, anger left unchecked can have drastic consequences in the workplace. This is an area where an employer would be well advised to proceed with caution and to consult with legal counsel early in the process in order to avoid ending up on the wrong end of an EEOC charge.

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No Longer an Enemy the days of the American Revolutionary War there lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, a preacher by the name of Peter Miller who enjoyed the friendship of General George Washington. There also dwelt in that town one Michael Wittman, an evil-minded man who did all in his power to abuse and oppose this preacher. day Michael Wittman was involved in treason and was arrested and sentenced to death. When the old preacher heard this news, he started out on foot and walked the whole seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead for this man's life. He was admitted into Washington's presence and at once begged for the life of the traitor. said, "No, Peter, I cannot grant you the life of your preacher exclaimed, "My FRIEND?? Why, this man is the bitterest ENEMY cried, "What? You've walked seventy miles to save the life of an ENEMY? Now that puts the matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon." so he did. And Peter Miller took Michael Wittman from the very shadow of death back to his own home in Ephrata -- no longer as an enemy, but as a friend.* to our sins, you and I have been found guilty and sentenced to death. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 3:23; 6:23). However, Christ walked the road to Calvary to seek reconciliation to God for US (His enemies) Romans 5:10. But unlike Peter Miller, Christ did not just enter "the very shadow of death" to save us; He actually gave His life so that we might be reconciled to God. see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a RIGHTEOUS someone might possibly dare to die. But his own love for us in this: While we were still SINNERS, Christ died for us! Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For IF, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the DEATH of his Son, HOW MUCH MORE, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his LIFE!" (Romans 5:6-10). Christ you and I can be reconciled to God, IF… we will respond to Him in faith (Hebrews 11:6), repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confession (Romans 10:9-10), and baptism (immersion) for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16). Then, as we CONTINUE to walk in the light of His Word, the cleansing blood of Jesus will CONTINUE to wash our sins away (1 John 1:7). VALUE of something is often determined by the PRICE one is willing to pay for it! Consider the GREAT price that was paid for OUR OUR response should be to walk with Him now, not as an ENEMY, but as a Church of Christ at Creekwood 1901 Schillinger Rd. S. Mobile, Alabama 36695 Subscribe to "Living Water" send a blank e-mail to: HTML version: email@example.com TEXT version: firstname.lastname@example.org this link to locate the church of Christ nearest you: www.churchsearch.org Archived issues of "Living Water" can be accessed from our website

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The Richboro Elementary Meadow Project Students in the Richboro Elementary Ecology Club have been planting a meadow each year since 2008. We were the first school in Council Rock School District to do so, and our project has inspired the District to plant four acres of meadows at several other Council Rock school locations. Why plant meadows? Meadows provide habitats for more insects and other animals than green lawns. The first year we planted the meadow, we found two praying mantids had moved in! Additionally, meadows do not need to be mowed more than once a year, so they save fossil fuel. Below are photos and descriptions of our current meadow as well as meadows from previous years. The Fourth Planting of Richboro Elementary School's Meadow Students in the Richboro Elementary School Ecology Club planted its fourth meadow this spring. Students sowed the flower seeds harvested last fall in the newly prepared plot. Additional native seeds, including sunflower and asters, were planted. Students and teachers look forward to seeing what surprises await when returning to school in the fall. The Third Planting of Richboro Elementary School’s Meadow The Ecology Club at Richboro Elementary School planted its meadow for a third growing season this April. Using seeds harvested from the meadow last fall, the club members, ranging from grades two through five, took turns planting seeds in a grid-like pattern across the meadow plot. Sunflower seeds were pushed into the ground with planting sticks, and the soil was raked to cover the seeds. As the club ended, the clouds gathered and watered the meadow, as if on cue. We look forward to watching our garden bloom as the seasons turn. Richboro Elementary School’s Meadow The Ecology Club at Richboro Elementary School planted its meadow for a second growing season this April. The club, with over 40 students and 5 teachers, worked together to sow seeds on a drizzly, windy day. The seeds had been harvested by the students last fall from the meadow’s first dried flowers. The charming sign, including drawings by 13 children, will be posted at the front of the meadow. Richboro Elementary School’s Meadow Blooms and Seeds are Harvested Last spring the Ecology Club at Richboro Elementary School planted seeds to create a meadow in the front of the building. Not certain how successful the meadow would be, the club members were greeted at the beginning of this school year by a surprisingly full field of colorful blooms. This fall the flowers matured to produce seeds. To complete the cycle, the Ecology Club plans to plant the seeds next spring. The Earth Laughs in Flowers Richboro Elementary School’s Meadow Project The Ecology Club at Richboro Elementary School planted a meadow for their final big project of the school year. Ecology Club students pulled out clumps of grass, and then teachers gave students seeds to plant in the plot. The students zig-zagged their way across the plot to ensure even coverage of the seeds. At the end of the day, each child received a small bag of seeds to plant at home with the saying, "The Earth Laughs in Flowers." The seeds had been sorted and packaged by students in the Autistic Support classes at Richboro Elementary. The flowers hopefully will grow throughout the summer. In addition to adding beauty to the school, the meadow will reduce the fossil fuel needed to mow the grass all summer and will help insects gain a new home. The students and teachers look forward to seeing a wildflower meadow in full bloom at the beginning of the new school year in September.

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Not Early Release? Assertions that prison realignment is “not an early release program” are deceptive. Realignment changed penalties and the level of parole supervision for most felons convicted after November 1, 2011. It shifted the responsibility for tens of thousands of felons to counties where jail space is already filled to capacity, and changed the definition of who qualifies for community service programs. REALIGNMENT AUTHORIZES THE EARLY RELEASE OF THESE FELONS. Convicted felons now sentenced to county supervision instead of state prisons include: Career drug dealers Habitual auto and I.D. thieves Criminals with long criminal histories including felonies involving assault and firearms

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The Huffington Post By Joan Z. Shore I am really dismayed by all this speculation about Fidel Castro's state of health -- almost like undertakers, waiting for the corpse. Will the disappearance of this man instantly change American policy, eliminate the embargo of nearly half a century, and appease the Cuban-Americans who are still feeling bitter and bereft? Three years ago, I had the good fortune to visit Cuba. I did not smuggle myself in via Canada or the Bahamas, as some of my friends and colleagues have done, but went under the auspices of the Chopra Foundation. It was one of those rare group visas issued by the American government for medical or cultural visits; they are almost impossible to get today. After the three-day health conference, many of us stayed on for the rest of the week to visit Havana and absorb the country's atmosphere. We drank a lot of mojitos and danced a lot of salsa, puffed on fragrant Cohibas and bought souvenir T-shirts with Che Guevara's image. Perhaps nowhere else on earth can you travel just 90 miles from your nation's border and find yourself plunged into another culture, another era, another world. Cuba is a fascinating blend of simplicity and complexity, the raw and the romantic, the practical and the lush. There are no commercial billboards, no neon signs, no strip malls. School children all wear plain red outfits with white blouses. Ancient American automobiles rattle along pock-marked roads, and many taxis are little more than a bicycle-rickshaw pedalled by a young man. At the same time, one is surrounded by brilliant colors, opulent vegetation, round-the-clock music, and friendly people. Groups of musicians play on the streets, in restaurants, in roof-top cafès. There are no boom-boxes, no Muzac. Open-air markets sell colorful crafts and vivid, original art. Havana's long seafront promenade, the Malecón, is washed by ocean waves against a backdrop of elegant but decaying buildings. The unfortunate economic truth, of course, is evident: there is very little money for restoration and new construction. Several families sometimes live together in one apartment, and people are allowed to use their homes as ad hoc restaurants, to earn a little money. Trained professionals (doctors, engineers, teachers) often switch to menial jobs (waiters or tour guides) because, with tips, they will actually earn more. A single dollar bill is a much-appreciated tip for many services -- and the dollar, in fact, is legal tender. There is no need to buy pesos. Medical care is excellent, and free to all, but simple supplies like Band-Aids, aspirin, vitamins are missing from pharmacy shelves. The foreign visitor is politely requested to bring these items and distribute them freely. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost a strong trading partner and a major source of economic support. America has not stepped into the breach. In fact, what few people realize, it was America's rejection 47 years ago that caused Castro to turn to the U.S.S.R. Initially, Castro was not a Communist, and his uprising against Batista was tacitly approved and encouraged by the U.S. government. Three months after his successful revolution, he went to Washington to see the president. Eisenhower refused to receive him. Castro had a 15-minute talk with vice-president Nixon, and returned to Havana empty-handed. We know the rest of the story. There is no bitterness or resentment today in Cuba against Americans. Cubans blame the American government, not the people, for the embargo that has isolated them and blighted their economy. Surely, they must also remember that under Batista their country was not fully autonomous: it was a playground for American tourists and a goldmine for American mobsters, who ran the casinos, the prostitution, and the drug trade. Sadly, as events unfolded, Soviet-style Communism replaced syndicated crime. Cubans have paid dearly for their revolution. I wonder what America might have offered them in 1959? And what can we offer them today? Big Macs and iPods and Calvin Klein jeans? I hope that Cuba, after Castro, will manage to establish democracy and at the same time keep its vibrant, unique culture -- that wonderful blend of African, Indian and Spanish. I pray that Cuba will not become an American clone or colony -- a target for unscrupulous developers and investors, a dreary suburb of Dade County, Florida. After Castro, we should all make a toast, and mean it: 'Viva Cuba libre!'

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Posts Tagged ‘marine ecology’ Once I dreamed a dream of being an evolutionary biologist. As I imagined it, I would hang out in a natural history museum, comparing fossils to one another, taking notes on the minute differences, and piecing together the history of life. It wasn’t until a job fair years ago, when I babbled to an evolutionary biologist about morphologies, collecting specimens, and, pretty much word for word, “working in a dusty basement full of drawers of fossils,” that I realized it was an unlikely future. The scientist looked at me like I was nuts: “Um… that’s not really what I do. I work with DNA and genomes.” I pushed him further, but his answer was clear: The job I described did not exist anymore. But while the job does not exist (or is a rare find at best), the specimens do. There are still huge archives at museums stuffed with bones, skins, ad infinitum. I am fortunate to have a friend who works at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in the mammals department. When I visited Catherine back in October, she was spending most of her time with the bat specimens, ensuring that they were in proper order and condition. She gave me a tour of the place and I was blown away: I had always dreamed of walking into a room, stacked ceiling to floor with hippo skulls, and there I was! Catherine showed me the cleaning rooms, where fresh skeletons are picked clean by flesh-eating beetles; slid open a case in which hung tiger skins, as if it were her coat closet; and, by far my favorite, the marine mammal room, with massive whale vertebrae lined up on shelves. It’s funny to imagine a whale complaining of back pain, but there was even a pair of calcified vertebrae among the bunch. After walking through the maze of rooms and seeing this vast collection with my own eyes, I couldn’t help but wonder: What are these even used for anymore? Certainly, education, but the museum was already packed with skeletons and stuffed animals without this backup. Catherine told me that sometimes researchers try to extract DNA from specimens, but that purpose alone doesn’t seem to make the best use of this huge collection. If taxonomy is now prescribed by genomics, are these collections, compiled and curated over centuries, going to waste? In the past couple months, I stumbled upon three papers describing three different ways that these collections can be used to study ECOLOGY! (O, be still, my heart!) The first, in Marine Ecology, online on Feburary 16, 2011, argues for the use of natural history collections to inform us about past species assemblages of areas that haven’t been heavily studied — baseline data. The researchers used Saba Bank, a reef in the Caribbean Netherlands, as a case study, studying coral specimens collected by divers in 1972. In this older collection, there were five species of corals collected that are no longer found in Saba Bank, suggesting that this understudied reef may need greater protection. This may seem like an obvious use – but the authors note that it’s relatively unexploited. This may be because of poor record keeping, or the difficulty of locating collections from a specific area that have been shipped off to another museum. Another problem is that, if earlier sampling methods weren’t written down, it’s hard to know how representative a collection is of the area. Divers, not scientists, collected the Saba Bank specimens, so they may not have been trying to take note of all the species there at the time. But finding five species that survived there previously but don’t now is very useful information, no matter the completeness of the collection. Certain organisms can provide information about their growth through growth rings, which makes their presence in natural history collections useful for learning about environmental conditions. Robert Scott is remembered for failing to reach the South Pole before Roald Amundsen – and part of the reason he was so slow is that he was so busy collecting specimens and taking measurements for SCIENCE. During his 1901 and 1913 expeditions, Scott collected Cellarinella nutti, a bryozoan that develops growth rings. Because this species was collected throughout the twentieth century, scientists were able to date the rings based on collection date, and create a timeline of relative growth: did the bryozoans grow significantly more in one decade than another? The scientists found no change in growth between 1890 and 1970, but a sharp increase since the 1990s, as they published in Current Biology on February 22, 2011. Based on studies in related species, they think that this growth acceleration is either related to (a) greater production of phytoplankton, the food chain base or (b) a switch in the dominant species of phytoplankton, which could alternatively be more nutritious, speeding their growth. If they’re correct, it means that these museum specimens provide evidence for a recent increase in carbon storage on the seafloor in the Antarctic. Natural history specimens can also be useful for tracking the development of disease in an animal population. Avian pox is caused by a DNA virus (the aptly named Avipoxvirus) that causes lesions either externally, on feather-free areas, or internally, in the mouth, windpipe and lungs. Beyond the metabolically draining effects of the virus, the pox symptoms can cause trouble feeding, cleaning and breathing. The virus is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to the extinction of Hawaiian bird species. Avian pox has been identified recently in the Galapagos islands, affecting mockingbird, warbler, and finch species that are only found there. To figure out when the virus arrived to help trace the progression of the infection, scientists used natural history specimens. Digging through past collections, the researchers selected birds with lesions like those found on avian pox victims, and looked for viral DNA to confirm that these lesions were caused by the virus. Their research, published on January 13, 2011 in PLoS ONE, reports the earliest specimen with avian pox they found was infected in 1898, and that the infections generally followed the pattern of human colonization. This suggests that the virus has been spread not by mosquitoes moving between islands, but by chickens and other pox-carrying fowl brought by settlers. These perhaps unexpected uses for natural history collections — to reconstruct species assemblages, extrapolate climatic or ecological variability reflecting growth, or trace a disease through a population — should force scientists to rethink their collection methods. Historically, these collections were created to answer a simple question: What species are out there? As a December 2010 paper in the American Journal of Botany notes (hat tip to Colin Schultz), this mindset often leads to (a) oversampling of rare species, as just one or two specimens can misrepresent their abundance proportionally and (b) undersampling of common species, since just a couple specimens will do. But gathering fully representational collections is easier said than done. These are real people out in the field, digging in the dirt or seafloor and may not have the space or energy to haul back many examples of a single species. Plus, you can go too far in the other direction; there is also no need to destroy the ecosystem for the sake of fair sampling! But it does make clear that the age of DNA and genomics does not exclude the need for sampling. To ensure that past collections remain useful as ecological tools, scientists need to keep sampling for the sake of future science. Edit: Fabulous commenters leave links to relevant articles! They each get a gold star sticker - Tracing the history of the parasite Wolbachia in butterflies using museum collections - Utilizing museum specimens to map deep sea creatures - Using bivalve fossils to study the latitudinal diversity gradient extending from the equator >Barnes, D., Kuklinski, P., Jackson, J., Keel, G., Morley, S., & Winston, J. (2011). Scott’s collections help reveal accelerating marine life growth in Antarctica Current Biology, 21 (4) DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.033 Hoeksema, B., van der Land, J., van der Meij, S., van Ofwegen, L., Reijnen, B., van Soest, R., & de Voogd, N. (2011). Unforeseen importance of historical collections as baselines to determine biotic change of coral reefs: the Saba Bank case Marine Ecology DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2011.00434.x Parker, P., Buckles, E., Farrington, H., Petren, K., Whiteman, N., Ricklefs, R., Bollmer, J., & Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G. (2011). 110 Years of Avipoxvirus in the Galapagos Islands PLoS ONE, 6 (1) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015989 Steege, H., Haripersaud, P., Banki, O., & Schieving, F. (2010). A model of botanical collectors’ behavior in the field: Never the same species twice American Journal of Botany, 98 (1), 31-37 DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1000215 Ever wonder what benefit clownfish bring to anemones that make it a mutualism? At Sleeping with the Fishes, my marine ecology blog on the Southern Fried Science Network, I wrote about some new research about nutrient transfer in this symbiotic relationship between clownfish, anemones, and zooxanthellae. Excerpt below! Anemones and clownfish: a true mutualism? Of course anemones aren’t famous for their symbioses with zooxanthellae, but rather with the brightly-colored clownfish or anemonefish. Although anemones have nematocysts that they use to sting and shock their prey before consuming it, the anemonefish are able to swim among their tentacles unharmed. (We still don’t know how they develop this ability!) These little guys were made famous by the movie Finding Nemo to their own detriment, ironically, considering the message of the film. But I knew about anemonefish before they sold-out and became famous: in 1999, I wrote my 6th-grade research paper on these puppies! The benefit to the fish in this symbiotic relationship is clear: living amongst tentacles armed with automatic stinging cells provides a lot of protection to this conspicuous (and tasty!) little fish. But what can a little fish do for an anemone? In my 6th-grade paper, I summarized a 1986 study by Dr. Daphne Fautin suggesting that they provide protection to the anemone: Dr. Daphne Gail Fautin did an experiment in the Great Barrier Reef. She removed clownfish from their sea anemones to discover what would happen to the fish and the anemones. When she checked back the next day, the anemones had disappeared… It turned out that butterflyfish had eaten the anemones and the clownfish had swum away… The butterflyfish were able to feast on anemone because the clownfish weren’t there to protect their anemone by baring and chattering their teeth or making other threatening noises. Dr. Fautin’s experiment proved that the clownfish/anemone relationship is two-sided because the anemone protects the clownfish and the clownfish protects the anemone. (I haven’t improved much in the past decade.) Even as an 11-year old, I remember forcing myself to belabor this point. Despite the results of Dr. Fautin’s experiments, the protection of a non-threatening, bite-sized snack of a fish did not seem to be enough benefit to the anemone for this to be a true mutualism. Is teeth-chattering really the only thing that clownfish bring to the table? Read on here

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As soon as the referee announced the end of Uruguay’s 1-0 loss to Great Britain in their final group match on Wednesday, their captain, Luis Suarez, fell down to his knees due to the disappointment of crashing out of the 2012 London Olympics. He remained in that crouched and dejected position until one of his teammates approached and helped him get back on his feet. This little post-match incident highlights just how badly Suarez wanted to stay alive at London 2012, and its importance to him, his football crazy countrymen, and fans betting on Olympic football, this summer. Before the London Games, Uruguay had not participated in the Olympics’ football tournaments for 84 long years. Having decided to end their exile from the event this summer, they were determined to go deep and even capture a medal if possible. This South American country has only won two gold medals at Olympics and their football team in the 1924 and 1928 events won both of them. Hence, it would not have been a shock if they had managed to find themselves on the podium at the end of the tournament. After all, Ondino Viera, a famous Uruguayan football coach had once famously summarised his countrymen’s enthusiasm for the sport by saying: “Other countries have their history. Uruguay has its football.” Their current football coach, Oscar Tabarez, had also seemed pumped up for the tournament and had reportedly shown his players the archived footage of Uruguay’s wins of the 1924 and 1928 to get them motivated. La Celeste arrived in London will full of confidence and an abundance of talent on their roster but, unfortunately, they couldn’t translate that into winning football on the field. At the start of the competition, they were expected to win their group with ease, but a solitary win, followed by double defeats, meant that their hopes of replicating their forefathers’ Olympics success came to an instant halt in the very first hurdle. Great Britain’s hopes for the Olympics are looking somewhat brighter than Uruguay’s: Betfair is backing Becky Adlington to win the gold medal in the women’s swimming event. Popularity: 1% [?] If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! Are you a new dad, old dad, soon to be dad or just wish you were a dad? Check out Like A Dad, a blog that touches on doing parenting....like a dad.

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Although Iran may try to sponsor terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, the United States is well-equipped to prevent them, said Michael Leiter, former National Counterterrorism Center director, on April 12. Leiter, who served as NCTC director from 2008 to 2011, spoke on a panel at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. A system of preventative, investigative, intelligence-gathering and outreach work in the United States works well "especially when you have time to prepare, which is what we largely have now," in regards to an attack by an Iranian proxy, he said. John Cohen, principal deputy coordinator for counterterrorism at the Homeland Security Department, touted the sophisticated counterterrorism operations in major city police departments as an indication that the United States can protect itself from threats. In recent months, DHS, along with the FBI and NCTC, has conducted outreach to the American Jewish community to encourage vigilance and share information about the risk that Iran poses, Cohen said. He suggested that efforts like this, plus the system Leiter described, add up to a comprehensive strategy that effectively protects the nation from attacks. Leiter also said that even though the vast majority of counterterrorism resources have been focused on al Qaeda for the last decade, those skills and capabilities transfer to other threats. "It's not a perfect hand-off," he noted, but the structure, tools and communication techniques apply to any terrorist threat. Leiter also said that a Iranian cyber attack is more likely than an attack on U.S. soil. He pointed out that sanctions have disconnected Iran from the international financial world, so a cyber attack on financial institutions may be especially attractive. Plus, it is easier to find proxies to conduct cyber attacks than kinetic attacks, and Iran has a history of carrying out attacks via proxies. But he said other countries exceed Iran's cyber capability and that the United States can defend against the kind of cyber attacks Iran is likely capable of.

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I am a big fan of this series of books on the Victoria Cross. There are literally hundreds of books out there about the VC, and with many hundreds of winners there are plenty of subjects to write about. The problem I find is, that often we read about the same or similar stories in books. Some of the VC stories are well known – and for very good reasons, of course. But isn’t it great to read about some of the lesser-known deeds as well? Therefore I think it’s quite a nice touch to cover all of the Victoria Crosses awarded for a particular campaign, in one volume. This particular volume looks at the Battle of Passchendale – more properly, Third Ypres – fought between July and November 1917. A remarkable 61 VC’s were awarded, to men from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. There were a couple of VC winners at Passchendaele with strong Portsmouth connections. James Ockendon was a 26 year old action Company Sergeant Major in the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who won the Victoria Cross at ‘t Goed ter Vesten Farm on 4 October 1917. Born in Portsmouth, Ockendon had joined the ‘Dubs’ pre-war in 1909, and was serving in India when war was declared. When the Battalion were recalled in 1914, he joined the 29th Division and subsequently fought at Gallipoli, before being sent to the Western Front in 1916. Apparently on the eve of Battle, Ockendon’s Battalion were adressed by a General, who asked ‘who is going to win a Victoria Cross tomorrow?’, to which Ocekdon replied, ‘I am, sir, or I will leave my skin in dirty old Belgium’. Two months previously he had been awarded the Military Medal. When a platoon officer was killed by a Machine Gun and another wounded, Ockendon found himself in charge of his company and took it upon himself to charge the position, killing all but one of the Germans. He chased the survivor for some distance before bayonetting him. After the attack Ockendon gathered the survivors of his company, and headed for ‘t Goed ter Vesten Farm. Although they were met by heavy fire, Ockendon somehow managed to convince the Germans to surrender. Ockendon wad described as a quiet, unassuming man, and was feted when he returned to Portsmouth on leave later in 1917. He was discharged from the Army in 1918 after suffering from the effects of Gas. James Ockendon VC MM died in 1966, at the age of 75. His son, also called James, is still a member of the Portsmouth Royal British Legion, and to this day Ockendon’s VC is the only one that I have seen outside of a display case. Dennis Hewitt was serving with the 14th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, the 1st Portsmouth Pals, when he won the Victoria Cross at St Julien on the first day of Third Ypres, on 31 July 1917. Born in London, his maternal grandfather was a deputy lieutenant of Hampshire, which might explain why he joined the county regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1916 after studying at Winchester College and then Sandhurst. At the age of 19 he found himself commanding a company, in the second wave of the attack near Steenbeck. Resistance was stiff along Pilckem Ridge, and Hewitt tried to re-organise his company, despite being badly wounded by a shell blast. Refusing treatment, he led the company on to the next objective line, and although the objective was secured, Hewitt became a casualty in the hail of machine gun fire. He has no known grave, and is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial. He might not have strictly speaking been a Portsmouth lad, but he died serving with and leading many a young man from Portsmouth. Montague Moore was serving in the 15th Hampshires, the 2nd Portsmouth Pals, at Passchendaele. Born in Bournemouth in 1896, he went to Sandhurst in 1915 at the age of 18. Commissioned into the Hampshire Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1916, he was wounded in the leg at Messines Ridge in 1917. Back in time for Third Ypres, he led 120 men in an attack at Tower Hamlets on 20 October 1917. They captured the objective, but suffered heavy losses. They remained on the objective overnight, and were shelled the next day by British artillery, who thought that they had all been killed. Eventually Moore had only 10 men left. Moore and his party sat out the rest of the day and the next night, and returned to the British lines under the cover of the morning mist, after being in no mans land for almost 48 hours. Their return was greeted with amazement. Moore retired from the Army in 1926, and retired to Kenya, where he died in 1966. All of the stories are very well written, and have been researched in fitting detail. It’s a very inspiring read. Of course, I’m a big fan or researching, writing and reading individuals stories, whether they be decorated or not. They all have something different to teach us. I’m thinking out aloud here, but wouldn’t it be interested to see a book of ‘near misses’ to the VC sometime? - Portsmouth-based soldier’s 1914 VC sells for £276,000 (dalyhistory.wordpress.com) - Victoria Cross sells for £276,000 (bbc.co.uk) - Victoria Cross to fetch £140k (scotsman.com) - Recognising the Portsmouth Pals Battalions (dalyhistory.wordpress.com)

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Love it or hate it, social media has proven itself to be lucrative. It’s not just those spying on old school friends that are at it, everyone has jumped on board the social media revolution, even international multi million pound businesses. Small businesses in particular can really benefit from what it has to offer. There are of course the negatives associated with social media such as the time and effort it requires to maintain it, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives, and whether you prefer Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, it can be a great platform for you to shout out about your business and gather clients, friends, colleagues, new suppliers, and job opportunities. The Positives to Social Media: #1 Great for networking Social media can provide a great support network. You can see opportunities from others instantly and share news through live feeds. By joining other associations, or blogs in these social media sites, you can share experiences with other business owners and get to know your competitors; this is a great support when you are setting up. Twitter and Facebook in particular is a great place to find suppliers, job opportunities and industry news, and by following the right pages, you can see all opportunities in one place from a wide range of fellow professionals. It has known to bring people together, the more you put in, the more you will get out of it. #2 Brilliant for marketing When you set up a business page on a social media site, you can list photographs of what you have to offer, post videos, links, and run competitions. This shows others what you do, how you do it, and you can draw people to your page and website, and in time convert them from ‘followers’ or ‘fans’ into clients or customers. The more you interact and make your page interesting, the more interaction, page shares or tweets you will gain in return. Gradually your business name begins to spread further and further. You can target the right potential customers by sharing your page or commenting on blogs where those with the same interests might be based. For example if you make home accessories, you can interact with other home interior fan pages and blogs, and your updates will be followed by those who have an interest in what you do, so you will be gathering a set of people who want to see you new products or services. #3 Reach wider audiences Initially it is likely your friends and family will like your page. As you add content and make your page interesting, soon you will find friends of friends following your progress, and gradually this continues to spread. It opens your business up to a great potential for followers all over the world. To be found it is good to network with other pages and to keep your page interesting so people comment on your images, tweets, or updates so there is plenty of interaction to be seen. There are over 700 million Facebook users, by being on these social media sites; you have the opportunity to show them what you have to offer. #4 Customer interaction Customer interaction is great for any business. It is a great way to get feedback instantly and find out exactly what your customers think of your business. It also allows you to build relationships with them and get to know them. It can humanize your business and make it more personal to them. You can understand what sort of people like your business, what age groups they are, whether they are male or female, and generally establish exactly who you should aim your business at. It is a great way to gather information and opinions from others especially when launching new products. #5 Stay ahead of competitors It is likely you will have competitors; it is also likely they are on social media sites advertising their business. You don’t want to be left behind, and it is a good way to stay ahead and keep your business current. You can also keep an eye on what they are doing to attract customers and develop upon this. Written by Kristen. Edited by Aritra Roy. Kirsten works for hosting review site whoishostingthis. They gather a wide range of hosting customer reviews so that users can determine which hosting company to use for thier own website. Please see more here.

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It's time to read and vote for your favorite article in the 2013 Write-Off Contest! The four finalist's articles are featured in the May 13 newsletter and can be found through this link. Hurry! Voting ends May 18. You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants! Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site. I planted strawberries last spring, this year they look wonderful, full, gave me a nice amt of berries this last month (they are june-bearing). My problem is when I planted them, I probably planted them too close together and I never kept them in rows. So now my bed is full of strawberry plants. Yesterday I tried to pull some plants out in the middle and transplant them into an adjoining space, but they are really packed in there. My question is, should I leave them the way they are and chalk it up to lesson-learned, or should I run a tiller straight down them and recreate the rows, and if so, should I do that now or wait until next spring? I'm afraid the overcrowding might eventually kill off my bed.

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Wood Anemone - Dainty Spring Bloomers for the Woodland Garden It's time to read and vote for your favorite article in the 2013 Write-Off Contest! The four finalist's articles are featured in the May 13 newsletter and can be found through this link. Hurry! Voting ends May 18. If your garden is has dappled shade and you are looking for a lovely spring woodlander to combine with spring bulbs, Trillium and Hepatica, then try growing wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa. Available in white, pink or blue shades, this charming spring flower is sure to delight you! (Editor's Note: This article was originally published on June 5, 2010. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to promptly respond to new questions or comments.) One of the harbingers of the European spring is drifts of wood anemone growing under the deciduous forests of beech, oak and maple.Botanically, wood anemones are called Anemone nemorosa. Plants produce wiry stems to 10 to 25 cm.Each stem produces a whorl of three, trisected leaves and is topped with a single 2 to 3 cm diameter flower.Each bloom normally has 6 to 8 tepals (the ‘petals' are actually modified sepals).In the wild, white is the normal colour but pink and blue forms do exist.Plants may be grown from seed but the seed needs to be sown as soon as it is ripe (they quickly lose viability if left dry on a shelf).They require a stratification period (essentially a winter) before they will germinate. Due to the fussy nature of seed germination, plants are more commonly grown by division of their narrow rhizomes.If happy, wood anemone will multiply quite rapidly via underground rhizomes to produce a large-size colony.If dug after flowering, you can separate the plants into numerous plantlets. All you need is a growing stem and a couple of inches of the rhizome. In the garden, wood anemones prefer dappled shade.Their soil should be moderately moist and organic-rich.They make admirable groundcovers under deciduous trees but in warm climates, may go dormant by mid summer.In cool climates, they will stay green well into September. Wood anemones have been grown as garden ornamentals for hundreds of years.As a result of their natural variation, many named varieties now exist, most which were selected many years ago.While the wild form has small 2 to 3 cm diameter flowers, some selected forms have flowers approaching 6 cm in diameter. Availability of this woodland anemone is variable. Generally you will need to seek out a specialty woodland plant nursery.‘Lychette' has white flowers twice the size of the wild type.Two of the largest-flowered selections include ‘Allenii' and ‘Robinsoniana'.Both have lavender flowers but the outside of the tepals is lilac-blue on ‘Allenii' while the exterior is more grey-blue on ‘Robinsoniana'.Also quite large-flowered is ‘Blue Beauty' and ‘Blue Bonnet', both which are pale blue. The richest blue colour is found on ‘Royal Blue' but its flowers are a little smaller than the previous selections. Shown above is 'Allenii' (top left), 'Robinsoniana' (top right), 'Royal Blue' (bottom left) and 'Blue Eyes' (bottom right) ‘Rosea' and ‘Westwell Pink' have very pale pink flowers that age to deep pink.One of the prettiest is ‘Vestal'.This selection has small flowers that are white but has a double, pompom-like center.‘Monstrosa' has flowers double flowers that are a mix of white and green while ‘Blue Eyes' has double white flowers with a blue center.If unusual flowers are your thing then try ‘Green Fingers' whose white flowers have a small, central leafy tuft.More bizarre still is ‘Bracteata' whose tepals are replaced by tiny green leaves! Shown above is 'Vestal' (top left), 'Green Fingers' (top right), 'Monstrosa' (bottom left) and 'Westwell Pink' (bottom right) Closely related to wood anemone and sometimes growing in the same area isA. ranunculoides with small buttercup-yellow flowers.In areas where the two species overlap, you many encounter a natural hybrid called A. x lipsiensis.From this hybrid comes the selection ‘Pallida' whose flowers are 3 cm and a pretty butter yellow. Shown above is A. ranunculoides (left) and A. X lipsiensis. I would like to thank the following people for the use of their pictures: Galanthophile ('Green Fingers'), KMAC ('Westwell Pink'), kniphofia ('Monstrosa') and wallaby1 ('Blue Eyes'). About Todd Boland I reside in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. I work as a research horticulturist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden. I am one of the founding members of the Newfoundland Wildflower Society and the current chair of the Newfoundland Rock Garden Society. My garden is quite small but I pack it tight! Outdoors I grow mostly alpines, bulbs and ericaceous shrubs. Indoors, my passion is orchids. When not in the garden, I'm out bird watching, a hobby that has gotten me to some lovely parts of the world.

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You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!| Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site. |Neutral ||htop ||On Dec 17, 2007, htop from San Antonio, TX (Zone 8b) wrote: I have not grown thus plant. Aechmea blanchetiana is both a terrestrial or epiphytic bromeliad which attains a height of up to 4 feet (1.2 m) and a width of at least 3 feet. (1 m). The color of its leaves ranges from reddish gold, orangish gold, goldish yellow to green, depending upon the amount of sunlight it receives. |Positive ||jungleboy_fl ||On May 7, 2005, jungleboy_fl from Naples, FL wrote: This is one of my favorite sun-loving bromeliads. Tough as nails, this species thrives in Southwest & South Florida. Best color is achieved in full sun, and although some claim it needs a lot of water, I've had best results with minimal supplemental watering. In fact, mine are most colorful during the dry, parched winter months. There are apparently a few popular cultivars circulating right now in Florida. Some forms have wider leaves, and are of an overall more robust nature. Others have slimmer foliage, and are more profuse in suckering. Some take on a more red/raspberry color, while others are more orange/yellow. Be sure to give them some space. In just a few years, these giant bromeliads can quickly fill a large area in your xeriscape. I've grown ours in the native soil- a sandy, rocky, seashell filled, alkaline limestone mix, and they love it. They pair exceptionally well with cacti and succulents. ***Beware*** A word of caution- these plants are viciously armed with the typical Aechmea, super sharp, tiny, saw-teeth spines along the margins. Not to be messed with, these bromeliads will inflict mean slashes if one bruses up against them. Weeding around them requires long sleeves, a hat, gloves, eye protection, jeans, and a lot of caution- or really long arms. |Neutral ||smiln32 ||On Nov 29, 2004, smiln32 from Oklahoma City, OK (Zone 7a) wrote: Gorgeous flowers (multi-branched) sit high above the foliage. Plant can reach a height of 48". It is also salt tolerant. |Positive ||Monocromatico ||On Sep 5, 2004, Monocromatico from Rio de Janeiro Brazil (Zone 11) wrote: This is a magnificent bromeliad, largely cultivated here in Rio de Janeiro on sunny gardens, often playing the central role on beds thanks to its showy foliage and atractive inflorescence. This plant stays around the height of someoneīs knee, with upright and straight, leathery leaves, with a beautiful color that may vary from green to gold, with red tips. The inflorescence comes from the center of the plant, reaching up to 1,8-2 meters tall. The branched stalk is entirely covered with red bracts, and the flowers are yellow, and ephemeral, protected by red bracts with yellow tips. The flowers donīt last long, but the inflorescence stays showy for months. Hummingbirds are seen flying around it. It needs organic soil, full sun, high temperatures and regular watering. Always keep the center of the rosette full of water. This plant has been said to grow in the following regions: San Diego, California Bay Hill, Florida Big Pine Key, Florida Broward Estates, Florida Cocoa Beach, Florida Fort Pierce, Florida Kenneth City, Florida Naples, Florida (3 reports) Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Spring Hill, Florida

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Hotels, ryokans (Japanese style inns and eating and drinking establishments in Hirado city are to simultaneously start offering whale cuisine on new speciality product menus. A final taste testing event was held at the city's northern community centre on the 18th.More coverage of this story can be found in Japanese here. Whale food culture permeated through the Hirado region, where whaling history extended from the Edo era (1603 ~ 1867) to early Showa (1925 ~ 1989). The Hirado and Matsuura regions tourism human resource development council, made up of local government and commerce and industry associations from Hirado and Matsuura was commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to work towards the creation of the new speciality food menus. Around 30 people from local women's groups and tourism operators were invited to the taste testing event, where the Hirado industry cooperative prepared four dishes, and the Hirado food and drink industry produced ten. In addition to standards such as sashimi, items including shabu-shabu, sukiyaki, chilli sauce, bacon pizza and salads made up the elaborate new menu. Takada Kumiko (56), a Hirado city tourist guide from Iwanoue town was full of expectation, saying "This was my first time to eat it, but it is surprisingly delicious. My image of whale has changed. Many middle aged and older people have a desire to eat whale meat, so I can confidently recommend this to them. I hope it becomes a Hirado speciality". Once the cooperatives have reviewed the results of questionnaires from the test tasting event, they will decide on respective items to be included in the unified menu. They will start promoting the menus to tourists from next month. Brandifying modern whale cuisine - Hirado's whaling history for tourism - Sales from mid-FebruaryInteresting stuff. I suppose western environmental groups might suggest that Hirado residents look to boost tourism through whale watching instead of whale cuisine, but the people who decide the way forward will be the people who are actually stakeholders, and they will do so in accordance with their own cultural values. On the 18th, Hirado city's restaurant business unveiled modern dishes using whale meat, as they set to bring "whale cuisine" to the market as a new brand for the region, leveraging the region's Edo era history as a prosperous whaling post. In Hirado city, the Hirado Tourism Association is conducting an experiment to test the concept of "dinner / lodging separation", where by tourists are lodged over night in hotels and ryokans, but enjoy local speciality food for dinner in the town. The association aims to appeal to tourists and reinvigorate the region through the development of the unique menus. This was the second such event since November last year, being conducted as a part of a joint project between Hirado city and the Matsuura region to develop tourism human resources. Whaling was well underway in the waters of Genkainada based out of Ikitsuki Island (a part of modern day Hirado city) by the early stages of the 18th century. By the 19th century, the "Masutomi group" had expanded their fishing grounds into Iki and Goto, making the group the largest kujira-gumi in Japan. Later, yields reduced and traditional whaling waned. "Tasty", was the word on the lips of most participants. The same cooperative apparently has plans to offer various whale cuisine in conjunction with the "Hirado hot springs / castle town doll festival", in which hina dolls will be displayed in 130 locations throughout the urban area. Building on this historical background, the thought is that the creation of "whale cuisine" peculiar to the region, following on from the "Hirado Flounder" that was introduced in January 1997 as a regional brand, will become a new tourist attraction, and boost sluggish tourist numbers in the region. Restaurant operator Miyakuni Kazuhiko (30), a resident of Kouyamachi, Hirado city, who entered a pie offering to the event, said "we got rid of the smell of whale meat, and softened it by marinating it overnight in salad oil, olive oil, and ginger and laurier. I really hope people will taste this healthy sensation". June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 February 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 February 2011 March 2011 May 2013

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Total Information Awareness? NSA (the National Security Agency) is building a mammoth electronic spy center in Utah. The $2 billion Utah Data Center, to be completed by Sept. 2013, will be five times the size of the US Capitol. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher and analyze torrents of information flowing through the world’s communications databases— with an ability to handle yottabytes of data. Much of it international but a fair amount obtained by sifting intra-U.S. phone and email traffic. What does this have to do with transparency and freedom and all that? Our protectors of online liberty, ranging from the ACLU and EFF and Privacy NGOs all the way to European Privacy Bureaucrats, are all very well-meaning - but clueless if they think laws, regulations and procedures will prevent elites (over the long run) from seeing anything that they want to see, or knowing whatever is within reach to know. Why? It's simple and basic. We’re monkeys! And a powerful monkey will not let you prevent him from seeing. Name one nation in all of human history where the elites allowed this to happen. One. The chilling thing about the new NSA facility is not how much better it will let government “protectors” see, in order to better protect us. The scary thing is that there won’t be officers of a uniformed and independent Inspectorate, roaming the halls on our behalf, making sure that protection is the only thing going on. Or better yet, dozens of randomly chosen citizens (with security clearance) whose universal-access badges give them the right to poke their heads in any door and ask any question. Inconvenient? Irksome? Will the protectors complain? Tough. We need to demand that price! In exchange for their omniscience, they must surrender any chance of omnipotence, by letting us wrap them in chains of accountability. A chain we can yank, to remind our watchdog THAT he is a dog... lest he start thinking like a wolf. ==An App for Reporting Crime== Want to report a crime, terrorist alert…or just snitch on your neighbors? The new Suspicious Activity Reporting Application, a crime-reporting app for your Smartphone, lets you snap a pic, and anonymously voice your suspicions to authorities. Developed by the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security, the free app is available through Itunes. “The longer you wait the less accurate eyewitness information becomes and evidence fades,” said Thom Kirk, Director of the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center. “Enabling the information to be sent at the time the activity is taking place will not only improve the accuracy of the report, but also improve the ability of the authorities to respond quickly.” Is this an aid to community policing or a way to harass your neighbors; a powerful tool against terrorism or the next step toward Big Brother? Or rather... clearly if we all have this, then Big Brother becomes impossible! But (as I explore in The Transparent Society) might this lead to a nation and world filled with oppressive little brothers? With nosy neighbors bullying each other, or tyranny by a perfectly democratic 51%? I show good reasons to believe we may evade this pitfall too! But not if we remain mired in civil war. == Sci-Tech Miscellany == The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding Boston Dynamics’ development of a prototype robot called the Cheetah. (Recall Boston’s incredible robot donkey... and the satires it inspired?) The cat-like bot managed to gallop 18 mph on a treadmill, setting a new land speed record for legged robots. (The previous record: 13.1 mph, set at MIT in 1989.) The company has a prototype human-like robot in the works called the Atlas that can walk upright and use its hands for balance while squeezing through narrow passages on surveillance or emergency rescue missions. Smart lighting: Philips has a system being widely used all over the world now with some statistics to back it up. They have just one camera in each light, facing straight down, with the light around the camera (concentric). The result is a computer vision system with mesh-based computing that estimates the number of pedestrians, cyclists, etc., and their speed and direction of movement, and predictively adjusts the light outputs on all the lights, to optimize for the activity detected by the vision system. One result is a 75% reduction in energy usage with no noticeable reduction in light output. Ah, but will all lamps on public streets and areas then come equipped with cameras? (As I already portrayed in EXISTENCE.) Oh, what they'll see... and report. Meanwhile.... more sci-tech miscellany! A radical Japanese biplane design flies supersonic airspeeds without the sonic boom. Misoru (sky in Japanese) uses two wings to reflect shock waves back at each other, zeroing out the pressure shockwaves. NASA has released a mosaic of images covering the entire sky as observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). A gorgeous visualization of the Universe – dark matter and all. == The Ideal Language for Human Speech? == In our increasingly interconnected, global economy, we will need to communicate effectively with the rest of the world. What is the best language for this generation to learn? By the numbers, Mandarin Chinese seems an obvious choice. Spanish or Japanese may be essential for international business. We will also need more interpreters of Arabic... A fascinating question, as humanity is busy re-erecting the Tower of Babel. Of course English is today's lingua franca (an ironic term) for business and science. But soon, we'll all carry translation devices that will make the question at least somewhat moot. So what is my long term answer to this question, in my role as a science fiction author? Over the long haul... my candidate? Hawaiian. Really. In a hundred years, translation and computer assistance will be automatic/invisible, conveying both surface meanings and underlying gloss and nuance. Meaning will become separated somewhat from the sonic specifics, or even which language has the most speakers or largest vocabulary or greatest catalogue of literature. Hence, we'll choose the language to come out of our physical mouths by one criterion only. Beauty. The sounds, themselves. And by that token, there is only one truly beautiful language. You cannot say anything in Hawaiian without it sounding just perfect. Any man or woman would choose a Hawaiian-sounding name. It's what our descendants will speak, whether to each other or to machines or to aliens, even to dolphins. Okay so is YOUR last name a piece of scientific nomenclature? "B. mori fibers were made up of two brins of irregular shape embedded in a proteinaceous coating. Failure occurred by fracture of the brins, whose fracture surface presented a fine globular structure corresponding to the ends of the nanofibrils of 1–2 lm in length and 100 nm in diameter, which form the B. mori silk brins according to the analysis of the brins by atomic force microscopy." == And finally... two related items... Disphoria, Normopathy, and Aporia… Ten Psychologica states you’ve never heard of…and when you experienced them. And,,, The best bottled water ad, ever? Well. It ain't Hawaiian. But Kamehameha would've liked it.

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The Australian Collection primarily features trees and shrubs native to Australia. Tall eucalyptus trees, with their distinctive aromatic leaves, dominate the north bank of the creek. With more than 50 species of this native Australian genus, the trees vary from tall and erect specimens to broadly-spreading small trees. Throughout the collection, their characteristic camphor-like fragrance fills the air. A fine collection of bottlebrush, Callistemon, and honey-myrtles, Melaleuca, lines the path near the old bridge. Across the creek, new plantings of showy Australian flowering plants complement older plantings that feature plants from various regions in the world with a Mediterranean climate.

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Dominican College is Pleased to Announce the Addition of a Course in Sustainable Management Practices Sustainable Management Practices is a broad survey course dealing with matters of sustainability in civic, professional, and personal life. While there is much highlightling of sustainability in our public discourse, there has not been an equal push to practice it. Wasteful government spending, depletion of natural resources, and over-the-top consumer consumption leading to debt and bankruptcy are all examples of the failure to translate discourse into practice. The course will also tackle some of the paradoxes inherent in sustainability. For example, genetically-engineered seeds produce huge crop yields and reduce hunger, but many of the crops that are produced this way have been stripped of their reproductive properties, leaving farmers to buy seeds year after year instead of harvesting seeds from their own crops. Another paradox: we know that too much consumer spending leads to unsustainable debt, but we also know that the economy is sustained through consumer spending. How do we reconcile the paradoxes ? The course has no pre-requisites. It will be an engaging and thought-provoking journey through our current and future sustainability landscape.

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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 Seanad Eireann Debate Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Dick Roche): I thank Senators for delaying the start of business today. I am not quite certain what the confusion was. However, as I was in the Czech Senate three short hours ago, I am very pleased to be here now. I am very grateful to Members and I hope it did not inconvenience any Member of this House. I am pleased to introduce into the Seanad, on behalf of the Government, the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, which has completed its passage through Dáil Éireann. Through this Bill, the Government proposes to hold a referendum seeking the approval of the people to ratify the EU reform treaty. The importance of this referendum can hardly be overstated. It is the culmination of a prolonged period of consultation, reflection and negotiation. This process began in December 2001 with the convening of the European Convention, a unique experiment involving national governments and parliaments together with the EU institutions. It considerably broadened the debate about changes to EU structures and procedures, and ended with the treaty signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007. Throughout this period the Government carefully examined and assessed each proposal, and ensured that whatever was agreed was in our interest and that of the wider Union. The Government also facilitated a broad-based consideration of developments under the auspices of the National Forum on Europe, where representatives of a wide spectrum of public and civil-society opinion have engaged in lengthy debate over the future direction of the European Union. It is often said that the European project is cobbled together in backrooms. It is often said that treaties are put together away from the eyes of the citizens of the Union. Nothing could be further from the truth in this case. The Convention on the Future of Europe was a convention of 200 men and women drawn from the parliaments and governments of the 27 states and from the institutions of the European Union. It did its work in public. It listened to and consulted with the public. It is important to put that on the record because one of the distortions often made in the debate here is that somehow or other it was put together in secret. It certainly was not. The Government is pleased to recognise the overwhelming support in the Oireachtas for the reform treaty. The referendum Bill was passed by the Dáil with a mere five Deputies expressing their opposition to it. The reform treaty represents the views of the vast majority of the democratically elected Members in Dáil Éireann and, I am sure, in this House also. We are men and women who serve our country and although we differ on politics we do not differ on this matter. This reflects the deep understanding across the political spectrum of the essential role played by the European Union over more than three decades in the development of our country, society and economy and that the Oireachtas was directly represented in the Convention. We were unique at the Convention on the Future of Europe in that Government and Opposition came together. We had people from across the political spectrum in the Convention on the Future of Europe. Former Deputy John Bruton served on the presidium. Proinsias De Rossa, MEP served with extraordinary distinction on the social Europe group. It was my privilege to replace Mr. Ray MacSharry representing the Government. Deputies Pat Carey and the Minister, Deputy Gormley, also came out to represent the Dáil. The political spectrum in Ireland was represented in the Convention. Support for this treaty transcends normal political divides. Ratification of the treaty is a true national priority. It is notable that even those opposing the reform treaty now feel obliged to claim — I would say falsely — that they are strong supporters of the European Union. These treaty opponents know that outright opposition to the Union would gain them few votes. However, their support for the Union is paper thin and unconvincing. Opponents of the reform treaty rarely say a good word about Europe aside from ritual claims that they are somehow mysteriously pro-European. Their deeds indicate otherwise. The only Oireachtas party campaigning against the reform treaty, Sinn Féin, has an extraordinary record in this regard. At least one could say it is a record of consistency. Sinn Féin has opposed every European treaty since we voted on accession to the EEC. However, it still claims to be pro-Europe. It has a funny way of showing it. The reality is that either Sinn Féin members do not understand the EU and how it operates, or they are opportunistically dressing themselves in a cloak of concern for a mythical better deal for Ireland. To give one example: Sinn Féin argued in Dáil Éireann that the treaty should not be ratified unless Ireland secured a specific protocol guaranteeing that we could continue making our own decisions on taxation. This proposal typifies Sinn Féin’s duplicitous approach. First, it ignores the fact that the Government has absolutely ensured that we will continue to make our own decisions on taxation, including of course corporation taxation, by the maintenance of unanimity in this area. It was not just the Irish Government or the Irish political representatives who went to the Convention who were interested in retaining unanimity. Other governments in Europe want to maintain unanimity in this area, not for any selfish or self-interested reasons, but because we believe that taxation is directly related to democracy. In the words of the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, addressing the National Forum on Europe earlier this month, “one thing is already crystal clear — no member state, either under the current rules or under the Lisbon treaty, can be obliged to accept a tax proposal to which it objects”. The chairman of the independent and impartial Referendum Commission, Mr. Justice O’Neill, has also confirmed this in the clearest and most unequivocal language. Sinn Féin’s proposal for a protocol on taxation is redundant. The opportunism of Sinn Féin is astonishing. Barely 12 months ago, the same party was calling for a near 50% increase in our corporation tax rate, and for perhaps a trebling of the rate in respect of financial institutions. Mr. Adams, MLA, MP, will finally appear before the National Forum on Europe tomorrow, having dodged the forum to date. I look forward to him answering questions on that matter. I somehow doubt that Irish business people or those employed in multinational companies in Ireland believe that Sinn Féin is the party to look after their interests. The Libertas group has also cynically claimed to be pro-Europe while denouncing anything and everything to do with the European Union. The people will be wary of such false friends. Farmers will want to note that the leader of this self-appointed think tank, who warns against “Mandelson’s Europe”, wants to abolish completely the Common Agricultural Policy, which has been the bedrock of Irish agricultural production for 30 years, and which has brought immense benefits to rural families. I want to put this on the record of the House because I was challenged on this point recently by one of the multifarious spokespersons of Libertas. He said I was misquoting Mr. Ganly. In order to make certain that I did not, I looked up an article written by that gentleman entitled “Europe’s Direction? a Voice from Ireland”, published in 11 March 2003. In discussing the invasion of Iraq, which that gentleman supported, he chastised the democratic leaders of a number of European states for daring to argue about weapons of mass destruction. He stated: Deputy Dick Roche: He may be well said. I do not believe it is right to support the impoverishment of rural families nor the downgrading of agricultural and rural life. I do not believe, in terms of infrastructural development, we should rob Peter to pay Paul. I believe there are more appropriate ways of approaching this matter. I made the quotations because this gentleman, who proposes that he is somehow a friend of Irish farmers, wants to end the CAP. Some Senators may agree with that goal but I do not. It would not be appropriate to devote any more time to these organisations and their hollow arguments or to their dubious rationale. Their myths have been exposed and their yarns are beginning to unravel. I would instead like to turn to the substance of the Bill and outline its specific provisions. The substance of the proposed amendment to Bunreacht na hÉireann is set out in the schedule, containing what, if approved by the people, will be subsections 10° to 15° of Article 29.4 of the Constitution. The proposed subsection 10° provides that the State may ratify the reform treaty and be a member of the European Union provided for in the treaty. This is straightforward and reflects the language and approach of previous amendments. It should be noted that the reform treaty creates greater clarity by dispensing with the current and somewhat confusing distinction between the European Union and the European Community. Henceforth there will be a single entity, the European Union. I do not understand why some people find the establishment of a single title to represent different bodies sinister. This is simply an act of common sense. The proposed new subsection 11° of Article 29.4 mirrors the provision that has been in place since our accession to the EU 35 years ago. It will ensure legal compatibility between the reform treaty and the Constitution. It carries forward the concept of constitutional cover for laws, Acts and measures necessitated by the obligations of our EU membership. It is not, as some might suggest, a sinister legal move; it is in accordance with what has existed for 35 years. This provision has attracted attention from some opponents of the treaty, who have cynically tried to suggest that it is a new departure and will make our Constitution completely subservient to European law. The truth is that this constitutional provision is as old as our membership of the Union. In essence, this provision means that we agree to implement EU law in areas where we have conferred a specific competence on the EU. European law does not have primacy in any area where the EU does not have a specific competence. Indeed, a very important provision of the reform treaty clarifies the respective competences of the Union and the member states and recognises that ultimate sovereignty lies with the member states. Also, in establishing the principle of conferral, it makes it clear the Union has no powers other than those it is given by member states. It also clarifies that powers given to the EU by member states can be taken back. The wording I have outlined reflects the general principle of international law, recognised since 1937 by Article 29.3 of Bunreacht na hÉireann, that states must comply with international legal obligations freely undertaken by them in the exercise of their sovereignty. Bunreacht na hÉireann will continue to be the basic legal document of the State and Irish sovereignty is fully protected. It is important to make this point because the sovereignty argument has been recycled in every referendum since 1972. The new subsection 12° provides for the State to avail of certain options and discretions and to agree to certain legal acts under the treaty on foot of the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas. This has been portrayed as somehow sinister by those who wish to distort the facts. The subsection updates the provisions inserted relating to the treaties of Amsterdam and Nice covering those situations where, because the discretion exists to opt into a given action, Irish participation is not deemed to be legally necessitated by the Union. Some of the provisions, relating to the areas of freedom, security and justice, are specific to Ireland while others, relating to enhanced co-operation, are relevant to all 27 member states. The new subsection 13° makes specific provision for the possibility of withdrawing, in whole or in part, from the opt-out provided for in the Ireland-UK protocol in the area of freedom, security and justice. We discussed the opt-out at length in this House and many Members felt it was not necessary. This gives us the right to withdraw from the opt-out. The subsection provides that prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas would be a condition for such a withdrawal. This is an important point because we have written into various subsections that positive confirmation from the Houses of the Oireachtas will be necessary. In other words, things cannot simply happen with the passage of time; the Oireachtas will have to approve them. This subsection relates to an area that was subject to significant change between the constitutional treaty, signed in 2004, and the reform treaty. This is one of the areas of fundamental difference between the two documents. The amendment of the Ireland-UK protocol, which has existed since 1997, extends our existing opt-out arrangement with regard to visas, asylum, immigration and judicial co-operation in civil matters to judicial co-operation in criminal matters and to police co-operation. Due to the sensitive nature of co-operation in this area, and particularly the fact that Ireland, like the UK, has a distinctive common law system of criminal justice that differs from the legal systems in place in the majority of our EU partners, Ireland decided to avail of an extension of these flexible arrangements. There were mixed views relating to this and I shared such sentiments but what we have done is prudent because it gives Ireland the right to opt in on a case by case basis with the involvement of the Oireachtas. The protocol means that we will be able to choose, on a case by case basis, in which criminal justice or police co-operation measures we will participate. We have clearly indicated, in a declaration attached to the Intergovernmental Conference’s final act, that we will examine how EU policy evolves in this area and review our arrangements within a period of three years. Ireland has consistently and strongly supported practical EU anti-terrorism measures and concerted action against organised crime and we will continue to do so. For this reason, the declaration annexed to the final act states our clear intention to participate to the maximum extent possible in relevant proposals and particularly in the area of police co-operation. Withdrawal from the opt-out arrangements contained in the protocol would require prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas. Subsection 14° states that prior approval by the Houses of the Oireachtas would be a condition for action on a number of Articles. This includes the use of the general passerelle provision in the treaty, which allows the European Council, where the member states are unanimously agreed, to change the voting method for a particular Article from unanimity to qualified majority voting, or to extend the co-decision procedure between the Council and the European Parliament, in specified areas — excluding defence and military matters — subject to the right of any national parliament to veto such a change. It should be emphasised that for this to happen every member state in the European Council would have to agree as would the Government of every member state. Such a measure would have to have the support of the majority of members of the European Parliament and, as we will see, it would need the effective support of every parliament in the European Union. Each parliament in the European Union will have the right of veto. Both Houses of the Oireachtas will have the power to exercise a veto. Ireland has added an additional clause that ensures both Houses of the Oireachtas must agree to such measures proceeding. The use of specific passerelles relating to the common foreign and security policy, judicial co-operation in regard to family law, the environment, the adoption of the multi-annual financial framework, social security and the use of passerelle mechanisms within enhanced co-operation is covered. It also covers certain decisions in the areas of freedom, security and justice, namely, to extend the scope of judicial co-operation in aspects of criminal procedure in specific areas with a cross-border dimension; to extend the scope of measures concerning the definition of criminal offences and sanctions in the areas of particularly serious crime with a cross-border dimension; and to establish a European public prosecutor office for dealing with crimes affecting the Union’s financial interests. The cross-Border crimes in question are human trafficking, money-laundering, fraud, drugs and arms dealing, crimes every civilised nation wants to stamp out. This requirement to seek the positive endorsement of the Houses of the Oireachtas in respect of any of these areas enhances the treaty provisions, which allow for a negative veto by any national parliament in the case of the general passerelle. The new subsection 15 carries forward the prohibition on Irish participation in any future EU common defence. This was originally inserted in the Constitution by the people in October 2002, as part of the approval of the ratification of the Nice treaty. To avoid any possible doubt about the constitutional prohibition on Irish participation in an EU common defence, this subsection refers to the relevant provision from the Nice and the reform treaties. There is no serious proposal for a common EU defence. In any case, a change in Ireland’s position can come about only if the Irish people were to decide so in a referendum. The Bill allows for a referendum permitting the State to ratify the Lisbon reform treaty. It reaffirms the prohibition on Ireland participating in any common EU defence. It provides for a significant role for the Oireachtas in respect of options and discretion contained in the treaty. It provides uniquely for an extension of powers in the Seanad as it will, as in the case of the Dáil, make a positive affirmation in QMV. The Bill provides for a vote on Ireland’s continued participation at the heart of Europe. Over decades, Irish people have demonstrated repeatedly their commitment to the European project. They have recognised the immense benefits the country has enjoyed as a result and the benefits that have accrued to the wider continent. Would a country of our size have more control over the major factors influencing the global economy if it were to stand apart from the Union? The best way to shape our external environment, to deal with international crime and to manage the threat of climate change is to work intensively with our EU partners. The Union has provided the space and the framework for Ireland to fulfil its destiny as a proud, independent and successful nation. One key purpose of the reform treaty is to improve accountability and enhance the democratic legitimacy of the Union. In particular, the increased role for the European Parliament and national parliaments will strengthen the democratic character of EU legislation. The role of the European Parliament will be strengthened in drawing up the Union’s budget. The treaty also provides for a strengthened role for national parliaments with regard to draft legislation. The introduction of the yellow card and orange card procedures can be used to oblige the Commission to reconsider legislation if it is felt to conflict with the principle of subsidiarity. The treaty makes national parliaments the guardians of subsidiarity. National parliaments may bring legal challenges to the European Court of Justice if they believe any legislative act breaches that principle. The Oireachtas and other national parliaments will have a red card in certain areas, allowing them individually to block the movement of a given article from unanimity to QMV. This process is designed to strengthen the role of national parliaments in the Union without distorting the Union’s institutional balance. Some hours ago I discussed this with the Czech Senate’s committee on EU affairs and it was discussed last night in an Oireachtas committee. The level of involvement and the powers given to national parliaments by the treaty are a revolutionary move and a significant innovation. There is no question of future referenda in Ireland being ruled out by the treaty as suggested by some of its opponents. This was reiterated yesterday by the Referendum Commission. Article 1.56 of the treaty, inserting a new Article 48 into the Treaty on European Union, makes clear any future move to confer additional powers on the EU, to alter the provisions of the treaty or even to amend EU internal policies in a way that does not increase the Union’s competence, must be approved in accordance with the constitutional requirements of each member state. In Ireland this means advice will be sought from the Attorney General on each occasion as to whether a referendum is required. The Government will be guided by the advice of the Attorney General in each instance. Two core issues in Ireland’s approach to the reform Treaty and the EU — neutrality and taxation policy — demonstrate the essential safeguards and checks and balances which are an integral aspect of the Union and consistently ignored by the treaty’s opponents. Ireland proposed the provision originally inserted in the Maastricht treaty in 1992 that the policy of the Union in the security and defence sphere shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain member states. This was an explicit recognition of our tradition of military neutrality. It was also welcomed by Sweden, Finland and Austria when they later joined the EU. This formulation has been maintained since and is repeated in the reform treaty. The recognition of our military neutrality demonstrates the Union respects diversity and accommodates those with differing traditions. Taxation policy is of long-standing importance to Ireland. We have consistently maintained our principled position of opposition to harmonisation of taxes or any movement away from unanimity in decision-making. We have always pointed out that a competitive corporation tax rate has been a key element of successive Governments’ policies. Tax competition is beneficial, not harmful. Others who respect our success are free to emulate us. They are not free to oblige us to increase or harmonise our taxes. No provision in the current treaties or the Lisbon reform treaty gives the power to other member states or the Union’s institutions to affect our tax rates. Taxation remains a key national competence. No amount of spinning by the treaty’s opponents can change this. I hope the comments by the chairman of the Referendum Commission, Mr. Justice O’Neill, will put this particular canard back in its box until the next referendum, when no doubt it will be resuscitated. The EU originated with six member states 50 years ago. Its working methods and institutions have proved remarkably durable. Nevertheless, enlargement and the passage of time have highlighted areas for change and reform. This is what the Lisbon reform treaty is about. It is not about deciding exactly what Europe will do in the coming decades. That will be for decision by the member states. Instead, it is about providing a structure for those decisions to be taken. The Union has worked well and has enlarged substantially because it has provided a unique model. It has managed to combine a shared community of values with respect for the rights and prerogatives of member states. None of Ireland’s national interests will be jeopardised by the reform treaty. None of our national interests was jeopardised by joining the Union. We should be confident and forward looking to continue to engage to good effect with our European neighbours by supporting the reform treaty at the referendum. Senator Maurice Cummins: The European Union is the most advanced form of voluntary integration between sovereign states in history. The Lisbon reform treaty embodies a unanimous agreement that emerged from more than five years of intense public and private discussion between democratically elected representatives of 27 member states representing 500 million people. Most of the content of the treaty was the subject of consensus in a convention consisting of the democratically elected governments of all EU states. The Lisbon treaty is an agreement which can only come into effect if every one of these 27 countries formally ratify it. The Irish people now have the power to accept or reject this treaty. I believe they will accept it, on balance, for a wide range of reasons. The Irish people have had a direct hand in creating this voluntary and multinational democracy which is one of the great achievements of 20th century political leadership. The Fine Gael party has organised in excess of 30 public meetings nationwide to inform people of the contents of the Lisbon treaty. Our youth branch, Young Fine Gael, has also held several public meetings at locations throughout the country. We believe it is important that people know exactly what is in this treaty and that we nail the lies which some people continue to spread on issues which have nothing whatsoever to do with the treaty. Take for instance, the issue of abortion which was raised at a public meeting which I attended recently. It was suggested that abortion would become more freely available if we ratify the Lisbon treaty. Nothing could be further from the truth. The protocol of the Maastricht treaty states that nothing in the treaty will affect member states with regard to abortion and euthanasia. This will remain within the competence of the Government and the Constitution. I was furious that Alive magazine carried an advertisement recently stating that a “Yes” vote for the Lisbon treaty would be a “Yes” vote for abortion. This is a downright lie and I am saddened to say that the church allowed such a leaflet to be distributed which tries to confuse and muddy the waters for decent, honourable churchgoers. I suggest that allowing such lies to be spread breaks one of the Lord’s own commandments. I listened to the radio this morning and I heard these lies trotted out again, in a deliberate attempt to confuse people as to the provisions of this treaty. The Minister of State, Deputy Roche, mentioned the farming community and it, rightly, has concerns about the world trade talks and especially about how Commissioner Mandelson is conducting these talks. The Taoiseach is on record as stating that Ireland will use its veto if the WTO talks are not favourable to Irish agriculture. Surely, such a commitment could not be reneged on by any Government. Farmers can therefore vote on the Lisbon treaty on its merits, based on the guarantee which the Taoiseach has given on behalf of the Government on the world trade talks. The talks have nothing to do with the Lisbon treaty. Ireland is more dependant on jobs, prosperity and on the foods and services it sells abroad than almost any other country in the world. It is therefore in Ireland’s interest to be a full voting member of a democratic body like the EU, which guarantees that our closest export markets will stay open, on a basis of free and undistorted competition and as of right, not as a favour granted by a powerful neighbour. We currently have 980 foreign companies in Ireland providing almost 140,000 jobs. Some 434 of these firms are from the EU member states and this number is, thankfully, growing. One of the important consequences of EU membership is that it guarantees that all EU Citizens will have the right to live and work in any other EU State. Irish people know, from history, how valuable that right is. However, if people can cross borders, then so too can criminals, terrorists and illegal drugs and arms. This is the reason the Lisbon treaty has been drafted. The treaty will help the EU to develop more rapidly rules to enable member states to work together against crime by sharing intelligence and evidence, apprehending accused persons and by recognising penalties imposed by the courts of other EU States. The Lisbon treaty will enable the EU to be more effective in dealing with cross-border crime. This will be achieved by introducing majority voting in this area, in place of the current rule which requires all 27 countries to agree before the EU can take action. The problem of cross-border crime, including the drugs menace that is now visible in every Irish county, is too urgent to wait for unanimity. This change is one of the most important reasons we should approve of the treaty. Climate change is a major challenge for Ireland. We cannot tackle it on our own, nor can Europe. We are too small and the problem is too big. However together in the EU the 27 member states can, with sufficient diplomatic and trade muscle, ensure that all countries of the world act together in addressing this significant issue. It is difficult to believe that the first official visit of a British Prime Minister to meet a Taoiseach in Ireland, rather than in Britain, did not take place until 1974. Membership of the EU enabled the two countries to develop a more mature relationship which has served both countries well in the intervening years. Under the Lisbon treaty the EU’s foreign relations will be put under the unified management of one person. However, foreign and defence policies will still have to be settled by the unanimous agreement of all member states. The European integration process has proven to be beneficial for all participants. It has been reasonably well managed and pursued. It has shown a capacity to adapt to the emergence of new demands and challenges from the world. The whole process has been overseen by the changing constellations of political forces which have produced a wide variety of governments in members states over the past 50 years. Whatever its faults or the criticisms of it which we make, which are deserved at times, it has given us something of value. We should continue to develop the EU and a “Yes” vote for the Lisbon treaty is the best way to continue its development. Some people have suggested that Fine Gael should oppose this referendum as a means of embarrassing an already discredited Government, but my party has always put the country and its people first. We believe passionately in the European movement which has ensured peace, above all else, and contributed significantly to the prosperity we have enjoyed in this country. The Lisbon treaty is another step on the European ladder which puts proper structures in place to meet the exciting challenges which lie ahead resulting from increased membership of the European Union. Ireland has built up a good deal of goodwill over the years with other member states, which has served this country well on many occasions. I believe the Irish people will not jeopardise this goodwill and will support the treaty when they are fully informed of its content. I urge the Irish people to vote “Yes” to this treaty on its merits and not use their vote to censure this Government. That opportunity will come later. That the “No” campaign has, according to a recent opinion poll, gained support is a cause for concern. Hopefully, complacency will be put aside and the Government will concentrate on discussing the Lisbon treaty’s many positive aspects. While I am not criticising the Minister of State, I was approached by a number of people today who told me that he got angry on yesterday’s edition of “Five Seven Live” due to some suggestions that were made. This can occur when lies are told about various matters, but we should explain the treaty’s contents in a rational and thoughtful way. If the information is provided to the people, they will make the right decision on the day. Senator Ann Ormonde: I welcome the Minister of State, who has made a significant effort to attend this debate. Three hours ago, he addressed the Parliament of the Czech Republic. His attempt to attend the Seanad in a timely manner reflects his energy and drive in getting the debate off the ground. I appreciate his work in this regard. The purpose of the Bill on the 28th amendment of the Constitution is to pave the way for the ratification of the European Union reform treaty, which is concerned with simplifying structures. There were six member states 50 years ago, but there are 27 members today. The treaty responds to current needs, aims to simplify the workings of the institutions and will bring them into the 21st century. It is a question of making changes to their workings to enhance efficiency, transparency and democracy. The treaty will give everyone a stronger voice in the decision making process. The yellow and red cards system is welcome and appropriate, as it will give national parliaments a greater role. Under it, any decision proposed in Brussels must apply the subsidiarity concept. If it does not, we can use the yellow card system to return the decision to the Commission for further discussion. If necessary, we can refer it to the European Court of Justice. This is a significant improvement in terms of linking us with the Union’s decision making process instead of it being a question of Europe being over there and Ireland over here. This is how I want Europe to work for us. The treaty will bring citizens closer to the decision making process and provide us with a real say in European policies. I welcome the role of the National Forum on Europe and the discussions of the Joint Committee on European Affairs in driving the reform treaty forward. The amendment will give legal status to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, including the freedom to choose occupations, equality between member states, the right to life and respect for private and family life. The charter puts the interests of the citizen firmly in the heart of the Union. The treaty allows the EU more scope to address major problems such as climate change, energy security, cross-border crime, trafficking, immigration, poverty and injustice. These issues cannot be addressed by any country acting alone. We must work together and pool our resources. By doing so, we will make a difference. The treaty will provide the means to meet these challenges, allowing Europe to do more for our people. We may discuss cross-border crime and how to curtail the drugs and trafficking businesses, but we cannot handle those matters alone on the periphery. By pooling resources, a global team can combat trafficking and so on. I do not understand the comments by those in the “No” campaign on the issues of neutrality, taxation and abortion. It is clear that the principle of unanimity will apply. We will decide what is to be done on taxation and neutrality, not Europe. The “No” campaigners believe that, in terms of abortion, taxation and neutrality, our identity will be subsumed into Europe. That one voice can object to a proposal at a Council of Ministers and prevent it from progressing is welcome. That we and not Europe will decide on these issues, the key areas on which the “No” campaign is harping, must be repeated to keep the message tight and simple. In terms of economics, Ireland has access to an EU market of more than 500 million people. As Ireland is a peripheral country, the EU is good for our businesses and consumers. In 2006, for example, Ireland exported goods and services to the other 26 member states to the value of more than €56 billion. In 1998, we exported goods and services to the comparative value of €39 billion. Our national income per head has increased from less than 60% of the European average to above average. When we joined the EEC in 1972, our foreign direct investment was worth €16.1 million. Today, it is measured in billions, such as a level of capital investment to the value of €2.6 billion. The number of people employed in small to medium-sized industries has doubled since 1973. No longer is it inevitable that parents see their children departing for foreign shores in search of employment. By virtue of being citizens of the EU, they have access to new horizons. The EU has enhanced our national well-being and our capacity to further the interests of the people. Ireland’s place is at the heart of Europe. The citizen’s initiative, a new concept included in the treaty, means that 1 million citizens will be able to table a proposal to have a particular issue debated in the European Parliament or at the Council of Ministers. This is a significant improvement. Under qualified majority voting, the requirement of 55% of member states comprising 65% of the EU’s population will ensure that small countries will be taken care of. A full-time president of the European Council will be elected every two and a half years to chair and co-ordinate the work of the European Council. That is a way to show they are reflecting the views of member states. We will have a full-time high representative for foreign affairs who will co-ordinate the EU’s policies on external relations. This treaty is not a radical document. It will protect our vital interests and give us a voice in Europe. It would be a dreadful mistake to vote “No” because doing so would create uncertainty within the European Union. Failure to ratify the treaty would be damaging to smaller countries such as Ireland and would erode our standing on the European stage. Ireland has benefited hugely from EU integration. It is clearly in our economic interest to vote “Yes”. Rejecting the treaty would suggest to the other 26 member states that we should return to the drawing board. Senator Ann Ormonde: Membership of the EU has transformed us. We have a voice in Brussels and a place in the world from which we can influence the formation of key policies which affect our future. We must be at the table when issues such as climate change, trafficking and cross-border crime are discussed. We cannot address these issues alone. My philosophy for being in Europe is that we should be part of the global scene while retaining our own identity. Senator Ann Ormonde: We should focus on economic management, climate change and peace and stability around the world. We must vote “Yes” because doing so will bring us political goodwill and solidarity from fellow member states, as well as greater international co-operation and equality. This treaty transcends political divides and I am delighted that so many people are putting Ireland first. I do not understand the flaky thinking of Libertas which claims to be pro-Europe while denouncing everything and anything connected with Europe. It advocates the abolition of the Common Agricultural Policy which has been the bedrock of Irish agriculture for the past 30 years. The treaty is a separate issue to the World Trade Organisation negotiations. Our national interests will not be jeopardised by it and it has nothing to do with taxation or neutrality. We have unanimity on these issues. Subsidiarity means that issues of importance to Ireland will be debated in Ireland. Scrutiny has been introduced and proposals can be discussed by national parliaments and sent back to Europe if they are not liked. What is wrong with that? Why would we want to stay out of Europe when we have all these protections? I compliment the Minister of State and his colleagues on the 50 meetings held the length and breadth of Ireland. Ministers have attended all these meetings which were organised by the Minister of State, Deputy Roche. We have left the starting blocks and I have addressed several meetings in my constituency. The “No” side seems very flaky to me, so let us keep driving this the way we have driven it thus far. This treaty must be passed because it would be an embarrassment to say “No”. Senator David Norris: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He is a vigorous and intellectually challenging representative of the Government. I am distressed to say, however, that I have to speak as a bit of a flake, in the words of my good friend and colleague, Senator Ormonde. I face the ghastly prospect of embarrassing the Senator and encouraging Ireland to be perceived as mean. These are terrible alternatives. I enjoyed the Senator’s contribution, although I have not always felt the same about interventions by the Government and, indeed, the Minister of State. One of the reasons I have decided finally to vote “No” to this treaty — this is my first time to do so, although I declared my reservations about the earlier treaties — is because of the supercilious and contemptuous way in which those of us who have a conscientious series of objections to the treaty are treated by the Government and other spokespersons. We are accused of lying and of being flaky and it is claimed that we have never been good Europeans. I do not accept that and it certainly cannot be said of myself. I know nothing whatsoever about Libertas, having only heard about the organisation recently on foot of an intervention from the Minister of State. It has not persuaded me in the slightest on this issue. However, I am concerned about certain specific issues, principal among them being the undoubted and growing militarisation of the European Union. On that issue there can be no question, despite what the Minister of State might argue. I have always supported the EU and my support is not paper thin or unconvincing. There are, however, unconvincing elements to the treaty. It would be perfectly legitimate for the people of Ireland to use their democratic vote to reject this treaty. If they did so, they would be going over the heads of the megalocrats that run the EU to speak directly to the heart of Europe, a democratic right which none of its other citizens have been given the opportunity to exercise. That tells us something about the management of this matter. What are the megalocrats afraid of in terms of democracy and why will they not give the people the right to vote? Why are we the only ones to do so? While I am speaking about evasion and confusion, I wish to address the question of why the referendum is being held. We are told by the Government that it is a constitutional requirement but, according to the court judgments, it is only a constitutional requirement if there is a prospect of a substantial constitutional or legislative changes. On the one hand, we have a referendum caused by this major shift and, on the other, the Government says there is no shift and nothing is happening. Some people have suggested that Europe will come to a shuddering halt if we vote against the treaty but Europe will continue unchanged. What will change it is the passage of this treaty. That requires an explanation. According to the Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, there is no fall-back position. They are arrogantly assuming we are going to bullied into passing this referendum. Why was the date moved from October to June? Had it something to do with the leaked memo in which we were told that June was chosen over October because of “the risk of unhelpful developments during the French presidency, particularly related to EU defence”? Perhaps Mr. Sarkozy might be inclined to tell the truth but that would be terribly embarrassing and we might be justified in being mean to the megalocrats. Something else concerns me. We hear a great deal of rubbish about liberal issues, people concerned about abortion and so on but we know one thing. I have a motion on the Order Paper about the exemption from equality legislation of the churches, even in the light of and despite the revelations of the Ferns Report. Decent, upstanding citizens like myself could be fired from a teaching job by the authorities with impunity because of the exemption granted under that legislation. This came to the notice of the equal opportunities Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, and he proposed action in the European Court. There was then a little squawk from the Iona Institute and others, unelected and unrepresentative people, and in order to smooth the way so that there would not be any turbulence from the right wing religious element, this has been dropped. Again, we have sacrificed equality and principles to ease through this treaty. Mr. Barosso stated: “There is no intention to bring Ireland to court on that ground. That is not going to happen”. It was stated that the Minister of State with responsibility for European Affairs, Deputy Dick Roche, strongly welcomed the news. He stated, “Mr. Barosso’s comment are very positive. I look forward to seeing the final adjudication”. They are not positive and the Minister of State knows it but I will not call that a lie. I will call it an evasion because we must be polite in this House, but it is a damnable day for equality when this happens. Senator David Norris: People have said the treaty is difficult to read and have been patronised for saying that. One learned commentator said it was like trying to read Finnegans Wake backwards in Latin. Even for a Joycean like myself I imagine that might pose some difficulties. If we examine the statements of other senior politicians, Monsieur Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is on record as saying that the Lisbon treaty is a direct clone of the failed constitution “except for certain cosmetic changes making it easier to swallow”. When the constitution was voted down in France and the Netherlands the Commission Vice-President, Günter Verheugen, stated: “We must not give in to blackmail”. When the citizens of Europe exercise their democratic right it is blackmail but when the megalocrats stuff something down the throats of 26 of the 27 countries that is democracy in action. I have a different way of using language. On the question of language, I recall pointing out to the Minister of State’s colleague, Deputy Mary Harney, that in a statement on health approximately three pages long she used the word “competition” seven times and she was embarrassed by that. Let us examine the language of the treaty. The word “market” gets 63 mentions and “competition” gets 25 mentions. There is no mention whatever of full employment. In other words, we are going to exchange social Europe for the neoliberal economic model of Europe. Senator David Norris: That was not a tract. It was an article by Susan George in The Irish Times. I accept the Minister may be right but will he accept also that there are 63 mentions of the word “market” and 25 of the—— Deputy Dick Roche: I would just make the point that in a response which The Irish Times very decently carried I pointed out the number of times she had been inaccurate in the article. I will deal with it in my response. Senator David Norris: Okay. Could the Minister also comment on the fact that in Strasbourg on 10 July last year Jose Barosso stated: “Sometimes I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of Empire. We have the dimensions of Empire”. There is an imperial level to it, therefore. With regard to the economic aspect, there is the business about spreading the European economic message by what is described as “the integration of all countries into the world economy through the suppression of barriers to international trade”. We could have a whole debate on that and the impact on southern hemisphere countries. I did not fully follow what the Minister of State was saying but he mentioned in his contribution the war in Iraq. I never felt that the war in Iraq was a good thing. I believe he was quoting Mr. Shanley or somebody from Libertas but I do not want to be dragged into that kind of debate. That is why I am concerned about the erosion of our individuality. The Minister of State is probably aware that on Bastille Day last year there was a triumphal military procession in Paris. Monsieur Sarkozy was in a military jeep. The armed forces of 27 countries, including Ireland, were present and I quote from a description from Reuters: That is the theatrics behind it. However, there is a philosophical agenda. For example, on 13 November 2007, during the French Presidency, Monsieur Herve Morin spoke of the need for a more muscular presence by Europe on the world stage and outlined France’s plans to press ahead with a Europe of defence. That is worrying. Chancellor Angela Merkel was reported on 23 March 2007 in Bilt. She stated: “Within the EU itself, we will have to move closer to establishing a common European army”. We are going to replace the United Nations, for example, with this extra military organisation. David Miliband, in a characteristically English intervention, stated: “It’s frankly embarrassing that European nations — with about two million men and women under arms — are only able, at a stretch, to deploy around 100,000 at any one time”. The Portuguese Defence Minister, when Portugal had the EU Presidency, stated: “Defence is a vital driver of integration today and the EU has to strengthen its military rapid response capacity, bolster its defence industry, etc. And all this should complement NATO”. I wish to turn to the defence industry and the European Defence Agency because that also raises a question of language. This used to be called the European Armaments Agency. Why the coy change of title? Why is it now the European Defence Agency instead of what it really is, namely, the European Armaments Agency? One should take note of the statement from this renamed agency. In September 2005, Mr. Nick Witney, who was the chief executive of the European Defence Agency, addressed the Institute of European Affairs in North Great George’s Street, just up the road from where I live, and outlined the benefits to Irish industry of EDA membership. He described some Irish or Irish based companies as being key players in some defence related sectors such as armoured fighting vehicles and defence electronics and that co-ordinated procurement could put them in a better position to be awarded defence equipment contracts. The Minister of State will be aware that a conference on cluster munitions will be held soon in Croke Park. Some of the states with which we are entering into collusion with this treaty will go there and try to lobby for exemptions for cluster munitions they are manufacturing. I will end by speaking on the reservations of some non-governmental organisations. There is no statement about partnership and independence in the treaty, which the European Community Humanitarian Office previously included. Many organisations are concerned, as I am, about the increasing militarisation of Europe and our incorporation into a manufacturing industry that is a disgrace to the human community. Senator Déirdre de Búrca: I welcome the Minister to the House and the opportunity to debate this Bill which is necessary to enable the State and Irish people to ratify the Lisbon treaty. As we are aware, we are the only country in the European Union that is to have a referendum on the treaty, which places a particular responsibility on us. As we know, the treaty is a legal document which represents a compromise between the interests of 27 member states. It is complex document which takes some reading and understanding and there is a particular responsibility on those of us who belong to the political classes to promote, explain and interpret aspects of the treaty for members of the public. The public must also educate and inform itself over the coming weeks. It is a shame other member states in the European Union are not having a referendum. At the time of the drafting of the EU constitution, the Green Party supported the idea of an EU-wide referendum where a double majority would be sought, made up of a majority of states supporting the treaty and a majority of population. Unfortunately that was not supported. I have every confidence that in future we will see these kinds of EU-wide referenda but we must accept that for the moment, the constitutional requirements of other member states are that they do not need to do as Ireland is doing by having a popular referendum. Parliamentary ratification is the mode of ratification for European treaties in other cases. We have an opportunity and responsibility to educate and inform ourselves and I hope the Irish people will participate in this so they can feel they can go to vote on the treaty on 12 June with a very clear idea of what the it is about. I am obliged to respond to some of the points raised by Senator Norris. I am disappointed to see the Senator join the ranks of people whom I can only describe as demonising the European Union. I do not mind anyone finding fault with the treaty; it is not perfect and is a compromise between the interests of 27 member states. There are areas in the treaty which are of concern to the Green Party and we have not pretended otherwise. However, the list of negative descriptors of the European Union is unfair. Senator Norris admitted he has supported previous treaties. There are many ways in which the European Union has been very positive for this country and its people. We have emphasised how it has been very important economically in terms of market access, the attraction of foreign direct investment and protecting those countries in the eurozone from instability in the international financial markets. That is happening today and we have been protected because of our membership of the eurozone. We also have influence within organisations such as the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and so on. As a small country our influence would be absolutely minimal but as a part of the European Union, we can exert more influence for the good of other parts of the world. Senator Déirdre de Búrca: Socially, this country has benefited enormously from our EU membership and I am sure Senator Norris would be very aware that most of the progressive employment and equality legislation we enjoy in this country is a direct result of our EU membership. It is easy to forget all that, and it seems the EU is now bad, has evil intentions and just wants to create an army and dominate the rest of the world. I cannot recognise the European Union that both of us know in the description by Senator Norris. Senator Déirdre de Búrca: On the environmental side, as far as the Green Party is concerned, the European Union is the best thing to happen to Ireland where protection of the environment is concerned. Most of the positive environmental legislation which we have taken our time in implementing has come directly from the European Union. Senator Norris is also very aware that the European Union has united what was previously a divided continent. There has been peace on the continent for the past 50 years and the Union is playing a positive role in other parts of the world, such as Aceh, Bosnia and Kosovo. It is keeping the peace and helping those areas maintain stability in difficult circumstances. It is also the largest donor of financial aid to the developing world, a fact of which Senator Norris is also aware. These are important points to make on a day he is being so critical of the European Union. Senator Déirdre de Búrca: We must also consider the new emerging world order where there are leading countries such as India, China and Russia with human rights records that do not bear comparison with the European Union. It is important to think of a strong European Union operating on the global stage, promoting values such as democracy, the rule of law, equality, sustainable development, the rights of minorities and their protection, etc. It is important we have a strong European Union operating at a global level. I will touch briefly on some elements of the Lisbon treaty. One of the very positive factors of the treaty is the way it sets out the values of the European Union very clearly. It discusses the promotion of human rights, democracy, the rule of law and equality between men and women, which is very important and a value from which Irish women have benefited. It speaks of the rights of the child and a commitment to tackling and reducing poverty internationally. There is also the promotion of sustainable development, which will be absolutely essential in an age when we are realising there are limits to economic growth and we must respect the natural limits of our planet. Climate change is one of the factors forcing us to do so. The values expressed within the Lisbon treaty are very positive. It is clearly up to us as politicians, as a member state of the European Union and as citizens to push the Union to uphold and promote those values. We should not be complacent and we must ensure they are being implemented and respected in all the actions and policies of the European Union. The Lisbon treaty sets about reforming the institutions of the European Union. Some people are crying loudly that Ireland’s influence is being seen to be reduced. There has been a reduction in some of Ireland’s influence in some European institutions but we must consider that the Union has expanded enormously from the community Ireland entered into originally. As Ireland becomes accustomed to working with other member states and has increasing confidence in its ability to form alliances and so on, we do not necessarily need to hold on to vetoes. It will become impossible to operate with 27 member states if the veto is to be used in many policy areas. With many of the reforms in the Lisbon treaty, although Ireland may find its influence reduced somewhat, we have the confidence in our own ability to be able to operate. We recognise that for a supranational body such as the European Union, it would not be possible for it to continue to make effective decisions if we held on to some of the decision-making processes in place in the past. The Lisbon treaty also makes the European Union more democratic. There is a role for national parliaments in keeping an eye on the subsidiarity principle, ensuring decisions are being made at the right level. There is the citizens’ initiative, where citizens can come together to petition the European Commission to introduce new legislation. There is also the substantially increased powers of the European Parliament, a directly elected institution, so citizens of Europe can ensure the institution that most directly represents them can exercise significant clout in decision making. The Lisbon treaty is also strengthening the European Union’s ability to act globally, and there are a number of different measures in this respect, including the creation of a more permanent Office of President of the European Council. The External Action Service is created by the Lisbon treaty and a legal personality will be given to the European Union that will allow it to sign up to international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol. There is also the role of the high representative for foreign affairs and security matters. That brings more coherence and concentration to the common foreign and security policy of the European Union. There is also a clear and welcome commitment to tackling climate change. Some opponents of the treaty have said it contains only six words in respect of this matter. As far are the Green Party is concerned, however, these are probably the six most important words in the treaty. Without any doubt, climate change is the most serious and gravest threat facing the global community. The European Union has shown great leadership on this issue to date. More needs to be done and the Union must to be able to bring member states with it in the context of making some of the changes that will be necessary. If it is successful in this regard, our economy will be much more adaptable to the new circumstances in which we will find ourselves. There will have to be a “greening” of the European economy and the latter will have to become much more sustainable in the coming decades. The European Union’s track record on climate change indicates that it will be committed and successful in the way it approaches this matter. Energy is a new policy area in respect of which the European Union will gain competence under the Lisbon treaty. If the treaty is ratified, the European Union will become a world leader in the area of renewable energy. There is a real need for the latter, particularly because it is one of the serious responses to the threat of climate change and will help us decarbonise our economy. Many new employment opportunities will be created as a result of developments in this regard. The Lisbon treaty strengthens the concept of EU citizenship. The Charter of Fundamental Rights clearly sets out the rights and entitlements of EU citizens in respect of health care, education, fair and just working conditions, protection in the event of dismissal, etc. If they examine the provisions of the Lisbon treaty, people will be aware of the particular benefits, rights and entitlements that are theirs as a result of their being citizens of the European Union. Senator Michael McCarthy: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, and wish him well with his brief. One of my first contributions in the previous Seanad related to the Nice treaty and if memory serves, I believe the Minister of State also held responsibility for European affairs at that stage. Senator Michael McCarthy: He later became a member of the Cabinet following the positive result in the second referendum on the Nice treaty. I am sure such good political fortune once again lies around the corner if the Minister of State can pull this one off at the first attempt. In light of the various points made recently, it is worth recalling the history of the European Union. The original aim behind it was to bring about peace, stability and prosperity in Europe after the Second World War. The two world wars in the previous century ravaged Europe, divided its peoples and gave rise to much hatred and violence. The original aspiration behind what became the European Union was to bring together European nations in order to ensure that they would become prosperous, peaceful and stable. It was important that the divisions which existed in the aftermath of the Second World War were overcome by a successful gathering of European nations. The EU has been extremely important in the context of ensuring economic and social development among member states. One need only consider local villages and towns to see the major benefits that have accrued to communities and sporting organisations and clubs as a result of our membership of the European Union. How many road infrastructure projects would have been completed if Ireland had remained outside the European Union? The late President Hillery, was instrumental in ensuring that Ireland joined the then EEC. He was one of a number of far-sighted visionaries who could see the benefits of involvement in Europe for a small country such as Ireland on its western periphery. Dr. Hillery and others saw the benefits that lay ahead as a result of our membership of what has become the European Union. They also saw the contribution Ireland could make. The late poet and playwright Victor Hugo said in the 19th century that he imagined a peaceful united states of Europe. Not too many years later an American President inquired as to who he should ring if he wanted to contact Europe. We now have a union of European countries working together for economic stability, peace and the prosperity of all nations. Since the establishment of the EU, many poorer countries have become members under the process of enlargement. In recent years the European Union encouraged the reunification of Germany following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the former communist countries of central and eastern Europe decided that their future lay within the family of democratic nations. Those countries had been under the thumb of communism and were broke in more ways than one. The enlargement process continues to this day. Much of the opposition to the Nice treaty focused on enlargement. A certain element of selfishness and greed coloured the arguments put forward by opponents of the enlargement of the European Union. This was a form of nimbyism — an attitude of “I’m all right Jack, to hell with everybody else”. Those who espoused it felt Ireland had enjoyed its bite at the cherry as a result of its membership of the European Union and had got as much as it could out of the latter while the going was good. They were of the view that we should be selfish and that others should not enjoy the same benefits. We must recall the advantages that have accrued to Ireland and other countries as a result of their EU membership. I wish such countries well and I hope they enjoy the same level of success and prosperity Ireland has experienced. The origins of the EU were in peace. However, one cannot ignore its successful economic origins. We must bear in mind the contribution of the larger countries — for so long they were net contributors — that helped smaller nations such as Ireland. This country would not be able to compete, in economic terms, in the global market. It is only as a result of our membership of the European Union that we were able to compete on the world stage with other major economies. Until Ireland joined the then EEC, the economic outlook for the country was quite bleak. At that time we were dependent on our partners in the UK but once we joined the EEC, the floodgates opened in the context of investment. People must be made aware of the benefits of European Union membership. The agricultural community and the farming organisations have benefited tremendously from our involvement in the Union. We have received €60 billion in funds from the EU, €40 billion of which went to the farming community. That is outstanding. If the treaty is to be passed, we must ensure that everyone is aware of the advantages and economic benefits involved and of what Ireland has received as a result of its membership of the EU. In the spirit of the treaty, we must consider ways of making procedures easier in the context of dealing with the enlarged Union. I do not believe that anyone present when the European Coal and Steel Community was established by six founder members in 1951 could have envisaged the Union that now exists. Administrative burdens have arisen over the years and we must consider ways to modernise procedures and simplify the workings of the European Union and the Commission to ensure that the former becomes more efficient. In the late 1950s, the Treaty of Rome established the Common Market. The then European Economic Community was expanded to nine members in 1973. Some of the visionaries of that time, the late President Hillery, and the late Jack Lynch, a former Taoiseach, ensured that Ireland would become a member state. The first direct elections to the European Parliament took place only in 1979. We must recall the Irish political legends who went to Europe. It is easy to forget that MEPs were appointed before elections were introduced in 1979. If one peruses some of the older editions of Nealon’s Guide, one is left puzzling how so-and-so was a Member of the European Parliament if direct elections were not introduced until 1979. Talk about being a favoured son or daughter. In those days, one could serve in Europe for a full term and never have to canvass for one vote. The Maastricht treaty established the European Union in 1993. In 1995 the membership of the Union expanded to 15 countries and the common currency was introduced in 2002. Most recently, a further enlargement took place in 2004. We must be extremely clear in the context of the message that must be sent out to people. I am concerned that if the perception is created that there is a lack of information regarding the treaty, suspicion will arise. In many ways, that could be a good development. I have listened to the debates in recent weeks and some of those who are opposing the treaty conversely will be responsible for promoting it. One could not possibly agree with the points these people make. They are clearly misinterpreting the truth, lying or uttering falsehoods, call it what one will. In many ways negativity can be a good thing because it can create positivity, making it clearer to reasonable thinking people who are undecided. The important middle ground concerns those who have not yet decided on the matter. There is no point in preaching to the converted. There are those who will oppose the treaty no matter what is in it. It is important, however, that reasonable thinking people in the middle ground are informed through good debates and factual information. They must be told what this is about. The leaked memo in The Irish Times is very unhelpful. It is incumbent on the powers that be to explain what happened and what was being referred to. People should be informed and educated by letting them know the thinking behind it. We should not allow a perception to be created by people who have a vested interest in putting viewpoints that are not based on facts. I also wish to refer the report in The Irish Times today concerning the Referendum Commission’s comments on corporation tax. The statement by the commission used the term, “It is our informed opinion”, but something more concrete is needed from the commission to ensure our corporation tax rate will not be affected by ratification of the Lisbon treaty. The opportunity exists for others to take advantage of the issue and exploit it by claiming critically that this is what is being planned with regard to corporation tax, that our sovereignty will be lost and that there is a military dimension. As we know, speaking in economic terms nowadays has a negative impact. We do not have the luxury of a buoyant economy, as we had in 2004 for the second attempt at ratification of the Nice treaty. Things are on a downward spiral and the “No” campaigners could take full advantage of that. Pat Cox’s term as president of the European Parliament was an outstanding political achievement, especially as he was an independent member of that assembly. He brought credence, stature and status to the debate on the last occasion. He was informed, competent, articulate and had an easy way of communicating what was good about the European Union. Reasoned and rational debate by such people who are respected, not just in Ireland but internationally, would not do the Lisbon treaty any harm in terms of its ratification. Previous speakers have referred to the legislative benefits of EU membership. We bravely took cases to the European Court of Human Rights and can attest more than anyone else as to the benefits of that type of legislative support in terms of justice, equality and other important issues. A workforce of 300 or 400 people is entitled to force majeure leave, parental leave and other benefits that came from Europe. The former Tánaiste, Michael O’Leary, who was a Minister in the coalition Government of 1973 to 1977, introduced much of that revolutionary legislation which was bound by Europe. Otherwise we may not have had it. We need to ensure people who take full advantage of those legislative rules and regulations are aware they originated in Europe. Despite their best intentions, it is not helpful for someone from a neighbouring European country to say we have to ratify this treaty. That is a gun-to-the-head situation which Irish people will not accept. As Britain’s nearest neighbour, we resisted British rule for as long as we did. Countries such as Australia, New Zealand and India were colonised by the British down through the years, yet London faced the greatest resistance from the smallest country and its nearest neighbour. That mentality still exists and it amounts to us saying to people not to tell us what to do because we will decide ourselves. That type of intervention, despite good intentions, could have an adverse effect. We fought tooth and nail for democracy in Ireland. I am sure that all of us who subscribe to the democratic process and believe in equality and justice for all will always be aware of the roots of democracy in this country. We can never forget it and we celebrate it as often as we can. Why would we turn around at the beginning of the third millennium and start handing over our sovereignty and independence to Europe? It is not as simple as that. I have no doubt about the Minister of State’s ability. The last occasion I addressed this House on the issue of Europe was concerning the second Nice treaty referendum. At the time the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, had been appointed Minister with responsibility for European affairs. It was not an easy brief and he had a more difficult ministerial portfolio than many of his Cabinet colleagues. I believe he ended up in Cabinet as a result of that ratification. Who knows but that political good fortune may be around the corner for him again. That kind of political competence and ministerial ability is needed to push this through. There is a lot at stake but we must ensure the Lisbon reform treaty is not rejected for the wrong reasons. We must banish the myths and put these lies to bed. We must also ensure there is proper, reasoned debate based on facts. I have no doubt that is the case but it is important to reiterate the arguments all the time. For example, an MEP on “Morning Ireland” this morning was continually interrupted by an opponent of the treaty. If that continues it will paint a picture to the reasonable thinking person of those who are against the treaty. For a variety of good reasons we need to ratify the treaty. Senator John Hanafin: If we ever needed proof of the true nature of the Lisbon treaty we got it this week when one country, Lithuania, was able to prevent a treaty with Russia from going ahead. That situation would remain the case after the Lisbon treaty is ratified. There is no doubt in my mind that it would be in the best interests of Europe for both the EU and Russia — both members of the European family — to have an economic treaty. Russia has a population of 140 million with vast reserves of oil and timber. It is said that in Siberia the rivers are so full of salmon they use bulldozers to catch them. We are talking about a population that has enjoyed growing wealth and wonderful opportunities on its own doorstep. It is a country of 17 million sq. km. with vast resources and capabilities, yet one small country can hold up all of the EU concerning an obviously necessary treaty. That situation will not change following ratification of the Lisbon treaty. If we were doing anything insidious in the treaty, would that not be the one item we would change? Shadows have consistently been thrown at the treaty which have no bearing in reality. When a light is shone on the truth of the questions, however, all one gets is another question. It is our duty to ensure this practical treaty goes through. I have a specific interest in it as I am involved in an anti-drugs group. Fortunately, the Criminal Assets Bureau has sequestered on behalf of the State moneys from criminals involved in the illegal drugs trade. That has been to the benefit of Ireland because it hurts them most when their money is taken away. If the CAB went to the so-called costa del crime to assess Irish criminals’ assets there, however, the CAB officials would be arrested, not the criminals. In today’s society, we need enhanced co-operation to combat the type of criminals involved in such illegal activities. I would welcome such enhanced co-operation. We were told the treaty would create an EU superstate with centralised powers, but there are no new structures in the Lisbon treaty. We were told the treaty would transfer many powers from member states to Brussels, but the only major change is in the areas of freedom, justice and security. That will enable the EU to deal effectively with international crimes such as drug running and human trafficking. These are all problems we face here in Ireland. The question of a loss of sovereignty has been raised. In 1973 when we entered Europe, Ireland conducted 60% of its trade with a single state and there was emigration. Only ten years before that, the Barrington report had spoken of the demographic anomaly in Ireland whereby the population contained a huge number of old and young people while a vast number of the people in between had left the country. There was also a tendency not to get married. What type of true independence does a country have when such a situation prevails? Since we joined the EU we have experienced a flowering of our national culture and economy. This has given young people hope and confidence for the future. The treaty deals only with what it is intended to deal with. It does not, for example, deal with fluoridation of water, if that is a big issue for the voter. That is not what it is intended to do. The treaty is intended to make the working and operation of the European institutions more manageable in a situation where there are 27 member states. In reality, we are ensuring there is more accountability within Europe. The treaty will introduce the concept of a yellow card and an orange card, with the cards held by the national parliaments. If a national parliament considers that an issue from Europe breaches the subsidiarity principle, it can refer the matter back to Europe. If a sufficient number of parliaments agree this is correct, the issue can be removed altogether. The operation of the European Council will be given greater coherence and continuity by the appointment of a president of the Council of Ministers. A high representative will be appointed for five years, will be a member of the Commission and will report to the ambassadors of the member states. There is also the issue of whether the Lisbon treaty is a power grab by the larger member states. The treaty introduces a double majority requirement — a minimum of 55% of the member states, representing at least 65% of the population. One of the most serious shadows that is put forward is the suggestion that the treaty will be self-amending. This relates primarily to Articles 33 and 308 of the treaty. Article 33 provides for an ordinary treaty revision procedure and a simplified procedure. Under the ordinary procedure any member state, the European Parliament or the Commission may make a proposal for one or more treaty amendments which could increase or reduce a competence conferred on the Union by the member states. National parliaments must be notified. The simplified procedure applies only to the TFEU, that this, the internal policies and actions of the Union. In the first case, the governments can decide on treaty amendments by common accord. Their decisions must be subsequently ratified by each member state in accordance with its constitutional requirements. There is also the issue of the militarisation of the EU. With all previous treaties, this issue was put forward each time. Each treaty was alleged to be the one that would bring Ireland into the European superstate and the European army. That and similar arguments relate to the common foreign and security policy and the security and defence policy, both of which were provided for in previous treaties which Ireland ratified by referendum. The sky did not fall. There are situations where European states are required to act as one. Consider what happened in this millennium, the genocide in former Yugoslavia. Genocide is something we thought could never happen again. The European Union was not in a position at that time to deal effectively with it. I believe it should have been. The proposal that this treaty is a movement towards the creation of a European army does not stand up to scrutiny. The Irish triple lock system still remains in place. The main fear, however, is that the treaty will lead to the harmonisation of corporate tax rules and rates. The European Commission for some time, without success, has been floating the idea of a common consolidated corporate tax base, similar to the system in place for VAT. It has never achieved majority support among the member states and it is not included in the Commission’s 2009 work programme. There is no proposal to harmonise actual tax rates. Even if this proposal were made at a future date, it could not be approved except by unanimous vote in the Council. It is on this issue that people who oppose the treaty have suggested there is a fundamental change. They suggest that, at some stage, there is a possibility that an Irish Taoiseach will act against the best interests of the nation and vote for harmonisation of tax rates in conjunction with all the other Council members. That is not just improbable but simply will not happen. Irish tax rates are seen by other states as an example of a positive social economy with low tax. The other positive aspect of the treaty is the Charter of Fundamental Rights. European nations fought against each other for many years. Nationalism was rampant throughout the Continent. Now, for the first time, we have an opportunity to show the rest of the world what is possible. When Pat Cox visited the Seanad he spoke about Europe being something of the light. There is no doubt this treaty is a continuation of something of the light. That is what the “No” campaign and the naysayers fear most because it shows their shadows are no more than that. Senator Liam Twomey: We should be grown up about this treaty. There is no need to call anybody on the “No” side of the campaign a “loo-la” or anything else. I do not really give a damn whether the rest of the member states ratify the treaty through their parliaments or through referendums. We always hold a referendum; that is how we do things in Ireland. We will accept the will of the people in the referendum. It is their decision whether to accept or reject it. One of the arguments one regularly hears is about European armies. I have never yet had anybody in County Wexford or in any other part of the country ask me about the European army. They could not care less about it. Some of the other arguments put forward about Europe verge on the nonsensical for the majority of people in this country. Senator Liam Twomey: Every time there is a problem with a local issue, one is told it is caused by Dublin. When there have been national problems, Ministers, including those from the Fianna Fáil Party, have been heard to say, “Well, that is Europe for you.” They have been saying it for 30 years. To some degree they have contributed to a feeling among a certain number of people that Europe is a negative thing. When people voted for the previous treaties, in many cases it was because there was a strong economic element in those treaties. Naturally, people will vote in their own interests. However, if one has been consistently knocking Europe by blaming it for environmental issues and ridiculous things such as straight bananas, a sizeable minority of people will have the perception that Europe is bad for them but that they must put up with it and, for as long as Europe is paying them, they do not mind. That is the reason the general public, for no apparent reason, does not take much heed of or is negative towards Europe. There is also a lack of knowledge about Europe, and that applies to Members of the Oireachtas and members of local authorities. Many of us do not know the names of more than three or four MEPs from other countries, even if we know our MEPs. We do not understand what the European project is about. When one does not understand what the European project is about, it is incredibly easy to knock it and to allege that it is a negative force for the majority of people in this country. When we talk to the people perhaps we should begin by saying that we have used Europe. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, has even said he voted against the Nice treaty the first time round because he had problems with Europe. Perhaps there is a need for Ministers to be honest and to say to the people that they may have misled them in regard to aspects of Europe. That is how we will get the people to vote for this treaty. The strong economic arguments that have been made about previous treaties do not apply to this one, but one important role of this treaty is the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the citizens of Europe. This is one aspect of it that could be sold to the people. Europe has been very good in protecting the human rights of a great number of people in Ireland. The opportunity is always there for citizens of this country to take a case to the European Court of Justice. Many of them have been served extremely well in that court and that is what we must sell. Many of the most positive social policies implemented in this country have found their origins in Europe. That is how we will buy the people into this European project. In reality, very little economic debate applies to this treaty. Lisbon is very much about tidying up a number of other treaties and making it little more manageable for the bureaucrats of Europe. That in itself is not a bad thing. It is no harm that we have a European treaty that tidies up a lot of the other work we are already doing in Europe. Many of the principles of the European project are based on previous treaties which have been passed in this country. Essentially we have been good Europeans. We see the benefits to us and our self-interest has been served in many of the previous treaties. That is not a bad thing. We are also far more open-minded about what previous treaties have brought us. When we see all the other issues about our neutrality and the European armies that have been thrown into the argument in the past few years, we are big enough to see beyond them. It is interesting to observe the type of silly stuff that can become part of this debate. Senator Doherty mentioned that Fine Gael was voting for tax harmonisation. I found the Bersani Report of 2005. It is fantastic that Senator Doherty has the time and the inclination to look up what Fine Gael MEPs are doing in Europe but his argument was that Fine Gael was looking for tax harmonisation. He quoted from a report that was published in December 2005. Fine Gael Members of the European Parliament voted last week in Strasbourg against the concept of tax harmonisation and we have voted against it consistently 15 times in the past couple of years. That is the type of information that Senator Doherty should be giving to the people. That would help to inform the debate in this country. The European Parliament is working like a huge super parliament and many of the resolutions passed there carry no weight. Many of the things said there are as full of hot air as some of the debates in both the Seanad and the Dáil and they also carry no weight. The general concept of the European Parliament and its power do not intervene in the slightest with the sovereignty of the Dáil or with the people of this country. We should get that message across to them. The Irish have nothing to fear from Europe which will continue to work in the same way it has worked for the past 30 years. There will be, as there must be, changes in how it works. Europe has altered radically since we joined it in 1973 and its workings have altered to the same degree and yet I do not see the sky falling 30 years later, even as we discuss this treaty. I say to the Minister that we should go out and give this to the people in the way they want it and talk about it in the way I have heard many contributors from the “Yes” side speak of it. It is a question and answer session for the people. The reason the treaty is so boring for the majority is that it is a housekeeping exercise. It wraps up many things. |Last Updated: 18/11/2010 19:43:16||Page of 11|

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It’s been eight days since Miriam posted at Double XX This Wired piece on the 10 Worst Evolutionary Designs also made me want to smash some test tubes. It’s a stunningly inane list of animal adaptations that the author thinks are weird, uncontaminated by even the most basic knowledge of evolution. And the eight days since reading the Wired piece, I have yet to become less irritated by it. Miriam goes on to state at least one problem… It isn’t cool enough that a cow-like mammal has evolved into a denizen of the open sea? It isn’t neat that dolphins have evolved amazing echolocation, and that humpback whales use their air-breathing abilities to hunt? (Not to mention that only cetaceans—whales and dolphins—have blowholes. Other sea mammals, like seals and manatees, just stick their noses in the air.) Evolution is all about using the tools at hand, and if something works it’s good enough. Whales can’t evolve gills out of nothing, but they can move their nostril to the back of their head and be successful. Kangaroos can’t suddenly evolve a placenta, but being a marsupial works fine. So as expressed by Miriam the post misses key concepts in evolutionary biology - As Miriam states, future evolution is constrained by the past. Once an organism starts down a genetic road, it can always veer off and take a slightly different direction, but don’t expect to make it to Tokyo on the road to Tulsa. - Not all features of an organism are adaptive. Some features are hitchhikers, remnants of the past no longer needed. - One cannot examine singular features in isolation. An organism should be examined in totality where organismal features represent a balance of environmental constraints. For example, evolutionary miniaturization of organisms often results in loss of organs or organ systems. Instead of saying “Gee is sure is stupid that that fish has no circulatory system”, one should be in awe that organism can lose an entire organ system, question why the organism would need to become small in the first place, and contemplate the evolutionary marvel of solving this problem by organ loss. - On the same line of thought as the above, features themselves can represent a balance of selective pressures. Back to organismal size again, my personal forte, size can represent a balance of life history constraints, metabolic constraints, space availability, predator/prey relationships, and energetics (food foraging area, fasting potential, food availability). Each of these may select for opposing sizes and the eventual size represents one solution to a complex evolutionary equation. - Value judging an organism’s features is ridiculous in itself. I personally find that “A few shark species have live births (instead of laying eggs). The Jaws juniors grow teeth in the womb. The first sibling or two to mature sometimes eat their siblings in utero.” to be an excellent, fascinating, and brilliant example of how to both reduce sibling rivalry for resources but increase your own energy consumption prebirth!

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The DeKalb History Center is open Monday through Fridayfrom 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. We are located on the main floor of the historic DeKalb Courthouse. The museum is free. Please call for holiday hours. The archives are opened to researchers Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 AM - Noon and 1 PM until 4 PM. Appointments are requested in order to better serve our researchers. Please call 404-373-1088, extension 23, or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org to make an appointment. The Old Courthouse on the Square provides a unique setting for weddings, meetings, and other special events. For more information on renting our facilities click here: Courthouse Rental From I-85: From I-85 take exit 91, take Clairmont Road south to Decatur, stay on Clairmont Road for approximately 3-4 miles until Clairmont Road ends at Ponce de Leon Avenue. The Old Courthouse on the Square will be in front of you and our offices are located inside. From I-285: From I-285 take 78 West. 78 West turns into Lawrenceville Highway/Scott Boulevard. Go approximately two miles to the corner of Scott Boulevard and Clairmont Road. Take a left on Clairmont Road. Continue until Clairmont Road ends at Ponce de Leon Avenue. The Old Courthouse on the Square will be in front of you and our offices are located inside. From Atlanta: From Atlanta take Ponce de Leon Avenue east. Where Ponce de Leon Avenue forks and becomes Scott Boulevard and West Ponce de Leon Avenue, veer right onto West Ponce de Leon Avenue. (At this fork there is a welcome sign for Decatur, GA.) Take West Ponce de Leon Avenue into Decatur. At the intersection of West Ponce de Leon Avenue and Clairemont Road, the Old Courthouse on the Square is on the right. Parking is plentiful in downtown Decatur. For infomation on area decks and metered spots go to www.visitdecaturgeorgia.com and seach "parking". When you ride the MARTA East – West line, the Decatur stop takes you into the middle of the downtown Decatur square. Use either exit and you are about five yards from the DeKalb History Center.

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My passion is studying early man, specifically how we became who we are. Is our violence an aberration or part and parcel of survival? No other mammal kills their own, but maybe–as the alpha on the planet–our greatest threat to our survival is our own species, so we’re forced to destroy each other. What was lacking in H. Habilis that led to their extinction, to be replaced by the big-brained, scrawny Homo erectus? Habilis was preyed upon by species with bigger claws, sharper teeth and thicker skin. Habilis (and my friend Lyta) scavenged their left-overs, in between hiding from the imposing mammals that dominated the Plio-Pleistocene African savanna. But, eventually hiding wasn’t enough and H. erectus took over (we don’t know if they fought with each other or if habilis left ‘with a whimper’). H. erectus, with his longer lower limbs for running and walking efficiency, his bigger brain especially in the areas for planning and forethought (and speech depending upon whose research you’re reading) was tall, thin, and barrel-chested, hardly daunting in a world of sabertooth cats, mammoth and giant sloths. Yet , it is he who spread from Africa to China, India, the Middle East, Java. It is he–not predator cats or alligators–who developed a highly adaptable culture allowing him to survive a wide range of climates and habitats. That is the first of their firsts. Want more? - first appearance of systematic hunting. - first use of fire (though arguably no control of it) - first indication of extended childhood (thanks to the helplessness of their infants) - first indication of the ability to lead a more complex life (their Acheulian tools were sophisticated, their hunting was planned) - first to wear clothing (how else to survive Georgia and China) - first to create complex tools and weapons Their faces were short but wide and the nose projected forward, hinting at the typical human external nose. They had a pronounced brow ridge. Their cranium was long and low and somewhat flattened at the front and back. The cranial bone was thicker than earlier hominids. Remnants show damage from being hit in the head by something like clubs or heavy rocks. Their arms and legs were also robust, with thicker bones and clear evidence of being heavily muscled. The suspicion is they were a more violent species than habilis. Is that why habilis disappeared? The tougher group survived and bred offspring with their thicker, more protective skulls. You probably remember my friend Lyta is a Homo habilis (see her page). I’ve lived her life through Otto‘s ability to ‘see’ into the past. Where other primates rest when they have enough to eat, she thinks and shares information with her band. Where most mammals sleep when they aren’t hunting, playing or resting, Lyta worked–knapped tools, collected food for a cache, planned. I have come to believe that her survival depended not so much on her physique (which was sorely lacking in that physical time) as what was inside of her: her courage, ability to plan ahead, strength of her convictions, what we call ‘morals’. These are very human traits that can’t be preserved in bones and teeth. I wouldn’t know they existed if not for Otto. I’ve posted an excerpt from that research on Scribd.com (Born in a Treacherous Time). My next project is to determine how man migrated throughout the world. Where did he get the courage? Was he forced out because he couldn’t defend his territory? Or was it wanderlust? Was he a seeker, wanting more for his life? Did he get bored and need to challenge his constantly-growing brain?

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Joomla is known for its easy and intuitive management and administration. However, for the installation of the script you need to provide yourself first with a web hosting service optimized to support your (Joomla site. After that, all you need to do is, download the Joomla installation archive from the Internet (http://joomla.org) and unpack it in your Joomla-optimized hosting account. Open your website's URL and the Joomla Installer will begin the installation process asking you to provide some additional information about your database, e-mail and website. After few simple steps your Joomla installation will be complete and you will be redirected to the Joomla administration panel. Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 July 2008 12:56 ) What is Joomla and what is its purpose? Written by Administrator Wednesday, 14 July 2004 11:00 Joomla is one of the most popular and feature-loaded open-source content management systems (CMSs). It allows you to create, within minutes, diversely designed content-rich websites without any programming skills or web design knowledge! Joomla was designed to provide an advanced and secure environment for developing all kinds of web sites. You can easily combine the thousands of modules offered for Joomla and integrate a Blog, Forum, Gallery or Shopping Cart into your website, as well as create a uniquely designed corporate or business portal. With Joomla you can also have an easily utilizable template system with layout, color and other variables for template customization. All our templates are ready-to-use with your Joomla script, and the installation is automatically done by the in-built Joomla Template Installer. In order to add any of our Joomla 1.5.x templates to your website, you need to just follow the few simple steps below: First install a fresh copy of Joomla 1.5.x or update you current Joomla 1.5.x installation to the latest version available (Joomla 1.5.1 or later is recommended) . Then choose a template from our site and download it to your computer. Next, login to your Joomla's Administration panel as admin. Locate the 'Extensions' menu on the top and choose the 'Install/Uninstall' option. In the 'Extension Manager' page, please locate the 'Upload Package File' section and browse to the folder where you have downloaded the template. Then click on the “Upload File < Install” button and wait until Joomla installs your new template. Once the template is successfully installed, please select the 'Template Manager' tab from the 'Extensions' menu. In the 'Template Manager' page, please check the checkbox next to your new template and click on the ‘Default’ button in order to set it as default for your website.

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Blaga, C.I. and Reichart, G.J. and Vissers, E.W. and Lotter, A.F. and Anselmetti, F.S. and Damsté Sinninghe, J.S. (2011) Seasonal changes in glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether concentrations and fluxes in a perialpine lake: Implications for the use of the TEX86 and BIT proxies. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 75, 6416-6428. ISSN 0016-7037. |PDF - Published Version | Restricted to KNAW only Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2011.08.016 To determine where and when glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) membrane lipids in lakes are produced, we collected descending particles in Lake Lucerne (Switzerland) using two sediment traps (at 42 and 72 m water depth) with a monthly resolution from January 2008 to late March 2009. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was monthly filtered from the water column at three different depths. The potential application of GDGTs in palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions was investigated by comparing core lipids and their relative GDGT distribution, with lake water temperatures throughout the year. Fluxes of GDGTs and their concentrations in the water column vary according to a seasonal pattern, showing a similar trend in the SPM and sediment traps. Fluxes and concentrations of isoprenoid GDGTs increase with depth, maximum values being observed in the deeper part of the water column, indicating production of isoprenoid GDGTs by Thaumarchaeota in the deep (similar to 50 m), aphotic zone of Lake Lucerne. The flux-weighted averages of the proxies TEX(86) (0.27) and BIT (0.03) based on the total extracted GDGTs are similar at both trap depths. A sediment core from the same location showed that in the first few centimetres of the core TEX(86) and BIT values of 0.29 and 0.07, respectively, are similar to those recorded for descending particles and SPM, indicating that the sedimentary TEX(86) records the annual mean temperature of deeper waters in Lake Lucerne. TEX(86) values are slightly higher below 20 cm in the core. This offset is interpreted to be caused by the present-day trophic state of the lake, which probably resulted in a deeper niche of the Thaumarchaeota. Branched GDGTs represent only a minor fraction of the total GDGTs in the lake and their origin remains unclear. Our data reveal that GDGTs in lakes have a large potential for palaeoclimatic studies but indicate that knowledge of the system is important for accurate interpretation. |Institutes:||Nederlands Instituut voor Ecologie (NIOO)| |Deposited On:||24 Nov 2011 01:00| |Last Modified:||24 Apr 2012 16:40| Repository Staff Only: item control page

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Frozen in Time - Terracotta Warrior One of Qin Shi Huangdi's Terracotta Warriors. Thousands of slightly larger than life-size warriors have been unearthed near the tomb of the First Emperor of China. Archeologists are painstakingly piecing these warriors together. The site, near Xian, China, is a fascinating place to visit.

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an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. 1590s, anomy, "disregard of law," from Gk. a-, privative prefix, "without" + nomos "law" (see numismatics). The modern use, with Fr. spelling (from Durkheim's "Suicide," 1897), is first attested in English 1933 and means "absence of accepted social values."

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|reference frame (rěf'ər-əns) Pronunciation Key A basis of a four-dimensional coordinate system in which the first coordinate is understood as a time coordinate, while the other three coordinates represent spatial dimensions. Inertial frames and non-inertial frames are both examples of reference frames. Also called frame of reference. See also General Relativity, space-time, Special Relativity. |a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.| |a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.|

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tumor marker n. A substance, released into the circulation by tumor tissue, whose detection in the serum indicates the presence of a specific type of tumor. |an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.| |a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.| Dictionary.com presents 366 FAQs, incorporating some of the frequently asked questions from the past with newer queries.

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Dictionary and translator for handheld New : sensagent is now available on your handheld A windows (pop-into) of information (full-content of Sensagent) triggered by double-clicking any word on your webpage. Give contextual explanation and translation from your sites ! With a SensagentBox, visitors to your site can access reliable information on over 5 million pages provided by Sensagent.com. Choose the design that fits your site. Improve your site content Add new content to your site from Sensagent by XML. Crawl products or adds Get XML access to reach the best products. Index images and define metadata Get XML access to fix the meaning of your metadata. Please, email us to describe your idea. Lettris is a curious tetris-clone game where all the bricks have the same square shape but different content. Each square carries a letter. To make squares disappear and save space for other squares you have to assemble English words (left, right, up, down) from the falling squares. Boggle gives you 3 minutes to find as many words (3 letters or more) as you can in a grid of 16 letters. You can also try the grid of 16 letters. Letters must be adjacent and longer words score better. See if you can get into the grid Hall of Fame ! Change the target language to find translations. Tips: browse the semantic fields (see From ideas to words) in two languages to learn more. 1.the language of educated people in ancient Rome"Latin is a language as dead as dead can be. It killed the ancient Romans--and now it's killing me" classical Latin (n.) Latin inscription in the Colosseum |Spoken in||Roman republic, Roman empire| |Region||mare nostrum (Mediterranean)| |Era||75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin| |Writing system||Latin alphabet| |Official language in||Roman republic, Roman empire| |Regulated by||Schools of grammar and rhetoric| The range of Latin, 60 AD Classical Latin in simplest terms is the socio-linguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it. Any unabridged Latin dictionary informs moderns that Marcus Tullius Cicero and his contemporaries of the late republic while using lingua Latina and sermo Latinus to mean the Latin language as opposed to the Greek or other languages, and sermo vulgaris or sermo vulgi to refer to the vernacular of the uneducated masses, regarded the speech they valued most and in which they wrote as Latinitas, "Latinity", with the implication of good. Sometimes it is called sermo familiaris, "speech of the good families", sermo urbanus, "speech of the city" or rarely sermo nobilis, "noble speech", but mainly besides Latinitas it was Latine (adverb), "in good Latin", or Latinius (comparative degree of adjective), "good Latin." Latinitas was spoken as well as written. Moreover, it was the language taught by the schools. Prescriptive rules therefore applied to it, and where a special subject was concerned, such as poetry or rhetoric, additional rules applied as well. Now that the spoken Latinitas has become extinct (in favor of various other registers later in date) the rules of the, for the most part, polished (politus) texts may give the appearance of an artificial language, but Latinitas was a form of sermo, or spoken language and as such retains a spontaneity. No authors are noted for the type of rigidity evidenced by stylized art, except possibly the repetitious abbreviations and stock phrases of inscriptions. Good Latin in philology is "classical" Latin literature. The term refers to the canonicity of works of literature written in Latin in the late Roman republic and the early to middle Roman empire: "that is to say, that of belonging to an exclusive group of authors (or works) that were considered to be emblematic of a certain genre." The term classicus (masculine plural classici) was devised by the Romans themselves to translate Greek ἐγκριθέντες (egkrithentes), "select", referring to authors who wrote in Greek that were considered model. Before then, classis, in addition to being a naval fleet, was a social class in one of the diachronic divisions of Roman society according to property ownership by the Roman constitution. The word is a transliteration of Greek κλῆσις (klēsis) "calling", used to rank army draftees by property from first to fifth class. Classicus is anything primae classis, "first class", such as the authors of the polished works of Latinitas, or sermo urbanus. It had nuances of the certified and the authentic: testis classicus, "reliable witness." It was in this sense that Marcus Cornelius Fronto (an African-Roman lawyer and language teacher) in the 2nd century AD used scriptores classici, "first-class" or "reliable authors" whose works could be relied upon as model of good Latin. This is the first known reference, possibly innovated at this time, to classical applied to authors by virtue of the authentic language of their works. In imitation of the Greek grammarians, the Roman ones, such as Quintilian, drew up lists termed indices or ordines on the model of the Greek lists, termed pinakes, considered classical: the recepti scriptores, "select writers." Aulus Gellius includes many authors, such as Plautus, who are currently considered writers of Old Latin and not strictly in the period of classical Latin. The classical Romans distinguished Old Latin as prisca Latinitas and not sermo vulgaris. Each author (and work) in the Roman lists was considered equivalent to one in the Greek; for example Ennius was the Latin Homer, the Aeneid was a new Iliad, and so on. The lists of classical authors were as far as the Roman grammarians went in developing a philology. The topic remained at that point while interest in the classici scriptores declined in the medieval period as the best Latin yielded to medieval Latin, somewhat less than the best by classical standards. The Renaissance brought a revival of interest in restoring as much of Roman culture as could be restored and with it the return of the concept of classic, "the best." Thomas Sebillet in 1548 (Art Poétique) referred to "les bons et classiques poètes françois", meaning Jean de Meun and Alain Chartier, which was the first modern application of the word. According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the term classical, from classicus, entered modern English in 1599, some 50 years after its re-introduction on the continent. Governor William Bradford in 1648 referred to synods of a separatist church as "classical meetings" in his Dialogue, a report of a meeting between New-England-born "young men" and "ancient men" from Holland and England. In 1715 Laurence Echard's Classical Geographical Dictionary was published. In 1736 Robert Ainsworth's Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendarius turned English words and expressions into "proper and classical Latin." In 1768 David Ruhnken (Critical History of the Greek Orators) recast the mold of the view of the classical by applying the word canon to the pinakes of orators, after the Biblical canon or list of authentic books of the Bible. Ruhnken had a kind of secular catechism in mind. In 1870 Wilhelm Sigismund Teuffel in Geschichte der Römischen Literatur (A History of Roman Literature) innovated the definitive philological classification of classical Latin based on the metaphoric uses of the ancient myth of the Ages of Man, a practice then universally current: a Golden Age and a Silver Age of classical Latin were to be presumed. The practice and Teuffel's classification, with modifications, are still in use. His work was translated into English as soon as published in German by Wilhelm Wagner, who corresponded with Teuffel. Wagner published the English translation in 1873. Teuffel divides the chronology of classical Latin authors into several periods according to political events, rather than by style. Regarding the style of the literary Latin of those periods he had but few comments. Teuffel was to go on with other editions of his history, but meanwhile it had come out in English almost as soon as it did in German and found immediate favorable reception. In 1877 Charles Thomas Cruttwell produced the first English work along the same lines. In his Preface he refers to "Teuffel's admirable history, without which many chapters in the present work could not have attained completeness" and also gives credit to Wagner. Cruttwell adopts the same periods with minor differences; however, where Teuffel's work is mainly historical, Cruttwell's work contains detailed analyses of style. Nevertheless like Teuffel he encounters the same problem of trying to summarize the voluminous detail in a way that captures in brief the gist of a few phases of writing styles. Like Teuffel, he has trouble finding a name for the first of the three periods (the current Old Latin phase), calling it mainly "from Livius to Sulla." The language, he says, is "…marked by immaturity of art and language, by a vigorous but ill-disciplined imitation of Greek poetical models, and in prose by a dry sententiousness of style, gradually giving way to a clear and fluent strength…" These abstracts have little meaning to those not well-versed in Latin literature. In fact, Cruttwell admits "The ancients, indeed, saw a difference between Ennius, Pacuvius, and Accius, but it may be questioned whether the advance would be perceptible by us." Some of Cruttwell's ideas have become stock in Latin philology for better or for worse. While praising the application of rules to classical Latin, most intensely in the Golden Age, he says "In gaining accuracy, however, classical Latin suffered a grievous loss. It became cultivated as distinct from a natural language… Spontaneity, therefore, became impossible and soon invention also ceased… In a certain sense, therefore, Latin was studied as a dead language, while it was still a living." These views are certainly debatable; one might ask how the upper classes of late 16th century Britain, who shared the Renaissance zealousness for the classics, managed to speak spontaneous Latin to each other officially and unofficially after being taught classical Latin by tutors hired for the purpose. Latinitas in the Golden Age was in fact sermo familiaris, the spoken Latin of the Roman upper classes, who sent their children to school to learn it. The debate continues. A second problem is the appropriateness of Teuffel's scheme to the concept of classical Latin, which Teuffel does not discuss. Cruttwell addresses the problem, however, altering the concept of the classical. As the best Latin is defined as golden Latin, the second of the three periods, the other two periods considered classical are left hanging. While on the one hand assigning to Old Latin the term pre-classical and by implication the term post-classical (or post-Augustan) to silver Latin Cruttwell realizes that this construct is not according to ancient usage and asserts "…the epithet classical is by many restricted to the authors who wrote in it [golden Latin]. It is best, however, not to narrow unnecessarily the sphere of classicity; to exclude Terence on the one hand or Tacitus and Pliny on the other, would savour of artificial restriction rather than that of a natural classification." (This from a scholar who had just been complaining that golden Latin was not a natural language.) The contradiction remains; Terence is and is not a classical author depending on context. After defining a "First Period" of inscriptional Latin and the literature of the earliest known authors and fragments, to which he assigns no definitive name (he does use the term "Old Roman" at one point), Teuffel presents "the second period", his major, "das goldene Zeitalter der römischen Literatur", the Golden Age of Roman Literature, dated 671 – 767 AUC or 83 BC – 14 AD according to his time reckoning, between the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the death of the emperor Augustus. Of it Wagner translating Teuffel writes The golden age of the Roman literature is that period in which the climax was reached in the perfection of form, and in most respects also in the methodical treatment of the subject-matters. It may be subdivided between the generations, in the first of which (the Ciceronian Age) prose culminated, while poetry was principally developed in the Augustan Age. The Ciceronian Age was dated 671–711 AUC (83 BC – 43 BC), ending just after the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar, and the Augustan 711–67 AUC (43 BC – 14 AD), ending with the death of Augustus. The Ciceronian Age is further divided by the consulship of Cicero in 691 AUC or 63 BC into a first and second half. Authors are assigned to these periods by years of principal achievements. The Golden Age had already made an appearance in German philology but in a less systematic way. In Bielfeld's 1770 Elements of universal erudition the author says (in translation): "The Second Age of Latin began about the time of Caesar [his ages are different from Teuffel's], and ended with Tiberius. This is what is called the Augustan Age, which was perhaps of all others the most brilliant, a period at which it should seem as if the greatest men, and the immortal authors, had met together upon the earth, in order to write the Latin language in its utmost purity and perfection." and of Tacitus "…his conceits and sententious style is not that of the golden age…". Teuffel evidently received the ideas of a golden and silver Latin from an existing tradition and embedded them in a new system, transforming them as he thought best. In Cruttwell's introduction, the Golden Age is dated 80 BC – 14 AD ("from Cicero to Ovid"), which is about the same as Teuffel's. Of this "Second Period" Cruttwell says that it "represents the highest excellence in prose and poetry," paraphrasing Teuffel. The Ciceronian Age is now "the Republican Period" and is dated 80–42 BC through the Battle of Philippi. Later in the book Cruttwell omits Teuffel's first half of the Ciceronian and starts the Golden Age at Cicero's consulship of 63 BC, an error perpetuated into Cruttwell's second edition as well. He must mean 80 BC as he includes Varro in Golden Latin. Teuffel's Augustan Age is Cruttwell's Augustan Epoch, 42 BC – 14 AD. The literary histories list all authors canonical to the Ciceronian Age even though their works may be fragmentary or may not have survived at all. With the exception of a few major writers, such as Cicero, Caesar, Lucretius and Catullus, ancient accounts of Republican literature are glowing accounts of jurists and orators who wrote prolifically but who now can't be read because their works have been lost, or analyses of language and style that appear insightful but can't be verified because there are no surviving instances. In that sense the pages of literary history are peopled with shadows: Aquilius Gallus, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Lucius Licinius Lucullus and many others who left a reputation but no readable works; they are to be presumed in the Golden Age by their associations. A list of some canonical authors of the period, whose works have survived in whole or in part (typically in part, some only short fragments) is as follows: The Golden Age is divided by the assassination of Julius Caesar. In the wars that followed the Republican generation of literary men was lost, as most of them had taken the losing side; Marcus Tullius Cicero was beheaded in the street as he enquired from his litter what the disturbance was. They were replaced by a new generation that had grown up and been educated under the old and were now to make their mark under the watchful eye of the new emperor. As the demand for great orators was more or less over, the talent shifted emphasis to poetry. Other than the historian Livy, the most remarkable writers of the period were the poets Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. Although Augustus evidenced some toleration to republican sympathizers, he exiled Ovid, and imperial tolerance ended with the continuance of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Augustan writers include: In his second volume, on the Imperial Period, Teuffel initiated a slight alteration in approach, making it clearer that his terms applied to the Latin and not just to the age, and also changing his dating scheme from years AUC to modern. Although he introduces das silberne Zeitalter der römischen Literatur, "the Silver Age of Roman Literature", 14–117 AD, from the death of Augustus to the death of Trajan, he also mentions regarding a section of a work by Seneca the Elder a wenig Einfluss der silbernen Latinität, a "slight influence of silver Latin." It is clear that he had shifted in thought from golden and silver ages to golden and silver Latin, and not just Latin, but Latinitas, which must at this point be interpreted as classical Latin. He may have been influenced in that regard by one of his sources, E. Opitz, who in 1852 had published a title specimen lexilogiae argenteae latinitatis, mentioning silver Latinity. Although Teuffel's First Period was equivalent to Old Latin and his Second Period was equal to the Golden Age, his Third Period, die römische Kaiserheit, encompasses both the Silver Age and the centuries now termed Late Latin, in which the forms seemed to break loose from their foundation and float freely; that is, literary men appeared uncertain as to what "good Latin" should mean. The last of the Classical Latin is the Silver Latin. The Silver Age is the first of the Imperial Period and is divided into die Zeit der julischen Dynastie, 14–68; die Zeit der flavischen Dynastie, 69–96; and die Zeit des Nerva und Trajan, 96–117. Subsequently Teuffel goes over to a century scheme: 2nd, 3rd, etc., through 6th. His later editions (which came out in the rest of the late 19th century) divide the Imperial Age into parts: the 1st century (Silver Age), the 2nd century: Hadrian and the Antonines and the 3rd through the 6th Centuries. Of the Silver Age proper, pointing out that anything like freedom of speech had vanished with Tiberius, Teuffel says …the continual apprehension in which men lived caused a restless versatility… Simple or natural composition was considered insipid; the aim of language was to be brilliant… Hence it was dressed up with abundant tinsel of epigrams, rhetorical figures and poetical terms… Mannerism supplanted style, and bombastic pathos took the place of quiet power. The content of new literary works was continually proscribed by the emperor (by executing or exiling the author), who also played the role of literary man (typically badly). The talent therefore went into a repertory of new and dazzling mannerisms, which Teuffel calls "utter unreality." Crutwell picks up this theme: The foremost of these [characteristics] is unreality, arising from the extinction of freedom… Hence arose a declamatory tone, which strove by frigid and almost hyterical exaggeration to make up for the healthy stimulus afforded by daily contact with affairs. The vein of artificial rhetoric, antithesis and epigram… owes its origin to this forced contentment with an uncongenial sphere. With the decay of freedom, taste sank… In Crutwell's view (which had not been expressed by Teuffel), Silver Latin was a "rank, weed-grown garden", a "decline." Cruttwell had already decried what he saw as a loss of spontaneity in Golden Latin. That Teuffel should regard the Silver Age as a loss of natural language and therefore of spontaneity, implying that the Golden Age had it, is passed without comment. Instead, Tiberius brought about a "sudden collapse of letters." The idea of a decline had been dominant in English society since Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Once again, Cruttwell evidences some unease with his stock pronouncements: "The Natural History of Pliny shows how much remained to be done in fields of great interest." The idea of Pliny as a model is not consistent with any sort of decline; moreover, Pliny did his best work under emperors at least as tolerant as Augustus had been. To include some of the best writings of the Silver Age, Cruttwell found he had to extend the period through the death of Marcus Aurelius, 180 AD. The philosophic prose of that good emperor was in no way compatible with either Teuffel's view of unnatural language or Cruttwell's depiction of a decline. Having created these constructs, the two philologists found they could not entirely justify them; apparently, in the worst implications of their views, there was no classical Latin by the ancient definition at all and some of the very best writing of any period in world history was a stilted and degenerate unnatural language. Writers of the Silver Age include the following. Of the additional century granted by Cruttwell and others of his point of view to Silver Latin but not by Teuffel the latter says "The second century was a happy period for the Roman State, the happiest indeed during the whole Empire… But in the world of letters the lassitude and enervation, which told of Rome's decline, became unmistakeable… its forte is in imitation." Teuffel, however, excepts the jurists; others find other "exceptions," recasting Teuffels's view. The style of language refers to repeatable features of speech that are somewhat less general than the fundamental characteristics of the language. The latter give it a unity allowing it to be referenced under a single name. Thus Old Latin, Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin, etc., are not considered different languages, but are all referenced under the name of Latin. This is an ancient practice continued by moderns rather than a philological innovation of recent times. That Latin had case endings is a fundamental feature of the language. Whether a given form of speech prefers to use prepositions such as ad, ex, de for "to", "from" and "of" rather than simple case endings is a matter of style. Latin has a large number of styles. Each and every author has a style, which typically allows his prose or poetry to be identified by experienced Latinists. The problem of comparative literature has been to group styles finding similarities by period, in which case one may speak of Old Latin, Silver Latin, Late Latin as styles or a phase of styles. The ancient authors themselves first defined style by recognizing different kinds of sermo, or "speech." In making the value judgement that classical Latin was "first class" and that it was better to write with Latinitas they were themselves selecting the literary and upper-class language of the city as a standard style and all sermo that differed from it was a different style; thus in rhetoric Cicero was able to define sublime, intermediate and low styles (within classical Latin) and St. Augustine to recommend the low style for sermons (from sermo). Style therefore is to be defined by differences in speech from a standard. Teuffel defined that standard as Golden Latin.

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I will only point out two caveats: - We cannot assume that click speakers of the African Southwest are necessarily indigenous to that region, and - It is possible that, the greater phonemic diversity is due to ancient admixture between quite divergent peoples who possessed two different types of phonemic inventories, while most Africans inherited only the phonemic inventory of one of these peoples, which then decayed as per the author's theory away from Africa. Science 15 April 2011: Vol. 332 no. 6027 pp. 346-349 Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa Quentin D. Atkinson Human genetic and phenotypic diversity declines with distance from Africa, as predicted by a serial founder effect in which successive population bottlenecks during range expansion progressively reduce diversity, underpinning support for an African origin of modern humans. Recent work suggests that a similar founder effect may operate on human culture and language. Here I show that the number of phonemes used in a global sample of 504 languages is also clinal and fits a serial founder–effect model of expansion from an inferred origin in Africa. This result, which is not explained by more recent demographic history, local language diversity, or statistical non-independence within language families, points to parallel mechanisms shaping genetic and linguistic diversity and supports an African origin of modern human languages.

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Xantusiidae is a clade of viviparous (live bearing) lizards that ranges from southwestern North America and Baja California (Xantusia) into Central America (Lepidophyma) and Cuba (Cricosaura). Xantusia magdalena occurs in Baja California. Xantusiidae is a relatively small clade, with 3 genera and approximately 30 living species. Lepidophyma is the most speciose (~17 species), whereas Cricosaura is monotypic. Xantusiids have a reasonably good fossil record extending from the mid-Paleocene onward in western North America. Xantusiids are fascinating lizards for several reasons. First, although they are almost uniformly diminuitive (Xantusia magdalena measures less than 4 cm snout-vent length, and the largest xantusiid species measure about 10 cm snout-vent length), xantusiids generally take several years to reach sexual maturity, and several species give birth to just 1 or 2 offspring. It is a more usual reproductive strategy for small lizards to mature quickly and produce large numbers of offspring, to increase their chances of survival. Despite this low reproductive potential, xantusiid neonates actually have a high life expectancy; this can be attributed at least in part to their secretive lifestyle, which leads to the second reason why xantusiids are particularly interesting -- microhabitat specialization. Microhabitat specialization is an ecological hallmark of Xantusiidae. Many populations are narrowly restricted to specific niches -- crevices (e.g., Xantusia henshawi in exfoliating granitic cap rocks), interstices in agaves and yuccas in dry climates (e.g., X. magdalena), decaying logs in wet climates (e.g., Lepidophyma flavimaculatum) -- and individuals may be found under the same patch of cover throughout their lives! These microhabitat restrictions result in extremely disjunct geographical distributions, and also may be responsible for some morphological convergence within the group (e.g., flattened skulls for crevice dwelling). Xantusiidae also includes two insular endemics: the Cuban Cricosaura typica is the only xantusiid found in the West Indies and is interpreted as one of the Caribbean's few ancient endemic vertebrate lineages; and Xantusia riversiana (formerly Klauberina riversiana) is limited to three of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. The phylogenetic relationships of Xantusiidae are problematic. Morphology and molecules produce different topologies within the clade: morphology recovers a Cricosaura + Lepidophyma clade, while mitochondrial genes recover a Lepidophyma + Xantusia clade. Lack of resolution of relationships within Xantusiidae has hindered the placement of this clade within the squamate tree. Xantusiidae is a "tree-changing" taxon: it causes homoplasy wherever it is placed, and its placement can tip the balance between the two primary competing hypotheses of scleroglossan relationships. Xantusiidae is traditionally placed within Scincomorpha, but some analyses have placed it near Gekkota. Thus, Xantusiidae is either a highly derived, or extremely basal, scleroglossan clade. Previous analyses of squamate phylogeny have almost certainly suffered in relying on species of the readily available -- but relatively derived -- genus Xantusia as exemplars for Xantusiidae. Cricosaura or a species of Lepidophyma would be more appropriate, but both are exceedingly rare in collections; indeed, some species of Lepidophyma are known from only 1 or 2 specimens. Whatever the placement of Xantusiidae within squamates, there is no doubt that xantusiids are monophyletic. The following are some of the hypothesized synapomorphies of the lineage (from Estes et al., 1988), most of which can be seen in the skull reconstructions above: supratemporal fenestra closed primarily by postorbital; parietals paired well into postembryonic ontogeny; parietal table extensive posteriorly, largely obscuring braincase in dorsal view, supratemporal process short; vomers fused; ectopterygoid contacts palatine anterolaterally, excluding maxilla from suborbital fenestra; ectopterygoid enlarged medially, restricting suborbital fenestra. About the Species This specimen was collected in Baja California Sur, Mexico. It was made available to the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. Jessie Maisano of The University of Texas and Dr. Jacques Gauthier of Yale University. Funding for scanning was provided by an NSF grant (DEB-0132227) to Dr. Jack Sites of Brigham Young University. Funding for image processing was provided by a National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative grant to Dr. Timothy Rowe of The University of Texas at Austin. About this Specimen The specimen was scanned by Matthew Colbert on 18 May 2005 along the coronal axis for a total of 615 1024x1024 pixel slices. Each slice is 0.0152 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.0152 mm and a field of reconstruction of 7 mm. Bezy, R. L. 1982. Xantusia vigilis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 302.1-302.4. Bezy, R. L. 1988. The natural history of the night lizards, family Xantusiidae, p. 1-12. In H. F. DeLisle et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Conference on California Herpetology. Southwest Herpetological Society Special Publication 4. Bezy, R. L. 1989. Night lizards: the evolution of habitat specialists. Terra 28:29-34. Bezy, R. L., and J. L. Camarillo. 2002. Systematics of xantusiid lizards of the genus Lepidophyma. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science 493:1-41. Crother, B. I., M. M. Miyamoto, and W. F. Presch. 1986. Phylogeny and biogeography of the lizard family Xantusiidae. Systematic Zoology 35:37-45. Estes, R. 1983. Sauria Terrestria, Amphisbaenia. Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie, Part 10A. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart. Estes, R., K. de Queiroz, and J. Gauthier. 1988. Phylogenetic relationships within Squamata, p. 119-281. In R. G. Estes and G. K. Pregill (eds.), Phylogenetic Relationships of the Lizard Families: Essays Commemorating Charles L. Camp. Stanford University Press, Stanford. Fellers, G. M., and C. A. Drost. 1991. Ecology of the island night lizard, Xantusia riversiana, on Santa Barbara Island, California. Herpetological Monographs 5:28-78. Hedges, S. B., R. L. Bezy, and L. B. Maxson. 1991. Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of xantusiid lizards, inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Biology and Evolution 8:767-780. Lee, M. S. Y. 1998. Convergent evolution and character correlation in burrowing reptiles: towards a resolution of squamte relationships. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 63:369-453. Macey, J. R., A. Larson, N. B. Ananjeva, and T. J. Papenfuss. 1997. Evolutionary shifts in three major structural features of the mitochondrial genome among iguanian lizards. Journal of Molecular Evolution 44:660-674. Savage, J. M. 1955. The lizard family Xantusiidae: an evolutionary study. Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University. Savage, J. M. 1963. Studies on the lizard family Xantusiidae. IV. The genera. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science 71:3-38. Sinclair, E. A., Bezy, R. L., Bolles, K., Camarillo R., J. L., Crandall, K. A. and J. W. Sites Jr. 2004. Testing species boundaries in an ancient species complex with deep phylogeographic history: Genus Xantusia (Squamata: Xantusiidae). The American Naturalist 164:396-414. Van Denburgh, J. 1895. The species of the genus Xantusia . Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences (Series 2) 5:523-534. Zweifel, R. G., and C. H. Lowe. 1966. The ecology of a population of Xantusia vigilis , the desert night lizard. American Museum Novitates 2247:1-57. Xantusiidae page on the EMBL Reptile Database Three-dimensional volumetric renderings of the skull with the scleral ossicles, hyoid and jaw removed, and of the isolated left mandible. All are 2mb or less.

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This database of images for the study and teaching of art, design, and visual culture at Illinois State University, is produced as a collaboration between the School of Art and Milner Library. The images come from many sources, including publications, original photography, and the Visual Resources Collection of the School of Art. The slides of Sverre "Bex" Braathen combine a "Passion for Circus" with the skills and artistry of photography at its finest. Images were captured in the saturated colors of Kodachrome slides and date from the early 1940s to the late 1950s as well as black and white film in the 1930s. Set within the context of the entire Braathen … Illinois State University History is a growing collection that currently includes campus history books, proceedings of the first university governing board, and nearly 400 photographs. Support for this collection is provided by the Friends of Milner Library and the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of … Welcome to Milner Library's International Collection of Child Art digital image collection! This resource holds images of art created by children and adolescents representing more than fifty countries and cultures from Argentina to New Zealand. The artworks are two dimensional and use varied media. The work in this collection … Voices of Extremism: Conflicting Ideologies in United States Politics in the Decades Following WWII is a unique audio documentation of the individuals and movements that characterized the Extremist politics in the United States in the decades following the Second World War from 1946 to 1980. The collection also includes a documentary on … Cultivated in the spirit of teaching, learning and research, Milner Library's digital collections provide a variety of resources. They reflect the rich cultural heritage at Illinois State University, and include audio recordings, historic documents, photos, and images of art and visual culture. Discover all collections Art & Culture Circus & Allied Arts Illinois State University History International Collection of Child Art Voices of Extremism Native American Collection Normal Editions Workshop (N.E.W.) Towanda Area History World War I Women

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Creator: Gust, Iris Description: The brochure promotes urban transportation policy to increase the use of renewable energy to 100%. Seen globally, transport is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet fossil fuels are becoming scarce, will become increasingly expensive and will eventually stop being viable as transport fuels. Before this happens, climate change will have begun to have a serious impact on human lives. The authors believe that it is crucial to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy as soon as possible, especially in the transport sector. Making urban transport independent of fossil fuel is a great challenge, but the authors cite growing evidence that it can be achieved. Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries

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Date: August 2010 Creator: Allen, Evette L. Description: Family communication has the potential to affect a variety of youth behavioral outcomes including adolescent sexual risk behavior. Within chapter 1, I present past literature on adolescent sexual risk behaviors, family communication patterns, and the gaps associated with those areas. In chapter 2, I review previous literature on adolescent sexual risk behavior, parent-child communication and family communication patterns. In chapter 3, I present the method which includes a description of the participants, procedures, measures, and data analysis used. In Chapter 4, I present the results of the study. According to the results of the study, father-child communication is not a better predictor of adolescent sexual risk behavior. A higher quantity of parent-child communication does not lead to less adolescent sexual risk behavior. Participants with a pluralistic family type do significantly differ from laissez-faire and protective family types in regards to levels of parent-child communication. Participants with a consensual family type do have significantly higher levels of parent-child communication in comparison to laissez-faire family types, but not protective family types. Finally, in chapter 5, I present the discussion with a review of previous research (consistent or inconsistent with the current findings), limitations and conclusions for the current study. Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries

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Date: June 29, 1962 Creator: Yakowitz, Harvey, 1939- Description: Report presenting a bibliography of about 550 references of the soft X-ray literature since 1950 and through 1960. The emphasis is on the application of soft X-ray spectroscopy to the study of valence band electronic states in metals and alloys. Therefore, the spectral region of 25 to 800 angstroms involving ruled glass grating spectrometers is of principal interest. In addition to soft X-ray data, references on all pertinent aspects of the apparatus and experimental problems are included. Also listed separately are references of value in corroborating soft X-ray data with other results. Subject, author, X-ray band, material, and other indices are included. Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

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Date of Award Master of Applied Science (MASc) Computing and Software The 2-D INADEQUATE experiment is a useful experiment for determining carbon structures of organic molecules known for having low signal-to-noise ratios. A non-linear optimization method for solving low-signal spectra resulting from this experiment is introduced to compensate. The method relies on the peak locations defined by the INADEQUATE experiment to create boxes around these areas and measure the signal in each. By measuring pairs of these boxes and applying penalty functions that represent a priori information, we are able to quickly and reliably solve spectra with an acquisition time under a quarter of that required by traditional methods. Examples are shown using the spectrum of sucrose. The concept of a non-uniform Fourier transform and its potential advantages are introduced. The possible application of this type of transform to the INADEQUATE experiment and the previously explained optimization program is detailed. Watson, Sean C., "Locating Carbon Bonds from INADEQUATE Spectra using Continuous Optimization Methods and Non-Uniform K-Space Sampling" (2011). Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 5157. McMaster University Library

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Children of substance abusers: Observations and their mothers' reports of childrearing practices The widespread use of drugs includes women who are mothers and of childbearing age. A review of the literature shows that women who are substance abusers suffer from depression, low self-esteem, have poor health and nutrition, and histories of family violence and abuse.^ During pregnancy, addictive women often lack prenatal care. In utero exposure to drugs is associated with multiple postnatal outcomes which include prematurity, low birth weight, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Intelligence testing found that the children scored within the normal range but significantly lower than the children of drug-free controls.^ Conflicting views on the parenting of mothers who are substance abusers exist. Deprived and poorly nurtured in childhood themselves, they feel inadequate as parents. However, they love their children, are capable of learning developmental issues of childhood, and can respond with sensitivity to their needs.^ The purpose of this study was to examine the child-rearing attitudes and parental style of addicted mothers and the impact of their drug use, parental attitudes, and demographic variables on their interactions with their children. Forty-four mothers, forty-one drug users and three non-drug users, and nineteen infants participated in the study. Participants attended the Infant and Toddler Schools of the Center for Comprehensive Health Practice, Inc. Subjects completed the demographic sheet and the modified Child-Rearing Practices Report (CRPR). The child data was obtained from the agency and included the scores of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Checklist for Caregiver-Infant Observation, and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form (Home-SF). Generally, greater parental control and less expression of affection were adhered to as values by the participants of the study. Correlations as a function of drug usage and demographic variables suggested that the participants held both sound and inappropriate child-rearing attitudes. Length of treatment and the age of the youngest child emerged as the demographic variables most related to the parental attitude variables. The children scored within the average range of intelligence, however, the range of variation was highly significant. ^ Health Sciences, Mental Health|Women's Studies|Psychology, Developmental Sarai Ramona Padilla-Rafalsky, "Children of substance abusers: Observations and their mothers' reports of childrearing practices" (January 1, 1993). ETD Collection for Pace University.

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This study presents the results from a survey issued to speech-language pathologists in the state of Kentucky regarding their perspectives on referral and assessment of bilingual speakers whose primary language is not English. The study was conducted to determine methods for decreasing the over-identification of bilingual students served for speech and language disorders. Literature review indicates an over-identification of non-English speakers in special education and related services programs nationwide. There are many possible reasons for this over-identification some of which include: lack of English instruction prior to testing in English, Speech-Language Pathologists’ preparation level, and shortage of appropriately normed assessment tools. This study specifically addresses Kentucky Speech-Language Pathologists’ preparation and comfort level with referral and assessment of non-English speaking students. Advisor(s) or Committee Chair Professor Leisa Hutchison Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Speech and Rhetorical Studies Schulte, Kathleen M., "A Speech-Language Pathologiest Perspective on the Referral and Assessment of Bilingual Children whose Primary Language is not English" (2010). Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 253.

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→ November 2006 Contents → Column The Inside Story and Classic Photos of UPI Newspictures The new book Picture This!: The Inside Story and Classic Photos of UPI Newspictures (Bulfinch Press, 2006), was organized and written by Gary Haynes, a former UPI photographer. It's good to finally have a volume on the photographs and photographers of United Press International. Earlier books have been about the news writers and failing business side of the company. Walter Cronkite wrote the foreword. Like some other books of assembled images it is a smorgasbord of work. The concept can be fun and engaging. The reader goes from humor to tragedy within pages. The book is definitely not a downer. There is a short history of UPI Newspictures. It began as United Press Associations, a creation of E.W. Scripps, in 1907. The much older Associated Press (1848) had refused to sell its news stories to several of his papers. Scripps believed that news should be available to anyone, including his competitors. Gary Haynes writes that United Press became the only privately-owned major news service in the world at a time the world news scene was dominated by The AP in the U.S.A. and by news agencies abroad directly or indirectly controlled by their respective governments: Reuters in Britain, Havas in France and Wolff in Germany. Around the 1920s papers were increasing interested in publishing pictures to expand their audiences and, thus, their advertising dollars. The Associated Press began mailing photos to its member papers in 1927. UP had no photo service until 1952, when it absorbed Scripps' Acme Newsphotos. All this was long after Europeans had experimented and perfected the wireless transmission of photographs. (In 1907, German Prof. Alfred Korn's "Photographic Fac-Simile Telegraph" picture of the German Crown Prince appeared on the cover of Scientific American.) Haynes includes a description of the inauguration of the AP's Wirephoto system on Jan. 1, 1935. The Scripps and Hearst organizations, along with Wide World, owned by The New York Times, were each working on their own version of a "Wirephoto" machine. By 1936, Acme Newsphotos (owned by Scripps) had developed its own machines. They were more sophisticated and reliable than AP's, and capable of better quality, Haynes writes. In 1958, UP and Hearst's International New Service came together and UPI was born. The UPI operation faded and the picture operation was stripped of its best assets by a desperate administration that looked for cash through the sale of the overseas arm and, most astonishingly, the picture library. As one of the owners said tellingly, "Who cares about a damn picture library?" The book does, however, have some drawbacks. I found that I wanted to know so much more about the photo operation and about the goals of the organization. The text seemed to dwell too much on the competition with the AP—there is even a chapter titled, "UPI versus AP." Certainly they were rivals for the same market and the UPI/AP race had to be explained because, among other things, each drove the other to push harder, get there first and make better photographs. Beyond that though, the text seems to have a negative tone: "AP was one thing but we were not." What was UPI's relationship with the history it passed through and what in retrospect is that relationship now? UPI also had many great journalists; the book might have been stronger had a writer handled the text and Mr. Haynes the images, as journalist Peter Arnett has done for the AP. The all-black-and-white offering creates a cohesive look to the book but slights those whose color work was outstanding even in the early days of its use. And, perhaps I lost my sense of humor somewhere during the Vietnam War, but the captions often begin with corny phrases: "Hula Hoop Hubbub," "Man, oh, Mannequin" (undressed female mannequins getting "the once-over" by a boy mannequin), "Weather or the Dress?" (a photograph of a serious Queen Elizabeth in a frilly dress and a laughing President Reagan—she was commenting on California's bad weather), and one that creates a grimace for both photo and caption, "Uh—guys!" (a female nudist standing within the ranks of the male press photographers aims her Instamatic as the men do their Nikons during the Miss Nude America pageant). To be sure there are great photographs from WWII, Vietnam and Kennedy's funeral with perfectly fine captions. One point I am trying to make is that the choices made sometimes undermine UPI's fine work. The staff at UPI overcame the odds and their photographs show the high regard in which they held photojournalism. Their legacy of news images is one that young photojournalists should endeavor to know and emulate. © Marianne Fulton Back to November 2006 Contents

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The premiere of “The Olmsted Legacy,” a new one-hour documentary on Frederick Law Olmsted was recently held in Prospect Park, a Brooklyn park considered one of the famed landscape architect’s masterpieces. More than a year in the making, the documentary features a set of well-known narrators (Kevin Kline and Kerry Washington) and a first-rate, Emmy-winning production and direction team. The film’s score was created by Joel Goodman, who has written music for a number of Oscar-winning films. The filmmakers write: “The Olmsted Legacy examines the formation of America’s first great city parks in the late 19th century through the enigmatic eyes of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903), visionary urban planner and landscape architect. With incredible foresight that spanned centuries, Olmsted brought nourishing green spaces to New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Louisville, and dozens of other U.S. cities. Throughout his working life, Olmsted and his firm carried out over 500 commissions, nearly 100 of which were public parks. The parks, he held, were to be vital democratic spaces in cities, where citizens from all walks of life could intermingle and be refreshed.” The documentary includes on-camera interviews with: - Charles Beveridge – Author, “Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape;” series editor, “The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted,” Department of History, American University, Washington D.C. - Witold Rybczynski – Professor of urbanism, University of Pennsylvania; author, “A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century.” - Arleyn Levee – Former chairperson, National Association of Olmsted Parks; board member, Emerald Necklace Conservancy; Olmsted historian. - Betsy Shure Gross – Co-founder, National Association of Olmsted Parks; former vice president, Emerald Necklace Conservancy; board member, City Parks Alliance. - Adrian Benepe – Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. - Doug Blonsky – President, Central Park Conservancy; administrator and landscape architect, Central Park. - Sara Cedar Miller – Official historian and board member, Central Park Conservancy; author and photographer, “Central Park, An American Masterpiece and Seeing Central Park: The Official Guide to the World’s Greatest Urban Park.” - Tupper Thomas – President, Prospect Park Alliance; administrator, Prospect Park. - Michael Dukakis – Former governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Democratic nominee for U.S. President in 1980; professor of political science, Northeastern University. - Morrison Heckscher – Lawrence A. Fleishman Chairman of the American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art; author, “Creating Central Park.” - Margaret Dyson – Director of historic parks, Boston City Parks and Recreation. Image credits: (1) Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York City, 1880 (2) Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York City, 2009 / The Olmsted Legacy News blog

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Born in 1940, Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan ecologist and environmental activist who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, causing the media to depict her as a latter-day Johnny Appleseed who has planted millions of trees in Africa. (The Green Belt Movement has been responsible for the planting of more than 10 million trees to prevent soil erosion and provide a source of firewood.) As a member of the Green Belt Movement, Maathai has led sub-Saharan African women in provoking sometimes-violent clashes with police. Though casting herself as a hero of the downtrodden, she has demonstrated against peasants’ economic interests. When Kenyan autocratic leader Daniel arap Moi wanted to revive the nation’s dead economy by building the world’s largest skyscraper in the capital, her riotous actions dried up investment. Later, she led a protest to prevent “small-scale farming” on African forestland and called farmers “invaders” who were guilty of “rape.” In 1992, she and the women in her Green Belt Movement foreshadowed contemporary Western antiwar demonstrators by staging a public strip-in. In 2004 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in “human rights” and “reversing deforestation across Africa.” When Maathai was awarded her Nobel Prize, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan paid her a glowing tribute: Maathai is also an anti-white, anti-Western crusader for international socialism. She charges that “some sadistic [white] scientists” created the AIDS virus “to punish blacks” and, ultimately, “to wipe out the black race.” Maathai continues: “Renowned and admired throughout her native Kenya and across Africa for her pioneering struggle against deforestation and for women’s rights and democracy, Ms. Maathai has also played an important role at UN conferences such as the Earth Summit, making an imprint on the global quest for sustainable development.... Selfless and steadfast, Ms. Maathai has been a champion of the environment, of women, of Africa, and of anyone concerned about our future security.” “Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that, because we have been living with monkeys [since] time immemorial; others say it was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that.... Us black people are dying more than any other people in this planet. It’s true that there are some people who create agents to wipe out other people.” “Why is the rest of the world just watching,” Maathai asks, “doing nothing while Africans are being wiped out? The rest of the world has abandoned us.” There is, of course, a very real genocide throughout sub-Saharan Africa, as Muslim Arabs murder indigenous black Christians and animists, 100,000 in Darfur alone. The repeated rape of young black boys by Arabs is now commonplace. These scenes first played out during the genocide in Rwanda, which began early in the Clinton administration, and have been seen all over the sub-continent for a decade. Maathai addressed this brutality at the World Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995, where she blamed it on Western capitalists. She claims that Western governments laid the groundwork for present slaughter during the Cold War. “The carnage goes on in Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia and in the streets of many cities,” she says. “People of Africa continue to be sacrificed so that some factories may stay open, earn capital and save jobs.” Thus in Maathai’s view, Arab genocide is the fault of wealthy whites. Maathai has courted global socialism through her long association with the United Nations’ environmentalist agenda. She was a member of the Commission on Global Governance (CGG), founded in 1992 at the suggestion of former West German Chancellor and socialist Willy Brandt. Maathai worked on the CGG alongside Maurice Strong, Jimmy Carter, and Robert McNamara. The group’s manifesto, “Our Global Neighborhood,” calls for a dramatic reordering of the world’s political power – and redistribution of the world’s wealth. Most importantly, the CGG’s proposals would phase out America’s veto in the Security Council. At the same time, the CGG would increase UN authority over member nations, declaring, “All member-states of the UN that have not already done so should accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the World Court.” It asks the UN to prevail upon member governments to enact proposals made by wide NGOs – such as the Green Belt Movement. “Our Global Neighborhood” also suggested creating a 10,000-man “UN Volunteer Force” to be deployed at the UN’s approval on infinite peacekeeping missions everywhere (except Iraq). Maathai currently acts as a commissioner for the Earth Charter, along with the aforementioned Maurice Strong, Mikhail Gorbachev and Steven Rockefeller. She is also on the Earth Charter’s Steering Committee. In addition to calling for sharing the “benefits of development . . . equitably,” the Earth Charter calls on international bodies to “Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.” Another Charter provision would disarm the entire world and use the money previously allocated for national defense to restore the environment. Additionally, the Earth Charter worries about the “unprecedented rise in human population,” and demands “universal access to health care.” Maathai earned her biology degree from Mount St. Scholastica College in Kansas and a Master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh. She later returned to Kenya and worked in veterinary medical research at the University of Nairobi, eventually earning a Ph.D. there and becoming head of the veterinary medicine faculty.

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Read our apology letter to Jezebel here. I posted about “Pooh Sized” Disney World guests the other day, and I did it very cautiously. I didn’t want to offend heavy people, and I still don’t. But now that I think about it, my distaste for the word “pooh sized” and my shock over the immense number of obese people in Disney World is a fact that I shouldn’t be ashamed in admitting. Listen, I love it when people celebrate their bodies and all that. But there is nothing cute about being morbidly obese. I am so glad that Disney accommodates people who are overweight (some parks don’t.) I want everyone to be able to ride Space Mountain and The Haunted Mansion. But let’s call it what it is. If you’re 5’5″ and weigh 200 pounds, you are obese. You might have high blood pressure or cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, respiratory problems, gout, reproductive complications, bladder control issues, or psychological disorders or other serious conditions. That’s not cute, it’s scary. This isn’t new news, but it is crazy news. From calorielab.com: In the original Anaheim Disneyland it may be a Small World after all, but that world’s inhabitants are getting bigger and heavier almost by the day, so much so that some of the rides may have to be re-engineered. The problem, quite simply, is that the flume that the boats ride in, and the boats themselves, were designed and built in 1963 on the assumption that the male adult riders would average 175 pounds and the women about 135, which they pretty much did at the time. The ride now must accommodate adults who frequently weigh north of 200 pounds, which it often cannot do. Increasingly, overweighted boats get to certain points in the ride and bottom out, becoming stuck in the flume. In a corner of Tomorrowland that you’d miss if you weren’t looking for it there’s an old classic called “Carousel of Progress”. If you love Disney this is not news to you, but when was the last time you saw the show? It was personally created by Walt Disney for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair and the rotating theater tells the story of the evolution of technology in the 20th century. It’s lame and bordering on “so bad it’s good”, but I love it. The dad is a goofball that talks in clichés about his family and the last scene – the “modern scene” needs a serious update. It’s obvious that they are losing interest in it because the seats in the theater are falling apart and the carpet is worn. Compared to the newer attractions it might seem silly but you can’t really compare it to the newer attractions. It’s Disney history – think of it as a museum. It’s a glimpse of old timey Disney, of Walt himself. Don’t let it die! Go on your next visit so that they don’t do anything crazy, like retire it. The entire attraction has been upgraded, even the queue, and it’s 3D courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic. It sounds great, but I’ll bet it still makes me feel like puking. He looks friendly enough, but don't cross him. Here’s something the guide books don’t warn you about – monorail drivers don’t put up with any shenanigans. Once when I was returning by myself from the Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian Resort I was alone in a car with a dad and his 8 or 9-year-old daughter. We were just about to pull into the transportation and ticket center and we stopped – just short of the platform. For a couple of minutes nothing happened and then the loudspeaker came on. A scratchy, undecipherable voice was telling us something that sounded like, “Can I have your attention please, the monorail crackle, crackle, crackle so please don’t crackle crackle crackle and don’t crackle crackle crackle thank you.” The dad and I looked at each other; “What did he just say?” Was it maintenance? A break down? A terrorist attack? Continue reading It’s the little things that make Disney World so great, wouldn’t you agree? I love Disney rides and the food and fireworks, but what I really love is watching creepy dads watch the belly dancer in EPCOT’s Morocco. I’m home, and laughing to myself a little when I’m explaining to people that we didn’t go into the Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom even once the whole time we were at Walt Disney World. We watched the fireworks over the castle from the California Grill on the roof of the Contemporary Resort, but that was it. What did we do? For one thing, we went to “The American Idol Experience” at Disney Hollywood Studios three times – well, I did. Lauren went twice. I’m a little obsessed with it now, and I’m kind of dying to see if any of the winners we saw will ever make it to the real show. Continue reading I was just telling Lauren how gross it was when women like me didn’t act their ages, and then Davy Jones made me eat my word. Last night at EPCOT’s America’s Garden Theater I was dancing, blowing kisses to him and singing like a drunken sailor to “Daydream Believer” and “I’m a Believer” along with a crowd of others like me reliving their long ago youth. Davy was there as part of the Flower and Garden Festival’s Flower Power Concert Series and he reminded us that his TV show “The Monkees” was on 45 years ago! I was in grade school, just so you know, and Davy was my first crush. On the show he was the one that all the girls fell in love with (Mike was the smart one, Mickey the silly one, Peter the dumb one and Davy the cute one). I’ve read that only Mike actually knew how to play a musical instrument when the show started, and the others were just faking it but it was wildly popular. He’ll be back tonight and tomorrow night ladies, so come out to EPCOT and “do the monkey” – the dance, not the Monkee. In 1996 I was in sixth grade and new to the Walt Disney World scene, and my mom sent for the free promotional video before one of our trips. It quickly became the most watched thing in our video casette library. I begged to watch it over and over, every day. I didn’t know what promotion meant, I just thought this was an awesome video that was getting me even more exciting about going to Disney World. I was a marketer’s dream. How exciting that I can watch this video once more, as a full blown adult. It’s split into three parts, below. Make sure to catch the ridiculously 80′s moment at 1:53 and the ridiculously adorable moment at 2:05 in the first video: Word on the street is, with the Magic Kingdom renovation comes another set of flying Dumbos. And this is a genius idea. The Dumbo Ride is iconic for many reasons–it’s been around since 1971, it takes you soaring over theMagicKingdom, and since there are no height requirements, it’s good for everyone. If you wanted a photo opp, this might be the ride you’d want to be seen on.

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