Learn How To Build Your Own Game Of WordGuess In C++ With a 5-day Email Course.
Get an email every day that shows you how to program a game. Each email will add more and more to the game until you have a complete game that lets you guess words. You get to explore options along the way and experience the game as it develops.
This is just like what you would do if you were to start programming this yourself. Nobody goes from an empty page straight to the final design. We try things. We get something small working and then build on it.
Here’s what you’ll get now for signing up:
- Receive 5 daily emails that explain all the code step-by-step.
- Experiment and build each step to see your progress.
- Finish with a working game of WordGuess and ideas that will help you continue on your own.
- Each step described in detail starting with a blank page and ending with a fully functioning and simple game.
The final source code written in C++ is below. It’s a small and simple game consisting of just three methods. Even so, there’s a lot of explanation available in the email course. Enough that you’ll understand not just what’s here but why. And that will let you build on this and create a bigger and better game.
// Created by Wahid Tanner on 11/28/15.
using namespace std;
void playGame ();
string scrambleWord (string word);
cout << "Would you like to play WordGuess? y/n: ";
cin >> input;
if (input == 'y')
else if (input == 'n')
cout << "Goodbye!" << endl;
cout << "Please enter y or n: ";
void playGame ()
mt19937 rng; // rng stands for random number generator
// distribution in range [0, the number of items in the collection minus 1]
uniform_int_distribution<mt19937::result_type> distribution(0, wordCollection.size() - 1);
string wordToGuess = wordCollection[distribution(rng)];
string wordAfterScramble = scrambleWord(wordToGuess);
cout << "Guess this word: " << wordAfterScramble << endl;
cin >> input;
if (input == wordToGuess)
cout << "You won!" << endl;
cout << "Sorry, the word was: " << wordToGuess << endl;
string scrambleWord (string word)
uniform_int_distribution<mt19937::result_type> distribution(0, word.size() - 1);
for (int index = 0; index < word.size(); index++)
int firstIndex = distribution(rng);
int secondIndex = distribution(rng);
char temp = word[firstIndex];
word[firstIndex] = word[secondIndex];
word[secondIndex] = temp;
This is the full source code to the WordGuess game written in C++. This is what most books will show you when explaining how to program. They might break the code into smaller pieces and explain each piece. But you’re still getting just a single view into a finished product.
Now, I’ve been programming for a long time, and I still don’t sit down and go from an empty page right to the final product. And I don’t know anybody who does either. If you’re just beginning to learn how to code, then let me show you how to approach problems. This is how coding is done. There’s a system.
And you can learn how to start out with an empty page. What’s the first thing you should write? Where do you go from there? That’s what the 5-day email course shows you. It’s delivered over 5 days for a reason. So that you have time to process and understand each step.
If you just want to see the final source code, then there’s no need to subscribe. The email course is there to help if you want to understand the process. You’ll also get each step fully explained. Each line explained so you understand its purpose.
The emails you’ll receive in the 5-day course are:
- Day 1: Where do you begin?
- Day 2: How to display text and read user input.
- Day 3: Let’s turn this into a game.
- Day 4: Adding random behavior.
- Day 5 (of 5): Some final thoughts.


As demand for computing and communication capacity surges, the global communication infrastructure struggles to keep pace, since the light signals transmitted through fiber-optic lines must still be processed electronically, creating a bottleneck in telecommunications networks.
While the idea of developing an optical transistor to get around this problem is alluring to scientists and engineers, it has also remained an elusive vision, despite years of experiments with various approaches. Now, McGill University researchers have taken a significant, early step toward this goal by showing a new way to control light in the semiconductor nanocrystals known as “quantum dots.”
In results published online recently, the research team show that all-optical modulation and basic Boolean logic functionality – key steps in the processing and generation of signals – can be achieved by using laser-pulse inputs to manipulate the quantum mechanical state of a semiconductor nanocrystal.
“Our findings show that these nanocrystals can form a completely new platform for optical logic,” says one of the researchers. “We’re still at the nascent stages, but this could mark a significant step toward optical transistors.”
Quantum dots already are used in applications ranging from photovoltaics, to light-emitting diodes and lasers, to biological imaging. The Kambhampati group’s latest findings point toward an important new area of potential impact, based on the ability of these nanocrystals to modulate light in an optical gating scheme.
“These results demonstrate the proof of the concept,” a researcher says. “Now we are working to extend these results to integrated devices, and to generate more complex gates in hopes of making a true optical transistor.”
This story is reprinted from material from McGill University, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier. Link to original source.


New Westminster is an historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It was founded as the capital of the new-born Colony of British Columbia in 1858, and continued in that role until the Mainland and Island Colonies were merged in 1866, and was the Mainland's largest city from that year until it was passed in population by Vancouver during the first decade of the 20th Century.
It is located on the right bank of the Fraser River as it turns southwest towards its estuary, on the southwest side of the Burrard Peninsula and roughly at the centre of the Greater Vancouver region.
Before Canada was a country, Britain recognized that aboriginal people living here had title to land: the Royal Proclamation of 1763 declared that only the British Crown could acquire land from First Nations, and that was typically done through treaties. In most parts of Canada, the British Crown established treaties with First Nations before Confederation. The new Dominion of Canada continued this policy of making treaties before the west was opened for settlement, but in BC, this process was never completed. Section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that it does not abrogate or derogate "(a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and (b) any rights or freedoms that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired." Further, Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, affirmed that aboriginal title, and the rights that go along with it, exist whether or not there is a treaty. Aboriginal rights refer to practices, traditions and customs that distinguish the unique culture of each First Nation and were practised prior to European contact. Aboriginal title is an aboriginal property right to land.
The discovery of gold in B.C. prompted fear amongst the settlers that Americans may invade to take over this land. Without a treaty in place with the Coast Salish people,* In 1859, New Westminster was recommended as the first official capital of the new Colony of British Columbia by Richard Moody, the Lieutenant-Governor, because of its location farther from the American border than the site of the colony's proclamation, Fort Langley. New Westminster, at a defensible location on the north bank of the Fraser River, possessed, according to Moody, "great facilities for communication by water, as well as by future great trunk railways into the interior". Governor Douglas proclaimed "Queensborough" (as the site was initially called by Moody) the new capital on February 14, 1859. "Queensborough", however, did not appeal to London and it was Queen Victoria who named the city after Westminster, that part of the British capital of London where the Parliament Buildings were, and are to this day, situated. From this naming by the Queen, the City gained its official nickname, "The Royal City". A year later New Westminster became the first City in British Columbia to be incorporated and have an elected municipal government. It became a major outfitting point for prospectors coming to the Fraser Gold Rush, as all travel to the goldfield ports of Yale and Port Douglas was by steamboat or canoe up the Fraser River.
The location of New Westminster, at the edge of the forest, necessitated a large amount of labour and money to clear trees and lay out streets, which became a significant burden to the colonial budget when the imperial government shackled the colony with half of the cost of the Royal Engineers. Governor Douglas spent little time in New Westminster and had little affection for the city; and the feelings were amply repaid by the citizens of New Westminster, who avidly supported Colonel Moody's city-building efforts and castigated the governor, who preferred to remain for the most part isolated in distant Victoria. In contrast to Victoria, where settlers from England had established a strong British presence, New Westminster's early citizens were largely Canadians and Maritimers, who brought a more business-oriented approach to commerce and dismissed the pretensions of the older community. Despite being granted a municipal council, the mainlanders in New Westminster also pressed for a legislative assembly to be created for British Columbia, and were infuriated when Governor Douglas granted free port status to Victoria, which stifled the economic growth of the Fraser River city. Moreover, to pay for the expense of building roads into the Interior of the colony, Douglas imposed duties on imports into New Westminster.
In 1866, the colony of British Columbia and the colony of Vancouver Island were united as "British Columbia". However, the capital of the Colony of Vancouver Island, Victoria, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, was made the capital of the newly amalgamated Colony of British Columbia, following a vote in the House of Assembly. On the day of the vote one member of the assembly, William Cox (one of the colony's Gold Commissioners and a Victoria supporter), shuffled the pages of the speech that William Franklyn from Nanaimo (a New Westminster supporter) intended to give, so that Franklyn lost his place and read the first paragraph three times. Cox then popped the lenses of Franklyn's glasses from their frames so that the Nanaimo representative could see nothing at all of his speech. After a recess to settle the resulting uproar and allow the member from Nanaimo a chance to sort out his speaking notes and his spectacles, on the members' return to the House of Assembly, the Speaker John Sebastian Helmcken (from Victoria) refused to allow Franklyn a "second" chance to speak. The subsequent vote was 13 to 8 against New Westminster.
With the entry of British Columbia into the Dominion of Canada in 1871, as the sixth province, New Westminster's economic prospects improved, but the Royal City would lose out again, this time to the new railway terminus town of Vancouver, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was extended to the shores of Burrard Inlet, even though a spur of the railway did reach New Westminster in 1886. In 1879, the federal government allocated three reserves to the New Westminster Indian Band, including of the South Westminster Reserve, on the North Arm of the Fraser River, and on Poplar Island. A smallpox epidemic devastated the New Westminster Band, reducing the band members from about 400 people to under 100. Many of the remaining Qayqayt were assimilated into other local reserves, such as the neighbouring Musqueam Indian Band. Their reserve on Poplar Island was turned into an Aboriginal smallpox victim quarantine area. For decades, the Poplar Island reserve was designated as belonging to "all coast tribes". In 1913 the federal government seized most of the New Westminster Band's reserve lands. In 1916 the remaining land on Poplar Island was turned over to the BC government. Eighteen years earlier, in 1898, a devastating fire destroyed downtown New Westminster.
In 1991, the New Westminster Armoury was recognized as a Federal Heritage building on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings.


This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with natural dye artist and educator Natalie Stopka.
Watch the video recording here:
From Natalie (chat box questions answered and more!)
- The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting by Daniel V. Thompson, 1956.
- An Anonymous 14th Century Treatise De Arte Illuminandi, The Technique of Manuscript Illumination translated by Daniel Varney Thompson, Jr, and George Heard Hamilton, 1933. (full text online)
- Add more alum (and enough alkali to neutralize it) to increase the amount of aluminum hydroxide. This is the colorless, translucent mineral base the dye attaches to
- Add an opaque extender such as calcium carbonate
Natalie Stopka is an artist and educator focused on creative processes rooted in the materials and forces of the natural world. Her pursuit of historical surface patterning techniques includes natural dyeing, lake pigment extraction, marbling, and printmaking. These meticulous, layered processes incorporate materials grown in her studio garden in Yonkers, NY, creating a seasonally evolving vocabulary of texture and color. Her botanical palette of lake pigments and indigo is inspired by the recipes of 14th-18th century artists and marblers.
Her upcoming (virtual) Lake Pigment workshop with the Textile Arts Center, introduces participants to lake pigments made from natural dyes. Lake pigments are a great way use every drop of natural color by converting it to a shelf-stable powder. These pigments can be used for making natural paints or pastels, or for split lake dyeing. Students can join in dye extraction and laking in our first remote studio session, then continue to process their pigments over 1-2 hours of independent work during the week. Our second session will focus on sharing our experiments, paint making, and Q+A. Garden and kitchen-foraged colorants are encouraged, or students can opt to purchase a kit of materials at the time of registration.
NEXT WEEK we’ll be talking with Plant Workshop’s Milisa Moses, Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori and Botanical Colors’ Sustainability Director Amy DuFault to review the basics of growing, harvesting and dyeing with your own dye plants. We’ll feature a few of the varieties that we love to grow and show you what colors come from them. Milisa will reprise her guidance for starting your own seeds now and Kathy and Amy will have dye flowers and bundle and immersion dye techniques. We’ll leave lots of time for questions!
If you are not familiar with FEEDBACK FRIDAY, every week, we speak with dyers, artists, scientists and scholars about our favorite topic, natural dyeing and color. Curated by Amy DuFault, Botanical Colors’ Sustainability Director and presented by Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori.
We even have our own theme song thanks to musician (and Amy’s husband) Jimmie Snider!


Florida Family History Research
This entry was originally written by the Florida Pioneer Descendants Certification Program Committee of the Florida State Genealogical Society, Inc. for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
History of Florida
"No man would immigrate into Florida—no, not from Hell itself,” declared the Honorable John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia, in the 1821 United States House of Representatives. The newly annexed territory was, he declared, “a land of swamps, of quagmires, of frogs and alligators and mosquitoes.” Nonetheless, Florida’s 2000 census would show it to be the nation’s fourth most populous state at that time.
The Spanish colonial presence began with the landing of Juan Ponce de Leon at Eastertide in 1513, ninety-four years before the British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. Spanish Florida ultimately embraced all of the present state and much of the Gulf Coast, including large parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
In 1564 French Huguenots settled Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River near present-day Jacksonville. The Spanish reacted immediately, by establishing St. Augustine in 1565 as the first permanent European settlement in America, immediately destroying Fort Caroline. After further hostilities, France soon abandoned designs on peninsular Florida. Elizabethan England, however, was not to be so easily intimidated.
Spain was to spend much of the seventeenth century attempting to dissuade the English by scattering its own colonists across Florida. By the 1680s, San Marcos de Apalache (now St. Marks) on the Gulf coast had grown to noteworthy proportions. In the final third of the century, pressure from the French to the west and the English and their Native American allies to the north prompted Spain to fortify St. Augustine and to re-establish a former settlement at Pensacola in 1698. In 1702 and 1703, there were numerous British raids. Seventeen years later, the French took and briefly held Pensacola before relinquishing the town, joining with Spain against England, and finally retiring further westward along the Gulf Coast.
Following an indecisive treaty in 1748 and a decade of peace with Spain, England was again at war with France. By 1761, Spain, fearful that a French defeat could damage its own colonial interests, finally took sides with France, but it was too late. The Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years War in 1763, saw Spain cede Florida to England in exchange for the captured city of Havana, Cuba.
British East Florida reached from the Atlantic to the Apalachicola River; British West Florida ran from the Apalachicola to the Mississippi. In 1765, England sent Surveyor General William Gerard de Brahm and Royal Botanist John Bartram to the new possession and offered bounties, land grants, and other inducements to settlers. Thus, East and West Florida remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution, and St. Augustine became crowded with Tory refugees from Georgia and the Carolinas.
In 1781, Spain captured Pensacola from Britain, which two years later exchanged both Floridas for the Bahama Islands. For a decade after the American Revolution there were sporadic Spanish-American border disputes until the Pinckney Treaty of 1795 fixed the 31st parallel as the northern boundary of West Florida and gave the United States undisputed control of an area that now comprises nearly a third of Alabama and Mississippi.
Spain supported the British in the War of 1812 but never declared war on the United States. Nonetheless, Andrew Jackson seized and then abandoned Spanish Pensacola in 1814 and helped convince Spain of the folly of trying to hold an overseas colony contiguous to a large and unfriendly nation already coveting its lands. Under the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty, which took effect in 1821, Spain gave up East and West Florida in exchange for claims by U.S. citizens, of up to five million dollars against Spain.
In 1821 Congress provided for a territorial governor, territorial courts, and a thirteen-member legislative council. Florida’s first two counties were established on 21 July 1821. By its first territorial census in 1830, three years before the skeptical Honorable John Randolph of Roanoke died, Florida boasted 34,730 inhabitants. By statehood fifteen years later, its population had surpassed 66,500.
The massacre of Army Major Francis Langhorne Dade and two companies of soldiers in December 1835 marked the opening hostilities of the Second Seminole War, which would end seven years later after an expenditure of more than $20 million and the loss of 1,500 soldiers. By the end of the third Seminole War (1855–58), over 3,800 Native Americans, free African Americans, and runaway slaves were relocated to the Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma.
In 1842, a wave of immigrants was enticed by the Armed Occupation Act to bear arms and protect their land against the Indians. After five years, the land became theirs as long as they cultivated and built a home on it. Florida attained statehood on 3 March 1845, the first among the Atlantic coast colonies settled, but the last admitted to the Union. By then, Florida’s people had lived under the flags of four sovereign nations: Spain, France, Great Britain, and the United States.
Researchers should be aware that county boundaries changed frequently during three time periods: after the change of ownership from Spain to the U.S. in 1821; after 1900, when the railroad was completed on the East Coast of Florida; and during the “Land Boom,” which began right after World War I. The last four counties were created in 1925, followed by five years in which Florida suffered a series of financial disasters caused by the weather—extreme cold in the winter of 1925, extreme heat in the summer, and several major hurricane disasters. Florida experienced its own depression from which it took many years to recover. However, Florida did recover, and by 2000 its “swamps and quagmires” were inhabited by more than 15.9 million Americans—making it the fourth most populated state in the nation.


Mitten and Glove Puppets
Lost a mitten or glove? Don't fret! Make its orphan into a cute animal puppet.
Magna-Tac is a permanent adhesive that contains acetone, so it's a bit smelly. If you are making the puppets with children, you may want to do the gluing yourself. This glue is washable after it has dried. If you are making the puppets for very small children, sewing the small pieces onto the mittens is best, because if small children put the mittens in their mouths, pieces could come loose.
For the cat: To make the cat's whiskers, use a needle and linen twine. Pull a length through the mitten near the cat's nose, and tie a knot at its base to secure it. Repeat two or three times on each side of the nose.
For the dinosaur: Be sure to use a glove, not a mitten, for the dinosaur. The head should be glued to the middle finger of the glove. The thumb and pointer finger on one side, and the ring and pinky finger on the other will act as legs and feet. Attach the feet (see template) to the ends of these fingers. The pointy spine should run from the center knuckle back over the center of the wrist.
- Puppet templates
- Tailor's chalk
- Felt in a range of colors appropriate to your animal
- Needle and waxed twine (for cat's whiskers only)
- Magna-Tac glue (or thread and needle, if you would prefer to sew the felt to the mitten)
Using the templates included here, or animal books for inspiration, draw shapes for eyes, ears, paws or feet, and nose onto paper.
Cut out the paper shapes, and use them as templates; trace the designs onto felt with tailor's chalk.
Cut out the felt shapes.
Glue the various shapes to your mitten or glove, placing noses near the center front of the mitten.


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While the queer community faces discrimination, being queer and disabled is a further problem in India, especially if further marginalised by caste, class, or gender.
Pride Month is supposed to celebrate queer culture and pay homage to the struggles faced by queer people- past and present.
While the very idea of earmarking a particular month of the calendar year as ‘Pride Month’ is itself is a matter of debate within many queer circles (primarily because the cause is often hijacked by corporations who piggyback off pink money), one issue that often gets ignored by activists and allies alike is that of representation and inclusion within the community.
The queer community, while heterogeneous in composition, is oddly homogenous in representation. Very few queer people from Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi, Muslim and disabled backgrounds find themselves in positions of power, authority, and visibility in activist and non-activist queer spaces.
In this article, I will focus on one aspect of marginality (disability) and explain how these queer people’s exclusion is a problem in the queer movement. One should note, however, that different forms of marginality are interconnected (and are intersectional). For instance, one could be Bahujan and disabled, Muslim and disabled, etc. These intersectional identities shape our lives and concomitantly mold the ways we see, feel, and interact with the world.
According to a 2019 report, about 2.2% of India’s population lived with some kind of physical or mental disability. More men were afflicted than women, and disability was more prevalent in rural areas than urban areas. These statistics are worrying because people in rural areas often times have very little to no access to disability-inclusive care. And although various government schemes exist on paper, progress has been slow and success has been limited.
In addition to the weak infrastructure and a lack of access to quality care, social stigma has also forced most people with disabilities inside the private sphere, thereby invisibilizing their very existence.
Keeping this broad backdrop of disabled people’s exclusion in mind, one can only imagine how challenging it must be for those who are both queer and disabled. Indeed, queer disabled people constitute a double minority whose very existence is stigmatized, pathologized, and invisibilized even today. Recognizing their exclusion and making amends is critical.
In a 2011 interview for DNA India, then 37-year-old Dinesh Gupta said “I doubt I’d have been able to walk that far or for that long.” Dinesh is a gay man who was born with a genetic disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta, which causes bones to break easily with little or no apparent cause. And in his interview, he was talking about his struggles of not being able to attend the 2011 Mumbai Pride March. His inability to attend the Pride walk highlights an issue that Pride organizers across the country have been grappling with for years- that of accessibility.
One should note, however, that the issue of accessibility isn’t merely limited to pride parades. These conversations must also permeate other fora as well, such as online spaces. In contemporary times, a lot of queer activism has already moved online, leaving those on the wrong side of the digital divide behind. And even among those who are privileged enough to access the internet, I truly wonder how many people with hearing, seeing, and other forms of disabilities can even access and engage with this online content?
Very few to no informative social media ‘live’ sessions are translated into sign language. Very rarely is written content converted to audio voice snippets for people with visual disabilities and rarely is audio content suffixed with subtitles for those who are deaf or hearing impaired. Thus, online queer activism in India still has a long way to go if it truly wishes to be inclusive.
I go back to the issue of representation. Before asking how many queer people with disabilities hold positions of power in activist spaces, we must first ask whether queer people with disabilities can even access such spaces, let alone articulate their struggles? We must also remember that the kinds of disabilities that people experience are varied and fall on a spectrum- much like queerness.
Some disabilities, such as acute schizophrenia, complete or near-complete loss of hearing, sight, speech, and locomotive abilities may require more accommodation than others. While other forms of disabilities such as psoatic limping might be easier to accommodate.
However, disability activists- both inside and outside the queer community- have long rallied against the patronising nature of these accommodations. For instance, the use of the words ‘Divyang’ and ‘Divyangjan’ that are in extensive use in most official government documents and speeches have been publicly decried by many disability activists globally because of how it insensitively glorifies disability (‘Divyang’ roughly translates to ‘divine body’). The Hindu reported in 2019 that even The United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) had marked the word ‘Divyangjan’ as controversial and akin to derogatory terminologies like ‘mentally ill’. Indeed, what people with disabilities are demanding is inclusion, accommodation, and respect. Not essentialization and unwanted glorification.
Queer people with disabilities face multiple hurdles in India: from dating, to coming to terms with their sexuality and disability, to overcoming stigma, to finding employment, to accessing healthcare, and perhaps most importantly: finding ways to lead happy and fulfilling lives. Given the cis-normative, heteronormative, and ableist formation of our society, overcoming these barriers is challenging and will require a holistic approach to address the multiple dimensions that underline the marginalization of those queer and disabled.
Within the universe of queer activism in India, I believe the following should be done immediately:
~ The issue of disability needs to be treated with greater sensitivity and care. Within queer spaces- both online and offline- reasonable accommodations should be made for people with disabilities, and their presence in these spaces should be both acknowledged and respected.
~ A lot of problematic, ableist rhetoric is still found on dating platforms, especially among gay men who routinely body-shame each other, pass lewd comments about each other’s private body parts, and cast aspersions about people who do not conform to society’s unrealistic body standards. People with different body types, scars, and disabilities are often reprimanded for not being ‘handsome enough’ or ‘attractive enough’. A lot of this problematic rhetoric is passed off as ‘personal choice’ and ‘individual dating preferences’; but I argue that if people with disabilities are routinely shamed and discriminated against for simply being themselves, then this can no longer be deemed a personal choice. Rather, it is a structural issue that needs to be seen within the broader context of ableism and discrimination.
~ Issues like accessible and affordable healthcare access for queer disabled people and free/affordable mental health support for those with intellectual and learning disabilities should be taken up by the queer community urgently.
~ Queer activists should work towards legalizing anti-discrimination laws at the state and central government level which would not only prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression but also disability. This should apply to all sectors: housing, employment, healthcare, etc.
~ Queer people with disabilities should feel comfortable enough to share their experiences in queer spaces. Their voices should be amplified and their stories should be well documented by the media.
For a community rallying for acceptance from others, it should first look within itself and accept its own people who are different. The path to inclusion is no doubt long and hard, but not impossible. What it requires is a sustained effort, continuous commitment, interminable persistence, and determined willpower.
Image source: a still from the film Margarita With a Straw
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Kanav is, as of June 2021, pursuing his Master's in Development from Azim Premji University, Bangalore. He identifies as queer for personal and political reasons and can be contacted via https://www.linkedin.com/ read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
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If you want to get back to work after a break, here’s the ultimate guide to return to work programs in India from tech, finance or health sectors - for women just like you!
Last week, I was having a conversation with a friend related to personal financial planning and she shared how she had had fleeting thoughts about joining work but she was apprehensive to take the plunge. She was unaware of return to work programs available in India.
She had taken a 3-year long career break due to child care and the disconnect from the job arena that she spoke about is something several women in the same situation will relate to.
More often than not, women take a break from their careers to devote time to their kids because we still do not have a strong eco-system in place that can support new mothers, even though things are gradually changing on this front.
A married woman has to wear a sari, sindoor, mangalsutra, bangles, anklets, and so much more. What do these ornaments have to do with my love, respect, and commitment to my husband?
They: Are you married?
They: But You don’t look like it
Me: (in my Mind) Why should I?
Why is being married not enough for a woman, and she needs to look married too? I am tired of such comments in the nearly four years of being married.
I believe that anything that is forced is not right. I must have a choice. I am a living human, not a puppet. And I am not stopping anyone by not following any tradition. You are free to do whatever you like to do. But do not force others. It’s depressing.


By: Geir Wing Gabrielsen and Heli Routti // Norwegian Polar Institute
Eldbjørg Heimstad // NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research
Every year, scientists from the Norwegian Polar Institute, NILU, and Akvaplan-niva collect samples of air and biota from Svalbard. Air samples are collected at the Zeppelin station in Ny-Ålesund.
Samples from polar bears, arctic foxes, ringed seals, Svalbard reindeer, kittiwakes, common eiders, arctic char, zooplankton, polar and Atlantic cod are collected as a part of annual fieldwork done by scientists or from animals harvested by local hunters. Samples of blood, eggs, and tissues are prepared for storage and analysis in a “clean laboratory”. Such procedures are important to prevent contamination of samples collected.
The samples in the Norwegian Environmental Specimen Bank can be used to aid regulatory authorities in identifying hazardous contaminants in the environment.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was established in 2004. So far 152 nations have signed this global treaty to protect human health and the environment from POPs. The main reason for establishing this Convention was the fact that several POPs were a threat to human health and environment. Chemicals are listed under the Convention if they meet the following criteria: the substance is persistent, transported over long distances, accumulates in tissues of humans and wildlife and has harmful effects on animals or humans. To date, 26 chemicals have been banned by the Stockholm Convention.
Every year the review committees of the Stockholm Convention, the Arctic Council and the Norwegian Environment Agency nominate a list of currently used organic chemicals that are subsequently analysed in a wide range of environmental samples by Norwegian researchers. Suggestions for this list are made by Fram Centre scientists together with colleagues elsewhere in Norway.
The Arctic sends important messages about compounds with properties of concern. When we discover a new man-made chemical in arctic air or biota, the substance probably is not from a local source but has arrived after long-range transport by air and/or sea currents. These findings also tell us that the chemical is not easily degraded and remains intact despite transport over long distances.
If we find higher levels of the chemical in predators than in prey, it shows that the chemical accumulates in the food chain. Using samples from polar bears, seals, whales, and seabirds, we can study whether these chemicals affect the health of arctic animals.
The findings provided by scientists from the Fram Centre, other Norwegian institutes and universities, and international institutions, are important for national authorities and the Stockholm Convention in their work to regulate the use and production of POPs. Evidence showing the presence and effects of these contaminants in arctic animals is central when negotiating and adopting global actions.
The chemical industry is growing. The industry currently produces more than 150 000 chemicals. Around 1500-2000 new chemicals are put on the market every year. Many of them are initially considered useful but are later discovered to be harmful environmental pollutants. When analysing samples we sometimes identify new pollutants.
These chemicals are of concern and need to be followed to determine if they are increasing or decreasing in the environment. Samples stored in the Norwegian Environmental Specimen Bank allow scientists and authorities to go back in time and see when the new chemicals were released into the environment.
The Stockholm Convention is not the only regulatory body that can benefit from the specimen bank. The Minamata Convention on Mercury, adopted in 2013, aims to reduce the use and emissions of mercury. Historical samples from the specimen bank combined with future samples will make it possible to determine whether mercury levels in the Arctic have decreased over time after the implementation.
Such a decrease would signal reduced emissions worldwide. Temporal trend data preserved in the samples of the Norwegian Environmental Specimen Bank will provide valuable information to the Minamata and Stockholm conventions, as well as other efforts – present and future – to control the release of hazardous substances to the environment.


“In the United Kingdom, The Queen’s title includes the words ‘Defender of the Faith’. This means Her Majesty has a specific role in both the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. As established Churches, they are recognised by law as the official Churches of England and Scotland, respectively. In both England and Scotland, the established Churches are subject to the regulation of law. The principle of religious toleration is fully recognised both for those of other creeds and for those without any religious beliefs. There are no established Churches in Northern Ireland nor in Wales. They were disestablished in 1869 in Northern Ireland and 1920 in Wales. There is no established Church in any Commonwealth country of which The Queen is monarch (i.e. a realm). In addition to playing a role in the Churches of England and Scotland, The Queen recognises and supports the various other faiths practised in the UK and Commonwealth.
The Church of England, and the monarch’s relation to it, was established through a series of Parliamentary Acts in the 1530s, which brought about the English Reformation. Henry VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church by denying papal claims to ecclesiastical or any other jurisdiction, and by declaring himself rather than the Pope as Supreme Head of the Church in England. The Sovereign’s relationship to the Church of Scotland is different. Since 1707, the British Monarch has been required by the Treaty of Union to preserve the Church of Scotland, Scotland’s established Church. The Queen is therefore not the Supreme Governor of the Church of Scotland, but an ordinary member (http://www.royal.gov.uk/ )”.
Church of England And The Queen
“The Sovereign holds the title ‘Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England’. There are many examples of the relationship between the established Church and the State. Archbishops and bishops are appointed by The Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister, who considers the names selected by a Church Commission. They take an oath of allegiance to The Queen on appointment and may not resign without Royal authority. The connection between Church and State is also symbolised by the fact that the ‘Lords Spiritual’ (consisting of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and 24 diocesan bishops) sit in the House of Lords. Parish priests also take an oath of allegiance to The Queen. The General Synod (including the bishops, elected representatives from the clergy and the laity) is the supreme authority of the Church of England. The Queen opens the Synod after the elections in the dioceses every five years.
Since 1919, the Synod (formerly called the Church Assembly) has had the power to pass Measures on any matter concerning the Church of England. Following acceptance of the Measures by both Houses of Parliament (which cannot amend them), they are submitted for Royal Assent and become law. In addition to legislating for the Church by Measure, the General Synod has the power to legislate by Canon in its own domestic affairs such as worship and doctrine, but The Queen’s assent is required for the promulgation of such Canons. Such assent is given on the Home Secretary’s advice. In his or her coronation oath, the Sovereign promises to maintain the Church. The Sovereign must be in communion with the Church of England, that is, a full, confirmed member. The Preface to the 39 Articles of the Church of England describes the monarch as ‘being by God’s Ordinance, according to Our just Title, Defender of the Faith and … Supreme Governor of the Church of England (http://www.royal.gov.uk/ )”.
Church of Scotland and the Queen
“Its supreme authority is the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, presided over by a Moderator chosen each year by the Assembly itself. The monarch takes an oath to preserve the Church of Scotland at the meeting of the Privy Council immediately following his or her accession. The Crown is represented at the Assembly, sometimes by the monarch in person, but more often by a Lord High Commissioner appointed each year by The Queen. Provided that it acts within the law of the land, the Assembly has the power to pass resolutions which can have effect without Royal Assent (http://www.royal.gov.uk/ )”.
Other Faiths and the Queen
“Modern Britain is a multi-cultural, multi-faith society, made up of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs and people of other faiths. The Commonwealth is also made up of peoples with different religious beliefs. The Queen’s role as Head of State and Head of Commonwealth is to respect and recognise these various faiths, and to promote tolerance and understanding between people of different religions. This is reflected in The Queen’s Christmas and Commonwealth broadcast speeches, which have often addressed the theme of religious tolerance. In her Christmas Message in 2004, for example, The Queen remarked: “Everyone is our neighbour, no matter what race, creed or colour.”
Members of different denominations faiths are represented at major Royal ceremonial occasions with a religious dimension – for example, weddings, funerals and services of thanksgiving. The Queen has also hosted a number of events which bring representatives of all denominations and faiths together – for example, a reception at Buckingham Palace for leaders of different religions in 2002. Although Supreme Governor of the Church of England, throughout her reign The Queen has recognised other denominations within the Christian faith, attending various ecumenical gatherings and services. During the course of her visits throughout the UK and overseas, The Queen has visited the places of worship of many different faiths, meeting religious leaders and worshippers.
In 2002 The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh visited Highgate Hill Murugan Hindu Temple in North London. In the same year The Queen met worshippers at a community mosque in Scunthorpe. In 2006 The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh attended a reception to mark the 350th anniversary of the Jewish Community in Great Britain at St James’s Palace, London. In 2008 The Queen visited the Green Mosque during a State visit to Turkey. The Prince of Wales has long called for an acknowledgement of the strengths of other religious traditions, and for greater mutual understanding amongst the adherents of the world’s different faiths. The Prince’s efforts to foster a greater understanding between Islam and the West have attracted particular attention. His Royal Highness has been Patron of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies since 1993. The Prince of Wales has also demonstrated his respect for the other faiths by visiting their holy places and places of worship, including the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Sikh Temple in Southall opened in June 2003 and the Bevis Marks synagogue in central London (http://www.royal.gov.uk/ )”.


Soul of the Beast takes place in 1886 during the time of the British Empire. At the time, many Irishmen were convicted of the same felony. Their crime? Stealing food to feed their starving families. For punishment, they were sent to the penal colony in Australia. Below are excerpts from an online article on the subject by Independent Australia. You can read the article by clicking on the link.
In the early [1800's], …Australia became the first [British] colony to build a society [based] on the labour of convicted felons…Between 1787 and 1852, more than 150,000 convicts were transported to eastern Australia … around 50,000 prisoners being of Irish origin… minor thefts [like stealing food to survive were the predominant reasons for the Irish convictions]…
Many [Irish] convicts were bewildered by the first days of the voyage to Australia… few had travelled in a ship. Most had not [made a] journey of even 200 miles … by sentence of the courts, they [took] one of the longest voyages any traveller could make …[many convicts died during the migration southwards.]
This convict class was singled out for [unusually hard punishments] by the Australian authorities. … Irish formed the country’s first white minority. The Irish convicts’ first and only attempt at rebellion, the 1804 uprising at Castle Hill, was ruthlessly put down. [Many] of its leaders [were] hanged … many [were whipped to death and others died in chains.]
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Species group: Geckos
Other common names: Israeli Sand Gecko; Lichtenstein's Short-fingered Gecko;
Scientific name: Stenodactylus sthenodactylus
The Israeli Sand Gecko is native to northern Africa, Israel, Jordan and southwest Asia. Stenodactylus sthenodactylus is one of three species of Stenodactylus available to hobbyists in North America.
Appearance / health:
Stenodactylus sthenodactylus matures to 3 - 4 inches (8.9 cm - 10.1 cm) and has a mixture of tan, brown, yellow and black.
Behavior / temperament:
Dwarf sand geckos, like many geckos, are nocturnal and need an area or two to hide during the day. Hide spots can be created with cork bark, driftwood, slate, or commercial reptile hide boxes.
A group of three adult Dune Geckos (one male and two females) can be housed in a standard 10 gallon aquarium that measures 20 inches long by 10 inches wide by 12 inches high (50 cm by 25 cm by 30 cm). The vivarium should always be kept dry and well ventilated, and a temperature range of 75 - 85°F (24 -29°C) during the day, and 65 - 75°F (18 - 24°C) works well. Dwarf sand geckos are nocturnal and need an area to hide in during the day. Hides can be created with bark, driftwood, rock, or commercial reptile hide boxes.
House Geckos are best kept as a pair or in a group with only one male. Males are territorial and aggressive towards other males.
Dune Geckos primarily eat crickets, moths, flies, cockroaches, and other insects, as well as silkworms, wax worms, and mealworms. Feeding them with gut-loaded or calcium-dusted crickets will help provide sufficient nutrition.
small wildcaught insects, reptile nightviewing bulbs, small roach nymphs, ample Vitamin D3
The tiny Israeli dune gecko makes an ideal pet for “night-owls” with limited space. Although their history in the pet trade is not very extensive, they appear quite hardy when provided with proper care.
A trio (1 male, 2 females) can be kept in a 10-15 gallon terrarium with a dry substrate and hiding spots in the form of caves and cork bark; clay-based substrates may allow them to create their own burrows. They are nocturnal, and so if provided a healthful diet and ample Vitamin D3 will do fine without UVB exposure. Red reptile night-viewing bulbs will allow you to watch your pets after dark (they sense little if any of the light produced by these bulbs). Red bulbs and a sub-tank heater can be used to establish a temperature range of 76- 90 F.
A wide variety of insects supplemented with powdered calcium and vitamins are essential to their well-being. This can be a challenge, as options are limited due to this gecko’s small size. For this reason, they are best kept only by those who can provide flightless houseflies, flour beetle larvae, fruit flies, and small wild-caught insects, in addition to calciworms, tiny roaches and crickets, silkworms and other commercially-available insects; crickets and mealworms alone, even if supplemented, will not maintain their health long-term..
From findiviglio Nov 5 2015 5:21PM


Nationalism was the most powerful idea of the 1800s. Its influence stretched throughout Europe and the Americas. It shaped countries by creating new ones or breaking up old ones. In Europe, it also upset the balance of power set up at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, affecting the lives of millions. Empires in Europe were made up of many different groups of people. Nationalism fed the desire of most of those groups to be free of the rule of empires and govern themselves in their traditional lands.
Nationalism: A Force for Unity or Disunity
During the 1800s, nationalism fueled efforts to build nation-states. Nationalists were not loyal to kings, but to their people—to those who shared common bonds. Nationalists believed that people of a single “nationality,” or ancestry, should unite under a single government. However, people who wanted to restore the old order from before the French Revolution saw nationalism as a force for disunity. Gradually, authoritarian rulers began to see that nationalism could also unify masses of people. They soon began to use nationalist feelings for their own purposes. They built nation-states in areas where they remained firmly in control.
Nationalism refers to a strong sense of loyalty, devotion, or pride towards one’s own nation or country. It is an ideology or belief system that emphasizes the interests, culture, history, and well-being of one’s own nation and its people. Nationalism often fosters a sense of unity and common identity among its citizens.
Nationalism can manifest itself in various forms, ranging from cultural expressions and symbols to political movements. It can promote a sense of national unity, encourage patriotism, and foster a collective sense of purpose and belonging. Nationalism can also be influential in shaping political, economic, and social policies, as it seeks to prioritize the interests of the nation and its citizens.
While nationalism can be a unifying force, it can also have its drawbacks. Extreme forms of nationalism can lead to exclusionary attitudes, prejudice, and hostility towards other nations or ethnic groups. It can contribute to conflicts and tensions between different nations, as well as impede international cooperation and understanding.
It’s important to note that nationalism can take on different forms and interpretations in different contexts. Some forms of nationalism may be based on civic ideals, where citizenship and shared values form the basis of national identity. Others may have more ethnic or cultural foundations, emphasizing ancestry, language, or heritage as defining factors of the nation.
Types of Nationalist Movements
Nationalism Shakes Aging Empires:
Three aging empires—the Austrian Empire of the Hapsburgs, the Russian Empire of the Romanovs, and the Ottoman Empire of the Turks—contained a mixture of ethnic groups. Control of land and ethnic groups moved back and forth between these empires, depending on victories or defeats in war and on royal marriages. When nationalism emerged in the 19th century, ethnic unrest threatened and eventually toppled these empires.
The Breakup of the Austrian Empire:
The Austrian Empire brought together Slovenes, Hungarians, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Poles, Serbs, and Italians. In 1866, Prussia defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War. With its victory, Prussia gained control of the newly organized North German Confederation, a union of Prussia and 21 smaller German political units. Then, pressured by the Hungarians, Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria split his empire in half, declaring Austria and Hungary independent states, with himself as ruler of both. The empire was now called Austria-Hungary or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nationalist dis- putes continued to weaken the empire for more than 40 years. Finally, after World War I, Austria-Hungary broke into several separate nation-states.
The Russian Empire Crumbles:
Nationalism also helped break up the 370-year-old empire of the czars in Russia. In addition to the Russians themselves, the czar ruled over 22 million Ukrainians, 8 million Poles, and smaller numbers of Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Jews, Romanians, Georgians, Armenians, Turks, and others. Each group had its own culture. The ruling Romanov dynasty of Russia was determined to maintain iron control over this diversity. They instituted a policy of Russification, forcing Russian culture on all the ethnic groups in the empire. This policy actually strengthened ethnic nationalist feelings and helped to disunify Russia. The weakened czarist empire finally could not withstand the double shock of World War I and the communist revolution. The last Romanov czar gave up his power in 1917.
The Ottoman Empire Weakens:
The ruling Turks of the Ottoman Empire controlled Greeks, Slavs, Arabs, Bulgarians, and Armenians. In 1856, under pressure from the British and French, the Ottomans granted equal citizenship to all the people under their rule. That measure angered conservative Turks, who wanted no change in the situation, and caused tensions in the empire. For example, in response to nationalism in Armenia, the Ottomans massacred and deported Armenians from 1894 to 1896 and again in 1915. Like Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire broke apart soon after World War I.
A nation-state is a territorially bounded sovereign polity—i.e., a state—that is ruled in the name of a community of citizens who identify themselves as a nation
Further, a nation-state is a type of state that conjoins the political entity of a state to the cultural entity of a nation, from which it aims to derive its political legitimacy to rule and potentially it’s status as a sovereign state if one accepts the declarative theory of statehood as opposed to the constitutive theory.
Unification Of Italy
The unification of Italy was a prominent social and political movement of the 19th century that resulted in the convergence of various states of the Italian Peninsula into the Italian kingdom. The process started in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and ended in 1871 when Rome was declared the capital of Italy.
At the beginning of 1840, the Unification of Italy united several states of the Peninsula into a single kingdom of Italy by different social and political movements. The transfer of united Italy into a political and cultural entity is called Risorgimento. Giuseppe Garibaldi was unsuccessful in creating Italy united as an independent democracy. Giuseppe Mazzini is one of the most successful leaders in creating Italy United.
Camillo Di Cavour is one of the great democrats who used realpolitik as a successful tool for making a united Italy under Sardinia. ‘Realpolitik’ is the major policy that was constructed in terms of self-interest and power of idiomatic nation-states in Italy. The Government of Sardinia included its domain in the French and British side after the Crimean War in 1858 by using a press conference. In 1859 Austria declared battle against Sardinia and it was knocked over by the French army.
“The Italian Peninsula” was classified throughout Italy into several states upon the Roman king in 476 AD. In 1830 the unification of Italy resulted in French revolutions in several Italian states. Giuseppe Garibaldi was the first Democrat who took part in the insurrection in the year 1848; however, the attempt failed several times. With the support of Giuseppe Garibaldi to the Victor Emmanuel 2, it helped in returning to Italy with several volunteers from Naples and Sicily.
The insurrection was successful with the help of the Redshirts army of Garibaldi in 1860, which captured the island of Naples and Sicily. Meanwhile, the Italian northern states accepted Victor Emmanuel 2 as their emperor and in 1861 Sicily and Naples were handled by the king of Italy as their kingdom. However, Rome and Venice have concluded states under the foreign kingdom and changing the capital to Rome in 1871 helps to complete the unification of Italy.
The timeline of Italian unification is described below:
1849- In this year Venice was defeated by the Austrian army which created a major effect by crushing so many people in Venetia.
1858- Cavour and Napoleon III decided to organize war against Austria by gaining Venetia, Lombardy, Modena, and Parma to Italy.
1859- The importance of this year was Cavour’s return to Venetia and Napoleon III backed out from war with Austria. In this year Sardinia captured Modena, Tuscany, and Parma and Lombardy was taken by Sardinia.
1860- Sardinia captured central Italian states by giving Savoy and nice to the French in this year. Another incident occurred this year as Emmanuel II became the first emperor of Italy with the help of Garibaldi and their Redshirt army. Garibaldi resized Palermo as a capital with the help of the British government. After establishing the domain of Victor Emmanuel II in Sicily, this year Garibaldi took the power of Naples and handed over his power to the king.
1861- “Camillo Di Cavour ” died this year after seeing that the Papal States were not controlled by Italy and established an official kingdom of Italy in Venetia.
1867- Garibaldi seeks the Papal States and Rome apart from the attempt that fails and the revolution in Rome was suppressed.
1870- The army of Italy slowly moved towards Rome and captured Rome and created their domain in Rome forcefully.
1871- This is the year when the unification of Italy was completed by moving the Italian capital to Rome.
Leaders in the Unification of Italy
The unification of Italy brought so many strong leaders like Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Cavour, their work is marked in world history. Giuseppe Garibaldi is the most involved leader, who gave support in the process of unification. Cavour took Realpolitik as a tool to unite Italy in 1861. After the revolution in Italy in 1848, Giuseppe Garibaldi recruited many volunteers, who supported the independence of Italy at the end of the First World War and established the Roman Republic. He promoted the goal of Giuseppe Mazzini of united Italy as a permanent monarchy. He was successful in defeating the United Kingdom and royal troops with the support of local reinforcement.
Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) was an Italian military general and nationalist leader who played a crucial role in the unification of Italy in the 19th century. He is considered one of the key figures in the Risorgimento, the political and social movement that led to the formation of a unified Italian state.
Garibaldi was born on July 4, 1807, in Nice, which was then part of the French Empire. He initially pursued a career at sea and became a skilled sailor. However, his political beliefs and his desire to see Italy unified led him to become involved in various nationalist and revolutionary activities.
In the 1830s and 1840s, Garibaldi participated in several failed uprisings against Austrian and Bourbon rule in Italy. He gained fame for his military skills and his bold and charismatic leadership. Garibaldi also embraced the idea of a “Red Shirt” volunteer army, which became his signature style during his military campaigns.
One of Garibaldi’s most famous campaigns was the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860. With a force of only a few thousand volunteers, he sailed from Genoa to Sicily and successfully captured the island from the Bourbon rulers. Garibaldi’s rapid victories and popular support in Sicily and southern Italy played a significant role in the unification process.
Despite his military successes, Garibaldi encountered challenges and political opposition from other Italian leaders. Ultimately, he decided to support the efforts of Count Camillo di Cavour, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. Cavour sought to unite Italy under the leadership of the Piedmontese monarchy, and Garibaldi recognized the importance of a unified approach.
In 1861, Italy was officially proclaimed as a unified kingdom, with Victor Emmanuel II of the House of Savoy as its king. Garibaldi willingly surrendered his territories to the king and retired from active politics. However, he remained an iconic figure and a symbol of Italian unity and nationalism.
Garibaldi continued to be involved in various military and political activities in later years. He supported causes such as the defense of Rome against French troops and fought in conflicts in South America. Garibaldi passed away on June 2, 1882, in Caprera, Italy.
Today, Giuseppe Garibaldi is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Italy. He is celebrated for his unwavering commitment to the ideals of freedom, unity, and independence. His contributions to the unification of Italy and his efforts to establish a democratic nation have left a lasting impact on Italian history and culture.
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872) was an Italian revolutionary, politician, and nationalist who played a crucial role in the movement for Italian unification, known as the Risorgimento. He is considered one of the key ideological figures of the Italian unification process.
Mazzini was born on June 22, 1805, in Genoa, Italy. He studied law at the University of Genoa and became involved in nationalist and republican movements at an early age. Mazzini believed in the importance of individual freedom, national independence, and popular sovereignty.
One of Mazzini’s most significant contributions was the founding of a secret society called Young Italy (Giovine Italia) in 1831. The society aimed to promote the unification of Italy as a republic through revolutionary means. Mazzini saw the creation of a united Italian state as a way to bring about social and political reform, as well as to counter foreign domination.
Under Mazzini’s leadership, Young Italy became a prominent force in the nationalist movement. The organization spread its ideas and recruited members throughout Italy, advocating for a democratic republic and inspiring a sense of national identity among Italians. Mazzini’s writings and speeches were influential in shaping the nationalist sentiment of the time.
Despite facing numerous setbacks and political repression, Mazzini’s ideas gained traction and inspired a new generation of Italian revolutionaries. He became a symbol of resistance and the fight for independence.
Mazzini’s vision for a unified Italy went beyond mere political unity; he sought to create a society based on civic virtue, equality, and the well-being of all citizens. His ideas influenced later Italian leaders, such as Giuseppe Garibaldi and Camillo di Cavour, who played vital roles in the actual unification of Italy.
Although Mazzini’s dream of a unified Italian republic was not fully realized during his lifetime, his ideals and contributions were significant. His emphasis on nationalism, democracy, and popular participation in politics had a lasting impact on the movement for Italian unification.
Mazzini continued his political activism and involvement in revolutionary activities throughout his life. He lived in exile for much of his adult life, residing in cities such as London and Geneva. He worked tirelessly to promote his vision of a united Italy, as well as supporting the liberation movements in other countries.
Giuseppe Mazzini passed away on March 10, 1872, in Pisa, Italy. His legacy as an advocate for Italian nationalism and republican ideals continues to be celebrated in Italy and is recognized internationally. Mazzini’s contributions to the Risorgimento and his dedication to the cause of Italian unification have left an indelible mark on the history of Italy.
Unification Of Germany
The Unification of Germany in 1871 was an event in which the various states were formed into the German Empire. In the 1860s, Otto von Bismarck, then Minister President of Prussia, provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France.
The Germans for their overall development in the financial condition have stimulated the gush of German nationalism as well as it helps to improve the transportation service throughout the region. The unification of Germany happened because of the Prussian army. There are also other crucial reasons for the unification of Germany. The two deadly wars that are the Franco- Prussian war and the Austro- Prussian war are one of the big reasons behind the unification of Germany. Many earlier attempts have failed due to nationalists and liberals. The lesson that had been learned by the German nationalists was that unification needed to be achieved through leadership and other forces.
Many important reasons caused the unification of Germany. The four major reasons behind the unification of Germany are the role of Bismarck, the strength of the Prussian economy, the decline of Austria, and the military power of Prussia. The economic strength of Prussia was one of the most important reasons behind the unification of Germany. The economic condition of Prussia has been rising and improving at that time which leads them to develop their trade and transport business as well. They also managed to get the best and a better-modernized army. Many smaller states in Germany were looking at the Prussian trade and wanted to get a business relationship with them. Prussia at that time was producing more important resources such as iron and coal which lead them to be in a good position in terms of the economy than other countries such as Austria and Germany.
The Prussians also developed more new roads and railway networks for their trade which helped them to make a good relationship with other countries. Prussia was producing more raw materials such as coal, iron which also helped to boost their industrial development, and resulted in a strong economic position. It further strengthened their military as well and they managed to build up a higher position in front of Austria and Germany.
Background of the Unification of Germany
Before the unification, Germany was a collaboration of small kingdoms, which existed following the treaty. Those kingdoms would be formed based on the Roman Empire. Most importantly, there was no homogeneous identity of German until the 19th century. These crucial factors started enlarging the path for the unification of Germany. The system through having the small states in the kingdom was regarded as the practiced small states. The industrial revolution further assisted in the improvement of transportation and communication. The whole scenario changed when France defeated the Roman Empire during the Napoleonic War. The German confederation had been re-established in 1815 a humongous wave of German nationalism wiped through the place at the beginning of the 19th century. In other parts, Bismarck had provoked Napoleon the Third through diplomatic steps and subtle provocations. The French have shown some seemingly aggressive steps to restrain other European powers in terms of supporting Napoleon the Third. These factors resulted in the German states, a huge wave of anti-French sentiments. At the time when Bismarck strode the army of Prussia towards the border of France, they had been collaborated by the armies of other states of Germany. This step was more than enough for Napoleon the Third to establish himself as a great and devastating emperor in front of France. That war would run until the fall of Paris to the Prussian army.
In 1864, Bismarck took the first step toward molding an empire. Prussia and Austria allied and went to war against Denmark to win two border provinces, Schleswig and Holstein.A quick victory increased national pride among Prussians. It also won new respect from other Germans and lent support for Prussia as head of a unified Germany. After the victory, Prussia governed Schleswig, while Austria controlled Holstein.
Seven Weeks’ War:
Bismarck purposely stirred up border conflicts with Austria over Schleswig and Holstein. The tensions provoked Austria into declaring war on Prussia in 1866. This conflict was known as the Seven Weeks’ War. The Prussians used their superior training and equipment to win a devastating victory. They humiliated Austria. The Austrians lost the region of Venetia, which was given to Italy. They had to accept the Prussian annexation of more German territory.
With its victory in the Seven Weeks’ War, Prussia took control of northern Germany. For the first time, the eastern and western parts of the Prussian kingdom were joined. In 1867, the remaining north states joined the North German Confederation, which Prussia dominated completely.
The Franco-Prussian War:
By 1867, a few southern German states remained independent of Prussian control. The majority of southern Germans were Catholics. Many in the region resisted domination by Protestant Prussia. However, Bismarck felt he could win the support of Southerners if they faced a threat from outside. He reasoned that a war with France would rally the South.
Effects of the unification
Germany never had any homogeneity that can be regarded as the Germans thought they were not the exact Germans. The war of unification in Germany resulted in the seizure of a huge population of non-German speakers. Mostly the Catholics that are polishing speaking did not assimilate themselves into the German culture. Bismarck at that time opposed the issues of the religious minorities of Germany. The unification of Germany changed the political, social, and economic landscape and had more lasting impacts. The welcoming of German nations that were unified into European politics was appreciated with mixed feelings of fear. It was anticipated that the balance of power among continental Europe could defeat the powerful enemies whose military prowess was unmatched by any earning army in the European continent. However, the unification of Germany altered fundamentally the balance of powers delicately. It has resulted in the adaptation of the concept of nationalism as well.
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Many kids cringe when they hear the words ‘Creative Writing’.
‘It’s tough’ some say. Others roll their eyes and tell me it’s one of their least favourite subjects. Still others say that writing is their pet hate.
I’m here to assure you that it doesn’t have to be that way. Creative Writing can be a lot of fun and really quite painless. The best and easiest way for children to get better at writing is to make sure they avoid the MOST COMMON GRAMMAR mistakes even adults make right through their lives.
I’ve outlined them below. Make sure to share these with your child.
1) Its and It’s
Its is a possessive determiner (like saying your or his), whereas it’s is a shortened version of ‘it is’.
Example of its (possessive): ‘Our car is at the repair shop. Its mirror is broken.’
Example of it’s: ‘It’s raining.’ (meaning ‘it IS raining)
2) Your and You’re
Goodness! I see this in corporate presentations all the time so can’t really blame children if they get this wrong 🙂
‘Your’ is a possessive determiner (again like saying his or her), whereas ‘You’re’ is a shortened version of ‘you are’.
Example of ‘your'(possessive): ‘Your dress looks lovely.’
Example of ‘you’re’: ‘Gee, you’re quick. You’ve finished your meal already.’
3) Lose and Loose
This is one of the most common grammar mistakes to watch out for.
‘Lose’ means to misplace something. As in ‘Be careful not to lose your jumper at school’
Whereas ‘loose’ means ‘not firmly in place’. As in ‘his shoelaces were loosely tied.’
4) Their and There
‘Their’ is a possessive determiner as in ‘The Smiths live in a big house and their dog is ferocious.’
On the other hand, ‘there’ means ‘in/at/to that place.’ For example: ‘Don’t go there. It’s dangerous.’
So, these then are the most common grammar mistakes most kids (and adults) make. Get your child to practise these tips consistently and be amazed at how much stronger his or her writing becomes as a result.
For more strategies on creative writing, don’t forget to enrol your child for my upcoming Creative Writing Workshop for Kids on 29th Sep (in Sydney). Links below:


Our ecosystem is designed brilliantly, as it allows us to co-exist. Animals, humans, reptiles, birds, plants all exist together. All these species are independents, either directly or indirectly, and help each other survive. Yet some of the animal species are endangered. We have put together a list of the most threatened and endangered species in the world. If we don’t protect these animals, the Earth might head to mass extinction (aka the 6th Mass Extinction) in a couple of centuries.
Animals are equally crucial for the environment. However, when they go endangered, it comes with a cost. Most animals help in pollinating plants, exhale carbon dioxide for plants to breathe. Additionally, when they die and decompose, they provide minerals for the growth of the plants.
Animals also make excellent companions to humans. Yet some of the animal species are becoming endangered and going extinct. The reasons for their decline are both human-made and natural.
Overharvesting, pollution, population, and global warming are leading to the destruction of their natural habitats and make them endangered species of the world.
Environment and climate changes have also contributed to their endangerment. Humans are indeed destroying the Earth.
Additionally, a threat from predators also leads to their dwindling numbers of endangered species in the world. Not only animals but endangered languages are also becoming common, and they would perhaps slowly die.
List of World’s Most Threatened & Endangered Species
Here’s the list of the world’s most threatened species, meaning these species are threatened with extinction on Earth.
This report was published by the Zoological Society of London along with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
- Leaf scaled sea-snake
- Great Indian Bustard (Bird)
- Plowshare tortoise
- Madagascar pochard (Bird)
- Galapagos damselfish
- Giant yellow croaker (Fish)
- Common batagu (Turtle)
- Franklin’s bumblebee
- Tarzan’s chameleon
- Santa Catarina’s guinea pig
- Amsterdam albatross (Bird)
- Hula painted frog
- Spoon-billed sandpiper (Bird)
- Northern bald ibis (Bird)
- Table mountain ghost frog
- Singapore freshwater crab
- Edwards’s pheasant (Bird)
- Pangasid catfish
- Geometric tortoise
- Javan rhino
- Tonkin snub-nosed monkey
- Red-crested tree rat
- Angel shark
- Red-finned blue-eye (Fish)
World’s Most Threatened And Endangered Species
These top five most endangered animal species of this planet might go extinct. If not protected, soon you may only find them in books and articles. Here is a list of endangered species in the world:
1. Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat
This hairy and giant wombat can be found in Queensland Australia and is soon going to be extinct. In the Epping Forest National Park. They are slowly built like all wombats. Their eyesight is weak, but their sense of smell is strong, which helps them to look for food.
Their entire body has grey fur, even the nose. Thus, the name ‘Hairy Nosed.’ They have a large head and sturdy legs with sharp claws.
There are only 115 Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats left on Earth.
2. Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth
Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth is also known as the Monk sloth or Dwarf sloth. You can find it on a small island in Panama by the name of Isla Escudo de Veraguas. The sloth is lower than the other sloths and is only 48 to 53 cm long. They are arboreal and feed on leaves.
There are only 79 estimated sloths in the world, making it one of the most endangered species of this planet.
You can only find these sloths on red mangroves. Since they feed on these leaves, which are low on nutrients, the Pygmy Sloth is lazy.
3. Red Crested Tree Rat
The red-crested tree Rat’s scientific name is ‘Santamartamys.’
This endangered species is found in Colombia’s El Dorado Nature Reserve.
The tree rat is only 18 inches long, similar to the size of the guinea pig. It is a nocturnal animal that feeds on plant matter.
The species is primarily affected by Feral Cats and climate change, along with the clearing of forests.
4. Angel Shark
Angel Shark also is known as Squatina Squatina. You can also find them in temperate and tropical seas. Black sea, Northern Atlantic Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea are home to these sharks.
These are intelligent animal species which, while hunting camouflage themselves. The angel sharks hide under the sand while waiting for small fish to swim nearby for them to swallow. Their flattened body is also quite similar to the Rays.
Due to commercial fishing, these angel sharks are now on the list of endangered species of this planet.
5. Ploughshare Tortoise
The Angonoka or Ploughshare tortoise is also one of the rarest animals and to be endangered species of this planet. It is small and cute.
Though there are only 440 to 770 in number, they make their place on the list. They are also quite common in Madagascar Bally Bay.
Additionally, they are on the verge of extinction because of the pet trade, which is illegal and prohibited.
The male tortoise has a high dome than their female counterparts and is brown. There are also prominent growth rings on each scute. Moreover, the plowshare tortoise feeds on grass and shrubs.
List of Critically Endangered Bird Species
- Waved albatross
- Tristan albatross
- Giant ibis
- Indian vulture
- Philippine eagle
- Layson Duck
There are several other species of animals that are worth mentioning, like the Metallic Tarantula, The Hainan Gibbon, and the Bald Ibis or the Spoon Billed Sandpiper. Additionally, there are also certain least concern species.
A least concern species is a species are the ones that are not much on focus of being threatened or endangered. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is in charge of categorizing the least concern species. Currently, 14,033 species of animals are on the Least Concern list, which includes Antelope, Bald Eagle, Flamingo, Red-Eyed Tree Frog, etc.
The critical question that comes to my mind is that we are as humans directly or indirectly responsible for their endangered tag. Moreover, we might make these animals go extinct.
If we do not realize how badly we are impacting the environment, our future generation might not even be able to see or know what these animals were.
With our concrete jungle and our pollution, we rob these animals of their natural habitats and destroy our ecosystem and endanger our life. Think about it. Act to prevent it!
Key Takeaways On Endangered Species In The World
- Animals, humans, reptiles, birds, plants all exist together in our ecosystem.
- However, a threat from predators, environment, and climate change, has lead to many animals entering the list of endangered species in the world.
- Additionally, this list is increasing with every passing day.
- Beautiful creatures like Ploughshare tortoise, Angel Shark, Monk sloth, red-crested tree rat, etc. are some of the most endangered species in the world.
- Apart from this, there are also a few least concern species that are not much on the focus of being threatened or endangered but can potentially be extinct.
- No matter what, we need to work towards protecting not only these creatures but also their habitat.
Comment below your thoughts and let us know other endangered species that we need to protect. Together let’s make the world a better place for animals too. Befriend animals!
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Mathematicians revealed secrets of the domes of Renaissance Cathedrals
(ORDO NEWS) — Mathematicians found out how the brick dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, created in the 15th century, supported its own weight and did not collapse under the influence of gravity during construction without external support. The results of their work were published by the scientific journal Engineering Structures.
“The most interesting thing for me was how such beautiful and large domes were built without any formwork, what innovations helped their builders achieve such success. This knowledge, in turn, will help us understand how to adapt such forgotten technologies for use in modern construction,” said Sigrid Adriaenssens, one of the authors of the study, a professor at Princeton University (USA).
One of the domes of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, as well as the vaults of many other temples of Italy from the early Renaissance, were built using a unique technology, thanks to which the masters of that time built them from the bottom up without formwork and other devices that would not allow the dome to collapse before completion the buildings.
A similar technique was invented by Italian architect of the 15th century Filippo Brunelleschi during the construction of the cathedral of Florence – Santa Maria del Fiore. It consists in the fact that the dome consists of two types of masonry – a kind of “grid” of vertically laid bricks, which is rotated relative to the Earth‘s surface at an angle of 45 degrees, and horizontal layers of bricks that fill the voids inside the cells of this grid.
New Renaissance Heritage
Adriaenssens and her colleagues note that understanding how such masterpieces were built does not explain how such a structure can not be destroyed both after the construction was completed and when the dome was assembled. For decades, engineers, physicists and mathematicians have been trying to figure this out, but so far they have not had an answer to this question.
American and Italian mathematicians solved this problem by calculating how the distribution of forces and stresses inside an unfinished dome changes as each new layer of bricks is added. In addition, they studied how the structural properties of the top of the cathedral were affected by the periodic addition of so-called borders – special ledges made of bricks.
These calculations helped scientists to find out what these “borders” the architect inserted into the dome at a certain angle, which was always more than 10 degrees. In this case, these inserts themselves, and the entire structure were always stable and never moved. Thanks to this, the dome of the cathedral did not collapse, and he did not need support during all 89 stages of its construction. Thanks to this, Brunelleschi and his students could build such churches without formwork and a large number of workers.
Similar principles, scientists suggest, can be used to reduce the cost of building materials and other resources when building domes in modern temples and other buildings, as well as to create fully automated building methods using drones or robots.
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How do Heat Pumps work?
Have you ever felt the amount of heat that comes out the back of your kitchen fridge whilst it cools the inside? If you imagine a big fridge with the hot part inside the building and the cold part outside, this is how an air source heat pump works. By using heat pumps instead of traditional cooling systems, the cycle can be reversed allowing heating and cooling using the same system.
Essentially, air source heat pumps extract heat from the outside air using a refrigeration cycle. The refrigerant absorbs the heat energy from the air and moves it to where it is wanted, via copper piping. Air conditioning is usually thought of as cooling a space. However made as a heat pump, they can also heat the internal space and even produce hot water. A heat pump can extract energy from the outdoor air efficiently, even on very cold days with sub zero temperatures outside, some as low as -20°C.
While this is a very simple explanation, in reality heat pumps can deliver a wide range of system requirements, from space and hot water heating for domestic settings to fully integrated systems, delivering heating, cooling, hot water, ventilation and heat recovery for complex buildings.
Why choose a heat pump?
The latest energy saving and carbon reduction legislation means that there is now more onus than ever to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and adopt more sustainable, renewable energy solutions.
The benefits of doing so are huge. Delivering up to four times the energy efficiency of traditional Electric fuel systems, heat pump technology can make major cost savings, while avoiding thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. Many thousands of buildings operate very efficiently with heat pumps as their sole heating source. In commercial environments, heating and cooling with reverse cycle heat pumps mostly release less carbon into the atmosphere than just heating alone would do using a conventional boiler.
For the domestic heating market, an air-to-water heat pump solution such as the Daikin Altherma range for UK residential applications offers a high-efficiency, sustainable heating system to replace existing oil or gas boilers.
Can heat pumps be installed in existing buildings?
It’s possible to retro-fit a heat pump into an existing property – it’ll certainly help reduce your reliance on gas, natural gas or oil.
However, at the very outset, you need to upgrade your insulation throughout the entire property. Check your attic, put dampers in open fires, see if you can have cavity wall insulation, double or even triple glazing installed and try and make the property as air-tight as possible.
Do Heat Pumps make much noise?
No, they hum like a large refrigerator. The Worcester heat pumps have had many years of research and development that has included major noise and vibration reduction.
What Maintenance is required for heat pumps?
Essentially none- the system components do not require regular servicing and no emission checks are needed.
What type of building is suitable for heat pumps?
Heat pumps are suitable for most building types – domestic and commercial; new and older builds. The ideal situation in which to extract maximum return from a heat pump is a new building (or newly renovated building that’s up to current building regulations) that’s properly insulated and has underfloor heating.
However, it is still possible and practical to install a heat pump into an older building, even one without underfloor heating. Bear in mind though that this is not the most ideal situation for obtaining optimum return from the heat pump. And it is essential the building is insulated to the levels that you’d expect with a new-build property.
Most radiators would need to be virtually doubled in size or converted to compensate for the lower water temperature and decreased output temperature.
Will it heat a building on the coldest winter day?
Yes it will. Thousands of these systems have been installed for many years in some of the most northern parts of Scandinavia and Canada where the winters are very hard and long. The key is the design and specification process so the system provides enough energy for the application.


California Wildfires as the Cause of Mudslides: What You Need to Know
Approaching wildfire causes imminent danger to human lives, land and property. It isn’t the only hazard to be concerned about, however. Smoke damage is equally devastating. The barren land that fire leaves behind increases the risk of mudslides once the rainy season starts.
California Mudslides: The Aftermath of the 2017 Wildfires
The areas ravaged by wildfire have very little vegetation left. As a result, there’s nothing there to hold the soil in place once rainfall begins.
Landslides and mudslides are the direct consequence of the disturbed stability of the slope. Thus, both wildfires and human modifications can increase the risk of soil and mud going down, ruining property and causing infrastructural damage.
Following the Northern California wildfires in October 2017, mudslides killed at least 15 people. Regardless of the fact that the amount of rain was insignificant, the barren landscape contributed to yet another natural disaster.
Because they can happen without a warning, mudslides can be deadly. The fact that numerous communities have been left vulnerable after the October fires increases the scope of potentially devastation even further.
Pouring rain in December 2017 and January 2018 has made the situation even more troublesome throughout the state. According to experts, Southern California needs just 10 inches of rainfall during the winter for landslides and mudslides to be triggered. When areas have been previously burned, the amount of rain needed is even smaller.
Protecting Your Property from Mudslides
Homeowner insurance doesn’t typically provide coverage for the damage caused by mudslides. They are considered a form of earth movement, which is why both mudslides and earthquakes are not included in general policies.
Mudflow is caused by water, which is why it will be covered partially by flood insurance. A Difference in Conditions policy will provide a much more comprehensive coverage for both landslides and mudslides (and earthquakes on top of that). If you live in a high risk area, getting additional insurance coverage may be the reasonable thing to do.
Whenever a serious natural disaster strikes, however, dealing with insurance companies can be a challenging task. Processing time will increase. Some claims will be underpaid, others could be turned down altogether. Legal assistance in such situations will prove to be invaluable.
Landslide and mudslide claims fall under the natural disaster category. Attorneys that specialize in wildfire and other post-catastrophe claims can handle mudslide and landslide compensation requests, as well.
Apart from addressing the insurance company, it’s also very important to determine whether any of the damage and the property losses have been the result of negligence. After mudslides and landsides, many residential and commercial property owners have turned their attention to construction companies, contractors and other professionals that may have done a subpar job. While proving irregularities isn’t the easiest job, it can lead to additional compensation for the losses.
A good legal team can even go after utility companies like PG&E. There have been allegations of negligence and poor equipment maintenance that could have caused the October 2016 wildfires. As a result, the risk of landslides and mud slides has gone up.
Experienced attorneys like the Kalfayan Merjanian legal team know what it takes to hold responsible parties accountable and what it takes to deal with an insurance agency. If you are feeling lost and stuck, please do not hesitate to contact us.
- January 11, 2018