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US 5459828 A A method of producing a raster font from a contour font entailing the steps of deriving font metrics and character metrics of font characters in terms of arbitrary font units; scaling the font characters to a selected size and output resolution (pixels per unit length); altering the thickness of vertical and horizontal strokes of each character to a desired thickness, from the measured font metrics and character metrics, and including a difference applied to the thickness of the strokes by the printer process, to cause the strokes to be close to an integer number of pixels and thickness and to compensate for thinning and thickening which the printing engine might produce; bringing the leading and trailing edges of the characters to integer pixel locations, where such locations are based on and scaling the character between the leading and trailing edges proportionally therebetween, and producing a rasterized font from the altered contour font character. 1. A printer processor implemented method for producing a raster font from a contour font defined by a list of points connected by curves, said raster font suitable for printing on a selected printer having known reproduction characteristics, including the steps of: a) deriving for a contour font a set of font metrics and character metrics of a character in the font defined in terms of arbitrary font units; b) scaling a character contour defined in arbitrary font units to a selected size in units of pixels; c) altering thickness of character strokes by adjusting vertical and horizontal coordinates of each point defining the character contour in directions defined by a vector normal to the character contour at each point, by an amount required to obtain a desired thickness from the measured font metrics and character metrics, and an amount required to add to difference thickness thereto in accordance with the selected printer reproduction characteristics, said alteration amounts together causing the vertical and horizontal strokes to be sufficiently close to an integer number of pixels or half pixels so as to cause subsequent numerical rounding to produce uniform results across the font; d) grid aligning the contour of each character so that leading and trailing edges, and top and bottom edges of the contour of each character fall on whole or half pixel positions; and e) applying a rasterization function to the contour to convert each contour font character to a bitmap. 2. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein in said grid alignment step, after aligning said leading and top edges of said contours of each character on a whole pixel position, the length of any lines joining leading and trailing edges, and lines joining top and bottom edges, are rounded to an integer number of whole or half pixels, and the trailing edge and bottom edges are aligned at whole pixel positions. 3. In a printing system for printing on a selected printer having reproduction characteristics known and available as contour font correction data, wherein a font to be printed has a set of predefined font metrics and character metrics for each character in the font defined in terms of arbitrary font units, the method of preparing a contour font defined by a list of points connected by curves, for printing on the selected printer including the ordered steps of: a) scaling each character in the contour font to a selected print resolution in pixels per unit length; b) altering thickness of character strokes by adjusting vertical and horizontal coordinates of each point defining the contour of each character to a desired thickness in directions defined by a vector, normal to the character contour at each point, by an amount required to obtain a desired thickness from the measured font metrics and character metrics, and an amount required to add a difference thickness thereto in accordance with the contour font correction data for a particular printer, to cause the vertical and horizontal stroke thickness to approximate an integer number of pixels so as to cause subsequent numerical rounding to produce uniform results across the font; c) grid aligning the contour of each character so that leading and trailing edges, and top and bottom edges of the contour of each character fall on whole pixel positions; and d) applying a rasterization function to the contour convert each contour font character to a bitmap. 4. The method as defined in claim 3 wherein in said grid alignment step, after aligning said leading and top edges of said contours of each character on a whole pixel position, the length of any lines joining leading and trailing edges, and lines joining top and bottom edges, are rounded to an integer number of pixels or half pixels, and the trailing edge and bottom edges are aligned at whole pixel positions. A microfiche Appendix, having 5 fiche and 398 frames, is included herewith. The present invention relates generally to the production of raster fonts from contour fonts, and more particularly, to a method of producing raster fonts from contour fonts taking into account characteristics of the contour font and the printer system which will ultimately print the font. A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office files or records, but otherwise reserves all rights whatsoever. Cross reference is made to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/416,211 by S. Marshall, entitled "Rapid Halfbitting Stepper", and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,830 to Hawkins is incorporated herein by reference for the purposes of background information on contour fonts. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/416,211 by S. Marshall, entitled "Rapid Halfbitting Stepper", and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, is incorporated by reference herein for the purposes of teaching rasterization. "Contour fonts" is a term that refers to the use of outlines or contours to describe the shapes of characters used in electronic printing. In a contour font, each character shape is represented by one or more closed curves or paths that traces the boundary of the character. The contour is specified by a series of mathematical equations, which may be in any of several forms, the most common being circular arcs, straight lines, and polynomial expressions. The shape of the contour font is that of the ideal design of the character and, generally, does not depend on parameters associated with any printer. Contour fonts are ideal for use as master representations of typefaces. Bitmap fonts or raster fonts are composed of the actual characters images that will be printed on a page, and are made by scaling contours to the appropriate size, quantizing or sampling them at the resolution of the printer, and filling the interiors of the characters with black bits or pixels. Achieving high quality in this process is difficult, except at very high resolutions, and requires knowledge of both the marking technology and typographic design considerations. Often, a bitmap font is delivered to a printer. There is a separate bitmap font for each size of a font, and sometimes separate fonts for landscape and portrait orientations. The advantage of a contour font is that it can be scaled to any size and rotated to any angle by simple mathematics. Therefore, a single font suffices to represent all possible printing sizes and orientation, reducing font storage requirements, reducing the cost of font handling. The difficulty in this approach is in achieving high quality character images during the sampling process which generates the raster characters from the contour masters. If the contour character is simply sampled, there will be random .+-.1 pixel variations in stroke thickness. If the printing process tends to erode black areas (common in write-white laser xerography) characters will be consistently too thin. If the printing process tends to fatten black areas (common in write black laser xerography), characters will be too thick. At the high resolution employed in phototypesetters, usually greater than 1,000 spi, no special techniques are required for scaling and sampling the contour font to generate a raster font of any size. This is because although simple sampling necessarily has random one-bit errors, such errors are small compared to the size of the character, making errors insignificant. At 300, 400, and 600 spi though, character strokes are only three or four bits thick and each bit is important. The simplistic methods used by typesetter manufacturers are not sufficient. U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,830 to Hawkins, uses defined points in a contour font that must be grid aligned to pixel positions, but the stem widths or edges are not aligned. Of particular importance in generating fonts of optimal appearance are maintenance of uniform and correct stroke thickness among characters of a font and on different printing engines, uniform alignment of characters on a baseline, and uniform spacing of characters. In accordance with the invention, there is provided a method for conversion of contour fonts to bitmap fonts with automatic thickening and thinning of strokes, and snapping of character edges to pixel or half pixel boundaries. In accordance with the invention, there is provided a method of producing a raster font from a contour font entailing the steps of: first, deriving font metrics and character metrics of font characters in terms of arbitrary font units; scaling the font characters to a selected size and output resolution (pixels per unit length); altering the thickness of vertical and horizontal strokes of each character to a desired thickness, from the measured font metrics and character metrics, and including a difference applied to the thickness of the strokes by the printer process, to cause the strokes to be close to an integer number of pixels and thickness and to compensate for thing and thickening which the printing engine might produce; bringing the leading and trailing edges of the characters to integer pixel locations, where such locations are based on and scaling the character between the leading and trailing edges proportionally therebetween, and producing a rasterized font from the altered contour font character. These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description used to illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the inventive optimized scaler rasterizer system. FIGS. 2A-2E illustrate the development of a raster font from a contour font, using the system described in FIG. 1. With reference to the drawing, where the showing is for the purpose of illustrating an embodiment of the invention and not for the purpose of limiting same, the Figure shows a block diagram of the present invention which will be referred to and described hereinafter. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the contour rasterization process of the present invention. Beginning with a contour font 10, and with a character "H" shown in contour for illustration purposes at FIG. 2A the contour font is analyzed initially at hint generation step 20. At the hint generation, the parameters defining the font are determined, including measurement of the following metrics and character hints: TABLE 1______________________________________Font Metric Comments______________________________________Cap-height Height of the H, I or similar letterX-Height Height of the lower case xAscender Height of the lower case k, b, or similar letterDescender Position of the bottom of the lower case p or qThickness of Upper Vertical stroke thicknessCase Stems on upper case H or KThickness of Upper Horizontal Stroke onCase Cross-Strokes upper case E or FThickness of Lower Vertical stroke thicknessCase Stems on lower case k or lThickness of Lower Case Horizontal strokeCross-Strokes thickness on the fThickness of AuxiliaryCharacter StemsThickness of AuxiliaryCharacter Cross-StrokesHairline thickness Thickness of the cross bar on the e or the thin part of the o______________________________________ (See, Appendix, page 13, ICFFontIODefs. Mesa) Character hints are generated for each character and include the following: TABLE 2______________________________________Character Metric Comments______________________________________Position of all horizontal Left sides of strokes areedges and indications of leading edges and rightwhether each edge is a sides or strokes areleading or trailing edge. trailing edges.Position of all verticaledges and indication ofwhether each edge is aleading or trailing edge.Direction of the normalvector (perpendicular)to the contour at eachcontrol point in thecontour, pointingtoward the whiteregion.______________________________________ At hint generation 20, the font metrics and character hints are computed. Since no special information on the actual character contours, beyond the contours themselves, is required to perform these computations, any font may be accepted as input. Height thickness metrics are obtained either by examining images of specific individual characters or by averaging amongst several characters. Optionally, if these values are supplied externally, that is, the provider of the font provides these values, the external values may be used instead of the computed values. Edge positions are determined by looking for long vertical or horizontal portions of contours. Normal vectors are perpendicular to the contour, and are computed from contour equations and by determining which side of the contour is black and which side is white. For those points required for curve reconstruction, but which are not on the curve, the normals are calculated as if a normal vector extended from the curve through those points. In the attached Appendix, the source code, in the MESA language of the Xerox Corporation, is provided demonstrating one possible embodiment of the source code to accomplish the described goals. The Mesa programming language operates on a microprocessor referred to as the Mesa microprocessor, which has been well documented, for example, in Xerox Development Environment, Mesa Language Manual, Copyright 1985 Xerox Corporation, Part No. 610E00170. This particular software is derived from the Typefounders product of the Xerox Corporation, Stamford, Conn. The Typefounders product accomplished all these character and font metrics, but did not provide them externally. (See Appendix, pages 67-319,for relevant Typefounder software modules called by software implementing the current invention including: CharacterOpsDefs.mesa, CharacterOpslmplA.mesa, CharacterOpslmpIB.mesa, pages 67-105; ContourOpsDefs.mesa, ContourOpslmplA.mesa, ContourOpslmplB.mesa, ContourOpslmpIC.mesa, ContourOpslmplD.mesa, pages 106-195; FontOpsDefs.mesa, FontOpslmpl.mesa, pages 196-221; ImageOpsDefs.mesa, ImageOpslmplA.mesa, ImageOpslmplB.mesa, pages 222-265 TypefounderUtilsdefs.mesa, TypefounderlmplA.mesa, TypefounderlmpIB.mesa, pages 266-319) Additional software was added, which makes these values available for subsequent processing (See Appendix, page 1, TypeDefs.mesa for translation of the Typfounder data structure; page 36, MetricsDef.mesa, Metricslmpl.mesa, for measurement of font metrics; page 47, EdgeOpsDef. mesa, EdgeOpslmpl.mesa, for measurement of leading and trailing edge position) and performs the perpendiculars calculations (see, Appendix, page 56, NormalOpsdefs.mesa, NormalOpslmpl.mesa). This information is used for creation of a data structure for "hints" (see, Appendix, page 13, ICFFontlODefs. Mesa for creation of hint format for next steps). Of course, while in the Appendix, the various coded algorithms operating on the contour font data for the hint creation step 20 are given in the Mesa language, implementation is easily made in the Unix-based "C" language. The remainder of the system, and the algorithms incorporated will be described in the Appendix in the Unix-based "C" language. Selecting a contour font for use enables a program that looks for font data, and designates its final position in an output, while calling the various programs forming the steps that will be described further hereinbelow (see, Appendix, page 320, raster.c). The contour font rasterization program herein described is useful on a variety of hardware platforms, attributes of which can be selected for enhanced operation of the system, such as for example, a greater degree of precision in the calculations (the difference between 8 bit calculation and 32 bit calculation). (see, Appendix, page 340, std.h) At transform step 30, (see, Appendix, page 343, xform.c) the contour font is converted from arbitrary contour font units, which are supplied by the provider of the font, to a particular size, expressed in units of pixels. Typically, contour font units are provided in terms of the contour itself, i.e., the height or size of the contour font is one (1). That is, lengths of characters are placed in terms of the size of the font character itself. These values must be transformed into pixel unit values, or whatever other value is required, e.g. the scaled font may be 30 pixels tall. Additionally, it is at this point that the contour font is rotated for either landscape or portrait mode printing, as required. Rotation and scaling is accomplished in accordance with a previously determined transformation matrix equation 35, which mathematically determines the conversion of the contour font from font measurements to pixel values at a selected orientation which can be used by the printer. The transformed character H is shown at FIG. 2B. Subsequent to transformation step 30, at thickening or thinning step 40, font characters are thickened or thinned based on requirements of the transformation, and requirements of the printing process. The character contour is adjusted to make the strokes thicker or thinner to compensate for the xerographic or other marking process to follow. There are three components of the thickening or thinning value. The first compensates for xerographic or other imaging effects. That is, if for example, the marking technology will thin strokes by half a pixel, then strokes are thickened by half a pixel in this step. The amount of thickening or thinning specified in the printer profile 50 separately for X and Y directions, and is created at the manufacturer of the printer, and inserted at the printer profile 50. (see, Appendix, page 348, thicken.c) The second component of thickening, called residual thickening, is applied to insure uniformity of output strokes after the sampling or rasterization step. This amount for horizontal thickening on upper case letters, for example, is equal to the difference between the calculated ideal output vertical stem thickness, which is obtained by scaling the font metric to the proper size, and the result of rounding that thickness off to the actual pixel width which will be obtained after rasterization. This rounding is performed to the nearest whole pixel if half bitting is not enabled and to the nearest half pixel, if half bitting is enabled. There are separate values for horizontal or vertical directions and for upper case, lower case and auxiliary characters. The third component of thickening and thinning applies only to very small characters, and prevents drop-outs of fine lines. This amount is equal to the difference between the calculated scaled thickness of the hairlines, after thickening by the font thickening steps, and the minimum stroke thickness specified in the printer profile. When applied, this thickening brings fine lines up to the value of the minimum stroke thickness. The value is zero if the hairline is already greater than the minimum stroke thickness. (This process, referred to as "adaptive thickening," is not disclosed in the source code in the Appendix.) The actual thickening or thinning applied is equal to the sum of these three components. Each component has an independent value in the X and Y directions. The direction to move each contour control point is specified by its normal vector. The thickened character H is shown at FIG. C. At step 60, the snap function or grid alignment function is applied. The coordinate system of the character is varied in the horizontal direction to move vertical and horizontal edges to positions where pixel boundaries will be after rasterization, i.e., to a whole pixel position. This is to assure uniform stroke thickness in the rasterized character images. The process is to piecewise stretch or shrink the character to force edges to align the pixel boundaries. On the left hand sides of the characters, the left edge of each stroke is moved to the closest pixel boundary, while the right edge of the stroke is moved to the pixel boundary specified by rounding the stroke thickness. This process gives priority to maintaining uniform stroke thickness over absolute stroke position. That is to say, that after the left edge of the character has been moved to a whole pixel position, the thickness of the stroke, or portion of the character, is examined to determine its thickness. The thickness has already been adjusted in the thickness of thinning step, so that it is close to a whole pixel width. Accordingly, the right edge of the character is then moved to the nearest whole pixel, based on rounding the thickness of the pixel, as opposed to moving the right hand side to the nearest pixel. On the right hand sides of characters, the rolls of left and right edges of strokes are reversed. Right edges of strokes are anchored, while left edges are rounded relatively to corresponding right edges. (see, Appendix, page 355, snap.c). In one variant of this scheme, the positions of left and right index points or width points, which are those points which determine character spacing and are made to coincide in constructing words, are snapped before the vertical edges. In the vertical direction, snapping is performed to piecewise stretch characters so that positions of baseline, cap-height, x-height, and descender fall on pixel boundaries. Baseline and descender position are treated as bottoms of strokes, that is, anchored, while cap-height and x-height are treated as tops of strokes, computed relative to the baseline. All characters are snapped to all of these positions, ensuring uniform character alignment. After these font metric positions are snapped, horizontal edges are snapped in the same manner as vertical edges, with lower edges of strokes anchored and upper edges snapped relative to the lower edges in the lower half of the character and upper edges of strokes anchored and lower edges snapped relative to the upper edges in the upper half of the character. In both horizontal and vertical directions, snapping is performed one edge at a time. That is, the first edge is snapped, stretching the coordinate system of the character slightly on one side of the snapped edge and shrinking it slightly on the other side. The second edge is then snapped, with its pre-snapping position perhaps already modified slightly by the first snap. This sequential snapping helps preserve local character features better than simultaneous snapping of all edges does. When the second edge is snapped, its area of influence on the coordinate grid extends only up to the first snapped edge, which stays in place. This process is then repeated for the remainder of the edges. The snapped character H is shown at FIG. 2D. Once each character in the adjusted contour font has been placed in the grid and appropriately thickened and thinned, the final step is to sample the adjusted contour on discrete grid. This step 70 can optionally produce half bitted output images, as controlled by the printer profile. Light half bitting produces half bitting on curves and diagonals, while heavy half bitting will also produce half bitted vertical and horizontal edges. Rasterization in a preferred embodiment of this invention is in accordance with the process described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/416,211 by S. Marshall, entitled "Rapid Halfbitting Stepper", and assigned to the present assignee of the present invention. This application is incorporated by reference herein for the purposes of teaching rasterization. (see, Appendix, page 364, step.c and page 368, step.h for rasterization with halfbitting; page 372, bezline.c for stepping around curve; page 396, fill.c for filling). The rasterized character is shown at FIG. 2D. It will not doubt be appreciated that numerous changes and modifications are likely to occur to those skilled in the art, and it is intended in the appended claims to cover all those changes and modifications which fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

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Should I Be a Strict or Lenient Parent? To be strict or not to be strict, that is the question – in fact, it’s the number-one question among child-rearing and education authorities, among teachers and, of course, parents. It’s doubtful that there is a parent who hasn’t at one time or another agonized over this. There is a widespread uncertainty on how to be at home (or how to come across in the classroom) – tough or soft, to be a strict disciplinarian or a permissivist. Have you noticed, however, that you seldom hear a parent or teacher admit “I am authoritarian” or “I am permissive”? These are terms reserved for those with whom you disagree. The question, whether to be strict or lenient, never ceases to be debated in books and articles, or at conferences and conventions. Dr. Gordon points out that this question is what social scientists call a “pseudo problem” and how it also is a clear case of “either-or thinking”. Let’s take a look at what he means by that. Seldom parents or teachers seem to recognize that it is not necessary to make a choice between these two leadership styles. Few adults know it, but there is an alternative to being at either end of the strictness-leniency scale. There is the choice of a third style. This alternative is being neither authoritarian nor permissive, neither strict nor lenient. Does that mean being somewhere near the middle of the scale–moderately strict or moderately lenient? Not at all. The alternative is not being on the scale at all! How so? Authoritarian leadership–whether at home or in the classroom–means that the control is in the hands of the adult leader. It has been researched and proven for decades how ineffective maintaining control through power is. Authoritarianism often creates fearful and subservient children and/or rebellion. Still, no parent or teacher really wants to suffer the chaotic consequences of unrestricted freedom and lawless permissiveness either. It’s also true that most children are uncomfortable with the consequences of permissiveness. Permissive leadership means that control has been “permitted” to be in the hands of the youngsters. Children of permissive parents usually feel guilty about always getting their way. They also feel insecure about being loved, because their inconsiderate behaviors make them feel unlovable. So what is that third viable alternative to both, authoritarian and permissive adult leadership? It’s what Dr. Gordon in detail describes in his model of parenting, a set of skills and methods known as Parent Effectiveness Training that are geared toward rearing self-disciplined children in a harmonious family climate. For now, let’s just emphasize that this new approach to relating to youngsters requires a transformation in the way adults perceive children, as well as a shift in the way they treat them. This transformation can be accomplished by learning a few new skills and methods that are applied in everyday life. This newsletter will describe and examine each of these skills and methods in its future editions and hopefully contribute to you having a more harmonious and peaceful home.

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To the profound comprehension of this law of the intellectual generation of ideas, are due the marvels of Catholic civilisation. To that wonderful civilisation is due all that we admire and all that we see. Its theologians, even considered humanly, put to the blush modern and ancient philosophers; her doctors excite wonder by the immensity of their science; its historians by their generalising and comprehensive views, cast those of antiquity into the shade. St Augustine’s “City of God” is, even today, the most profound book of history which genius, illuminated by the rays of Catholicity, has presented to the astonished eyes of men. The acts of her Councils, leaving aside the divine inspiration, are the most finished monuments of human prudence. The Canonical, excel in wisdom the Roman, and the feudal, laws. Who is before St Thomas in science, St Augustine in genius, Bossuet in majesty, St Paul in power? Who is greater as a poet than Dante? Who is equal to Shakespeare? Who surpasses Calderon? Who, like Raphael, infused life and inspiration into the canvas? Place people in sight of the pyramids of Egypt, and they will tell you, “Here has passed a grand and barbarous civilisation.” Place them in sight of the Grecian statues and temples, and they will tell you, “Here has passed a graceful, ephemeral, and brilliant civilisation.” Place them in sight of a Roman monument, and they will tell you, “Here has passed a great people.” Place them in sight of a cathedral, and on beholding such majesty united to such beauty, such grandeur to such taste, such grace to such delicacy, such severe unity to such rich variety, such measure to such boldness, such heaviness in the stones, with such suavity in their outlines, and such wonderful harmony between silence and light, shade and colour, they will tell you, Here has passed the greatest people of history, and the most astounding of human civilisations: that people must have taken grandeur from the Egyptian, brilliancy from the Greek, strength from the Roman, and, beyond the strength, the brilliancy, and grandeur, something more valuable than grandeur, strength, and brilliancy—immortality and perfection. Donoso Cortes, Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism

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SAN ANGELO, Texas — MOSCOW (AP) The head of Russia's space agency said Tuesday that cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component may have been vulnerable to the radiation. Vladimir Popovkin also said a manned launch to the International Space Station is being postponed from March 30 because of faults found in the Soyuz capsule. The statements underline an array of trouble that has afflicted the country's vaunted space program in recent months, including the August crash of a supply ship for the space station and last month's crash of a communications satellite. Since the end of the U.S. space shuttle program last year, Russian craft are the only means to send crew to and from the ISS. The unmanned Phobos-Ground probe was to have gone to the Mars moon of Phobos, taken soil samples and brought them back. But it became stuck in Earth orbit soon after its launch on Nov. 9. It fell out of orbit on Jan. 15, reportedly off the coast of Chile, but no fragments have been found. The failure was a severe embarrassment to Russia, and Popovkin initially suggested it could have been due to foreign sabotage. But on Tuesday he said in televised remarks that an investigation showed the probable cause was "localized influence of heavily radiated space particles." Popovkin, speaking in the city of Voronezh where the report was presented to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, said two units of the Phobos-Ground probe's onboard computer system went into an energy-saving "restart" mode, apparently due to the radiation, while the craft was in its second orbital circuit. It was not immediately clear why the units could not be brought out of that mode. Popovkin said that some microchips used on the craft were imported and possibly of inadequate quality to resist radiation. He did not specify where the chips were manufactured. Yuri Koptev, a former space agency head who led the Phobos-Ground investigation, said 62 percent of the microchips used in the probe were "industrial" class, a less-sophisticated level than should be used in space flight. Popovkin said the craft's builder, Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin, should have taken into account the possibility of radiation interfering with the operation and said Lavochkin officials would face punishment for the oversight. Popovkin later announced that a March 30 planned launch of three astronauts to the space station will be postponed "likely until the end of April" because of problems with the capsule. He did not specify, but the state news agency RIA Novosti cited the director of Russia's cosmonaut-training program as saying leaks had been found in the capsule's seals. It would be the second significant postponement of a manned Russian launch in the past year. The August crash of the supply ship pushed back a manned launch to the ISS because the booster rocket that failed in the crash was similar to the ones used in manned missions.

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European ports install radiation detectors as U.S. delays Just last week, U.S. officials announced that the Homeland Security Department is slowing plans to roll out 1,400 monitors, each costing nearly $400,000, as part of a $1.2 billion multiyear project. In field tests, the new Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitors, or ASPs, "led to the determination that additional functional capacity is needed to meet the operational standards," a department spokeswoman announced. The announcement, which means the machines could take another year to reach U.S. ports, comes after more than a year of sparring between DHS officials and the Government Accountability Office over how effective the technology is as well as testing methods used to evaluate it. The debate over the new equipment has largely played out in congressional hearings. In September, Government Accountability Office officials argued that DHS testing was based on a "biased" methodology that allowed vendors an artificial edge during the evaluation of their radiation detectors, an allegation Homeland Security officials said was off base. Officials at the Belgian port of Antwerp, however, are moving ahead with deployment of the ASPs for use in secondary screening. "We're in the process of finalizing it now," Pascal Fias, a scientist working at the Antwerp port, said last week during an International Atomic Energy Agency-sponsored conference on nuclear trafficking here. In the Netherlands, Dutch customs officials are already using the ASP detectors in secondary deployments and expect to eventually use them as primary scanners, Fias said. Containers at ports are typically put through a two-phase scanning process. During the first phase, the shipping containers are sent through very sensitive detectors called plastic scintillators. Plastic scintillators can detect very low-level radiation emissions but are incapable of identifying the isotope emitting the energy. Due to their sensitivity, they can be triggered by innocuous cargo with trace levels of natural radiation like granite, kitty litter or bananas. In one instance a load of blueberries set off Belgian alarms. The fruit exhibited trace levels of cesium contamination, a legacy from Chernobyl, Fias said. If the primary detectors discover the presence of radiation, the shipping container is then sent through a secondary screening where customs officials use hand-held devices to determine the nature of the source. After the latest round of GAO criticism of the DHS technology vetting process, Homeland Security officials suggested the ASP detectors would first be deployed in secondary locations and testing would continue before replacing the plastic scintillators. While Belgian port officials have no plans to shift the ASP to a primary detection deployment - they say they have the plastic scintillators and might as well use them - the new technology is perfect for secondary screening, they say. "For the second phase, it makes a lot of sense to use the ASP," Fias told Global Security Newswire, calling the technology currently "the best on the market." Without the ASP detectors, custom officials must use a small, hand-held scanner to assess the entire shipping container. That is a small scanner and a large box, a combination that has led to complaints from customs officials at the port, Fias said. By contrast, the ASP scanners are "basically a very, very big detector that can scan the whole of the container," he said. Replacing primary scanners with the new technology requires any new device to be at least a sensitive as the plastic scintillators, Fias notes, a more challenging bar to meet. The goal with these detector upgrades, both domestically and abroad, is not necessarily increasing the level or radiation detection at ports, but rather smoothing the flow of commerce and making sure current detection regime is not disruptive. U.S. officials have repeatedly said the goal is to lower the number of false alarms at large ports such as Los Angeles/Long Beach. That port, the nation's busiest, has about 500 radiation alerts a day, and DHS officials suggest the new technology could plunge that number to less than 30. "We want to have a low economic impact. Time is money, certainly in a port," Fias said of Antwerp. "Only 1 in 10,000 containers are delayed for more than a few hours or days." He expects the ASPs, to be used in conjunction with x-ray scanning, to be rolled out in Antwerp by the end of next year.

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Beyond simple math and grouping (like "(x+2)(x-4)"), there are some functions you can use as well. Look below to see them all. They are mostly standard functions written as you might expect. You can also use "pi" and "e" as their respective constants. Please note: You should not use fractional exponents. For example, don't type "x^(1/3)" to compute the cube root of x. Instead, use "root(x,3)". When you want a quick graph of a function, you can just go to http://graphsketch.com/[function], like http://graphsketch.com/sin(x). You can even separate multiple equations with commas, like For more information on GraphSketch (how it works, etc.), see my blog post

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The pristine waters off Kona, Hawaii, teem with big game and spawn many exciting fish tales. But this tale is unlike any other, a mystery involving a giant slender fish discovered on the surface minus its head and tail, making it nearly impossible to identify. Sea Strike Capt. Dale Leverone poses with giant headless mystery fish found recently off Kona, Hawaii. In below image, first mate Jack Leverone lies beside the 7-foot-long denizen. Credit: the Leverones The case may never be solved because scientists have little to go on besides the photos accompanying this post, and because the fishermen filleted the carcass and tossed it overboard. The only thing that appears certain is that the headless mystery fish belongs to a species that resides at great depth, and is rarely encountered by humans. The best guess, and some might have already ventured this theory, is that this was an oarfish. Oarfish are long and slender prehistoric-looking fish believed to have spawned tales of sea serpents among ancient mariners. That’s what Capt. Dale Leverone of the Sea Strike, which stumbled upon the 7-foot-long ribbon-like fish, initially believed. That’s also what Jon Schwartz supposed. Schwartz, a fishing photographer and friends of the Leverone family, spent an entire day last week trying to solve this mystery, and blogged about his detective work. His title: “Giant Headless Mystery Fish Baffles Fishermen and Scientists.” But oarfish boast crimson-colored mane-like dorsal fins, tall and prominent near their heads, and the headless fish did not have a detectable dorsal fin. “I thought it was a car bumper, but then I remembered they don’t float,” first mate Jack Leverone told Schwartz. Schwartz contacted Jim Rizzuto, a veteran fishing writer in Hawaii, and Rizzuto suggested it could be a Hawaiian ridge scabbardfish, which are long and ribbon-like, and extremely rare. But scabbardfish do not get nearly this long, so it was crossed off the list. Schwartz plunged into Wikipedia and found a species called beltfish, which are long and thin, and a photo of a bunch of them at a fish market in Japan. Not a probable match. Schwartz also contacted two NOAA marine biologists, who could not provide a positive ID. I decided to probe on my own and contacted Perry Hampton, vice president of animal husbandry at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif. Hampton said the photographs “do not show enough detail to make a determination” but added: “Despite the apparent lack of red dorsal fin it is hard to come up with any other species other than an oarfish,” based on the size of the specimen. “The most prominent part of an oarfish’s dorsal fin are the first few spines near the head,” he added. “It is possible that these things were lost along with the head. The rest of the dorsal fin runs the length of the body but usually lays flat in a recessed channel along the fish’s back unless it is alarmed.” So the headless mystery fish could very well have been an oarfish, but the world may never know for sure. Just as it will never know what kind of shark or other predator chomped off its head and tail, leaving the rest for the Leverones. They had planned to eat the headless mystery fish, but when they cooked it the flesh turned gelatinous, so they passed. More on GrindTV NATURE – Facebook friends capture amazing baby whale, seal footage on same day SHARKS – Scary moments for divers during up-close tiger shark encounter FISHING – Bluefin tuna sells for record $1.76 million in Japan

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In response to growing demand from western U.S. and Canadian outdoor fruit and berry producers, Biobest is developing a native western bumblebee for outdoor pollination. Bumblebees are important pollinators of many cultivated crops. By pollinating our fruits and vegetables, they not only help deliver our healthy meals, but are also vital to overall food security. Bumblebees have the edge when it comes to effective pollination. They produce their own heat, which in combination with their furry coats enables them to fly early in the season when it is still far too cold for honeybees and other insects. Unlike honeybees, they also buzz or shake flowers to collect pollen, which assures effective pollination. The use of bumblebees has allowed growers to produce higher-yielding, better-quality and safer crops. In food crops like greenhouse tomatoes, bumblebees have for many years successfully replaced physical pollination or chemicals previously used to induce fruit set. The demand for bumblebees to help guarantee crop yield has increased in recent years as honeybees and other natural pollinators have declined, but because native western species have not been available commercially, western U.S. and Canadian growers of field crops like berries, top fruit and canola have been at a disadvantage, unable to share in the many benefits these pollinators offer. Biobest recognizes the ecological and economic benefits of using native species for pollination. Having pioneered the use of bumblebees for crop pollination, Biobest has now developed a native western bumblebee species especially for the western U.S. and Canada. Biobest has been successful in rearing a range of native western bumblebee species, allowing them to select the right candidate for the western U.S. market. The company says that only the species that proves most successful in crop pollination will be launched for use in its native territory. Biobest expects to begin pollination trials in the spring of 2013. For more information:

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Fire ants can present a real problem for home owners. Almost every yard in our area has fire ants. Although they do not cause damage to the turf or other plant material, they can inflict painful stings. When their mounds are disturbed, the ants become aggressive and will attack anything that disturbs their mounds. An unsuspecting victim can be quickly covered with ants. The stings are usually just irritating and painful. However, some people are highly allergic and can become very ill with just one sting. Fire ants were accidentally introduced into the United States from South America through the port of Mobile, Ala., in the 1930s and they arrived into Georgia in the 1950s. At present, the ants are present in all counties except for some in the mountains. Human activity has helped spread the ants through shipments of ant infested nursery stock, soil, sod or other such material. They do not do as well in colder climates, which have slowed their spread northward. States in the western part of the country are trying to control the spread of fire ants through inspections of incoming agricultural products from infested areas and quarantines. The total elimination of fire ants from an area is not feasible. However, temporary measures can be initiated to control fire ant infestations. But the controls must be used continuously or the ants will return. Many situations exist that do not require the treatment of fire ants, like areas were little or no human activity occurs. However, in high traffic areas, such as lawns and garden areas, control of fire ants is a must. Killing the queen is very important in controlling fire ants. The queen stays in the mound and continues to reproduce while other ants build the mound and forage for food to feed the colony. Killing the foraging ants without killing the queen will not destroy the mound. There are basically three methods of treating fire ants. The first way is to broadcast fire ant bait such as Amdro, Logic, and several other brands on and around the mound while the ants are foraging. The ants think the bait is food when it actually is a poison. It goes down to the queen and gets rid of the colony over time. The second method is to treat the individual mounds with an insecticide drench, such as acephate, carbaryl (Sevin) and several others. The mound drenches use a small amount of the active poison ingredient mixed with water and poured upon the mound. Some times the "two step" method is used. The fire ants are treated with bait broadcasted into the area and then, seven days later, the mounds are drenched with the appropriate insecticide. A third method is broadcast applications of granular insecticides. The products are not baits. The products, such as fipronil (Over 'n Out, Chipco, TopChoice), can reduce the fire ant population substantially over time. However, these products only work where they have been directly applied to. Remember, when using chemical pesticides follow all label directions and safety precautions. One home method is to use boiling hot water. A couple of applications can kill a fire ant mound. However, each mound has to be treated individually and there is the risk of the applicator being scalded by the water. Never use gasoline to try to burn mounds. Besides the risk of setting yourself and the surrounding property on fire, the gasoline will kill the turf and can sterilize the soil. Some "home made remedies" such as grits, are totally useless in controlling fire ants. Fire ants are a big problem and will continue to be so. But they can be brought under controlled and should in areas of high usage due to their potential danger to human health. Timothy Daly is an agricultural and natural resource agent with the Gwinnett County Extension Service. He can be reached at 678-377-4010 or email@example.com.

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Staff Photo: Jason Braverman Girl Scouts Kennedy Watson, from left, Leah Royes and Kaitlyn Hamlette, of troop 4525 in Snellville, draw signs to promote cookie sales. Lemon-wedge cookies dusted with powdered sugar and filled with lemon zest flavor The shortbread cookie Oatmeal cookies with peanut butter filling Vanilla cookies covered in caramel and toasted coconut, then striped with chocolate Cookie topped with peanut butter then completely covered in chocolate Thin wafer covered in a peppermint chocolate 1912 — On March 12, 1912, founder Juliette Gordon Low gathered 18 girls to register the first troop of American Girl Guides. It was renamed Girl Scouts the following year. 1920s — The first Girl Scout Troops on Foreign Soil were established in China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Syria for American girls living in other countries. 1930s — The first sale of commercially baked Girl Scout Cookies took place. 1940s — Girls collected 1.5 million articles of clothing that were then shipped overseas to children and adult victims of war. 1950s — The March 1952 issue of “Ebony” magazine reported, “Girl Scouts in the South are making steady progress toward breaking down racial taboos.” 1960s — The social unrest of the 1960s was reflected in organization actions and Girl Scout program change, including introduction in 1963 of four program age–levels for girls: Brownie, Junior, Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts. 1970s — Girl Scouts contributed to a White House Conference on food, nutrition and health. 1980s — “The Contemporary Issues” series was developed in the 1980s to help girls and their families deal with serious social issues. The first, “Tune In to Well Being, Say No to Drugs,” was introduced in collaboration with a project initiated by First Lady Nancy Reagan. 1990s — Girl Scouting experienced a renewed emphasis on physical fitness with the inauguration of a health and fitness national service project in 1994 and the GirlSports initiative in 1996. 2000s — Grants from Fortune 500 companies such as Lucent Technologies, Intel and Lockheed Martin supported science and technology exploration programs for girls. 2012 — Girl Scouts of the USA has declared 2012 the Year of the Girl: a celebration of girls, recognition of their leadership potential and a commitment to creating a coalition of like-minded organizations and individuals in support of balanced leadership in the workplace and in communities across the country. SNELLVILLE -- It's that time of year. Across Gwinnett -- and the nation -- young girls dressed in green, brown, tan and blue vests are selling the famous Girl Scouts cookies by the boxes and they have a new cookie this year, the Savannah Smiles. Haven't heard of it? It's the latest creation to celebrate the organization's 100th anniversary. The girls from Troop No. 4525 in Snellville, just like millions of other girls, are bound and determined to sell their cookies to anyone who will buy a box for $3.50. "This is exciting to me because I started out as a Girl Scout with my sister in Brooklyn, N.Y.," Troop Co-leader Qualena Odom-Royes said. "Now being able to share it with Leah (my daughter) and these other girls is exciting and wonderful." The troop worked on posters to advertise their confectionery sweets and set individual sales goals for 2012. With much childhood exuberance, Jocelyn Spencer, 8, decided on 81,000 boxes. "I'm going to get everyone in my family to sell cookies," she said. And she's not the only one aiming big. The other girls in the troop set goals in the hundreds. "I'm going to try to raise 400 because I really want all of the prizes," Kennedy Watson, 8, said. Girl Scout Cookies In Recipes Try using Girl Scout Cookies as part of fun recipes In addition to the usual cookies, Girl Scouts of the USA has introduced its latest creation, the Savannah Smiles, to commemorate its 100th year. These celebratory baked goods were created in honor of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low's hometown of Savannah and are similar in taste to past customer favorites with bursts of lemon flavor. The cookie is shaped like a wedge, covered in powered sugar and filled with lemon crisps. "The Savannah Smiles is actually closer to the original cookies made for the Girl Scout sales. It was one of the first varieties out there," Troop Co-leader Adrienne Cole said. The cookie is such a new addition to the Girl Scouts, the troops and their leaders haven't gotten to taste-test the lemon flavored treat. "I really want to try the new cookie," Kaitlyn Hamlette, 6, said. "I like lemony stuff, so I really want to try it." Ada Hamlette of Loganville, Kaitlyn's mother added, "Everyone is excited about the new cookie and they want to try them. They look like they'll be delicious." To boost the Savannah Smiles' sales, Troop No. 4525 thought of a strategic marketing approach: Give out free samples while selling boxes around the county. "I want to give a box of milk to everyone who eats a sample," Spencer said. Cole chimed in, "Maybe we can get Kroger to donate some milk." Your hips may be mad that you bought the cookies, but your heart won't feel the same. All of the proceeds from Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta's fundraising activities, including the cookie drive, stay in the council to serve the girls and volunteers in many ways. The money delivers programs to 41,500 girl members in a 34-county territory, trains more than 18,000 adult member volunteers, provides approximately $52,000 in scholarships for higher education and so much more. The Girls Scouts of the USA haven't started selling their cookies online yet, but could in the next few years. The organization recommends never buying Girl Scout Cookies on any sites, including Amazon, eBay and other auction or community sites. There is no guarantee of freshness or authenticity. To keep up with a technological age, the organization is using its website to help buyers easily find troops to purchase from in the area. Starting Feb. 17, the public can use the Cookie Locator, a program set up to help locate girls selling in your neighborhood by entering your ZIP code. To use the locator, visit cookielocator.littlebrownie.com. To learn more about the Girl Scout's 100th anniversary and the Savannah Smiles, visit www.girlscouts.org.

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Become a fan of h2g2 Daniel Boone, a legendary American frontiersman, was once quoted as saying, 'I ain't never been lost, but I may have been confused once or twice'. With all respect to Mr Boone - who was born in Pennsylvania, incidentally - it's incredibly easy to get lost and confused in the forests and mountains of Pennsylvania. In the course of the state's 300-plus year recorded history, many people have gotten lost and confused. And they've lost plenty of things while stumbling around in the Pennsylvania woodlands - including a surprising amount of gold and silver. Late in the 1690s, a group of French Canadians, led by Louis Frontenac, departed New Orleans and headed towards Montreal. They sailed up the Mississippi River to the Ohio River turn-off. They then went up the Ohio to the location of present-day Pittsburgh and took the left fork up the Allegheny River. On their rafts were kegs filled with gold coins destined for the Royal Governor of Canada's treasury. Upon reaching present-day Potter County, Pennsylvania, they started overland, but the heavy kegs of coins made the going slow. Fearing an English or Indian attack, they decided to bury the treasure just north of the location of present-day Coudersport. They marked their cache of gold with a cross chipped onto a rock. Seneca Indians are said to have seen the cross on the rock, but left it alone because they feared the site had special mystical significance. In time, the marker wore off the stone and the Indians were unable to remember where it was located. The Frenchmen never returned for their gold and to this day it has never been found. The Counterfeiter's Gold Then there's the story of Cyrus Cole who, in the early 1900s, lived by himself in a shack near the swamps outside Eldred in McKean County, Pennsylvania. Cole was something of a bum, surviving by picking berries and trapping muskrats yet, strangely, he was never short of cash. The United States Secret Service had agents investigating an influx of counterfeit silver half dollars and gold coins in the area, but could never get any leads. Then in 1912, they got an anonymous tip that Cole was the mastermind behind the counterfeiting ring. Armed with a search warrant, the agents searched Cole's shack and found some evidence, but not enough for a conviction. They searched the swamp for evidence of the minting equipment, but came up empty-handed. Legend has it that Cole buried his counterfeit coins and his real gold and silver profits somewhere on the high ground near Eldred. None of it has ever been recovered. Civil War Gold In 1863, during the American Civil War1, a Union Army lieutenant was ordered to escort a wagon that had been fitted with a false base. This disguised compartment contained 26 gold bars each weighing 50 pounds. The wagon was to travel from Wheeling, West Virginia, north through Pennsylvania and then south to Washington, DC - the idea behind this route was to avoid any possible encounter with Confederate forces. In the early stages of the journey, the lieutenant was sick with fever. During a fit of delirium, he blurted out the fact that the wagon contained a fortune in gold. After his fever broke, the expedition left St Marys, Pennsylvania, heading for Driftwood where they were to build a raft and float down the Susquehanna River to Harrisburg. They never made it, vanishing somewhere in the forests of Cameron and Elk counties. Two months later, the party's civilian guide stumbled into Lock Haven - 50 miles east of St Marys, the last known location of the convoy. Army investigators interrogated the guide for days and heard that bandits ambushed the group, killing all the soldiers and taking the gold. The Army did not believe this story. Pinkerton2 detectives were hired to search the area, but all they found were some dead mules in the area of Dent's Run near present-day Route 55 in Elk County. In the early 1870s, human skeletons which were believed to be those of the soldiers were found in the same area. The guide was drafted into the army and assigned to a fort in the west. A heavy drinker, when he was drunk he would claim to know where the gold was hidden. But when he sobered up, he disavowed all knowledge of the treasure's location. Local rumour has it that during the past 50 years the modern US Army has sent several teams into the area around Dent's Run searching for the gold. Despite these alleged ongoing searches, the gold has never been recovered. During the American Civil War, Confederate raiders captured a Union convoy heading from West Virginia to the Philadelphia Mint. The convoy's treasure - some 15 tons of silver bars - was stolen and hidden inside a cave north of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The rebels sealed the mouth of the cave and never returned for the booty. Some say it's still out there waiting to be discovered. In 1680, a Spanish treasure ship sank off the Bahamas. A hundred and thirty years later a British captain named 'Blackbeard'3 found the treasure and recovered several tons of silver. Blackbeard sailed into Baltimore harbour intending to transfer the silver to a British warship for transport to London. Fearing that the ship would be followed and attacked on the high seas, Blackbeard sent the silver overland by wagon to Canada where it would be loaded into a convoy of strong ships. By the time Blackbeard reached Renovo, Pennsylvania, the War of 18124 had begun and Blackbeard, fearing that the silver would fall into USA hands, buried the treasure in the mountains outside Emporium in McKean County near present-day Route 155. Blackbeard never returned for the silver and rumour has it that it is still there today. Robber Lewis' Lost Booty David 'Robber' Lewis made a reputation for himself in the early 1800s, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. He was captured in 1820 and on his deathbed, he confessed to all his crimes and told his jailers of three caches of gold he had hidden in Pennsylvania: One, containing $10,000 in gold, is said to have been hidden in a small cave along the Juniata River near Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Lewis returned for the cache and couldn't find it because the river had flooded and washed away his trail markers. A second cache is purported to be buried along the Conodoguinett Creek near the caves he used as a hide-out. The third, reportedly containing $20,000, is buried in the hills outside of Bellefonte. During his last imprisonment, Lewis is said to have taunted his jailers by telling them that he could see the cache from the jail. None of these caches have ever been recovered. Cash at Kinzua In the 1890s, a man robbed a bank in Emporium, Pennsylvania, making off with $40,000 in cash. Apparently, he got lost and wound up in the village of Hazel Hurst where he collapsed. Not having a good day, our man died of 'exhaustion' a short time later, but not before confessing that he had buried the loot north-east of Kushequa within sight of the Kinzua railroad bridge. The money has never been recovered. The Belsano Train Robbery On 11 October, 1924, a train carrying a safe containing a payroll of $33,000 was robbed just outside the Cambria County, Pennsylvania town of Belsano. During the course of the robbery, one of the men who was guarding the safe was shot and killed. Police in several neighbouring states joined the manhunt for Michelo Bassi and Anthony Pezzi and the murderous duo were apprehended two weeks after the robbery in Terre Haute, Indiana. Each had a gun and $3,000 in cash. The men were convicted of first degree murder and in February 1925, they were executed in the state's electric chair. The safe and some of the money was never recovered. Legend has it that it may be buried or hidden near the site of the robbery. The Lost Cave of Silver Somewhere in the Allegheny National Forest to the west of the town of Tionesta, Pennsylvania is a cave reputed to be full of silver. During the late 1700s, a white settler named Hill got lost and sought shelter in a cave for the night. Inside the cave he saw veins of silver running everywhere through the walls and ceiling. In the floor was a great pit filled with pure silver. When he managed to find his way home, he was unable to find his way back to the cave. Hill's story was backed up by an early entrepreneur who traded liquor with the indigenous Indians in exchange for furs and silver. When he asked them where they got all their silver, legend has it that they blindfolded him and took him to a cave matching the one described in Hill's story. Pure silver was found in Indian burial grounds near Irvine, Warren County - approximately 15 miles upstream from Tionesta. However, the Cave of Silver has never been found. Other Lost Treasures An aeroplane carrying a quarter-million dollars in cash crashed near Mount Carmel in 1948. The money was thrown out of the plane just prior to the crash and was never found. Bandit Michael Rizzalo stole a $12,000 payroll in 1888. He was said to have buried it in a tin box somewhere on Laurel Run Mountain, just outside the town of Wilkes-Bare. The money is supposed to still be there today. In 1775, a gang of Tories5 hid $100,000 in gold coins in the Wernersville area. The loot was never recovered. A Handy Tip When visiting Pennsylvania, don't forget to pack your metal detector.

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Schopf, J. William Adult Nonfiction QH325 .S384 1999 Summary: One of the greatest mysteries in reconstructing the history of life on Earth has been the apparent absence of fossils dating back more than 550 million years. We have long known that fossils of sophisticated marine life-forms existed at the dawn of the Cambrian Period, but until recently scientists had found no traces of Precambrian fossils. The quest to find such traces began in earnest in the mid-1960s and culminated in one dramatic moment in 1993 when William Schopf identified fossilized microorganisms three and a half "billion years old. This startling find opened up a vast period of time--some eighty-five percent of Earth's history--to new research and new ideas about life's beginnings. In this book, William Schopf, a pioneer of modern paleobiology, tells for the first time the exciting and fascinating story of the origins and earliest evolution of life and how that story has been unearthed. Gracefully blending his personal story of discovery with the basics needed to understand the astonishing science he describes, Schopf has produced an introduction to paleobiology for the interested reader as well as a primer for beginning s Question about returns, requests or other account details? Add a Comment

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Most of the causes of dementia cannot be prevented. Good personal health habits and medical care, however, can prevent some types of dementia. Here are some things you can do: Dementia caused by stroke - Monitor and control your blood pressure, exercise every day, and eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables to maintain a healthy body weight. Alcohol-related dementia - Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. A colleague of mine is in emotional limbo, waiting for his elderly mother to die. Should he drive the 200 miles back and forth to work, so... Read more » As we age, we tend to use the same vocabulary choices over and over, and, if what I surmise is correct, even those with normal mental ... Read more » Why am I not surprised? A study has shown that two classes of drugs often given, in tandem, to people with dementia - a population that... Read more » I am sometimes asked what degrees I have relating to medicine and healthcare, since I speak at conferences to healthcare professionals... Read more »

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Many things can trigger depression. It is common during life changes such as adolescence, marriage, birth and menopause. It can be a consequence of your upbringing - such as whether or not you were taught effective coping skills as a child. There is a genetic component to depression, and influences such as diet, stress and illness also play a part. Being depressed can make you feel out of control and helpless, yet there are many ways to avoid falling into depression. * Examine your diet. What you eat - or don’t eat - can influence your mood. The same diets that can cause heart disease and arthritis in some individuals - one that is high in sodium and saturated fat, and low in whole, fresh plant foods and unrefined essential fatty acids (EFAs) - can cause depression in others. Likewise, food allergies can also alter brain function and trigger depression (Biol Psychiatry, 1981; 16: 3-19). Wheat, milk, corn, beef and eggs are common culprits (Ann Allergy, 1982; 48: 166-71). But bear in mind that food allergies linked to depression often have an addictive quality - so whatever you eat compulsively may be contributing to the problem. * Psychotherapy is as effective as drugs. Cognitive behavioural therapy can help those at risk of depression to become more conscious of negative thoughts and attitudes that feed into their depressions. Patients undergoing such therapy can learn to change (or at least mitigate) these unhelpful tendencies (J Consult Clin Psychol, 1989; 57: 414-9). * Drug-induced depression is very common. Around 200 different classes of drugs have been implicated, including beta-blockers, tranquillisers, corticosteroids and birth-control pills, as well as alcohol and recreational drugs. If you think you may be reacting to a drug, consider switching to another family of drugs or trying other options. * Environmental pollutants such as heavy metals, petrochemicals, pesticides and other toxins can disrupt the nervous system and lead to mild, but chronic, mood disorders, including depression (Med Clin North Am, 1990; 74: 325-45). Similarly, exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), especially at work (West J Med, 2000; 173: 94-100) can lead to more depression and suicide in some vulnerable individuals (Bioelectromagnetics, 2001; [Suppl 5]: S132-43). * St John’s wort is the most effective herbal remedy for mild depression because it works in a similar way to conventional antidepressants. A standardised extract (0.03 per cent hypericin) usually at a dose of 300 mg three times a day can be just as effective as antidepressant drugs (BMJ, 1996; 313: 253-8). What’s more, the side-effects are minimal. * Traditional acupuncture can be as good as conventional drugs for preventing relapses in depression (Compl Ther Med, 2001; 9: 216-8). * Electroacupuncture can benefit those suffering from major depression who cannot tolerate the side-effects of antidepressant drugs (Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 1998; 52 [Suppl]: S338-40). * Stay active. People who exercise regularly have less depression (Prev Med, 2003; 36: 698- 703). Typically, any aerobic exercise, such as walking or jogging, for 20-30 minutes three or four times a week will benefit mild-to-moderate depression (BMJ, 1985; 291: 109). * Acknowledge your feelings. Depressed individuals often try to suppress their ‘bad’ feelings, especially those concerning distressing life experiences. ‘Confessing’ your most troubling feelings and experiences in a private diary can have significant long-term benefits on both mental and physical health (J Abnorm Psychol, 1986; 95: 274-81; J Consult Clin Psychol, 1989; 57: 414-9). * Get a good night’s sleep. Since depression and lack of sleep can form a vicious circle, make sure you sleep well. Stick to regular bedtimes; having curtains that keep the light out will help regulate night-time melatonin secretion; and don’t exercise or take stimulants such as coffee or alcohol before going to bed.

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Learning is the means whereby we acquire new working knowledge about the world. Memory is the means whereby we retain that knowledge over time. Our abilities to learn and remember are essential to our sense of self and our ability to function effectively in daily life. Memory is the glue that holds our mental life together. As a result, we are who we are in large part because of what we have learned and what we remember from past experience. But what is memory? How does the brain capture and sustain it? Why does memory sometimes fail us? Those simple questions, of course, have exceedingly complex answers, and many biological details about the process of memory in humans and other animals remain unknown. HHMI investigator Eric R. Kandel of Columbia University, however, has provided a good start. His studies of the molecular basis of learning and memory underpin much of what we know about how events are recorded by the brain, processed by individual nerve cells, and etched in gray matter. For his work on learning and memory, Kandel was awarded a share of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In the 1960s, Kandel began his studies of learning and memory by focusing on the behavior of the sea slug Aplysia, which he found to be a marvelously tractable system in which to study the cellular basis of these abilities. With only about 20,000 nerve cells — compared with the roughly thousand billion in humans — and a well-delineated neural circuitry, it proved possible to zero in on a biologically interesting reflex pathway. Like humans and other animals, Aplysia is capable of learning to modify this reflex, and this learning involves making memories. Kandel found that the cellular basis for memory depends on persistent changes in synapses, the connections between nerve cells. The differences in the strength of these connections come about through learning. Kandel found that when, in the simple withdrawal reflex, the gill reacts to touch, the connection between the sensory nerve cell and motor nerve cell of the reflex are activated. When the sea slug was taught to ignore a harmless touch, the connections between the sensory nerve cell and motor cell weakened. When the same light touch was coupled to an unpleasant fearful stimulus the animal became sensitized. It would now react strongly to the light touch because the same set of connections had strengthened. Kandel later discovered that short-term memory is kindled by the modulation of synapses and that long-term memory is sustained by the activation of genes. The formation of memories, Kandel determined, is a function of biochemical changes that occur at the synapse. To make short-term memories, the proteins involved in a chain of events at the nexus of nerve cells are chemically altered by the addition of phosphate groups. To cement a memory for the long haul, proteins are added at the synapse to make new connections with sensitization and lose connections with habituation. In the 1990s, he turned from studying simple forms of learning to more complex forms using genetically modified mice and showed that similar principles for short and long term memory were at work here as well. By laying a foundation for understanding the events that shape our ability to learn and remember, Kandel's work has helped us understand not only the cellular processes that occur during the acts of learning and remembering, but also - through his work on mice - where things can go wrong when dementia and other illnesses that affect memory arise. The cellular processes revealed by Kandel are among the targets of drugs used to alleviate these disorders of memory. Pinpointing the activity of individual nerve cells engaged in the process of learning and memory may help in the development of new, more effective agents to treat diseases that affect the brain. Photo: Matthew Septimus

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Australia's “exceptional” heatwave has produced record-breaking temperatures, with at least six of the first seven days of 2013 among the top 20 hottest days in the past century. The extreme January heat has prompted the Bureau of Meteorology to issue a special climate statement, with further updates planned as the scorching temperatures continue. Data for Monday is still to be fully analysed by the weather bureau, but it may be the hottest of the series and could generate a record average maximum beyond the 40.17 degrees reached on December 21, 1972. Such a result would make it six days in a row when the national average has been above 39 degrees; tomorrow is expected to make it seven. Prior to this series, the longest run of 39 degrees or more was four days, in 1973. “This event is ongoing with significant records likely to be set,” the bureau statement said. “A particular feature of this heatwave event has been the exceptional spatial extent of high temperatures.” The final four months of 2012 were the hottest on record for Australia and January is making an early run at adding to the sequence of especially hot weather. “Australia-wide, and for individual states, we are currently well above average by many degrees,” said Aaron Coutts-Smith, the bureau's NSW manager for climate services. Sydney is set to cop its first major blast of the searing heat that has grilled much of Australia for the past week, with 43 degrees forecast. Today's 40-degree prediction for Perth is one sign that any relief for the bulk of central and southern Australia from the current sweltering temperatures will be shortlived. “We are seeing that re-intensification” of the heat, said Dr Coutts-Smith. Melbourne, which is expecting 31 degrees today will feel chilly on Wednesday with a maximum of just 20 degrees before the mercury starts climbing back to 37 degrees on Friday, the bureau predicts. The data for national averages shows the maximum reached 39.2 on January 2, 39.6 on January 3, 39.3 on January 4, 39.3 on January 5 and 39.6 on January 6. Interestingly, none of the states has broken individual maximum highs, at least in the data until January 6, underscoring how large in size the overall weather pattern is. The weather bureau's manager for climate monitoring, Karl Braganza on Monday described the event as a "dome of heat" over the continent. NSW, which is likely to endure extreme temperatures today, has to exceed 44.1 degrees on average to beat the record set on January 14, 1939. This year, the hottest day was on January 5 when maximums averaged 41.1 degrees, with Hay Airport hitting 47.9 degrees, according to data up until January 6. For Victoria, the hottest day on record was 44.5 degrees on Black Saturday, February 7, 2009, when bushfires left 173 people dead. In the current spate of heat, the hottest day was January 4 when temperatures across the state averaged 41.2 degrees. Up until January 6, Yarrawonga had posted the hottest temperature in the state at 45.7 degrees on January 5, while Portland's 42.1 on the previous day was a new daily maximum for that location, the bureau said. Nationwide, the hottest single temperature recorded during the heat - up to January 6 - has been the 48.6 degrees reached at Red Rocks Point in WA on Jauary 3. That's about 2 degrees below the 50.7 degrees all-time record set on January 2, 1960.

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How to get Shading Right Recent improvements to window technology make substantial air conditioning energy savings possible. However, shading remains a time-tested method to accomplish the same end. Architectural and site shading can have an even greater impact on reducing daily cooling use than upgrading windows. Using both a prototype building and modeling simulations, a study by our team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) evaluated the relative impacts of different solar load control strategies. The study points the way toward optimizing the interaction of various methods for reducing solar heat gain. This is helpful,as the wide variety of shading options currently available can make choosing an effective solar load control strategy confusing (see Snapshots of Shading Options,HE Sept/Oct '00,p.20). The prototype house was built in 1998 in Tucson, Arizona, as part of the Department of Energy's Building America program.Its integrated package of energy-saving features includes structural insulated panels (SIPs) for the wall and roof construction, white coating on the roof, spectrally selective windows, architectural shading, an interior location for the air handler and ducts, highefficiency air conditioning equipment, and solar water heating. Building America (see Clean Breathing in Tract Homes,p. 29) works with five building industry teams to produce advanced residential buildings on a community scale. Systems incorporated into these houses are evaluated by conducting successive design, test, redesign,and retest iterations until cost and performance trade-offs yield innovations that can be cost effectively implemented in production-scale housing.RGC CourtHomes,Inc., built the prototype, with input from the IBACOS Building America Consortium. Building performance was modeled using a detailed hourly energy simulation tool and was measured while the building was unoccupied for a period of 12 days. Model inputs included direct measurements of the net air exchange rate, surface reflectance,and window transmittance. Model results, after calibration,showed good agreement with the direct measurements of cooling loads and air conditioning energy use. Analyzing the interactions between building performance and solar load control strategies in a prototype house can facilitate the optimization of cost and performance trade-offs in large-scale production. Typical new productionscale houses in the Tucson market are framed on a slabon- grade foundation with stucco exterior finish and a sloped concrete tile or flat built-up bituminous roof. These standard-practice houses are built using standard construction materials and techniques, including nominal 2 x 4 wood framing,fiberglass batt insulation,1-inch polystyrene sheathing,and double- pane,clear-glass,aluminum frame windows. The slab foundation has no insulation,and the attic is usually vented. A forcedair distribution system provides space heating and cooling,with the air handler located in the garage and the flex duct in the attic. This system is typically supplied by a 10-SEER air conditioner and an 80% annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) gas furnace. The prototype house differs from these houses in several respects. It has a well-insulated airtight envelope, with minimized air distribution losses. The house's energy-saving features, plus the large ratio of window to floor area in the design, render window contributions more important than they are in conventional housing, particularly in the Tucson climate. The prototype incorporates several reengineered features into its structural and mechanical equipment systems (see Table 1). Envelope changes include a sealed, insulated, and conditioned crawlspace foundation (a shallow basement) and SIPs (see SIPs Face the Skeptics,HE,Mar/Apr '98). The foundation stem walls are 6-inchthick reinforced concrete, insulated on the interior with a 2-inch-thick rigid foam board (R-10) that serves as the concrete form. Each wall and roof panel consists of a polyurethane foam core sandwiched between 7/16- inch thick oriented strand board (OSB) sheathing. SIPs 41/2 -inches thick are used for the walls, and SIPs 61/2 -inches thick form the flat lowslope ceiling/roof assembly. The walls are finished with synthetic stucco on the exterior. The roof panels are finished with a white singleply rubberized fabric coating on the exterior (the inside is cathedralized, with no attic space). The windows have vinyl frames with a thermal break,double panes, and spectrally selective coatings on the inside of the outer pane (surface two) of the tinted glazing. Mechanical system features include putting the air handler in an interior chase, locating all ductwork within the conditioned space,and installing a 12-SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) air conditioner. A batch-type solar water heater, with an integral collector storage unit,preheats domestic hot water. The gasfired water heater is coupled with an integrated hydronic space-heating coil in the air handler. The house has a controlled-ventilation system consisting of a separate,single-speed and manual-switch fan that supplies fresh air on demand from the outside to the air handler return plenum. This ranch-style house is located in a high-density, single-family residential development (see cover photo). The architectural plan has approximately 1,170 ft2 of floor area, including two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The house has a relatively large window area with 272 ft2; four sliding glass doors facing a patio make up about 80% of this window area. The sliding glass doors are partially shaded by the patio cover,which is 24 ft long, 6 ft wide, and 10 ft above ground level (see photograph on p. 24). The front entrance is a solid wood door. Another overhang on the front elevation of the house is an open horizontal trellis made of nominal 2 x 6 lumber; vegetation has been planted and is intended to grow over it. Prior to testing, the interior of the house was fully finished and landscaping was complete. No interior window coverings were installed during the test period. Building performance measurements included environmental conditions, net air exchange rate,and electric power use during normal operation of the building (see Measuring Thermal Performance). In addition, cooling loads were measured using a co-cooling test protocol in which a six-zone portable air conditioning unit was substituted for the building’s air conditioner. The modeled and measured results were compared; the results showed good agreement for cooling loads and air conditioning energy use. The model was then used to evaluate annual energy use and the impacts of alternative solar load control strategies over a broader range of conditions than could be measured in the field. The simulation model includes accurate building geometry to account for the effects of shading on windows and walls. The windows are all generally well shaded, either by overhangs or by the adjacent houses. The simulation model was imported into a three-dimensional graphic representation program that has rotational view capabilities to check building geometry.Figure 1 shows the location of exterior walls, windows,doors, and overhangs. Crawlspace walls are evident in this view. Shading from adjacent houses is significant at this site. The geometry of houses and fences to the east and west are modeled as measured at the site; these shading surfaces are also shown in the figure. How the Shading Options Added Up For the determination of annual heating and cooling energy,occupied building operation is simulated. The simulation of occupied conditions in this building for a full year predicts that 3,285 kWh of cooling energy and 71 therms of space-heating energy are required per year. Heat gain through the windows is the largest component of envelope load, and it constitutes more than 30% of the total cooling energy load (see Figures 2 and 3). Figure 4 presents the daily load profiles of air conditioning electricity use on a typical cooling day for four combinations of glazing and shading. In this case, the shading includes both the architectural overhangs and the site shading from adjacent buildings. Standard glazing without shading represents the worst case, and spectrally selective glazing with shading (the existing building) represents the best case. The combination of high-performance glazing and shading achieves a 0.4 kW (14%) reduction in afternoon peak electricity demand and a 12.4 kWh (30%) reduction in daily total electricity used for air conditioning. Architectural and site shading reduces daily cooling use more than upgrading the windows does. The shading combination reduces daily cooling energy use by 9.4 kWh (22%), as compared to 4.4 kWh (11%) for just upgrading the windows. Architectural shading is clearly very important in reducing cooling loads. It reduces the annual cooling requirement by approximately 23%, whether one starts with standard double-pane glazing or with spectrally selective glazing. In both cases, the heating load increases as the solar gain is reduced, but thanks to the combination of the Tucson climate and the wellinsulated tight building shell, this has little impact. Even in the worst case scenario, less than 80 therms per year of space heating is required. In this housing development, site shading plays an important role in reducing morning and evening direct solar gain. The test house is shaded to the east and west by adjacent, two-story houses. This site shading not only reduces the solar gain through the windows, but effectively shades much of the exterior wall area, reducing overall conductive gains as well. Annual Energy Costs The cooling and heating loads are combined into a single value by converting the energy requirements to costs. The study assumed that electricity costs 10.5¢/kWh, and natural gas costs 79¢/therm for the first 20 therms a month and 75¢/therm above that. Figure 5 shows annual cooling and heating costs as a function of glazing type, two types of shading, and the orientation of the front of the house. Using the data from this figure and referencing a base case building with standard windows with no overhangs but with adjacent building shading, Table 2 presents the reduction in cooling and heating costs for a subset of combinations. The existing building has a south orientation, and the combined features lead to a 26% reduction in cooling and heating costs. The total cost of cooling and heating is reduced by more than 10% by adding the presence of the adjacent houses. As expected, the maximum effect from architectural shading occurs if the front of the house faces west, which orients most of the window area to the south. The maximum effect of site shading occurs if the front of the house faces north, which orients most of the window area to the west.With the front facing east, the majority of windows are on the north side, and neither architectural nor site shading has much effect on cooling and heating costs. - FIRST PAGE - PREVIOUS PAGE Enter your comments in the box below: (Please note that all comments are subject to review prior to posting.)

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Take a look at this snapshot from Health Canada's website fact sheet entitled Healthy Lawn Tips. - Although it may look untidy, leave grass clippings on your lawn when you mow it to provide nutrient recycling. - Aerate compacted soil in the fall to help oxygen, water and nutrients reach roots. - Over-seed patchy areas. - In heavy traffic areas, replace grass with mulch or paving stones. - Check your lawn for early signs of pests and other problems such as holes caused by small animals digging for insects. - Set your mower so that your grass is seven to eight cm high to encourage deeper roots and help fend off weeds. - Water infrequently, but when you do, make sure you allow the water to get deep into the soil (about 1.5 centimetres) to promote deep roots. Over-watering starves the soil of oxygen and invites disease. Apply at least 2.5 centimetres of water. Put a container on your lawn to measure how much you've watered. An empty tuna can is about the right height. - Maintain good soil with ample depth and organic matter to prevent problems. - If physical control methods fail and you use a pesticide, be sure the one you pick lists the pest you are trying to control on the label, and follow all the instructions. More information is available online at www.healthcanada.gc.ca/pmra. Fact sheets include Starting a Lawn, Lawn Maintenance, Life of a Lawn and Common Lawn Problems.

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Healthy Eating Plate Harvard’s New Guide to Healthy Eating Start here to learn more about the new Healthy Eating Plate created by nutrition experts at Harvard School of Public Health, in conjunction with Harvard Health Publications. The Healthy Eating Plate can be your blueprint for planning a healthy balanced meal, and it fixes key flaws in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate. How can you follow the Healthy Eating Plate? Here’s a rundown, section by section: - Fill half of your plate with vegetables and fruits. The more color, and the more variety on this part of the plate, the better. Potatoes and French fries don’t count as vegetables on the Healthy Eating Plate, because they are high in fast-digested starch (carbohydrate), which has the same roller-coaster effect on blood sugar and insulin as white bread and sweets. These surges, in the short term, can lead to hunger and overeating, and in the long term, can lead to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems. Read more about vegetables and fruits, or read more about carbohydrates and health. - Save a quarter of your plate for whole grains—not just any grains: Whole grains—whole wheat, brown rice, and foods made with them, such as whole wheat pasta—have a gentler effect on blood sugar and insulin than white bread, white rice, and other so-called “refined grains.” That’s why the Healthy Eating Plate says to choose whole grains—the less processed, the better—and limit refined grains. Read more about whole grains. - Put a healthy source of protein on one quarter of your plate: Chose fish, chicken, beans or nuts, since these contain beneficial nutrients, such as the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in fish, and the fiber in beans. An egg a day is okay for most people, too (people with diabetes should limit their egg intake to three yolks a week, but egg whites are fine). Limit red meat—beef, pork, and lamb—and avoid processed meats—bacon, cold cuts, hot dogs, and the like—since over time, regularly eating even small amounts of these foods raises the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer. Read more about healthy proteins. - Use healthy plant oils. The glass bottle near the Healthy Eating Plate is a reminder to use healthy vegetable oils, like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, and others, in cooking, on salad, and at the table. Limit butter, and avoid unhealthy trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils. Read more about healthy fats. - Drink water, coffee or tea. On the Healthy Eating Plate, complete your meal with a glass of water, or if you like, a cup of tea or coffee (with little or no sugar). (Questions about caffeine and kids? Read more.) Limit milk and dairy products to one to two servings per day, since high intakes are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer. Limit juice to a small glass per day, since it is as high in sugar as a sugary soda. Skip the sugary drinks, since they provide lots of calories and virtually no other nutrients. And over time, routinely drinking sugary drinks can lead to weight gain, increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and possibly increase the risk of heart disease. Read more about healthy drinks, or read more about calcium, milk, and health. - Stay active. The small red figure running across the Healthy Eating Plate’s placemat is a reminder that staying active is half of the secret to weight control. The other half is eating a healthy diet with modest portions that meet your calorie needs. Read 20 tips for staying active. Comparing the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate to the USDA’s MyPlate shows the shortcomings of MyPlate. Read a head-to-head comparison of the Healthy Eating Plate vs. the USDA’s MyPlate. You can use the Healthy Eating Plate side by side with the Healthy Eating Pyramid, a simple and trustworthy guide to healthy eating created by faculty in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. Read an in-depth article about the Healthy Eating Plate and the Healthy Eating Pyramid. Or read answers to common questions about the Healthy Eating Plate. Download the Healthy Eating Plate The Healthy Eating Plate image on this Web site is owned by the Harvard University. It may be downloaded and used without permission for educational and other non-commercial uses with proper attribution, including the following copyright notification and credit line: Copyright © 2011, Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, www.thenutritionsource.org, and Harvard Health Publications, health.harvard.edu. Any other use, including commercial reuse or mounting on other systems, requires permission from the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. To request permission, please contact us using the Healthy Eating Plate reprint request form on this Web site. The aim of the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source is to provide timely information on diet and nutrition for clinicians, allied health professionals, and the public. The contents of this Web site are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this Web site. The information does not mention brand names, nor does it endorse any particular products.

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Salt Reduction Strategies Tasting Success with Cutting Salt Twenty-Five Science Based Strategies & Culinary Insights Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health & The Culinary Institute of America Table of Contents What portion size, produce, fresh foods, and healthy fats have to do with sodium reduction Why a stealth health approach can help everyone cut back on salt Which foods are highest in sodium, and how to make lower sodium choices From the farm to the table, there are many ways to boost flavor that are light on salt Future research can guide the way to compelling reduced sodium flavors Download a PDF of Read more about the creation of The Institute of Medicine’s newly released report, Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States, focuses on big-picture strategies for reining in America’s salt habit. (1) Although the report’s recommendations represent an essential step forward, there are many things that individuals, chefs, and organizations can do right now to reduce sodium. Consumers can use these tips when they cook at home, shop in the supermarket, or choose a meal at their favorite restaurant. Chefs and product developers can tap these ideas in the professional kitchen. Media representatives, healthcare professionals, and food marketers can mine this list for ways to promote positive and delicious nutrition messages about cutting salt. Many of these guidelines offer a “stealth health” approach to sodium reduction—ways that sodium can be reduced with no change or minimal change to consumer food experiences or choices. Others suggest ways to rebalance and re-imagine food choices as well as introduce new foods that can easily translate into satisfying meals. These culinary insights are in addition to valuable food science research already underway on the role of salt in foods and salt substitutes. The good news is that most of these guidelines support broader diet recommendations for good health. No sodium reduction effort will succeed if it undermines the flavor of our foods and the role that food plays in our lives. That’s why we urge a wide-ranging, innovative approach to sodium reduction on the part of all stakeholders, one that puts as much emphasis on culinary insight, taste, and flavor as on the scientific and public health imperatives. 1. Downsize your portions: You’ll scale back the sodium (and the calories). A good rule of thumb is that the more calories a meal has, the more sodium it has. Two out of three Americans need to lose weight. So skip the supersize. Share a dish when dining out. You can cut your salt—and trim your waist. Our bodies need more potassium than sodium. But most Americans’ diets are just the opposite, which can contribute to high blood pressure. Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium, and many fruits and vegetables are good sources of potassium. Filling your plate with them will boost your potassium and shift the sodium-potassium balance in your favor. And chefs and product developers would do well to think about produce first when designing menus. The next time you are tempted to say, “I won’t like lower sodium foods” think of biting into a crunchy apple, juicy orange, or sweet strawberry. Not missing the sodium? 3. Get fresh: Choose unprocessed and minimally processed foods. Processed foods and prepared foods are the greatest sources of sodium in the American diet (75 percent by some estimates). By choosing fresh foods, you can decide how much or how little salt to add. Processed, cured meats typically have much more sodium than fresh meats, and canned vegetables usually have more sodium than fresh vegetables. Going easy on processed foods makes sense for general good health, as processing often leads to a loss of nutrients and other benefits of whole or semi-intact foods. 4. Embrace healthy fats and oils: A savory strategy to lower sodium levels. Unfortunately, the big low-fat and no-fat product push in the 1990’s wasn’t rooted in sound science. Many well-meaning product developers cut both the good and bad fats out of formulations, and in order to maintain consumer acceptance of their products, they were forced to increase levels of sugar and sodium. So breathe easy, and skip most fat-free salad dressings and other similar products, and you’ll be doing your blood pressure a favor. One more good news tip: Fat in the diet doesn’t make you fat! Extensive research now confirms that low-fat diets are no more effective in weight loss than moderate- to high-fat diets. Rather, it’s all about total calories and energy balance. So embrace healthy fat: It might be just the ticket to make produce-centric (and sodium-reduced) cooking more appealing. For recipes that focus on healthy fat, try: 5. Stealth health: The most delicious approach to sodium reduction. For many foods and preparations, the average person can’t detect moderate to substantial differences in sodium levels, including reductions of up to as much as 25 percent. That’s great news. In fact, many food manufacturers and restaurant companies have already made or are in the process of making substantial cuts in sodium—some all at once and some over time—that their customers will not be able to detect. 6. Retrain your taste buds: You can learn to savor foods with less salt. Studies have found that we can shift our sense of taste to enjoy foods with lower levels of sodium. One key to success: Make the changes gradually and consistently over a period of time, rather than trying to cut back by a large amount all at once (unless of course you find that an immediate 25 percent reduction in sodium doesn’t undermine your enjoyment of a particular food). Try this trick: Combine a reduced sodium version of a favorite product (e.g., vegetable soup) with a regular version in proportions that gradually favor the reduced sodium version. As time goes on, you won’t miss the salt. 7. Try a little romance: Sea salt and other secrets of the healthy kitchen. Most sea salt has about the same level of sodium as other salts, but who doesn’t perk up with the mention of sea salt? It sounds like your favorite chef has taken charge of your dinner. You don’t need to spend the money on sea salt, just remember that we eat with our eyes and ears, not just our mouths—and we make decisions about how much we are likely to enjoy a given food long before it gets to our mouths. So instead of calling something “low sodium,” try language like “with a touch of sea salt,” “citrus-infused” or “garlic-scented,” and you’ll likely entice more people to taste and enjoy reduced sodium dishes. Finally, for those who think “low sodium” is the exact opposite of a compelling, positive message, remember that there is a big difference between well-prepared low-sodium foods and badly executed low-sodium foods. Bad cooking is just bad cooking, independent of sodium levels. 8. Target high-volume sodium sources: Prioritize your efforts. Know which ingredients and individual foods are high in sodium, and eat them sparingly. Understand which categories of foods contribute the most sodium to our diets through repeated daily and weekly consumption. Salt is ubiquitous in the American diet, but this top 10 list of food sources of sodium in the U.S. diet is a good place to focus. The list is based on the combination of each item’s sodium content and the frequency of consumption. (2) Choose carefully when buying foods in these categories and/or eat less of these items: - Meat pizza - White bread - Processed cheese - Hot dogs - Spaghetti with sauce - Cooked rice - White rolls - Flour tortillas 9. Scan the label: Look for foods with less than 300 milligrams of sodium per serving. Canned, boxed, frozen, and prepared foods can be high in sodium. Check the label for sodium amounts and choose foods that have less than 300 milligrams per serving. But pay attention to serving sizes, as they are often unrealistically small. A good rule of thumb for label reading is to look for no more than one milligram of sodium per one calorie of food. You may be surprised to find foods that are high in sodium but that don’t list “salt” in the ingredients. That’s because there are other forms of sodium used in food processing, and these all contribute to the total amount of sodium listed in the Nutrition Facts. Examples of these ingredients include monosodium glutamate, sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium alginate. 10. Compare, compare, compare: Sodium levels vary widely for the same or similar grocery items. Compare brands of processed food, including breads, cured meats, cheeses, snack foods, and other foods, choosing those with the lowest levels of sodium that still taste good. You’ll find that there’s a surprising degree of variation from brand to brand, since some food manufacturers have already made great strides toward cutting the sodium levels in their products—and others never added as much sodium in the first place. 11. Watch out for hidden sodium: Looks—and taste—can be deceiving. “Fresh” and “natural” meats and poultry may be injected with salt solutions as part of their processing, and manufacturers are not required to list the sodium content on the label. The best way to find out whether your favorite brand has been treated with a salt solution is to ask the grocer or butcher, or to call the toll-free consumer hotline on the product’s label. Some foods that are high in sodium may not taste especially salty, such as breakfast cereals, bakery muffins, energy drinks, and sports drinks. 12. Scan the menu, speak to your server: Seek low-salt menu options when dining out. At the upper end of the spectrum, some chain restaurant and fast-food meals can top 5,000–6,000 milligrams of sodium per serving. It is common to find sandwiches and fast-food entrées with 2,000–2,500 milligrams of sodium per serving—as much as or more than a day’s recommended sodium intake. With foodservice (or food away from home) now accounting for nearly 50 percent of the consumer food dollar, both foodservice and food manufacturing—together with consumers and home cooks—need to be part of the solution to the sodium reduction challenge. Some tips for consumers: Sodium levels can vary widely from one dish to another and from one restaurant to another. Check restaurant websites for sodium information before you head out, or ask your server to steer you to low-salt choices. Save high-salt choices for very limited special occasions. Increasingly, chain restaurants are responding to calls for sodium reduction, so watch for news about such initiatives by your favorite restaurant group. 13. Farming for flavor: A new health imperative. We should recognize that the national conversation about salt and sodium should not be just about salty taste and sodium reduction, but about flavor in our foods in general. For much of the 20th century, our national food and agricultural focus has been on quantity and value—and quality often as a function of consistency, appearance, safety, convenience, and shelf life. If natural flavor sometimes suffered, there was always fat (often saturated fats and trans fats), sugar, and salt to take up the slack—all high-impact, low-cost flavor enhancers that most people love. But at a time when we have “over-delivered” on the promise of affordable calories, and both salt and sugar (and all refined carbohydrates) are turning out to have serious negative health consequences, we need to refocus our attention on enhancing natural flavors. As a practical matter, this means growing more flavorful tomatoes at the same time we try to reduce the sodium in tomato soup. 14. Know your seasons, and, even better, your local farmer. Shop for raw ingredients with maximum natural flavor, thereby avoiding the need to add as much (if any) sodium. Seek out peak-of-season produce from farmers’ markets and your local supermarket. One of the easiest ways to reduce the need for added salt is through the use of ingredients such as spices, dried and fresh herbs, roots (such as garlic and ginger), citrus, vinegars, and wine. From black pepper, cinnamon and turmeric to fresh basil, chile peppers and lemon juice, these flavor enhancers create excitement on the palate—and can do it with less sodium. 16. Go nuts for healthy fats in the kitchen. As chefs and home cooks know, fat is a great carrier and enhancer of flavor. Using the right healthy fats—from roasted nuts and avocados to olive, canola, soybean, and other oils—can help make up for any flavor loss from using less salt. Some healthy fats contribute their own flavors (think peanut butter and extra virgin olive oil), while other fats help to juice up flavor in pan searing and frying. For creative cooks, roasted nuts ground with spices extend and leverage small amounts of salt, such as in the Middle Eastern spice mixture. Umami (pronounced oo-MAH-me), or savoriness, is the so-called “fifth taste” that in recent years sensory scientists have brought into the mainstream of academic research. Foods that are naturally high in a compound called “L-glutamate” trigger our “umami” taste receptors. Cooked chicken, fish, beef, and soybeans are naturally high in umami, as are mushrooms, tomatoes, seaweed, carrots, and Chinese cabbage. Incorporating these foods into meals can add a delicious depth of flavor without adding salt. Some foods that are high in umami are also high in sodium, including soy sauce, fish sauce, aged cheeses, miso, and anchovy paste. The cook’s best strategy: Use these ingredients in small amounts instead of adding salt, reducing the overall sodium in the dish. Check out these two recipes from the Culinary Institute of America that boost “umami”: Take the time to learn some simple cooking techniques that can make your cooking less reliant on sodium. Searing and sautéing foods in a pan builds flavor (try searing umami-rich mushrooms in a hot pan with oil, and now you have a double flavor-building impact!). Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of many vegetables and the savoriness of fish and chicken. Steaming and microwaving tend to dilute flavors; perk up steamed dishes with a finishing drizzle of flavorful oil and a squeeze of citrus. 19. Wait! Be careful how you spend that sodium budget. Save your “sodium budget” to enhance the flavors of produce, whole grains, nuts and legumes, and other healthy ingredients versus “overspending” it on salty snacks, heavily processed food, high-sodium fast foods, and other foods that we should be consuming in smaller amounts. We all love treats, and most of us have to eat on the run occasionally (that’s why they call it “fast food”). But if we do this too often in a way that “blows” our sodium budget, we come up short without enough tools to enhance the flavors of healthy, everyday cooking. The best intentions to reduce sodium are definitely going to run aground when too many high-sodium ingredients are aggregated in the same dish. Rethink that double bacon cheeseburger or the breakfast special with ham and sausage. Pickles, capers, cured meats, grated aged cheeses, mustard, catsup, soy sauce, hot sauce, smoked fish, and other condiments and specialty foods all bring added satisfaction to the table. There is no need to give up condiments, which in many cases represent culinary traditions that are centuries old. In some cases, reduced sodium versions of these are now available; in other cases, we can just use them more sparingly. 21. Go global: Discover a world of ideas for flavor development. Look to global culinary traditions—from Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin America, Asia and Africa—for healthy ideas to transform fruits, vegetables, and other healthy ingredients into exciting flavors and meals. Because many of these world culinary traditions build up flavor in such novel, complex, and intriguing ways, cooks are under less pressure to use as much sodium. Sometimes these flavors will appear in the U.S. or their native countries in higher sodium versions, but the culinary ideas for lower sodium strategies are still there, embedded in traditional cultural approaches to flavor development that go way beyond fat, salt, and sugar (our all-too-frequent default flavor enhancers in the U.S.). Two international recipe suggestions are: Avoid “double salting” your foods when cooking, and look for ways to pair salted flavors with unsalted or under-salted foods, especially fresh produce. If you are adding a little cheese to your salad, you don’t need much or any salt in your dressing. If you are adding a ham bone to a soup pot, lighten up on the sodium for the rest of the soup. In a sandwich, try adding sliced cucumber instead of pickles. A pot of brown rice or whole grain pasta doesn’t need to be salted if you are serving it with other adequately seasoned items or sauces. And an adequately seasoned crust or condiment may lessen the need for salting the rest of the dish. 23. Rinse, wash, and dilute: You can easily cut some of the excess sodium in processed foods with no loss of flavor. Draining and rinsing canned foods can dramatically cut their sodium levels—in the case of canned beans, cooks can cut 40 percent of the sodium with this trick. When making soup, dilute reduced sodium chicken broth with water or wine instead of using it full strength, and float in some additional vegetables and herbs. 24. Whole grains: Beyond bread and sandwiches. Collectively, because we eat so much of it, bread is one of the largest contributors of sodium to our diets. Even whole grain bread, while a healthier choice than white, can contain considerable sodium. But only part of the sodium in bread is for taste: Much of it is used to help the bread-making process and preserve the final results. You can skip that extra salt when you use these marvelous whole grains by themselves. Try a Mediterranean-inspired whole grain salad with chopped vegetables, nuts, and legumes, perhaps a small amount of cheese, herbs and spices, and healthy oils and vinegar or citrus. You can enjoy many of the same flavors you love in a sandwich, but in a delicious new form that has much less sodium. For breakfast, cook up steel cut oats, farro, or other intact whole grains with a generous amount of fresh or dried fruit, and you can skip the toast (and the extra sodium). 25. Kick the “auto-salt” habit: Taste before you salt. Too many of us have the habit of reaching for the salt shaker as soon as our plates are put in front of us. Try taking the salt shaker off the table and making it available “upon request only.” Always, always taste your food before you salt: Maybe you don’t need the extra sodium. And in the kitchen, add salt late in the cooking process. Foods release their flavors (and salt, in the case of salted ingredients) during the cooking process, and “palate fatigue” on the part of the cook can cause over-salting if this is undertaken too early. Given how vital sodium reduction is, and how embedded sodium is in our food supply, culinary techniques, flavor strategies, manufacturing methods, and marketing assumptions, it is essential that we conduct additional research to shed more light on which sodium reduction strategies are most effective. The challenges here are far more complex than they were for trans fats, which are more easily isolated and replaced in the food supply. In addition to food science and engineering fixes to the high-sodium problem, we need to engage chefs, menu developers, consumer opinion researchers, and a wide range of flavor experts in developing and pursuing key research questions. With the benefit of this research, we will be better positioned to create reduced sodium flavors and food choices that consumers find not just acceptable, but compelling. 1. Institute of Medicine.. April 20, 2010. 2. Grocery Manufacturers Association.. Washington, D.C., 2008. © The President and Fellows of Harvard College and The Culinary Institute of America

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American PoetryIf we define poetry as the heart of man expressed in beautiful language, we shall not say that we have no national poetry. True, America has produced no Shakespeare and no Milton, but we have an inheritance in all English literature; and many poets in America have followed in the footsteps of their literary British forefathers. Puritan life was severe. It was warfare, and manual labor of a most exhausting type, and loneliness, and devotion to a strict sense of duty. It was a life in which pleasure was given the least place and duty the greatest. Our Puritan ancestors thought music and poetry dangerous, if not actually sinful, because they made men think of this world rather than of heaven. When Anne Bradstreet wrote our first known American poems, she was expressing English thought; "The tenth muse" was not animated by the life around her, but was living in a dream of the land she had left behind; her poems are faint echoes of the poetry of England. After time had identified her with life in the new world, she wrote "Contemplations," in which her English nightingales are changed to crickets and her English gilli-flowers to American blackberry vines. The truly representative poetry of colonial times is Michael Wigglesworth's "Day of Doom. This is the real heart of the Puritan, his conscience, in imperfect rhyme. It fulfills the first part of our definition, but shows by its lack of beautiful style that both elements are necessary to produce real poetry. Philip Freneau was the first American who sought to express his life in poetry. The test of beauty of language again excludes from real poetry some of his expressions and leaves us a few beautiful lyrics, such as "The Wild Honeysuckle," in which the poet sings his love of American nature. With them American poetry may be said to begin. The first historical event of national importance was the American Revolution. Amid the bitter years of want, of suffering, and of war; few men tried to write anything beautiful. Life was harsh and stirring and this note was echoed in all the literature. As a result we have narrative and political poetry, such as "The Battle of the Kegs" and "A Fable," dealing almost entirely with events and aiming to arouse military ardor. In "The Ballad of Nathan Hale," the musical expression of bravery, pride, and sympathy raises the poem so far above the rhymes of their period that it will long endure as the most memorable poetic expression of the Revolutionary period. Poetry was still a thing of the moment, an avocation, not dignified by receiving the best of a man. With William Cullen Bryant came a change. He told our nation that in the new world as well as in the old some men should live for the beautiful. Everything in nature spoke to him in terms of human life. Other poets saw the re1ation between their own lives and the life of the flowers and the birds, but Bryant constantly expressed this relationship. The concluding stanza of "To a Waterfowl" is the most perfect example of this characteristic, but it underlies also the whole thought of his youthful poem "Thanatopsis" (A View of Death). If we could all read the lives of our gentians and bobolinks as he did, there would be more true poetry in America. Modern thinkers urge us to step outside of ourselves into the lives of others and by our imagination to share their emotions; this is no new ambition in America; since Bryant in "The Crowded Street" analyzes the life in the faces he sees. Until the early part of the nineteenth century American poetry dealt mainly with the facts of history and the description of nature. A new element of fancy is prominent in Joseph Rodman Drake's "The Culprit Fay." It dances through a long narrative with the delicacy of the fay himself. Edgar Allan Poe brought into our poetry somber sentiment and musical expression. Puritan poetry was somber, but it was almost devoid of sentiment. Poe loved sad beauty and meditated on the sad things in life. Many of his poems lament the loss of some fair one. "To Helen," "Annabel Lee" "Lenore," and "To One In Paradise" have the theme, while in "The Raven" the poet is seeking solace for the loss of Lenore. "Eulalie--A Song" rises, on the other hand to intense happiness. With Poe the sound by which his idea was expressed was as important as the thought itself. He knew how to make the sound suit the thought, as in "The Raven" and "The Bells." One who understands no English can grasp the meaning of the different sections from the mere sound, so clearly distinguishable are the clashing of the brass and the tolling of the iron bells. If we return to our definition of poetry as an expression of the heart of a man, we shall find the explanation of these peculiarities: Poe was a man of moods and possessed the ability to express these moods in appropriate The contrast between the emotion of Poe and the calm spirit of the man who followed him is very great. In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow American poetry reached high-water mark. Lacadio Hearn in his "Interpretations of Literature" says: "Really I believe that it is a very good test of any Englishman's ability to feel poetry, simply to ask him, `Did you like Longfellow when you were a boy?' If he says `No,' then it is no use to talk to him on the subject of poetry at all, however much he might be able to tell you about quantities and metres." No American has in equal degree won the name of "household poet." If this term is correctly understood, it sums up his merits more succinctly than can any other Longfellow dealt largely with men and women and the emotions common to us all. Hiawatha conquering the deer and bison, and hunting in despair for food where only snow and ice abound; Evangeline faithful to her father and her lover, and relieving suffering in the rude hospitals of a new world; John Alden fighting the battle between love and duty; Robert of Sicily learning the lesson of humility; Sir Federigo offering his last possession to the woman he loved; Paul Revere serving his country in time of need; the monk proving that only a sense of duty done can bring happiness: all these and more express the emotions which we know are true in our own lives. In his longer narrative poems he makes the legends of Puritan life real to us; he takes English folk-lore and makes us see Othere talking to Arthur, and the Viking stealing his bride. His short poems are even better known than his longer narratives. In them he expressed his gentle, sincere love of the young, the suffering, and the sorrowful. In the Sonnets he showed; that deep appreciation of European literature which made noteworthy his teaching at Harvard and his He believed that he was assigned a definite task in the world which he described as follows in his last poem: "As comes the smile to the lips, The foam to the surge; So come to the Poet his songs, All hitherward blown From the misty realm, that belongs To the vast unknown. His, and not his, are the lays He sings; and their fame Is his, and not his; and the praise And the pride of a name. For voices pursue him by day And haunt him by night, And he listens and needs must obey, When the Angel says: 'Write!' John Greenleaf Whittier seems to suffer by coming in such close proximity to Longfellow. Genuine he was, but his spirit was less buoyant than Longfellow's and he touches our hearts less. Most of his early poems were devoted to a current political issue. They aimed to win converts to the cause of anti-slavery. Such poems always suffer in time in comparison with the song of a man who sings because "the heart is so full that a drop overfills it." Whittier's later poems belong more to this class and some of them speak to-day to our emotions as well as to our intellects. "The Hero" moves us with a desire to serve mankind, and the stirring tone of "Barbara Frietchie" arouses our patriotism by its picture of the same type of bravery. In similar vein is "Barclay of Ury," which must have touched deeply the heart of the Quaker poet. "The Pipes of Lucknow" is dramatic in its intense grasp of a climactic hour and loses none of its force in the expression. We can actually hear the skirl of the bagpipes. Whittier knew the artists of the world and talked to us about Raphael and Burns with clear-sighted, affectionate interest. His poems show varied characteristics; the love of the sterner aspects of nature, modified by the appreciation of the humble flower; the conscience of the Puritan, tinged with sympathy for the sorrowful; the steadfastness of the Quaker, stirred by the fire of the patriot. The poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson is marked by serious contemplation rather than by warmth of emotional expression. In Longfellow the appeal is constantly to a heart which is not disassociated from a brain; in Emerson the appeal is often to the intellect alone. We recognize the force of the lesson in "The Titmouse," even if it leaves us less devoted citizens than does "The Hero" and less capable women than does "Evangeline." He reaches his highest excellence when he makes us feel as well as understand a lesson, as in "The Concord Hymn" and "Forbearance." If we could all write on the tablets of our hearts that single stanza, forbearance would be a real factor in life. And it is to this poet whom we call unemotional that we owe this inspiring quatrain: "So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When duty whispers low, Thou must, The youth replies, I can!" James Russell Lowell was animated by a well-defined purpose which he described in the following lines: "It may be glorious to write Thoughts that make glad the two or three High souls like those far stars that come in sight Once in a century. But better far it is to speak One simple word which, now and then Shall waken their free nature in the weak And friendless sons of men. To write some earnest verse or line Which, seeking not the praise of art, Shall make a clearer faith and manhood shine In the untutored heart." His very accomplishments made it difficult for him to reach this aim, since his poetry does not move "the untutored heart" so readily as does that of Longfellow or Whittier. It is, on the whole, too deeply burdened with learning and too individual in expression to fulfil his highest desire. Of his early poems the most generally known is probably "The Vision of Sir Launfal," in which a strong moral purpose is combined with lines of beautiful nature description: "And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days. Two works by which he will be permanently remembered show a deeper and more effective Lowell. "The Biglow Papers" are the most successful of all the American poems which attempt to improve conditions by means of humor. Although they refer in the main to the situation at the time of the Mexican War, they deal with such universal political traits that they may be applied to almost any age. They are written in a Yankee dialect which, it is asserted, was never spoken, but which enhances the humor, as in "What Mr. Robinson Thinks." Lowell's tribute to Lincoln occurs in the Ode which he wrote to commemorate the Harvard students who enlisted in the Civil War. After dwelling on the search for truth which should be the aim of every college student, he turns to the delineation of Lincoln's character in a eulogy of great beauty. Clear in analysis, far- sighted in judgment, and loving in sentiment, he expresses that opinion of Lincoln which has become a part of the web of American thought. His is no hurried judgment, but the calm statement of opinion which is to-day accepted by the world: "They all are gone, and, standing like a tower, Our children shall behold his fame, The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man, Sagacious, patient, dreading, praise, not blame, Now birth of our new soil, the first American." With Oliver Wendell Holmes comes the last of this brief American list of honor. No other American has so combined delicacy with the New England humor. We should be poorer by many a smile without "My Aunt" and "The Deacon's Masterpiece." But this is not his entire gift. "The Chambered Nautilus" strikes the chord of noble sentiment sounded in the last stanza of "Thanatopsis" and it will continue to sing in our hearts "As the swift seasons roll." There is in his poems the smile and the sigh of the well- "And if I should live to be The last leaf upon the tree In the Spring. Let them smile; as I do now; As the old forsaken bough Where I cling." And is this all? Around these few names does all the fragrance of American poetry hover? In the hurry, prosperity, and luxury of modern life is the care if the flower of poetry lost? Surely not. The last half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth have brought many beautiful flowers of poetry and hints of more perfect blossoms. Lanier has sung of the life of the south he loved; Whitman and Miller have stirred us with enthusiasm for the progress of the nation; Field and Riley have made us laugh and cry in sympathy; Aldrich, Sill, Van Dyke, Burroughs, and Thoreau have shared with us their hoard of beauty. Among the present generation may there appear many men and women whose devotion to the delicate flower shall be repaid by the gratitude of Contributed by Carhart, Margaret Spraque 22 June 2003

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The Matter at Issue: The Throne of France The Hundred Years War was fought largely over who would be the king of France. The English kings, who had originally been French nobles that invaded and conquered England in 1066, still held lands in France. The English lands in France had long been viewed uncomfortably by the French king. Through the 13th century, strong French kings had reclaimed French lands held by the English kings. By the early 14th century, three events came together. First, the English kings noted that one more push by the French would deive the English completely out of France. Second, the French were entering a period of weak kings. Third, the English throne was now occupied by the young, vigorous, able and (ultimately) long lived Edward III. In any other circumstances it would appear absurd for the English king to come up with the idea of claiming the French throne in order to protect English lands in France. But Edward III was bold and, in one of those uniquely Medieval ironies, he had law and custom on his side. The English claim to the French throne was strong, as were the English armies and Edward IIIs resolve. The resulting war outlived Edward, and his great grandson, Henry V, came within a hair of actually taking the French throne. The items below explain the situation in rather more detail. Historical Kings of France Historical Kings of England The English Position of the Throne of France The French Ultimatum A Summary of Overlapping Claims to Various Thrones

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And as good as today's beginning stages of deflation may feel, especially when filling up at a service station or shopping for a house, economists warn that there is a high price to pay down the road and that current monetary policy is only raising that price. Of course, not all price reductions are created equal. A price drop that stems primarily from an increase in technological efficiency is not deflation; it's progress. Deflation is a fall in prices that stems from a shrinking money supply, just as inflation is a price hike that stems from an increase in the supply of money. Deflation ramps up when people borrow to make a big purchase on the assumption that what they are buying will be worth more later. But if prices fall, the loan will have to be repaid in dollars that are worth more than the dollars they borrowed, making the debt more onerous. As a result, when people expect falling prices, they become less willing to spend, and in particular less willing to borrow. And when that happens, the economy may stay depressed because people expect deflation, and deflation may continue because the economy remains depressed. It's a nasty cycle and it can often be traced back to the central bank's balance sheet expansion. Deflation is the one thing that a leveraged economy can't handle, said Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG Investment Research. The implication on the whole economy is potentially ruinous. The idea that every time the stock markets have some kind of a hiccup and they [the Fed policymakers] need to rush in with some sort of quantitative ease is a dangerous road for them to go on. Deflation is always a risk if you engage in a policy of inflation, said Albert Lu, managing director and chief portfolio manager of WB Advisors. The problem with the addiction to money-printing is that it can't stop without dire -- albeit in the long-term healthy -- short-term economic consequences, he said. To jump-start the economy, the central bank would increase the money supply and bank credit to support certain sectors or projects. That's what the Fed did after the dot-com bubble of 1995-2000 burst. The problem is that once the Fed stops the infusion of additional credit and money, deflation rapidly takes hold. It then takes an ever-increasing amount of new money creation to achieve a temporary suppression of deflation's symptoms. Inflation-sustained projects are unsustainable because the expansion rests on government fiat, not economic fundamentals like supply and demand. Take the government's determination to promote home ownership. That public policy was advanced with easy money, especially during Alan Greenspan's leadership of the Fed, compulsory lending to unqualified borrowers and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buying tranches of subprime mortgages. Home ownership boomed. And then it collapsed. Home prices still haven't recovered: U.S. home prices fell in March (the latest data available), ending the first quarter at the lowest levels since the housing crisis began in mid-2006, according to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home-price indexes. Prices are down roughly 35 percent from their peak in the second quarter of 2006. Essentially, as soon as the government stops the expansion, you are going to hit one of these deflationary corrections with all of the nasty business cycles that accompany it, Lu said. And often how the government reacts to that is with additional stimulus. For a third year in a row, the U.S. is seeing an economic slowdown and in response, policymakers could be unveiling policy sequels such as: Fiscal Stimulus 4, Operation Twist 2 or Quantitative Easing 3. They are basically keeping the thing going by continuously adding money and credit, Lu said. This is just delaying the correction we need. We've been prolonging the agony, and the final correction will be much worse than it had to be, Lu said. Let Them Fail The depression of 1920-21 shows why the Fed should sit on its collective hands at their June Federal Open Market Committee meeting. From the spring of 1920 to the summer of 1921, nominal gross domestic product fell by 23.9 percent, wholesale prices by 40.8 percent and the consumer price index dropped by 8.3 percent. Meanwhile, unemployment topped out at about 14 percent from a pre-bust level of as low as 2 percent. In response, the administration of Warren G. Harding balanced the budget and the Fed tightened money supply, pushing up short-term rates in mid-depression to as high as 8.13 percent. Harding also decided to let the ailing businesses fail. Then something wonderful happened: The economy purged itself and by 1923, the nation's unemployment rate fell back to 3.2 percent. There was no government bailout, no rock-bottom interest rates, no QE, no stimulus of any kind. Yet the depression ended. We actually need a deflation. Believe it or not, it's actually healthy, Lu said. However painful it is, deflation is the natural consequence of prior inflation and is a necessary step in the economic recovery. Trying to avoid it through additional Fed action will prolong the depression, Lu said.

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In fact, the United States apparently just emerged from the hottest spring on record. The period between June 2011 and May of this year was the warmest on record since NOAA record keeping began in 1985. Aside from Washington, every state experienced higher-than-average temperatures during that period, which also featured the second-warmest summer and fourth-warmest winter in almost 28 years. The nation's average temperature during those 12 months hovered at 56 degrees Fahrenheit, reportedly 3.2 degrees above the long-term average, surpassing the previous record, which was just set in April, in an analysis of temperatures between May 2011 and April 2012. The warmer-than-average conditions persisted through the winter and spring, resulting in a limited snowfall that the Rutgers Global Snow Lab reports was the third-smallest on record for the contiguous U.S. The rising temperatures may have altered precipitation patterns as well, according to NOAA. While the country as a whole actually experienced a drier spring than usual, the West Coast, Northern Plains and Upper Midwest regions were simultaneously wetter than average. On a more concerning note, the prevalence of natural disasters, such as the disastrous tornado in Joplin, Mo., and the massive, hurricane-caused flooding in Vermont, that plagued the country over the past year were also far form usual. The U.S. Climate Extreme Index, which tracks extremes in temperatures, precipitation, drought and tropical cyclones, reached 44 percent this past spring. That's twice the average value. The NOAA report is not the only recent analysis to note the prevalence, and consequences, of rising temperatures. On Thursday, NASA reported that scientists have discovered unprecedented blooms of plant life beneath the waters of the Arctic Ocean. While that certainly does not seem like cause for concern, NASA noted it was likely caused by a thinning of the Arctic Ocean's three-foot thick layer of ice, allowing the sun to penetrate that ice to foster plant life under the sea. A continuous rise in summer temperatures is expected to triple the number of heat-related deaths in the U.S. by the end of the century, the Natural Resources Defense Council reported last month. In an analysis of peer-reviewed data, the organization said summer temperatures could rise by 4 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit by that time due to human-induced climate change, which could increase the number of summer heat-related deaths from 1,300 to 4,600 a year.

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Education:Gala Celebrations 4 Telecommunications Grade 9 / World History / Technology Time Required for Completed Lesson 30 minutes for introduction and 40 minutes for presentations, time will vary based on size of class; work can be completed in class or out of class 6.2.12.C.1.e, 6.2.12.D.2.e, 6.2.12.C.3.d, 6.2.12.C.4.d, 6.2.12.D.5.c, 6.2.12.D.6.a Common Core State Standards SL.9-10.4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. SL.9-10.5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. SL.9-10.6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. Computer lab or laptop cart if working on assignment in class; lap top with projector required for presentations Open class with a discussion about telecommunications and celebrations. How do people communication? How has communication changed? How do we celebrate milestones in our lives – births, marriages, birthdays? Share with students article - Happy Anniversary: First email Sent with an Attachment Turns 20! (See resources below for link) Brainstorm with class a celebration honoring this telecommunications milestone. Divide classes into small groups – 2 or 3 students in each group. Groups can be assigned telecommunications milestones or pick their own milestone. Each group should have a different milestone. Milestones can included Gutenberg’s improved Printing Press, the Optical Telegraph, the American Postal Service, the Pony Express, the Stagecoach, the Telegraph, Morse Code, the Telephone, the Radio, the Electronic Television, the Internet, Pagers, Cellular Devices, Social Media Websites, and E-mail. The student groups will work as party planners. Their task is to plan and present a Gala Celebration honoring their telecommunications milestone. The plan can be presented in a PowerPoint or Prezi format. The plan must include the following: a meaningful date and location for the celebration, an invitation, decorations, guest list (of living and deceased dignitaries), basic menu, entertainment and party favors. Student groups are given two weeks to complete their presentations. (See resources section below for links) Be sure to pair students with a higher level learner to help her/him with activity. Be prepared to share additional notes with students and if necessary extend due dates. Group Project and Presentation Rubrics Language Arts (presentation skills, research skills) Review and return rubrics to students. Decorate the classroom or bulletin boards with printed invitations for the Gala Celebrations.

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Written into History Pulitzer Prize Reporting of the Twentieth Century from The New York Times By Anthony Lewis (Editor) (Times Books, Hardcover, 9780805068498, 352pp.) Publication Date: October 2001 Other Editions of This Title: Hardcover With each news day, history unfolds as steadfast journalists uncover facts and public opinion. Drawn from the New York Times's archive of an unparalleled seventy-nine Pulitzer Prizes, Written Into History offers a fascinating record of the twentieth century. The Times's award-winning reports range from Antarctic dispatches on the Byrd expedition to the eyewitness account of the atomic bomb, from the First Amendment battle to publish the Pentagon Papers to the personal narrative of an interracial friendship. Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis culled through the newspaper's most acclaimed writing to chronicle life and history as it was happening, with such highlights as Otto Tolischus on Hitler, David Halberstam on Vietnam, J. Anthony Lukas on hippies, and Anna Quindlen on AIDS. Lewis tells the stories behind the stories, describing journalism's changing role in the world. For armchair historians and aspiring reporters, this is a rich and memorable portrait of a century by the men and women who most artfully observed it. Two-time Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Anthony Lewis is the author of Make No Law and the bestseller Gideon's Trumpet. Among the highlights of his nearly five decades of writing and reporting for the New York Times, he served as the Times's London bureau chief for eight years and contributes the twice-weekly "Abroad at Home" column to the paper's op-ed page. "The kind of even-shaping journalism pioneered by Pulitzer is on display in Written into History, a collection of Pulitzer Prize reporting from the New York Times. Editor Anthony Lewis chronicles changes in the attitude of the press toward the presidency and government, as reflected in the kind of reporting that won the prize over the years and the trend toward recognizing more analytical writing. He also provides background on the history of the Pulitzer Prize and the arduous decision-making process. The selected award-winning articles (the Times has won more Pulitzers than any other American newspaper) are sorted into the following categories: investigative reporting; dangerous stories that put reporters at risk; international news; public advocacy; criticism of the arts; science reporting; and biographical and human-interest stories. Among the topics are Russian slave-labor camps during the 1950s, the Pentagon Papers, the Vietnam War, and exploitation of illegal aliens in the U.S."—Vanessa Bush, Booklist "Lewis (Gideon's Trumpet) a writer with the New York Times for nearly five decades and himself a two-time Pulitzer winner succeeds in presenting some of the world's best recent journalism . . . There are plenty of both prominent and almost-forgotten stories: 'Red' Smith on the near-bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970s, Max Frankel on Nixon's 1972 visit to China, Linda Greenhouse on failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. Lewis's fine introductory essay describes the post-Vietnam transformation of American journalism. The war and Watergate, he contends, made the press more skeptical of those in power and more confrontational in tone. Pulitzer Prizes increasingly went to fearless reporters like David Halberstam, whose tragically prescient analysis, in 1963, of the worsening situation in Vietnam constitutes one of the highlights of this book . . . Another highlight is Lewis's own analysis of the Warren court, which moved aggressively to 'federalize' legal protections in the areas of civil rights and criminal due process. It's a paragon of accessible legal writing. Perhaps the best, and certainly the most important, piece in the collection is Mirta Ojito's unforgettable recent story of two Cuban immigrants, one black and one white and how race comes to define and divide the two friends once they move to Miami. The piece is everything great journalism should be: empathetic, unmistakably relevant and a challenge to our basic ideals. For anyone interested in recent history or journalism at its best, this book will prove worthwhile."—Publishers Weekly

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What Is It? Varicose veins occur when veins just below the skin's surface are damaged, become swollen and fill with too much blood. Veins are the blood vessels that return blood to the heart. Arteries carry blood away from the heart to the rest of the body. Varicose veins most commonly occur in the legs. In about 50% of cases, the condition runs in families, and probably is related to an inherited weakness in the veins' walls or the valves inside veins that keep blood from backing up. Pregnancy is another common cause of varicose veins. During pregnancy, the volume of blood increases causing veins to expand. Also, occupations that require uninterrupted standing (waitresses and waiters, nurses, mothers with young children) may force leg veins and valves to work against gravity for hours, increasing the risk of pressure-related vein and valve damage. Garters also can increase the risk of varicose veins if their tight elastics slow blood flow in the legs. Varicose veins are 2 to 3 times more common in women than men. Obese people are more likely to develop varicose veins. Varicose veins can be associated with prior blood clots and damage to the deeper veins in one or both legs, a situation that sometimes can lead to chronic venous insufficiency. When this happens, the veins lose their ability to effectively move blood back to the heart. This can cause significant leg swelling and skin sores or ulcers. In the legs, varicose veins commonly are found along the inside of the leg, at the ankles and at the back of the calf. The affected veins look blue, swollen or stretched out, kinked or twisted. In some people, varicose veins do not cause any symptoms. However, other people may experience one or more of the following: - A dull ache in the legs - A feeling of pressure or heaviness in the legs - Swollen feet and ankles - Itching skin near the damaged veins In more severe cases of chronic venous insufficiency, a slowing of blood flow through the vein can lead to localized skin changes, including dryness, a rash or brownish discoloration and open sores (ulcers). Slow blood flow also can cause a clot to form inside the affected vein. This condition is called thrombosis. In general, symptoms of varicose veins are worse at the end of the day, especially after periods of prolonged standing. Some women also find that their symptoms are more intense during the days before their menstrual periods, and during pregnancy. Your doctor will ask you about your symptoms and about your family history of varicose veins. He or she also will ask about your lifestyle, especially the number of hours that you spend on your feet. In women, your doctor will ask about your pregnancy history and about the tightness of elastics on the socks or stockings you wear. Your doctor can diagnose varicose veins with a simple physical examination. In most cases, no special tests are necessary. Varicose veins are a long-term problem, but symptoms can come and go. If you are pregnant and experiencing severe problems with varicose veins, your symptoms will improve after delivery. However, your varicose veins probably will not disappear totally, and you can expect symptoms to return during future pregnancies. You can help to prevent varicose veins by maintaining a normal weight and by avoiding situations where you must stand for prolonged periods. Even with these preventive measures, however, you still may develop varicose veins if this condition tends to run in your family. If you already have varicose veins, you can prevent symptom flare-ups by periodically lying down or sitting down with your legs elevated above the level of your chest. Some physicians also recommend that you wear support stockings or more specialized compression stockings when you walk or stand for long periods of time. The stockings prevent blood from pooling in the veins, and prevent strain on the valves and leg swelling. Treatment for most people with mild symptoms of varicose veins includes: - Elevating and supporting the legs periodically throughout the day - Wearing compression stockings For varicose veins that are close to the skin, dermatologists or vascular surgeons may offer sclerotherapy or laser therapy. Sclerotherapy involves injection of an irritating into the affected vein, causing the vein to scar and shut down. Laser therapy can be effective for the smallest varicose veins. People with severe venous insufficiency can develop recurrent blood clots and skin ulcers. The traditional surgery is called vein stripping and ligation. In this surgical procedure, the abnormal veins are tied off and pulled out of the body through series of small cuts in the skin. Another surgical procedure, called ambulatory phlebectomy, also removes veins through small skin incisions, but it is less invasive than classic stripping and ligation. Newer therapies include endovenous thermal ablation and transilluminated power phlebotomy (a modified form of ambulatory phlebotomy). Endovenous thermal ablation uses laser or high-frequency radio waves to heat the abnormal veins. These newer procedures appear to cause less scarring, with less "down time." External laser therapy is reserved primarily for cosmetic removal of small, superficial, spider-like veins. When to Call a Professional Call your doctor whenever you have pain, swelling, skin ulcers or an unexplained area of bruising on your legs. New leg swelling, especially in just one leg, can be caused by a blood clot, which requires immediate treatment. If you have varicose veins, call your doctor immediately if you develop an ulcer or a painful, black and blue area near a varicose vein or if you cut the skin over a varicose vein and you have trouble controlling the bleeding. Varicose veins are a long-term problem, but their symptoms often can be controlled with leg elevation and therapeutic stockings. Surgical procedures remove varicose veins permanently, but they leave scars, and they cannot prevent new varicose veins from forming. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) P.O. Box 30105 Bethesda, MD 20824-0105 American College of Surgeons (ACS) 633 North Saint Clair St. Chicago, IL 60611-3211

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Only 1% of all cancer cases in the U.S. are cancers of the testicle. But it is the most common form of cancer in young men. In 2012, it is estimated that there will be 8,600 new cases of testicular cancer, and that 360 men will die from this disease. There are several risk factors for testicular cancer: - Most cases happen in young men, typically 15-40 years of age. But older men may also develop the disease. - Failure of one or both testicles to descend from within the body before birth (known as cryptorchidism). This raises the risk of cancer approximately ten-fold. - If there is cancer in one testicle, the risk for cancer in the other testicle goes up. - When a first-degree family member (father, brother or son) has been affected. - Having Klinefelters syndrome (a congenital abnormality of chromosomes). But in the majority of cases, there arent any risk factors present. And there is no evidence that injuring the testicle or getting a sexually transmitted disease (other than HIV) increases the risk of cancer. If its detected early, testicular cancer responds exceptionally well to treatment. The survival rate for early-stage tumors is over 95%. Treatment is less effective if the diagnosis is delayed. You should see your doctor right away if: - You have pain in your testicle - You notice new lumps - Any of your testicles gets bigger Some doctors recommend that young men do regular testicle self-exams. But there is no proof that self-exam leads to earlier diagnosis and better outcomes.

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Gay and Lesbian Issues The adolescent years are full of challenges, many related to sex and sexual identity. These issues can be especially difficult for teens who are (or think they may be) homosexual. Homosexual teens deserve the same understanding and respect as heterosexual teens, and it is important for everyone to know the facts about homosexuality. Here are the basics. Each of us has a biological sex (we have a male or female body), a gender identity (we feel like a male or female), and a sexual orientation (we are attracted to males or females). Homosexuality refers to a person's sexual orientation; homosexual teen-agers have strong romantic or sexual feelings for a person of the same sex. Heterosexual teen-agers are attracted to people of the opposite sex, and bisexual teens are attracted to people of both sexes. The word "gay" is used to describe both men and women who are homosexual, with the word "lesbian" specifically referring to a homosexual woman. It is estimated that 10 percent of the population in the United States and throughout the world is lesbian or gay. Although scientists don't know why some people are homosexual and others are not, most believe that homosexuality is a normal variation of sexual orientation. It may be genetic, result from natural substances (hormones) in the body, be influenced by the environment before or after birth, or, most likely, several of these things working in combination. Homosexual teens are found in all types of families. Homosexuality is not caused by "bad parenting." If your teen is gay, it is not because of anything you or anyone else did. Homosexuality also is not something a person chooses, nor is it an illness that can be cured. According to the American Psychiatric Association, so-called therapies such as "reparative therapy" and "transformational ministry" don't work and actually can be harmful, causing guilt and anxiety in homosexual teens. Not all teen-agers who are attracted to members of the same sex are homosexual. Many teens experiment with their sexuality during adolescence, in much the same way that they experiment with clothing, body art or music. This brief sexual experimentation is thought to be a normal part of sexual development. For homosexual teens, the attraction to people of the same sex is stronger and longer lasting. Back to top Every family is different. While one parent may find out by chance that a teen is homosexual, others may hear directly from their teen in person, in a letter or by a phone call. When a teen tells other people that he is homosexual, it's called "coming out." Although this process sometimes can be difficult or painful for families, it also can be a time of tremendous growth. It is important to remember that all teens need their family's support and acceptance, especially when they are dealing with sensitive issues. Back to top "Coming out" can be scary and painful, and parents need to reassure their children that they will not be loved any less for sharing the truth about themselves. If your teen tells you he is gay, let him know that you love him unconditionally, and accept him no matter what. Show your teen that you care by learning more about homosexuality. Read books on the subject or check out reputable Web sites (such as www.pflag.org). Talk to some adults you know who are gay. Look for organizations or support groups in your community that can give you information on homosexuality. It will be easier for you to support your teen when you know more and are comfortable with the subject. Parents may worry about how friends, neighbors and family will react to their teen's homosexuality. It is usually best not to share any information without your teen-ager's permission. Unfortunately, prejudice against homosexuals is widespread, mostly due to ignorance and fear. When your teen is ready for you to let others know, you should talk with them about your teen's sexual orientation and help them to understand, by using what you have learned. Back to top Growing up as a homosexual in a mostly heterosexual society often is not easy. Gay and lesbian adolescents sometimes must cope with unfair, prejudiced, and even violent behavior at school, at home and in the community. They may feel fear or be alone and unsupported. This can push some teens to use drugs and alcohol, engage in risky sexual behavior, or even attempt suicide. It is important that homosexual teens feel supported by their parents and always able to talk openly with them about these issues. Overall, most gay and lesbian youth grow up to be well-adjusted and happy adults, with successful careers and family lives. Books for parents of the newly out: "Is it A Choice? Answers to 300 Most Asked Questions About Gay and Lesbian People" by Eric Marcus "Loving Someone Gay" by Don Clark, Ph.D. "My Child is Gay" by Bryce McDougall, editor Last updated May 29, 2011

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| ||What Your Doctor Is Saying || | What Are the Odds? Understanding Risk Last reviewed on September 12, 2012 By Robert H. Shmerling, M.D. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center "If you take this medication, you will reduce your risk of disease by 20%, and 98% of people taking it have no serious side effects." Sounds good, right? Perhaps not. What if your chance of getting the disease is only one in 1,000 but two people out of every 100 experience a deadly side effect? Talk About Risk Doctors, nurses, reporters and drug advertisers often talk about risk, though they may not call it that. In fact, they often use other terms that sound logical and understandable such as "chance" or "likelihood" (as in "if you smoke, you will increase your chances of having lung disease"). Alternatively, they may couch the terms in personal experience (as in "I think this medicine will help you; it works for most of my patients"). Or, the message may be even more vague: When a doctor says "I think this therapy will help and I doubt it will cause you any problems," the doctor is really saying he or she hopes it helps because it usually does, but that there is a risk that the medication will cause side effects and/or that it will not work. Whether or not the word is used, these are all examples of risk, the notion that something might or might not happen and that the likelihood is not zero or 100%. I was taught in medical school to "never say never and never say always," because absolute certainty is so rare. Back to top Risk Is Not Simple Risk is a trickier concept than many people think. It may seem like something to avoid at all costs, but the fact is that while you may be able to choose one risk over another, you cannot always avoid risk altogether. Avoiding one risk may pose other risks. For example, if you have high blood pressure and a doctor prescribes a medication to lower it, there is a risk of side effects from the medication; but by avoiding the risk of having a side effect, you increase the risk that you will have a stroke due to untreated high blood pressure. Many people view any risk at all as a terrible thing, but it is important to realize that it represents a chance that something will happen, not a certainty. Even when talking about bad outcomes (such as the risk of surgery or the risk of medication side effects), there is often an excellent chance that nothing bad will happen. Consider this example. For a person suffering chronic arthritis and terrible joint pain for the last two years, symptoms probably will continue unless something changes (such as starting an effective treatment). The risk of side effects from any medication is clearly important, but it must be weighed against the high risk that joint pain will continue. If three out of 100 people taking a high-dose anti-inflammatory medication (such as ibuprofen) develop a stomach ulcer each year (that is, if the yearly risk is 3%), it is important to weigh that against the risk of ongoing pain (which is much higher). And it also means that 97 out of 100 people will not suffer an ulcer as they enjoy the benefits of the medication. Back to top The Confusing Ways To Describe Risk The other reason risk is confusing is that there are many ways it can be described. People may choose one way to describe risk to emphasize how high it is, while others use another way to express the same risk to downplay it. Remarkably, the same risk can seem quite different depending on how it is expressed. One of the most common areas of confusion comes with the difference between absolute risk and relative risk. Imagine that you are offered a choice of two medications to reduce your risk of a heart attack: - Medication A will decrease your risk of heart attack by 20%. - Medication B reduces your risk from 5% to 4%. If you think that Medication A sounds better, you are not alone. Relative risk is described, by comparing the new risk with the risk before treatment. Although vitally important, the actual risk with and without the medicine is not mentioned for Medication A. If you thought Medication B sounds less impressive, perhaps it's because knowing that the starting and ending risks are similar that is, knowing the actual, or absolute, risks makes the change seem less dramatic. This is particularly true when overall risk is very low or very high in the first place. Although they provide a more accurate assessment of risk, expressions of absolute risk are often missing from news or ads. Most of us would think that Medication A is better. But as described, Medication A and B could be the same drug. Reducing a risk of 5 in 100 to 4 in 100 is identical to a 20% relative risk reduction. So it is not surprising that what you usually read in news reports and see in advertisements are changes in relative risk rather than the more critical number, the absolute risk. The relative risk tends to be the larger and more persuasive number. For the person or advertiser trying to make a dramatic point, most people find it easier to relate to one number (20% risk reduction for medication A) rather than keeping track of the initial risk and how it changes with treatment (5% to 4% for medication B). However, the simplicity of relative risk comes at the cost of incomplete and potentially misleading information. Without knowing where you started, a relative risk reduction of 20% can be nearly meaningless. Consider one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the world: the birth control pill. For nonsmoking women aged 25 to 29, the risk of death attributed to side effects of the pill is estimated at about 1 in 100,000 and doubles for women who are 30 to 34. If a 33-year-old woman were told she has twice the risk of dying from a birth control pill than a woman under 30, she might incorrectly interpret this as high risk. In fact, even though her risk is slightly higher than for younger women (by 0.001%), she is actually at a very low risk of dying, even lower than the estimated risk of death related to childbirth (10 to 25 per 100,000, also rising with age). There are, of course, other ways to express risk that shape how it is perceived. Reports of new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed "every three minutes" or the lifetime risk of breast cancer being one in nine, are not very helpful in understanding your own particular risk. Estimating your individual risk by considering factors known to affect it (for example, smoking, which dramatically increases the risk of lung cancer) is a better way to express risk. The generally quoted figure for the risk of getting struck by lightning is 1 in 600,000, but it's much greater if you are holding a metal rod (for instance, a golf club) on a hill during a thunderstorm. Risk tends to be better understood when broken down by a finite length of time, such as five or 10 years, rather than over one's entire life. Reports of lifetime risk may also include disease that has no bearing on one's overall health, such as a slow-growing prostate tumor that never affects health or longevity (a common scenario among elderly men). Back to top The Bottom Line It is important to acknowledge that risk is easy to misunderstand even with accurate and unbiased information. Cynics say statistics can be used to argue any position, and there is some truth to that. But there are some simple measures you can take to get a better handle on risk: - Acknowledge that risk is a fact of life and often cannot be avoided entirely. In fact, most decisions one makes about how to prevent or treat disease depend on balancing the risks and benefits of the treatment options. - Look for reports that put the risk in context. One way is to compare one risk to another, more familiar risk. For example, the risk of contracting a rare disease could be compared with being struck by lightning, while a more common condition could be compared with the risk of injury or death in a car accident. - Ask yourself if the source is objective and seeks only to inform you, or whether there is another goal in mind. Sometimes it's easy: If the source is an advertiser trying to sell you something, the information is more likely to be biased. - Beware of reports that use lifetime risk or ones that convert the number of cases per year to cases per day or hour. Even if they are technically accurate, they are probably overemphasizing the point. What matters most is the absolute rather than the relative risk. In my initial example of the drug with a 20% relative risk reduction with no serious side effects in 98% of users, two fewer people out of every 10,000 would get the disease, but 200 would experience a deadly side effect clearly an example of a treatment that is worse than the disease. But it's also an example of how misleading descriptions of risk can be. Back to top Robert H. Shmerling, M.D. is associate physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. He has been a practicing rheumatologist for over 20 years at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is an active teacher in the Internal Medicine Residency Program, serving as the Robinson Firm Chief. He is also a teacher in the Rheumatology Fellowship Program.

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The satellite images displayed are infrared (IR) images. Warmest (lowest) clouds are shown in white; coldest (highest) clouds are displayed in shades of yellow, red, and purple. Imagery is obtained from the GOES and METEOSAT geostationary satellites, and the two US Polar Orbiter (POES) satellites. POES satellites orbit the earth 14 times each day at an altitude of approximately 520 miles (870 km). As each orbit is made the satellite can view a 1,600 mile (2,700 km) wide area of the earth. Due to the rotation of the earth the satellite is able to view every spot on earth twice each day. Data from multiple orbits are mosaicked together to provide wide scale global and full earth views in a single image. Occasional dark triangular areas that occur on POES images are a result of gaps in data transmitted from the orbiters. A weather satellite is a type of satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather of the Earth. These meteorological satellites, however, see more than clouds and cloud systems . City lights, fires, effects of pollution, auroras, sand and dust storms, snow cover , ice mapping, boundaries of ocean currents, energy flows, etc., are other types of environmental information collected using weather satellites. Weather satellite images helped in monitoring the volcanic ash cloud from Mount St. Helens and activity from other volcanoes such as Mount Etna. Smoke from fires in the western United States such as Colorado and Utah have also been monitored. Other environmental satellites can detect changes in the Earth's vegetation, sea color, and ice fields. For example, the 2002 oil spill off the northwest coast of Spain was watched carefully by the European ENVISAT, which, though not a weather satellite, flies an instrument (ASAR) which can see changes in the sea surface El Niño and its effects on weather are monitored daily from satellite images. The Antarctic ozone hole is mapped from weather satellite data. Collectively, weather satellites flown by the U.S., Europe, India, China, Russia, and Japan provide nearly continuous observations for a global weather

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... 1542, Catherine Howard was beheaded for adultery at the Tower of London. Of this queen (below right), the 5th of 6 wives of the English King Henry VIII, this website writes: Catherine Howard did not have an impact upon English history. She is perhaps the most inconsequential of Henry VIII's six wives, her reign as queen a very brief eighteen months. She bore no children and made no lasting impression upon those who knew her. But it should be remembered that she was thirty years younger than her husband, a silly young girl who never understood the dangers of royal regard. Her life was over before it had truly begun; we can only wonder how it might have ended differently.Not a word of fault found with the fatally fickle king. ... 1961, officials in the province of Katanga announced that the man who'd served from June to September 1960 as Congo's 1st Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, was dead. It was claimed that Lumumba (below left) had been "killed by villagers trying to take him into custody"; however, years later that was deemed not to be the whole truth. According to the BBC: A Belgian Government inquiry into the murders reported in November 2001 that they would not have taken place without the complicity of Belgian and American intelligence services. In February 2002 the Belgian Government made its first official apology for its part in the assassinations and has set up a $3m fund to encourage democracy and development in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Kate Wiley (202) 633-3129 Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center Spotlights Hollywood’s History of Innovation “Places of Invention” Exhibition to Feature Development of Technicolor The Academy Awards would be much less colorful without the innovations in 1930s and ’40s Hollywood filmmaking that the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation will showcase in its upcoming “Places of Invention” exhibition, set to open in 2015. Initiative and creativity drove Hollywood’s “Golden Age”—a time of great technological change in the motion picture industry, moving from silent and black-and-white to sound and color. “Places of Invention” will highlight the invention and adoption of Technicolor, detailing the three-strip process used in The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind and reveal the people behind its success, inventors Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Comstock and W. Burton Westcott, who set up shop in Hollywood in 1923. Also integral to its success was Natalie Kalmus, a consultant for Technicolor on many classic films who, in making decisions about makeup, costumes and lighting, controlled the aura of Technicolor. “Our take on the Hollywood story goes behind the camera to examine the inventions that significantly changed both the way movies were made and the complexity and popularity of movies themselves,” said Art Molella, director of the center. “The Hollywood and Technicolor stories exemplify the outcomes possible when creativity and collaboration are allowed to thrive.” The invention and evolution of Technicolor made possible such awards as Best Visual Effects while transforming Hollywood into a hot spot of innovation—a place where a critical mass of inventive people, networks, institutions and funding come together and creativity flourishes. This year alone, six of the nine nominees for Best Picture implemented various Technicolor technologies in their films. Overall, 19 films nominated for Oscars employed Technicolor’s various offerings in their respective films. “Places of Invention”—made possible by a $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation—will feature a selection of hot spots of invention and innovation. The planned 3,500-square-foot exhibition will focus on the mid-19th century to the present and will feature hands-on experiences based on inventive skill-building and illustrating the ways that places and social collaboration shape the inventive process. For more on the exhibition, visit http://invention.smithsonian.org/places. The Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center’s activities advance scholarship on the history of invention, share stories about inventors and their work and nurture creativity in young people. The center embodies a philosophy akin to that of the inventors we study, of valuing creativity and embracing the potential rewards of intellectual risk-taking. The center is supported by The Lemelson Foundation, a private philanthropy established by one of the country’s most prolific inventors, Jerome Lemelson, and his family. The Lemelson Center is located in the National Museum of American History. For more information, visit http://invention.smithsonian.org. # # #

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For the first time since 1415, we are going to have a conclave or papal election with no Pope to bury beforehand. But the procedures for the election are not affected by this ‘novelty.’ Dan Brown might seem an unlikely source for information on a Papal election but the detailed description in Angels and Demons was apparently taken from a book by a Jesuit scholar and is quite accurate. When the See of Rome is declared vacant – normally when a Pope dies – most of the senior prelates who were the Pope’s ‘ministers’ resign. Power is entrusted to a cardinal called the Camerlengo, in this case Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who under normal circumstances would bury the Pope. The last papal election took 48 hours, but such speed wasn’t always the case. In the 13th century the papacy was vacant for a year-and-a-half and an election was forced by the people of Rome who locked up the cardinals until a pope was elected. In another case, the people not only locked up the cardinals, they tore off the roof of the building and put the cardinals on a diet of bread and water. Now, with Benedict’s resignation the cardinals are essentially being given a ‘month’s notice’ and can plan their trip to Rome and think about what they want in the new pope. In a sense, because of the pre-planning that can be brought to bear on this election, there is potentially a lot of time to consider who should be the next leader of the world’s 1 billion catholics. The cardinals will stay in a specially constructed 5 storey residence inside the Vatican walls, Santa Marta. and will be conveyed by coach to the Sistine Chapel for morning and afternoon sessions there. The process of election must begin no more than 20 days after the see is vacant. Only cardinals under the age of 80 can enter the conclave – the word means ‘with a key’ in Latin, referring to the fact that the Cardinals are locked into the election hall. There are 119 eligible to vote, 67 of whom were appointed by Benedict and the rest by JPII. Cardinals who are excommunicated can actually attend but not those who have resigned. A cardinal who resigned and joined Napolean Bonaparte attempted to enter the conclave in 1800 but was refused. On the morning of the conclave the cardinals con-celebrate Mass in St Peter’s Basilica. In the afternoon they gather in the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace and solemnly process in full red and white regalia with red hats and enter the Sistine chapel, with the doors locked behind them. All telephones, cell phones, radios, televisions and internet connections are removed from use whether in the chapel or in the residence. They cannot leave except in the case of grave illness. Also permitted in the conclave are two medical doctors, a nurse for very ill cardinals, and religious priests who can hear confessions in various languages. These have to swear absolute and perpetual secrecy. The cardinals swear an oath of secrecy not to discuss the elections outside the Chapel and everyone else is ordered out in the Latin words “Extra omnes,” “Everybody out.” The doors of the Sistine Chapel and the Residence of the Cardinals are closed. Inside, a meditation is given concerning the grave duty of the cardinals and they are exhorted to “only have God before your eyes.” The rest of the time is spent for prayer and voting in silence, there are no campaign speeches. Negotiations and arguments have to take place outside. In the Chapel, which dates from the 15th Century, and under the ceiling adorned with Michelangelo's Last Judgement, the cardinals can cast their vote. There will be four ballots daily until a clear majority is found for one candidate. It is severely frowned upon to seek the office of Pope and canvassing for it is severely prohibited, especially prior to a Pope dying. It is an office bestowed upon a person rather than their contesting for it. However an outsider could be elected pope and in theory it could be a lay person willing to be ordained a priest and bishop but the weight of tradition suggests it will be one of the cardinals gathered in the Sistine chapel. The last non cardinal was Pope Urban in 1378. However, discussions prior to a ballot among cardinals do occur privately but public campaigning would be counter productive. Dinners are good vehicles for discussions. However, the best known cardinals tend to be the ones that work in the Vatican and meet other bishops, and cardinals when they come on business to Rome. The ballot is secret and Pope John Paul II abolished two methods of election: by compromise or by common consent. Since 1179, a new Pope requires a two thirds majority. Now, after 33 ballots, a simple majority is enough. If there is no progress in choosing a candidate, a day of prayer is set aside. However, not since 1831 has an election lasted more than four days. The ballot papers themselves are rectangular with “I elect as supreme pontiff” printed at the top and each cardinal prints or writes a name in a way that disguises his handwriting. One at a time they approach the altar with the folded ballot held up, he kneels and prays and then places the ballot in a silver and gilded bronze urn, much like a wok with a lid. Cardinals called ‘scrutineers’ count the ballots. After the ballots are read aloud they are placed on a thread and placed in another urn. They are then burnt. Since 1903, white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel has signalled the election of a pope; black smoke signals another vote. When a pope is finally elected, the cardinal dean asks him, “Do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff?” Rarely does anyone say no. St Philip Benize was offered it in 1271 and fled and hid until another candidate was chosen. Sacristy of Tears After the ‘yes’, he is led into the ‘Sacristy of Tears’ or commonly called ‘Room of Tears,’ a small room off the Sistine Chapel. It is here that the enormity of what has just happened hits the new Pope, though the tears may be of sorrow or joy. Traditionally they were said to be tears of humility as a Pope was following in the footsteps of St Peter; others would contend the tears were because essentially the Pope becomes a ‘prisoner’ of the Vatican and would be bowed down by the weight of the office. The new Pope picks one of three sizes of Papal garments – presumably small, medium or large – and return to the High Altar to receive the homage of the cardinals. Meanwhile, the ballots are burnt in a stove with a chemical which turns the smoke white, telling the world of the newly elected Pontiff. A Cardinal is then sent to the Loggia of the Benedictions on the façade of St Peter’s where he says: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. I announce to you a great joy! Habemus Papam. We have a Pope!” He then announces the name of the cardinal and the name he has chosen to use as Pope. The new Pope steps onto the balcony and therefore onto the stage of world and church history. He may grant his first blessing to the world. Some days later, the new Pope will go down into the foundations of St Peter’s to the tomb of Peter, the first Pope and first bishop of Rome, and pray. Then with all the cardinals, he will process into St Peter’s Square to begin his first public Mass and receive the main symbols of his office: the fisherman’s ring and the pallium.

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|Scientific Name:||Phoebastria albatrus| |Species Authority:||(Pallas, 1769)| |Red List Category & Criteria:||Vulnerable D2 ver 3.1| |Reviewer/s:||Butchart, S. & Taylor, J.| |Contributor/s:||Balogh, G., Chan, S., Hasegawa, H., Peet, N., Rivera, K. & Suryan, R.| This species is listed as Vulnerable because, although conservation efforts have resulted in a steady population increase, it still has a very small breeding range, limited to Torishima and Minami-kojima (Senkaku Islands), rendering it susceptible to stochastic events and human impacts. Phoebastria albatrus breeds on Torishima (Japan), and Minami-kojima (Senkaku Islands), that are claimed jointly by Japan, mainland China and Chinese Taipei. Historically there are believed to have been at least nine colonies south of Japan and in the East China Sea (Piatt et al. 2006). Its marine range covers most of the northern Pacific Ocean, but it occurs in highest densities in areas of upwelling along shelf waters of the Pacific Rim, particularly along the coasts of Japan, eastern Russia, the Aleutians and Alaska (Piatt et al. 2006, Suryan et al. 2007). During breeding (December - May) it is found in highest densities around Japan. Satellite tracking has indicated that during the post-breeding period, females spend more time offshore of Japan and Russia, while males and juveniles spend greater time around the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and off the coast of North America (Suryan et al. 2007). Juveniles have been shown to travel twice the distances per day and spend more time within continental shelf habitat than adult birds (Suryan et al. 2008). The species declined dramatically during the 19th and 20th centuries owing to exploitation for feathers, and was believed extinct in 1949, but was rediscovered in 1951. The current population is estimated, via direct counts and modelling based on productivity data, to be 2,364 individuals, with 1,922 birds on Torishima and 442 birds on Minami-kojima (G.R. Balogh in litt. 2008). In 1954, 25 birds (including at least six pairs) were present on Torishima. Given that there are now c.426 breeding pairs on Torishima (G.R. Balogh in litt. 2008), the species has undergone an enormous increase since its rediscovery and the onset of conservation efforts. In addition, in 2010, one nesting pair was observed on Kure Atoll (Hawaii, USA), but was probably female-female and unsuccessful, and one chick was produced on Midway Atoll (M. Naughton pers. comm. 2011). A tsunami which hit Midway Atoll in March 2011, did not impact on the single pair nesting on Eastern Island (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 2008). Native:Canada; China; Japan; Korea, Republic of; Mexico; Russian Federation; Taiwan, Province of China; United States; United States Minor Outlying Islands Present - origin uncertain:Northern Mariana Islands; Philippines |Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.| |Population:||At the end of the 2006-2007 breeding season, the global population was estimated to be 2,364 individuals, with 1,922 birds on Torishima and 442 birds on Minami-kojima (Senkaku Islands). This estimate is based on: direct observation of breeding pairs on Torishima; an assumption on numbers of non-breeding birds; an estimate for the Minami-kojima population that is based upon a 2002 estimate and an assumption of population growth rate (which, together, puts the Minami-kojima population at about 15% of the global population [G.R. Balogh in litt. 2008]). More recently, Brazil (2009) estimates the population in Japan at c.100-10,000 breeding pairs and c.50-1,000 individuals on migration. The population is taken here as likely to number 2,200-2,500 individuals based on these estimates, roughly equating to 1,500-1,700 mature individuals.| |Habitat and Ecology:||Behaviour Phoebastria albatrus is a colonial, annually breeding species, with each breeding cycle lasting about 8 months. Birds begin to arrive at the main colony on Torishima Island in early October. A single egg is laid in late October to late November and incubation lasts 64 to 65 days. Hatching occurs in late December through January. Chicks begin to fledge in late May into June. There is little information on timing of breeding on Minami-kojima. First breeding sometimes occurs when birds are five years old, but more commonly when birds are aged six. It forages diurnally and potentially nocturnally, either singly or in groups primarily taking prey by surface-seizing (ACAP 2009). During the breeding season, individuals nesting off Japan forage over the continental shelf (Kiyota and Minami 2008). Habitat Breeding Historically, it preferred level, open, areas adjacent to tall clumps of the grass Miscanthus sinensis for nesting. Diet It feeds mainly on squid, but also takes shrimp, fish, flying fish eggs and other crustaceans (ACAP 2009). It has been recorded following ships to feed on scraps and fish offal.| |Major Threat(s):||Its historical decline was caused by exploitation. Today, the key threats are the instability of soil on its main breeding site (Torishima), the threat of mortality and habitat loss from the active volcano on Torishima, and mortality caused by fisheries. Torishima is also vulnerable to other natural disasters, such as typhoons. Introduced predators are a potential threat at colonies. Environmental contaminants at sea (oil based compounds) may also be a threat (G.R. Balogh in litt. 2008). Threats at sea (fisheries, oil pollution) are exacerbated by the fact that birds concentrate into predictable hotspots (Piatt et al. 2006). Modelling work has showed that even a small increase in low level chronic mortality (such as fisheries bycatch) has more of an impact on population growth rates than stochastic and theoretically catastrophic events, such as volcanic eruptions (Finkelstein et al. 2010). Phoebastria albatrus has the greatest potential overlap with fisheries that occur in the shallower waters along continental shelf break and slope regions, e.g., sablefish and Pacific halibut longline fisheries off the coasts of Alaska and British Columbia. Although, overlap between the distribution of birds and fishery effort does not mean that interactions between birds and boats necessarily occur, P. albatrus are known to have been killed in U.S. and Russian longline fisheries for Pacific cod and Pacific halibut. In addition, birds on Torishima have been observed with hooks in their mouths of the style used in Japanese fisheries near the island (ACAP 2009).| Conservation Actions Underway It is legally protected in Japan, Canada and the USA. A draft recovery plan has been developed (USFWS 2005). Mitigation measures have been established in the Alaska demersal longline fishery and in the Hawaii-based pelagic longline fishery (NOAA 2008). Streamer lines (both heavy weight lines for large boats and lightweight lines for smaller vessels) have been designed to keep birds from longline hooks as they are set, and these are being distributed free to the Alaskan longline fleet (USFWS 2005), though they are not deployed in near-shore waters. In 2006, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission passed a measure which requires large tuna and swordfish longline vessels (>24m long) to use a combination of two seabird bycatch mitigation measures when fishing north of 23 degrees North. Torishima has been established as a National Wildlife Protection Area. In 1981-1982, native plants were transplanted into the Torishima nesting colony in order to stabilise the nesting habitat and the nest structures. This has enhanced breeding success, with over 60% of eggs now resulting in fledged young. Decoys have been used to attract birds to nest at another site on Torishima since 1993 and the first pair started breeding at this new site in November 1995. The number of chicks fledged from this new colony has increased from one chick in 2004; four chicks in 2005; 13 chicks in 2006; 16 chicks in 2007. In October-November 2007, 35 eggs were laid at this new site (Sato 2009). In 2007, the Japanese government approved a project to translocate chicks from Torishima to Mukojima, 300 km away. All ten chicks of the first translocations in March 2008 fledged (Jacobs 2009). If successful, this project will translocate at least ten chicks per year for five years. Conservation Actions Proposed Continue to promote measures designed to protect this species from becoming hooked or entangled by commercial fishing gear. Re-establish birds within historic range as insurance against natural disasters on primary breeding colony. Promote conservation measures for the Minami-kojima population. Continue research into the at-sea distribution and marine habitat use through satellite telemetry studies. Continue land-based management and population monitoring. |Citation:||BirdLife International 2012. Phoebastria albatrus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 18 May 2013.| |Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided|

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Ahh, the pincer grasp! It's an important evolutionary milestone that nobody knows about until they become parents. (Why should opposable thumbs get all the attention?) The ability to pick up small objects using your thumb and pointer finger usually kicks in around 9 months -- and, the bonus for parents is that it allows infants to feed their own darn selves. So put down the spoon and serve up these great finger food ideas. Don't Expect Your Baby to Chew "Before age one, babies gum their food rather than chew it," says Jennifer Shu, M.D., coauthor of the book Food Fights from the American Academy of Pediatrics. So serve up tiny bites -- about the size of a pea or your pinky fingernail -- in case your tot swallows it whole. Common choking hazard to avoid: Hot dogs and other sausages, hard or gummy candy, chewing gum, all nuts, whole grapes and cherry tomatoes, raisins and any dried-fruit pieces, popcorn, and seeds and gobs of peanut (or other nut) butter. But any food can pose a choking risk if not sized right. Quarter grapes, slice blueberries, dice cooked carrots, break up crackers, and so on.

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The First Liberation Day in the DP Camps Livik's opinion was clear: There was no reason to celebrate or to put on a festive face, since "joy has been silenced in the Jewish heart, our words are still full of sorrow"... Shmuel Grinberg, in contrast, agreed that She'arit Hapleta would soon be marking Liberation Day... but warned against losing the historical perspective of what was happening. Even though anti-Semitism had not disappeared and Jewish suffering had not ended, "we neither have nor want to weaken the great historic truth, the great struggle against the monster of human oppression, for our spiritual and moral liberation". Leo Schwarz, who took part in the meeting, explained: "One of the main questions was, should the liberation be commemorated today as a day of mourning or a day of thanksgiving. There was little disagreement about the memory of the murdered martyrs... concerning celebrations of Liberation Day there were differences among groups within She'arit Hapleta, but the victors were those whose psychology had already been influenced by the positive dialectic of the future. Most members of the Central Committee supported the declaration of "a memorial day combined with the liberation, which must express our grief and bitterness over the great tragedy of European Jewry, and simultaneously be a day of thanksgiving, which will be celebrated as a national symbol and will emphasize that the Jewish people still lives". It was decided to observe the 14th of Adar as Liberation Day (15th May in 1946), as a memorial and victory day. From: Mankovitz, Ze'ev, Ideology and Politics Among She'arit Hapleta in the American Zone of Occupation in Germany 1945-1946, Ph.D. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1987, pp. 279-280 (Hebrew). Source: Yad Vashem

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DEPUTIES OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE DEPUTIES OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, representatives of Jewish communities in Russia to the government during the reign of *Alexander I (1801–25). After parts of *Poland-Lithuania had been annexed by Russia, the large communities sent shtadlanim to the court at St. Petersburg to represent them and defend their rights. Most of the shtadlanim were merchants or contractors who visited the city on business. When a committee was set up to frame a "Jewish constitution" in 1802–04 it was joined by several government-appointed Jewish advisers (N.N. *Notkin, A. *Peretz, and J.L. *Nevakhovich). The government also requested some important communities to send representatives to the committee. Together they tried to influence the committee in favor of Jewish rights. In 1807 the government appointed a "Jewish committee" to implement the inimical "Jewish constitution" of 1804 and proposed that the communities elect deputies to represent the Jews before the provincial governors. The memoranda of these deputies were referred to the "Jewish committee" in St. Petersburg and were influential in obtaining a temporary halt to the expulsion of Jews from the villages. It was also proposed to abolish the prohibition on the lease and sale of alcohol by Jews. During the invasion by Napoleon two "deputies of the Jewish people," Zundel Sonnenberg and Eliezer Dillon, accompanied Alexander's military headquarters in 1812–13, and acted as liaison between the czar and the large Jewish population in the combat area. They regularly presented memoranda and petitions concerning Jewish affairs to the court and transmitted its instructions to the Jewish communities. After the war an attempt was made to convert the committee of deputies into a permanent institution. The Jewish communities were requested to send representatives to St. Petersburg to maintain permanent contact with the ministries of religious affairs and popular education. On August 19, 1818, electors from the 12 districts (gubernia) of the *Pale of Settlement convened and elected three deputies, Zundel Sonnenberg, Beinush Lapkovski, and Michael Eisenstadt, and three deputy representatives. In order to raise funds to cover their expenses, which probably also included furnishing bribes, the assembly resolved that every Jew was to donate the silver headpiece of his prayer shawl. The change in Alexander's policy toward the Jews at the end of his reign reduced the importance and status of the deputies. Sonnenberg was dismissed because of "impudence toward the authorities." In 1825 the Jewish deputation was officially suspended "until the need arises for a new deputation," and the institution was thereby abolished and not renewed. However, the government continued to make use of Jewish representatives. In 1840 consultative committees, chosen from among "enlightened" Jews, were created and attached to governors in Kiev and five other towns. In 1844 the function of "Learned Jew" (uchoni yevrei) was created, meaning an expertand consultant in Jewish religious affairs attached to the district governers and responsible for education and interior affairs. J.I. Hessen (Gessen), Yevrei v Rossii (1906), 421–32; idem, in: Yevreyskaya starina, 2 (1909), 17–29, 196–206; S. Pen, in: Voskhod, nos. 1–3 (1905). [Yehuda Slutsky / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)] Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

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Judaic Treasures of the Jerusalem was and remains the holiest of cities in the Holy Land, but Jews also gave a measure of holiness to three other cities there: Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias. The holiness of Jerusalem arises in part from what remains there, but more from what took place there. So it is with its sister cities. Hebron is where the patriarchs and matriarchs lived and are buried, and it was the first capital of King David. Tiberias, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, was chosen by the patriarch of the Jews in the second century as his seat. The Palestinian Talmud was largely composed in its great rabbinical academy. in the environs of Safed, high in the Galilean hills, are the graves of the leading rabbis of late antiquity. Its stature as a holy city was enhanced in the sixteenth century, when it was the greatest center of Jewish mysticism and seat of Jewish legal scholarship. To gain entree into the company of the three more ancient holy cities, it called itself Beth-El, suggesting identity with the biblical site which Jacob called "The Gate of Heaven." A striking pastel-colored manuscript "holy site map" links these four holy cities together. Drawn and painted in Palestine in the second half of the nineteenth century, it depicts those venues which indicate their holiness. There is a suggestion of their geographic positioning, but the "map" is far more a statement of the place these cities hold in Jewish veneration, than of the geographical site they occupy. To pious Jewish families, such wall plaques were more meaningful depictions of the Holy Land than the most aesthetically beautiful and topographically exact representations. A small illustrated guide book to the burial places of biblical figures and saintly rabbis in the Holy Land, Zikaron Birushalayim, appeared in Constantinople in 1743. It tells the pious pilgrim where graves may be found and what prayers are to be said. Prefaced by a panegyric to the land, it cites a midrashic statement that, in time to come, when Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, three walls-one of silver, one of gold, and the innermost of multicolored precious stones-will encompass the dazzling city. In Hebron the pilgrim is not only directed to the holy grave sites, but also regaled with wondrous tales. One tells of a sexton of the community sent down to search for a ring which had fallen to the depths of the patriarchs' burial cave, finding at the floor of the cave three ancient men seated on chairs, engaged in study. He greets them; they return his greetings, give him the ring, and instruct him not to disclose what he had learned. When he ascended and was asked what he had seen, he replied: "Three elders sitting on chairs. As for the rest, I am not permitted to tell." For actual pilgrims, the little volume provided factual information. For pilgrims in their own imagination, it offered edification through tales and quaint illustrations. The last page has a woodcut of Jericho, a seven-walled city, below which a man surrounded by a multitude is sounding a shofar. The most striking woodcut is of an imposing building, representing the Temple in Jerusalem. In the concentric circles of holiness cited in the Tanhuma, Jerusalem is at the center of the Holy Land; the Temple at the center of Jerusalem; and the Holy of Holies at the center of the Holy Temple. The Temple is prominently featured in illustrated books about the Holy Land. In A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, three chapters describe and three engravings portray the Temple. Early Hebrew books are quite poor in illustrations, because relatively few deal with subjects that demand visual presentation. Among these are books dealing with laws concerning the Temple, and since its architecture and vessels are pertinent to the laws, they invite illustration. A case in point is Sefer Hanukat Ha-Bayit by Moses (Hefez) Gentili (1663-1711), published in Venice in 1696. A treatise on the building of the Second Temple, it abounds in engraved architectural illustrations, including a menorah, the seven-branched candlestick; most notable is a large pull-out map of the Temple, identifying fifty-eight components of the Temple's structure. The engravings were added after the printing, as was the map, and a copy containing both is rare. Moses Gentili, born in Trieste, lived in Venice where he taught Talmud and Midrash, and perhaps philosophy and science as well. His best-known work, Melekhet Mahashevet, Venice, 1710, a commentary on the Pentateuch, contains a picture of the author, a clean-shaven, ministerial-looking gentleman. There are many published descriptions and illustrations of the Temple's appearance in many languages. Some are based on careful study of the available sources, others are creations of the imagination, generally inspired by the grandest building the artist knew. A plan of the Temple to be is found at the end of the 1789 Grodno edition of Zurat Beit Ha-Mikdash (The Form of the Holy Temple) by Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (1579-1654), one of the major figures in Jewish scholarship in the first half of the seventeenth century. The book is one of Heller's earliest works and is a projection of the plan of the Temple as envisaged in the prophecy of Ezekiel. We have thus traversed the Holy Land and glimpsed its holy places, past, present, and future.

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To make this sentence true i have to put <,>,or = in between ( ) the given fractions or Decimals? 7/20 ( ) 2/5 0.15 ( ) 1/8 Please explain? Given a rectangular prism with dimensions w = 3, l = 4, and h = 6. If you created a second rectangular prism with the length doubled but the height halved (and the width stays the same), which would be the relation of the second volume to the first volume? 740 mm Hg How would you calculate the concentration of an aqueous solution of Ca(OH2)that has a pH of 12.57. poetry, part 1 Which one of the following lines best illustrates personification? A. A narrow wind complains all day. B. The fog comes on little cat feet. C. She floated graceful as a dove. D. Spring is a dream unsung. Wilma's arm is broken when Paula knocks her down during an agrument. If Wilma sues Paula for battery, what damages is Wilma likely to receive? Well I saying both. I have describe two cultrals and their views on health. i shows african and caucaisians american. I know that african american An excessive impact on minority populations is chronic diseases. Chronic diseases that are consider in African American are AIDS, ... I need some help with what are some of the implications to health care providers in African American and Caucasian? Considering cultural views on the health as organic, health as harmony and disease as a curse or stigma I need some help with listing at two pros and cons for each of the given patient and caregiver roles as a -Mechanics and machines -Parents and children -Spiritualists and believers -Providers and consumers -Partners This is so I can right my paper For Further Reading

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Acrylic A synthetic fabric often used as a wool substitute. It is warm, soft, holds colors well and often is stain and wrinkle resistant. Angora Rabbit Hair A soft fiber knit from fur of the Angora rabbit. Angora wool is often combined with cashmere or another fiber to strengthen the delicate structure. Dry cleaning is recommended for Angora products. Bedford A strong material that is a raised corded fabric (similar to corduroy). Bedford fabric wears well and is usually washable. Boot Footwear which covers the entire foot and extends to the height of the anklebone or up to the thigh. Bootie A shoe that resembles a boot in style but is not as high. Brocade An all-over floral, raised pattern produced in a similar fashion to embroidery. Cable Knit Patterns, typically used in sweaters, where flat knit columns otherwise known as cables are overlapped vertically. Cashmere A soft, strong and silky, lightweight wool spun from the Kashmir goat. Cashmere is commonly used in sweaters, shawls, outerwear, gloves and scarves for its warmth and soft feel. Chiffon A common evening wear fabric made from silk, cotton, rayon or nylon. It's delicate in nature and sheer. Chintz A printed and glazed fabric made of cotton. Chintz is known for its bright colors and bold patterns. Circumference The measurement around the shaft of a boot taken at the widest part. Corduroy Cotton blend fibers twisted as they are woven to create long, parallel grooves, called wales, in the fabric. This is a very durable material and depending on the width of the wales, can be extremely soft. Cotton A natural fiber that grows in the seed pod of the cotton plant. It is an inelastic fiber. Crepe Used as a description of surfaces of fabrics. Usually designates a fabric that is crimped or crinkled. Crinoline A lightweight, plain weave, stiffened fabric with a low yarn count. Used to create volume beneath evening or wedding dresses. Crochet Looping threads with a hooked needle that creates a wide, open lace. Typically used on sweaters for warm seasons. Cushioning Padding on the sole of a shoe for added comfort and stabilization. DenimCotton blend fabric created with a twill weave to create a sturdy fabric. Used as the primary material of blue jeans. DobbyWoven fabric where the weave of the fabric actually produces the garment's design. Embroidery Detailed needlework, usually raised and created by yarn, thread or embroidery floss. Embossed Leather Leather imprinted with a design or exotic skin texture, such as snake, ostrich or croco. Eyelet A form of lace in a thicker material that consists of cut-outs that are integrated and repeated into a pattern. Usually applied to garments for warmer seasons. Faille A slightly ribbed, woven fabric of silk, cotton, or rayon. French Terry A knit cloth that contains loops and piles of yarn. The material is very soft, absorbent and has stretch. Georgette A crinkly crepe type material usually made out of silk that consists of tightly twisted threads. Georgette is sheer and flowing nature. Gingham It is a fabric made from dyed cotton year. It is most often know to be woven in a blue and white check or plaid pattern. It is made from corded, medium to fine yarns, with the color running in the warp yarns. There is no right or wrong side of this fabric. Glen PlaidA woolen fabric, with a woven twill design of large and small checks. A form of traditional plaid originating in Scotland. Heel Height It is the measurement of a vertical line from the point where the sole meets the heel down to the floor. Heel height is measured in increments of 1/8 of an inch. Herringbone A pattern originating from masonry, consists of short rows of slanted parallel lines. The rows are formatted opposing each other to create the pattern. Herringbone patterns are used in tweeds and twills. Hopsack A material created from cotton or wool that is loosely woven together to form a coarse fabric. Houndstooth A classic design containing two colors in jagged/slanted checks. Similar to Glen Plaid. Insole The inside lining of the shoe that is underneath the bottom of the foot. Another term for footbed. Instep The arched section of the foot between the toes and the ankle, or the part of the shoe which covers that area. Jacquard A fabric of intricate variegated weave or pattern. Typically shown on elegant and more expensive pieces. Jersey A type of knit material known to be flexible, stretchy, soft and very warm. It is created using tight stitches. Knit A knit fabric is made by interlocking loops of one or more yarns either by hand with knitting needles or by machine. LinenAn exquisite material created from the fibers of the flax plant. Some linen contain slubs or small knots on the fabric. The material is a light fabric perfect for warm weather. LiningThe leather, fabric or synthetic material used on the inside of a shoe. Lamé A metallic or plastic fiber woven into material to give the garment shine. Lycra ®TMSpandex fibers add stretch to fabric when the fibers are woven with other fiber blends. These materials are lightweight, comfortableTM and breathable, and the stretch will not wear away. Madras Originating from Madras, India, this fabric is a lightweight, cotton material used for summer clothing. Madras usually has a checked pattern but also comes in plaid or with stripes. Typically made from 100% cotton. Marled Typically found in sweaters, marled yarn occurs when two colored yards are twisted together. Matte A matte finish has a lusterless surface. Merino Wool Wool sheered from the merino sheep and spun into yarn that is fine but strong. Modal A type of rayon that is made from natural fibers but goes through a chemical treatment to ensure it has a high threshold of breakage. Modal is soft and breathable which is why it's used as a cotton replacement. Non-iron A treated cotton that allows our Easy Care Shirts to stay crisp throughout the day and does not need ironing after washing/drying. Nylon A synthetic fiber that is versatile, fast drying and strong. It has a high resistance to damage. Ombre A color technique that shades a color from light to dark. Paisley A pattern that consists of crooked teardrop designs in a repetitive manner. Patent Leather Leather made from cattle hide that has been varnished to give a hard and glossy finish. Placket The piece of fabric or cloth that is used as a concealing flap to cover buttons, fasteners or attachments. Most commonly seen in the front of button-down shirts. Also used to reinforce openings or slits in garments. Piping Binding a seam with decoration. Piping is similar to tipping or edging where a decorative material is sewn into the seams. Pointelle An open-work knitting pattern used on garments to add texture. Typically a cooler and general knit sweater. Polyester A fabric made from synthetic fibers. Polyester is quick drying, easy to wash and holds its shape well. Ponte A knit fabric where the fibers are looped in an interlock. The material is very strong and firm. Poplin A strong woven fabric, heavier in weight, with ribbing. Pump Classically a high, medium, or low heeled, totally enclosed shoe. Variations include an open toe or ornament. Rayon A manufactured fiber developed originally as an alternative for silk. Rayon drapes well and looks luxurious. Sateen A fabric woven with sheen that resembles satin. Seersucker Slack-tension weave where yarn is bunched together in certain areas and then pulled taught in others to create this summery mainstay. Shaft Height Measurement of the shaft of the boot, which is from the top of the boot to the inside seam where the instep and the sole meet. Shirring Similar to ruching, shirring gathers material to create folds. Silk One of the most luxurious fibers, silk is soft, warm and has shine. It is obtained from the cocoons of the silkworm's larvae. Sole The outsole, or bottom part of a shoe. Space dyed Technique of yarn dyeing to produce a multi-color effect on the yarn itself. Also known as dip dyed yarn. SpandexElastomeric fiber, this material is able to expand 600% and still snap back to its original shape and form. Spandex fibers are woven with cotton and other fibers to make fabrics stretch. Stacked Heel A heel made of leather or leawood covering that gives the appearance of wood. Synthetic Materials Man-made materials designed to look or function like leather. Tipping Similar to edging, tipping includes embellishing a garment at the edges of the piece, hems, collars etc. Tissue Linen A type of linen, which is specifically made for blouses or shirts due to its thinness and sheerness. Tweed A loose weave of heavy wool makes up tweed, which provides warmth and comfort. Twill A fabric woven in a diagonal weave. Commonly used for chinos and denim. Variegated Multi-colored fabrics where colors are splotched or in patches. Velour A stretchy knit fabric, typically made from cotton or polyester. It has a similar soft hand to velvet. VelvetA pile fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it a distinct feel. Velveteen A more modern adaptation of velvet, velveteen is made from cotton and has a little give. Also known as imitation velvet. ViscoseA cellulosic man-made fibers, viscose is soft and supple but can wrinkle easily. Wale Only found in woven fabrics like corduroy, wale is the long grooves that give the garment its texture. Wedge Heel A heel that lies flat to the ground and extends from the shank to the back of the shoe. Windowpane Dark stripes run horizontal and vertical across a light background to mimic a window pane. Woven A woven fabric is formed by interlacing threads, yarns, strands, or strips of some material.

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Bootie A shoe that resembles a boot in style but is not as high. Brocade An all-over floral, raised pattern produced in a similar fashion to embroidery. Circumference The measurement around the shaft of a boot taken at the widest part. Cotton A natural fiber that grows in the seed pod of the cotton plant. It is an inelastic fiber. Cushioning Padding on the sole of a shoe for added comfort and stabilization. DobbyWoven fabric where the weave of the fabric actually produces the garment's design. Embroidery Detailed needlework, usually raised and created by yarn, thread or embroidery floss. Faille A slightly ribbed, woven fabric of silk, cotton, or rayon. Houndstooth A classic design containing two colors in jagged/slanted checks. Similar to Glen Plaid. LiningThe leather, fabric or synthetic material used on the inside of a shoe. Lamé A metallic or plastic fiber woven into material to give the garment shine. Marled Typically found in sweaters, marled yarn occurs when two colored yards are twisted together. Matte A matte finish has a lusterless surface. Merino Wool Wool sheered from the merino sheep and spun into yarn that is fine but strong. Ombre A color technique that shades a color from light to dark. Paisley A pattern that consists of crooked teardrop designs in a repetitive manner. Poplin A strong woven fabric, heavier in weight, with ribbing. Sateen A fabric woven with sheen that resembles satin. Shirring Similar to ruching, shirring gathers material to create folds. Sole The outsole, or bottom part of a shoe. Stacked Heel A heel made of leather or leawood covering that gives the appearance of wood. Synthetic Materials Man-made materials designed to look or function like leather. Tweed A loose weave of heavy wool makes up tweed, which provides warmth and comfort. Twill A fabric woven in a diagonal weave. Commonly used for chinos and denim. Variegated Multi-colored fabrics where colors are splotched or in patches. ViscoseA cellulosic man-made fibers, viscose is soft and supple but can wrinkle easily. Wedge Heel A heel that lies flat to the ground and extends from the shank to the back of the shoe. Woven A woven fabric is formed by interlacing threads, yarns, strands, or strips of some material.

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Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men by Mara Hvistendahl One of history's more curious encounters occurred in early March 1766 at a country estate in southern England, near Dorking. The estate belonged to Daniel Malthus, a gentleman of independent means and wide intellectual interests. The philosophers David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were traveling in the neighborhood, seeking a house for Rousseau, who had just recently arrived in England under Hume's patronage after having been driven out of Switzerland. Daniel Malthus was known to both philosophers, at least by correspondence, so they paid him a brief visit, in the course of which they saw his son Thomas, then just three weeks old. So there, presumably in the same room, were Hume, Rousseau, and the infant Thomas Malthus. It was an odd grouping: the serene empiricist, the neurotic social optimist, and the future oracle of demographic doom. Hume had actually dabbled in demography himself some years earlier. He had been one of the first to argue against the belief, common until his time, that the ancient world was more populous than the modern world. Demography, along with its cousin discipline of economics, was "in the air" during the later eighteenth century, waiting for the grown-up Malthus to cast his cold eye upon it in his momentous Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). Of these two cousin disciplines, it is a nice point for argument which better deserves to be called "the dismal science." I would vote for demography. It must be hard to maintain a cheerful composure while scrutinizing the ceaseless, often inexplicable ebbs and flows of nativity and mortality. It is a strange thing, too — and a depressing one for anyone of an empirical temperament — that what ought to be the most exact of all the human sciences has such a sorry record of prediction. What, after all, could be more certain than that a nation with number N of five-year-olds today will have N fifteen-year-olds in a decade's time, give or take some small margin for attrition and migration? The human sciences don't come any more precise than that. Yet large-scale predictions by demographers have been confounded again and again, from those of Malthus himself to that of Paul Ehrlich, who told us in his 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb that "The battle to feed humanity is over … Billions will die in the 1980s." Ehrlich's book was very much of its time. The third quarter of the twentieth century was dogged by fears of a Malthusian catastrophe. Popular fiction echoed those fears in productions like John Brunner's novel Stand on Zanzibar (1968) and Richard Fleischer's movie Soylent Green (1973). It was assumed, reasonably enough, that populous poor countries were most at risk, being closest to the limits of food supply. Governments and international organizations therefore got to work promoting birth control in what we had just recently learned to call the Third World, with programs that were often brutally coercive. Birth rates soon fell; though how much of the drop was directly due to the programs, and how much was an inevitable consequence of modernization, is disputed. The evidence is strong that women liberated from pre-modern subordination to their husbands, and given easy access to contraception, will limit their pregnancies with or without official encouragement. There was, though, a distressing side effect of the dropping birthrates. Many countries have a strong traditional preference for male children. So long as women in those countries were resigned to a lifetime of child-bearing, the sheer number of offspring ensured that the sex ratio at birth (SRB) would be close to its natural level of 105 males to 100 females. The post-natal ratio might be skewed somewhat by local traditions of female infanticide and by the loss of young men in war, but a rough balance was kept. China in the 1930s had around 108 males per 100 females. Once the idea of limiting births settled in, however, people sought assurance that one of their babies be male. If a mother gives birth twice, there is a 24 percent chance neither baby will be male; the chance of no males in three births is twelve percent; the chance of no males in four births, six percent. Female infanticide continued to be an option, but not an attractive one — nor, in most modern jurisdictions, a legal one. Technology met the need by providing methods to determine the sex of a fetus. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, amniocentesis was used for this purpose. Then high-quality second trimester ultrasound became widely available and took over the business of fetal sex determination. It caught on very fast all over East and South Asia, allowing women to abort female fetuses. The consequences showed up in last year's Chinese census, whose results are just now being published. They show an SRB of 118 males per 100 females. These unbalanced sex ratios and their social and demographic consequences form the subject matter of Mara Hvistendahl's book Unnatural Selection. An experienced journalist who has lived for many years in China, Ms. Hvistendahl covers the history, sociology, and science of sex-selective population control very comprehensively. She has organized each of her book's fifteen chapters around the experience of some significant individual: "The Bachelor," "The Parent," "The Economist," and so on. Her book's scope is by no means restricted to China: "The Student" of Chapter 6 is an Indian who commenced his medical training at a big hospital in Delhi in 1978, when sex-selective abortion was just taking off in India. We get a side trip to Albania, whose SRB is treated as a state secret, but seems to be at least 110. We also learn that sex-selective abortion is common among couples of Chinese, Korean, and Indian descent in the U.S.A. The subjects here are not just newly arrived immigrants, either. A research team from Columbia University found that: If anything, mothers who were U.S. citizens were slightly more likely to have sons. Sex selection, in other words, is not a tradition from the old country that easily dies out. South Korea makes a particularly interesting study. That country's governments were more foresighted than most in spotting the problems that might arise from sex-selective abortion. They outlawed the procedure in 1987, and followed up with rigorous enforcement. South Korea's SRB is now at the natural level. There is more here than meets the eye, though, as Ms. Hvistendahl uncovers. As elsewhere, sex selection was mainly resorted to for second or subsequent births. The SRB for first births is essentially normal worldwide. And first births is wellnigh all the births there are now in South Korea. Our author tells us that: "In 2005 Korea bottomed out with the lowest total fertility rate in the world, at an average of 1.08 children per woman." Things have since recovered somewhat. The 2011 estimate for total fertility rate is 1.23. That still makes for a fast-declining and aging population, though — surely not the ideal solution to the problem of sex ratio imbalances. What of the issue of angry young surplus males unable to find wives? Ms. Hvistendahl takes a less alarmist view than the one put forth by Hudson and den Boer in their 2004 book Bare Branches. That there is a causal relationship from excess males to political despotism, as those authors argued, is not well supported by historical evidence. As Hvistendahl notes: "Adolf Hitler came to power at a time when Germany had over two million more women than men as a result of the toll taken by World War I." (She might have added that the most authoritarian episode in recent Indian history was the 1975-77 "Emergency," instigated by a female Prime Minister at a time of normal adult sex ratios.) One feels intuitively that a surplus of sex-starved young men will generate trouble, but on the evidence so far, things may not go beyond domestic disorders of the containable kind. Ms. Hvistendahl seems to be of conventionally feminist-leftist opinions, but she has visible trouble keeping those opinions in order when writing about sex-ratio imbalances. She of course favors "reproductive rights," yet cannot but deplore the fact that those rights, extended to Third World peasant cultures, have led to a holocaust of female babies and the trafficking of young women from poorer places with low male-female ratios, to wealthier places with high ones. She works hard to develop a thesis about it all having been the fault of Western imperialists terrified of the breeding potential of poorer, darker peoples, in cahoots with opportunistic Third World dictators hungry for World Bank cash, but she cannot quite square the ideological circle. As she points out, abortion was frowned on throughout Asia until modern times. (Chinese people used to consider themselves one year old at birth: older Chinese still reckon their birthdays in this way.) Where would "reproductive rights" be in Asia if not for those meddling imperialists? These blemishes are minor, though, and probably inevitable in any book written by a college-educated young woman of our time. If you skip over them, you will find a wealth of research and much good narrative journalism in Unnatural Selection. The occasional feminist, leftist, and anti-American editorializing aside, this is a rich and valuable book on an important topic. David Hume would have admired Hvistendahl's respect for the data, even when it leads to conclusions that make hay of her prejudices. Rousseau would have applauded her egalitarian passions. Thomas Malthus, had he read the book, would have been tearing his hair out.

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Birch: It is heavy, similar to maple, the grain is fine and close and the texture is even. It is adaptable to fine finishes, easy to work with and can be stained and finished to resemble many expensive and imported woods. Cherry: The heartwood of cherry varies from rich red to reddish brown and will darken with age and on exposure to light. In contrast, the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a fine uniform, straight grain, satiny, smooth texture, and may naturally contain brown pith flecks. Mahogany: Comes in many different varieties. Strong and tough and uniform in structure with close moderately open grain. Possesses excellent physical and woodworking qualities. It ranges from a light pink to yellow, but on exposure to light and air, quickly turns to a reddish brown or sherry color. Maple: Hard or "sugar," maple is elastic and very strong. It is one of the hardest of the common woods. The grain is straight with occasional wavy, curly, bird's eye patterns that are much prized in veneers. The natural color is white to amber. Maple is sometimes finished to simulate cherry wood. Metal: Core construction is with metals. Oak or Ash: Oak is very tough, strong, and hard and can live up to the every day abuse furniture takes and it has a pronounced grain. White ash is a ring-porous, hardwood of great strength. It is used for furniture frames and hidden parts. Brown ash has strong grain character and is used for veneers. Painted: Can be solid wood or a wood like product that is painted. Pine: Soft wood that is white or pale yellow. Knotty pine is used extensively for paneling and plywood, cabinets and doors. Dries easily and does not shrink or swell much with changes in humidity. One of the least expensive woods for furniture production. Walnut: Because of its rich brown color, hardness and grain Walnut is a prized furniture and carving wood. Walnut burls are commonly used to created turned pieces along with veneers or thin Walnut slices. Other: Woods not classified above

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Joint use is a way to increase opportunities for children and adults to be more physically active. It refers to two or more entities — usually a school and a city or private organization — sharing indoor and outdoor spaces like gymnasiums, athletic fields and playgrounds. The concept is simple: share resources to keep costs down and communities healthy. Examples of joint use agreements: A principal unlocks the school gate after hours so neighbors can shoot hoops or play ball on evenings and weekends. A school and swim team share a pool. A school opens its soccer field to a local league for weekend games. A YMCA opens its gym to the local PE teacher so students have a place to exercise. Why is joint use needed? The research is clear: the more active children are, the healthier they will be now and when they grow up. Yet certain places make physical activity harder instead of easier. Place matters since experts now know that where we live, work and play — the physical environment itself — determines, to a large degree, whether we will be healthy. Too often, kids find the gate to their school’s blacktop or basketball court locked after school hours, locking them out of opportunities to be active. Closing off recreational facilities after school leaves many children and families struggling to incorporate physical activity into their daily routines. They may live in an area without a nearby park or be unable to afford exercise equipment or a gym membership. Joint use agreements can fix these problems. Joint use makes physical activity easier by providing kids and adults alike with safe, conveniently located and inviting places to exercise and play. Besides making sense from a health perspective, joint use agreements make sense financially because they build upon assets a community already has. Sharing existing space is cheaper and more efficient than duplicating the same facilities in other parts of the community. Where is joint use happening? Joint use is happening in cities throughout California and across the nation. In fact, the concept of joint use is not new. Schools have shared their land and facilities for community use for over 200 years. Most states, including California, have policies to encourage or require schools to make facilities open to the public. In California, a 2008 survey conducted by the Center for Cities and Schools revealed that close to 60 percent of responding school districts already have some type of joint use partnership, but thousands still do not. How does it work? Joint use agreements facilitate a partnership between two or more entities, often school districts and local government agencies (e.g. parks and recreation or nonprofit organizations, to open up spaces such as playgrounds, athletic fields, pools, and gymnasiums to the community outside of school hours or to open up community facilities to schools at a reduced cost or for free. Joint use partnerships can be formal (based on a legal document) or informal (based on a handshake), but formal agreements offer increased protections for both the facility and the community group using the facility. Since school staffing can change over time, personal relationships are not the most secure way to guarantee access to facilities into the future. A formal agreement can also help prevent problems related to maintenance, operations, liability, ownership or cost from arising. Maintenance– How can we keep the space in good condition? Joint use agreements can detail each partner’s goals to help ensure that school properties are respected and maintained. When school resources are being shared, it’s important to have joint use agreements that specify who needs to make repairs and who will address wear and tear to the property. Some school officials have noticed a decrease in vandalism since implementing a joint use agreement. They have noted that when the community shares school resources, they take pride and ownership in the space, which can help deter vandalism. Operations — Who will unlock the gate? Who will run the programs? These questions can be answered with joint use agreements so that partners know what they are responsible for. Liability–What if someone gets hurt? Experts say most schools’ existing liability insurance is sufficient to cover any liability issues associated with joint use. Joint use agreements can identify liability concerns and make sure they are accounted for. Ownership– How does joint use affect how decisions are made about the property? Joint use agreements should outline a process for resolving any conflicts that may surface. They should also highlight how the partnership will benefit each party. Cost– How expensive will the partnership be? Joint use agreements can be used to define how much each partner contributes. Partnerships do not need to cost a lot to be successful. Agreements can help partners anticipates what costs might be.

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Source: Steven Maxwell, 785-532-5740, firstname.lastname@example.org. Note to editor: This is the first in a series of news releases about the color purple in honor of Kansas State University's founding on Feb. 16, 1863. News release prepared by: Greg Tammen, 785-532-2535, email@example.com Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 The power of purple: ROCK MUSIC'S ROOTS RUN DEEP WITH PURPLE, PROFESSOR SAYS MANHATTAN -- Ask Steven Maxwell what the color purple means and his answer is simple: turn the volume to 11 and open your mind, because purple is rock and roll in its prime. "Artistically purple is a descriptive word, and I think that's why it's been adopted by some successful acts in the music world," said Maxwell, assistant professor of music at Kansas State University. In 2008 Maxwell created a class about the history of rock and roll, where he teaches about the genre's evolution and its relationship to history. "The really cool thing about rock and roll is that it ties into the American culture and really reflects what's going on in the country," Maxwell said. "It serves as the voice of the common person and has been associated with some important historical moments in the U.S. It was a part of that voice in the civil rights movement in the '60s and used in protest of the Vietnam War in the '70s." Rock music's history runs purple, with the color being adopted by some of the most influential musicians. "Think of the deeper concept of what a song like 'Purple Haze' means, especially when it first came out," Maxwell said. "The late '60s was all about looking at things differently. Jimi Hendrix perfectly captured that psychedelic era in the country, that time of opening the doors of perception in one's mind and really looking at something on a deeper level." He said the "purple" Hendrix is referring to is that new, unknown, almost analogous way of thinking. "Metaphorically, purple was a blend between the standardized 'primary colors' introduced by mainstream society in the 1950s and mid-1960s," Maxwell said. Other artists, such as Deep Purple and Prince, adopted the color because of its ambiguity in the musical soundscape and pop culture. Deep Purple was one of the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, Maxwell said. The group was the first rock band to record with a full Concerto orchestra, as well as the first to turn the volume to 11, a feat earning them the title of the world's loudest band by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1972. And then there's the song "Smoke on the Water." "When that song came out it was such a fresh thing," Maxwell said. "No longer was the focus just on the lyrics. That guitar riff made the music as important as the words. Today most people don't remember the lyrics but they know that guitar lick." In 1984 Prince released "Purple Rain," an album that took the newly introduced music video to the next level as a full-length film. The album also introduced Prince's backing band. The Revolution, an apt title due to the soundtrack's revolutionary nature, Maxwell said. The album has since been seen as an avant-garde piece of work and has been named one of the greatest albums of all time by outlets like Time magazine, Rolling Stone, VH1 and others. "Purple's taking the softness of blue, the loudness of red, and meeting in the middle to make things a little ambiguous. It's a blend of those two primary colors and is therefore a different way of looking at things," he said.

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and the operational deployment of the West African Regiment On the outbreak of war in August 1914 the Allies quickly moved against German possessions in West Africa. Togoland was seized (see: http://www.kaiserscross.com/188001/300143.html ) and the large colony of Kamerun was attacked. In Kamerun initial British attacks across the Nigerian border were repulsed by the Germans, but an amphibious assault on Douala seized that port on 27th September 1914. The allied commander, Brigadier General Sir C.M. Dobell CMG, DSO, then ordered two columns to move north and attack Susa and Yabasi (sometimes spelt as Jabassi.) Yabasi lay 50 miles (80 kilometres) up the Wuri River which was navigable. The Royal Navy was tasked with transporting the column to Yabasi. Column Commander was Brevet Colonel E.H. Gorges DSO, the Commandant of the West African Regiment. Colonel Gorges force consisted of a land party under Lieutenant Colonel E. Vaughan (Manchester Regiment and West African Regiment) who commanded: 2 sections of mountain artillery, one section each coming from the Sierra Leone Battery and the Gold Coast Battery, West African Frontier Force (WAFF). plus 2 machine guns from the West African Regiment 2 companies from the 1st Nigeria Half of the Pioneer Company of the Gold Coast medical detachments and 688 porters. the Royal Navy, under Commander the Honourable B.T.C.O. Freeman-Mitford, was a flotilla comprised of: Mole a dredger armed with a 6-inch gun. Dreadnought a lighter also mounting a 6-inch gun. Balbus a steam tug that towed the Dreadnought and carried three 1-pounder guns. boat from HMS Cumberland, armed with one 3-pounder gun and a machine gun. The steam launches Sokoto, Crocodile and Alligator, each armed with one machine gun. gun and detachment for employment on land. guns and crews came from HMS Challenger at The West African Regiment (WAR) in Sierra Leone was one of the Royal Navy’s most important harbours and bases, and it needed an effective garrison. White troops sent there were decimated by fever and had to be replaced by battalions of the West India Regiment from the Caribbean. Internal unrest in Sierra Leone caused the British to raise a local infantry regiment in the colony in 1896 titled the West African The WAR was an Imperial unit; that meant that its cost was born by the British War Office and not by colonial revenues raised in Sierra Leone. The regiment’s primary role was to defend the colony’s capital Freetown, but it was also available for operations anywhere in the world. The regiment raised twelve companies of infantrymen from tribes in the Sierra Leone interior. The unit strength was: 60 British seconded officers, 25 British seconded Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and 1,500 African rank and file. The regimental march was Rule Britannia. In the early days the regiment was dressed in a blue single-breasted tunic with five gilt buttons and standing collar, knee-length baggy blue breeches, a low red fez for headdress and a brown belt with two pouches. Boots and gaiters were not issued or used. The soldiers were armed with the .303-inch Lee Metford magazine rifle. By 1914 the soldiers were wearing a khaki flannel smock and calf-length breeches, but the men still fought in bare feet. The rifle in use was the Short Magazine Lee Enfield, and two machine guns had been issued to the regiment. In Kamerun the red fez was replaced by a green Kilmarnock hat and the belt and pouches were replaced with M08 web equipment. In pre-war days the WAR had deployed five companies into the interior of Sierra Leone, and had stationed the regimental headquarters and seven companies at Wilberforce, outside Freetown. The West African Regiment should not be confused with the Sierra Leone Battalion of the West African Frontier Force, which was a colonially-funded, directed and administered unit. The approach up the Wuri River up-river started on 7th October and was enlivened by canoe-loads of villagers trying to cling on to the vessels to get a free ride. Some of the canoe men climbed aboard the Royal Navy craft to search for removable objects, and they had to be ejected. As the long snake of vessels, led by the flagship Mole, passed Bosida the ‘King’ (head chief) of the region came aboard for a visit. He had been hiding in the bush for three days as the withdrawing Germans were hanging anyone in authority who was thought to favour the Allies. Left: The Wuri River at Yabasi As Nsake Fort was reached, 10 miles (16 kilometres) south of Yabasi, the flotilla came under enemy rifle fire. Machine gun and 3-pounder fire sprayed and bombarded the fort in reply. A company of WAR disembarked and seized the fort which was found to be empty. Local villagers advised that the enemy had quickly withdrawn up-river to Yabasi. Deployment into action at Yabasi defenders of Yabasi were the 1st (Depot) Company of the Schutztruppe supported by local policemen and local Europeans. Knowing that the British flotilla was on its way towards them they had planned a sound defence, and they wanted to fight. into the flotilla’s sight at 0800 hours on 7th October, and shortly afterwards the effects of the hot tropical sun began to be felt by the entire British column. The Mole and the Dreadnought bombarded Yabasi town whilst the troops disembarked on the west side of the river. The east side was thought to be too swampy and no British troops landed there. This was a big mistake. ordered Lieutenant Colonel Vaughan to advance with a main body of 4 companies and the machine gun section WAR, the Gold Coast pioneers and the Gold Coast mountain artillery. The remaining sub-units and the naval 12-pounder gun were held in reserve. At this time the flotilla noticed enemy movement on the east bank. A message was despatched to Colonel Gorges but it either did not arrive or was ignored. Lieutenant Colonel Vaughan was now ordered to seize a mound south of the town whilst Captain E. S. Brand (Royal Fusiliers and WAR) led a left-flanking attack (see sketch map). The mound was evacuated by the enemy and the British occupied it. machine gunners on both sides of the river opened fire on the flotilla and on the British troops on the mound. Enemy rounds hit the gun mountings on the vessels, forcing Commander Freeman-Mitford to withdraw his flotilla down-river out of range. This denied Colonel Gorges the naval gun fire support that he had been counting on. The tug Balbus had disobeyed orders and pushed her way too far upstream, and as she withdrew she ran aground on an island and had to be abandoned. The navy was now pre-occupied with emptying Balbus of her guns and other loose items. Things were going Disaster on the British left flank ordered the naval 12-pounder to be dragged onto the mound by the naval gun detachment and some accompanying Royal Marines. He then went to inspect his left flank attack, as it appeared to be The troops on the left flank were in disarray. They had advanced through a swamp to a river which could only be crossed by one bridge. German machine gunners had a clear field of fire from Yabasi and were knocking down anyone approaching the bridge. Captain Brand was dead along with Staff Sergeant (Armourer) Frederick C. Wade (Royal Army Ordnance Corps and WAR) and Colour Sergeant Hector McGuirk (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and WAR). Lieutenant R.D. Bennett (Middlesex Regiment), the WAR Machine Gun Officer, was severely wounded. Twelve African soldiers had also been killed and 19 others wounded; many of these casualties were WAR machine gunners. On the river five British sailors had been Left: Captain Ernest Stanley Brand on the left flank were now either thrashing around in tall elephant grass or were unwilling to face the German machine guns. Tactical unity had been lost. A company of the 1st Nigeria Regiment was ordered to mount another flanking attack with the intention of going further to the west and getting onto ground beyond the bridge. But direction was lost in the thick, swampy bush and the Nigerians emerged behind the WAR instead of in front and to the left. Colonel Gorges now turned to what he perceived to be his trump card, the naval detachment on the mound; here he found the men prostrated with exhaustion. Having no real idea of the physical demands made by bush warfare, the naval detachment had thought that it could haul the 12-pounder gun and ammunition without the assistance of local porters. To compound this situation the detachment had been ordered into action wearing heavy marching order. The result was that although the 12-pounder was on the mound, the gunners were too exhausted to man it efficiently and the marines were too exhausted to fight forward. As dusk was now approaching a British retirement was ordered. The men re-embarked and the flotilla, less Balbus, sailed back down-river to Nsake for the night. It then returned to Douala. The second British attack on Yabasi ordered an immediate second assault on Yabasi. The WAR was rested and Colonel Gorges was given another column The Nigerian Mountain Artillery Battery (less one section) WAFF. from the Gold Coast Mountain Artillery Battalion The Nigeria Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel J.B. Cockburn (Royal Welch Fusiliers and Nigeria A Composite Battalion consisting of 2 companies of the Sierra Leone Battalion WAFF and 2 companies of the Gold Coast Regiment WAFF, under Lieutenant Colonel R.A. de B. Rose (Worcester Regiment and Gold Coast Regiment, WAFF). from the Pioneer Company of the Gold Medical detachments and 450 porters. flotilla, again under Commander Mitford, was similar to the previous one but this time 100 porters accompanied the 12-pounder gun. October the Composite Battalion was landed on both banks of the river at Nsake and advanced. Officers’ patrols located the enemy near Yabasi also on both banks of the river, as before. The following morning 1st Nigeria Regiment (less one company), one section of Gold Coast Pioneers, the Nigerian mountain gunners and the naval 12-pounder detachment were landed on the west side of the river south of Yabasi. Lieutenant Colonel Cockburn was tasked with getting behind and to the north of Yabasi by making a wide left flanking approach. The remainder of the column was held afloat by Colonel Gorges so that he could reinforce either bank of the By 1300 hours the British troops on both banks were in contact with the enemy who was fighting a withdrawing action. The flotilla provided fire support and by 1500 hours Yabasi was encircled. One hour later the British held all the enemy trenches. Ten enemy prisoners were taken by 1st Nigeria Regiment. The British had lost 2 men wounded and one British NCO who died from the effects of the sun. On the 15th October British patrols ascertained that the Germans were retreating towards Nyamtam, and there was some inconclusive skirmishing. The flotilla successfully salved the Balbus, although it had to be sent to Nigeria for a refit. The 1st Bn The Nigeria Regiment was left to garrison the Yabasi area and the remainder of the column returned to Douala. The British dead from the first attack were buried in Douala Cemetery. At Yabasi the British troops learned to respect German machine gunnery. Experience acquired the hard way during the failed first attack helped the second attack to succeed. African Regiment continued operating in Kamerun and was a useful unit. After the conquest of the territory the WAR provided garrison troops for Kamerun, Togo and Gambia, and internal security troops for northern Nigeria. During the Great War 7 British officers and Non Commissioned Officers were killed in action and 4 others were wounded or injured; 27 African soldiers were killed, 17 died of disease and 41 were Colonel Gorges was appointed to be a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (CB) and a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). Two officers in the WAR were awarded Military Crosses. Five British officers and eight Sierra Leonian soldiers were Mentioned in Despatches. Being Imperial troops the soldiers in the WAR were unfortunately not eligible to receive the African Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) which was awarded to WAFF soldiers, and none were considered for the Imperial DCM. honours awarded to the regiment were: Sierra Leone 1897-98; Ashanti 1900; Cameroons 1914-16; and Duala. In 1928 the regiment was disbanded as a cost-cutting measure. At the time of disbandment the Prince of Wales was the Colonel-in-Chief. This was sad end to a colonial Imperial unit that had served Britain well. The Great War in West Africa by Brigadier General E. Howard Gorges CB, CBE, DSO. Official History. Military Operations Togoland and the Cameroons by Brigadier General F.J. Moberly CB, CSI, DSO. The History of the Royal West African Frontier Force by Colonel A. Haywood CMG, CBE, DSO and Brigadier F.A.S. Clarke DSO. The Naval Review 1915. Imperial Sunset. Frontier Soldiering in the 20th Century by James Lunt. Colonial Armies. Africa 1850 to 1918 by Peter The Empire at War by Sir Charles Lucas KCB, KCMG.

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Space > Space Shuttle-3rd Edition Space Shuttle-3rd Edition The eighty year history of developing reusable lifting-reentry spacecraft. From the early works of Eugen Sanger in Germany to the Cold War developments in the US, then finally to the ultimate experiment - the Space Shuttle. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch, this greatly enlarged third edition adds many previously uncovered early designs, details the latest modifications to the operational vehicles, and provides expanded coverage of the first 100 Space Shuttle missions. Search for more items by this author: Dennis R. Jenkins Space Shuttle-3rd Edition from Specialty Press

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Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. WorldNow and this Station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith. If you have any questions or comments about this page please contact email@example.com. SOURCE Ford Motor Company DEARBORN, Mich., March 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ford reduced the average amount of water used to make each vehicle by 8.5 percent between 2011 and 2012 – putting the company more than halfway toward its current goal of using an average of just 4 cubic meters per vehicle globally by 2015. Since 2000, Ford has reduced the amount of water it uses in everything from cooling towers to parts washing and paint operations by 10.6 billion gallons, or 62 percent. That's equal to the amount of water used by nearly 99,000 U.S. residences annually, or enough to fill 16,000 Olympic-size pools. Ford's reduced consumption rates mean even more to regions around the world struggling with water-related issues like drought and extensive population growth. Ford's water reduction success is a result of the company's commitment to reduce the amount of water it uses by aggressively monitoring and managing just about every drop of water going into and out of its facilities and properties, says Andy Hobbs, director, Environmental Quality Office. Since 2000, Ford decreased the total amount of water used around the world annually from 64 million cubic meters to 24 million cubic meters. "That's about 10.6 billion gallons of water that was conserved and went to use somewhere else," says Hobbs. Ford voluntarily launched its Global Water Management Initiative in 2000, putting in place ways to manage water conservation, quality and reuse of storm and process water. Ford's water strategy complements the company's overall Code of Human Rights, Basic Working Conditions and Corporate Responsibilities. "Ford recognizes the critical importance of water, and is committed to conserving water and using it responsibly," says Robert Brown, vice president, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. "Many vehicle manufacturing processes require water and the resource is used at every point in our supply chain." Ford aims to use an average of 1,056 gallons of water to make each vehicle globally – consistent with its overall goal of a 30 percent reduction in the amount of water used per vehicle between 2009 and 2015. That is slightly more than the 1,000 gallons fire engine tankers in the U.S. are required to contain in their tanks. One cubic meter of water is equal to 264 gallons. Continuing the progress Ford had a positive impact on the world's water supply in many ways during 2012. The Ford Fund, for example, supported 19 different water-related projects in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India, Germany and South Africa. One project in arid Southwest China, for instance, involved 60 Ford employees from Nanjing, who helped eight families build water cellars designed to capture water during the rainy season to store and use during drier times of the year. At the same time, Ford's biggest water-related projects were within its own facilities and included: These accomplishments reflect Ford's overall approach to water use, which emphasizes several goals: More information about Ford's water use-related efforts can be found in the company's annual sustainability report that is released annually every June. The most recent version can be found here. About Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 171,000 employees and 65 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide, please visit http://corporate.ford.com. ©2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved.

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In addition, health issues, such as pain, asthma, restless legs syndrome, and back problems, also can contribute to lack of sleep. So can some medications, such as decongestants, steroids and some medicines for high blood pressure, asthma or depression. Secrets of good sleep You can take steps to shift your body and mind into more beneficial sleep habits: - Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, comfortable and cool. “Making your bedroom a sanctuary conducive for sleep can make a significant difference in the quality of sleep you get,” says Dr. Wolfson. - Go to sleep and wake up at the same time, even on weekends. Doing so helps keep your internal “circadian clock” in balance, which signals your body to sleep and wake in a regular pattern. - Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine that might include reading a book, listening to soothing music or doing something else you find relaxing. “A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime helps separate your sleep time from activities that can make it more difficult to fall asleep or remain asleep,” says Dr. Wolfson. “Parents know that a bedtime routine can help children get a good night’s sleep. Doing the same for themselves can have the same results.” - Make sure your mattress is comfortable and supportive. Good-quality mattresses generally last about 10 years. Have comfortable pillows and make the room attractive and inviting. - Avoid caffeine close to bedtime. Caffeine products, such as coffee, tea and colas, remain in the body, on average, from three to five hours, but they can affect some people up to 12 hours later. - Avoid alcohol close to bedtime. Many people think of alcohol as a sedative, but it actually disrupts sleep, causing nighttime awakenings. - Quit smoking. Nicotine is a stimulant that can make it more difficult for smokers to fall asleep, stay asleep and wake in the morning. Smokers should never smoke in bed or when they’re sleepy. - Finish eating at least two or three hours before your regular bedtime. Be aware that large, high-fat or spicy meals may cause heartburn, which leads to difficulty falling asleep and discomfort during the night. - Exercise regularly but complete your workout at least a few hours before bedtime. Exercising regularly makes it easier to fall asleep and contributes to sounder sleep. However, working out right before going to bed will make falling asleep more difficult. - Find ways to manage stress and anxiety. Relaxation exercises, meditation or deep breathing work for many people. “If there are problems or issues keeping you awake, try writing them in a notebook and putting it away,” suggests Dr. Wolfson. “That way, you’ve registered your concerns but become free to put them aside until morning.” When to seek help If your sleep problems persist for longer than a week and are bothersome, or if sleepiness interferes with the way you feel or function during the day, don’t self-medicate with sleeping pills; make an appointment with your doctor. “The key to better sleep is recognizing you’re not getting enough deep, restorative sleep, and then doing something about it,” says Dr. Wolfson. “Failure to do so puts you and others at risk.”

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Most Active Stories Sun September 25, 2011 Launch Logistics: Speedy Rocket, Slow Electronics Weird things jump out at me in press releases. Take the press kit NASA prepared for the GRAIL mission. GRAIL consists of two nearly identical spacecraft that are on their way to the moon. Once there, they will make a precise map of the moon's gravitational field. Such a map will help scientists refine their theories about how the moon formed and what the interior is made of. So I'm reading through the GRAIL press kit, learning about the size of the spacecraft (washing machine-sized), how long it will take to make the map (approximately three months), and where the mission control room is (at a Lockheed Martin facility just outside of Denver). I also learn that GRAIL can launch any day between Sept. 9 and Oct. 19. And then I get to this sentence: "On each day, there are two separate, instantaneous launch opportunities separated in time by approximately 39 minutes." That's weird. Now, I wasn't surprised that this mission had an extremely precise launch opportunity — "instantaneous" means the launch window is essentially a second long. I know you have to wait until the moon's orbit around the Earth, and Earth's orbit around the sun, and the Earth's rotation around its axis are all in exactly the right position before you can launch your rocket. But what's up with two instantaneous launch opportunities. Why 39 minutes apart? I called the NASA press office. They were stumped and promised they'd find someone who could give me the answer. In the meantime, I called several universities with large aerospace programs, and asked if anyone there had the answer. Nope. Nada. Nothing. So now this is beginning to bug me. I'm also beginning to worry. If an aerospace engineer can't figure this out, how am I ever going to understand it? While I'm pondering this, GRAIL deputy project manager Tom Hoffman called. I asked him about the two instantaneous launch opportunities. "It's a pretty simple answer not driven by the mission at all," Hoffman told me. "It's driven by the launch vehicle." The launch vehicle? Not orbital mechanics or a complex trajectory? The problem, Hoffman said, is some slow electronics. There is actually a launch window of 40 minutes or so each day. Modern computers in modern rockets can calculate the precise direction the rocket needs to launch on a second-by-second basis. But GRAIL was launching on a Delta II rocket, and Hoffman told me the Delta II rocket is a rather old design. It's been around for more than 20 years, "and so the rocket just can't, it can't do that internally, in its own computer system. It basically has to be fed all the information," he said. Hoffman said it takes about 39 minutes to load in the new information, and then check to make sure that it was loaded correctly. Not the answer I was expecting, but there's something oddly pleasing about a brand-new space mission launching with some rather old electronics. Whatever works ... as the saying goes.

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What is the Keystone XL Pipeline? The 1,700-mile long Keystone XL Pipeline would connect the Alberta oil sand fields in Canada to refineries in Texas. The multi-billion dollar project is being proposed by TransCanada, a Canadian energy company. TransCanada has been attempting to get a permit for the pipeline for over three years. The proposed line would travel through six U.S. states: Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The line would cross through 16 counties in North and East Texas. The pipeline itself would be 36 inches around. Since the pipeline crosses international borders, TransCanada needs to obtain a Presidential Permit through the State Department for construction of the portion of the pipeline that goes from Canada to the U.S. On February 27, 2012, TransCanada announced it would start construction on a section of its Keystone XL pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to Texas...

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The aviation sector is renowned as a carbon intensive business, but an increasing number of airports are looking to change that by integrating the latest green-tech into their daily operations. Air travel and transport accounts for two percent of all human generated greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- with airports contributing five percent to the overall aviation figure. By adapting clean energy policies and technologies, eco-conscious airport operators hope to make a dent in these numbers and boost the industry's environmental street-cred. "We are making our airports greener, while balancing the tremendous economic impacts they deliver for our region," says Amy Malick, deputy commissioner of sustainability for the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), which will host the fifth annual Airports Going Green conference this November. The conference provides a platform for over 400 airport executives and green thinkers from around the world to present programs, strategies, and lessons-learned regarding airport sustainability. "(We are) committed to implementing sustainable initiatives at our airports that enhance the quality of life for citizens," she adds. Malick highlights how the CDA has installed over 230,000 square feet of vegetated roof space at Chicago O'Hare and Midway International Airport, ensured all Chicago airport trucks are fueled with ultra-low sulfur diesel gas and insisted recycled materials are utilized in all airports when possible. As a result, the CDA has saved 76,000 tons of CO2 from being pumped out by Chicago's airports alone, she claims. Across the U.S. like-minded schemes are taking off with increasing regularity. Airports such as Boston Logan and Denver International now generate a small percentage of their energy requirements from renewable energy sources (such as on site wind and solar). In Europe meanwhile 64 airports have joined the Airport Carbon Accreditation program, which recognizes innovative eco-airport efforts. A further five sites have signed up to the scheme in Asia.

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Hands on activityThe English designer William Morris was influenced by Indian patterns when he designed this block printed cotton fabric in 1883. Other British designers used Indian patterns, such as 'Paisley'. Using factories, British cloth makers were able to make cheaper fabrics and sell it in India in Victorian times. Indian weavers spun, wove and decorated their cloth in their own homes and this made it more expensive, so many of them went out of business. Have a look at the images below. They show some designs, cloth printing and the blocks used to print cloths. You would need to print with your block thousands of time to decorate a large piece of cloth by hand. You can make a printing block using a potato - it's much easier to carve than wood! You will need: a big potato paper for your pattern a small knife with a pointed end or a scalpel fabric paints or dyes - use indigo, turmeric or henna if you want to make authentic Indian colours paper plates for mixing colours 1. Cut your potato in half and leave it to dry for a few hours. If you want, you can slice off the edges to make a square, which will be easier to line up when you print. You can also use a polystyrene ceiling tile, with the pattern drawn into it. You can buy real wood printing blocks in some Indian shops if you want to print from wood. 2. Design your printing block pattern on thin white paper, filling in the areas to be cut out. Remember to make the pattern no larger than the potato. Cut the paper 1 centimetre bigger than the design. 3. Tape your paper design onto the dry potato. 4. Get an adult to help with this part. Using the sharp knife or scalpel, cut out your design. 5. Mix your dyes or fabric paints on the paper plate. If you are using an Indian dye such as turmeric make it into quite a thick paste. 6. Paint the dye onto your potato block, or press the block into the dye on the plate. 7. Practice printing the block on some scrap paper before you try it on the fabric. 8. Print the pattern onto the fabric. It looks best when you print repeated patterns, or try different colours next to each other. Keep the patterns in line using a long ruler. 9. Leave the fabric to dry. Need some inspiration? Have a look at the some Victorian paisley patterns. You can have a go at a block printing activity in this Museum Open Learning Initiative activity. Wooden blocks are available ready made from Parrotfish. Have a look at some William Morris designs and download some wallpaper.

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Age: 2-5 years Little ones can make flowers using muffin liners, glitter glue and buttons. What You Need: •Glue (we used glitter glue) •Muffin liners (we used some plain and some silver) What You Do: - Let your little ones put glue on the construction paper whereever they would like to put a "flower". - Have them place a muffin liner on the glue. Repeat. - Encourage your child/student to put a dab of glue in the center of the muffin liner. - Then, have them place a button on the glue dab. - To complete the picture, little ones can use markers to draw stems and leaves on the construction paper. www.KinderArt.com | www.KinderArtLittles.com © Andrea Mulder-Slater and KinderArt ®

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Protecting your home against winter's 'silent killer' (BPT) - It’s colorless, odorless and the No. 1 cause of accidental poisoning in the United States. And, it worsens in the winter. Known as the “silent killer,” carbon monoxide (CO) is responsible for an average of 450 deaths and 20,000 emergency room visits each year, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. With more than two-fifths of all CO poisonings occurring between December and February, homeowners are at increased risk once temperatures begin to drop. “During the winter months, many families turn to heating sources they might not use at other times of the year,” says Deborah Hanson, director of external affairs for First Alert, the most trusted name in home safety. “While these heating sources may be effective at providing warmth, they also can pose great risks if not used properly. To help protect loved ones from the dangers of CO poisoning, it is important for homeowners to take proper precautions when dealing with any kind of fuel-burning heat source.” First Alert recommends the following tips and tools for keeping your home and loved ones warm – and safe – this winter and all year long: Protect against CO poisoning Run kitchen vents or exhaust fans any time the stove is in use. The kitchen stove is among the most frequent sources of CO poisoning in the home. To help eliminate danger of overexposure, never use the oven to heat a home. Always run exhaust fans when cooking, especially during the holidays when stoves are left on for longer periods of time. Also, open a nearby window periodically when cooking to allow fresh air to circulate. Never use generators indoors. In the case of a power outage, portable electricity generators must be used outside only with power brought into the structure with a cord. Never use them inside the home, in a garage or in any confined area that can allow CO to collect. And be careful to follow operating instructions closely. Also refrain from using charcoal grills, camp stoves or other similar devices indoors. Have fuel-burning appliances inspected regularly. Arrange for a professional inspection of all fireplaces and fuel-burning appliances – such as furnaces, stoves, clothes dryers, water heaters and space heaters – annually to detect any CO leaks. Be mindful of the garage. Warming the car in the morning before work is common during the winter months, but running vehicles inside an attached garage, even if the door is open, is hazardous, as CO can leak into the home. Install/test CO alarms. Carbon monoxide alarms are the only way to detect this poisonous gas in a home. For maximum protection, alarms should be installed on every level of the home and near each sleeping area. Test alarm function monthly and change batteries every six months. In addition, alarms should be replaced every five to seven years to ensure proper function. If the installation date is unknown, replace immediately. For more information on carbon monoxide safety, visit www.firstalert.com.

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Mary Anne Dunkin Louise Chang, MD Two decades ago, if you had moderate to severe Crohn's, there were few treatment options. In the late 1990s, however, the first in a new class of treatment options emerged for Crohn's disease. Referred to as biologic response modifiers, biologic agents, or simply biologics, these drugs target specific parts of an overactive immune system to reduce inflammation. Biologics not only relieve Crohn's symptoms but also can bring about remission and keep you in remission. They are indicated for use when someone has moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease and has not responded well to other Crohn’s disease treatments. Many people with Crohn's now live with significantly fewer symptoms, but may worry about side effects. Here's a look at the risks and benefits of biologics. In Crohn's disease, an overactive immune system causes inflammation and damage to the digestive tract. Made from living organisms, biologics work just like substances made by the body’s immune system and can help control the immune system response. Four biologics are FDA approved for Crohn's. Three of the four block a protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) that's involved in inflammation. These drugs are often called anti-TNF drugs or TNF inhibitors. They include Cimzia (certolizumab), Humira (adalimumab), and Remicade (infliximab). The fourth medication, Tysabri (natalizumab), is called an integrin receptor antagonist. It blocks certain types of white blood cells that are involved in inflammation. Because they suppress the immune system, all biologics carry an increased risk of infections, which in rare cases can be serious. Cimzia, Humira, and Remicade carry a boxed warning for increased risk of serious infections leading to hospitalization or death. If someone taking a biologic develops a serious infection, the drug should be discontinued. People with tuberculosis, heart failure, or multiple sclerosis should not take biologics because they can bring on these conditions or make them worse. In rare cases, some people taking TNF inhibitors have developed certain cancers such as lymphoma. Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymph system, which is part of the body’s immune system. Tysabri increases the risk of a very rare but potentially fatal brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Tysabri also can cause allergic reactions and liver damage. Tysabri should not be used at the same time as other treatments that suppress the immune system or TNF inhibitors. However, most infections that occur with biologic use are far less serious, says Richard Bloomfeld, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston Salem, N.C. "Infections such as colds, upper respiratory tract infections, and urinary tract infections are common and don't necessarily alter our treatment of Crohn's." Other common side effects from biologic use include headache, flu-like symptoms, nausea, rash, injection site pain, and infusion reactions. So who should take a biologic for Crohn's? Many gastroenterologists reserve these drugs for people who have not responded to conventional medications that suppress the immune system. But some gastroenterologists may treat Crohn's more aggressively. "If you let inflammation go, inflammation leads to scarring and scarring leads to narrowing of the intestines, which becomes a surgical problem," says Prabhakar Swaroop, MD, assistant professor and director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "You want to treat the person aggressively to prevent these problems." "In addition to improving symptoms, the anti-TNF modifiers are associated with mucosal healing," says Bloomfeld. "We hope that in healing the mucosa we can stop the progression of the disease and prevent complications of Crohn's that result in hospitalization and surgery." While there are other treatments that suppress the immune system to treat Crohn's, they too have side effects, says Bloomfeld. Like the biologics, drugs that suppress the immune system increase the risk of lymphomas and infections, which can be severe. Cortiosteroids like prednisone, for example, can cause a wide range of adverse effects including weight gain, mood swings, bone loss, skin bruising, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. Those side effects are why corticosteroids may be used to control a flare, but aren't the choice to treat Crohn's over a long period of time. "The stop-gap method, which is steroids, is something we cannot use long term," says Swaroop. When prescribing any drug, doctors look at the potential risks against the benefits they hope or expect to achieve. Although doctors don't all share the same philosophy on when to start biologics for Crohn's disease, they do agree that biologics should be used when people have severe disease that can lead to permanent damage and make surgery unavoidable. Swaroop says he looks for signs that the disease is progressing, such as how long between a person's diagnosis of Crohn's and when they have fistulas. "These are the patients who generally do better on biologics, who have the quality of life improvement, who are able to avoid surgery and get back in the workforce," he says. Before prescribing biologics, doctors check for potential problems. "In the beginning, of course, we go ahead and make sure the person does not have an active liver infection or TB," says Marie Borum, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Division of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Once someone starts a biologic, the doctor looks for side effects in order to find them before they become serious. Monitoring includes include lab tests and possibly regular skin checks for signs of skin cancer. All effective therapies for Crohn's disease come with some risk, says Bloomfeld. "It is not an option not to treat Crohn's, so we certainly need to weigh these risks against the benefits of having the disease well treated." "It may be challenging for the individual to consider all of these risk and benefits. They need to work with their gastroenterologist to decide what might be most beneficial for them and what risk they are willing to accept to effectively treat Crohn's disease," Bloomfeld says. "You have to be willing to accept some risk to adequately treat Crohn's disease." SOURCES:Crohn's Colitis Foundation of America: "Biologic Therapies."Marie Borum, MD, professor of medicine; director, Division of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.Richard Bloomfeld, MD, associate professor of medicine; director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, N.C.Prabhakar Swaroop, MD, assistant professor; director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Here are the most recent story comments.View All The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of NewsSource 16 The Health News section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.

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Blood sugar is your body's primary source of fuel and plays a vital role in physical and mental well-being. But when it rises above normal, your health, your energy levels, and your weight-loss efforts are jeopardized. Even before blood sugar levels reach the point of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, the health problems can be serious. More and more research links even slightly high blood sugar to food cravings, mood swings, and excess weight, as well as pregnancy and fertility problems, heart attacks, stroke, and even some forms of cancer, early evidence suggests. Good nutrition in general can help keep type 2 diabetes and high blood sugar at bay. But some specific foods and spices have been found to lower or help control blood sugar. Give these a taste. Avocado. This fruit is rich in a particular kind of monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, which has been found to improve fat levels in the body and help control diabetes. Help yourself to another serving of avocado! Beans. Many studies have shown that eating foods high in soluble fiber, particularly beans, reduces the rise in blood sugar after meals and delays the drop in blood sugar later on. Cinnamon. Some alternative practitioners think that cinnamon may be helpful in making insulin receptors work better. Stir 1 teaspoon daily into a food or beverage. Other spices found to help the body use insulin more efficiently include bay leaf, clove, and turmeric. Coffee. Regular drinkers may be less likely to develop diabetes, reveals a study from the University of Minnesota. Diabetes experts suspect that compounds and minerals in coffee beans may improve the sensitivity of insulin receptors and help the body process blood sugar more efficiently. Orange. Studies indicate the soluble fiber and pectin in oranges can help control changes in blood sugar as well as help lower cholesterol. Sweet potato. Despite its name -- and a flavor so luscious it makes a good dessert -- the sweet potato doesn't raise your blood sugar as high, or as fast, as a white potato. Tea. Studies have shown that extracts of black tea may significantly reduce blood sugar levels. And enjoying a cup of chamomile tea may be more than a restful nighttime ritual -- the herb may help reduce blood sugar fluctuations. For more healthy living news and features, visit PureMatters.com -- and don't forget to stop by the Pure Matters Shop for all your vitamin and supplement needs. Source: Pure Matters http://www.purematters.com/prevention/diabetes/foods-that-help-balance-blood-sugar

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Affton, Mo (KSDK) -- School leaders are teaching character education to prevent bullying. Teachers and counselors at Mesnier Primary School in Affton are getting the message across early that words hurt and the kids are paying attention. Counselors are also teaching kids anger management, using puppets. "It's a turtle trick. When someone's bullying you, you go over to the peace path and there's this little turtle and he bends in his shell like this, and then you do it, and you count to 10, and most of the time, it gets your anger from being bullied," sauid Camden Schlueter, a student. In Ladue, administrators have given teachers and students a took to report bullyig. "Students and staff can use forms to fill out to go directly to counselors and administrators," said Maggie Travers, a Ladue School District psychologist. "We have some policies in places that address these issues when they come up." In South Roxana, Illinios, the approach is pro-active. "The thing we try to do most is to promote positive behavior," said Principal Nate Porter. Even with these tools, there are conflicts, something Mesnier school teaches young kids to resolve. "We bring them itno the office where we have a peace place to talk to the kids," explained Guidance Counselor Janet Winchester. "If they're comfortable with it, then we have the kids work it out and we have a littel conflict mediation." "It's called rock, paper, scissors," said Abbey Dallman, a student. "And like if you're fighting over a swing, you can do rock, paper, scissors, to see who gets the swing. What teachers and administrators have learned is that early intervention tools work. They said teaching good behaviour in class was constructive than reactionary discipline. They believe the number one way to identify conflicts is by students speaking up and reporting problems.

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History professor examines state and territorial policies that affected early American Indian citizenship Deborah Rosen, professor and head of history, has taken an in-depth look at early American Indian policy-making in her most recent book, American Indians and State Law: Sovereignty, Race and Citizenship, 1790 – 1880 (University of Nebraska, December 2007). The publication examines the role that state and territorial governments played in extending jurisdiction over Indians as well as defining borders and the meaning of citizenship. “Belying the common assumption that Indian policy and regulation in the United States were exclusively within the federal government’s domain, the book reveals how states and territories extended their legislative and judicial authority over American Indians between the early national period and the Reconstruction era,” explains Rosen. “In this book, I detail how state and territorial governments regulated American Indians and brought them into local criminal courts, as well as how Indians contested states’ actions and asserted tribal sovereignty.” Several students assisted Rosen with her publication as EXCEL scholars. These students were Robert Alessi ’00, Tiffany Blakey ’01, Phillip Dudley ’04, Andrea Kotrosits ’03, and Michael Sparrow ’04. The students handled a plethora of primary source documents that were foundational to Rosen’s research, including judicial opinions, trial records, statutes, legislative hearings, constitutional convention debates, newspapers, speeches, letters, and official reports. The finished book is a “discussion of nationwide patterns complemented by case studies focusing on New York, Georgia, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Massachusetts that demonstrate the decentralized nature of much of early American Indian policy,” according to Rosen. In addition to its cornerstone use of primary sources and divergent conclusion, Rosen’s book is the first to present a broad study of state and territorial Indian policies, laws, and judicial decisions in early United States history. - Exceptional Faculty - EXCEL/Undergraduate Research

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The Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (the MST), was formally created at the Primeiro Encontro de Trabalhadores Sem Terra [First Meeting of Landless Workers], which took place from January 21-24, 1984, in Cascavel, in the State of Paraná, in the south of Brazil. Today, the MST is organized in 22 states and pursues the same objectives defined at this 1984 Meeting and ratified at the First National Conference at Curitiba, Paraná, in 1985: to fight for land, for agrarian reform, and for the building of a just society, without exploiters and exploited. Since its creation, the MST has included in its political agenda the fight for schools and the discussion on what kind of school should be a part of the life of the Sem Terra family. This article discusses the pedagogical lessons that we can learn from the historical experience of the MST. Before introducing some of these, however, it is important to situate the context that allows us to think of a social movement of farm workers as a place that may have lessons to offer on the processes of human The MST came into its seventeenth year of existence reflecting deeply on two of the great tasks that were defined throughout its history: first, to help put an end to the "mortal sin" of the latifundium, decentralizing the lands of this immense country, Brazil, and making them socially productive; and second, to help humanize people, to develop human beings with dignity, identity, and a project for the future. This second task, perhaps the one that the MST has accomplished best since its undertaking, is what causes us to think more directly of the educational dimension of the Movement. The educational work of the MST has three main dimensions: first, the recovery of the dignity of thousands of families who once again have roots and purpose. The poor in everything have become citizens: people with rights, people who work, study, produce, are a part of their communities, and who, in their daily challenges, set a new agenda of discussion for this country. The second dimension is the building of a collective identity, one which goes beyond each person, family, and settlement. The identity of the Sem Terra [Landless], and the capital letters without a hyphen, like a proper name that identifies those who are no longer individuals who lack something have no land (land-less) but are individuals with a choice that of fighting for more social justice and dignity for all. This places each member of Sem Terra, through his/her participation in the MST, in a movement that is related to the re-encounter of humanity with itself. The third dimension is building the educational project of different generations of the Sem Terra family, one that combines schooling with broader concerns of human development and the training of militants. Viewing the history of the MST in this perspective, we encounter some pedagogical lessons, or how the proponents of a social struggle and a collectivity in movement deal with, and are concerned with, education. These lessons can help us reflect on each of our own educational practices, including those that we undertake in the schools. Reflecting on these lessons, we may begin to understand something even more profound: the MST has a pedagogy, that is, it has a praxis (combined theory and practice) of how people are educated, of how human beings develop. The Pedagogy of the Sem Terra Movement is the way through which the Movement has historically developed the social individual of the name Sem Terra, and has daily educated the people who are part of it. And the main educational principle of this pedagogy is the movement itself, a movement that unites diverse pedagogies, and in a special way unites the pedagogy of social struggle with the pedagogy of the land and the pedagogy of history, each one helping to make an imprint on our identity, mística, project. Sem Terra is the name of one who fights for the people who have roots in the land the land that is won, tilled, cared for and in the movement This is the main discussion we have today in the MST with our educators: how to make of the Pedagogy of the Movement a reference for our practice and our thought. To be an educator in the MST is to succeed in understanding the educational dimension of the Movementís actions, making them a mirror for its educational practices. It is a reference viewpoint to aid in discerning the limits and challenges of these practices. A mirror also educates our viewpoint to see beyond the MST, beyond the Sem Terra. The Pedagogy of the Movement takes shape in a dialogue with other educators, other students, and other pedagogical movements. It was precisely in the interaction with people and works concerned with human development that we managed to think about the MST as a pedagogical subject. From this new synthesis, we continue our dialogue with theories and practices of human development, along with specific thinking on the educational environment of our schools. From this dialogue with the Movementís practices and the thinking on human development throughout the history of humanity, an initial result regards the very concept of education. When we discuss practices of humanizing the field-workers as a product of education, we are in fact recovering an essential link to the work in education: to educate is to humanize, to cultivate learning to be a The MST works all the time at the limit between humanization and dehumanization; its struggle is that of life or death for thousands of people, who make their participation in the Movement a tool for re-learning to be human. This is the day-to-day task of the education of the Sem Terra in each march, each camp, each settlement And it is this same day-to-day practice that shows that the task is necessary and possible; that the adultsí and the agedís nearly lost humanity can be recovered through learning, and that it is even more necessary and possible to help in this learning from childhood. From this conception of education, there are pedagogical lessons we have managed to derive in this reflective counterpoint among the daily life of the MST, the diverse theories and practices on human development, and the concerns with how to educate the Sem Terra. These are lessons that also help us think and rethink the curriculum and the educational environment of our schools. 1. People are the greatest value produced and cultivated by the MST The Movement is the way that people collectively produce the Sem Terra identity and carry out the struggle for agrarian reform that is the root and strength of this identity. At times of the most acute social conflict, such as those we live through today, this is even more visible: it is on the people, on each one of them, that resistance depends, as well as the determination of the proposals, the conduct that persists as an image for society, the continuity in the face of the fiercest conflicts, the identity. The MST has succeeded in arriving at its seventeenth year because it has learned to value every person who is a part of its organization, and because it has defined human development as one of its main priorities. As educators, we need to be clear about what is in question every time we meet with those we are educating: we are facing human beings, who deserve our respect and dedication as human beings, and as members of an organization that fights for dignity. Our work in a school where the Sem Terra study, for example, needs to be thought of in the perspective of a great educational effort, which makes us responsible, interested, and committed. We need to reflect always on some basic questions: what human being are we helping to develop through our practice? Is there coherence with the humanity that the MST struggle has been producing and planning for throughout its history? And those we educate: what human being do they see when they look at themselves and their settlement companions? Have our educational practices helped them to value themselves as persons and take on the collective identity they help 2. People are educated by learning to be One of the things that often calls attention to the MSTís actions is the self-respect of the people who take part in it. This self-respect, or feeling of dignity, is produced to the extent that these people learn to be Sem Terra and to be proud of that name. And on taking on this social, collective identity we are Sem Terra, we are of the MST these people gradually discover dimensions of their personal and collective identity, as well: Iím a woman, Iím black, Iím a rural worker, Iím young, Iím an educator They are new individuals who are formed and begin to demand their place in the world, in history; they know they can and ought to fight for the right to be human wherever they are, with or against whomever they are. This returns us to the notion that this is an essential human task of learning: to look in the mirror of what we are and want to be, to take on personal and collective identities, to be proud of them, at the same time we are challenged with the movement of our permanent self-construction. To educate is to help build and strengthen identities, to draw faces, to form subjects. And this has everything to do with values, way of life, memory, culture. 3. People are educated in the actions they perform and the works they produce The MST forms the Sem Terra by putting them in a movement, which means in permanent action, action with the dynamic of a social struggle: occupations, encampments, marches, demonstrations of solidarity, the building of a new kind of life in the settlements, schools, activities of development. It is through such action that they learn that nothing is impossible to change, not even people, their propensities, their positions, their ways of life, their values. People are educated in action because it is the movement of action that molds the way to becoming human. Actions produce and are produced through social relations: that is, they set in motion another fundamental pedagogical element, which is the interaction between people, how they behave among each other, which is measured by the tools inherited from those who have produced other tools before (culture). In these relations, people show who they are, and at the same time they construct and revise their identities, their way of being. We are speaking of any action, or of acting for actingís sake, without any intentionality. We are speaking of action that produces works (material or not) that become the mirror in which people can see what they are or even want to be; and we are speaking mainly of work and the material production of our existence. There is no true education without action, without work, and without collective works. And, as the children remind us, there is also no education without games and play, which can also be thought of as collective action producing works. 4. People are educated by producing and reproducing culture The actions of the Sem Terra are loaded with cultural meanings that they learn to produce and express. In an occupation, on a march, or in the organization of a settlement, there appears not only what these families of workers are today, or at this particular moment. Every action brings together with it the way of being human that these people bear, the developing weight of the objective circumstances of their whole previous existence and the type of education they have received or lived. At the same time, their collective action is also usually the negation of certain traditions that have marked their lives up to now, and the projection of values they learn or re-learn in the pedagogical process of the Movement. The MSTís expressions, symbols, art, way of struggle, embody a cultural moment that neither begins nor ends at the moment of action. Each landless person who enters the MST also enters a world already productive of symbols, expressions, human examples, values, which, with each action, s/he learns to signify and resignify. One of the great pedagogical challenges of the MST with its social base has been precisely to help people make a new cultural synthesis, one that joins their past, present, and future in a new, rooted collective and personal identity. To live as if one struggles, to struggle as if one lives This is a coherent position that has been seen as necessary to the Movementís aims of social transformation, as well as in its permanent conflicts and challenges. Memory, mística, discussion of values, criticism and self-criticism, the study of history, these are some cultural tools that the Movement has been using in this construction. We can reflect then that to educate is to also to share meanings and tools of culture (Jerome Brunerís expression, in Arroyo 2000). It is to help people in the learning of signfying and resignifying their actions, in such a way that they may transform them into values, behavior, convictions, customs, expressions, symbols, art, that is, into a way of life chosen and reflected by the collectivity of which they form a part. This means, among other things, that to educate people is help to cultivate their memory; it is to become acquainted and reacquainted with their symbols, expressions, words; it is to situate them in a wider cultural and historical universe; it is to work with different languages, organize different moments and modes so that people may think about their practices, their roots, their plans, their lives 5. People are educated by living values Values are a fundamental dimension of culture; they are the principles of life, that for which we consider it worth living. Values are what move our practices, our life, our being human. Values are what produce in people the need to live for the sake of freedom and justice. Values are what move the striving of the Sem Terra to make their settlements utopian communities, consistent with the struggle that won them over. The MST has been very concerned with the cultivation of values, because it knows that it is the values, translated into culture, that it will leave as a heritage to its descendants and the new generations of those who fight for the people. And values only exist through people, their experiences, positions, convictions. And they are not born with each one: they are learned, cultivated through the collective processes of development, of education. For the MST, this has not been an easy battle: to recover and cultivate human values like solidarity, loyalty, the spirit of sacrifice for the collective well-being, companionship, seriousness, discipline, indignation in the face of injustices, the valuing of the Sem Terra identity, humility - in a society that day by day degenerates with the counter-values of individualism, consumerism, social apathy, lack of commitment to life, the exclusion of those who take part in social struggles But it is only by taking on the job of educating and re-educating people in its values that the MST can realize the project of 6. People are educated by learning how to solve problems In the actions of a social struggle knowledge is acquired and produced, and it is a very important dimension of the strategy for the humanization of the people. But one of the pedagogical lessons we have gleaned from the day-to-day life of the Movement is that the process of producing knowledge that effectively aids in the development of the person is that which is connected to the large and small questions of life. When a Sem Terra needs to know how to calculate an area in order to measure the land where his agro-villa will be settled, or when he needs to study geography to best choose the place for an occupation, this knowledge will certainly have more human and social density for him. When a Sem Terra child learns how to measure the materials that she needs to begin building her playground, or learns to write letters to people she likes, the same thing occurs. The expression "to know is to solve," from the Cuban educator José Martí, brings us to an even more radical question: it suggests to us that there is no true knowledge outside of concrete situations, or the solution to problems of "real" life. And it really seems to be so, especially when this question is put into the context of pedagogical processes. To educate is to socialize knowledge and is also the tool for producing knowledge that affects peopleís lives in their various dimensions of identity and universality. To learn in order to solve problems means to understand knowledge as a comprehension of reality in order to transform it, comprehension of the human condition in order to make it fuller, which is a very old lesson that the Pedagogy of the Movement is merely recovering. 7. People are educated by learning from the past to plan for the future It was in this way that the Movement made itself as it is: learning from those who had struggled before, cultivating the memory of their own path. History is made in this way: planning for the future beginning with the lessons of the past cultivated in the present. ĎThe land holds the rootsí, says one of the MSTís songs. Education also must hold the roots, helping to cultivate the memory of the people and in the development of historical consciousness. Educators have a very specific task for this: their meetings with their learners can be a privileged time for learning to cultivate the collective memory, and for the study of a broader history. To know that this can make a difference: the memory of the debts to the people that were not paid, the wounds that were not healed, is not erased. It is necessary to educate every Sem Terra family so that their rural roots, their culture, and how these roots take part in the formation of the Brazilian people, are not forgotten, so that all the Sem Terra may learn how they came to the condition of being rural landless workers, and how they have many other brothers all over the world in a similar condition, who are also carrying on a struggle for the land and for agrarian reform as we are. And as educators we also need to learn from this memory and its cultivation, not to remain imprisoned in the past, but, on the contrary, to set it in motion and plan for the future what is best for everyone. 8. People are educated in collectivities The MST is a collectivity. And in it the Sem Terra learn that the collective is the great subject of the struggle for land as well as its great educator. Nobody gets his/her land by him/herself; the occupations, the encampments, the settlements are collective works. The force of each person is in his roots, which is his part in a collectivity with a memory and project for the future. It is through taking part in the collective and its works that people are educated not alone, but in relation to others which potentializes their own singular, unique person. People do not learn to be human by themselves. Without the bonds of their participation in collectives they cannot go forward to a fully human condition. Uprooted people are dehumanized people, who do not recognize themselves in any past and have no project for the future. To educate is to help root people in strong collectives; it is to potentialize social, human harmony in the construction of identities, values, knowledge, feelings. An educational environment is fundamentally an educational collective, moved and planned by teachers, but shared by all of its members. In a true collective, all are at the same time educators and educated, because all are a part of the process of learning and re-learning to be human. 9. The educator educates by conduct The educator educates by conduct much more than by words. The strength of the MST is not in its speeches, but in its actions and in the positions of the Sem Terra who make them happen. It is the practices and the conduct of the collective that educates the people who take part in the Movement or live with it. It is for this reason that in the MST we have as educational references people like Paulo Freire and Che Guevara. They were not educators only for what they said or wrote, but through the testimony of the consistency between what they thought, said, and effectively did and were, as persons and as militants in the causes of the people. To be an educator is, therefore, a way of being, a way of being with the people that is a living message of values, convictions, feelings, of a conscience that moves us and that we claim to defend in our organization. It is to have a complete committment, which is not easy. Only a collective can help us in the process of criticism and self-criticism, in the calls and in the affections that show us when we are vacillating and also show us the right path so that we may return Individuals are not only formed in school. There are other experiences that produce even stronger learning. The Pedagogy of the Movement is not contained by the school, because neither the Movement nor human development is contained by it. But the school is a part of the Movement and its pedagogy, so much so that historically the MST has tenaciously fought so that all the Sem Terra may have access to schools. The school that is a part of the Pedagogy of the Movement is the one that returns to its original task: taking part in human To think of the school as a workshop of human development means to think of it as a place where the educational process or the process of human development occurs in an intentionally planned way, conducted and thought about for this purpose, a process that is guided by a project for society and the human being, and is sustained by the presence of people with specific knowledge for the work of education, by the sincere co-operation of everyone who is there to learn and to teach, and by the permanent link with other social practices that have begun and continue this work. The expression also helps us to rethink the pedagogical logic, or the pedagogical method of the school. We claim that the school is not only a place for teaching, and that a method of education is not the same as a method of teaching. It is necessary to plan various pedagogical strategies in view of the different kinds of learning that make up the complex process of human development. In a school conceived as a workshop of human development, educators are architects, organizers, and stimulators of the educational environment. This demands great sensitivity and mastery of the arts of pedagogy to form the schools from a clear perception of how the educational process is developing in each student and in the collectivity as a whole; to perceive the contradictions and not be overwhelmed by them, but to work with them pedagogically; to be aware of what dimensions need to be emphasized at one moment or another, what type of actions need to be performed and with what contents, what relations need to be worked on and at what time. It is a very important kind of learning: one needs to be humble enough to place oneself always in the situation of an apprentice of the process, as apprentices that we all are, of this complex art of building humanity, of which the MST also has a part, albeit but a small one. Arroyo, M. G. Ofício de mestre. Petrópolis: Vozes, 2000. Caldart, R. S. Pedagogia do Movimento Sem Terra. Petrópolis: Caldart, R. S. A pedagogia da luta pela terra: o movimento social como princípio educativo, trabalho solicitado pela 23a Reunião Anual da ANPED, Trabalho Movimentos Sociais e Educação, 2000. Freire, P. Pedagogia da indignação. São Paulo: Editora da UNESP, 2000. Martí, J. Ideário pedagógico. Havana: Imprensa Nacional de Cuba, 1961. Stedile, J. P. e Fernandes, B. M. Brava gente: a trajetória do MST e a luta pela terra no Brasil. São Paulo: Fundação Perseu Abramo, 1999.

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Mineral oils listed as Petrolatum (Petroleum Jelly) or C-18 derivatives are frequently used in personal care products such as lipsticks, lubricants, baby lotions and oils. They commonly contain contaminants that studies have linked to cancer. UCLA studies links "high levels of exposure to mineral oils to increased mortality and incidence of lung cancer, ... melanoma" Source: PubMed.com Mineral oils are also known to clog pores, forming a barrier preventing skin from eliminating toxins. Repeated use can even set off skin conditions such as acne and dermatitis. Petroleum Jelly, or Petrolatum, is a semisolid compound derived from hydrocarbon. It can block the skin’s ability to moisturize itself, leading to chapped and dry skin, which are often conditions it is sold to alleviate. While Petrolatum on its own is not too harmful, it is often cheaply produced and the impurities/contaminants often found in Petrolatum are the concern. Frequently, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons(PAH) are found, which have been linked in studies to breast cancer. Petrolatum has been banned by the EU from use in cosmetics unless the source can be proven and the product shown to be pure. It is listed as a possible human carcinogen. Only use plant oils, never petroleum based oils.

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5. Risky behavior in youth decreases: Results of the 2011 New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey showed a significant decrease in the rates of the prevalence of suicide attempts, cigarette smoking and binge drinking among the state's public high school students. The YRRS is conducted in New Mexico public high schools and middle schools in the fall semester of odd numbered years. The 2011 YRRS surveyed 16,635 New Mexico high school students. According to the survey, suicide attempts were reported by 8.6 percent of high school students, down 40.7 percent from a high of 14.5 percent in 2003. The percentage of high school students who were current smokers declined from a high of 30.2 percent in 2003 to 19.9 percent in 2011. Binge drinking decreased from a rate of 35.4 percent in 2003 to 22.4 percent in 2011. For more information, including reports by New Mexico counties, go to www.youthrisk.org. 4. New skilled nursing facility opens: The Department of Health held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in July for the new Meadows Home at the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas. Meadows Home is a skilled nursing facility that provides care for up to 180 residents of New Mexico. The new building, which is the first of three phases that is being built, replaces buildings that were built in 1948 and 1955. The Meadows Home creates a 3. West Nile resurgence: West Nile Virus was once again in the national and State spotlight due to a resurgence in the number of human cases of the disease nationwide and in New Mexico. In 2012, there were 47 human cases, which included one death in Bernalillo County. In 2011 there were four human cases and in 2010 there were 25 cases. West Nile was first detected in 2003 in New Mexico, with 209 human cases. West Nile Virus prevention tips can be found online at www.nmhealth.org/erd/healthdata/westnile.shtml. 2. Prescription drug overdoses Increase: In May 2012, the Department released data that shows sales of controlled prescription opiate pain relievers increased 131 percent in New Mexico between 2001 and 2010. During the same period, the state's drug overdose death rate increased 61.8 percent. Since 2007, the overdose death rate from prescription drugs has exceeded the death rate from illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine. There is help available for people addicted to prescription medications. The Southwest Pathways Clinic at the Las Cruces Public Health Office offers medication assisted treatment for persons with opiate dependency in southern New Mexico and provides intensive outpatient treatment that may be an alternative to narcotic treatment with methadone maintenance therapy. For more information about Southwest Pathways, visit www.healthynm.org. 1. Pertussis outbreak: There have been more than 750 cases of Pertussis in New Mexico this year. This is compared to 277 cases in 2011, 151 cases in 2010 and just 85 cases in 2009. Pertussis is a vaccine-preventable disease that causes fits of coughing that in some people make it hard to breathe. Anyone can get pertussis, but babies who get the disease are at greatest risk of complications, including pneumonia, seizures, brain damage and death. The best prevention from stopping the spread of pertussis is to get vaccinated. The CDC recommends cocooning, which is vaccinating everyone who comes into close contact with an infant, including daycare workers, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Find more pertussis information online at www.nmhealth.org/pertussis. To read the full top 10 list, visit www.healthynm.org. Happy New Year! Chris J. Minnick writes for the New Mexico Department of Health. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.

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Session 5Guided Channel-TalkLife Posting Dogs and cats are great examples of animals whose diversity is the result of artificial selection. The variation that is evident among breeds has been purposefully developed by breeders. In your Channel-TalkLife posting for this session, describe how you could develop a unit on the fundamentals of evolution (e.g., variation, adaptation, natural selection) using these animals. Be sure to discuss how you would tailor the concepts addressed during this session to the grade level you teach. Breeders for thousands of years have bred dogs for particular purpose. In ancient China the Chow was admired for its loyalty to owner and its ability to withstand harsh temperatures. The poodle swims very well and is very intelligent. The terrier breed is known for its tenacity and for catching rats. In third grade I would ask each student to chose a breed of dog or cat and then research the characteristics of that breed in regard to physical traits. I would then ask the students to share with the class how the breed differs from others and why breeders have selected those qualities. I would then discuss how it is that breeders can purposefully bred dogs that have puppies with those desirable characteristics. Session 6 Guided Channel-TalkLife Posting Both the National Science Education Standards and Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy propose standards or goals for understanding big ideas in evolution starting in the elementary grades. Of the ideas addressed in Session 5 (variation, genes, mutation, adaptation, natural selection, artificial selection) and Session 6 species, evolution of new species, relatedness, common ancestry, tree of life), which do you consider appropriate introduce at the grade level you teach? Why? Discuss this with your colleagues in your Channel-TalkLife posting for this session. Be sure to share any experiences you've had. In third grade appropriate concepts to introduce are: variation adaptation, genes, natural selection, artificial selection, species, evolution of new species, tree of life and common ancestry. I think that if conversations develop within the classroom at an early age that teachers should have the knowledge and background in science to explain these concepts in an age appropriate way. I think that it would be unprofessional to teach the vocabulary only and not provide hands-on activities for younger children to be able to begin making connections with these concepts. I have taught some evolutionary concepts when our classroom conversations went in that direction, but evolution is not part of the third grade curriculum. Channel-talklife mailing list Received on Sun Oct 9 20:28:07 2005

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On February 1st, the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the “Convention”) announced the pledges made by countries under the Copenhagen Accord (the “Accord”). Developed country parties to the Accord pledged greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets to be achieved by 2020. Most notably, developing country parties to the Accord also pledged mitigation actions. By the January 31st deadline, pledges had been provided by countries representing approximately 80% of global GHG emissions. pledges made under the Accord Adhering to legislation passed in its House of Representatives, the U.S. pledged a 17% reduction from 2005 levels.1 Canada also pledged a 17% reduction from 2005 levels, “to be aligned with the final economy-wide emissions target of the United States in enacted legislation.”2 Like Canada, many parties made pledges contingent on action by others. The European Union, for example, pledged to reduce its emissions 20% below 1990 levels, or by 30% should other parties make comparable commitments. As an example of a mitigation action pledge of a developing country, China pledged to lower its carbon intensity (per unit GDP) by 40-45% by 2020, to increase to 15% the share of non-fossil fuels used in primary energy consumption, and to increase its forest coverage and forest stock volume.3 In comments following the announcement of the pledges, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, Todd Stern has made it clear that the U.S. expects of developing countries, stronger mitigation actions than those contained in the Accord.4 the 2009 UN climate change conference The Accord was the outcome of the fifteenth Conference of the Parties (the “Conference”) to the Convention,5 attended by yours truly. In an unprecedented display of the prominence that climate change is gaining on the world stage, the Conference was attended by 115 heads of state and over 40,000 delegates. The stage that was the Conference was not without its share of theatrics. When the leaders arrived in the final days to find that little progress had been made, the drama moved behind the scenes. In a telling moment, frustrated by negotiating only with Chinese Premier Wen’s aides, U.S. President Obama walked in on a private meeting between Wen and the leaders of Brazil, India, and South Africa.6 It was largely these five major economies that would go on to produce the Accord, which calls for any global temperature increase to be limited to two degrees Celsius.7 However the parties to the Convention’s Kyoto Protocol (the “Protocol”), the first commitment period of which ends in 2012, were unable to agree to its extension. The lack of consensus leaves in suspension the status of the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the value of the Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) generated by thousands of projects thereunder. The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), which held a parallel conference, nevertheless remains optimistic: “an international injection of increased demand remains a strong possibility over investment timescales but still has to be treated as an upside rather than a given.”8 back on the home front As mentioned above, Canada’s climate change policy is explicitly tied to that of the United States. 2009 saw in the U.S. the passage in the House of Representatives of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (“Waxman-Markey”). Waxman-Markey calls for a 17% reduction of emissions below 2005 levels by 2020 and provides for the trading of allowances.9 Debate in the U.S. Senate of the similar Kerry-Boxer bill is nominally scheduled for debate this spring, though it may be 2011 before it comes to a floor vote. Tri-partisan senators John Kerry (D), Lindsey Graham (R) and Joe Lieberman (I) have taken it upon themselves to ensure passage of a climate (or “energy independence”) bill. For many U.S. senators, any climate legislation must be accompanied by developing country emissions reductions and the international verification thereof. As China and others are less keen on international monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), the Accord features compromise language. Countries will communicate their actions “with provisions for international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines that will ensure national sovereignty is respected.”10 In any case, with more than two thirds of Americans supporting the regulation of GHG emissions,11 the passage of legislation through Congress and, consequently, Canadian federal regulation, may be on the horizon. International climate change negotiations will occur in a number of fora this year. While the sixteenth Conference of the Parties will occur in December in Cancun, one might now wonder how much can be expected of 192-party negotiations. In June, Canada will host the G8 and G20 summits, and it is rumoured that climate change policy may be included on the agenda.12 Finally, it is likely that a second meeting of the Major Economies Forum will occur later this year to discuss climate policy.13

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Positive Chronicles - East of eden by Dr Kailash Vajpeyi "Man is no longer to be the measure of all things, the center of the universe. He has been measured and found to be an undistinguished bit of matter, different in no essential way from bacteria, stones and trees. His goals and purposes, his egocentric notions of past, present and future; his faith in his power to predict and through prediction to control his destiny—all these are called into question, considered irrelevant, or deemed trivial." When Leonard B. Meyer yanked man down from the exalted status assigned him by the Judeo-Christian tradition, in his 1963 book, The End of Renaissance?, he triggered off a radical shift in the relationship between man and nature. Today, that understanding goes variously by the name of Gaia or Deep Ecology. The Gaia hypothesis postulates that Planet Earth is a living organism that adjusts and regulates itself like any other organism and that for 3.5 billion years, microbes, plants and animals have co-evolved with the environment as one globally integrated superorganism. In much the same vein, Deep Ecology believes in the essential ecological equality of all species, man and mouse, elephant and earthworm. In an interconnected, indivisible ecosystem, each part is as crucial as the next. Here, T.S. Eliot may have been tempted to comment on the return of things to their point of beginning. For interconnection was the fundamental premise of the relationship between all traditional civilizations and nature. Unlike the western equation of conqueror and conquered, traditional people related to nature much as an offspring to a benevolent mother, or a devotee to a deity. Most eastern religions such as Vedic Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, include within nature not only all forms of life but also that which is inanimate and invisible. Vedic texts uphold the doctrine called Madhu Vidya, or interdependence between man and nature. The Vedic worldview is beautifully expressed in that famous injunction, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family). In the Vedas, natural elements play a pivotal role. But the interrelationship of creation was always within the context of its relationship with the creator. The Vedic sages believed that everything in this world stems from divine knowledge (the word) which was first revealed to a group of seers, who then passed on this knowledge to successive generations of Vedic seers. And thus, Saraswati, the Goddess of Divine Speech, holds a special place among Hindu deities. May the divine speech, Saraswati, The fountainhead of all faculties (mental and spiritual), The purifier and bestower of true vision, The recompenser of worship: Be the source of inspiration and accomplishments For all our benevolent acts (Rig Veda 1-3-10) Thus, speech, or vak, has a preeminent role in the Indian tradition. Water, it is believed was literally produced by vak. In turn, if we accept the theory that the theory that the hydrogen molecule is the basis of all life, water could be said to have created the rest of life. Of the five basic elements that make up life—earth, space, wind fire and water—the last, in the Vedic view, is the primal element. No wonder there are dozens of Vedic verses in praise of water: O water source of happiness, we pray, Please give us vigor so that we may Contemplate the great delight Hail to you divine, unfathomable All purifying waters You are the foundation of all this universe The consciousness of being composed of the same elements was one more proof of the unity of all creation. The elements, both separately and jointly as life forms, were, at one and the same time, objects of reverence and intimately related to us. We hardly realize that there are cosmic forces which are working in cyclical patterns, and that the most fundamental pattern which governs our life is the movement of he earth on its axis. One shudders to think what would happen to life as we know it if the earth stopped spinning on its axis or the sun failed to rise in the morning. We are creatures of the planet but the earth is not a geographical entity, it is us. The earth is not simply dust but a reservoir of all energy. It has given birth to four types of creatures: swedaj, udbhij, andaj and pindaj (aquarian, flora and fauna, avian and mammalian). To the Vedic seers, the idea of subjugating or exploiting the earth was incomprehensible. To them it was an object of worship and not of exploitation. Its conquest was tantamount to dissecting a mother's body to study her heartbeat or chopping her breasts to isolate the gland producing milk. But times have changed. Today, man has no qualms about expropriating the earth's wealth for his own benefit. This has resulted in the creation of a new fifth species, the yantraj—the technetronic being. According to Daniel J. Boorstin, the author of Cleopatra's Nose: "When the machine kingdom arrived on the scene, it entirely changed the fixedness of the idea of change. A natural species reacts to its environment and learns to adapt to it. But the technetronic species creates its own environment." For instance, media technology tends to create what can be termed asdiplopia or double image, where it is hard to distinguish reality from illusion. Television, for example, has the capacity to convert an event into virtual reality, what is there is also here at the same time or what is here can also be there if it has been filmed. For the vedic man, the earth was the bestower of blessings, she was the protector of life. All descriptions of Ramrajya, (the reign of Lord Rama, the hero of the Indian epic Ramayana) portrayed the earth as abundant and giving. The Mahabharata eulogized Yudhisthira's reign thus: "Earth yielded abundant crops and all precious things. She had become the provider of all goodness. Like kamdhenu, the celestial cow, the earth offered thousands of luxuries in a continuous stream." In Bhumi Sukta we come across verses such as: O purifying Earth, I you invoke O, patient Earth by sacred word Enhanced bearer of nourishment and strength of food and butter, O, Earth we would approach you with due praise Influenced by this holistic vision, the Indian way of life was integral, its purpose the well-being of creation. Even in the matter of eating, our ancestors emphasized the importance of feeding others before themselves. A householder could eat only after propitiating the ancestors, the devas representing different aspects of nature, the bhutas representing all created beings, guests, members of the household and servants. The practice of agriculture was deeply influenced by this sacred vision of interconnection. According to the activist Vandana Shiva's book, The Seedkeeper, new seeds were first worshipped before being consumed. New crop was worshipped before being consumed. For the farmer, field is the mother: worshipping the field is a sign of gratitude towards the earth, who as mother, feeds the millions of life forms who are her children. "In the place of chemical manures and pesticides, the traditional farmer used nature's own checks and balances to nurture fertility and keep pests at bay. A typical rice field supported and in some places continues to do so 800 species of "friendly insects"—spiders, wasps, ants and pathogens that controlled 95 per cent of insect pests. These practices are still a living presence among India's tribal societies, for instance, the Warlis, a community near Mumbai, worship nature as Hirva (green) and consider all produce to be gifts of Hirva, rather the fruits of their own labor. Conservation of plants and animals was an innate aspect of their culture, illustrated in the concept of the sacred grooves: mangroves, marshlands and other tracts of land supposedly inhabited by spirits, where killing of plants and animals is taboo. The Bishnois of Rajasthan, too, will rather die than let a single tree be felled. The concept of coexistence took many forms. Before felling a tree to construct a temple, the carpenter traditionally sought the permission of the tree. And in Emperor Asoka's time, veterinary hospitals were state institutions. Among the five vital elements which sustain life on earth, the wind in the Rig Veda is called vata. Though the wind is connected with the primordial waters, its origin is not known. Vedas also address it as the spirit: May the wind breathe upon us Prolong our lifespan And fill our hearts with comfort Responding to the current environmental crisis, Susan Griffin in her book Women & Nature writes: "We live as if nature is only need to provide extras: paper, recreation, specialty foods, a job to provide money." Unlimited desire and man's greed has devastated this planet to such an extent that by the time you finish reading this article, at least 10 species of birds would be extinct forever. In contrast, personal fulfillment in Buddhism is sought through independence. Here the self is temporary and nonessential rather than the center of the universe. Writes Kerry Brown, co-author of Buddhism and Ecology, about the Buddhist philosophy: "Where infinite spiritual development is possible within a physical existence that is understood and accepted as infinite." Buddha attained enlightenment under a banyan tree, J. Krishnamurti had the same kind of realization under a pepper vine. No wonder the author of Bhamini Vilas called the tree Guru. "O tree! You bear fruits, leaves and flowers and protect people from the scorching sun. Whoever come to you in scorching heat, you take away their suffering and give them coolness. This way you surrender yourself for others. That is why you are a Guru of all kind people." Anekantavada, the Jain concept that professes multiple views of reality, goes even deeper. Its verdict on the unmindful endeavors of mankind would be damning. The bacterial organism, as understood in modern science, can be compared with what is called nigodiya life in Jainism. And ahimsa or nonviolence, which is fundamental to Jain philosophy, teaches not harming even the basic forms of life. Jainism and other Indian religions advocate that compassion must be the foundation for any truly civilized community. Lawrence Joseph, the author of Gaia, has obviously been deeply influenced by all systems of Indian philosophy which adhere to the universal law of interdependence. Lynn Margulis, co-author of the Gaia theory along with James Lovelock, believes strongly that the biological microcosm provides a key controlling influence in the global environment and argues that the role of these tiny organisms has been underestimated because they are invisible. With the convergence of the most recent scientific understanding and the most recent ancient wisdom, there is hope yet for the survival of the earth and, in turn, life on it. There can be no better sign of it than NASA circulating, all over the USA, a photograph of the earth with the caption: Love your mother. |HOME | SUBSCRIBE | WALLPAPERS | ADVERTISING | POLICY | PRACTITIONERS | WRITERS | PEOPLE | ABOUT | CONTACT|

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Common streaming audio formats and players Uncompressed CD-quality WAV and AIFF files are too large to stream over the Internet for playback in real time. Instead, lighter-weight compressed formats such as MP3 and RealAudio are employed for streaming network audio. These formats use what are called "lossy" compression schemes, reducing file sizes by eliminating certain inaudible data from the original files without too significantly degrading playback sound quality. MP3 and RealAudio are excellent streaming formats, achieving performance factors great enough to allow real-time encoding/decoding over current network bandwidth conditions while delivering satisfying audio quality. MP3 and RealAudio are not the only players in the network streaming audio arena. We'll also look at Macromedia's Flash and the Ogg Vorbis project from the Xiphophorus group. Since RealAudio's Internet history begins the earliest, we'll start with RealAudio. In 1995, Progressive Networks (now RealNetworks) introduced RealAudio, the Internet's first widely-deployed streaming audio format. The RealAudio player (RealPlayer) was freely distributed to users who at that time were typically connected to the Internet via low-bandwidth modems; thus, the player supported connection rates as low as 14.4 Kbps, which delivered audio quality comparable to the sound of a decent AM radio. Faster connections such as ISDN accordingly improved reception speed and sound quality. By giving away basic versions of RealPlayer and the RealProducer content-production utility, Progressive Networks seeded the market for their commercial product line and sparked an explosion in network multimedia. Today you can find an astonishing number and variety of RealAudio-enabled sites. As a curious example, I searched Google for "realaudio history", hoping to find some background material on the format; instead, I found thousands of sites dedicated to various historical topics, all of which included audio presentations requiring RealPlayer. RealPlayer: RealAudio in X Happily, RealPlayer is available for Linux, and you can retrieve it for free as either an RPM or tarball package from the Real.com downloads page. Installation is fairly straightforward, but there are a few snags to report. Close your web browser before installing the software, then become the root user and run the installation package. The RPM file needs to be renamed: mv rp8_linux20_libc6_i386_cs1_rpm rp8.linux20.libc6.i386.cs1.rpm before installing it (as root) with this command: rpm -i rp8.linux20.libc6.i386.cs1.rpm The tarball must have its permissions set (as root again): chmod u+x rp8_linux20_libc6_i386_cs1.bin Now you can run the installation package: The installation procedure will automatically set up RealPlayer as a helper application in Netscape, but be forewarned: It will also overwrite any custom settings you have for audio formats such as WAV, AIFF, and AU, so you may want to back up your Netscape preferences before installing RealPlayer. Also, the installation will not automatically update the RealAudio plug-in. Close Netscape, copy the rpnp.so file from your new $HOME/RealPlayer directory to $HOME/.netscape/plugins, fire up Netscape again, and your RealAudio plug-in should now be enabled. Check the Help/About Plugins menu item in Netscape for a status report. TRPlayer: RealAudio for the console At least three RealAudio players are available for the Linux console. They all depend upon an existing installation of RealPlayer and act as wrappers for RealPlayer, making its functions available to console applications. The RAP and RaWrapper players require support for the frame-buffer device; I wanted to avoid the need for any special graphics support (such as SVGA, frame-buffer, or ncurses) in my console RealAudio player, so I chose Matthew Campbell's TRPlayer. TRPlayer is available as a binary in RPM and DEB packages, but I chose to build the latest beta version (2.0.b2) from the source tarball. TRPlayer's only unique requirement is the slang library and header. Fortunately, slang is found on most mainstream Linux distributions, and a straightforward ./configure; make should have your player ready to rock. However, due to the filesystem vagaries of Linux distributions your build may fail with this message: main.cc:17: slang.h: No such file or directory make: *** [main.o] Error 1 If so, change this line in to this line: When the build is complete, become root ( su root), run make install, and you will have a new command-line RealAudio player. You can call it from the prompt at the console or in xterm, invoking it with an address linking the player to the RealAudio stream: You now have streaming RealAudio at the Linux console. Cool... RealNetworks deserves praise for maintaining and steadily improving a freely available RealPlayer for Linux, particularly since there's no other way to enjoy all those RealAudio-empowered sites. Harder-core users and developers might be dismayed to learn that Real's software is available only in binary format and that source code is not freely available. Nevertheless, there's only one place to go for RealPlayer, so if you want it, there you go. Now let's look at that other major streaming audio format, the notorious MP3.

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The Story of the Third Reich! In 1919 the German war machine was shattered and broken, laid waste by the extreme conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. Just 20 years later Nazi Germany had the most powerful armed forces in the world.The Story of the Third Reich explores the momentous events of these years. From Hitler's rise to power in the early thirties to fall in 1945. Tags: The Story of the Third Reich, Third Reich, National Socialism, Nazi, Adolf Hitler, Mein Kempf, Treaty of Versailles, Anti-Semitism, Holocaust, Waffen SS, Gestapo, SD, World at war, Europe, Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, Power, Communism, Allies, Axis, Potsdam, Nur Marked as: approved Views: 5672 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0 | Favorites: 0 | Shared: 0 | Updates: 0 | Times used in channels: 1 |Liveleak on Facebook|

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Like the Republican party, the Democratic party also cracked beneath the weight of the issues at hand. States that favored slavery in the territories walked out of the Democratic convention at Charleston, preventing nominee Stephen Douglas from winning the party endorsement. A reconvened convention eventually nominated Douglas, but kept territory slavery out of the platform altogether. As a result of disagreements over the issue of slavery, splinter parties formed. The Southern Democratic Party spun off from traditional Democrats to nominate John Breckenridge, an advocate of slavery in the West. Republican breakaways formed the Constitutional Union Party. They nominated John Bell who would not address the issue of slavery at all, but rather spoke of upholding the Constitution. With four candidates in the race, Lincoln won the 1860 election. But by the time he took office in March of 1861, seven southern states had already seceded from the Union. When the first shot rang out at Fort Sumter, just one month after Lincoln took office, the Civil War began. Lincoln's hopes for peacefully preserving the union were dashed. In 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He also promoted a Constitutional Amendment to permanently abolish slavery. These bold steps marked a shift from Lincoln's more moderate campaign position on slavery issues. They also shifted the focus of the war from preserving the union to freeing the slaves. Remarkably, the election of 1864 was not suspended during the bloody Civil War. Union soldiers were given absentee ballots or furloughed to permit them to vote. With mounting Union victories, the votes of soldiers and the campaign slogan, "Don't switch horses in mid-stream," Lincoln won the election. Sadly, as this 1864 campaign song strangely foreshadows, Lincoln did not live to see passage of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery forever. He was assassinated just five days after Ulysses S. Grant celebrated victory over Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. Lincoln's presidency causes one to wonder: - Why he changed his position on the issue of abolition during his presidency? - Whether these changes might affect the way we view his original platform? - What were Lincoln's priorities when he created his original platform? How did the advent and progress of the war affect these priorities? - To what extent did Lincoln's original platform represent his personal views? To what extent did it reflect a desire and strategy to win the presidency? - If YOU were running for president, how would you balance your own opinions with the need to appeal to party and popular opinion?

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I get a lot of email in my inbox. Because I have about 10 email accounts, things could get completely out of hand if I didn't set up a few rules. In email parlance, a "rule" or a "filter" is simply a way of sorting your email automatically as it arrives. Most email programs include rules. For example, in Outlook, you choose Tools|Rules and Alerts to access the Rules dialog box. Even Web-based email like GMail includes rules. The principles are the same, no matter what email program you use. For example, I am notified whenever someone subscribes to one of our email newsletters. Rather than having to click and drag the email into the proper folder, I set up a rule to have my email program do it for me. When I receive an email that contains Logicaltips in the subject line, the email bypasses my inbox and is automatically filed in the Logical Tips folder. I use GMail to monitor the discussion groups I participate in. Unlike most email clients, GMail doesn't use folders. However, it does use labels, so you can sort your email by applying labels then using a filter (aka rule) to keep your mail reasonably organized. To set up a label, click the Settings link at the top of the page and click the Labels link. Then type a name in the Create a new label box and click the Create button. Now click the Filters link. Click Create a New Filter. Because discussion group postings always come from the same email address, you can type it into the From box. Alternatively, you might filter emails by their subject line. Click Next Step. Now you tell what GMail should do with the email. You can bypass the inbox, apply a label, add a star, or Forward the email to another email address. For my discussion groups, I click "Skip the inbox" and apply the label I have set up for the group. On the main GMail page in the Labels area, I can see how many emails there are, but they aren't cluttering up my inbox. Then I can read them when I get around to it.

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- Coming Soon. master naturalist for teachers The Teacher’s Master Naturalist program incorporates best practices for systemic school reform - it requires that the school’s principal initiate the partnership, and that each school send a team of lead teachers who are responsible for implementing their school’s science and math programs. LCI adapted its Master Naturalist curriculum to provide a program that teaches teachers how to use experiential learning most effectively to improve their school’s science and math programs. Participants engage in research and educational experiences designed to empower them to teach from a first person perspective, sharing their personal adventures with their classes. During workshops, teachers set and check traps for fish, reptiles, and amphibians, conduct flora and fauna surveys, and collect and identify marine invertebrates and other organisms. As teams of teachers graduate from the course they continue to receive support for school-based projects from LCI staff and the local Master Naturalist association. The program began in 2007-2008 with two pilot schools, and has expanded to eight schools during the 2009-2010 school year. Teachers receive Master Naturalist certification and continuing education credit after completing the year-long program. learning expeditions schools The goal of the Learning Expeditions Schools program is to use environmental science as a theme to integrate learning about science, social studies, math, and language arts. The program is a partnership between the LowCountry Institute, Clemson University's Youth Learning Institute, and Beaufort County Schools. The interdisciplinary lessons include field trips, virtual field trips using video and PowerPoint programs, and hands-on activities in the classroom. These lessons use science standards to teach students how geography and climate determine plant communities present which, in turn, influence the economy and the history of the region. Math is integrated into all lessons through science and history-based word problems. Pilot schools for this program are Shell Point Elementary, Shanklin Elementary, and Robert Smalls Middle School. During the 2012-2013 school year, the program will be made available to other district schools that wish to participate. - Grants: Several schools have been recipients of grants from LCI to create outdoor classrooms and natural areas using native plants to teach students about pollination, plant lifecycles, and native habitats. - Hands-on programs: LCI staff and volunteers conduct programs at schools to teach students about the plants and animals native to the Port Royal Sound System. - School field trips: LCI is able to invite a limited number of schools each year to participate in field trips on Spring Island where students learn about habitats and animals of the lowcountry. click image to see photos of our school programs

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By Sue Weishar, Ph.D. On August 25, 2008, the small town of Laurel, Mississippi was the site of the largest single workplace site raid in U.S. history. Early that morning hundreds of Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) agents swooped down on the Howard Industries plant in Laurel, which produces electric transformers, and began rounding up workers. Anyone who appeared to be of Hispanic origin was separated from other workers and escorted outside to a fenced yard. Roads around the sprawling plant were blocked and ICE helicopters hovered overhead. One resident thought there had been a terrorist attack.1 For the 595 immigrant workers that were arrested that day, there might as well have been. By evening of that long, hot summer day, 488 immigrant workers, many in handcuffs, had been transported on dozens of ICE buses to an immigrant detention center in Jena, Louisiana, four hours away—ripped apart from their families and a community they had come to think of as home. Another 107 persons, mostly women, had been deemed “humanitarian” cases2 and were released with electronic monitoring devices attached to their ankles. They were forced to wear these devices day and night for 22 months. In the midst of such terror, a small Catholic church became the center of solace and assistance. Several Catholic agencies and the Loyola University New Orleans Law Clinic also played key roles in assisting raid victims. This article examines the Church’s response to the raid in Laurel,3 and how a small Catholic community in the middle of a deeply conservative state was able to mitigate some of the harmful effects of the raid on its immigrant members.

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Network with other children's program providers and discuss strategies for bringing space science to children on this board. Share successful programming ideas or models to help inspire others! I have been able to develop a partnership with the Meigs County schools. We will present a weekly afterschool program at each of our county's elementary schools for ten weeks beginning October 5th for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students. The middle school and high school science clubs will provide student volunteers to help me with the program. The local energy cooperative has donated $1000 to be used for purchasing materials to be used in the program. Several astronomy outreach programs have agreed to send presenters, including a solar astronomy outreach program (www.charliebates.org) from Atlanta. They will be bringing 9 solar telescopes to the school for us on October 12th. We are all excited about starting this in Meigs County. I hope everyone else from the workshop has great success establishing an "Explore" program in their communities. Meigs County - Decatur Public Library That sounds like so much fun, Judi! What a great network you've created from the schools, students, outreach programs, and the energy cooperative. Good luck and let us know how it goes! 3 posts • Page 1 of 1 Who is online Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

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Boulder trails are common to the interior of Menelaus crater as materials erode from higher topography and roll toward the crater floor. Downhill is to the left, image width is 500 m, LROC NAC M139802338L [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Most boulder trails are relatively high reflectance, but running through the center of this image is a lower reflectance trail. This trail is smaller than the others, and its features may be influenced by factors such as mass of the boulder, boulder speed as it traveled downhill, and elevation from which the boulder originated. For example, is the boulder trail less distinct than the others because the boulder was smaller? What about the spacing of boulder tracks? The spacing of bounce-marks along boulder trails may say something about boulder mass and boulder speed. But why is this boulder trail low reflectance when all of the surrounding trails are higher reflectance? Perhaps this boulder trail is lower reflectance because the boulder gently bounced as it traveled downhill, and barely disturbed a thin layer of regolith? The contrast certainly appears similar to the astronauts' footprints and paths around the Apollo landing sites. Or, maybe the boulder fell apart during its downhill travel and the trail is simply made up of pieces of the boulder - we just don't know yet. LROC WAC context of Menelaus crater at the boundary between Mare Serenitatis and the highlands (dotted line). The arrow marks the location of today's featured image at contact between the crater floor and NE crater wall [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. What do you think? Why don't you follow the trail to its source in the full LROC NAC frame and see if you can find any other low reflectance trails.

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When you work on introducing a new technology to a population and region, you discover lots of intriguing impediments to that introduction that you’d never have imagined. Yesterday (October 11, 2012) the Maine Fuel Board voted to allow Maine Energy Systems to engage in an “Emerging Technologies” project with them that might lead to elimination of one of those impediments for the pellet central heating industry in the State of Maine. Maine is unique in its licensure of technicians for “solid fuels.” In Maine a person installing a boiler must have “solid fuel” authority on his license to legally install a “solid fuel” boiler in someone else’s building. (It’s a bit more complicated than that, but let’s avoid the levels of license detail.) The need for this rule apparently arose from three potential hazards associated with “solid fuel” boilers: the possibility for a thermal run-away during a power outage as combustion continues on a load of fuel while circulation fails due to lack of power, high chimney temperatures, and high boiler surface temperatures. As highly sophisticated automatic pellet boilers made their way into the American market, they were defined in Maine as “solid fuel” appliances because pellets are solid. While that seems innocent and logical enough, the categorization has one substantial flaw and it creates one significant impediment to product growth in the marketplace. State-of-the-art pellet boilers display none of the attributes that led to the perceived need for “solid fuel” rules in Maine. The rules were devised for cordwood boilers and coal stoker boilers that can hold a significant charge of fuel at any given time. The combustion of that fuel is relatively uncontrolled. Pellet boilers burn a very small quantity of fuel at any given time, and the combustion of that fuel is highly controlled. Combustion stops almost immediately if the power goes out, hence, no excessive heat can be produced during a power outage. Cordwood boilers and coal stoker boilers can produce very high stack temperatures. The exhaust gas temperatures from state-of-the-art pellet boilers are very much like those of modern oil boilers. In fact these boilers are so efficient, the stack gas temperature is often quite cool, 250F, or so, but it never exceeds 400F. Therefore, high chimney temperatures never occur. Old cordwood and coal stoker boilers could develop high surface temperatures making installed distance from combustible surfaces important. The surface temperature of these state-of-the-art pellet boilers is the same as the temperature of the room. The heat exchangers are extremely well insulated to achieve the desired efficiencies. So, the worry about proximity of flammable materials due to high boiler surface temperatures is not justified with these boilers. Because these highly sophisticated boilers are lumped in the same category as cordwood boilers and coal stoker boilers, “solid fuel” license holders must install them in Maine. There are many fewer “solid fuel” license holders than ordinary oil license holders, so scheduling boiler installations in this rapidly growing segment is very challenging in the busy times of the year. Other busy technicians find it hard to justify studying for a test that focuses generally on boilers they’ll never see, so they’re not inclined to prepare for the “solid fuel” test to install pellet boilers as they’re just beginning to make a mark on the marketplace. The Emerging Technologies Project On October 11, 2012, the Maine Fuel Board approved a request made by Maine Energy Systems for a year long project intended to confirm the company’s assertion that their boilers, and those similar to them, can be installed by oil boiler license holders who have been suitably trained in the differences between pellet boilers and oil boilers. This is great news for the pellet industry in Maine as the State’s boiler inspectors will inspect some, or all, of these installations and, thereby, become much more familiar with these sorts of systems. If the project leads to the anticipated conclusion, the request to re-categorize the boilers for licensure requirement purposes should be reasonably received. We have little doubt that the Project will reach successful conclusion as these very same boilers are installed throughout the Northeast by the same technicians who install oil boilers and who have been trained at Maine Energy Systems in fuel handling and burner adjustment. In the meantime, Maine Energy Systems will be training oil boiler technicians in the installation of their equipment to ensure that all who choose to install the MESys AutoPellet boiler can do it this heating season on a schedule that works for them. Dutch Dresser is the Managing Director of Maine Energy Systems in Bethel, Maine.

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Ulva spp. on freshwater-influenced or unstable upper eulittoral rock Ecological and functional relationships The community predominantly consists of algae which cover the rock surface and creates a patchy canopy. In doing so, the algae provides an amenable habitat in an otherwise hostile environment, exploitable on a temporary basis by other species. For instance, Ulva intestinalis provides shelter for the orange harpacticoid copepod, Tigriopus brevicornis, and the chironomid larva of Halocladius fucicola (McAllen, 1999). The copepod and chironomid species utilize the hollow thalli of Ulva intestinalis as a moist refuge from desiccation when rockpools completely dry. Several hundred individuals of Tigriopus brevicornis have been observed in a single thallus of Ulva intestinalis (McAllen, 1999). The occasional grazing gastropods that survive in this biotope no doubt graze Ulva. Seasonal and longer term change - During the winter, elevated levels of freshwater runoff would be expected owing to seasonal rainfall. Also, winter storm action may disturb the relatively soft substratum of chalk and firm mud, or boulders may be overturned. - Seasonal fluctuation in the abundance of Ulva spp. Would therefore be expected with the biotope thriving in winter months. Porphyra also tends to be regarded as a winter seaweed, abundant from late autumn to the succeeding spring, owing to the fact that the blade shaped fronds of the gametophyte develop in early autumn, whilst the microscopic filamentous stages of the spring and summer are less apparent (see recruitment process, below). Habitat structure and complexity Habitat complexity in this biotope is relatively limited in comparison to other biotopes. The upper shore substrata, consisting of chalk, firm mud, bedrock or boulders, will probably offer a variety of surfaces for colonization, whilst the patchy covering of ephemeral algae provides a refuge for faunal species and an additional substratum for colonization. However, species diversity in this biotope is poor owing to disturbance and changes in the prevailing environmental factors, e.g. desiccation, salinity and temperature. Only species able to tolerate changes/disturbance or those able to seek refuge will thrive. The biotope is characterized by primary producers. Rocky shore communities are highly productive and are an important source of food and nutrients for neighbouring terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Hill et al., 1998). Macroalgae exude considerable amounts of dissolved organic carbon which is taken up readily by bacteria and may even be taken up directly by some larger invertebrates. Dissolved organic carbon, algal fragments and microbial film organisms are continually removed by the sea. This may enter the food chain of local, subtidal ecosystems, or be exported further offshore. Rocky shores make a contribution to the food of many marine species through the production of planktonic larvae and propagules which contribute to pelagic food chains. The life histories of common algae on the shore are generally complex and varied, but follow a basic pattern, whereby there is an alternation of a haploid, gamete-producing phase (gametophyte-producing eggs and sperm) and a diploid spore-producing (sporophyte) phase. All have dispersive phases which are circulated around in the water column before settling on the rock and growing into a germling (Hawkins & Jones, 1992). Ulva intestinalis is generally considered to be an opportunistic species, with an 'r-type' strategy for survival. The r-strategists have a high growth rate and high reproductive rate. For instance, the thalli of Ulva intestinalis, which arise from spores and zygotes, grow within a few weeks into thalli that reproduce again, and the majority of the cell contents are converted into reproductive cells. The species is also capable of dispersal over a considerable distance. For instance, Amsler & Searles (1980) showed that 'swarmers' of a coastal population of Ulva reached exposed artificial substrata on a submarine plateau 35 km away. The life cycle of Porphyra involves a heteromorphic (of different form) alternation of generations, that are either blade shaped or filamentous. Two kinds of reproductive bodies (male and female (carpogonium)) are found on the blade shaped frond of Porphyra that is abundant during winter. On release these fuse and thereafter, division of the fertilized carpogonium is mitotic, and packets of diploid carpospores are formed. The released carpospores develop into the 'conchocelis' phase (the diploid sporophyte consisting of microscopic filaments), which bore into shells (and probably the chalk rock) and grow vegetatively. The conchocelis filaments reproduce asexually. In the presence of decreasing day length and falling temperatures, terminal cells of the conchocelis phase produce conchospores inside conchosporangia. Meiosis occurs during the germination of the conchospore and produces the macroscopic gametophyte (blade shaped phase) and the cycle is repeated (Cole & Conway, 1980). Time for community to reach maturity Disturbance is an important factor structuring the biotope, consequently the biotope is characterized by ephemeral algae able to rapidly exploit newly available substrata and that are tolerant of changes in the prevailing conditions, e.g. temperature, salinity and desiccation. For instance, following the Torrey Canyon tanker oil spill in mid March 1967, which bleached filamentous algae such as Ulva and adhered to the thin fronds of Porphyra, which after a few weeks became brittle and were washed away, regeneration of Porphyra and Ulva was noted by the end of April at Marazion, Cornwall. Similarly, at Sennen Cove where rocks had completely lost their cover of Porphyra and Ulva during April, by mid-May had occasional blade-shaped fronds of Porphyra sp. up to 15 cm long. These had either regenerated from basal parts of the 'Porphyra' phase or from the 'conchocelis' phase on the rocks (see recruitment processes). By mid-August these regenerated specimens were common and well grown but darkly pigmented and reproductively immature. Besides the Porphyra, a very thick coating of Ulva (as Enteromorpha) was recorded in mid-August (Smith 1968). Such evidence suggests that the community would reach maturity relatively rapidly and probably be considered mature in terms of the species present and ability to reproduce well within six months. No text entered. This review can be cited as follows: Ulva spp. on freshwater-influenced or unstable upper eulittoral rock. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/habitatecology.php?habitatid=104&code=2004>

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The Language of Color Sun, Aug 1, 2010 ~ Wed, Jul 31, 2013Times: Open Daily, 9:00am - 5:00pm, Extended hours 4th Wednesdays Summer 2011Description: Whether it's the brilliant blue wings of a butterfly, the scarlet feathers of a tanager, or the stripes of a zebra, animals display color in vastly different ways and for different reasons. Combining dramatic specimens with video presentations, computer interactives, hands-on activities, and a stunning display of live dart frogs, The Language of Color will help visitors understand the nature of color and pattern, how different animals "see" it, and how animal color and its perception have co-evolved to produce the complex and diverse palette of colors we see in the world today. The exhibit features a wide array of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, and insect specimens that illustrate colors used to camouflage, startle predators, mimic other animals, attract a mate, or intimidate a rival. Harvard Museum of Natural History 26 Oxford St. 7-8 Min Walk From Harvard Square Cambridge, MA 02138Event Website Contact Phone: (617) 496-0049

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The NIDCD award will provide $300,000 over the next three years to fund the project, titled “Auditory masking effects on speech fluency in aphasia and apraxia of speech.” In many adults who survive stroke, damage to speech regions of the brain results in a distorted, effortful, and halting pattern of speech, a condition called apraxia of speech. Although they know what they want to say and have intact muscle strength, they have difficulty programming the movements for speech. They are able to hear their speech errors, and the typical treatment program focuses on identifying these errors and correcting them. For most people, focusing on these mistakes results in little improvement in their speech. In contrast to conventional treatment approaches, Dr. Jacks and his colleagues (Katarina Haley, PhD, DAHS, DSHS; Heidi Roth, MD, Department of Neurology) are studying the effects of preventing the person with apraxia of speech from hearing the errors in their speech, by playing loud noise through earphones. This approach is based on the premise that people with this speech disorder are overly-attuned to speech errors, which prevents them from speaking fluently. The same phenomenon has been known for decades to help people who stutter to speak fluently, as demonstrated in the popular film The King's Speech. In the proposed research, Dr. Jacks and his colleagues seek to identify stroke survivors who respond positively to listening to noise by increasing speech rate and decreasing the occurrence of speech disfluencies (pauses, filler words, repetitions). Since not all people are expected to show a change in speech while listening to noise, the team also will study individual characteristics to determine what differentiates those who improve from those who do not. In particular, behavioral profiles (type of speech and language impairment) and location and size of brain lesion will be compared between positive responders and non-responders to determine whether a positive response can be predicted from routine clinical data. In preliminary work, over half of the participants tested spoke more quickly and with fewer disfluencies while listening to noise. Although this is a temporary effect and does not persist after the noise is turned off, the moments of speech fluency experienced may cause the person's brain to activate in a different way than it does when he or she is speaking disfluently. If the preliminary results are borne out in the completed study, Dr. Jacks and his team believe that the procedure may be further developed into a useful therapeutic technique that can result in lasting speech changes.

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Scientists have revealed that new treatments for the incurable nerve disease known as Lou Gehrig's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) could be developed via a long-used anti-cancer drug. Their research showing how the drug prevents clumping of an enzyme linked to ALS appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Lucia Banci, Ivano Bertini and colleagues explain that ALS causes a progressive loss of muscle control as the nerves that control body movements wither and die. Patients become weak and have difficulty swallowing and breathing, and most die within three to five years of diagnosis. Although some ALS cases are hereditary and run in families, about 90 percent are "sporadic," with the cause unknown. Some research links sporadic ALS to clumping of an antioxidant enzyme called hSOD1. The authors explored whether cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug used since the 1960s that is known to interact with some of the enzyme's amino acids, has any effect on hSOD1 clusters. The scientists found that in laboratory tests, the anti-cancer drug cisplatin bound readily to the enzyme, preventing hSOD1 from aggregating and dissolving existing bunches. Cisplatin targets sites that can form bonds between hSOD1 after the enzyme loses the atom of copper it normally carries. The scientists note that cisplatin does not prevent the enzyme from performing its normal functions. "From this work it appears that cisplatin is a promising lead compound for the rational design of ALS treatments," the authors say.

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The following information was extracted from the publication "Threatened" produced by BNZ in cooperation with the Department of Conservation and Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society. The Predation Threat In 1987, a dog was on the loose in Waitangi State forest in the Bay of Islands. For six weeks it rampaged through the forest killing every kiwi it encountered. By the time the dog was found, perhaps as many as 500 of the 1000 kiwi living there had been slaughtered. This carnage at Waitangi illustrates just how vulnerable the kiwi is to predators and the speed at which seemingly healthy populations can fail. Other predators introduced to New Zealand by humans may cause similar havoc. The main threat to the kiwi is posed by: Possums, stoats, ferrets, and feral (wild) cats who steal eggs and kill young. Larger predators include pigs and dogs. Young kiwi leave the nest at just three weeks of age, weighing only 200g. Small and slow, they are easy prey. Very few survive this precarious journey from birth to 12 months, when they reach the critical size that enables them to stand up to most predators. Humans, primarily through destroying forests and introducing predators in the first place, pose the single greatest threat to the kiwi. Ironically, we are also their greatest hope. The kiwi is a one-off evolutionary design, holding all sorts of biological records. New Zealand's ancient isolation and lack of mammals allowed it to occupy a habitat and lifestyle that everywhere else in the world would be occupied by a mammal. Whereas birds traditionally depend on sight, the kiwi is one of the few birds with a highly developed sense of smell. You can sometimes hear them sniffing around in the dark. Alarm them during the day and they will run off. Then, at a distance, just like a wolf or other mammal, they'll stick their bill (nose) in the air, sniffing to see if they are safe from pursuit. Other reasons the kiwi could pass for a mammal is its loose, hair-like feathers, its long whiskers, the fact it can't fly and that it burrows in the ground. Other kiwi curiosities include: Being the only known bird to have external nostrils at the end of its bill. It literally sniffs out its food a bill-length below the surface. It's huge eggs. The kiwi has one of the largest egg-to-body weight ratio of any bird. The mature egg averages 20% of the female's body weight. Compare that to 2% for an ostrich! Being the smallest living member of the ratite family (which includes ostriches and emus). They live in pairs — as monogamous couples — for most, if not all of their lives. Sex role reversal: The female is bigger and dominates the male. In some varieties, the male does most of the incubating of the eggs. The eggs take an exceedingly long time to hatch — up to 80 days. Kiwi tend to live in pairs, forming monogamous couples. These bonds are generally till death and have been known to last over 30 years. About every third day, the pair will shelter in the same burrow together. The relationship tends to be quite volatile and physical, the female generally calling the shots over her smaller partner. During the night, as they are out foraging for food or patrolling their territory, they will perform duets, calling to each other. The female has a lower hoarser call than the male. From the outside, it doesn't appear that kiwi domestic life is bliss. But the bond is long-lasting. There are few surprises in the kiwi diet. It's mostly earthworms, spiders, fallen fruits and seeds, larvae of beetles and cicada and a mixture of forest invertebrates. But they will also take large food items like freshwater crays and even frogs. In captivity, kiwi have fished eels out of a pond, subdued them with a few thuds and eaten them. Kiwi are extremely territorial birds, They protect their patch — which can be as much as 40 hectares — by calling or, if that fails, by chasing the intruder kiwi and giving it a good booting over. Very occasionally, kiwi kill each other fighting for territory. Acutely aware of neighbours, they will often engage in calling duels. If a bird is intruding into another's space, it will rush back at full speed into its own space before returning a neighbour's call. A gathering of kiwi is a rarity. However, on Stewart Island, they do live in small, mixed aged family groupings. Kiwi Nests, er, Burrows! Kiwi are burrowers. They may quickly clear a burrow at the end of a night's work, crash there during the day and then move on to a new burrow the next day. Great Spotted Kiwi prefer dens. Unlike the Little Spotted Kiwi and the Brown Kiwi, who tends towards simple one-entrance burrows, the Great Spotted will put the time and effort into constructing a labyrinth of tunnels several metres long with more than one exit. Common Kiwi Myths Kiwi experts are keen to dispel myths surrounding the kiwi — particularly that they are half-blind and bumbling. Here are a few common ones: Myth: "Kiwi fight with their beaks." To use their beaks to fight would be like head-butting someone with your nose. At the end of the beak are the kiwi's external nostrils. Finely tuned and capable of detecting a few parts per million of scent, the beak, when probing the ground, can detect worms and other food. Myth: "Kiwi are cute, gentle little creatures." They are actually super-strong and often extremely bad tempered. The adults can look after themselves using their razor sharp claws as weapons. A couple of slashes can quickly draw blood — as conservationists have often found when putting their hands down kiwi burrows. Because they are so aggressive, DOC staff can attract them simply by imitating their call. Incensed that another kiwi is on their turf, the response is instant and dramatic: "It's amazing to hear them coming to kick the intruder out. They sound like a deer charging, almost exploding, through the dark. Standing there, it's quite intimidating. I guess it's part of the threat display." "Pete" is a Great Spotted Kiwi in West Northland. "We've just got to walk into his territory and he comes catapulting in for a hit-and-run. He belts you in the leg and then runs off into the undergrowth. I think he views us as super-big kiwi. He's probably given some trampers a helluva scare." Myth: "Kiwi are a bit thick." According to Conservation Officers who know them best, they are capable of learning quickly and altering behaviour in the light of experience. Myth: "Kiwi move slowly." Superbly adapted to their natural habitat, the kiwi is extremely agile and quick moving. A kiwi can cover his territory — possibly the size of 60 football fields — in a night. This might take in three valley streams and all sorts of obstacles. Myth: "Kiwi and half-blind." The notion of their being half-blind probably stems from their being nocturnal and having small eyes. In fact, as Conservation Officers can testify, if you chase them at night, they can run very fast, swerving around trees and expertly navigating the undergrowth. Similarly, they are unfazed by daylight. Kiwi Culture -- From a Maori Perspective The Maori people have a very personal interest in seeing the kiwi survive and flourish. According to many Maori traditions, the kiwi is the oldest of all Tanemahuta's bird family. It was Tane, the god of the forest who, with different wives, created much of the natural world, including birds, trees, stones and humans. For Maori, kiwi are, in effect, our elder siblings. And, like a good older brother or sister, they are very protective of us. That's partly why they patrol the forests nightly. Kiwi -- Six Unique Varieties There are six identified varieties of kiwi. The Little Spotted Kiwi The smallest (about the size of a bantam) and most endangered species, the "Little Spots" have a very mellow, often docile nature. They have suffered terrible that the hands of possums, stoats, cats and larger predators. Now extinct on mainland New Zealand, the largest remaining population is on Kapiti Island where 1000 birds occupy some 1900 ha of mixed forest, scrub and grassland. Sensitive management by DoC and the Maori Trustees of private land on Kapiti are ensuring that cats, dogs and other kiwi predators don't reach the island. The Great Spotted Kiwi The rugged mountaineer of the kiwi — found primarily in the high, often harsh hill country — the Great Spotted has forged a strange deal with evolution. The same harsh environment that makes it struggle from one day to the next also makes it tough going for the pigs, dogs and stoats that would otherwise be keen to pursue it. Big bold and handsome, it is found only in the South Island, mainly in North West Nelson, Central Westland and Eastern Canterbury. The North Island Brown Kiwi Bug noses and short tempers is one way to sum up the Brown Kiwi. They are little toughies ... and have to be to survive against humans, introduced predators and the natural challenges of their often harsh bush existence. The North Island Brown Kiwi is found only in the upper two-thirds of the North Island. They are widespread in Northland in a diverse range of vegetation types including exotic forests and rough farm land. Okarito Brown Kiwi In one sense, the new kid on the block. It was only in 1993 that the Okarito Brown, living in lowland forest just north of Franz Josef was identified as a distinct variety of kiwi. Tell-tale signs are its slightly greyish plumage sometimes accompanied by white facial feathers. Squat and round and bigger than their northern Brown Kiwi cousins, they can grow to almost the same size as Great Spotted Kiwi. The Southern Tokoeka are found in Fiordland and on Stewart Island. They are the most communal of the somewhat reclusive kiwi. The Haast Tokoeka, found in the rugged mountains behind Haast, was also identified as a distant variety of Kiwi in 1993. They spend their summers in the high sub alpine tussock grasslands but probably retreat to the lowland forests in winter. Kiwi Sightings -- Where You Can See Kiwi Few of us get the chance to see a kiwi in the wild but Brown Kiwi can be seen at the following places:

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The Civics merit badge was one of the original 57 merit badges issued by the Boy Scouts of America in 1911. Civics is a discontinued merit badge. It was one of the original 1911 merit badges, but was renamed Citizenship by the 1948 revision to the Boy Scout Handbook. That badge was then replaced by Citizenship in the Nation in in 1951 and Citizenship in the Community and Citizenship in the Home in 1952 (later renamed as the Family Life merit badge). At the same time, the World Brotherhood merit badge was introduced, and these four badges constituted the "Citizenship Group" of merit badges, any two of which were required for Eagle. In 1972, the Citizenship in the World merit badge replaced World Brotherhood. Civics requirements at inception - State the principal citizenship requirements of an elector in his state. - Know the principal features of the naturalization laws of the United States. - Know how President, Vice-President, senators, and congressmen of the United States are elected and their terms of office. - Know the number of judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, how appointed, and their term of office. - Know the various administrative departments of government, as represented in the President's Cabinet. - Know how the governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, representatives, or assemblymen of his state are elected, and their terms of office. - Know whether the judges of the principal courts in his state are appointed or elected, and the length of their terms. - Know how the principal officers in his town or city are elected and for what terms. - Know the duties of the various city departments, such as fire, police, board of health, etc. - Draw a map of the town or city in which he lives, giving location of the principal public buildings and points of special interest. - Give satisfactory evidence that he is familiar with the provisions and history of the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States. || The official source for the information shown in this article or section is:| Boy Scout Handbook, 1911 Edition The text of these requirements is locked and can only be edited by an administrator. Please note any errors found in the above requirements on this article's Talk Page.

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My Beef With Meat If it has a face, it probably gobbles up global resources along with its grass By Stett Holbrook Last month, the federal government released a much-anticipated report on global climate change. It paints a chilling picture of what will happen if global warming continues unabated. "This report is a game-changer," said the new director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jane Lubchenco, at a press conference last week. "I think that much of the foot-dragging in addressing climate change is a reflection of the perception that climate change is way down the road, it's in the future and it only affects certain parts of the country. This report demonstrates in concrete scientific information that climate change is happening now, and it's happening in our back yards." The report, issued by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, compiles work from 13 different government agencies. In a refreshing break from the science-averse Bush administration, the report states unequivocally that climate change is human caused. The report details changes scientists are already seeing and predicts how the climate will change if greenhouse-gas emissions aren't curtailed. The report also discusses how decisive policies can roll back the impending doom. (Read the report at globalchange.gov.) Here are two of the key findings: • Climate changes are under way in the United States and are projected to grow. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt and alterations in river flows. • Agriculture is considered one of the sectors most adaptable to changes in climate, but increased heat, pests, water stress, diseases and weather extremes will pose adaptation challenges for crop and livestock production. There have been many reports on global warming and dire predictions from respected scientists. So far not much has changed. I hope that President Obama uses the power of his position to spur the dramatic and speedy action needed to reduce the profound impacts of the crisis. The challenge Obama faces is convincing people that the time to change our ways is today, not tomorrow. The trouble is, we don't usually realize we're in trouble until the roof starts caving in. For example, only when we faced global financial meltdown did world leaders act. A global recession is real and painful, but compared to the apocalyptic effects of unchecked global warming, it's but a pinprick. What does all this have to do with food? Well, while the U.S. government appears to be finally getting serious about acting against global warming, we the people need to do as much as we can. Food strikes me as particularly target-rich as we seek to reduce global warming. I see reducing our consumption of meat as the single most important action we can take as individuals. I've come to view a double bacon cheeseburger as the culinary equivalent of dumping dirty motor oil into a clear mountain lake. If eating burgers was only detrimental to those who eat them that would be one thing, but the production of meat and dairy across the world is an environmental catastrophe. I'm a firm believer in spending more for quality, food included. But eating well shouldn't be prohibitively expensive. I guess it's all in how one defines "eating well." For me, that means little or no processed food and plenty of fresh produce in season. Food is of course a necessary expense, but there's a lot of discretion on how to spend your food dollar. But the ironic thing about food when you buy fresh, unprocessed ingredients and cook for yourself rather than opening a can or box, eating well generally costs less. At least that's my belief. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world's greenhouse gases, more than transportation. Animal agriculture is the leading source of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which--combined with carbon dioxide--are the primary causes of global warming. Livestock production accounts for more than 8 percent of global human water use, the FAO says. Evidence suggests that it is also the largest source of water pollution thanks to animal wastes, antibiotics, hormones, fertilizers and pesticides used for feed crops, and sediments from eroded pastures. An estimated 30 percent of the Earth's ice-free land is involved in livestock production. Approximately 70 percent of previously forested land in the Amazon is used as pasture, and feed crops cover a large part of what's left. Eating organically raised, grass-feed beef is a far better option than the factory-farmed garbage that most of us eat. But organically raised or not, livestock still sucks up scarce natural resources and contributes to global warming. I'm not saying we should give up meat entirely. Just eat less of it. Given the severity of the climate crisis, reducing our consumption of meat is a painless step everyone can take. What if President Obama declared he was willing to go without meat a few days a week for the sake of the planet? I'm not holding my breath for that one, but more often than not I'm going to hold off on eating meat. Send a letter to the editor about this story.

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Increasing Local Contrast The previous section showed adjustments to the brightness and contrast of the entire image. The adjustment changes every pixel of original brightness value A to the same final brightness value B, regardless of the pixel’s neighbors. Another class of operations increases the visibility of local differences between pixels, by suppressing the longer-range variations. These neighborhood functions use a moving neighborhood, usually a small circle, that compares or combines the central pixel and the neighbors to produce a new value that is assigned to the central pixel to construct a new image. Then the neighborhood shifts to the next pixel and the process is repeated. These calculations are applied to the pixel brightness values in a color coordinate system such as HSI or LAB that leaves the color values unchanged. For instance, local equalization functions just like the histogram equalization procedure, except that it takes place within a moving circular neighborhood and assigns a new value only to the central pixel. The result makes a pixel that is slightly brighter than its surroundings brighter still, and vice-versa, enhancing local contrast. The result is usually added back in some proportion to the original image to produce a more visually pleasing result, as shown in the Local Equalization interactive Java tutorial. Sharpening of images to increase local contrast is almost universally applied by publishers to counter the visual blurring effect of halftoning images in the printing process. This is usually done by a convolution using a kernel of weights, just as the Gaussian smoothing function shown above. But in this application, some of those weights will have negative values. For instance, the Laplacian sharpening filter in Table 1 combines each pixel with its eight adjacent neighbors as shown in the Laplacian Sharpening interactive Java tutorial. A more flexible extension of this basic idea is the widely used (and as often misused) unsharp mask. The name derives from a century-old darkroom procedure that required printing the original image at 1:1 magnification but out of focus onto another piece of film (this was the unsharp mask), and then placing the two films together to print the final result. Where the original negative was dense, the mask was not (and vice versa) so that little light was transmitted, except near detail and edges where the mask was out of focus. The same effect can be produced in the computer by applying a Gaussian blur to a duplicate of the original and then subtracting it from the original. The difference between the two images is just the detail and edges removed by the blurring. The original image is then added back to the difference to increase the visibility of the details while suppressing the overall image contrast. In the Unsharp Masking interactive Java tutorial, the result image is automatically scaled to the range of the display so that negative values that can result from the calculation are not lost. One of the characteristics of the unsharp mask is the formation of bright and dark “haloes” adjacent to the dark and bright borders (respectively) of structure in the image. This increases their visibility, but can hide other nearby information. A related approach using neighborhood ranking rather than Gaussian blurring alleviates this problem. The method applies a median filter to remove fine detail, subtracts this from the original to isolate the detail, and then adds the original image back to enhance the visibility as shown in the Rank Masking interactive Java tutorial. This method is called a rank mask, but is sometimes (incorrectly) referred to as a top hat filter (the real top hat is shown below). Note that all of these local enhancement methods are very noise sensitive, because both random speckle and shot noise produce pixels that are different from their local neighborhood. Image noise must be removed before enhancement is attempted, or the visibility of the noise will be increased as shown in the Comparison of Local Contrast Enhancement Methods interactive Java tutorial. The top hat filter is also a based on neighborhood ranking, but unlike the procedure above it uses the ranked value from two different size regions. The brightest value in a circular interior region is compared to the brightest value in a surrounding annular region. If the brightness difference exceeds a threshold level, it is kept (otherwise it is erased). The Top Hat Filter interactive Java tutorial shows the filter’s operation. If the interior and annular regions are drawn as shown in the diagram in Figure 1, the reason for the filter name becomes apparent. The interior region is the crown and the threshold is its height, while the surrounding annulus is the brim of the hat. This operation is particularly well suited for finding the spikes in Fourier transform power spectra, as illustrated previously. The top hat is also good for locating any features of a known size by adjusting the radius of the crown. Objects too large to fit into the crown of the hat are selectively removed. Reversing the logic to use the darkest values in both regions enables the same procedure to isolate dust or other dark features. By replacing the interior value by the mean of the surroundings, the dust can be selectively removed. In this application, shown in the Rolling Ball Filter interactive Java tutorial, the method is called a rolling ball filter. John C. Russ - Materials Science and Engineering Dept., North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695. Matthew Parry-Hill and Michael W. Davidson - National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, 1800 East Paul Dirac Dr., The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32310. Questions or comments? Send us an email. © 1998-2009 by Michael W. Davidson, John Russ, Olympus America Inc., and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners. This website is maintained by our

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of the Giant Squid scientifically known as Architeuthis dux, is the largest of all invertebrates. Scientists believe it can be as long as 18 metres (60 feet). This specimen was collected by Dr Gordon Williamson who worked as the resident ships biologist for the whaling company Salvesons. He examined the stomach contents of 250 Sperm Whales Physeter macrocephalus keeping the largest squid beak and discarding the smaller until he ended up with this magnificent specimen.

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Air pollution health alert and advisory issued through Wednesday, March 10 The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has issued an air pollution health ALERT for today and tomorrow, March 8 and 9 and an air pollution health ADVISORY for Wednesday, March 10 for the Twin Cities and Rochester area. The Air Quality Index values (AQI) in the Twin Cities exceeds the level considered unhealthy for sensitive groups. Dense fog overnight, which aids in fine particle production, and calm winds, have allowed fine particle concentrations to build to levels considered unhealthy for sensitive groups. Fine particle levels are expected to gradually fall this afternoon as the fog dissipates. However, calm winds and high relative humidity will continue to trap pollutants, keeping air quality conditions unhealthy for sensitive groups. Weather conditions are supposed to improve the air quality to good AQI levels by Thursday, March 11. Those who have respiratory or cardiovascular problems, young children, the elderly, and individuals whom are physically active are considered especially sensitive to elevated levels of air pollution. Be prepared to postpone or reduce vigorous activity. Ozone and fine particles can be drawn deeply into the lungs, so reduce activities that lead to deep or accelerated breathing. Even individuals that are otherwise healthy may experience health effects when air pollutant levels increase. How you can help: Residents can take simple steps to help reduce emissions that create smog. Motor vehicle emissions contribute to fine particle pollution. To lower levels of air pollution, the MPCA is urging residents to use alternate modes of transportation such as mass transit, car pools, biking and walking to work or shop. Other measures that will help reduce emissions on days when the Index reaches 100 and above include: 1. Limit driving - share a ride to work and postpone errands until the next day. 2. Don’t idle your vehicle for more than three minutes** 3. Refuel your vehicle after 6 p.m. 4. Leave your car at home and walk, bike, carpool or take public transportation whenever you can. 5. Postpone using other gasoline-powered engines, like garden and recreational equipment. 6. Postpone indoor and outdoor recreational fires. 7. To reduce the demand on power plants, turn off as many electric items as possible. 8. If you fall in the sensitive group category, arrange to work indoors for the day. **The City of Minneapolis approved limits on vehicle idling that aim to reduce air pollution in Minneapolis. The ordinance, which was passed in 2008, limits most vehicle idling to three minutes, except in traffic. Reducing vehicle idling in Minneapolis translates into less air pollution, protecting the public health and the environment and saving money in fuel. Vehicle motors release particulate matter, dirt, nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into the air. Published Mar. 8, 2010

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You're using more water than you think A water footprint is the total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed. Here are some ways to lighten your water footprint. Fri, Aug 31 2012 at 11:28 AM Prodded by environmental consciousness — or penny pinching — you installed low-flow showerheads and fixed all the drippy facets. Knowing that your manicured lawn was sucking down an unnatural amount of water — nearly 7 billion gallons of water is used to irrigate home landscaping, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — you ripped up the turf and replaced it with native plants. You’re still using a lot more water than you think. The drought of 2012 has generated images of parched landscapes and sun-baked lakebeds. At least 36 states are projecting water shortages between now and 2013, according to a survey by the federal General Accounting Office. Water supplies are finite, and fickle. Water, we all know, is essential to life. It is also essential to agriculture, industry, energy and the production of trendy T-shirts. We all use water in ways that go way beyond the kitchen and bathroom. The measure of both direct and indirect water use is known as the water footprint. Your water footprint is the total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed, according to the Water Footprint Network, an international nonprofit foundation based in the Netherlands. The Water Footprint Network has crunched the numbers and developed an online calculator to help you determine the size of your footprint. You’ll be astonished to know how much water you’re using … once you’ve converted all those metric measurements into something you can understand. The average American home uses about 260 gallons of water per day, according to the EPA. That quarter-pound burger you just gobbled down? More than 600 gallons of water. That Ramones T-shirt? More than 700 gallons. So, adjustments to your diet and buying habits can have a much greater impact on the size of your water footprint than taking 40-second showers. A pound of beef, for example, takes nearly 1,800 gallons of water to produce, with most of that going to irrigate the grains and grass used to feed the cattle. A pound of chicken demands just 468 gallons. If you really want to save water, eat more goat. A pound of goat requires 127 gallons of water. We’ve been told to cut down on our use of paper to save the forests, but going paperless also saves water. It takes more than 1,300 gallons of water to produce a ream of copy paper. Even getting treated water to your house requires electricity. Letting your faucet run for five minutes, the EPA says, uses about as much energy as burning a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours. Reducing your water footprint also reduces your carbon footprint, the amount of greenhouse gases your lifestyle contributes to the atmosphere and global warming. So, you could say that conserving water is more than hot air. It’s connected to almost everything you do. Related water stories on MNN:

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|About the presenter: Patricia M. Roberts, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, SLP(C), currently Associate Professor in speech language pathology at the University of Ottawa, in Canada's capital. She holds degrees from Queen's University (Kingston, Canada) and Florida State University and obtained her Ph.D. from the Universite de Montreal.In her first career as a clinical SLP, she worked with many bilingual clients and was privileged to have the late Marie Poulos as colleague and mentor. She is spending much of her 2nd career as a professor and researcher trying to understand the many unsolved puzzles of bilingual stuttering.| In this presentation, I will focus on four mysteries (things we do not yet know) about stuttering in bilingual children and adults and some of the myths associated with these gaps in our current knowledge. To make this essay easier to read, I won't say "bilingual or multilingual" each time the word "bilingual" comes up but in most places, what applies to bilinguals also applies to multilingual speakers - as far as we know - so far. Mystery 1: How many bilingual people are there? It is sometimes confusing to even try to discuss bilingualism because the word bilingual means different things to different people. For some people, bilinguals are people who speak two (or more - for multilinguals) languages equally and perfectly. People who speak two languages in their daily lives, and can do most things such as talking to people at work, reading the newspaper, understanding conversations with friends sometimes say "Oh yes, I can do all that. But I am not bilingual". Other people describe themselves as bilingual if they can communicate basic ideas, even if they make many errors in grammar and pronunciation and have a very small vocabulary in one language. In research, both these kinds of people are seen as having different levels of bilingualism. Ratings from 1 to 7 or 1 to 9 are often used to estimate where each person falls along the continuous line that goes from "I really ONLY know one language" to "I am one of those rare people who feels equally at home in two languages, no matter what the task or topic". For speaking, hearing, reading, and writing, most of us are at slightly different levels of ability, in each of the languages we know. For this essay - and the discussions I hope it will spark - let's think of bilingualism as being a continuum. We don't divide the world into tall people and short people. There is no rational cut-off to separate "tall" from "short". Same thing for "bilingual" and "unilingual". Everyone is at some point along the line that goes from strongly unilingual to very, very bilingual. With a broad definition of bilingualism, some authors estimate that there are at least as many people in the world who need to use two or more languages in their daily lives as there are people who can only function in one language (see, for example, Bhatia & Ritchie, 2006). We cannot make precise estimates unless we first define what levels of bilingualism are included or excluded from the count (and where to divide dialects from languages). Mystery 2: Is the incidence of stuttering the same in different languages? There are studies of the incidence of stuttering in different countries. Some authors use these studies to say things like "the incidence of stuttering is higher in Country X than in Country Y". But, if each study used different ways of sampling and different ways of determining who stutters, it is not valid to compare across studies. For example, from one study to the next, different methods were used in deciding who is stuttering: parent reports? Teachers in schools or day care centres? Parents remembering what the child was like 5 or 10 years ago? There are also differences in what counts as stuttering: only for a few months at age 3? Only people who stuttered for more than a year? Only those who reach a given level of severity? When people see these reports, they often speculate about why the incidence figures SEEM to be different (ignoring the differences in how the estimates were reached), often using their favourite aspect of stuttering as the explanation. Thus, we see explanations like: 1) "There is more stuttering in Country X than in Country Y because the grammar of the language spoken in Country X makes greater demands on memory...." The complexity of a language might be relevant, in some subtle ways including the location of moments of stuttering within a sentence. Concluding that the language itself influences the number of people who stutter requires a huge, dangerous leap of logic. There are other possible explanations that have to be ruled out before we can select one of them and reject the others. 2) "There is more stuttering in ___ because that culture views speaking well as very important and the pressure to speak well makes people stutter". This explanation now seems very unlikely, given what we know about the causes of stuttering. Now that we understand the importance of genetics and the inherited nature of stuttering for many people, it seems logical to ask whether, in some ethnic groups, more people carry the genes that make them vulnerable to stuttering than is the case in other ethnic groups. Perhaps the genetic pool, not cultural or linguistic features, has the strongest influence on the incidence of stuttering. Or, more likely, perhaps several causal factors contribute, interacting with each others in ways we do not yet understand. The only way we will ever know if the incidence of stuttering varies across languages or countries is to do international, collaborative studies where the same rigourous methods are used in everywhere THEN we can propose explanations for the similar or differing rates of stuttering in different languages and/or countries. Mystery 3: Does speaking more than one language increase the risk of a child stuttering? Many people think it does. For the general public, it seems logical. Sometimes people reason this way: 1) Speaking two languages is hard. 2) For children who stutter, speaking is hard. 3) Therefore, children who stutter (or those who are at risk of developing stuttering, because of a known family history) should not be expected to learn two languages. In the research on stuttering, the Demands and Capacities model of stuttering seems to apply here. But is it "hard" to learn two languages or is this a myth? If learning two languages as a young child is neurologically or cognitively strenuous, why is it that tens of millions of children do so successfully? Are their brains slightly stressed if they have to sort out two languages during the best language-learning years in childhood? Most of the research on bilingualism says "no". However, bilingualism is seen as something very positive by most people who do research on it, and most studies are designed to detect advantages and not problems associated with bilingualism. Also, this research is based on children with no speech or language problems. In children with a genetic vulnerability to stuttering, is learning two sets of words and grammar rules, and two sets of speech sounds harder than it is for children without this vulnerability? If learning two languages as a child is much harder than learning one, is it all potentially bilingual children or only a sub-group of those who might be at risk for stuttering? How should we interpret the recent and somewhat controversial study by Howell, Davis and Williams (2009) that found a higher incidence of stuttering in children if they began learning English (the language of their new country? before age 5? Were there other reasons for the finding that children who learned English before starting school were more likely to stutter than those who reportedly began learning English when they began school in London, England? (See Packman, et al, 2009 letter to the editor and Howell et al.'s reply.) There are four other, older studies that have led some people to conclude that bilingualism is too great a strain for children who stutter. In each case, these studies have serious flaws that make it impossible to draw any conclusions from them. Travis, Johnson and Shover (1937) asked people with no training in communication disorders (such as priests and steel company personnel directors) to talk to young children and classify them as stuttering or not stuttering based on one interview. Stern (1948) interviewed children if their parents reported that they stuttered. In both these studies, we have little information about the type of speech sample obtained, how long it was or how the disfluencies were counted. Applying current standards to these studies, they would not be accepted for publication. Dale (1977) reported that four Cuban-American teenagers reported feeling that being made to speak their weaker language made them more disfluent. Most bilinguals have a stronger and a weaker language. For these teens, their first language - Spanish - was their weaker language, since so much of their lives at school and with friends took place in English, their second language. This study "blames" bilingualism. But we have no information about real disfluency rates across different situations, and Dale does not distinguish between normal disfluencies and tense, stuttered disfluencies. There are studies showing that, in adults, the memory load of speaking in their weaker language may lead to a higher number of normal disfluencies (ums, uh's, revisions) in the weaker language than in the preferred language (e.g., Fehringer & Fry, 2007). Perhaps that is all that was happening in this study. Dale offers no data to support the notion that any of the four adolescents, in fact, stuttered. Karniol (1992) described how stuttering appeared to increase and decrease in a young boy whose environment included exposure to various levels of English, Hebrew, and Hungarian during an extremely tense time that included a war going on around him. With the information provided, we cannot tell what his real level of exposure to each language was (siblings, friends, parents etc.) and whether his parents' attempts to expose him to only Hebrew had any impact on what is described as a recovery from stuttering. The parents' diaries cover a period of approximately one year (age 2 to age 3) when the boy was in the age group where the chances of spontaneous recovery from stuttering are very, very high. There is (still) no clinical research to support the strategy of removing one language from a child's environment. Recent reviews of the literature do not find support for doing this routinely for all children (e.g., Bernstein Ratner, 2004; Roberts & Shenker, 2007; Van Borsel, Maes & Foulon, 2001). Some clinicians do this, however, if they work in a Demands and Capacities framework OR if the child also has delayed language and/or problems learning the speech sounds of his/her language. Until there is solid evidence on the impact of bilingualism in young children (i.e. a series of studies, done by different authors, ideally on different types of speakers and different pairs of languages), each clinician is left to try a particular strategy and assess its impact on a case by case basis. Mystery 4: Do some bilingual people stutter in only one language? As of 2010, I am still not aware of any documented case of this occurring. Like the Loch Ness monster, there are reported sightings from time to time, but no real proof that this is possible. In my years working with bilingual adults who stutter, I never assessed or treated a case of "unilingual stuttering". (Note: if you know of someone who stutters in only one of their two (or more) languages, I would be interested in exploring this with you. Just because there are no documented cases does not mean that it never occurs !) Nonetheless, given the roles of genetics and motor processes in stuttering, it is highly unlikely that someone would stutter in only one of their languages. Van Riper (1971) cites second- and third-hand reports of two people reported to stutter in only one of their two languages, but offers no data. Howell, Davis and Williams (2009) report that 2 of the 38 children in their bilingual group stuttered in only one language, but there is no supporting data about the rates of disfluencies, or the level of proficiency in each language and the children were not assessed using a range of speaking tasks. Roberts and Shenker (2007, Table 1) outlined the steps that would be required to show that someone with a working knowledge of two languages stutters in only one language. Sometimes, when someone appears to stutter in only one language it could be for one or more of the following reasons: There are more and more studies about stuttering in different languages and some studies (and soon, a new book edited by Howell and Van Borsel) that focus specifically on stuttering in bilingual speakers. This is a very welcome change. Ten or fifteen years ago, there was little awareness that bilingual stuttering was a topic that needed exploring. Perhaps in a future ISAD forum, there will be articles about the answers to the questions raised in this one. Bernstein Ratner, N. (2004). Fluency and stuttering in bilingual children. In B.Goldstein (Ed.) Bilingual language development and disorders in Spanish-English speakers (pp. 287-308). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. Bhatia, T.K., & Ritchie, W.C. (2006). Introduction. In T.K. Bhatia & W.C. Ritchie (Eds.) The Handbook of Bilingualism (pp. 1-2), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Dale, P. (1977). Factors relating to disfluent speech in bilingual Cuban-American adolescents. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 2, 311-314. Fehringer, C., & Fry, C. (2007). Hesitation phenomena in the language production of bilingual speakers. Folia Linguistica, 41, 37-72. Howell, P., Davis, S. Williams,R. ( 2009). The effects of bilingualism on stuttering during late childhood. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 94, 42-46 Karniol, R. (1992). Stuttering out of bilingualism. First Language, 12, 255-283. Packman,A., Onslow, M., Reilly, S. et al. (2009). Stuttering and bilingualism. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 94, 248. (a letter to the editor re the Howell, Davis and Williams study) Roberts, P.M. & Shenker, R.C. (2007). Assessment and treatment of stuttering in bilingual speakers. In R.F. Curlee & E.G. Conture (Eds). Stuttering and related disorders of fluency 3rd edition (pp. 183-209). New York: Thieme Medical Publishers. Stern, E. (1948). A preliminary study of bilingualism and stuttering in four Johannesburg schools. Journal of Logopedics, 1, 15-25. Travis, L.E., Johnson, W., & Shover, J. (1937). The relation of bilingualism to stuttering: a survey in the east Chicago, Indiana, Schools. Journal of Speech Disorders, 12, 185-189. Van Borsel, J. Maes, E., & Foulon, S. (2001). Stuttering and bilingualism: A review. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 26, 179-205.

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As America's independence was being declared in Philadelphia in l776, Padre Francisco Garces trekked through the Mojave area, leaving traces of his visit at Willow Springs, near Rosamond, and on Castle Butte, near California City. Garces was followed by famous pathfinders like Jedediah Smith, in 1827, John C. Fremont, Kit Carson and Wyatt Earp. Many of these visitors, including a group from the ill-fated Manly-Jayhawker Party, used the Midland Trail, which roughly parallels Highway 14 north of town. Wagon trails to the Panamint mines were established by men like M.M. Belshaw and others who are remembered in many local street names. Mojave was established in 1876 when the Southern Pacific Railroad laid out the original plat for a town on its line between Los Angeles and San Francisco over nearby Tehachapi Pass. The first passenger train arrived August 8, 1876, which is celebrated as Mojave's birthday. Chinese coolies built a line from Mojave to Needles, California, on the Colorado River, reaching the Arizona border in 1883. That line was sold to the Santa Fe Railway in 1898, granting that railroad trackage rights over Tehachapi Pass. Today the Southern Pacific is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad, while Santa Fe is now part of the giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The UP's Lone Pine Branch, which runs north out of Mojave, was built by Southern Pacific in 1910 to aid in constructing the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The line connected with the Carson and Colorado Narrow Gauge Railroad at Owenyo, providing, for a time, a direct rail link between Los Angeles and the Southern Pacific's Overland Route over Donner Summit. The Lone Pine branch now carries coal to and potash products from the Trona Railway connection at Searles Station, between Randsburg and Ridgecrest. Another rail line, the Oak Creek Branch, runs west from Mojave to the California Portland Cement plant at Creal, carrying coal up and cement back. Mojave's flimsy buildings were destroyed by fire several times over the next century, most spectacularly in 1884 when 90 cases of powder in the railroad depot exploded with a bang heard 25 miles away. GOLD was discovered in 1894 on Soledad Mountain and at other nearby locations, spwning mines with colorful names like Elephant-Eagle, Asher, Yellow Dog and Golden Queen. Mojave's history of providing hospitality to weary travelers, a tradition that continues to this day, began with the opening of the Morrissey Hotel in 1876. The famous Fred Harvey organization operated a "Harvey House," in the old two-story railroad depot, complete with a contingent of "Harvey Girls" serving delicious meals to travelers and miners. BORAX played a role in Mojave's history, especially between 1884 and 1889 when the famous 20-Mule Team Wagons hauled borax between mines in Death Valley and the railroad in Mojave, a 160 mile, 15-day trip. A monument on Sierra Highway in front of the Kentucky Fried Chicken store honors the spot where the wagons unloaded. The huge wagons, which can be seen at Death Valley and in nearby Boron, were built by J.W.S. Perry on land at the southeast corner of K and Nadeau Streets, the present location of Don's Oil Changers. Perry charged $900 each for his wagons. CEMENT production began in the area in 1908 to provide cement for the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The plant has been modernized over the years and is operated today by Calaveras Cement. California Portland Cement built the Creal plant west of Mojave in 1955. The plant is one of the world's most modern. Several small AIRPORTS were built in the Mojave area over the years, including Meyer Field behind the homes along Barstow Road. Mojave Airport began life in 1942 when a Naval Air Station was built on the present site on the east side of town. During World War II the field trained thousands of Navy and Marine pilots for combat, using SBD dive bombers and F4U Corsairs. Decommissioned after the war, the field was reborn to again train pilots for the Korean Conflict. Closed again in 1959, the airport entered its third life in 1972 with formation of the Mojave (now East Kern) Airport District. Jump to the Mojave Airport page for more information on this facility, home of the National Test Pilot School, Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, XCOR Aerospace and Voyager, the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe without refueling. Mojave's rich past is prelude to the history that continues to be made on the land and in the air - and soon, space - above this exciting and interesting region.

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The Getting Word oral history project was begun at Monticello in 1993 to preserve the histories of the African American families at Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia plantation. Over 100 interviews with their descendants and additional archival research have brought remarkable individuals out of the shadows of slavery. We can now tell the stories of people whose lives and achievements were all but erased over the last 200 years. "I remember hearing..." Listen to the “way back” tales of Monticello and the newer stories of fighting for justice, as descendants bring to light the lives of their ancestors and the values they passed down. “This is our family” See how stories about the African Americans of Monticello—including the largest family, the Hemingses—reveal the strength of family bonds and importance of community activism. "He was a Civil War hero" Learn about all the participants in the Getting Word project and some of their ancestors from previous centuries: blacksmiths and farmers, educators and ministers, soldiers and suffragists.

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Memory loss (amnesia) is unusual forgetfulness. You may not be able to remember new events, recall one or more memories of the past, or both. Forgetfulness; Amnesia; Impaired memory; Loss of memory; Amnestic syndrome Normal aging may cause some forgetfullness. It's normal to have some trouble learning new material, or needing more time to remember it. However, normal aging does NOT lead to dramatic memory loss. Such memory loss is due to other diseases. Sometimes, memory loss may be seen with depression. It can be hard to tell the difference between memory loss and confusion due to depression. Some types of memory loss may cause you to forget recent or new events, past or remote events, or both. You may forget memories from a single event, or all events. Memory loss may cause you to have trouble learning new information or forming new memories. The memory loss may be temporary (transient), or permanent. Memory loss can be caused by many different things. To determine a cause, your doctor or nurse will ask if the problem came on suddenly or slowly. Many areas of the brain help you create and retrieve memories. A problem in any of these areas can lead to memory loss. Causes of memory loss include: Alcohol or use of illicit drugs Not enough oxygen to the brain (heart stopped, stopped breathing, complications from anesthesia) Brain growths (caused by tumors or infection) Brain infections such as Lyme disease, syphilis, or HIV/AIDS A person with memory loss needs a lot of support. It helps to show them familiar objects, music, or photos. Write down when the person should take any medication or complete any other important tasks. It is important to write it down. If a person needs help with everyday tasks, or safety or nutrition is a concern, you may want to consider extended care facilities, such as a nursing home. What to expect at your health care provider's office The doctor or nurse will perform a physical exam and ask questions about the person's medical history and symptoms. This will almost always include asking questions of family members and friends. They should come to the appointment. Medical history questions may include: Can the person remember recent events (is there impaired short-term memory)? Can the person remember events from further in the past (is there impaired long-term memory)? Is there a loss of memory about events that occurred before a specific experience (anterograde amnesia)? Is there a loss of memory about events that occurred soon after a specific experience (retrograde amnesia)? Is there only a minimal loss of memory? Does the person make up stories to cover gaps in memory (confabulation)? Is the person suffering from low moods that impair concentration? Has the memory loss been getting worse over years? Has the memory loss been developing over weeks or months? Is the memory loss present all the time or are there distinct episodes of amnesia? If there are amnesia episodes, how long do they last? Aggravating or triggering factors Has there been a head injury in the recent past? Has the person experienced an event that was emotionally traumatic? Has there been a surgery or procedure requiring general anesthesia? Does the person use alcohol? How much? Does the person use illegal/illicit drugs? How much? What type? What other symptoms does the person have? Is the person confused or disoriented? Can they independently eat, dress, and perform similar self-care activities? Have they had seizures? Tests that may be done include: Blood tests for specific diseases that are suspected (such as low vitamin B12 or thyroid disease) Kirshner HS. Approaches to intellectual and memory impairments. In: Gradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jankovic J, eds. Neurology in Clinical Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2008:chap 6. Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and Department of Anatomy at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc.

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The Bassoon is a woodwind instrument that was developed in the 16th century to add a stronger bass to the wind band ensemble. From the double reed family, the bassoon plays in the tenor range and below. It is known for its distinctive tone, wide range and agility. Six main pieces make up the bassoon, including the reed. The bell, extends upward; the long joint, connects the bell and the boot; the boot (or butt) is at the bottom of the instrument and folds over on itself; the wing (or tenor) joint, extends from boot to bocal; and the bocal (or crook), attaches the wing joint to a reed. Bassoon players must learn three different clefs: Bass (first and foremost), Tenor, and Treble. The range of the bassoon begins at B-flat and extends upward over three octaves (comparable to the E on the treble staff).

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With a deer, you would never grab the bull by the horns. For a few good reasons: Male deer are not called bulls, they are bucks, and they do not have horns, only antlers. Antlers and horns are two distinctly different accessories. Horns are hollow and are held atop the head of members of the bovid family. Bovids include cows, sheep, bison and goats. Horns grow continuously year-round and are covered in keratin. They do not usually branch and are found on both male and female bovids. Antlers, on the other hand, are temporary bones found on the heads of members of the cervid family. Cervids include deer, moose, elk, caribou and others. Antlers are temporary, often branching structures, growing generally on males for only part of the year. After eight months of growth and development, antlers will drop off the animal’s head. These cranial appendages are covered with a soft skin called velvet, which supplies blood, oxygen and nutrients to the growing antler bone. It is this velvet that will be rubbed against trees during mating, or rutting season in December. It is not only form, but function that is different for these two toppers. Horns mainly protect the skull, while antlers are for communicating, to establish dominance, and for seducing members of the opposite sex. Seduction is accomplished by the antlers because the velvet covering and the animal’s head contain the highest concentration of oil and scent-producing glands that will attract the fairer sex. Size matters when it comes to antlers. Bigger is better — a nice rack can be up to nine pounds and spread to 25 inches wide! The ladies, or does, will notice a sizable rack, which is the result of a combination of factors, including good nutrition, age and genetics. Bucks are headstrong and will challenge each other, engaging in shoving matches to impress the girls and dissuade the competition. It is interesting to imagine the growth process of antlers, which start as nubs, grow to substantial size, and then fall off. Spring starts the antler growth cycle again. In April, longer days stimulate a buck’s hormones and his antlers will begin to develop. Antlers are the fastest growing bone known to science, increasing up to a half an inch per day. Contrast this with human hair, which takes a month to grown that same half inch. Antlers will grow until early fall, then the bone will die and the velvet dries up and falls or is rubbed off. Finally, the antlers will be dropped or shed. Now is the time for “shed,” or antler hunting, a sport that requires no weapon. On-Island, of the cervids, one only finds deer so one only finds deer antlers, and only if you are lucky. Mid-December through mid-February is the time to look for shed antlers. Don’t be surprised if you don’t find any. Antlers, no matter how large, disappear quickly. They are speedily consumed by rodents, rabbits, squirrels and other animals that crave their high calcium and phosphorus and have the right incisor teeth to chew the tough bone. If you are fortunate and find an antler, look for teeth marks and evidence of nibbles. Antler’s hard bone has been used for needles, weapons, arrowheads and even harpoons. In the 18th century, French naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon hypothesized that antlers were made of vegetable matter or wood, which caused his doubters to raise questions about how antlers were attached to the deer’s head. Luckily, French zoologist Georges Cuvier ascertained their true nature a few years later. Antler shape varies from animal to animal. They can be categorized as typical or nontypical and can have tines or points. Typical antlers are symmetrical and shoot up evenly from a beam, while a nontypical antler is asymmetrical with points or tines shooting out at different angles. Antlers are a victory of form and strength, though they are heavy to haul around and cumbersome to carry. And while the well-endowed buck will likely get the girl, he will also have to contend with the ever present possibility that with his colossal crown, he could end up a terrific trophy. Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown.

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Too many of our young people are caught up in conflicts every day that they do not know how to manage -- teasing, jealousy, and physical aggression. Juvenile delinquency and violence are symptoms of youth's inability to manage conflict in their lives. Teaching youth how to manage conflict in a productive way can help reduce incidents of violent behavior. Conflict resolution education is a beneficial component of a comprehensive violence prevention and intervention program in schools and communities. Conflict resolution education encompasses problem solving in which the parties in dispute express their points of view, voice their interests, and find mutually acceptable solutions. Conflict resolution education programs help the parties recognize that while conflict happens all the time, people can learn new skills to deal with conflict in nonviolent ways. The programs that appear to be most effective are comprehensive and involve multiple components such as the problem-solving processes and principles of conflict resolution, the basics of effective communication and listening, critical and creative thinking, and an emphasis on personal responsibility and self-discipline. Effective conflict resolution education programs can: Four Common Strategies for Approaching Conflict Resolution Experts identify four school-based conflict resolution strategies that can be replicated in other settings. These are commonly referred to as: (1) Peer Mediation, (2) Process Curriculum, (3) Peaceable Classrooms, and (4) Peaceable Schools. In all four approaches, conflict resolution education is viewed as giving youth nonviolent tools to deal with daily conflicts that can lead to self-destructive and violent behaviors. It is up to each local school district to decide how conflict resolution education will be integrated into its overall educational environment. The expectation is that when youth learn to recognize and constructively address what takes place before conflict or differences lead to violence, the incidence and intensity of that situation will diminish. The program examples provided below empower young people with the processes and skills of conflict resolution. However, youth need to know that conflict resolution does not take precedence over adult responsibility to provide the final word in a variety of circumstances or situations. Conflict resolution has a place in the home, school, and community, but it can only supplement, not supplant, adult authority. 1) Peer Mediation Approach Recognizing the importance of directly involving youth in conflict resolution, many schools and communities are using the Peer Mediation approach. Under this approach, specially trained student mediators work with their peers to resolve conflicts. Mediation programs reduce the use of traditional disciplinary actions such as suspension, detention, and expulsion; encourage effective problem solving; decrease the need for teacher involvement in student conflicts; and improve school climate. An example of a Peer Mediation program is We Can Work It Out, developed by the National Institute for Citizenship Education in the Law and the National Crime Prevention Council. The program promotes mediation, negotiation, or other non-litigating methods as strategies to settle unresolved confrontations and fighting. One Albuquerque elementary school principal reported, "We were having 100 to 150 fights every month on the playground before we started the New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution's Mediation in the Schools Program. By the end of the school year, we were having maybe 10 (fights)." Other elementary schools using the same Peer Mediation approach to conflict resolution education reported that playground fighting had been reduced to such an extent that peer mediators found themselves out of a job. Process Curriculum Approach Teachers who devote a specific time -- a separate course, a distinct curriculum, or a daily lesson -- to the principles, foundation abilities, and problem-solving processes of conflict resolution are implementing the Process Curriculum approach. The Program for Young Negotiators, based on the Harvard Negotiation Project, is representative of this approach. Participating students, teachers, and administrators are taught how to use principled negotiation to achieve goals and resolve disputes. This type of negotiation helps disputants envision scenarios and generate options for achieving results that satisfy both sides. In a North Carolina middle school with more than 700 students, conflict resolution education was initiated. The school used the Peace Foundation's Fighting Fair curriculum and a combination of components from various conflict resolution projects. After a school year, in-school suspensions decreased from 52 to 30 incidents (a 42-percent decrease), and out-of-school suspensions decreased from 40 incidents to 1 (a 97-percent decrease). Peaceable Classroom Approach The Peaceable Classroom approach integrates conflict resolution into the curriculum and daily management of the classroom. It uses the instructional methods of cooperative learning and "academic controversy." The Educators for Social Responsibility curriculum, Making Choices About Conflict, Security, and Peacemaking, is a peaceable classroom approach to conflict resolution. The program shows teachers how to integrate conflict resolution into the curriculum, classroom management, and discipline practices. It emphasizes opportunities to practice cooperation, appreciation of diversity, and caring and effective communication. Generally, peaceable classrooms are initiated on a teacher-by-teacher basis into the classroom setting and are the building blocks of the peaceable school. Studies on the effectiveness of the Teaching Students To Be Peacemakers program, a Peaceable Classroom approach to conflict resolution, show that discipline problems requiring teacher management decreased by approximately 80 percent and referrals to the principal were reduced to zero. Peaceable School Approach The Peaceable School approach incorporates the above three approaches. This approach seeks to create schools where conflict resolution has been adopted by every member of the school community, from the crossing guard to the classroom teacher. A peaceable school promotes a climate that challenges youth and adults to believe and act on the understanding that a diverse, nonviolent society is a realistic goal. In creating the Peaceable School Program of the Illinois Institute for Dispute Resolution, students are empowered with conflict resolution skills and strategies to regulate and control their own behavior. Conflict resolution is infused into the way business is conducted at the school between students, between students and teachers and other personnel, between teachers and administrators, and between parents and teachers and administrators. In an evaluation of the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program in four multiethnic school districts in New York City, teachers of the Peaceable School approach to conflict resolution reported a 71-percent decrease in physical violence in the classroom and observed 66 percent less name calling and fewer verbal insults. Other changes in student behavior reported by the teachers included greater acceptance of differences, increased awareness and articulation of feelings, and a spontaneous use of conflict resolution skills throughout the school day in a variety of academic and nonacademic settings. The effective conflict resolution education programs highlighted above have helped to improve the climate in school, community and juvenile justice settings by reducing the number of disruptive and violent acts in these settings; by decreasing the number of chronic school absences due to a fear of violence; by reducing the number of disciplinary referrals and suspensions; by increasing academic instruction during the school day; and by increasing the self-esteem and self-respect, as well as the personal responsibility and self-discipline of the young people involved in these programs. Young people cannot be expected to promote and encourage the peaceful resolution of conflicts if they do not see conflict resolution principles and strategies being modeled by adults in all areas of their lives, such as in business, sports, entertainment, and personal relationships. Adults play a part in making the environment more peaceful by practicing nonviolent conflict resolution when minor or major disputes arise in their daily lives. (Information provided by the U.S. Department of Education.)

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China Service Medal The China Service Medal was a relatively early entry into the hallowed halls of the medals of America when it was created by an Act of Congress in August of 1940. These US military medals were established to honor US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel who served ashore in China or were attached to vessels that operated in support of operations in China either between July 1937 and September of 1939, or between September of 1945 and April of 1957. Regulations permitted the wearing of a Bronze Service Star on these military medals and ribbons if a service member had performed duty during both periods of eligibility. These Navy medals are now considered obsolete, and are no longer issued by the US Navy. However, they can still be worn by Navy personnel who earned them during that period. These Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps ribbons and medals are worn in the position directly below the Navy Expeditionary Medal, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal and the Coast Guard’s Medal for Humane Action; and are worn directly above the National Defense Service Medal in the general order of precedence that has been established for the proper display of all Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard military ribbons and medals. The China Service Medal is generally available as Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard decorations in the form of military medals, ribbons, and lapel pins. They can be worn as traditional slide-on medals, mini medals, and ribbons. While traditionalist may still prefer to purchase the traditional slide-on full size military medals, mini-medals, and slide-on military ribbons; the newer thin mini-medals, and ultra thin military ribbons commercial suppliers now provide have become extremely popular among up and coming military personnel who know how important it is to their career advancement to always maximize the neatness and smartness of their uniform appearance.

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A Breed Apart :: The "Pit Bull" Debunked by Lauren Jones Wenzel |The term “Pit Bull” refers not to a single breed but a group of breeds, including the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, among others. Most originated from pairings of the ancestors we now call the Olde English Bulldogge and Terriers. Their breeders wanted to merge the muscular body and tenacity of the bulldog with the agility and “gameness” of terriers.| Originally bred for blood sports like bull- and bear-baiting in Europe and North America, these dogs were trained to attack and immobilize the agitated animal and so were favored for their large, strong jaws and muscular necks and shoulders. When these sports were outlawed in the early 1800s, people began fighting the dogs, a sport more easily concealed from the authorities. Since then, their bad reputation, much inflated by the media, has made them the target of unfair discrimination, breed specific legislation (breed banning) and, thanks to their “tough dog” image, a favorite dog in the more illegal enterprises. |The truth is that this highly intelligent, energetic, affectionate breed loves people. Pit Bulls were prized as wonderful family dogs in years past. In fact, they once had the moniker of “nanny dog” because of their wonderful demeanor with children.| Most experts agree that today’s Pit Bull is a short-coated dog characterized by a wide skull, powerful jaws and a muscular, stocky body. But there is great variation in the Pit Bull’s appearance. Typically 35 to 65 pounds, some weigh as little as 25 pounds, while others tip the scales at 80 pounds or more. While some have bulkier frames and colossal skulls, others have leaner, more muscular bodies. All are strong and athletic. With their impressive stamina and staunch work ethic, Pit Bulls enjoy a variety of sports such as agility, disc dog competitions, flyball, freestyle and competitive obedience. They often excel in weight-pulling contests and schutzhund. Pit Bulls are typically very friendly, even with strangers. They love people and thrive on attention and affection. Because of their terrier bloodlines, Pit Bulls have a high prey drive, meaning they will frequently chase and grab small animals. Since most terriers were bred for eradicating small rodents, Pit Bulls have a tendency to not get along with other animals, including dogs. This makes their early socialization with other animals especially important. Pit Bulls also have a tendency to be easily aroused or over-excited and, once riled, it can be difficult for them to calm down, so adequate exercise and training are a must with these dogs. They are not the best choice for the first-time dog owner due to their strength and high energy level and, for the more rambunctious dogs, homes with older children are advised due to their energy and strength. Because of their unfortunate reputation, owning a Pit Bull can be a greater responsibility than owning another breed. It is important that they be well-trained and socialized so they can be good ambassadors for their group. Yet, those dog guardians ready for the challenge and effort of Pit Bull ownership will find it to be one of the most loyal, loving, and wonderful companions on four legs. |Did you know that Helen Keller, the famous blind and deaf author, activist, and lecturer of the early 1900s, owned a Pit Bull? Or that Petey from the popular series of the 1920s and 1930s, The Little Rascals, was also a Pit Bull? And during World War I and World War II, Pit Bulls were frequently used to carry messages on the battlefield.|

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REFORM IN SPANISH EDUCATION: THE INSTITUCION LIBRE DE ENSENANZA by Noel M. Valis Paper presented to Thomas Woody Society, University of Pennsylvania, January 26, 1977 This document examines the development and influence of the Free Institute of Education (Institucion Libre de Ensenanza) and of its founder, Don Francisco Giner de los Rios, in late nineteenth century Spain. Founded in 1876 against a background of repression and reimposition of state-controlled education during the Bourbon Restoration the Institute was a private institution free of Church and State. Its intent was to create an alternative to the higher education system of official Spain, but due to financial problems, it evolved into an institution of primary and secondary education. Subject matter included traditional, State-required subjects, but also anthropology, technology, social sciences, economics, art, drawing, singing, and handwork--all generally neglected in State- and Church-run schools. Most radical were the innovations in art and physical education (stressing free inquiry, observation, and spontaneous criticism in the former, and development of the whole person in the latter) and in the institution of field trips, hiking, and nature observation. The use of textbooks was discouraged as much as possible, and examinations were regarded as producing mostly negative results. Emphasis was placed instead upon the creation of student notebooks that reflected the pupil's judgment and synthesis of materials. Don Francisco borrowed much from the French and English forms of education, and was influenced by Rousseau, Froebel, Pestalozzi, Krause, and Sanz Del Rio, the last of whom provided his ideal of reconciling all human facilities to produce an artistic taste, technical preparedness, spiritual elevation and an austere, moral sense of life. The Institute fell victim to the Civil War of 1936, but proved a pervasive influence in Spanish society to this day. (MB) It has sometimes been said of Spanish philosophy, "What Spanish philosophy?" The same reproach might be directed at the non-existence of Spanish education. "There ain't no such animal," some might claim, forgetting for the moment the intellectual freedom and depth of thirteenth-century Toledo under the reign of Alfonso X, the Wise (El Sabio), and the splendor and revival of learning in the sixteenth-century Universities of Salamanca, Alcala and other institutions. What is mostly remembered, however, is the disheartening decline of Spanish education, ushered in by the rigidities, fears and intolerance of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain. But this view of education in Spain, of necessity simplified, would not be complete without mention of the establishment and significance of the Instititucion Libre de Ensenanza, in English, the Free Institution/Institute of Education. In order to understand more clearly the Institute's impact on Spanish society, I will review very quickly some of the historical background to its founding in 1876. A broad overview of nineteenth-century Spain reveals to us that the "lack of civility" among Spaniards, which reached such extreme proportions during the 1936-30 Civil War, had its roots in the last century. Civil war, frequent military uprisings in the form of "pronunciamientos," and dissension everywhere created an ambience of unease and fragmentation within Spanish society. Historians talk of "Las dos Espanas," the "two Spains," that is, the liberal, progressive side as opposed to the traditional, sometimes reactionary side of the country. It is probably more accurate, however, to talk of the many Spains. To disagree was the Spaniard's right -- no, his duty to himself, to his own proud sense of individuality and dignity. A solution imposed from above, from the State, seemed, in many cases, the only solution when there were problems, and there were many -- economic, political, religious. The problem of Spanish education was only of several, and it too came to be subsumed into the more general and overriding conflict of State versus Individual, of Authority vs. Freedom. Reconciling such absolutes frequently failed; worse still, the distinction between philosophy and ideology, that is, between the search for truth and the molding, frequent distorting of existential reality to one's own conception of it, this distinction would too often become blurred in the disputes and violence of nineteenth-century Spain. Tempers rose, passions were unleashed, ideologies reigned supreme, and somewhere in the shuffle, clarity of vision and truth were lost. This split in Spanish society in part gave birth to the Free Institute of Education. Specifically, we must look to the years 1868 and 1874 to explain how the Institute came into being. The date 1868 conjures up one outstanding event in modern Spanish history: the overthrow of the reigning Bourbon monarch, Isabel II, an action which is termed the Glorious Revolution of 1868. It was a somewhat qualified victory for the liberal cause in Spain since the end result was to bring confusion, instability, bitterness, and finally, in 1874, the reestablishment of another Bourbon king, Isabel's son, Alfonso XII. This period, called the Restoration (Restauracion) in Spain, also reinstated the State-controlled, religiously oriented educational system which the Revolution of 1868 had attempted to change. This move and the specific action which the Minister in charge of education, Manuel de Orovio, brought against the future founder of the Institute, Francisco Giner de los Rios, would be the direct and immediate causes of the Institute's creation. SPANISH EDUCATION: OVERVIEW Before going into a more detailed explanation of the origins of the Institute, I think a brief look at the state of Spanish education prior to 1876 would be useful. In my opening statement, I mentioned two high points in the history of Spanish education: the medieval center of learning in Toledo and the sixteenth-century Universities of Salamanca and Alcala de Henares. Both periods were characterized by a high enthusiasm for learning and considerable freedom in which to do it. In Toledo, Jews, Moors and Christians collaborated together in a spirit of respect and tolerance. In the first half of the sixteenth century, students and professors at Salamanca, Alcala and other universities constituted, within an amazing diversity of university modes of existence, an entity independent of the strictures and authority of the State. Yet by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, learning in Spain seemed to have ceased. For example, at the University of Salamanca, the Chair for Mathematics and Astrology -- the title speaks for itself, I think -- remained vacant for thirtyyears until it was finally filled in 1726. What happened? In brief: The Counter-Reformation. This is obviously a great simplification of the causes of Spain's decadence in education and elsewhere. But certainly Spain's withdrawal and increasing isolation from the rest of Europe from the middle of the sixteenth century on explains in part the origins of stagnation in her schools and universities. In 1559 Philip II forbade study in foreign universities; shortly before that, he banned the importing of books from abroad. The additional power of the Inquisition to safeguard orthodoxy among Spaniards and weed out the impure and heretical elements must also be taken into account. And finally, as the historian Americo Castro has pointed out, Spaniards became reluctant to demonstrate intellectual powers and curiosity for fear of being taken for a Jew. Spanish Jews were known for their interest in intellectual matters. And nobody wanted to deal with the Inquisition. To control the inner life and content of the universities and other schools the government stepped in so that by the nineteenth century Spanish schools, particularly the Universities, to quote Salvador Madariaga, "were more Government establishments for the granting of official diplomas" (p. 75, Spain, N.Y., 1943). He goes on to say that "in a sense all universities tend fatally to become degree factories. But in Spain ... they were nothing else." Schooling on all levels were plagued by unimaginative, and stiff, unbending teaching, bad textbooks, long hours of routine and frequent utter boredom, and sometimes even brutalization. Memorization and recitation were the chief pedagogic tools. The first third of the last century also brought in more imitation of French manners and customs, certainly not the first instance of French influence on Spanish education. Eighteenth-century Spain had already adopted Gallic centralization of schooling. The critic Mariano Jose de Larra describes the mania of copying, badly, I might add, French mores among the Spanish middle classes and well-to-do. The narrator of "El casarse pronto y mal" writes that his sister became enamored of French customs and from then on, "bread was no longer bread (pan), nor wine, wine (vino)." "Suffice it to say," continues Larra in this ironic vein, that my sister adopted the ideas of the period; but as this second education was as shallow and superficial as the first (her Spanish upbringing), and as that weak segment of humanity never knows how not to go to extremes, she suddenly jumped from the Christian Year of Our Lord 18__ to the era of Pigault Lebrun (a frivolous, sometimes scandalous French novelist) and left off going to Mass and devotions, without knowing in the least why she did so, why she used to go in the first place. She said that her son could be educated in whatever manner it suited him; that he could read without order or method whatever books fell into his hands; and God knows what other things she said about ignorance and fanaticism, reason and enlightenment, adding that religion was a social contract into which only idiots entered in good faith and that the boy didn't need religion to be good; that the terms, father and mother (padre y madre) were lower-class, and that one should treat one's papa and mama familiarly with the tu form of address because there is no friendship like that which unites parents to their children. (Articulos de Costumbres, Madrid, 1965). A writer of a later period, Jose Maria de Pereda retains this image of his school days in the 1840's: The chill of death, the obscurity of a dungeon, the stench of grottoes, the unhappiness, affliction and pain of torture permeated the classroom ... Virgil and Dante, so clever in depicting hell and torment, would have been at wit's end to describe those images of school which are engraved in my memory for the rest of my life ... I believed myself cut off from the refuge of my family and the protection of the State; I heard the swish of the cane and the complaints of the victims, and the lessons were very long, and there were no excuses for not knowing them; and not knowing them meant caning and mockery, which also hurt; and confinement, fisticuffs, whipping, and the ignominy of all these things. Who is the brave soul who could truly paint such scenes if the worst of it was what the spirit felt and not what the eyes saw or the flesh suffered? (Esbozos y rasgunos, "Mas reminiscencias," Obras completas, v. 1, Madrid, 1959, p. 1226). He then goes on to say that "one had to know the lesson literally (al pie de la letra"), word for word. One misplaced word, one substitute, was enough to merit punishment." (p. 1226). Why, one asks, was this so? Pereda explains that the professor "taught the way he had been taught: by blows. Little by little the habit became part of his nature. The want of intellect, the extreme devotion to the profession, the traditions of the classroom and the educational system did the rest." (p. 1232). And finally, here is the testimony of yet another writer, the novelist Benito Perez Galdos, who describes Spanish education in the 1860's: The class lasted hours and hours ... Never was there a more repugnant nightmare, fashioned out of horrible aberrations which were called Arithmetic, Grammar or Ecclesiastical History ... Around the axis of boredom revolved such grave problems as syntax, the rule of three, the sons of Jacob, all confounded in the common hue of pain, all tinted with loathing ... (El Doctor Centeno, Obras completas, v. 4, Madrid, p. 1319). Pereda was a conservative, Galdos a liberal -- yet both concur that the Spanish educational system was wretched. Thus, when liberals and progressives took control in 1868, one of their first priorities was educational reform. They declared, first of all, the principle of freedom of education and teaching. The instability and factionalism of the liberal regime, however, precluded any lasting reforms in education. The conservative return to power in 1874 reestablished the right of the State to dictate to schools the textbooks to be used and the curriculum to be followed. In addition, Orovio, the Minister in charge of education, sent out to the Directors (or Rectores) of the Universities a circular in which he recommended that no religious doctrines inimical to those held by the State be taught and that no political ideas be expressed to the detriment of the king's person or the constitutional monarchy then in power. The circular also stated that action would be taken against any professor who so indulges in such political or religious meditations -- i.e., expulsion from the University. The Minister's recommendations were no mere recommendations. The result of all this was the removal of several professors from their faculty chairs. Among them was the future founder of the Institute, Francisco Giner de los Rios. For not adhering to the State's demands, he was arrested in March 1875, at 4:00 in the morning, and spent four months confinement until he was finally expelled from the University. The principle in question was clearly one of academic freedom. The State, however, saw the "university question" ("cuestion universitaria") from another angle: that is, the University and its Faculties were no more than instruments of the government's policies and, therefore, were obligated to conform to the State's instructions and directives. The professors were, in effect, civil servants (and still are today). This, then, is the historical and educational background to the founding of the Institucion Libre de Ensenanza, the Institute, in 1876. THE INSTITUCION LIBRE DE ENSENANZA Perhaps the most significant point to be made about the Institute's existence is the profound and far-reaching, if diffuse, influence of its founder, Francisco Giner de los Rios, a professor of philosophy of law at the University of Madrid. It was largely Don Francisco's attractive and vibrant personality which held the Institute together and proved to be the Prime Mover of the school. All the accounts of Don Francisco by friends, former students, disciplines, and fellow professors stress the very personal and individual effect of the man. This is not to deny the cogency of his ideas and methods of teaching but simply to make clear that, with Don Francisco, abstractions were made concrete in his very person; that is, through him and his relations with men and women, he incarnated his own beliefs. One friend had this to say about him as a teacher at the time of his death in 1915: What was the secret of his teaching? Did he reveal anything new? Or was it that everything was transformed at the touch of his powerful creative imagination? The secret lay as much in the form as in the substance. As a teacher, he brought us something that was the complete opposite of the old methods; and he discouraged the craze for oratory which has been so damaging to education in Spain. In his lectures at the University or at the Institution, he only aimed at one thing: to shake the pupil out of his torpor, stir him up to independent investigation, to working the thing out by himself; and above all he recommended games, art, the country. As an educationist he created a complete system of social education, which had for its axis the child, the citizen, the man as he would like to see him, healthy in mind and body, and working for a Spain that was strong and dignified and which must one day rise again. (J.B. Trend, Origins of Modern Spain, N.Y. 1934, p. 99). Or as another writer put it: "He gave us our conception of the universe and of the way to peel an orange." (p. 103). What was Don Francisco's creation, the Institute, like and what were its educational and philosophical origins? How did Don Francisco and his disciples "make men," "hacer hombres," the overriding goal of the Institute? As J.B. Trend, Rafael Altamira, and others have noted, Don Francisco Giner believed that the most pressing problem of Spain was the problem of education. He, like the literary Generation of 1898, was obsessed -- and rightly so -- with the question of Spain's decadence, and the vital necessity for her regeneration. And he took the now classic position of the nineteenth-century liberal that through education lay the country's revitalization. It must be clearly understood that Don Francisco's efforts were those of a minority and directed toward a minority. It was not mass education, although the effects of the Institute certainly were to reach public education throughout Spain in the twentieth century. First and most important, the Institute was created as a private institution, independent of both Church and State. I don't think it is necessary to do more than mention here the historic interdependence of Church and State in Spain. The credo of the Institute, which appeared regularly on the masthead of its publication, the Bulletin of the Free Institute of Education (El Boletin de la Institucion Libre de Ensenanza) was as follows: The Free Institute of Education is completely opposed to religious, philosophical and political sectarianism, proclaiming only the principle of liberty and the inviolability of science and the concomitant independence of scientific research and explanation, with regard to any other authority than that of the conscience itself of the Professor, who is alone responsible for his ideas. (cited by A. Jimenez-Landi, "Don Francisco Giner de los Rios y la Institucion Libre de Ensenanza," Revista Hispanica Moderna, v. 25, nos. 1, 2, 1959, p. 16). Because Spain's educational history had been one of bickering and divisiveness between the demands of the State and the private sector, and conflict between the precepts of the Church and needs of Science, with Religion usually dominating over Science, Don Francisco abhorred dogmatic, closed positions. He fervently believed in tolerance. It was not, however, mere intellectual benevolence which motivated Don Francisco. Rather, it was an ethical, moral stance, a way of life, which he wanted to instill in his pupils, the "Institutionists." A follower of Giner de los Rios, Jose Castillejo, has written that, for Don Francisco, "the two greatest forces in education are: the personality of the teacher and the social atmosphere and surroundings of the school" (Wars of Ideas in Spain, London, 1937, p. 97). We have already seen in the magnetic power of Don Francisco's teaching itself the importance of the teacher's personality. What about the ambience of the school? Here, one sees right away to what extent Don Francisco and his disciples felt compelled to move away from the current, i.e., antiquated and rigid teaching methods and atmosphere of both public and private schools in Spain. First, the classroom should be informal, akin to familial surroundings. The teacher should not merely dictate or lecture, but rather converse, using whatever approach or combination of approaches worked best, starting with the Socratic dialogue. No one method was to be used, to the exclusion of all others. The teacher was a guide, the pupils a family. A small family. Classes were to be kept small. And coeducational (Primary and secondary education in Spain today is not coeducational.) Cordiality and the spirit of discovery were the key words at the Institute. Don Francisco aimed at dispelling not only the fear and horror of school, such as we have seen in Pereda's reminiscences, but the passivity with which most students received their education. The original intent of the Institute was to create an alternative to the higher education of official Spain, but the desire was not to be met. It was quickly found to be beyond the resources of the Institute which suffered from chronic insufficiency of funds from its inception. Instead, the school evolved into an institution of primary and secondary education. Since most students entering a Spanish university were ill-prepared to meet its demands, the "Institutionists" felt that a solid intellectual, moral, physical and spiritual background given in the primary and secondary levels of education was an a priori necessity. What was taught at the Institute besides the traditional subjects required by the State ___ curriculum included Anthropology, Technology, Social Sciences, Economics, Art, Drawing, Singing, and Handwork. Most of these subjects were generally neglected in State and Church-run schools of the period. Most remembered and most significant are the innovations carried out in the arts and in physical education, and the frequent excursions. First, art. "Institutionists," for the most part, tried to avoid systematic and highly structured courses in art and art history. Instead, they emphasized such activities as excursions to historical monuments and places and visits to museums. Such an unorthodox procedure was unheard-of in nineteenth-century Spain. Rather than mere lessons, the Institute stressed the actual, vivid experiencing of art as much as possible. Like the literary generation of 1898, they also, in a sense, rediscovered Spain's cultural heritage, by extolling the value of Spanish folklore, architecture and painting. It was, for example, a disciple of Don Francisco, Manuel de Cossio, who rediscovered the forgotten and neglected El Greco for Spaniards and the rest of the world. One of the most delightful illustrations of the Institute's approach to art is to be found in Don Francisco's essay on "Spontaneous Criticism by Children of the Fine Arts." In it he describes how a group of children of twelve and fourteen years of age, conducted by him one day to a museum, learned to form their own artistic sensibilities and judgments by comparing two pieces of sculpture, one by Donatello and the other by Lucas de la Robbia. On this occasion, Don Francisco did not even attempt to point out the obvious differences in style, expression and composition in the two sculptures. He simply let the children use their own powers of observation, uninfluenced by any previous explanations or prejudices. Thus, through observation, they were able to define the work. The second and more difficult problem, says Don Francisco, was one of judgment. Which was the better sculpture? "I discovered," he writes, "a very curious phenomenon: there was a unanimous explosion in favor of Lucas de la Robbia. They stumbled over their words in their rush to tell me that from the very first de la Robbia had seemed to them so superior that they could scarcely understand why there should be any doubt; that sweetness, that mystical expression, that softness, that elegance, that repose. How could anyone compare this divine object with the coarse rawness and the hard, unbecoming and massive forms of Donatello? Why, it was almost a caricature of a sculpture! 'And Donatello is a sculptor with a great reputation!' they told me, almost aggressively. You can imagine how I resisted giving them the least sign of disagreement with this vehemently-held point of view, nor did I even invite them to study more carefully both works before pronouncing an opinion. Showing nothing but the most rigorous neutrality and even indifference, I began to look around rather distractedly, now at one piece, now at another. They did the same. After a little while, and spontaneously, there occurred a certain attenuation in the crudeness of their first judgment: 'No, I wouldn't say that it was exactly grotesque (in Spanish, 'un mamarracho').' 'There's a certain strength; the composition has a certain vigor.' 'If you put the piece in the right place, it wouldn't seem so bulky, so massive ...' And then: 'You know, if you really look hard at these things of Donatello, they're very manly; de la Robbia seems a little effeminate,' etc., etc. Finally, why prolong it? The gradual reversal of opinion in favor of Donatello reached the point of one child saying: 'There must be other works of Lucas de la Robbia which deserve his fame.' And it was precisely the very boy who had first placed in doubt the merits of Donatello's own reputation." ("Antologia," Revista Hispanica Moderna, v. 25, nos, 1, 2, 1959, pp. 132-133). A second innovation which I mentioned before was the approach to physical education. Rather than the routine and boredom of calisthenics, directed toward a military goal of physical competence, the Institute stressed games, games which were to form character. The use of games as an ethical force is, of course, an educational practice borrowed from the public schools of England. Anyone who has read Kipling's Stalky and Company or the early school novels of P. G. Wodehouse will have a good idea of what I am referring to. But, for Don Francisco, playing cricket and football also signified that the whole person was being educated. Intellectual formation alone was lopsided. To provide an integral education required an awareness and use of one's own body. Mere discreet walks, in carefully monitored lines, which was the usual practice and extent of physical exercise in other schools, were simply inadequate. The third point of the Institute's educational program were the excursions out to the countryside. This also was unheard-of in the last century of Spain. Long walks and mountain climbing simply were not done. In Don Francisco's time, people shut all their windows tight, never letting in fresh air; they frequented taverns and cafes, and sometimes strolled casually at night for a short walk along a busy thoroughfare, but almost never thought exploring the countryside an exhilarating occupation. Again, like the Generation of 1898, Don Francisco and his Institute discovered the Spanish countryside. Before that, almost no one seems to have appreciated it. Realist novelists, for example, rarely describe Nature; even the Spanish Romanticists evidence little sensitivity toward Nature. The idea, which was brought back from Paris in 1878 by one of the Institute's professors, was, like the introduction of games, imported from abroad and adapted to Spanish circumstances. Excursions developed the intellectual and physical capabilities of the pupil; more important, for Don Francisco, they allowed one to enter into communion with Nature, to feel oneself as part of a Whole. I would like to touch briefly on two other aspects of the Institute's educational program; the use of textbooks and examinations. Don Francisco discouraged the use of textbooks; to a great extent, he did so as a reaction to the wretched official textbooks forced on students at State-and Church-run schools. Instead, he preferred the creation of student notebooks which reflected the child's own judgments and synthesis of the material, and which were carefully checked and read by the teachers. Likewise, Don Francisco felt that examinations brought mostly negative results. Examinations in other schools were simply the means to acquire a degree; and stressed only the student's ability to memorize and to repeat exactly what the Professor dictated in class. Respect for the freedom of the child is at the heart of the Institute's teaching. The intuitive method in education, which goes back to Jacques Rousseau, by way of Froebel and Pestalozzi, was practiced by the Institute. This meant the substitution of restraint, obligation, and mechanical behavior by personal effort, spontaneity, and school work which had become ___ and attractive. These then, were the main points of the Institute's program. It should be noted that the educational reform undertaken by the Institute was not the first instance of attempts to improve education in Spain; and that the Institute's pedagogy depended, to a large extent, on influences from abroad which were modified to suit the Spanish temperament. The pedagogical efforts of [Gaspar Melchor de] Jovellanos in the eighteenth century and the short-lived Pestalozzian schools of the early nineteenth are but two examples of such attempts at educational improvement in Spain. With regard to the Institute's educational philosophy, we have already seen that the "Institutionists" borrowed from both England and France. And a survey of the Institute's publications reveals that Don Francisco and his colleagues were quite aware of the pedagogical approaches of Pestalozzi and Froebel. But perhaps the most significant, if somewhat vague, influence on the Institute is derived from the importation of the ideas of an obscure, second-rate German philosopher by name of Christian Friedrich Krause by a then equally obscure Spanish professor, Julian Sanz del Rio. This is not the place to examine the abstruse metaphysics of Krause or of Sanz del Reio's adaptation of it, but simply to state that Sanz del Rio's profoundly ethical work, Humanity's Ideal for Life strongly influenced Francisco Giner de los Rios and many other Spanish intellectuals who, during the 1860's and 70's, called themselves Krausistas. The Krausist tendency and ideal to create a world increasingly more unified, harmonious and complete is translated in pedagogical terms into the attempt to reconcile all the faculties of the human being, to develop the whole personality of the individual so that he or she might cultivate not only an artistic taste and sensibility, but a technical preparation, spiritual elevation, and an austere, moral sense of life. Despite the criticisms leveled against Don Francisco and his Institute of being anti-religious, the Institute did inculcate a spiritual leaning in its students without favoring any particular orthodox religious belief. Don Francisco himself was a boliovor. Jose Castillejo writes that "Ginor ... following Sanz del Rio, believed that schools need a religious spirit, to lift up the minds of children towards a universal order of the world, a supreme ideal of life and a harmony among men and between humanity and Nature. Without that spirit education is dead and dry" (Wars of Ideas in Spain, p. 100). One could say, in brief, that the whole of the Institute's education, the entire atmosphere of the Institute, was permeated with this spiritualization of man and the universe. It does not take too much imagination to see that the Institute would not be without enemies. The ideological dichotomy between left and right, progressive and traditionalist, in Spain immediately polarized the significance of the Institute. It was the product of the Devil for some; the only hope and salvation in Spain for others. The Institute itself fell, one more victim, to the ravages of Spain's Civil War in 1936. Yet, looked at dispassionately, the Institute's openness to ideas and influences from the rest of Europe, its undogmatic approach to education and to life itself, could not help but bring a breath of fresh air to the closed and narrow society of nineteenth-century Spain. If it perhaps erred too much in the direction of intellectual anarchy and placed too much confidence in the innate goodness of man, the Institute's efforts at raising the moral and intellectual level of Spaniards became an all-pervasive influence in many institutions, both public and private, in government circles, in business. The Institute was "much more than a school." It was an atmosphere of intellectual and moral enlightenment; and a belief in the regeneration of Spain.

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Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole. Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages. Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines. OCR for page 1 Summary A NEW PERSPECTIVE Hazards of modern life surround us and so, too, does commu- nication about the risks of those hazards. News reports describe such hazards as pollutants in the air and in drinking water, pes- ticide residues in food, threats from radiation and toxic chemicals, and ATDS. Government and industry also send out messages about hazards and their risks, sometimes directly to the populace but more often through intermediaries, such as the print and broadcast media. Risk messages are difficult to formulate in ways that are accurate, clear, and not rn~sTeading. One reads, for example, that "radon risk can equal or exceed the 2%o risk of death in an auto accident, . . . for anyone who lives 20 years at levels exceeding about 25 picocuries per liter" (Kerr, 1988~. This statement places an unfamiliar risk (radon exposure in homes) in juxtaposition to a more familiar risk (death in an auto accident), which may help people understand the magnitude of this unfamiliar risk. But this simple comparison may be misleading because it does not specify the respective levels of exposure, leaves out potentially relevant nonlethal consequences, and uses language (picocuries per liter) unfamiliar to most people. This report addresses these and other problems confronting risk communication. 1 OCR for page 2 2 IMPROVING RISK COMMUNICATION Risk messages can be controversial for many reasons. The haz- ards they describe are often themselves centers of controversy. Fre- quently, there is enough uncertainty in the underlying knowledge to allow different experts to draw contradictory conclusions. Experts are frequently accused of hiding their subjective preferences behind technical jargon and complex, so-called objective analyses. Often a message that is precise and accurate must be so complex that only an expert can understand it. Messages that nonexperts can under- stand necessarily present selected information and are thus subject to challenge as being inaccurate, incomplete, or manipulative. In the past the term risk communication has commonly been thought of as consisting only of one-way messages from experts to nonexperts. In this report the Committee on Risk Perception and Communication takes a different perspective. Because much of the controversy seems to center on the content of specific messages, it was tempting to proceed along the lines of many previous discussions about risk communication and concentrate on message design. We found a focus on one-way messages too limiting, however. Instead, we make a crucial distinction between risk messages and the risk communication process. We see risk communication as an interactive process of exchange of information and opinion among individuals, groups, and institutions. When risk communication is viewed in this way, significant, though perhaps less obvious, underlying problems can be better discerned and treated. We view success in risk communication in a different way also. Some take the position that risk communication is successful when recipients accept the views or arguments of the communicator. We construe risk communication to be successful to the extent that it raises the level of understanding of relevant issues or actions for those involved and satisfies them that they are adequately informed within the limits of available knowledge. Finally, it should be noted that one of the most difficult issues we faced concerned the extent to which public officials in a demo- cratic society should attempt to influence individuals-that is, to go beyond merely informing them concerning risks and such risk- reducing actions as quitting smoking. Government officials must be accountable for their decisions and will likely find their efforts to influence contested if they stray from accepted scientific views or if they challenge popular consensus. A public official should be aware of the political risks and of the legitimate constraints placed upon government in advocacy. Procedural strategies such as independent OCR for page 3 SUMMARY 3 review processes can be used to determine the appropriateness of the use of influencing techniques. Where an unusually strong degree of advocacy seems warranted, officials should seek legitimization of such actions through the democratic process. COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT RISE COMMUNICATION Several important misconceptions need to be dispelled before the real problems of risk communication can be addressed. Con- trary to what some think, there is no single overriding problem and thus no simple way of making risk communication easy. Risk mes- sages necessarily compress technical information, which can lead to misunderstanding, confusion, and distrust. Many people including some scientists, decision makers, and members of the public-have unrealistic expectations about what can be accomplished by risk communication. For example, it is mistaken to expect improved risk communication to always reduce conflict and smooth risk management. Risk management decisions that benefit some citizens can harm others. In addition, people do not all share common interests and values, so better understanding may not lead to consensus about controversial issues or to uniform personal behavior. But even though good risk communication cannot always be expected to improve a situation, poor risk communication will nearly always make it worse. It is also mistaken to think, as some do, that if people understood and used risk comparisons it would be easy for them to make decisions. Comparing risks can help people comprehend the unfamiliar magnitudes associated with risks, but risk comparison alone cannot establish levels of acceptable risk or ensure systematic minimization of risk. Factors other than the level of risk-such as the voluntariness of exposure to the hazard and the degree of dread associated with the consequences must be considered in determining the acceptability of risk associated with a particular activity or phenomenon. Some risk communication problems derive from mistaken beliefs about scientific research on the nature of how risks are assessed and managed and on risk communication itself. Scientific information, for example, cannot be expected to resolve all important risk issues. All too often research that would answer the question has not been done or the results are disputed. Although a great deal of research has been done on the dissemination and preparation of risk messages, OCR for page 4 4 IMPROVING RISK COMMUNICATION there has been much less attention devoted to the risk communication process. In addition, even when valid scientific data are available, experts are unlikely to agree completely about the meaning of these data for risk management decisions. Finally, it is unrealistic to expect easy identification and understanding of the values, preferences, and information needs of the intended recipients of risk messages. Other misconceptions involve stereotypes about the way inter- mediaries and recipients react to risk messages. It is mistaken, for example, to view journalists and the media always as significant, independent causes of problems in risk communication. Rather, the problem is often at the interface between science and journalism. Both sides need to better understand the pressures and constraints of the other instead of complaining about the sometimes disappointing results. Scientists and risk managers should recognize the importance of the part journalists play in identifying disputes and maintaining the flow of information during resolution of conflicts; journalists need to understand how to frame the technical and social dimensions of risk issues. It is also important to recognize the differences between the broadcast ant! the print media and between the national and the regional or local press corps. Finally, even though most people prefer simplicity to complex- ity, it is mistaken to expect the public to want simple, cut-and-dried answers as to what to do in every case. The public is not homoge- neous. People diner in the degree to which they exercise control over exposure to hazards or remediation of undesirable consequences, the importance they attach to various consequences, and their tendency to be risk averse or risk seeking. Often at least part of the public seeks considerable information about the risks they face. PROBLEMS OF RISK COMMUNICATION We distinguish two major types of problems in risk communica- tion. Problems deriving from institutional and political systems are problems for which little can be done beyond trying to understand them by those involved in risk communication. Nevertheless, these problems can have a considerable impact on actions and events. Problems of risk communicators and recipients can be addressed more directly and are therefore more amenable to improvement or solution. OCR for page 5 SUMMARY 5 Problems Deriving Mom the Institutional and Political Systems Several kinds of legal considerations, including statutory man- dates, liability, and informed consent and "right-to-know" require- ments, influence the options available to risk managers and thus the content of their risk messages. These considerations generally either limit the possible responses to the risk in question or require that certain actions be taken in given circumstances. For example, some- times statutes require consideration of certain factors (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act explicitly includes con- sideration of economic benefits) or the exclusion of others (the Clean Water Act specifies that the best available technology should be used regardless of the financial burden imposed). Although not necessar- ily problems as such, these considerations often constitute important influences on risk messages and risk communication processes. It is often difficult to understand why risk messages appear as they do without consideration of these factors. Communicating with citizens about risks can increase their desire to participate in or otherwise influence decisions about the control of those risks, thereby making risk management even more cumber- some. The interests of citizens and their motivation to participate in the political process can introduce difficult challenges when the implementation of risk control measures is necessarily decentralized and local preferences (generally to avoid exposure to a particular risk) preclude solutions in the broader interest. Many hazardous waste facilities operate under these pressures. Divided authority, not only among Congress, the executive branch, and the courts at the federal level but also among federal, state, and local or regional jurisdictions, creates incentives for each actor to gain as much leverage as possible from the limited portion he or she controls. Such fragmentation makes communicating about risks harder because it makes government regulation and risk reduc- tion programs more complex and makes it more difficult to determine who is responsible for the eventual outcomes. Government and industry spend large amounts of money on research, and thus their concerns are usually well reflected in the information developed by that research. Individuals and citizens' groups do not usually have the financial resources to fund research and thus do not enjoy this sort of access to information and influence over its generation. If a group of people that a risk corr~municator is trying to reach feels that the system for generating information relied OCR for page 6 6 IMPROVING RISK COMMUNICATION upon by that source does not consider the group's concerns, it may reject the information from that source as a basis for decisions about risks. It is reasonable to speculate that this may, in part, explain why it is so difficult to affect young people's attitudes and behavior about drugs and the AIDS epidemic the information presented is based on facts that they do not consider very important in the face of their immediate concerns of peer pressure and personal image. There also may be systematic biases in the provision of informa- tion. Those most strongly motivated to communicate about risk are often also those with the ' strongest interest in the decision. When- ever a personal or social decision affects interested groups or organi- zations, conflicting messages reflecting the interests of those groups or organizations may be expected. The U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency administrator's statement in 1984 that EDB (ethylene dibromide)'contamination was a Tong-term health problem being ade- quately handled by tolerance guidelines, for example, was in the news at about the same time that public health officials in Massachusetts and Florida were removing grain products with EDB contamination from grocery store shelves. Experts from the food industry joined in, downplaying the risks, while scientists from environmental groups criticized the government's inaction. The beliefs, predispositions, and interests of risk communicators and the groups they represent create incentives to slant, or even distort or misrepresent, informa- tion. This can skew messages in many different directions on the same Issue. Problems of Risk Communicators and Recipients The problems encountered by the sources and recipients of risk messages center on the following topics: establishing and recognizing credibility, making the messages understandable, preparing messages in an emergency, capturing and focusing attention, and getting in- formation. Lack of credibility alters the communication process by adding distrust and acrimony. The most important factors affecting the credibility of a source and its messages relate to the accuracy of the messages and the legitimacy of the process by which the contents were determined, as perceived by the recipients. Recipients' views about the accuracy of a message are adversely affected by (1) real or perceived advocacy by the source of a position in the message that is not consistent with a careful assessment of the facts; (2) OCR for page 7 SUMMARY 7 a reputation for deceit, misrepresentation, or coercion on the part , ~ . positions taken by the source that do not support the current message; (4) self-serving framing of information in the message; (5) contradictory messages from other credible sources; and (6) actual or perceived professional incompetence or impropriety on the part of the source. The perceived legitimacy of the process by which the contents of a message were determined depends on (1) the legal standing of the source with respect to the risks addressed; (2) the justification provided for the communication program; (3) the access afforded affected parties to the decision-making process; and (4) the degree to which conflicting claims are given fair and balanced review. Ideally, risk information should use language and concepts re- cipients already understand. It is difficult to present scientific and technical information that uses everyday language and magnitudes common in ordinary experience and that is sensitive to such psycho- Togical needs on the part of recipients as the desire for clear, decisive answers or the fear of the unfamiliar and unknown. Sometimes risk communicators must disseminate messages when there are not enough relevant data to allow them to draw satisfactory conclusions and there is no time to obtain better information. This usually occurs when an emergency requires that action be taken im- mediately or not at all or when events lead to requests for information prior to the completion of study or analysis. Many things compete with risk messages for attention, and it is often difficult to get the intended recipients to attend to the issues the risk communicator thinks are important. From the risk com- municator's standpoint, there are two aspects of this: stimulating the attention of the ultimate recipient and interacting with the news media and other intermediaries. There are, of course, several differ- ent ways that messages can reach the final recipients: face-to-face (physician to patient, friend to friend, within the family), in groups (work sites, cIassrooms), through professional or volunteer organi- zations (American Medical Association, Red Cross), through the mass media (radio, television, magazines, newspapers, direct mail, billboards), and through community service agencies (at libraries, hospitals, mails, fairs). Recipients of risk messages may have difficulty deciding which issues to attend to or what to do because they cannot get information from officials and other message sources that satisfactorily answers their questions. This can happen when authorities do not listen of the source; t3) previous statements or OCR for page 8 8 IMPROVING RISK CO~UNICATION and therefore do not provide what the recipient considers relevant information or because the individual is unable to find a trusted source or interpreter of already available information. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In formulating recommendations we focused on the preparation and dissemination of formal risk messages to audiences that include nonexperts and on only two of the many types of risk-managing organizations: government agencies and large private corporations. Nevertheless, our recommendations are intended to attack the prob- lems of recipients of risk messages as well. The goal cannot be only to make those who disseminate formal risk messages more effective by improving their credibility, understandability, and so on. Such an approach might serve their interests, but it could well degrade the overall quality of risk communication if it merely meant that they could advance their viewpoints with greater influence. Risk commu- nication can be improved only if recipients are also helped to solve their problems at the same time. The risk communication process usually with many messages from many sources-can be considered successful only to the extent that it, first, improves or increases the base of accurate information that decision makers use, be they government officials, industry man- agers, or individual citizens, and, second, satisfies those involved that they are adequately informed within the limits of available knowI- edge. This does not always result in the responses a particular source might wish, nor does it always lead to consensus about controver- sial issues or to uniform personal behavior. People do not all share common interests and values, and so better understanding will not necessarily lead them all to the same conclusion. Improving risk communication is therefore more than merely crafting "better messages." Risk communication procedures as well as risk message content must be improved. Because risk communi- cation is so tightly linked to the management of risks, solutions to the problems of risk communication often entail changes in risk man- agement and risk analysis. Once the constraints, limitations, and incentives affecting the preparation and dissemination of messages- as well as how these factors become manifest in what we call the risk communication process-are understood, improvements can be implemented. OCR for page 9 SUMMARY . ", . · . 9 This is not to imply, however, that there is a single shortcut to improving the nation's risk communication efforts. The needed improvement can come only incrementally and only from careful attention to many details. Risk managers need to consider risk com- munication as an important and integral aspect of risk management. Four sets of recommendations are presented: (1) recommenda- tions that pertain to the processes that source organizations use to generate decisions, knowledge, and risk messages; (2) recommenda- tions that pertain to the content of individual risk messages; (3) a call for a "consumer's guide" that will enhance the ability of other groups or individuals to understand and participate in risk manage- ment activities; and (4) a brief summary of research needs. Two broad themes run through the process and content recom- mendations. The first is the recognition that risk communication efforts should be more systematically oriented to the intended au- diences. The most effective risk messages are those that quite self- consciously address the audiences' perspectives and concerns. The second is that openness is the surest policy. A central premise of democratic government the existence of an informed electorate- implies a free flow of information. Suppression of relevant infor- mation is not only wrong but also, over the longer term, usually ineffective. . Management of the Process We identified four process objectives that are key elements in improving risk communication: (1) goal setting, (2) openness, (3) balance, and (4) competence. Setting Realistic Goals Risk communication activities ought to be matters of conscious design. Practical goals should be established that explicitly accom- modate the political/legal mandates and constraints bounding the process and the roles of the potential recipients of the organization's risk messages, on the one hand, and clearly show the contribution to improved understanding of issues and actions on the other. Ex- plicit consideration of such factors encourages realistic expectations, clarification of motives and objectives (both within the source orga- nization and among outside groups and individuals), and evaluation of performance. OCR for page 10 10 Safeguarding Openness IMPROVING RISK COMMUNICATION Risk communication should be a two-way street. Organizations that communicate about risks should ensure effective dialogue with potentially affected outsiders. This two-way process should exhibit (1) a spirit of open exchange in a common undertaking rather than a series of "canned" briefings restricted to technical "nonemotional" issues and (2) early and sustained interchange that includes the media and other message intermediaries. Openness does not ordinarily, however' imply empowerment to determine the host organization's risk management decisions. To avoid misunderstanding, the limits of participation should be made clear from the outset. Safeguarding Balance and Accuracy in Risk Messages In order to help ensure that risk messages are not distorted and do not appear to be distorted, those who manage the generation of risk assessments and risk messages should (1) hold the preparers of messages accountable for detecting and reducing distortion; (2) consider review by recognized independent experts of the underly- ing assessment and, when feasible, the message; (3) subject draft messages, if possible, to outside preview to determine if audiences detect any overlooked distortions; and (4) prepare and release for comment a "white paper" on the risk assessment and risk reduction assessment. Fostering Competence Risk managers need to use procedures that incorporate two dis- tinct types of expertise: on the risk subject matter (e.g., carcinogenic risk, occupational safety) and on risk communication. Organizations that communicate about risk should take steps to ensure that the preparation of risk messages becomes a deliberate, specialized under- taking, taking care that in the process they do not sacrifice scientific quality. Such steps include (1) deliberately considering the makeup of the intended audience and demonstrating how the choice of me- dia and message reflects an understanding of the audience and its concerns; (2) attracting appropriate communications specialists and training technical staff in communications; (3) requiring systematic assurance that substantive risk experts within the organization have OCR for page 11 SUMMARY 11 a voice in producing accurate assessments and the derivative risk message; (4) establishing a thoughtful program of evaluating the past performance of risk communication efforts; and (5) ensuring that their organizations improve their understanding of the roles of intermediaries, particularly media reporters and editors, including an understanding of the factors that make a risk story newsworthy, of the practical time and space constraints, and of the limited technical background of most media personnel. Risk Communication in Crisis Conditions The process for risk communication in crisis conditions requires special care. Risk managers should ensure that (l) where there is a foreseeable potential for emergency, advance plans for communica- tion are drafted, and (2) there is provision for coordinating among the various authorities that might be involved and, to the extent feasible, a single place where the public and the media can obtain authoritative and current information. Content of Risk Messages We identified four generic issues that have been the source of difficulty in the past over a broad range of risk communication efforts: (1) audience orientation, (2) uncertainty, (3) risk comparisons, and (4) completeness. Relating the Message to the Audiences' Perspectives 7 Risk messages should closely reflect the perspectives' technical capacity, and concerns of the target audiences. A message should (1) emphasize information relevant to any practical actions that in- dividuals can take; (2) be couched in clear and plain language; (3) respect the audience and its concerns; and (4) seek to inform the recipient, unless conditions clearly warrant the use of influencing techniques. One of the most difficult issues in risk communication in a democratic society is the extent to which public officials should attempt to influence individuals that is, to go beyond merely in- form~ng them concerning risks and such risk-reducing actions as quitting smoking. OCR for page 12 12 Handling Uncertainty IMPROVING RISK COMMUNICATION Risk messages and supporting materials should not minimize the existence of uncertainty. Data gaps and areas of significant disagreement among experts should be disclosed. Some indication of the level of confidence of estimates and the significance of scientific uncertainty should be conveyed. Comparing Risks Risk comparisons can be helpful, but they should be presented with caution. Comparison must be seen as only one of several inputs to risk decisions, not as the primary determinant. There are proven pitfalls when risks of diverse character are compared, especially when the intent of the comparison can be seen as that of rn~nimizing a risk (by equating it to a seemingly trivial one). More useful are comparisons of risks that help convey the magnitude of a particular risk estimate, that occur in the same decision context (e.g., risks from flying and driving to a given destination), and that have a similar outcome. Multiple comparisons may avoid some of the worst pitfalls. More work needs to be done to develop constructive and helpful forms of risk comparison. Ensuring Completeness A complete information base would contain five types of infor- mation: (1) on the nature of the risk, (2) on the nature of the benefits that might be changed if risk were reduced, (3) on the avail- able alternatives, (4) on uncertainty in knowledge about risks and benefits, and (5) on management issues. There are major advantages in putting the information base into written form as an adjunct to the risk message. A Consumer's Guide to Risk and Risk Commnnication Major government and private organizations that sustain risk communication efforts should jointly fund the development of a Con- sumer's Guide to Risk and Risk Communication. The purpose of this guide would be to articulate key terms, concepts, and trade-offs in risk communication and risk management for the lay audience, to OCR for page 13 SUMMARY 13 help audiences discern rn~sleading and incomplete information, and to facilitate the needed general participation in risk issues. Such a guide should (1) involve support from, but not control by, the fed- eral government and other sources of risk messages; (2) be under the editorial control of a group that is clearly oriented toward the recipients of risk messages and under administrative management by an organization that is known for its independence and familiarity with lay perspectives and that can undertake the needed outreach and public information effort; and (3) cover subjects such as the nature of risk communication, concepts of zero risk and comparative risk, evaluation of risk messages, and others designated by project participants. Research Needs As a result of our cleliberations, we have identified nine research topics for attention: (1) risk comparison, (2) risk characterization, (3) role of message intermediaries, (4) pertinency and sufficiency of risk information, (5) psychological stress, (6) the "mental models" of recipients, (7) risk literacy, (8) retrospective case studies of risk communication, and (9) contemporaneous assessment of risk man- agement and risk communication. Two criteria guided their selection: (1) that additional knowledge would lead to material improvement in risk communication practices and (2) that creation of such knowI- edge is likely given past results and current research methods. We have not assigned priorities among the nine topics. Representative terms from entire chapter:

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If a powerful hurricane slams the Louisiana coast during the Republican National Convention, the resonances with Katrina will be bad enough. But the storm would also showcase the GOP’s position on climate change, which is, increasingly, to deny the scientific consensus that fossil-fuel pollution contributes to a warming atmosphere and destructive weather patterns—including stronger hurricanes. Although scientists caution that no single weather event can be attributed directly to climate change, major events such as Katrina and this summer’s drought fire up a debate that has become more incendiary in recent years as more Republican lawmakers doubt climate science. The question of whether the GOP accepts climate science didn’t come up in 2008, when Hurricane Gustav slammed into the Gulf Coast during the party’s Minnesota convention. That’s because the nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, believed in climate change and professed a desire to solve it. Since then, the mainstream GOP view is to deny the scientific findings that link man-made pollution to climate change, and Mitt Romney has publicly walked back his onetime position that humans contribute to warming. Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan has also questioned the science. But stronger hurricanes are among the most serious consequences of climate change induced by the burning of fossil fuels (the Romney campaign favors such burning), and the Gulf Coast is likely to experience the worst effects, according to a 2012 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a 2009 report authored by 13 federal agencies. Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has authored one of many reports on the increasing frequency of high-intensity hurricanes, said that the data link warming air and water surfaces to stronger, more devastating hurricanes. “As the temperature of the tropical ocean increases, you see greater intensity and the frequency of intense storms goes up,” Emanuel said. Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences at Princeton University and a member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the science shows clearly that reducing oil, coal, and gas pollution could help prevent damage related to climate change. “There’s a risk, which scientists have identified, that it’s likely we’ll have more strong hurricanes, and one of the things we can do to prepare is reduce fossil-fuel emissions,” he said. “It’s just like building levees.” Environmentalists are targeting Republicans for their views. Around Tampa, the Florida Wildlife Federation has posted billboards of prominent Republicans, such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who have acknowledged climate change as a problem and called for solutions. “We think this is one of the most important policy issues that there is,” said Federation President Manley Fuller. “It’s treated as a partisan issue, and it should not be. The billboards remind Republicans of what well-known Republicans have said about this.” Last week, the League of Conservation Voters launched a $1.5 million campaign to defeat five House Republicans who deny the science of climate change. The “Flat Earth Five” campaign is the first time the League has targeted a group of lawmakers explicitly because of their positions on climate. Want to stay ahead of the curve? Sign up for National Journal’s AM & PM Must Reads. News and analysis to ensure you don’t miss a thing.

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The rate of new HIV infections in the United States remained stable between 2006 and 2009 though infections increased among young black gay and bisexual men, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first multiyear estimate of national HIV incidences found new infections have remained steady with an estimated 50,000 new infections each year. But the agency expressed concerns about the “alarming” rate of new infections among young black gay and bisexual men, where there was a 48 percent increase in new infections between 2006 and 2009. “Blacks account for almost half of all new infections in 2009. The overall infection rate is more than eight times higher than whites,” CDC's Joseph Prejean told a telephone briefing. Prejean attributed the increase in new infections to a lack of access to health care and the stigma surrounding homosexuality and HIV. He also said insular communities make the spread of disease easier. In black communities where blacks are more likely to date other blacks, when an infected person is introduced to the community, disease spreads. “HIV remains one of the most glaring health disparities in this country,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the CDC. “While we all have individual responsibility to protect ourselves from HIV infection, the research clearly shows that individual risk behavior alone doesn’t account for the significant racial disparities in HIV. It is essential to understand the underlying factors that contribute to these disparities, such as poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to health care.” People of color have been hard hit by the HIV epidemic. Though blacks make up about 14 percent of the population, they accounted for about 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2009. Black women accounted for 57 percent of all new HIV infections among women in 2009. The infection rate among black women was 15 times that of white women. Latinos accounted for 20 percent of new infections in 2009, while making up 16 percent of the population. HIV rates remain highest among gay and bisexual Latino men. To address the rate of infections, the CDC is pursuing a “High-Impact Prevention” program, where the agency will reevaluate current prevention activities for their effectiveness, cost, and coverage to get to areas that have a greater need for preventative efforts. Fenton said the program will work with primary care physicians and community health clinics to get more Americans tested—less than half of the population reports having been tested.

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One possible risk factor for tuberculosis is diabetes, a condition characterized by high blood sugar levels and long-term complications involving the circulation, eyes and kidneys, and the body’s ability to fight infection. Active tuberculosis can be cured by taking a combination of several antibiotics every day for at least six months, and current control efforts [...] Pickled dills in plastic? Turmeric is the key to freshness. Who knew that a spice used from ancient times as a coloring agent in foods could also keep plastic-packaged dill pickles fresh? Unlike glass containers, plastic jars or pouches “breathe,” allowing oxygen and other gases to seep inside over time. This can eventually lead to [...] Scientists have found that a modified whey protein prevents breast cancer in some laboratory rats. It’s an important medical discovery, considering that 180,000 U.S. women develop breast cancer each year, and 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer over her lifetime. Breast cancer is a disease where a mutant cell in the breast forms [...] A study by researchers at the University of Southampton has shown evidence of increased levels of hyperactivity in young children consuming mixtures of some artificial food colours (dyes) and the preservative sodium benzoate. The possibility of food colours [dyes] and preservatives affecting children’s behaviour has long been an unresolved question for parents. This significant new [...] Since the discovery of leptin in 1994, many have hoped that the hormone would be a promising weight-loss treatment for humans. Leptin acts as a signal to help the body decide when it has eaten enough food to feel full. The amount of leptin in the blood has been directly linked to body fat. The richest food sources of potassium are fruits and vegetables. People who eat large amounts of fruits and vegetables have a high potassium intake (8-11 grams/day). (National Academies Press; 2004:173-246). Listed below are some food sources high in potassium from the USDA National Nutrient Database. Note the potassium content in bananas compared with tomato products. [...] Study shows substantial improvement in autism symptoms with early intervention treatment. Intensive intervention given to toddlers with autism as young as three years old can significantly raise IQ levels, potentially allowing them to benefit from mainstream education, new research has revealed. Researchers at the University of Southampton, led by Professor Bob Remington of the School [...] Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease with three diet-associated aspects. One is elevated resting energy expenditure. Another is elevated whole-body protein catabolism – a destructive form of muscle metabolism that translates to muscle wasting. And yet another is low body cell mass, which leads to increased fat mass. For some people, the benefits of [...] Scientists at the University of Southampton, funded by the UK’s leading dementia research charity, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, are a step closer to understanding why proteins such as ‘amyloid’ clog-up the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. It has been widely reported that drugs that lower cholesterol may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The role of cholesterol in Alzheimer’s disease is attracting increasing attention from researchers and there are conflicting messages coming form a great deal of reports. Despite the fact that wide-spread opinion about high levels of cholesterol still remains [...] Natural food may be one of the natural remedies for gout and arthritis pain relief. A study suggests that natural compounds in cherries may reduce painful arthritis inflammation. Cherries already have a reputation for fighting inflammation. So what’s new about the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study carried out by ARS scientists and their university colleagues. [...] Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a treatment program for prevention of relapses in depression and the treatment of anxiety disorders. Is MBCT an acceptable intervention to patients with depression and anxiety? The course exercises There was a wide range of views on the course exercises, in particular the body-scan and walking meditation. While some [...] More fat in the diet decreases leptin levels while a diet higher in carbohydrates increases leptin levels according to a study. Leptin, made by the body’s fat cells, is thought to help contribute to satiety, a feeling of fullness. An upcoming study should help reveal how two kinds of sugars in our foods, glucose and fructose, affect the body’s production of leptin and insulin. Agricultural Research Service chemist Nancy L. Keim, Peter J. Havel and Craig H. Warden, a genetics and pediatrics researcher at U.C. Davis, are collaborating in this leptin and insulin investigation. [...] ARS scientists and colleagues have isolated and characterized several polyphenolic polymer compounds from cinnamon bark that could one day become natural ingredients in products aimed at lowering blood sugar levels. The newly identified chemical structures were recently named in a patent application and described in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. ARS chemist Richard [...] Several clinical studies have shown that plant stanol esters are effective agents that lower cholesterol. The ability to lower cholesterol with dietary plant stanol ester has been shown to be sustained for periods up to 12 months, but how soon the full cholesterol lowering effect of plant stanol esters can be obtained, is still unclear. [...]

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