The birth of Jesus (Yeshu Satsang) is the reason behind probably the most widely celebrated global holiday – Christmas. Though many know about Christmas, fewer know Jesus’ birth from the gospels. This birth story is far better than modern-day Christmas with Santas and gifts, and so is worth knowing.
A helpful way to learn about Jesus’ birth in the Bible is to compare it with Krishna’s birth since there are many similarities between these two stories.
The Birth of Krishna
Various scriptures give different details of Krishna’s birth. In the Harivamsa, Vishnu is informed that the demon Kalanemin was re-born as the wicked King Kamsa. Deciding to destroy Kamsa, Vishnu incarnates to be born as Krishna into the house of Vasudeva (a former sage re-born as a cowherd) and his wife Devaki.
On earth, the Kamsa-Krishna conflict started by prophecy when a voice from the sky announced to Kamsa foretelling that Devaki’s son would kill Kamsa. So Kamsa was fearful of Devaki’s offspring, and imprisoned her and her family, murdering her children as they were born to not miss striking Vishnu’s avatar.
However, Krishna was born to Devaki and, according to Vaishnava devotees, at the instant of his birth there was an atmosphere of prosperity and peace as the planets automatically adjusted for his birth.
The Puranas then describe the escape of Vasudeva (Krishna’s earthly father) to save his newborn from being destroyed by Kamsa. Leaving the prison where he and Devaki had been confined by the wicked king, Vasudeva escaped with the baby across a river. Once safe in a village the Krishna baby was interchanged with a local baby girl. Kamsa later found the exchanged baby girl and killed her. Oblivious to the exchange of babies, Nanda and Yasoda (the baby girl’s parents) raised Krishna as their own humble cowherd. The day of Krishna’s birth is celebrated as Krishna Janmashtami.
Hebrew Vedas foretell Jesus’ birth
As prophesied to Kamsa that a son of Devaki would kill him, the Hebrew sages received prophecies concerning the coming Messiah/Christ. However, these prophecies were received and written down by many prophets, hundreds of years prior to Jesus’ birth. The timeline shows many prophets of the Hebrew Vedas, indicating when their prophecies were revealed and recorded. They foresaw the coming one like a shoot from a dead stump and prophesied his name – Jesus.
Isaiah recorded another remarkable prophecy concerning the nature of the birth of this coming person. As written:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.Isaiah 7:14
This puzzled the ancient Hebrews. How could a virgin have a son? That was impossible. However the prophecy predicted this son would be Immanuel, meaning ‘God with us’. If the Most High God, who created the world, was the one to be born then it was conceivable. So the sages and the scribes who copied the Hebrew Vedas dared not remove the prophecy from the Vedas, and there it remained through the centuries, waiting for its fulfillment.
Around the same time that Isaiah prophesied the virgin birth, another prophet Micah predicted:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,Micah 5:2
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.
From Bethlehem, the ancestral town of the great King David, would come the ruler whose origins were ‘from ancient times’ – long before his physical birth.
Birth of the Christ – Announced by Devas
For hundreds of years the Jews/Hebrews waited for these prophecies to happen. Many gave up hope and others forgot about them, but the prophecies remained as silent witnesses anticipating the coming day. Finally, around 5 BC a special messenger brought a puzzling message to a young woman. As Kamsa heard a voice from the sky, this woman received a messenger from heaven, a Deva or angel named Gabriel. The Gospel records:
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.Luke 1:26-38
Nine months after Gabriel’s message, Jesus would be born to Mary the virgin, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. But Micah had prophesied the birth would be in Bethlehem, and Mary lived in Nazareth. Would Micah’s prophecy fail? The Gospel continues:
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.Luke 2:1-20
The world’s most powerful person, the Roman Emperor himself, issued an imperial decree causing Mary & Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, arriving just in time for the birth of Jesus. Micah’s prophecy was also fulfilled.
Like Krishna as a humble cowherd, Jesus was born into lowliness – in the stable where cows and other animals were kept, and he was visited by humble shepherds. Yet the angels or devas of heaven still sung about his birth.
Threatened by Evil
At Krishna’s birth his life was in danger from King Kamsa who felt threatened by his arrival. Likewise, at the moment of Jesus’ birth his life was in danger from the local King Herod. Herod did not want any other King (which is what ‘Christ’ means) threatening his rule. The Gospels explain:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,Matthew 2:1-18
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
The births of Jesus and Krishna share much in common. Krishna is remembered as an incarnation of Vishnu. As Logos, Jesus birth was the Incarnation of the Most High God, Creator of the world. Both births were preceded by prophecies, utilized heavenly messengers, and were threatened by evil kings opposed to their coming.
But what was the purpose behind the elaborate birth of Jesus? Why had he come? From the beginning of human history, the Most High God declared He would meet our deepest needs. As Krishna came to destroy Kalanemin, Jesus came to destroy his enemy, the one holding us prisoner. We learn how this unfolds, and what it means for us today, as we continue to explore Jesus’ life revealed in the Gospels.


PROPAGATION OF SOUND IN WATER.
[Not hitherto published.]
FKOM the theoretical point of view there is little to distinguish propagation of sound in an unlimited mass of water from the corresponding case of air; of course the velocity is greater (about four times). It is probable that at a great depth the velocity increases, the effect of diminishing compressibility out-weighing increased density.
As regards absorption, it would appear that it is likely to be less in water than in air. The viscosity (measured kmematically) is less in water.
But the practical questions are largely influenced by the presence of a free surface, which must act as a nearly perfect reflector. So far the case is analogous to that of a fixed wall reflecting sound waves in air; but there is an important difference. In order to imitate the wall in air, we must suppose the image of the source of sound to be exactly similar to the original; but the image of the source of sound reflected from the free surface of water must be taken negatively, viz., in the case of a pure tone with phase altered by 180°. In practice the case of interest is when both source and place of observation are somewhat near the reflecting surface. We must expect phenomena of interference varying with the precise depth below the surface. The analogy is with Lloyd's interference bands in Optics. If we suppose the distance to be travelled very great, the paths of the direct and reflected sounds will be nearly equal. Here the distinction of the two problems comes in.
For air and wall the phases of the direct and reflected waves on arrival would be the same, and the effect a maximum. But for the free surface of water the phases would be opposite and the effect approximately zero. This is what happens close to the surface. By going lower down the sound would be recovered. It is impossible to arrive at quantitative results unless all the circumstances are specified—distance, depths, and wave-length. If there are waves upon the surface of the water there is further complication; but in any case the surface acts as a nearly perfect reflector. The analogy is with a rough wall in air.
There is also the bottom to be considered. This, too, must act as a reflector in greater or less degree. With a rocky bottom and nearly grazing incidence, the reflection would be nearly perfect. Presumably a muddy or sandy bottom would reflect less. But I imagine that at grazing incidence—as when the distance between source and place of observation is a large multiple of the depth—the reflection would be good. This makes another complication. Dr Aitken, who has also described a simple experiment in illustration.


First hours of life are critical in calf's entire life.
You have heard the warning: “What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas!!!” Perhaps you have not heard: “What happens in the first 24 hours, impacts the rest of a calf’s life”! Veterinary scientists, while with the USDA experiment station at Clay Center, Nebraska monitored health events and growth performance in a population of range beef calves in order to identify associations of production factors with baby calf passive immune status.
Blood samples were collected at 24 hours after calving from 263 crossbred calves to determine the amount of passive maternal immunity that had been obtained from colostrum. Colostrum is the first milk produced by a cow upon giving birth. The baby calves were classified with “Inadequate” or “Adequate” Passive Immune status based on that blood sample at 24 hours of age. Growth performance and health events in the study population were monitored from birth to weaning, and after weaning throughout the feedlot phase.
The lowest levels of passive immunity were observed among calves that were sick or died prior to weaning. Calves with “inadequate” passive immunity had a 5.4 times greater risk of death prior to weaning, 6.4 times greater risk of being sick during the first 28 days of life, and 3.2 times greater risk of being sick any time prior to weaning when compared to calves with “adequate” passive transfer. Based on 24 hour proteins (most of which are antibodies or immunoglobulins) in the blood, the risk of being sick in the feedlot was also three times greater for “Inadequate” compared to “Adequate” calves. Passive immune status was also indirectly associated with growth rates through its effects on calf health. Sickness during the first 28 days of life was associated with a 35 pound lower expected weaning weight. Respiratory disease in the feedlot resulted in a .09 lb lower expected average daily gain.
Thus, passive immunity obtained from colostrum was an important factor determining the health of calves both pre- and post-weaning, and indirectly influenced calf growth rate during the same periods. Therefore, the cow calf producers can help themselves and the future owners of their calves, by properly growing replacement heifers, providing a good health program for cows and heifers, and providing natural or commercial colostrum replacers to calves that do not receive it in adequate quantities on their own. Remember that most of the transfer of antibodies from colostrum to the calf happens in the first 6 hours. The first day sets the stage for the rest of his life. (Source: Wittum and Perino. 1995. Amer. Jour. Of Vet. Research. 56:1149.)


18) On Everest’s summit, you are breathing in a third of the amount of oxygen you would be normally. Mount Everest is the world's highest point at 8,848 meters (29,029 ft.) above sea level. 14 Fast Facts about Mount Everest. Facts: Mount Everest was not the famous mountain or known as the tallest mountain in the world until 1856 when the great trigonometry survey of India revealed the highest peak.Although Mount Everest is known as the tallest mountain in the world from the sea level but technically is not the tallest mountain in existence. These are the top 11 most shocking Mount Everest facts, related to the various aspects of Everest. Earlier it was known as XV. Everest is situated in the northern part of Nepal. There is a controversy over the exact height of Mount Everest. For those who are fascinated about the tales of climbing this might peak or if you have ever dreamed of climbing Mount Everest yourself, we have compiled the list below of 14 Facts that provides the Information on Mount Everest that you need to know! Here is the list of 27 interesting facts about mount Everest. Mount Everest Facts. Amazing facts about Mount Everest. Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain (above sea level) at 8,848m (29,029 ft), and once seemed insurmountable. Mount Everest—known in Nepali as Sagarmatha and Tibetan as Chomolungma—straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet at the crest of the Himalayan mountain chain.Although reaching the … It separates China's south-central Tibet and northeast Nepal. Mount Everest or Chomolungma is located on the border of Tibet and Nepal. The rock at the top of the Mount Everest summit was on the sea floor 450 million years ago. in 1922 A British George finch reached 8320 Meter using oxygen cylinder first time. MOUNT EVEREST FACTS. 19. Photograph courtesy REI. Mount Everest, at a height of 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) is the highest mountain in the world. https://mocomi.com/ presents: Mount Everest Facts and History - Fun Facts about Mount Everest! Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. 3. On the Tibetan side, Mount Everest is located in Tingri County in the Xigaze area, what China considers to be an autonomous region and part of the People's Republic of China. A fact filled video for kids on the biggest mountain on Earth, MOUNT EVEREST! Last updated at 14:58. The altitude of Mount Everest was measured at 29,002 feet, or 8,840 meters at that time. Whittaker and Sherpa Nawang Gombu, nephew of Tenzing Norgay, made … Everest grows 4mm higher every year due to geologic uplift. Almost all are still on the mountain. More strange Mount Everest Facts : Everest grows by about a quarter of an inch (0.25″) every year! At the age of 80 in 2013, he made it to the top, which makes this one of the most fascinating facts about Mount Everest. It feeds upon springtails and flies, and lives at elevations of up to 6,700 metres above sea level. Mount Everest is the highest of the Himalayan mountains, and—at 8,850 meters (29,035 feet)—is considered the highest point on Earth. It stands in the sub-range of Himalayas. Mount Everest is the highest point on the surface of the earth above the sea level. 1. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. A Chinese survey in 1975 measured Everest at 29,029.24 feet (8,848.11 meters). 2. The international border between Nepal and the autonomous Tibetan region of China runs across Everest’s summit. 9. 223 people have died trying to climb Everest. Mount Everest is a mystery land, which seems to have been explored enough but it's not. 5. Nepal is south Asian country where the Mt. Mount Everest is located in Mahalangur section of the Himalayas on the Chinese-Nepalese border. That Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, and 29,002 feet in height, everybody knows. It is also one of the most preferred ones when it comes to mountaineering activities. It … Mount Everest is 8848 m Himalaya that is considered the highest place on earth. Mountain in the Middle. For more on these brave climbers as well as all the other astounding tidbits about Earth's ultimate peak, check out the most interesting Mount Everest facts in the gallery above. It is one of the 10 amazing facts about Mount Everest. Here we have tried to compile some of the most interesting and shocking Mount Everest facts that you don't know about. In 1865 Waugh named Peak XV to Mount Everest in the name of George Everest who is surveyor General of India that time. It is a marine limestone that was elevated that high. 1 in 10 successful summits ends in death. 7. The mystery of the first climber. 8. 2. Reaching an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 meters), Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. When deformation happens in the Earth’s crust, mountain ranges are formed in linear, elongated belts. Mount Everest Height. Therefore, you can climb Mount Everest from two countries, from Nepal or from China, from the Tibetan plateau. Mount Everest shapes like a giant pyramid. On May 1, 1963, James "Big Jim" Whittaker from Seattle, Washington, and founder of REI, became the first American to stand on the summit of Mount Everest as part of a 19-man U.S. team led by Swiss-born climber Norman Dyhrenfurth. Everest that are sure to give you a new perspective on this iconic mountain, which remains an alluring destination for adventure travelers, … Interesting facts about Mount Everest. After this look at the most fascinating Mount Everest facts, read up on Francys Arsentiev, the … Here we collect 30 facts about Mount Everest that you might be interested in. However, it is a dwarf in comparison to Mauna Kea if the dormant volcano is measured from its oceanic base. 10. 25 Mount Everest Facts 1. 20. Mount Everest and friends. This wasn’t his first journey to the summit though, he broke his own record by 10 years. 29 May 2013 29 May 2013. Jim Whittaker was the first American to stand on top of Mount Everest. Think again! If you like these facts perhaps you might like to dig deeper into many more interesting Mount Everest facts for … 1. George Everest, Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, discovered Everest in 1841. We have seven little known facts about Mt. Think you know everything there is to know about the world's tallest peak? Mount Everest facts 101: Its height is in controversy. Sure, Mount Everest is the highest peak on Earth above sea level. Over 60 years have passed since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made history as the first successful summiteers of Mount Everest, yet the desire to climb the mountain hasn’t waned over the decades. Other Names of Mount Everest 100 Mount Everest Facts – Some Facts About Mt Everest Are Unbelievable. Mount Everest is the world’s highest peak measuring just over 29,000 feet in height. It is recognized as SAGARMATHA which means “goddess of the sky” and in Tibet, it is recognized as CHOMOLUNGMA which means “goddess mother of the world”.But the Chinese called it “ZHUMULANGMA. 4. Today we look at 12 extreme facts that you might not know about the mountain. Photograph by Barry Bishop, courtesy of the National Geographic image collection 20) Everest is over 28 times taller than the Shard (London’s highest building). Mount Everest snowdrift. There are two main climbing routes on the mountain; the “standard route,” approaching the summit from the Southeast in Nepal, and the other approaching from the North in Tibet. Each name has a specific meaning. Everest was first named Peak 15 and measured at 29,002 feet in 1856 In 1865, it was named Mount Everest, after Sir George Everest In 1955, the height was adjusted to 29,028 feet and is still used by Nepal But many interesting facts about the mountain aren’t common knowledge. In 1921 George Maloory and guy Bullock attempt to climb Everest but after reaching 7005 meters and returned due to wrong route. The iconic Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on the planet. 21. Image credit: Nepal News via. Mount Everest height is 8848 m. 1. We all have heard from our childhood that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzin Norgay were the first people to set foot on the world’s highest peak and official reports support the fact. Mount Everest is getting taller every year by 4 mm because of the upward thrusts of the two tectonic plates. 1. We hear countless stories of the triumphant—or, more recently, tragic—attempts to reach the top. The Survey of India between 1952 and 1954 measured 29,028 feet (8,848 meters), which is widely accepted. There are so many Mount Everest Facts that you’re bound to get astonished after getting to know about them. Now, these are the well-established and well-known facts about Mount Everest. In these articles, We are telling about interesting facts about Mount Everest (Nepali: Sagarmatha, Sanskrit: Devgiri) It is the highest mountain peak in the world whose height is 8,850 meters. The towering image has been attracting explorers from all over the world. Yuichiro Miura is the oldest climber to have reached Mount Everest. Mount Everest has multiple names. Below are some very interesting facts about the mountain. Mauna Kea only measures 4,205 meters (13,796 ft) above sea level.
2020 facts about mount everest


By K. Macdonald,C. Singer
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Extra resources for Transitions in Middlebrow Writing, 1880 - 1930
Transitions in Middlebrow Writing, 1880 - 1930 by K. Macdonald,C. Singer


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in America is pretty much the leader worldwide when it comes to vaccines and declaring that they are safe and necessary. In Europe we do have the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which would appear to be heavily influenced by studies that the CDC carry out or cite.
I already knew that the CDC owned over 20 patents for vaccines and about 30 other patents including one for a strain of Ebola virus; however I was quite surprised to hear someone say recently that the CDC was run by the armed forces.
I thought, “Surely not, that has to be wrong”. So I went looking.
If one looks at the CDC on Wikipedia one can see that the parent agency is listed as the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Seems fine so far, right? Actually, no. There is another body called the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service, they are a 6,500+ strong group of people (military) who can trace their origin back to 1789 and this is from their website:
“The Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service is a team of more than 6,500 full-time, well-trained, highly qualified public health professionals dedicated to delivering the Nation’s public health promotion and disease prevention programs and advancing public health science. As one of America’s seven uniformed services, the Commissioned Corps fills essential public health leadership and service roles within the Nation’s Federal Government agencies and programs. Officers serve their country in communities that are most in need by providing essential health care services to underserved and vulnerable populations.” (Emphasis added).
From this one might be forgiven in thinking that this is an altruistic group of military individuals serving in the third world but it is not, it is within the United States as can be seen by going to the active duty station map. Using the map one can select the agency of interest – CDC in this case – and over 50 jobs are listed in the US.
There are many other agencies that this military corps is involved in too, for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institute of Health (NIH), US Department of Defense, US Department of Homeland Security, US Marshals Service, even the CIA are mentioned on the drop down bar of the map but are conspicuously missing on the listings.
This begs the question “Is the whole of the US deemed an “underserved and vulnerable population” that needs controlling?
Also as the CDC owns patents on vaccines and viruses are these being controlled by the armed services? It would appear that this is highly likely.
Given that the armed forces are not big into the rights of individuals, free thinking and freedom of expression is it really surprising that we are now facing a push worldwide for mandatory vaccination and total compliance?
In general armies expect to be obeyed by the masses, they are not known for their willingness to question their orders or their tolerance of the individual.
Certainly what we can say is that the CDC is not independent and it is biased. We can also say that it is run as a business as can be seen when we look at the Gardasil vaccine. In this case the Department of Health and Human Services (the CDC’s parent agency) transferred technology it had developed to the pharmaceutical company Merck, which made it possible for them to develop Gardasil, and thus the DHHS became Merck’s business partner. Then the CDC approved the vaccine and the DHHS took a cut of the profits.
So do we trust these people when they say vaccines are safe?
Do your own research and make your own decision based on that research.


NASA’s spacecraft, Messenger, was launched more than 6 years ago. Although this may not be anything new – for fifteen minutes, the spaceshuttle fired the main engine in order to enter Mercury’s orbit.
An image of the planet Mercury, taken from MESSENGER in 2008
“The Messenger spacecraft went into orbit around Mercury tonight; we can confirm that through the Doppler signals we’ve seen,” declared Eric Finnegan, NASA systems engineer.
Such a close encounter with Mercury (the planet closest to the Sun) represents an important milestone, both from an engineering but also scientific point of view. This marks the first local encounter with this small rocky planet since 1975.
Mercury is interesting for astronomers because it is not a gassy planet like Jupiter but a terrestrial one like the Earth. It is however difficult to explore because of the high temperatures on the surface, which is capable of melting lead. It can also be a provider of clues for other rocky orbs outside this solar system.
“Now that so many new planets are being discovered around stars in other solar systems, we need to know the effects of space weathering on rocky surfaces so we can accurately interpret telescopic and other remote sensing data we obtain from other rocky or dusty worlds,” declared Ann Sprague, a member of the scientific team from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
Messenger (which is actually an acronym – Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging), started its journey in August 2004, and has been dancing around our planet, around the moon and finally around Mercury ever since. Its main purpose is to prevent it from being attracted by the gravitational pull of the Sun. Messenger has to orbit Mercury in order to complete the information provided by its two previous flybys but also by Mariner 10, back in 1975.
This spacecraft will study the magnetic field, the geological history, surface composition as well as other mysteries offered by Mercury. The space shuttle will simply drop on the planet’s surface as soon as it ends its mission.
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During its journey, Mercury gathered pictures of what its predecessor missed to record, allowing scientists to see as much as 95% of the planet. The unseen areas are mainly at Mercury’s poles but they will probably be covered as well during Messenger’s orbital mission.


In a fractious world, there is one enemy that has had a unique ability to compel people from all countries to lock arms: poliovirus. For more than 15 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has coördinated mass- immunization campaigns in an effort to eradicate poliovirus, a goal it hopes attain by the end of this year. If this Global Polio Eradication Initiative succeeds, it will join the smallpox eradication program as one of the greatest medical triumphs in history. So there was a great gasp in 2003 when northern Nigeria broke ranks with the rest of the world and banned the polio vaccine, triggering an outbreak that soon spread to 12 neighboring countries – and illustrating once again how easily the virus can take advantage of any chink in our collective armor. Then again, the Nigerian setback may unintentionally have given the initiative the added fuel that it needs to cross the finish line on time.
Since its inception, the polio eradication program has reduced the incidence of paralytic polio by 99 percent, from some 350,000 cases a year to fewer than 1,000. As of 2003, the virus was circulating only in Nigeria and five other countries. But in the middle of that year, Muslim clerics in northern Nigeria denounced the vaccine, claiming it contained hormones intended to sterilize girls or that it was contaminated with HIV. By the fall, northern Nigerian politicians and health ministers had banned the immunization campaigns in Kano and two other states – a move seen as a nod to the prestige of the Muslim clerics and a slap at both the West and the country’s Christian president, Olusegun Obasanjo. By year-end, Nigeria had reported more than 355 polio cases, surpassing India and Pakistan for the first time. “Nigeria is a painful example of the potential impact of vaccine refusal,” says Daniel Salmon of Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.
As cases continued to mount in Nigeria, scientists confirmed that the virus had hopped a few borders and paralyzed a child in Ghana, which had not had a case of polio in three years. Soon, they found evidence of Nigerian-like polio strains in 11 other sub-Saharan African countries that had been polio-free for at least three years and so had scaled back their own mass-immunization campaigns. “When Nigeria began to export virus, the virus found an easy home,” says WHO epidemiologist David Heymann, who heads the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. “The tragedy of Kano is that Africa now has 89 percent of all paralyzed children.”
Although the eradication program has elaborate plans for combatting outbreaks of the virus, combatting an outbreak of anti-vaccination fever presented a much different challenge. “We worked really hard behind the scenes,” says Heymann, who personally called the governor of Kano state every day for three weeks. The eradication program also encouraged the Organization of the Islamic Conference – which represents 57 states with large Muslim populations, including Nigeria – to issue a resolution in October 2003 that urged members to step up their eradication efforts. And in February 2004, the program arranged for a Nigerian commission to visit polio vaccine manufacturers in (predominantly Muslim) Indonesia, as well as South Africa and India.
In July 2004, after three Nigerian government commissions agreed that the polio vaccine was safe, Kano state lifted its ban and agreed to accept vaccine from Indonesia. But the ban had already strained the coffers of the eradication program. Its budget through 2005 is $3 billion, with more than $500 million coming from Rotary International. Heymann estimates that it is still $200 million shy of what’s needed, and he says the Nigerian ban accounts for more than half of that shortfall.
There is a silver lining. “What Kano has done is sensitized a whole new series of partners in eradication,” says Heymann. “In the long term, it’s brought solidarity among Islamic countries.” This is especially important given that four of the countries outside of Nigeria with the biggest polio problems are Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Egypt. And because of the setback, 25 African nations agreed to launch the largest immunization campaign ever staged, setting out four months ago to immunize 80 million children. In October 2004, at the start of that campaign, Heymann projected that polio cases would start to decrease by January. If WHO finds the funding, he says, it will say good-bye to polio by the end of this year, as planned.
Even if there are no cases of polio by year’s end, several obstacles remain. One revives the old conflict between Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine pioneers who dueled each other for decades. The simple-to-use oral vaccine that is the cornerstone of the eradication program contains live, weakened strains of poliovirus that occasionally mutate and regain their ability to cause disease. Developed by Sabin, this vaccine will continue to reintroduce poliovirus to the human population as long as it remains in use. The Salk vaccine, which uses killed virus, does not have this drawback, but it must be injected, and that makes it more difficult and costly to deliver. Although plans call for the world to abandon the live vaccine once wild poliovirus stops spreading, timing this precisely will be tricky and may require strategic use of the killed vaccine.
For now, the biggest challenge is not one of strategy. It is one of will. If humans wanted to stop the circulation of wild poliovirus, they could. Yet in a tragic irony, because vaccines work so well, many people discount their value. Why get a vaccine for polio, measles, or diphtheria if you rarely, if ever, see those diseases in your community? This ambivalence fertilizes antivaccination movements, which recently have swept through not just Nigeria but also the United States, Europe, and Australia. In each case, vaccine-preventable diseases have surged. It’s a bizarre dilemma. Medical science has a means to control nature, but in the final analysis, human nature decides our fate.


Posted by Clark Bates
June 1, 2017
Continuing this series of articles and videos in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, we turn our attention to the papacy and Matthew 16:18-19. To best understand the importance of this passage of Scripture to the Roman Catholic Church and papal authority let us return to the edict of the First Vatican Council:
Chapter 1 On the institution of the apostolic primacy in blessed Peter
- We teach and declare that, according to the gospel evidence, a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the lord.
- It was to Simon alone, to whom he had already said you shall be called Cephas, that the Lord, after his confession, you are the Christ, the son of the living God, spoke these words:
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of the underworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
- And it was to Peter alone that Jesus, after his resurrection, confided the jurisdiction of supreme pastor and ruler of his whole fold, saying:
“Feed my lambs, feed my sheep.”
- To this absolutely manifest teaching of the sacred scriptures, as it has always been understood by the catholic church, are clearly opposed the distorted opinions of those who misrepresent the form of government which Christ the lord established in his church and deny that Peter, in preference to the rest of the apostles, taken singly or collectively, was endowed by Christ with a true and proper primacy of jurisdiction.
- The same may be said of those who assert that this primacy was not conferred immediately and directly on blessed Peter himself, but rather on the church, and that it was through the church that it was transmitted to him in his capacity as her minister.
- Therefore, if anyone says that blessed Peter the apostle was not appointed by Christ the lord as prince of all the apostles and visible head of the whole church militant; or that it was a primacy of honour only and not one of true and proper jurisdiction that he directly and immediately received from our lord Jesus Christ himself:
let him be anathema.
Chapter 2. On the permanence of the primacy of blessed Peter in the Roman pontiffs
- That which our lord Jesus Christ, the prince of shepherds and great shepherd of the sheep, established in the blessed apostle Peter, for the continual salvation and permanent benefit of the church, must of necessity remain forever, by Christ’s authority, in the church which, founded as it is upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time.
- For no one can be in doubt, indeed it was known in every age that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the apostles, the pillar of faith and the foundation of the catholic church, received the keys of the kingdom from our lord Jesus Christ, the saviour and redeemer of the human race, and that to this day and forever he lives and presides and exercises judgment in his successors the bishops of the holy Roman see, which he founded and consecrated with his blood.
- Therefore, whoever succeeds to the chair of Peter obtains by the institution of Christ himself, the primacy of Peter over the whole church. So, what the truth has ordained stands firm, and blessed Peter perseveres in the rock-like strength he was granted, and does not abandon that guidance of the church which he once received.
- For this reason, it has always been necessary for every church–that is to say the faithful throughout the world–to be in agreement with the Roman church because of its more effective leadership. In consequence of being joined, as members to head, with that see, from which the rights of sacred communion flow to all, they will grow together into the structure of a single body.
- Therefore, if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church; or that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy:
let him be anathema.
As can be seen through the dogmatic decree of the Roman Catholic Church, the entirety of papal authority rests on two pillars:
- The teaching of Scripture, particularly Matthew 16:18-19, and
- That this interpretation was the historical interpretation of the church from its inception
In order to properly assess these claims, we must address each individually and on its own merits. Beginning with Scripture, we read in Matthew 16:18-19:
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
It should at least be acknowledged that even among Protestants, this passage of Scripture has garnered multiple interpretations. Before conceding the need for a magisterial proclamation however, we must examine the passage in light of both its context and the greater teaching of Scripture.
If we allow the context of Matthew 16 to teach us anything about the verses in question it can reveal some insight into the focal point of chapter. The Scripture opens with the Jewish leaders demanding that Jesus show them a sign to prove both his authority and identity (1-4), followed by a brief rebuke by the Lord against his disciples, reminding them of the miraculous things he has already done (5-12), suggesting that they already know who he is. This then opens the door to the discourse between Jesus, Peter, and the other disciples regarding “whom do others say that I am” (13-20).
Clearly, what creates the difficulty with this portion of Scripture is how to identify the “rock” of v.18 upon which the church would be built. Some have posited the rock as being the confession made by Peter, namely that Jesus is the Messiah. Others find it more reasonable to see the rock as Jesus himself. While others still, view the rock as Peter himself, but without the Roman Catholic succession.
So What is the Rock?
In defense of the viewpoint identifying the “rock” of Matthew 16 as Jesus, is Matthew 7:24 in which the author uses the parallel phraseology:
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
The context of Matthew 7 being the famous parable of the wise man building his house in contrast with the foolish man. The rock upon which the wise man builds his house is clearly not the apostle Peter, but the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, it must be acknowledged that a first century Jew such as Peter would not see himself as the “rock” as Rome sees it. A short survey of the Hebrew Scriptures testifies to this. “Throughout the Old Testament, the God of Israel is often called “rock” (Deut 32: 4, 15, 18, 30; 1 Sam 2:2, 22:32, 47; Ps 18:31, 19:14, 28:1, 42:9, 89:26; Isa 30:29). In the whole story of God’s self-revelation through His relationship with Israel, He proved that He was their provider and caretaker – the rock of their faith.” In addition, as has already been mentioned, the thrust of Matthew 16 is not the identity of Peter, but of Jesus.
In defense of the rock being the confession made by Peter, is largely the interpretation of St. Augustine, discussed in a previous video. According to Augustine,
“In Peter, Rocky, we see our attention drawn to the rock. Now the apostle Paul says about the former people, ‘They drank from the spiritual rock that was following them; but the rock was Christ’ (1 Cor 10:4). So this disciple is called Rocky from the rock, like Christian from Christ…Why have I wanted to make this little introduction? In order to suggest to you that in Peter the Church is to be recognized. Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter’s confession. What is Peter’s confession? ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ There’s the rock for you, there’s the foundation, there’s where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer.”
And while it is certainly difficult to be at odds with men of such stature, it is my position that the most faithful reading of Matthew is the identity of the “rock” with the apostle Peter himself.
Peter as the Rock
Now before anyone accuses me of blasphemy or swimming the Tiber you must allow me to explain. It is an undeniable fact of grammar that there is a clear wordplay being utilized by our Lord. In the Greek, it appears thus:
18 κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος (Peter), καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ (rock) οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς·
Simon’s nickname is a male derivative of the Greek word for rock. There is no place here for silly diversions about there being a difference between “little pebble” and “big stone”, for such nuances are foreign to this text. The simple truth is that were the Lord trying to distinguish the “rock” from the apostle he could have used the Greek word λιθος which also means “stone”. The use of πετρα/Πετρος should not be ignored. Another advantage to this understanding of Matthew is that it has been the consistent interpretation of the church for several centuries following the apostles.
Neither should it be ignored that Peter held a place of prominence within the apostolic twelve. In all of the Synoptic Gospels, Peter is named first in the lists of the apostles (Matt 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16), and is included among the innermost circle of Jesus’ apostles; even among this band, though, Peter is listed first (Matt 17: 1-8; 26:37; Mark 5: 37; 9:2-8; Luke 9: 28-26; 13:3). It is Peter who is the leading character in the story of the miraculous catch (Luke 5: 1-11). It is Peter who tries to imitate Jesus by walking on water (Matt 14:28). It is Peter who is called “blessed” for confessing that Jesus is the Christ (Matt 16:17), and it is Peter who is reprimanded for rebuking Jesus when the latter spoke of his impending death (Matt 16:23). It is Peter who cuts off Malchus’ ear in order to defend Jesus (John 18:10); it is Peter who is rebuked for doing so (John 18:11). It is Peter who denies Jesus three times (Matt 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:55-62; John 18:16-18, 25-27); it is Peter who receives a special commission from the post-resurrected Jesus (John 21:15-18). All four of the gospel writers, then, seem to attribute a unique position to Peter. What’s more, Peter is also featured prominently in the first half of Acts. He guides the process of choosing Matthias as a replacement for Judas (Acts 1:15-26); he functions as a preacher within the Jerusalem Church and as a missionary to those who are outside (Acts 2:14-36; 3:12-26; 4:8-12; 5:29-32; 10:34-43); he is a miracle worker and (as in the case of Paul) some of his miracles resemble that of Jesus (Acts 3:1-10; 5:1-11, 15; 9:32-42); he is the object of divine care and receives visionary or heavenly guidance (Acts 5:17-21; 10:9-48; 12:6-11); and he is a spokesperson for the Jerusalem community (Acts 8:14-25; 11:1-18; 15:7-11).
While it might be easy to dismiss this prominence as being directly contingent to the brashness of Peter’s character, this would be dismissive of the purposes of the Gospel authors as well. If we examine the text objectively, and the story of the apostles that follows, it becomes quite clear that it is Peter who reveals the kingdom to the world (Acts 2:14-36). It is Peter who first administers the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10), and it is Peter that becomes a key figure in the spread of the faith to the Diaspora (1/2 Peter). However, the fact that this exegesis points to Peter as the πέτρα in no way endorses a Roman Catholic understanding of Peter’s successors. In fact, the text states nothing about Peter’s successor, papal infallibility, or exclusive authority over the Church.
What About Apostolic Succession?
In Matthew 16:19 our Lord tells Peter that he will give him the keys of the kingdom. As we have seen from the First Vatican Council, Rome interprets this to mean the authority of the church, both for the apostle and for all his successors. However, there is no clear answer as to when these keys are given. In fact, the power of these keys (i.e. to bind and loose on earth and in heaven) is then given by the Lord to all the apostles in Matthew 18:18. It does not follow that the Lord would give this singular authority to Peter in 16:19 and then reverse that decision to give it to all apostles in 18:18. The equality of authority among the twelve relates completely with the teachings of Jesus that masters are not greater than their servants (John 13), and the words of the apostle Paul in Eph. 2:19-22:
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
While the teaching of Scripture clearly reveals a special role for the apostle, it says nothing of a perpetual monarchical bishopric to follow. Certainly, the apostles appointed elders, deacons, and bishops in the local churches that they founded (1 Tim. 1:1-5; 3:1-13; 5:17-21; 2 Tim. 4:1-5; Tit. 1:5-9), but there is no evidence for the succession of the apostolic office. No student of the apostle Paul is said to assume his apostolic office after his death, neither is there any indication of a singular, pre-eminent bishop in Rome in the century that follows. What this suggests, quite forcefully, is that the author of Matthew knows nothing of a perpetual office of Peter.
According to the First Vatican Council (and reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council), papal authority finds its origin in the “gospel evidence” and it having “always been understood by the catholic church”. In this article, we have seen that the gospel evidence in support of perpetual Petrine authority over the church is considerably lacking. To suggest otherwise is to limit one’s understanding to the verses in isolation and to come to the text with a pre-determined solution. When examined objectively, we see that Peter’s privilege of being the “rock” is historically unrepeatable. Understood in its original sense, Jesus assigns the apostle a unique and unrepeatable position in the spiritual edifice of God. On the one hand, the verse speaks of the ἐκκλησία, a fellowship that is to be built in the future, without any time limit being given; on the other hand, the verse speaks about Peter, a human person, whose earthly activity will necessarily be limited by his death. Just as Peter’s feeding of the lambs in John 21:16ff is limited by his martyrdom, so is Peter’s status as “rock” of the Church limited by his earthly demise.
Having dealt with the gospel evidence of papal authority, the next article will address the historical testimony of the church in regards to Roman pre-eminance.
 http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum20.htm#Chapter 1 On the institution of the apostolic primacy in blessed Peter
 Chrys C. Caragounis, Peter and the Rock (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1990), 89-107. J. C. Ryle, Matthew (Wheaton: Crossway, 1993), 139. John Calvin , Commentary on the Harmony of the Gospels, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom32.ii.lii.html
 Ulrich Zwingli, Commentary on True and False Religion, 2nd ed., ed. Samuel Macauley Jackson and Clarence Nevin Heller (Durham: Labyrinth Press, 1981), 161. G. A. F. Knight, “Thou Art Peter,” Theology Today 17 (1960): 168.
 Carson, Donald A. Matthew. HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2017. Keener, Craig S. A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999. Ridderbos, Herman N. Matthew. Regency Reference Library, 1987.
 G. A. F. Knight, “Thou Art Peter,” Theology Today 17 (1960): 168.
 John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1993), Sermons, Vol. 6, Sermon 229P.1, p. 327).


SPANISH | Topics in Hispanic Culture (3rd year) | Latin American telenovelas
Analysis of diverse forms of cultural expression in the Spanish-speaking world
Visual and textual analysis of one of the most successful products of Latin American television and contemporary popular culture: telenovelas. We examine first the historical and social contexts for the origins of telenovelas in Latin America and the reasons behind their increasing popularity and marketing success. We also focus on social expectations and the construction and/or reinforcement of stereotypes about ideal men and women.
Prerequisite: Cultural Readings and Composition in Spanish
At the end of this class the students should be able to:
1. Think critically about contemporary popular culture and the role of television
2. Reflect about the representation of idealized men and women and their impact on viewership
3. Examine stereotypes about Latin America and its people in the global media market
• Course pack with critical readings about television studies and Latin American telenovelas.
• Each student will select one telenovela to watch throughout the semester. On the first day of class, the instructor would provide a list of available telenovelas
• A good Spanish-English/English-Spanish dictionary, for example Merriam Webster or Collins


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- Folk and popular music
Although the indigenous cultures used numerous percussion and wind instruments, stringed instruments arrived with the colonists. The rich Iberian tradition of stringed instruments—guitar and guitarlike instruments, lute, mandolin, harp, and violin—spread rapidly through all of Latin America. Yet in practice these instruments respond to different aesthetic outlooks. In the Andean area, for example, the common charango is a lutelike or guitarlike instrument of five courses of multiple strings, frequently with a body made of an armadillo shell; it sounds quite differently among Indians, who use thin metal strings, and mestizos, who use nylon strings. The Spanish classical guitar and the Portuguese viola (a guitarlike instrument with five courses of double strings, as a rule) have become the characteristic folk instruments of Hispanic America and Brazil, respectively. The berimbau, a type of musical bow, probably of African origin, became the foundation of music for the Brazilian capoeira. Combinations of instruments in ensemble performance frequently integrate the tri-ethnic heritage, as, for example, in the Guatemalan ensemble of chirimía, marimba (of African origin), and Mayan drum (tun or tunkul).
As mentioned above, Indian cultures throughout Latin America created numerous wind instruments, many of them flutes. Most of the flutes are single-pipe vertical flutes with either whistle-type (e.g., the pincollos of the Inca) or end-notched (e.g., the Andean quena) mouthpieces. Whistles and ocarinas are also found throughout Latin America. Folk and popular music traditions continue to use numerous types of panpipes (for example, the sicuris of the Aymara people, the antaras of the Quechua, and the zampoña of mestizo Andean musicians), with varying numbers of pipes in single or double rows. (See flute for more-detailed descriptions of vertical flutes, ocarinas, whistles, and panpipes.) Natural trumpets (such as the clarín of indigenous Peruvians and the trutruka of the Mapuche of Argentina and Chile) also represent another native contribution to contemporary instrumentation.
Throughout the colonial period, European influences continued to be felt as more instruments and ensembles were introduced to Latin America. Single- and double-reed woodwinds—for example, the chirimía (a Spanish folk oboe)—appear in many countries and in various ensemble combinations. Military-style brass bands became popular in the 19th century and developed into the common town band (banda del pueblo) used for civic occasions. Brass instruments and woodwinds are incorporated into various band arrangements among mestizo and Indian communities (as, for example, in the fiestas of the Purépecha of Michoacán, Mexico), as well as in a wide array of urban popular dance music. The European accordion, introduced in the second half of the 19th century, became an authentic folk and popular instrument in many Latin American and Caribbean genres, among them the Texan-Mexican conjunto, the Mexican norteño polka, the Colombian vallenato, the Brazilian baião and forró, and the Argentine cuarteto. The button accordion known as the bandoneón is one of the primary instruments of the tango of Argentina and Uruguay.
Latin American music is particularly characterized by its prominent use of percussion instruments. Each of the major traditions contributed percussion instruments that remained in common use. The indigenous cultures had slit drums, single-headed small drums, cup-shaped ceramic drums, double-headed drums (e.g., bombos), and a great variety of shaken rattles (maracas), scrapers, and stamping tubes.
Instruments of African derivation constitute the largest group of percussion instruments in Latin American use. Afro-Cuban religious music retains the batá drums of the Yoruba of Nigeria, as well as several types and sizes of conga drums (including the quinto drum of the rumba) and the larger tumbadora. In most Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American traditional religions, drums are considered sacred instruments and undergo a rite of passage (“baptism”) to sacralize them. Conga-type drums (cone-shaped) and barrel-shaped drums are found with regional names in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. Other typical drums include certain friction drums used in various folk and popular dance genres (e.g., Brazilian cuíca, Venezuelan furruco) and the bongos (two joined small drums of different sizes) of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Many other percussion instruments are also of African origin. A large number of scrapers were adapted to regional use, including the Cuban güiro, Colombian carrasca, Brazilian reco-reco, and many others. These join with bells, stamping tubes, wood blocks, claves (hardwood sticks struck together), and various types of rattles to form part of numerous ensembles. A large and deep-sounding version of the African mbira or sansa (“thumb piano”) is found in the Caribbean, where it is known as the marímbula. The marimba of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and other Central American countries, as well as the Pacific coastal region of Colombia, is of African origin and fulfills a solo or accompaniment function in specific local genres.
The most widespread European-derived percussion instruments are the bass drum, the snare drum, and various types of tambourines, such as the Brazilian adufo and the pandereta (both without jingles); the pandereta is especially significant in the Puerto Rican plena, a narrative song genre. The pipe and tabor combination in indigenous music making frequently consists of a large European type of bass drum and a small flute of Indian derivation.
The genres of Latin American and Caribbean urban popular music that developed in the 20th century incorporated musical instruments of all three traditions, most often European string, woodwind, brass, and keyboard melodic instruments supported by Indian or African-derived harmonic and rhythmic instruments.Gerard Béhague The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Central America, southernmost region of North America, lying between Mexico and South America and comprising Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize. (Geologists and physical geographers sometimes extend the northern boundary to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.)…
South America, fourth largest of the world’s continents. It is the southern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, or simply the Americas. The continent is compact and roughly triangular in shape, being broad in the north and tapering to a point—Cape Horn,…


Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a prolific writer and reviewer in the Victorian period, and in her lifetime, her reputation as a poet was at least as great as that of her husband, poet Robert Browning. Some of her poetry has been noted in recent years for strong feminist themes, but the poems for which Elizabeth Barrett Browning is undoubtedly best know are Sonnets from the Portuguese.
Written for Robert Browning, who had affectionately nicknamed her his "little Portuguese," the sequence is a celebration of marriage, and of one of the most famous romances of the nineteenth century. Recognized for their Victorian tradition and discipline, these are some of the most passionate and memorable love poems in the English language. There are forty-four poems in the collection, including the very beautiful sonnet, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
About Elizabeth Barrett Browning
See more books from this Author
Published August 15, 1986
by St. Martin's Press.
Literature & Fiction, History, Travel.


Jurgen Appelo puts down the model of Change Management 3.0 in his book How to change the world.
Accompanying a change process you have to work simultaneously on 4 levels:
1. Dance with the system
A social system is complex and adaptive. It will adapt to your actions, so you must adapt to the system.
2. Mind the people
People are the crucial part of the system and people are different.
3. Stimulate the network
In a social system it is all about individuals and their interactions.
4. Change the environment
The environment determines how the system can self-organize. If you change the environment you change the people.


Episcleritis is irritation and inflammation of the episclera, a thin layer of tissue covering the white part (sclera) of the eye. It occurs without an infection.
Episcleritis is a common condition that is usually mild.
The cause is usually unknown, but it may occur with certain diseases, such as:
An eye examination can usually diagnose the disorder. No special tests are usually necessary.
The condition usually disappears without treatment in 1 - 2 weeks. Treatment with corticosteroid eye drops may relieve the symptoms faster.
Episcleritis usually improves without treatment. However, treatment may make symptoms go away sooner.
In some cases, the condition may return. Rarely, irritation and inflammation of the white part of the eye may develop. This is called scleritis.
Call your health care provider if you have symptoms of episcleritis that last for more than 2 weeks. Get checked again if your pain worsens or you lose vision.
Yanoff M, Cameron D. Diseases of the visual system. In:Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2011:chap 431.
Goldstein DA, Tessler HH. Episcleritis and scleritis. In:Yanoff M, Duker JS, eds. Ophthalmology. 3rd ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby Elsevier; 2008:chap 4.11.
Watson P. Diseases of the sclera and episclera. In: Tasman W, Jaeger EA, eds. Duane's Ophthalmology. 2011 ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2011:4;chap 23.


The Book of Acts: Part one of a 12 article Series (Chapter 1-12)
If one is reading through the bible chapters 1-12, and in whatever time period as his or her goal might be, most will read right past the context within the content these chapters found in Acts. One’s initial conclusion would be…it is all about the Apostle Peter coming out of his pre-crucifixion shyness. Not even close.
Acts comes in two parts: Part one is Apostle Peter centered on the original church. Part two is centered on Saul becoming Paul who becomes the missionary church builder for Gentiles of the near east and the northern Mediterranean area. This is the surface read through the bible conclusion. We will write about the facts, history and issues behind the rather obvious…Peter, chapters 1 -12 and Paul, chapters 13 – 28. It is fascinating as most will conclude in this series s/he did not know. In Acts we also read a bit about Mary however this is not a series of articles about the nostalgic Peter, Paul, and Mary of the 1960s music fameJ.
Acts, just as was the Book of Luke is written to someone by the name Theophilus. This is someone close to Luke or with whom he is quite acquainted. Theophilus means “Friend of God.” This name in and of itself may suggest a secondary reason for the writing of Luke’s Books. Luke may be writing to the general population of new Christian churches and believers identifying them as “friends of God.” Whatever it is we do not hear of this word or name being used again in the Bible.
Acts 1; 1 & 2 identify the context of this book. Luke specifically points out to Theophilus that he expressed in his first letter (book of Luke) to him that he has dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. The word “all” in the above verse is the Greek word pas. PAS means to exclude nothing according to both Strong and Thayer dictionaries. It doesn’t mean is that everything Jesus did while on earth is recorded in Luke and Acts. It is written AS CONCERNING ALL THINGS JESUS DID WHILE ON EARTH. It is what Jesus taught and new believers should exemplify; the standards by which we are to live or the “whole” of our denomination called Christianity. If we believe it means “to BE and LIVE these standards.” Easily put…Luke and Acts set our goals of life as Christians, not the world. It isn’t a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) but WDJD (What Did Jesus Do).
Hebrews 10:25 underscores this WDJD attitude and practice. It reads: “not forsaking our own assembling [i.e. the church] together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.” NOT forsaking our own assembling together. This is standard #1 for the church. Egkataleipō (forsake) is very specific and is the absolute-tense in the Greek. It means to NOT miss gathering with other believers; do not abandon.
However we must also remember that the same bible instructs us in Colossians 2:16… Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect to a holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath days. This means Be-Livers can meet anytime, anywhere but do not forsake meeting with fellow believers. Keep Acts 1, Hebrews 10, and Colossians 2 in context as they totally relate to the same thing; us as be-livers. This gives us a very clear picture of what God expects in exchange for HIS salvation package.
Note in the Hebrew 10:25 passage where it reads: [ESV] “…as we see the (end) Day drawing nigh.” How can one know the end days are drawing night? This too is explained in the bible with hints galore in today’s news casts from around the world. Even telecasts can be seen as events unfold in real time. Doesn’t it appear at all odd that God always knew the day was coming when we can be informed simultaneously with live news from any corner of the earth? If we study the Bible we will see these “hints” of end time drawing nigh. If we remain ignorant then guess who is to blame for not knowing yet alone not understanding the signs of the times [Matthew 24:3-31]?
- Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect to a holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath days; (Colossians)
- Forsake not the gathering together with other be-livers; (Hebrews)
- Even more so as we move even closer to the end time. (Matthew)
It should be a simple reminder but only to those who are already students of the Bible…The Book of Acts picks up right where the Book of Luke ends. Somehow the Book of John got between them. They were once one book called Luke-Acts. Luke’s Gospel describes only the beginning of Jesus’ work while on earth while he was present on earth. Acts describes the continuation of the Gospel and the work of Jesus through the Holy Spirit and continues to our present day.
In the Book of Acts Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, instructs the apostles regarding what to do in His absence. In Luke Jesus gives direct instructions to the disciples and people around him.
Even walking day and night with Jesus after three years on earth, the disciples (Apostles) still asked a dumb question of Jesus just prior to Jesus ascent into heaven. Acts 1:6…“Lord, will you [now] at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel?” Restore the Kingdom of Israel???? Jesus simply replies that it is not for them to know the time of the restoration of Israel. This statement alone should assure us it will happen, but not then. It is both eminent and imminent.
When Jesus ascends into heaven “to prepare a place for be-livers,” the Holy Spirit is not yet on earth in indwelling men. This begins at Pentecost ten days later. We discuss this in our next article.
A very distinct and short outline of the Book of Acts comes right out of Acts 1:8
…ye shall be my witnesses in (A) Jerusalem, in all (B) Judaea and Samaria, and unto the (C) uttermost part of the earth.
A, B, & C outline the Book of Acts… first to Jerusalem (Peter), then to Judea (Philip), then to the rest of the world (Paul)
- Acts 1-7 describes the gospel being taught in Jerusalem (1st church)
- Acts 8-12 is the spread of the gospel to Judah & Samaria
- Acts 13-28 is to the ends of the earth
WOW one may say. Well neither did this author know this until he studied the Word of God. Reading through the bible in a given time span makes the goal “reading through the bible” in that determined time span. Studying the bible has no limit of time. It becomes a way of life. One more time; Be-Livers.


We’re very happy to announce another Rosetta cartoon has been released. In this episode, Rosetta and Philae recall two years exploring Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
After a long and challenging journey together, Rosetta and Philae have made some great scientific discoveries in a mission that has proven a major success.
Together they have figured out how the comet got its curious shape. They also revealed how its surface was much harder than scientists thought and how it contains complex molecules that could be origins of life on Earth.
As they have continued on their journey they have found it more and more difficult to communicate with one another. Nonetheless Rosetta has continued to make many exciting discoveries on her own.
But there is a lot of work still to be done. Rosetta only has a short time left before her amazing mission ends. As she moves further away from the Sun she too will come to rest on the surface of the comet.
For further information about the Rosetta mission visit: rosetta.esa.int


Hubble found a double edged sword universe
The Hubble space telescope HH 24 nebula, a former star to penetrate two beams of material flow, like a double edged sword in Star Wars.Image: ESA/Hubble image & NASA, d. actually self-stabilizes, "Padgett (GSFC), t. Megeath (University of Toledo), and b. Reipurth (University of Hawaii)
In Star Wars: the original awakening at the upcoming NASA and ESA of the Hubble space telescope released a picture of the universe a double edged sword.In the middle of the picture, a young star is dark jedi general dust cloak of cover, to shoot a pair of straight jet in space, demonstrates the terrifying force in the universe.
This cosmic light sword is not located in a very, very distant galaxies, but is in our own Milky Way galaxy.Specifically, it is in a mess room area, known as Orion molecular cloud complex, B is located in the direction of the constellation Orion, just over 1350 light years from earth.
The material flow, shot out from a newborn star, appearance looks like a Darth Maul in the Star Wars episode I, waving that put a double edged sword, will this photo in two.While the new star itself, hidden in the swirling dust and gas, cannot see directly.
Stars around the great gas clouds formed, some substance can collapse to form a rotating flat plate, around the star, the star of this phase is called a protostar.The material plate is the potential of planetary systems may be forming.At this early stage, however, the original star also mainly busy devoured the surrounding material.Like rain fall on the gas in the disk the original planet, once you get enough "nutrition", the star will wake up, in the opposite direction along the poles emits high-energy gas outward.
The two beams with powerful jets, their effect on the surrounding environment proves that the real power of the dark side, far more than in the Star Wars armed to the teeth of the death star to blow is much more powerful.In the two beam of high-speed jet shoots out, they produce a supersonic shock waves to the surrounding gas heated to several flows.
Not only that, as the jet stream collided with the surrounding gas and dust and make a large space, they also produce bow shock.The shock wave is hi-p lattice, arrow objects (HH object) of trademark.So-called HH bodies, refers to a class of complex mass of nebula.This photo shows a famous HH objects, called HH 24.
In that obscured star on the right side, you can see a pair of bright spot.These lights are seen through the dust of young stars, is to show off their own weak lightsaber.This photo has a was heavily wrapped star, only at radio wavelengths can detect it.It in the top left dust blown out of a tunnel, like "lightning" the force
All of these jets, a small area makes HH 24 the HH jets objects that are the most densely populated.About half of the HH spray flow in this area can be seen in visible light wave band, the other half can be observed at infrared wavelengths.Hubble's this photo was taken in infrared wave band, the band will help keep the telescope to see through the parcel cocoons of gas and dust around the newborn stars, take pictures of the HH things more clearly, help astronomers to study them.


Record salmon count for River Tyne
- 26 June 2011
- From the section Tyne & Wear
Record numbers of salmon have been counted in the River Tyne, according to the Environment Agency.
Agency officers said a record 1,866 salmon were counted between February and May - up from 581 in the same period last year.
Agency staff have monitored migratory fish numbers in the river since 1996, when a fish counter was installed at Riding Mill in Northumberland.
A spokesman said the figures showed the signs for 2011 were "very encouraging."
Phil Rippon, fisheries technical specialist for the Environment Agency, said: "Our fish count between February and May exceeded all previous totals, with a mixture of salmon and sea trout being observed.
"Hopefully this trend will continue throughout the season and we'll have another good year for fish and anglers."
Scientists use data from the counter to monitor fish populations in the river and to make decisions about how best to manage them in the future.
Fifty years ago, very few salmon or sea trout were seen in the Tyne because the river was too polluted.


Sleep is a biological necessity. All complex organisms have a sleep-wake cycle, from simple fruit flies to humans. In humans, sleep has many vital functions for both physical and mental health. Important experiments where individuals volunteered to be sleep deprived have shown us much about the function of sleep.
We have found that sleep helps to modulate body temperature, conserve energy, maintain the correct weight and maintain a normal immune system. The most important consequence of sleep deprivation is seen on brain function. Individuals with sleep deprivation fail to learn tasks properly as a result of memory disturbance, but also see disturbances of mood and behaviour with hyperactivity, irritability and impairments in attention and concentration.
So, a good night’s sleep is vital for body and brain to work at their best during the day.
The Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, and the 1989 Exxon oil spill were all caused to some extent by sleep deprivation.


Patterns in Nature
In this talk, mathematical biologist Corina Tarnita discusses how spatial patterns in ecosystems provide insight into how these ecosystems function.
Regular spatial patterns occur in many different ecosystems and at various scales. In semiarid ecosystems, patterns in vegetation reflect water stress levels and how these ecosystems might respond to future changes. Another striking pattern in the African savanna is the regular arrangement of termite mounds. This pattern arises from intraspecies competition and results in an optimal packing of termite mounds across the landscape. Mathematical models developed by Tarnita and her team suggest that the spatial arrangement of the mounds makes the savanna ecosystem more likely to withstand and recover from periods of drought.
This talk is from a 2015 Holiday Lecture Series, Patterns and Processes in Ecology.
biomass, catastrophic collapse, colony, competition, ecological resilience, hysteresis, precipitation, vegetation


Investigation of field - qualitative approach. A mode of research in the social sciences field research is understood as the systematic analysis of problems in reality, in order to either describe them, interpret them, understand their nature and factors constituents, explain its causes and effects, or predict its occurrence, making use of known characteristic of any paradigms or approaches to research methods or in development. Another feature of the field investigation is that interest data are collected directly from reality. This type of modality of research in the social sciences, can be inserted in the qualitative approach, and hence will have an interpretative descriptive perspective that goes in line with the epistemological concept of the constructivist paradigm. In this order of ideas, Perez Serrano (1988) defines qualitative research such as: an active, systematic and rigorous process of directed inquiry, in the which decisions about the searchable, as long as you're in the field subject of study, (p. 46). For its part, Wittrock (1989) proposes that in qualitative research, researchers believe that humans create significant interpretations of the physical and conceptual objects that surround them in their environment and act at a time of such interpretations, which allows thorough study of all the activities of a group of people. A definition provided by Denzin and Lincoln (1994), cited by Rodriguez, Gil and Garcia in 1999, emphasizes that qualitative research is multimetodica on the approach, involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach towards their object of study. This means that qualitative researchers study reality in its natural context, as it happens, trying to interpret phenomena according to the meanings that have for the people involved in the study. For the author of this article defines qualitative research as a process of inquiry through which you try to identify the nature deep realities constructed by the subjects involved in the study, through the description of the complex events that occur in the interaction as natural environment or context of occurrence.


Assessing property boundaries is both an art and a science.
Disputes regarding property boundaries can arise for a number of reasons. Properties can be difficult to survey. Rough terrain and human error may lead to miscalculation. Older boundaries may have been determined with poor instrumentation.
One common boundary-related problem occurs when a gap of land–known in the surveying industry as a hiatus–is found between properties and does not belong to either party. These gaps, as well as boundary overlaps, tend to occur when properties are resurveyed and discrepancies are found in either a subsequent survey (the junior survey) or with the original survey (the senior survey).
The federal courts have settled many property boundary disputes. Over time, established procedures have evolved for resolving these discrepancies.
In U.S. v. Weyerhaeuser Company (1967), the 9th Circuit Court decided that discrepancies in surveys did not matter and that the original monuments– the permanently placed survey markers in the ground–marked the boundary, and any resulting hiatus was deemed public land. The courts have consistently determined that hiatus land shall remain in the public domain.
Cases regarding overlaps are more complicated. Courts have consistently said that when two officially accepted surveys conflict, and the result is an overlap, the survey that is senior in time takes precedent.
When it comes to court cases involving property rights, the concept of “first in time, first in right” is firmly established. In Wirth v. Branson (1878), the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that once a property had been patented (title of ownership confirmed by the government) the government cannot convey that land to any second party.
The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.


Author: Ian D. Young
Edition: First (reissued)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Ian Young's textbook aims to review the basic genetic principles and relevant genetic diseases covered during the study of medical genetics by medical and biomedical science students. The book successfully achieves that aim, presenting the information in a logical order so that the concepts that often confuse students are made easy to understand.
The first few chapters act as a review of the basics of genetics, including transcription and translation, mitosis and meiosis and a summary of mutations and chromosome rearrangements. These chapters seem to be intended for revision purposes rather than as an introduction to the subject, and serve as a helpful reminder of what students may have forgotten from their first year.
Young then goes on to explain simple Mendelian inheritance, including how genes are identified and the inheritance of complex disorders. After the basics have been introduced, the book reviews some of the most medically important areas of genetics, including cancer, before going on to the current and future treatment of genetic disorders. The final chapters are primarily designed for medical students, as they describe the clinical skills needed in medical genetics.
Unlike many genetics textbooks, Medical Genetics is relatively short and explains concepts in a concise and informative manner, with good use of diagrams to clarify the points made. Many textbooks have questions at the end of each chapter, but the multiple-choice questions presented here offer a particularly simple but effective way of checking the reader's knowledge. The reading list at the end of each chapter consists of only a few, well-chosen papers, thus allowing the student to easily access the most relevant information on the topic.
One of the best aspects of this textbook is its use of case studies and landmark papers that bring the text to life and allow the reader to understand more about a particular disease or the importance of a specific discovery. Some of the more interesting case studies include famous people who may have had genetic disorders: for example Frederic Chopin, who is thought to have suffered from cystic fibrosis.
This textbook offers a successful review of the basics of medical genetics. Some prior knowledge would be useful when reading it, but it makes a great revision tool, as the basic concepts are summarised clearly and effectively.
The book's overall layout and style help the reader to understand fully concepts that are often challenging when they are first introduced.
Who is it for? Biomedical sciences and genetics undergraduates, and medical students.
Presentation: Clear and informative, with case studies throughout the text and multiple-choice questions at the end of each chapter.
Would you recommend it? Yes, mainly to medical students and genetics undergraduates in their second or final year.


Ramsay MacDonald (Dictionary of World Biography: Twentieth Century)
Article abstract: The most significant figure in the development of the Labour Party, MacDonald guided it through his voluminous political writings, his organizational acumen and skills, and his actions as prime minister of its first two governments. The party became in practice more reformist than Socialist. It grew as a broad-based party aspiring to govern rather than a small pressure group within Parliament; it tapped trade union strength but rebuffed trade union control.
James Ramsay MacDonald was born on October 12, 1866, in the small fishing village of Lossiemouth, in Morayshire, Scotland, the illegitimate son of a ploughman and a farm servant. His mother, Anne Ramsay, a determined but warmhearted woman, never married and supported herself and her son as a seamstress. Influenced by an exciting schoolteacher, MacDonald became a pupil-teacher for four years (1881-1885), developing skills in analysis, speaking, leadership, and organization in his teens. Because class distinctions were of less significance in the Scottish Highlands, MacDonald was rising on his own merits. As a young man, he had already developed both his romantic and pragmatic tendencies, had an inquiring mind (he always loved geology and biology and once thought of becoming a chemist), and had become a local public speaker. He was impressive physically: handsome with wavy hair (and he was soon to wear a mustache), tall and trim, with a...
(The entire section is 2828 words.)
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