As Summer Leaves Fall ….
The thing I notice most at the beginning of Autumn is that it is still dark when I get up in the mornings to let the dogs out. With Mists over the meadows and dewy morns. Rowan berries aplenty; Blackberry too. Red hips and haws colour the hedges a rusty red. And Rosebay Willowherb their tall spikes lit by the evening sunshine, followed soon by clouds of gossamer-soft seeds, floating like fairies on the balmy wind. The end of summer:
Quotations here from two essays by Richard Jefferies.
Autumn always brought him immense pleasure: the season of production and decay, of exploding colours and soft, enveloping sunbeams. He dwells on the size and profusion of berries and nuts, but also finds mystery waiting in the dimly-lit forest glades.
From ‘Nutty Autumn’:
“Haws are very plentiful this year (1881), and exceptionally large, many fully double the size commonly seen. So heavily are the branches laden with bunches of the red fruit that they droop as apple trees do with a more edible burden. Though so big, and to all appearance tempting to birds, none have yet been eaten; and, indeed, haws seem to be resorted to only as a change unless severe weather compels.
Just as we vary our diet, so birds eat haws, and not many of them till driven by frost and snow. If any stay on till the early months of next year, wood-pigeons and missel-thrushes will then eat them; but at this season they are untouched. Blackbirds will peck open the hips directly the frost comes; the hips go long before the haws. There was a large crop of mountain-ash berries, every one of which has been taken by blackbirds and thrushes, which are almost as fond of them as of garden fruit.
Blackberries are thick, too—it is a berry year—and up in the horse-chestnut the prickly-coated nuts hang up in bunches, as many as eight in a stalk. Acorns are large, but not so singularly numerous as the berries, nor are hazel-nuts. This provision of hedge fruit no more indicates a severe winter than a damaged wheat harvest indicates a mild one…
The atmosphere holds the beams, and abstracts from them their white brilliance. They come slower with a drowsy light, which casts a less defined shadow of the still oaks. The yellow and brown leaves in the oaks, in the elms, and the beeches, in their turn affect the rays, and retouch them with their own hue. An immaterial mist across the fields looks like a cloud of light hovering on the stubble: the light itself made visible.”
“The soft autumn sunshine, shorn of summer glare, lights up with colour the fern, the fronds of which are yellow and brown, the leaves, the grey grass, and hawthorn sprays already turned. It seems as if the early morning’s mists have the power of tinting leaf and fern, for so soon as they commence the green hues begin to disappear. There are swathes of fern yonder, cut down like grass or corn, the harvest of the forest. It will be used for litter and for thatching sheds. The yellow stalks—the stubble—will turn brown and wither through the winter, till the strong spring shoot comes up and the anemones flower. Though the sunbeams reach the ground here, half the green glade is in shadow, and for one step that you walk in sunlight ten are in shade. Thus, partly concealed in full day, the forest always contains a mystery. The idea that there may be something in the dim arches held up by the round columns of the beeches lures the footsteps onwards. Something must have been lately in the circle under the oak where the fern and bushes remain at a distance and wall in a lawn of green. There is nothing on the grass but the upheld leaves that have dropped, no mark of any creature, but this is not decisive; if there are no physical signs, there is a feeling that the shadow is not vacant. In the thickets, perhaps—the shadowy thickets with front of thorn—it has taken refuge and eluded us. Still onward the shadows lead us in vain but pleasant chase.”
Here family parties of Mistle Thrush feeding on the Yews in the Churchyard and noisily scavenging the fields. Their rattling call is unmistakeable. Starling absent from the fields and hedges for most of the year can be heard ‘murmuring’ in the trees as they start to gather in small flocks. Mostly young birds.
The Blackbird no longer sings morning and night – I hadn’t really noticed – but the Robin, after a very marked period of mid-summer silence, sings all day from early morning to late at night. There is a distinct break between the “ spring ” and “ autumn ” songs; but having recovered his voice in August, he will, in a mild winter, continue without interruption till the end of next June. The Robin is passionately territorial, and therefore our most persistent song-bird in autumn and winter.
While the odd non-breeding waders may turn up at inland pools and reservoirs as early as July or August, for many of us the first real sign of Autumn is the arrival of Fieldfare to our fields hedges and woods, en-masse towards the end of September: their “ chacking ” note alerting us to their presence. Viscount Grey saw the Fieldfare as one of the first of the Winter visitors from the North to arrive during the early part of Autumn. He wrote: The fieldfare has no bright colour like the Redwing; it is not quite so large and fine a bird as the Mistlethrush; but in variety of shades of colours it is the most beautiful of all our thrushes.
The Lapwing, sadly a rarity for many of us these days, also marks the changing of the seasons; the arrival of migrating flocks signal the onset of colder weather and the tumbling display flight and ‘peewit’ call note the arrival of spring.
“Hardy October has an especial charm to those who love the open air. The winds rush forward with a bluff freedom, and welcome you to the fields with hearty rudeness. Something seems to prepare the frame to stand the coming winter. The footsteps would fain wander farther and farther through the woodland, where the sward is hidden under fallen leaves. The scene changes with the hour of the day. Come to the hedgerow here, beside the stubble, early in the morning, and the mist conceals the other side of the field; the great hawthorn bushes loom out from it, and the grass by the ditch is white with heavy dew. By-and-by the mist clears, and the sky gives its own grey tint to all things. All sounds are hushed, and all colours subdued. Yet later on the breeze rises, and as it sweeps past throws a golden largesse of leaves on either hand. The monotonous grey sky resolves itself into separate clouds, which hasten overhead, with gaps where the sun seems nearly to shine through. These places are brightly illuminated from above, and yet the beams do not penetrate. After a while there comes a gleam of sunshine, and the eyes that have been bent on earth instinctively look up- The hedge is still so green with leaves that the wind is warded off and the sunshine is pleasantly warm. The rays have immediately found out and lit up every spot of colour. In the hawthorn the dull red haws, very large this year; on the briar the scarlet hips; a few flowers still lingering on the gambles; a pale herb of betony under the bushes, a late knapweed, a few thistles yet blooming—these catch the glance along the hedge. The short stubble is almost concealed by a rank growth of weeds, above which rise the fading yellow heads of the camomile, heads from which the white petals have drooped and fallen. The boughs of yonder horse-chestnuts have been thinned of foliage by the wind; but every leaf that remains is bright with tints of yellow. One tree especially stands out above the hedge; the leaves are almost crimson, so deeply has the frost touched them. It is not often that the foliage of the horse-chestnut takes so rich a dye as may be seen this autumn. The leaves commonly fall before their first pale yellow has reddened. The elms and oaks are still green, and show but little apparent change, though in truth much of their foliage has dropped. A brown oak leaf lies on the sward; it glistens with dew as if the colour laid on it was still wet. Along the shore of the pond a broad fringe of fallen leaves—from the elm that overshadows it— undulates on the wavelets that roll into the rushes and are lost. Up the slender rushes a tint of yellow is rising; the pointed flags that lift their green swords so proudly have bent, and their tips rest in the water. In the corner by the copse the thick growth of fern has become brown, and the tuffets of grass are streaked with grey. Overhead, the sky is now a beautiful blue; and if you look into the shadows of the trees—as in the copse where there is an open space—you will note that they are very soft and delicate. There are no sharply defined dark edges—the shadow between the tree-trunks appears like an indistinct mist. The eye as it gazes becomes conscious of undertones of colour for which there is no name. A cloud passes over the sun, and instantly they are blotted out. The beams fall again upon the wood, and the glow as immediately returns.
The acorns are full on the oak boughs, but they are still quite green, and none have dropped. Glad in the sunshine, the greenfinches troop along the hedge calling to each other sweetly. Larks rise and hover just above the trees, wheeling round, and returning to the earth. Now and then one soars and sings. On the top of the hawthorn bushes in the hedge the hedge-sparrows utter a single note from time to time-Not now, but early in the morning, the song of the robin comes through the mist, and the lively ‘fink’ of the chaffinch sounds in the tree. Thrushes sometimes sing in October; but hitherto the sharp frosts at the dawn have silenced them. Two or three swallows still float to-day in the blue sky above the wood. How slowly the plough goes through the stubble; the horses scarcely seem to move! Yet by degrees the space between the furrows becomes less, till nothing but a narrow path remains; and that is finally upturned by the share. They who live by the earth must be patient, and content to move slow like the seasons. Passing the gateway the shelter of the hedge is for the moment lost, and the northern blast rushes with all its force full in the face. This is the pleasure of October—the deep blue sky, the glowing colour of the leaves, the bright sun that lights up even the grey lichen on the oak bark, and with it the keen invigorating breeze that strengthens every limb. Travellers tell us of the wonderful colours of tropical forests; but then the moist sweltering heat renders the explorer incapable of enjoying them. But in English woodlands autumn colour is accompanied by a subtle change in the atmosphere which braces the wanderer.”
Jefferies wrote this article for the Pall Mall Gazette in 1879, which formed part of a seasonal series. The entire article can be found in the collection ‘Chronicles of the Hedges’
Grey November skies
Cold driving rain with sleet and biting northerly winds
November – John Clare
The landscape sleeps in mist from morn till noon;
And, if the sun looks through, tis with a face
Beamless and pale and round, as if the moon,
When done the journey of her nightly race,
Had found him sleeping, and supplied his place.
For days the shepherds in the fields may be,
Nor mark a patch of sky – blindfold they trace,
The plains, that seem without a bush or tree,
Whistling aloud by guess, to flocks they cannot see.
The timid hare seems half its fears to lose,
Crouching and sleeping ‘neath its grassy lair,
And scarcely startles, though the shepherd goes
Close by its home, and dogs are barking there;
The wild colt only turns around to stare
At passer by, then knaps his hide again;
And moody crows beside the road forbear
To fly, tho’ pelted by the passing swain;
Thus day seems turn’d to night, and tries to wake in vain.
The owlet leaves her hiding-place at noon,
And flaps her grey wings in the doubling light;
The hoarse jay screams to see her out so soon,
And small birds chirp and startle with affright;
Much doth it scare the superstitious wight,
Who dreams of sorry luck, and sore dismay;
While cow-boys think the day a dream of night,
And oft grow fearful on their lonely way,
Fancying that ghosts may wake, and leave their graves by day.
Yet but awhile the slumbering weather flings
Its murky prison round – then winds wake loud;
With sudden stir the startled forest sings
Winter’s returning song – cloud races cloud,
And the horizon throws away its shroud,
Sweeping a stretching circle from the eye;
Storms upon storms in quick succession crowd,
And o’er the sameness of the purple sky
Heaven paints, with hurried hand, wild hues of every dye.
At length it comes among the forest oaks,
With sobbing ebbs, and uproar gathering high;
The scared, hoarse raven on its cradle croaks,
And stockdove-flocks in hurried terrors fly,
While the blue hawk hangs o’er them in the sky.
The hedger hastens from the storm begun,
To seek a shelter that may keep him dry;
And foresters low bent, the wind to shun,
Scarce hear amid the strife the poacher’s muttering gun.
The ploughman hears its humming rage begin,
And hies for shelter from his naked toil;
Buttoning his doublet closer to his chin,
He bends and scampers o’er the elting soil,
While clouds above him in wild fury boil,
And winds drive heavily the beating rain;
He turns his back to catch his breath awhile,
Then ekes his speed and faces it again,
To seek the shepherd’s hut beside the rushy plain.
The boy, that scareth from the spiry wheat
The melancholy crow – in hurry weaves,
Beneath an ivied tree, his sheltering seat,
Of rushy flags and sedges tied in sheaves,
Or from the field a shock of stubble thieves.
There he doth dithering sit, and entertain
His eyes with marking the storm-driven leaves;
Oft spying nests where he spring eggs had ta’en,
And wishing in his heart twas summer-time again.
Thus wears the month along, in checker’d moods,
Sunshine and shadows, tempests loud, and calms;
One hour dies silent o’er the sleepy woods,
The next wakes loud with unexpected storms;
A dreary nakedness the field deforms –
Yet many a rural sound, and rural sight,
Lives in the village still about the farms,
Where toil’s rude uproar hums from morn till night
Noises, in which the ears of Industry delight.
At length the stir of rural labour’s still,
And Industry her care awhile foregoes;
When Winter comes in earnest to fulfil
His yearly task, at bleak November’s close,
And stops the plough, and hides the field in snows;
When frost locks up the stream in chill delay,
And mellows on the hedge the jetty sloes,
For little birds – then Toil hath time for play,
And nought but threshers’ flails awake the dreary day.
Four Raven overhead yesterday morning, as the rain cleared a bit to let a bit of weak sunlight through. Just like the absence now of Blackbird song I suddenly realised I haven’t seen any Great Spotted Woodpecker in a while in the garden. When did they go … Plenty of Great Tit and Blue Tit, House Sparrow, a few Chaffinch and a regular Nuthatch and Coal Tit.
After a night of heavy rain and strong winds day turned into one of blustery winds and heavy squalls with some sunshine in between.
Swallow very low over the fields early morning skimming the grass in the field – almost like it was a pond – seemed to be picking insects off grass stems. Even coming into the garden.
Later Starling and Swallow gathered on the telephone wires – like musical notes on a score.
Greenfinch back after I put black niger seed out yesterday. Usual Great Tit, Blue Tit and two Coal Tit. Chaffinch and Dunnock too. Young starling on the feeders.
The resident Swallow are now gone – just a few birds on passage flying over.
One of the most awe inspiring sights is the gathering of hirundines, mostly Swallow, at dusk just before roosting. They would cloud the air,in their hundreds and thousands during late summer evenings over the regular reed bed roosts at Chew Valley Reservoir, occasionally split asunder by a marauding Hobby, swerving and swirling en masse before swooping low over the reeds, and dropping into the reed beds in small groups until the last ones when they would drop as one.
The hoot of the Brown or Tawny Owl, while not peculiar to Autumn, is however, now very noticeable – Viscount Grey in his book ‘The Charm of Birds’ has described it thus: The normal hoot consists of one fine, smooth long note ; then a pause of about four seconds ; then a long note, quavering at first and ending smooth and full. Sometimes the bird will give the first long note without following it up by the quavering note, but this is a broken and imperfect performance. The hoot is, I suppose, the note peculiar to the male; it is often answered by another bird at some
distance, and appears to be, like some bird songs, a proclamation of territory.
The day started overcast with a slight ground mist. It cleared by mid-morning turning into a glorious Autumn day. Very warm.
A good day for butterfly – after a poor year. Red Admiral and Painted Lady all feeding well on the late flowers of the Buddlea Globosa.
The resident pair of Raven seemed very territorial- seeing off a single bird passing through on a few occasions.
A small party – 7 – of Long Tailed Tit passed through the garden just before lunch. Nuthatch and Coal Tit regulars at the feeders.
Great Spotted Woodpecker are back in the garden again – a female this morning and a male a couple of days ago. Coal Tit becoming regular visitors again too. Up to 6 Raven though mostly just the resident pair.
The number of birds visiting the feeders has increased dramatically – House Sparrow, Blue Tit and Great Tit by far the commonest. But Robin, Dunnock and Chaffinch continue to be regulars. Two Coal Tit and Nuthatch present during the morning and early afternoon. Today brought strong winds and torrential rain. No sign of the Swallow and Martin that clouded the grey skies of yesterday. The first real sighting of winter Thrush also yesterday flying About restlessly. Good crop of Haws that have coloured the hedgerows a dried blood colour.
A blustery day yesterday with fast moving grey clouds but sunshine in between. Raven seemed to be loving it. Up to 6 throughout the day. Revelling in the boisterous windy conditions.
The small birds had a tough time of it yesterday in the storm force winds. But the Raven were loving it!
Today the wind has dropped and the sun shone through.
A Pied Wagtail was hanging around the house and barn all day.
A single Coal Tit is now a regular along with the other Tits on the feeders. Great Spotted Woodpecker also visiting more frequently. Wren Dunnock and Robin singing. Redwing and Fieldfare in the hedgerow Hawthorn.
Unlike yesterday which turned into a lovely fine warm and sunny day, today never even saw the light of day being overcast and mizzly. However we had two Coal Tit on the feeders and both a male and female Great Spotted Woodpecker at differing times.
Regular Nuthatch, Great Tit and Blue Tit with Chaffinch, Robin and Dunnock. Vixen barking late last night.
Into a spell of finer weather. Birds very active on the feeders yesterday. One minute there would be Blue Tit and Great Tit then in the blink of an eye all change to Coal Tit (2) Nuthatch and Robin. Both male and female Great Spotted Woodpecker. Chaffinch and Dunnock as well as House Sparrow. A brief appearance of what I’m pretty sure was a Grey Wagtail on the fence but then it was gone – still not properly light and I didn’t have my glasses!
Weather over the last couple of days has been changeable with a little weak sunshine between the showers which turned into more continuous rain overnight; though both nights started clear, with a full moon on Sunday. 3 Raven very active yesterday morning flying here there and everywhere. Extremely vocal in their chase. Pair of Goldfinch this morning – in spite the rain. Occasional visitors only to the garden it’s a pleasure to see .
saw the first real frost of the year – the grass a blanket of frosted white. Coal Tit, Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker all regular visitors again along with the ever present Blue Tit and Great Tit. Chaffinch Dunnock and Wren. Not forgetting House Sparrow and Magpie. Raven and Buzzard over the fields throughout the morning. Blackbird about again but not regular and not singing unlike the Robin.
Weather very changeable – today started wet and drizzly to clear a bit mid morning with some weak sunshine. No wind to speak of.
Small 100+ party of Starling feeding in the fields. Water table very high here so field after rain becomes waterlogged.
Just before dawn after a cold wet night the dogs surprised a Buzzard from somewhere very close by. Couldn’t see it – it was still too dark – but it flew off mewling. A Raven called nearby. Squally rain and sleety showers arrived with the dawn with a biting Northerly wind. As the weather cleared and the sun came out we could see the first dusting of snow on the mountains.
All day the Raven – at one time as many as 30 – have been engaged in aerobatic displays over the trees of the hill fort. Chasing, tumbling, sometimes soaring to quite a height, then falling only to shoot upwards again. Sometimes I thought they had gone but suddenly as if by magic they were there again. Some would settle in the pines for a bit before launching themselves again into the fun and games – for that’s what it seemed to be
Female Sparrowhawk on the fence by the feeders outside the kitchen window at 0815. Beautiful bird.
Two Goldfinch around. Both Woodpecker and the regular Nuthatch, Great Tit Blue Tit, Chaffinch Wren Dunnock and Robin. Small party Long Tailed Tit in the lane yesterday.
Pair of Dunnock feeding on nettle seeds early yesterday morning.
We have already had the first light covering of snow on the mountains, with more forecast -yet it’s not quite December – Autumn declines into Winter ….
Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) …..
is a song written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s. The lyrics, are adapted from the English version of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. It became an international hit in late 1965 when it was adapted by the American folk rock group the Byrds.
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven …..
The picture is titled ‘Autumn’ by Hugh Brandon-Cox


Today I’m back with the final post in this series about creating an engagingly fallible first-person narrator. We’ve gone over four strategies for helping readers to recognize a first-person narrator’s fallibility; writers can incorporate narrative distance, construct an audience and purpose for the narrative, make the most of syntax and diction, and have the narrator omit details or emotional reactions.
Now we’re ready for my final strategy! Authors can also create secondary characters that act as measuring sticks for the main character’s behavior and views.
Last week, I described Chris Lynch’s novel Gold Dust, which takes place in 1975 Boston and tells the story of Richard, a boy who loves the Red Sox and wants his new friend Napoleon, a black boy from Dominica, to ignore the racism he faces and embrace the sport of baseball. Lynch uses two secondary characters, Beverly and Butchie, to make readers think twice about accepting Richard’s views at face value.
Beverly is an enlightened girl who acknowledges the racism in her neighborhood and becomes Napoleon’s girlfriend. Throughout the novel, she points out the problems with Richard’s behavior, both to Richard and to the reader. When Napoleon gets sick after spending too much time playing baseball outside with Richard, Beverly says, “Napoleon is from a tropical climate. […] You could kill him, forcing him to be like you” (132). On the surface, Beverly just means that Richard could hurt Napoleon by forcing him to spend so much time in the cold, but her statement suggests to readers that Richard could also damage Napoleon by encouraging him to forget his heritage and pretend that racism doesn’t exist.
While Beverly is different from Richard because she is more open-minded than he is, Butchie provides another kind of contrast. Butchie’s actions and statements throughout the novel confirm that Napoleon is right: it is impossible for him to block out racism because he cannot escape it. While Richard is well-meaning but misguided, Butchie is downright cruel.
Lynch uses these two secondary characters as foils, to show contradicting reactions to Napoleon’s presence and to provide a gauge for Richard’s behavior. Readers can better evaluate Richard’s reliability by comparing him to Beverly on the one hand and to Butchie on the other. If you are writing a first-person narrative, think about whether you might develop secondary characters that function as gauges for your narrator-protagonist, as well, and be on the lookout for such secondary characters in your reading.
That brings us to the end of this series on how to clue readers in to an engaging first-person narrator’s fallibility. As I’ve said before, I love the intimacy of a good first-person narrative, and I think it’s a powerful reading experience to identify with a narrator while also recognizing his or her limitations. When readers see a narrator’s limitations, that doesn’t mean that they won’t identify with the narrator. If anything, I think readers can feel even closer to characters they recognize as fallible because they can see those characters’ “invisible selves.”
In her lovely essay collection The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children, Katherine Paterson explains that a character in a novel has both a visible self and an invisible self. Internal narration allows readers to see characters’ invisible selves—the parts they keep hidden from others, and maybe even from themselves. Paterson suggests that the writer’s job is to see deeply into a character’s invisible self and to depict that character honestly and lovingly. Paterson explains, “It is my hope, of course, that children will […] be able to see themselves in [these characters] and then as they come to love and forgive these people on the page to be able to love and forgive their deepest selves” (48).
Paterson isn’t talking specifically about first-person novels, but this quote gets at the heart of what I like most about a nuanced first-person story. When readers experience a story through the eyes of an engagingly fallible narrator, they can see beneath the surface of the narrator’s account. They can understand, connect to, and accept that fallible character, and that reading experience can help them to understand and accept other people and even themselves.
Lynch, Chris. Gold Dust. 2000. New York: Scholastic, 2002. Print.
Paterson, Katherine. The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children. Dutton’s Children’s Books, 2001. Print.


New Jersey middle school students who study the history of innovative projects raise the following questions:
1. How does the telescope change the scientific view of the universe?
2. If we don’t use telescopes to study the sky, is the world behind technology?
3. Update, what does a better telescope show?
- The telescope opened his eyes and saw the universe. Early telescopes showed that Earth was not the center of the universe, as previously thought. They also showed mountains and craters in the moon. Later, the telescope revealed the geography and weather of solar system planets. The telescope also discovered new planets and asteroids. This instrument was first used to measure the speed of light. Telescopes can also help you understand gravity and other basic laws of the physical world. Telescopes can also help you realize the light of the sun and different stars.
- Answering the 2nd question, think about what the world would look like if you didn’t do star research in our way. In the early centuries, ideas about the world and the universe were often formed by religious beliefs or myths. More scientific discoveries have been accepted over time. Ultimately, technology, such as science, is becoming more and more acceptable.
Modern telescopes, such as NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, provide evidence of billions of galaxies containing billions of stars, such as the sun. Some new telescopes can detect space objects by detecting radiant heat, radio waves and X-rays. The telescope is currently discovering planets around other stars. Future telescopes will help answer basic human questions: “Are we alone in space?” So far, only large hot planets like the Earth have been discovered. This planet will be discovered in the future.
Telescope Change The View of the Universe
Of course, the telescope modernized substantial statement by enabling more accurate mathematical calculations and had a major impact on the overall scientific approach. In fact, Galileo made money by making and selling telescopes to enthusiastic customers, but his designs were chased by more complex types in a relatively short period of time.
Based on a reliable telescope buying guide online you need an opening of at least 2.8 inches (70 mm). The Dobson telescope is a simple-mount mirror that provides a large number of holes at a lower cost.


The State of Alabama contracted with McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory, Inc. through the Alabama Historical Commission to undertake a condition study of their Confederate Monument that was built over many years beginning in 1886. The tall limestone monument stands just outside the north entrance of the capitol building.
In its proposal, the lab offered to provide a comprehensive study in the form of a standard Historic Structure Report. The submitted report results from on-site assessments of the materials, structure and condition of the Confederate Monument at the Alabama State Capitol along with substantial historical research, field trips and consultations associated with the aims of the assessments. A team was assembled by McKay Lodge, Inc. to address the various facets of the project. Robert Lodge, a member of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), undertook documentation and specifications writing as well as microscopy; Dr. Michael Panhorst, a sculpture historian, researched the monument¹s history; and conservator Thomas Podnar took charge of issues pertaining to bronze and stone. Dr. Bruce Simonson of the Oberlin College Department of Geology lent his considerable expertise in limestone.
The assessments and associated historical research presented within the Historic Structure Report form a comprehensive information project solely devoted to a goal of preservation of the Confederate Monument for the future.
The comprehensive project comprised two major phases: an Existing Conditions Survey (this includes the condition assessments and the associated historical research) and a resulting Historic Structure Report. The design of this project, its activities and report, closely follow the plan recommended in the cooperative publication of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT): Guide to Preparing Design and Construction Documents for Historic Projects, Publication TD-2-8, 1996.
The Historic Structure Report containing information on the current physical state of the monument and historical information on the monument as well as a statement of historical, commemorative and artistic significance of the monument, all work in complement toward preservation. In order to garner interest in preservation of the monument, its significance or value to its public in Montgomery, in Alabama, and in the Nation must be well recognized at the outset. In order to effectively plan preservation measures, its materials, structure and current conditions must be accurately recognized and recorded. It is through this complement that the Historic Structure Report becomes a comprehensive approach to preservation.
The 85-foot tall Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill in Montgomery stands in commemoration of the service and sacrifice of 122,000 Alabamians who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Fund-raising for the $45,000.00 monument began in 1865 and was largely the work of Alabama women, as was typical of memorial patronage in the South. The Ladies Memorial Association raised the money through a lengthy effort involving bazaars and appeals to private donors and the state government. Due to pressing needs of widows, orphans, and Confederate veterans in the Reconstruction South, the cornerstone was not laid until 1886, when Jefferson Davis performed the ceremony with full Masonic rites just a few feet from the spot where he had taken the oath of office as President of the Confederacy.
In 1886 the foundation for the colossal column was in place, but another twelve years passed before the monument designed by Alexander Doyle (1857-1922) was completed with its handsome bronze allegorical finial figure of Patriotism, granite statuary by Fred Barnicoat (1857-1942) representing the four branches of the Confederate armed forces, and a bronze relief band that encircles the column. The elaborate dedication on December 7, 1898 (nearly forty years after the war, the highpoint of its commemoration) was attended by thousands who cheered the lengthy orations, poetry, and pageantry of the Lost Cause.
The Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill is one of the largest Civil War monuments in the South. Indeed, it is comparable in form and scale to many Civil War monuments in northern state capitols and major cities that generally predate it due to the stronger post-war economy in the North. The colossal columnar monument form, the patriotic and military imagery, the stone and bronze materials, even much of the meaning of the Confederate Monument is similar to that of other Civil War memorials—North and South alike.
As with the earliest memorial efforts in the North, the intent of those who met in Montgomery in November 1865 was “to build a monument to the dead.” Over the decades it took the monument to materialize, its purpose was broadened to encompass the service of all those who fought, as was also the case with later Union memorials. Like Civil War monuments North and South, it commemorates the courage and patriotism of those who fought, and especially those who died for their beliefs. Like many Confederate monuments, it acknowledges the South’s intent to secede to defend states’ rights and individual liberties just as the colonies had seceded from Britain a century earlier, and it accepts defeat of the Lost Cause while maintaining manly and regional honor.
Sculptural features of the monument include four granite figures representing the Confederate Navy, Infantry, Artillery, and the Cavalry. These were carved in granite by Fred Barnicoat of Quincy, Massachusetts and installed by Curbow and Clapp, a local monument company in Montgomery.
The top of the monument’s column carries a large bronze allegorical figure of Patriotism, well made and in excellent condition. Patriotism may seem at first an ironic concept with which to cap the Confederate Monument on Capitol Hill. During the war and now, the predominant northern perspective of southerners in the Civil War is that of rebels, traitors to the Union of States. Yet the South saw its efforts at resisting northern domination of internal affairs as comparable to those of this nation’s founding fathers, who declared independence from a foreign power. The South fought for states’ rights of self-determination of issues, including slavery. This principal perhaps survives in the current Alabama State Motto: Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere (We Dare to Defend our Rights) proposed by Marie Bankhead Owen, then director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, for the Alabama Coat-of-Arms designed in 1923 and adopted years later. The outcome of the war established the Union of the states, the federal government, as first and foremost, a higher authority than the individual states. The lower portion of the column consists of a circular limestone plinth bearing the inscription “Consecrated to the Memory of the Confederate Soldiers and Seamen,” including the dates 1861–1865, and the band of bronze capped with a limestone entablature. The band of bronze is a high relief encircling the column’s base. This band of bronze measures over 76 inches high. Each section has cast flanges behind the visible face that allow invisible bolting of one piece to the other. The diameter of the relief is approximately 92 inches. The relief depicting a generalized but accurate battle scene was designed by Alexander Doyle (1857–1922), the designer of the monument, who did the sculpting of the full-size design in clay for the casting. The relief was cast by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company of New York City which operated under the name E. Henry & Bonnard from 1872 to 1881 and under The Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company from 1882-1926. The bronze bears the date of 1888.
Messieurs Henry and Bonnard ran one of the finest fine arts bronze foundries in the country at that time. The bronze was cast with sand molds, the only casting technique available in the U.S. prior to the introduction of lost wax casting by Roman Bronze Works in the 1890s. Even after the advent of the ancient casting technique, reliefs like these probably would have been cast with sand molds because the thin, flat sections are more easily cast with sand molds than with bulky investment molds needed for lost wax. Fine craftsmanship is evidenced by the absence of porosity and patches in the surface of the bronze and the precise fit of the different sections of the relief.
The band was cast in six sections. Each section has a cast flange to the rear along the joining edges. The tight joins of the bronze follow forms wherever possible. These flanges are bolted together behind the band. This joining technique was revealed when a deteriorated portion of the plinth was cut out to study what was behind the bronze.
An investigation was made during the assessment to determine what was behind the bronze band. Signs of expansion and opening of joins of the metal band at the bottom and top were taken as signs of a possibility there was material behind the bronze that was swelling with water and expanding on freezing. Since the limestone forming the plinth under the bronze was so deteriorated as to leave no doubt it would need replacing, liberty was taken to cut into the most deteriorated stone deeply enough to look up under the bronze. There, red sand and debris from rock (and possibly brick) was found packed within the space left behind the bronze band and the stone drum centered within that bears the load of the column. The sand was dense and firm either from deliberate packing or through settlement. It was important to discover, when access to this space was made during the assessment, that the sand was holding moisture; it was damp even though the monument had not encountered rain for the previous 22 days. The sand has no useful purpose except possibly as an aid in keeping the band centered during construction. It is expected that the band of bronze was assembled on the ground and lifted into place after the stone drum that resides behind the bronze was placed. The bronze band simply rests upon its stone plinth and the stone of the column above places no weight upon the bronze.
It is plainly evident that the monument has two distinctly different looking limestone. The limestone of the base is gray, largely due to the growth of a biofilm, while the limestone used for the column section including the column base is tan. The distinction in color is sharply demarcated.
A comparative study of the limestone used for the base with the limestone making up the column section reveals that they do have physical differences that would suggest they came from distinctly different quarries or regions. While the historic records tells only that the limestone came from a quarry in Russellville in the northwestern corner of Alabama, the upper limestone is not characteristic of stone quarried in that area but appears, instead, to be characteristic of limestone from the area of Bedford, Indiana. T.L. Fossick, the owner of the Russellville, Alabama quarry that supplied the stone for the monument, had family that owned a quarry in Bedford, Indiana. The most visible difference to a viewer of the monument is one of color. This is caused by the formation of a black/brown biofilm on the Russellville limestone of the base that is not growing significantly on the upper limestone of uncertain origin. This preferential growth reflects some difference in the stone. Perhaps the smaller crystallization of calcite in the Alabama stone with its greater porosity harbors the nutrients and gases for the lowest level of the food chain for the support of the biofilm.
The differences between the stones are seen on closer scrutiny. When the are cemented together through crystallization, calcite crystals develop or grow in various sizes. The calcite crystals cementing the oolites of the Russellville limestone from the base are small and the oolites are consequently dense in population. In contrast, the calcite crystals cementing the oolites in the limestone of the upper monument are quite large and, consequently, the population of oolites are less dense.
Records tell that the limestone used in the construction of the Confederate Monument, begun in 1886, came from a quarry near Russellville, Alabama. The quarry there was new, having opened in 1884. The limestone came from the early quarry of T.L. Fossick, located about two miles west of Isbel, then named Darlington, south of Russellville in the northwestern corner of Alabama. T.L. Fossick, Sr. came from England before the Civil War and first opened a quarry a few miles west of Cherokee, Alabama. Later, according to a deed in the Franklin County Courthouse dated 1884, Fossick purchased land in Franklin County from the Wood’s family and, with his two sons, opened a new quarry he called “Rockwood,” playing on the name of the Woods family and his stone.
According to a brief history on the Rockwood quarries published in a Russellville historical magazineThe Source, Vol. 8, Issue 2 (October 2000), there was a paper published in 1891 that advertised: “T.L. Fossick Company Oolitic Limestone Quarries. Dimension Stone of Every Kind Furnished on Contract. The Largest Dimension Stone Quarries in the South. Quarries at Rockwood…Two Miles West of Isbel, Franklin County, Alabama.”
The Fossick limestone quarries continued under Fossick under various company names and then under other ownership. Today, quarries in that area continue to produce limestone, some of the finest building limestone in the United States, under the Alabama Stone Company, Inc., a division of Vetter Stone Company, Mankato, Minnesota.
The limestone taken from Rockwood and the larger Russellville area is today marketed as “Alabama Shadow Veined Limestone” because of its veins of darker gray color in a light gray stone. The quality and characteristics remain highly consistent. The same light, cool gray color and some darker veining were evident in a cleaned stone on the base of the monument. A microscopic, comparative study of the base limestone with the apparently different limestone of the column was made in order to identify as precisely as possible how they differ. To complement this comparison, a sample of old Russellville limestone from a block still at the quarry now operated by Alabama Stone Company was taken and compared with the Russellville limestone used in the monument’s base. Also, a known sample of Indiana limestone was examined under the microscope and compared with the limestone from the upper part of the monument. It was found that characteristics of the lower monument stone match characteristics of Alabama limestone, while characteristics of the upper stone match very closely characteristics of Indiana limestone.
It is conceivable that T.L. Fossick arranged the later supply of stone from Indiana. It is possible that only a few at the time knew of this. Many of the stones in the lower monument show sedimentary weaknesses that have led to spalling and crumbling. These faults in the stone were probably evident as early as the period of construction and may have led to a complaint against Fossick’s supply. Fossick’s Rockwood quarry had not been in operation long and may have, at that time, been quarrying close to the surface, taking inferior overburden.
When the stone of the monument is clean, there will still be a visual distinction between the stone. While the black biofilm from the base will have been removed, the Alabama limestone there will show its characteristic color and “blue-gray” veining while the Indiana-type limestone will have its uniform, characteristic tan color. There are issues calling for further study. One is the possibility of residual biocidal control of the growth on the lower limestone. That growth is expected to return. A test of the biocide D/2 developed by MCC Materials, Inc. of Connecticut is recommended after the monument’s stone has been cleaned. Treatment of the stone to lock-out the nutrients and to aid in future cleaning are to be investigated. The product developed by Dr. Norman R. Weiss and Irving Slavid of MCC Materials, Inc. and now marketed as HCT (hydroxylating Conversion Treatment) by Prosoco, Inc. may be a candidate. Work on the monument is expected to be completed during 2002.
Alabama has funded the development of a comprehensive website devoted to the monument, its design, history and preservation. McKay Lodge, Inc. is designing the site with Poseidon Web Solutions of Chicago , the firm that created the public information site for the restoration of the Tyler Davidson Fountain in Cincinnati, Ohio.
For more information about the Confederate Monument, go to:


Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are elected by their constituents to represent their districts in Congress. Representatives, the title given to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, are elected to serve a two year term. There is no limit to the number of terms a Representative can serve.
There are 435 Members in the U.S. House of Representatives. They are apportioned, or divided proportionally, among the 50 states. The number of Representatives each state has is based on its population—the more citizens, the more Representatives. Each state is then divided into districts, one district for each Representative apportioned to the state. Representatives are reapportioned every 10 years. If a state’s population has changed, it may lose or gain Representatives because there can only be 435 Members in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Some states have too few citizens to be apportioned more than one Representative. Those states are represented by a Member-at-Large—a Member who represents and entire state. There are currently seven states represented by a Member-at-Large: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. With 53 Representatives in Congress, California has the largest Representation.
Becoming a Representative
Elections for Representatives are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even-numbered years. There are three requirements to run for election to the U.S. House of Representatives outlined in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution says that candidates must be at least 25 years old, have lived in the United States for at least seven years, and live in the state they would represent. There is, however, more to being elected Representative than meeting these requirements.
In order to become a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, candidates must make themselves well known in their communities. Many Representatives begin their political careers in their city or state governments. This helps them get to know their constituents and learn about the needs of their community. In addition to participating in local politics, the early careers of some Representatives includes military service, practicing law, practicing medicine, or owning their own businesses. To learn more about Representatives and their past careers, visit the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present.
Responsibilities of a Representative
Since the first Congress in 1789, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have been sent to the United States Capitol to represent their constituents in Congress. However, the responsibilities of Representatives are not outlined in the Constitution of the United States. Over time, their specific responsibilities have grown to include duties both in Washington, D.C. and home.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives spend their weeks in Washington, D.C., acting as ambassadors for local industries and advocates on behalf of the economic needs and political interests of the residents and communities within their districts. While in Washington, they debate and vote on legislation, oversee government agency spending, and serve on committees. They return home on weekends and during district work periods to work more closely with their constituents.
Representatives serve their districts by studying legislation under consideration and understanding how it will affect their districts. Researching how the legislation will affect their district helps Representatives decide whether or not to support a bill. In addition to their time spent on legislation, Representatives assist their constituents in getting federal benefits and grants or locating funding for local programs and projects, such as after school programs.
In addition to their legislative duties and constituent services, Representatives are responsible for managing their offices in their districts and in Washington, D.C. This includes overseeing the office’s budget and managing the office staff. Their office staff includes experts in areas of public policy, office managers and assistants, and college-aged interns.


Children’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Manners and Keigo (Polite Language)
監修 (Editors): 坂東 眞理子（ばんどう まりこ, Bandō Mariko）、蒲谷 宏（かばや ひろし, Kabaya Hiroshi）
Level 3 絵辞典, 173 pages, 7,000 words (est.) ★★★★★
This book provides very detailed, yet simply written instructions to kids on subjects such as table manners, proper behavior at the doctor’s, how to talk politely to teachers, how to get along with other people and so on. As you may have guessed from my previous review, I like to get simpler books from the library, but actually spend my money on books that stand up to rereading and provide a lot of reinforcement of new vocabulary within themselves. With this book, if you have ever had a problem with the 〜したりする pattern you will perfectly understand its use within ten pages, because instructions like “don’t make a lot of noise or run around in the library” are usually given in that form. Furthermore, the word きちんと — properly — will be burnt into your brain. Because of the extensive illustrations and the short, simple texts, even words you don’t know at all are pretty easy to guess from context, and because of the amount of repetitive text, those words often show up again and become easier to remember each time.
On another level, I find the process by which children learn polite behavior in any culture fascinating. I grew up watching how my mom and dad behaved in public and my own behavior was corrected by teachers, my family and so on, so of course I’m comfortable with my manners as an adult American. Still, I always felt not quite right while I was studying in Japan, and since I only stayed for a semester, that was hardly long enough to lose that feeling. Much of the content in this book is universal: don’t throw trash on the street, don’t run around during funerals, say “thank you” and be careful with other people’s possessions. Still, there are a lot of bits of etiquette unique to Japan: when and how deeply to bow, chopstick manners that go beyond those staples Japanese homestay students learn, “don’t stick your chopsticks straight into the rice” and “don’t pass food from your chopsticks to someone else’s” and even what to do with your hands if you’re sitting in seiza. (Girls are supposed to keep their hands in their laps, flat and arranged in a 八 shape, and their knees together; boys have their knees spread apart a little, with their hands in a loose fist on each knee.) If you had grown up Japanese, your mother would have pushed your little head down into a correct bow; short of being reborn or finding a friend who’s comfortable with criticizing an adult as if they were a child, a straightforward text is your best bet to understand the forms. Even if you aren’t planning on having to get along in Japanese society any time soon, it’s greatly amusing to see the “don’ts” of polite society laid out so bluntly. I do love the section on cleaning up one’s language — for example, don’t say うん to your teacher, say はい, and drop でかい for 大きい. The process of how non-native speakers learn polite language is completely different from the experience a Japanese kid is going to have, and it’s fascinating to see it from the other side. (I, too, have heard the tales of non-Japanese job seekers getting jobs because their keigo was better than that of the native Japanese graduates; I don’t know if that’s a real thing, or if it is the kind of story we language learners tell each other to lift our collective spirits.)
I also wonder to what degree the book is idealized; how much of it is what parents really want from their kids, and how much of it is how the authors think kids should behave? One section says「おやすみなさい」と言ってねる (Say “goodnight,” and go to sleep) which is reasonable, but shows an illustration of a child bowing as she says goodnight to her dad. Is it common for kids to bow as they say goodnight? Is it a hyper-correct reflection of (perhaps perceived) upper-class behavior, or general idealized behavior? Is it a personal dream of the author’s or illustrator’s, as yet unrealized by any kid anywhere? There is a very interesting lang-8 diary — or series of lang-8 diaries, perhaps — to be made out of my questions about the book; I haven’t been writing much for the past couple of months, but I am bound to go on a Japanese writing kick at some point, and when I do I will report back.
Apparently one of the writers, Mariko Bandō, is the president of Showa Women’s University and a prolific writer; I found this New York Times article about a book of advice for modern Japanese women and this article about her background and philosophy helped to put this book in context somewhat.
The estimated count of 7,000 words is a definite lowball – each set of two pages has a short section directed towards the parents, and I didn’t count those. (I estimate the おうちのかたへ sections would add another 9,000 words all together, bringing the estimated total closer to 16,000. They are not horribly hard (although with no furigana they’re officially off the extended reading classification chart) so consider the book doubly useful for an extensive reader: it has something to go back to later when your skill has improved. There are so many pictures that even if you didn’t know Japanese, you could generally tell what’s being explained. By Hitosugi and Day’s classification system, I think it’s about a 3, but it has a rather healthy amount of kanji (I imagine so that it’s accessible to young kids, but still useful to older ones).
Running a random page through Reading Tutor, the vocabulary level was rated “easy” and there were 18 different kanji used; going by the old JLPT difficulty levels, 22% were level 2, 44% were level 3 and 33% were level 4.
Note: All kanji have furigana in the original text.
Where to find it
I picked this one up at Kinokuniya as well, and you can order it online from them for $42 plus shipping. You can get it through Amazon.co.jp as well, where it is ￥2,520 new ($30.41 at the time of writing).
I haven’t looked very much into websites for children about manners, but you could try こどもEマナー教室 (Children’s Classroom for Good Manners). Or, post a comment if you run across any other useful ones!
This is an incomplete list of all the Level 5 books available from the Tacoma Public Library; it’ll be updated as I keep reading them.
From Extensive Reading in Japanese, the definition of a Level 5 book:
Level 5: Beginning at this level, material is quantitatively and qualitatively different from the lower levels. Level 5 books usually have more than 100 pages and fewer illustrations. Some kanji have furigana, but not all of them. Stories are fully developed and more detailed. Japanese native readers would be ten to thirteen years old.
I’ve added Amazon links for the benefit of having title images and just in case anyone wants to subsidize my reading, but if you’re interested in ordering any of these, I’d also recommend you look them up on Kinokuniya’s website and compare shipping costs. Also, all title translations are my own unless otherwise indicated, names are family name first, then given name, and 作 and 絵 mean “author” and “illustrator,” respectively.
A Handshake from Jirō
作：岸川 悦子（きしかわ えつこ, Kishikawa Etsuko）
絵：土田 義晴（つちだ よしはる, Tsuchida Yoshiharu）
Level 5 本, 125 pages, 5,700 words (est.)
My first level 5 book since I started this project, it wasn’t precisely hard, just long and with a higher proportion of unknown words than I tend to like. I understood the content and most of the details but missed just enough to annoy me, so apparently a book this level is currently about my limit, and I will try to stick to books that are a little easier for a while. I wonder if most level 5 books are about on this level, or if it’s a bit on the easy side since the narrator is a dog?
I’m actually feeling a bit of relief about reading these higher-level books because I missed having kanji around. For a Japanese language learner, used to thinking about kanji mastery as a benchmark, books in all hiragana are lonely; besides, kanji are fun, remove ambiguity and make reading quicker. It is kind of a joke among people who do translation for rom hacking; a hacker with little experience with Japanese will think saying “Translating this game should be easy! There’s no kanji!” is actually a selling point to prospective translators. To better ones than me, perhaps.
- Extensive reading is known as 多読, or tadoku in Japanese. To try it, start with very easy books (ones with no more than two or three unknown words per page), and follow these principles:
1. Don’t look up words in the dictionary while reading.
2. Skip over parts you don’t understand.
3. If you aren’t enjoying one book, toss it aside and get another.
Find something to read!
Hundreds of free books and stories online
Local bookstores and libraries
Buying new and used books online
For more information, read "What Is Extensive Reading?" and "Classification System."
To learn more about Kunihide Sakai, who developed the three principles of tadoku and has worked to popularize it in Japan for years, read this interview with him.
Finally, for more than you ever wanted to know about why I believe extensive reading is worth your time, read my tadoku manifesto.
Superfluous StatsBooks read: 303
Word count (since starting the blog): 380,500
- About Myself
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As the world celebrates Valentine’s Day next Wednesday, SAMSON BENJAMIN examines the origin of the so called Lovers’ Day and the pop culture that comes with it, including the moral burden that it has foisted on society.
In three days time, the much awaited Lovers’ Day will be celebrated almost throughout the world. Usually, February 14th of every year is celebrated around the world as Valentine’s Day. It is a day when people show special affection to their lovers by sending cards, flowers, love messages or even having fun together.
As it is with most western ideas and celebrations, Nigerians are not left behind when it comes to celebrating special days like this. In fact, they are usually at the forefront, especially youths in our universities campuses and other institutions of higher learning.
As February 14 draws closer, awareness on social media has reached its peak. And the conventional media are already awash with advertisements of discounts from shop owners, hotels, night clubs and bars.
Obscure origin of Valentine’s day
There are several accounts about the origin of Valentine’s Day . According to a historian, Mr Silas Ayuba of Nassarawa State University, “ nobody has a clear account as to who is Saint Valentine. From all I have read on his lifestyle and history, there is no single agreement among historians concerning Valentine’s Day celebration”.
However, the most popular is the version which claimed that Saint Valentine was a Roman Catholic priest who attracted the wrath of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270 AD. Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers than married men. However, despite the law, Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies among soldiers and was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death on February 14.
Love versus lust
Even though February 14 has always been celebrated as Lovers’ Day for as long as the memory can recall, the nature of the celebration however, remains a subject of debate. While majority feel that Valentine’s Day presents an opportunity for people to profess or renew their love with their lovers, many others see it as a season of immoral expression of love between male and female, especially the youths.
For Mrs Jumai Mainasara, an Abuja-based marriage counselor, Valentine’s Day “is all about spending quality time with one’s family, friends, and relatives”. She added that “ the night of 14th February is simply great. It provides people with the opportunity to express their message of care and love with gifts and join in the celebrations that set the tone of the day of love. Young and old come together to celebrate the magic of love”.
Nigerians are fun loving people and Valentine’s Day gives an opportunity to young people to express their youthful spirit with non stop foot tapping music .
However, as youths express their love for each other by exchanging flowers and gifts as a token of love on that day, most of the time, they indulge in immoral acts under the pretext of Valentine Day celebrations.
The question now is, does real love require this superficial display and can it be confined to just one day? And why are young people always falling prey to the deceit of sex during valentine?
Anabel Ojima, an On Air Personality with Abuja- based Kiss FM radio, told our correspondent that “for many Nigerian youths, Valentine Day is perceived as a love festival- a day of unlimited and carefree sexual activities, a freedom day for unguided alcohol and drug consumption”.
On her part, Aisha Adamu, a second year student of mass communication, Nasarawa State University posed rhetorical questions regarding the Lovers’ Day. According to her, “why wait for one day? What I do not understand is, why wait for a singular day before showing love?’’ The student argued that ‘’if you have a partner and are in a good relationship, I don’t believe you should wait for February 14 to show love.
Everyday should be Valentine Day. Valentine is all about showing love, not only for lovers, but also for anyone worth showing love to the poor and neglected in the streets and to anyone else.”
Similarly, Oche Ada, a National Youth Service Corps member says there’s no difference between Valentine’s Day and any other day. “I am much unlike some people who see that day as a day set apart for youths to thrive in lust and carelessness.
Days leading to February 14, of every year has media houses hammering on the meaning of Valentine, and how the right choices should be made, so I don’t think the mistakes people make on that day are because they weren’t told. I’m sure people will do whatever they want to do regardless the amount of information given on the issue.”
Ms Semira Abdullahi, a final year student in the department of English and Literary studies of Nasarawa State University, said she does not celebrates Valentine’s Day as there is nothing special about it. Her words: “It is like any other day to me. Every day is supposed to be a day of love. If a life is filled with love, it will flow on daily basis.”
Implications of Valentine’s day
Valentine’s Day comes and goes with its social consequences and implications among youths. Therefore, there is a need for young people to understand the implications and the risks involved in celebrating the day with immorality, according to experts.
Chief among these consequences, Mr Jonah Gwamna, a Youth Counselor said, “is the feeling of infatuations, that is the unreasonable feelings of love that one has for a short time that goes along with the day, coupled with immoral expression of such love” . He added that other possible negative implications of this celebration are “unwanted pregnancy leading to abortion, contraction of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), emotional disorder resulting from heartbreaks and sometimes breakup as a result of financial incapability to exchange gifts with ones lovers”.
For Mrs Mainasara, “ the fact that February 14 is also unofficially marked as world condom day; a day where free contraceptives are distributed to people, including young people, speaks volume of the sexual perversion that takes place that day”. She advised young people to abstain from premarital sex and instead explore friendship, build self-esteem and aim for self-actualization – which are all sweeter than sex”.
She concluded that “the time has come when all youths have to be taught about the depth in the genuine meaning of love. Let them be aware that real love is not meant to be celebrated in just one day of the year and Valentine is just a western idea. If the need to celebrate love on Valentine day arises, common sense and morality are expected to be applied and people must not be financially indebted because of Valentine”.
As the world celebrates next Wednesday, it is doubtful if this advice will be heeded.


Most children who have lead poisoning do not look or act sick. Symptoms, if present, may be confused with common childhood complaints, such as stomachache, headache, crankiness, loss of appetite, and fatigue. The only way to know if your child has lead poisoning is to measure the amount of lead in their blood through a blood lead level test (BLL). BLLs are measured in micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (ug/dL).. There is no known safe level of BLL. If you would like your child to be tested for lead, talk to your health care provider.
The most common way to treat lead poisoning in children is to find the lead source and remove it from their environment. Few children have high enough levels of lead in their blood that they require a medicine called a chelating agent. A chelating agent is a type of medicine that helps to remove the lead from the child's body. Any other problems associated with lead poisoning, such as anemia, should be treated.
For more information on treating childhood lead poisoning visit:
- California Department of Public Health's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Family Resource page.
- CDC's Information for Parents webpage.
- For a list of education strategies recommended for children exposed to view the CDC report "Educational Interventions for Children Affected by Lead."


- What is prosaic used for?
- What is the difference between prosaic and dull?
- What does pedantic mean?
- Is it bad to be pedantic?
- What is quotidian mean?
- What does monotonous mean?
- What is a capricious person?
- Can a person be prosaic?
- Is being pedantic a sign of autism?
- What does unimaginative mean?
- What are the 10 types of prose?
- What is quixotic in a sentence?
- What does the word banal mean?
- What is the opposite of prosaic?
- What does prosaic mean in English?
- What is an example of pedantic?
- What is Betokened?
- What does diction mean?
What is prosaic used for?
Prosaic Has Literary Origins As a result, English speakers started using “prosaic” to refer to anything considered matter-of-fact or ordinary, and they gradually transformed it into a synonym for “colorless,” “drab,” “lifeless,” and “lackluster.”.
What is the difference between prosaic and dull?
As adjectives the difference between prosaic and dull is that prosaic is pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose while dull is lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
What does pedantic mean?
like a pedantChoose Your Words Pedantic means “like a pedant,” someone who’s too concerned with literal accuracy or formality. It’s a negative term that implies someone is showing off book learning or trivia, especially in a tiresome way.
Is it bad to be pedantic?
Pedantry is not inherently wrong. However, it often times is obnoxious. It can easily derail the subject on an unnecessary point.
What is quotidian mean?
Quotidian is a fancy way of saying “daily” or “ordinary.” Quotidian events are the everyday details of life. When you talk about the quotidian, you’re talking about the little things in life: everyday events that are normal and not that exciting.
What does monotonous mean?
adjective. lacking in variety; tediously unvarying: the monotonous flat scenery. characterizing a sound continuing on one note. having very little inflection; limited to a narrow pitch range.
What is a capricious person?
Capricious is an adjective to describe a person or thing that’s impulsive and unpredictable, like a bride who suddenly leaves her groom standing at the wedding altar.
Can a person be prosaic?
The word prosaic usually describes something that is common or quotidian. … The word can also describe a person, thing, or idea that is bland or unoriginal. For example, a lackluster response or an unimaginative description could be labeled as prosaic.
Is being pedantic a sign of autism?
Often, such speech can act as evidence for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or a thought disorder, a common symptom in schizophrenia or schizotypal personality disorder.
What does unimaginative mean?
: having or showing a lack of imagination or originality : not imaginative unimaginative people an unimaginative menu a predictable and unimaginative plot.
What are the 10 types of prose?
There are four types of prose in literature,Fictional Prose (Includes novels, novellas, short stories)Non-fictional Prose (Includes biographies, essays, journals)Heroic Prose (Includes legends, tales)Poetry Prose ( poetry written in prose instead of using verse but maintaining poetic qualities)
What is quixotic in a sentence?
Use quixotic in a sentence. His quixotic strategy to impress his date by winning the large stuffed animals for her at the carnival seemed to be working. Licensed from GettyImages. adjective. The definition of quixotic is romantic behavior or following beliefs even though they are foolish or unreachable goals.
What does the word banal mean?
adjective. devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite: a banal and sophomoric treatment of courage on the frontier.
What is the opposite of prosaic?
commonplace, humdrum, prosaic, unglamorous, unglamourous(adj) not challenging; dull and lacking excitement. “an unglamorous job greasing engines” Antonyms: rhetorical, interesting, exciting.
What does prosaic mean in English?
adjective. commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative: a prosaic mind. of or having the character or form of prose, the ordinary form of spoken or written language, rather than of poetry.
What is an example of pedantic?
The definition of pedantic is someone who is very concerned with the details of a subject and tends to overly show off their knowledge. An example of someone who is pedantic is a person at a party who bores everyone while talking at length about the origin and details of a particular piece of pottery.
What is Betokened?
transitive verb. 1 : to typify beforehand : presage. 2 : to give evidence of : show.
What does diction mean?
1a : vocal expression : enunciation. b : pronunciation and enunciation of words in singing. 2 : choice of words especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.


artists & participants
The term 'material', referring to culture, appeared for the first time in the nineteenth century. The study of objects, as well as the distinction between object, thing, artefact and work, has been the subject of investigation for many anthropologists who, since the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, have been reflecting on man's ability to turn materials into utensils. Human capacity for the study of the different materials, their resistance, flexibility, hardness, elasticity, transparency, brightness and colour, and of almost anything that can have a practical or ornamental utility, has come to fascinate an incipient science of the human. The first bottle that might be said to be 'plastic' was manufactured in 1947. The development of the carbonated drinks industry in the United States promoted research on this material and its uses in the food industry. Plastic soon became a major asset in the sector, after a tentative start in 1960. However, the first bottle of polyethylene terephthalate (or polyester) did not appear in the market until 1970. The history of transparent plastic is linked to the history of the struggle between two major corporations to discover and patent polyester, an ideal material for the food industry: Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and DuPont. The race began in Europe, between ICI, the biggest chemical company of the British Empire, and DuPont, a company founded in 1802 by the French chemist, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, who had escaped the French Revolution and founded the company in Delaware. For over a decade now, the reconverted DuPont (DuPont Teijin Films) has had the patent and is the sole producer of Mylar®, Melinex®, Teijin®, Tetoron®, PET polyester film (the material for all bottles), Teonex®, PEN polyester film and Cronar®.
Cabin luggage is even more recent. The first individual trolley bag appeared on the market in 1989, and was invented by Robert Plath, a pilot for the North-American company, Northwest Airlines. Rolling cabin luggage would merit a text in itself. It is an adaptation, in the sense described by the French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck, of the biological changes that occur, not in the human organs, but in the objects and artefacts that, by being modified in size, shape and physical qualities, in turn alter human behaviour.
Let us now imagine a work that consists in crushing, repeatedly and mechanically, an object—a plastic water bottle—by another—a piece of hand luggage. A crush that produces a sound, amplified by eight channels, which occupies the totality of the central space of the Capella MACBA. Not far from this curious and strange conflict between things, we find another two objects, one of them equally curious: a photograph taken by David Seymour during the siege of Barcelona in 1938, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, in which we see a citizen stocking up on water. Thanks to the collectivisation of the Sociedad de Aguas de Barcelona by the anarchists, water was then a common commodity, a guarantee of survival. Next to it there is a fountain. Built with IKEA catalogues, piled up and with a straw on top emulating a jet, this silent fountain alludes to the most basic liquid in life, an absent liquid: water.
The totality of the project refers to common commodities, to transformation, to cultural and political life, to consumerism, and to having access to them. But it achieves something unprecedented: nothing is reduced to an icon, to an image. It avoids interpretation, since listening, seeing and thinking is a prerogative of the viewer.
only in german
04 Natascha Sadr Haghighian
Kurator: Chus Martinez


TopicCredit card payment process flow chart pdf.
PostedFri, Aug 09th 2019 18:30 PM
Flowchart Software is a program used to draw diagrams in a type of a flowchart which is made up of boxes and arrows. The Flowchart Software is also used to design and document simple processes as well as visualizing the process and helping users to better understand a process. You can also use the Flowchart Software to find flaws and bottlenecks in a process.
If you need to create a flowchart on your Mac to show a workflow, program, product, or service process, then you need a tool to do it. While you can use Pages to create very basic flowcharts, you might need something more robust.


rubra (Bergh, 1905)
|Maximum size: 110 mm (Kay,
This is a flattened, beige dorid blotched with light and dark violet
brown. It has small, widely scattered papillae tipped in dark brown
and circled with light rings.
is a rare species known from only a few animals found in rocky
habitats at depths up to 16 m (52 ft). It lays a white egg mass.
Big Island, Oahu and Kauai: widely distributed in the western &
This is the species listed as Archidoris
hawaiiensis in Kay, 1979 as well as Kay & Young, 1969. It's listed in some sources as Montereina rubra. It was first
reported in Hawaii from
Kaneohe Bay, Oahu in May, 1962 (Kay & Young, 1969).
Photo: 70 mm:
Johnson: Barber's Point, Oahu; Aug. 28, 1977.
Observations and comments:
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Gael Force Art Community Mural 2016
One hundred years ago today on May 24, 1916, the Easter Rising began.* The Irish Republican Brotherhood organized the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, and the women’s paramilitary group Cumann na mBan in seizing key locations in Dublin. The 1,600 people were fighting for the establishment of the Irish Republic, an independent Irish state.
Six days later the insurrection was suppressed. The casualty numbers seem to vary depending on the source, but most sources say there were nearly 500 dead and 2,000 wounded. The leaders of the Rising would be executed a few weeks later.
For a good step by step breakdown of the six day Rising as well as the days leading up to and following, take a look here: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/1916-schools/a-blow-by-blow-guide-to-the-easter-rising-1.2353931
Although the majority of Irish people were not at first inclined to support the Brotherhood, after the 15 executions public support started to swing. In 1922 a treaty was signed to move beyond Home Rule. “The Treaty” (officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland) established the Irish Free State.
The Irish still continue to this day to fight for their rights and freedom. The Easter Rising is generally accepted as the event that changed the views of the nation’s people. Although it was slow, gradual change, it led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 when direct London ended in Northern Ireland.
Ireland, Northern Ireland, and British relations are historically complex. I certainly can’t cover even a miniscule amount of their history in one blog post. Please continue researching on your own! (And please take a look at one of my very favorite historical figures of all time, Michael Collins.)
I think most Americans have no idea this type of mural is extremely popular in Ireland, particularly Belfast. I didn’t either until I was recently able to watch some university lectures specifically on this subject. I would strongly encourage you to visit http://www.extramuralactivity.com to see many other examples. You can also find a really cool interactive slide show and map here: http://belfast-murals.co.uk/
I also suggest you visit the Facebook page of Gael Force Art where you’ll find many more close-ups of this amazing work. The photo credit also belongs to that site. They are a West Belfast Artist Collective. There is so much going on here it’s much better for you to see all the close-ups and the descriptions they give there. Or if you’re in Ireland you can see it on Falls Road in Belfast.
I’ll just point a couple of my favorite things about this mural. Obviously, the largest section of the mural is the burning GPO with an incredible phoenix rising from the flames. The wings are amazing and lead your eye right up to the quote at the top.
I like the incredibly clever use of the giant newspaper clipping. It’s framed inside a billboard type box that normally holds the name of an accounting agency (see the photos of the mural in process). They took what could have been a hindrance and not only made it work, but made it one of the most interesting parts of the piece. To continue the 3D look, they’ve used the framed portraits of eight of the leaders, including Countess Markievicz, (look out for a post about her someday as well) and surrounded the clipping.
I think this mural is an amazing commemoration to those that gave their lives one hundred years ago today. Today we remember our brothers and sisters of the Irish Free State.
*The Rising is generally remembered in Ireland on Easter instead of the actual date, but I started this blog after Easter and really wanted to include something.


4 Vs of Big Data- One Should Know
Approximately 3 quintillion bytes of big data are generated each day from the different information sources which is a huge amount and indeed difficult to handle. To know which information is useful further and which is useless, we need filtration and this filtration is not an easy process. It requires efficient information handling processes in information-intensive systems of organizations.
It’s ok if you don’t know.
Now tell me how you will define big data?
Well, not certainly!
Various factors decide whether the information is big or not. In this blog, we will tell you 4Vs, and with the help of these Vs. But before talking about that, we will know what big data is and what 4 Vs of big data.
What is Big Data?
Big data is really useful for the business organization because with the help of this information they extract the important information and use it in their business operations and decision-making processes. Organizations can estimate the latest trends and patterns from this information in order to grow their business.
In order to analyze and process information, we need its size, and for that, we apply volume dimensions to it.
Approximately 70-80% of unstructured information exists, and its overall volume is continuously rising.
Velocity refers to the pace at which we consume information. The volume of information is reciprocal to the value as the volume increases; it decreases the value of individual information points over time.
For instance, 500 million call details records are analyzed in real-time to estimate the churn quickly on a regular basis. The velocity of high information generation requires different processing methods.
Moreover, the velocity of information determines the potential of information. It analyzes how fast the information generation and processing are to meet the requirements.
information sources generate different types of information categorized into three-part: Structured information, unstructured information, and semi-structured information.
Here, structured information is all about bank statements such as Information, amount, time, etc. Comparing unstructured information with structured information is a great way to understand it.
No specific rules are associated with unstructured information like structured data, but with the help of advanced technologies, we can transform unstructured information into structured data.
The veracity of Big Data
Veracity implies the quality of information that we are going to analyze. In data analysis, high veracity information records have proved their power to make it valuable. Veracity is directly proportional to valuable Information; high veracity refers to meaningful information, whereas low veracity information indicates meaningless information.
Moreover, the velocity of information determines the potential of information. It analyzes how fast the information generation and processing are to meet the requirements. For instance, 500 million call details records are analyzed in real-time to estimate the churn quickly on a regular basis. The velocity of high information generation requires different processing methods.
The higher the veracity, the more important the information is and provides us with valuable outcomes.
In this blog, we have talked about the 4Vs of big data and makes the information really big. I hope you found this article useful in the context of Important Vs of data and V features of data.


There are countless reasons to adjust to a healthier diet: lower blood pressure, reduced joint pain, more energy, stronger disease protection—the list goes on. You name a part of the body, and it’s pretty likely it would benefit from a healthy diet.
But it’s not just what we eat that plays a role in our health and happiness, but how we eat. Things have changed quite a bit since we farmed our food. Now, processed snacks are at our fingertips, sugary drinks are advertised as sport fuel, and we’re constantly on the clock due to technology. Over time, our habits around eating have been compromised.
Have you ever grabbed a snack before a meeting, eaten it, and then been surprised to see that you only had one bite left? Or gobbled everything on your plate and then felt too full? Or even climbed into bed only to realize you didn’t drink any water that day?
The culture around nutrition already has a lot of sneaky ways of making us feel bad, but luckily, there are a few tricks we can incorporate to choose wisely and feel good.
1. Make water your appetizer.
Whenever you go for a meal or a snack, have a small glass of water first. This trick has a few perks:
- Sometimes when we think we’re hungry, we’re actually just thirsty. In a 2009 study, individuals were studied responding to thirst and hunger. People responded “appropriately” by consuming water in response to thirst (in the absence of hunger) only 2% of the time. They responded “inappropriately” 62% of the time. If it turns out you’re just thirsty, you’ll have scratched the itch, and if you’re still hungry, you’re just a little more hydrated.
- If you tend to eat quickly and then feel too full, drinking water first can help trigger that feeling of fullness sooner, helping to prevent overeating.
- Tying water to eating can help us stay hydrated. Many people don’t feel thirsty until they’re already dehydrated. By making water-before-food a routine, you ensure that at least some hydration is incorporated into your day. After all, being hydrated can feel pretty good.
2. Put it on the schedule.
It’s easy for meals to turn into afterthoughts. With so many of us working from home, we’re constantly on the computer, grabbing what’s easy from the fridge, and often not eating on a regular schedule. If you think there’s room for improvement in your diet, treat it like you would a work project and schedule in the time to take it seriously.
You don’t need to carve out an hour per meal — even ten dedicated minutes can do the trick. After all, it’s hard to make thoughtful food decisions when you’re carrying your Zoom meeting into the kitchen. And putting meals on the calendar has other benefits: in one study covered in Health, “adults consuming calories during regular meals—at similar times from one day to [the] next—were less obese than people who have irregular meals, despite consuming more calories overall.”
3. Turn eating into a mindfulness exercise.
There’s an easy culprit to blame for many of our dietary struggles: mindlessness. We refer to mindlessness in many ways. Some of us say we were “lost in thought” or “running on autopilot,” but no matter what you call it, mindlessness can lead to less enjoyment and poor decision making.
You can improve your relationship with food the same way you might improve a relationship with a person: by being present. When carving out the time to eat, you’re also allowing yourself the time to enjoy. Having a mindful eating practice can help us better tune in to our bodies’ needs, make better nutrition decisions, and even help us tune in to our emotions around eating.
There are many ways to be mindful when you eat, but here’s a good place to start:
- Put away the distractions and sit down. No standing at the counter while scrolling on your phone. Mindful eating is technology free and meant to be enjoyed.
- Consider the journey your food took before it got to you. You don’t need to write a thesis, but if you’re having an apple, think about the tree it came from, who might’ve picked it, how far it traveled to get to you, and all the people involved in making that happen. Unless that apple came from your backyard, it’s likely it took quite a trip! Take time to appreciate it.
- Smell it, feel it, and take a long look at it. This is part of the savoring process. How often have you really considered a chip before popping it into your mouth? Probably not that often!
- Take small bites. Give the food a chance to linger in your mouth. Sit with the taste and the texture. Enjoy it!
- Go slowly. Give your body time to tell you when it’s full, or if it wants more. Try closing your eyes for a moment and truly relishing the moment.
With these three tips, you can be well on your way to a better relationship with food.


Screen printing is a printmaking technique where a wooden or aluminium frame is covered tightly with a mesh. This is used to transfer ink onto paper or fabric. It is possible to make areas
impermeable to the paint by a blocking stencil. This can be done by exposing an image onto the mesh using a light sensitive emulsion or even with a hand cut paper stencil.
Each image is created by printing one colour at a time to make up the image. The squeegee is moved across the screen to cover the open mesh with the paint. Once the squeegee is pulled forward to
print, it is then pushed in a reverse action to flood the screen with enough paint to print the next print.