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Amos 9:7
Amos 9:7 [Are] ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord And therefore had no reason to think they should be delivered because they were the children of Israel, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; since they were no more to God than the children of the Ethiopians, having behaved like them; and were become as black as they through sin, and were idolaters like them; and so accustomed to sin, and hardened in it, that they could no more change their course and custom of sinning than the Ethiopian could change his skin, ( Jeremiah 13:23 ) ; The Ethiopians are represented by Diodorus SiculusFOOTNOTES: F2 as very religious, that is, very idolatrous; and as the first that worshipped the gods, and offered sacrifice to them; hence they were very pleasing to them, and in high esteem with them; wherefore Homer F3 speaks of Jupiter, and the other gods, going to Ethiopia to an anniversary feast, and calls them the blameless Ethiopians; and so Lucian F4 speaks of the gods as gone abroad, perhaps to the other side of the ocean, to visit the honest Ethiopians; for they are often used to visit them, and, as he wittily observes, even sometimes without being invited. Jarchi suggests the sense to be, that they were as creatures upon the same foot, and of the same descent, with other nations; and paraphrases it thus, ``from the sons of Noah ye came as the rest of the nations.'' Kimchi takes the meaning to be this, ``as the children of the Ethiopians are servants so should ye be unto me.'' The Targum is very foreign from the sense, ``are ye not reckoned as beloved children before me, O house of Israel?'' the first sense is best: have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and therefore it was ungrateful in them to behave as they have done; nor can they have any dependence on this, or argue from hence that they shall be indulged with other favours, or be continued in their land, since the like has been done for other nations, as follows: and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? that is, have I not brought up the one from the one place, and the other from the other? the Philistines and Caphtorim are mentioned together as brethren, ( Genesis 10:14 ) ; and the Avim which dwelt in the land of Palestine in Hazerim unto Azzah were destroyed by the Caphtorim, who dwelt in their stead, ( Deuteronomy 2:23 ) ; from whom, it seems by this, the Philistines were delivered, who are called the remnant of the country of Caphtor, ( Jeremiah 47:4 ) . Aben Ezra understands it as if the Israelites were not only brought out of Egypt, but also from the Philistines, and from Caphtor: others take these two places, Caphtor and Kir, to be the original of the Philistines and Syrians, and not where they had been captives, but now delivered: so Japhet, ``ye are the children of one father, God, who brought you out of Egypt, and not as the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir, who were mixed together;'' and R. Joseph Kimchi thus, ``from Caphtor came destroyers to the Philistines, who destroyed them; and from Kir came Tiglathpileser, the destroyer, to the Syrians, who carried them captive there.'' Of the captivity of the Philistines, and their deliverance from the Caphtorim, we nowhere read; the captivity of the Syrians in Kir Amos prophesied of, ( Amos 1:5 ) ; and if he speaks here of their deliverance from it, he must live at least to the times of Ahaz; for in his times it was they were carried captive thither, ( 2 Kings 16:9 ) . Caphtor some take to be Cyprus, because it seems to be an island, ( Jeremiah 47:4 ) ; but by it the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic versions understand Cappadocia; and the Cappadocians used to be called by the Greeks and Persians Syrians, as Herodotus F5 and others, observe. Bochart F6 is of opinion that that part of Cappadocia is intended which is called Colchis; and the rather since he finds a city in that country called Side, which in the Greek tongue signifies a pomegranate, as Caphtor does in Hebrew; and supposes the richness of the country led the Caphtorim thither, who, having stayed awhile, returned to Palestine, and there settled; which expedition he thinks is wrapped up in the fable of the Greek poets, concerning that of Typhon out of Egypt to Colchis and from thence to Palestine; and indeed the Jewish Targumists F7 every where render Caphtorim by Cappadocians, and Caphtor by Cappadocia, or Caphutkia; but then by it they understand a place in Egypt, even Pelusium, now called Damiata; for the Jewish writers say F8 Caphutkia is Caphtor, in the Arabic language Damiata; so Benjamin of Tudela says F9, in two days I came to Damiata, this is Caphtor; and no doubt the Caphtorim were in Egypt originally since they descended from Mizraim; but Calmet F11 will have it that the island of Crete is meant by Caphtor; and observes, theft, the Philistines were at first called strangers in Palestine, their proper name being Cherethites, or Cretians, as in ( Ezekiel 25:16 ) ( Zephaniah 2:5 ) ; as the Septuagint render that name of theirs; and that the language, manners, arms, religion and gods, of the Philistines and Cretians, are much the same; he finds a city in Crete called Aptera, which he thinks has a sensible relation to Caphtor; and that the city of Gaza in Palestine went by the name of Minoa, because of Minos king of Crete, who, coming into that country, called this ancient city by his own name. The Targum and Vulgate Latin version render Kir by Cyrene, by which must be meant, not Cyrene in Africa, but in Media; so Kir is mentioned along with Elam or Persia in ( Isaiah 22:6 ) ; whither the people of Syria were carried captive by Tiglathpileser, as predicted in ( Amos 1:5 ) ; and, as the above writer observes F12, not certainly into the country of Cyrene near Egypt, where that prince was possessed of nothing; but to Iberia or Albania, where the river Kir or Cyrus runs, which discharges itself into the Caspian sea; and Josephus F13 says they were transported into Upper Media; and the above author thinks that the Prophet Amos, in this passage, probably intended to comprehend, under the word "Cyr" or "Kir", the people beyond the Euphrates, and those of Mesopotamia, from whence the Aramaeans in reality came, who were descended from Aram the son of Shem; and he adds, we have no certain knowledge of their coming in particular out of this country, where the river Cyrus flows; and, upon the whole, it is difficult to determine whether this is to be understood of the origin of these people, or of their deliverance from captivity; the latter may seem probable, since it is certain that the prophet speaks of the deliverance of Israel from the captivity of Egypt; and it is as certain that the Syrians were carried captive to Kir, and, no doubt, from thence delivered; though we have no account of the Philistines being captives to Caphtor, and of their deliverance from thence; however, doubtless these were things well known to Amos, and in his times, he here speaks of. In some of our English copies it is read Assyrians instead of Syrians, very wrongly; for "Aram", and not "Ashur", is the word here used. F2 Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 143, 144. F3 Ibid. 1. l. 423. F4 In Jupiter Tragaedus. F5 Clio, sive l. 1. 72. Terpsichore, sive l. 5. c. 40. & Polymnia, sive l. 7. c. 72. Vid. Strabo. Geograph. l. 22. p. 374. F6 Phaleg. l. 4. c. 32. col. 291, 292. F7 Targum Onkelos, Jon. & Jerus. in Gen. x. 4. & Ben Uzziel in Jer. xlvii. 4. & in loc. F8 Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Cetubot, c. 13. sect. 11. F9 Itinerarium, p. 125. F11 Dictionary in tile word "Caphtor". F12 Dictionary, in the word "Cyrene". F13 Antiqu. l. 9. c. 12. sect. 3. |
House. [N] [E]The houses of the rural poor in Egypt, as well as in most parts of Syria, Arabia and Persia, are generally mere huts of mud or sunburnt bricks. In some parts of Palestine and Arabia stone is used, and in certain districts caves in the rocks are used as dwellings. ( Amos 5:11 ) The houses are usually of one story only, viz., the ground floor, and often contain only one apartment. Sometimes a small court for the cattle is attached; and in some cases the cattle are housed in the same building, or the live in a raised platform, and, the cattle round them on the ground. ( 1 Samuel 28:24 ) The windows are small apertures high up in the walls, sometimes grated with wood. The roofs are commonly but not always flat, and are usually formed of plaster of mud and straw laid upon boughs or rafters; and upon the flat roofs, tents or "booths" of boughs or rushes are often raised to be used as sleeping-places in summer. The difference between the poorest houses and those of the class next above them is greater than between these and the houses of the first rank. The prevailing plan of eastern houses of this class presents, as was the case in ancient Egypt, a front of wall, whose blank and mean appearance is usually relieved only by the door and a few latticed and projecting windows. Within this is a court or courts with apartments opening into them. Over the door is a projecting window with a lattice more or less elaborately wrought, which, except in times of public celebrations is usually closed. ( 2 Kings 9:30 ) An awning is sometimes drawn over the court, and the floor is strewed with carpets on festive occasions. The stairs to the upper apartments are in Syria usually in a corner of the court. Around part, if not the whole, of the court is a veranda, often nine or ten feet deep, over which, when there is more than one floor, runs a second gallery of like depth, with a balustrade. When there is no second floor, but more than one court, the womens apartments --hareems, harem or haram --are usually in the second court; otherwise they form a separate building within the general enclosure, or are above on the first floor. When there is an upper story, the kaah forms the most important apartment, and thus probably answers to the "upper room," which was often the guest-chamber. ( Luke 22:12 ; Acts 1:13 ; 9:37 ; 20:8 ) The windows of the upper rooms often project one or two feet, and form a kiosk or latticed chamber. Such may have been "the chamber in the wall." ( 2 Kings 4:10 2 Kings 4:11 ) The "lattice," through which Ahasiah fell, perhaps belonged to an upper chamber of this kind, ( 2 Kings 1:2 ) as also the "third loft," from which Eutychus fell. ( Acts 20:9 ) comp. Jere 22:13 Paul preached in such a room on account of its superior rise and retired position. The outer circle in an audience in such a room sat upon a dais, or upon cushions elevated so as to be as high as the window-sill. From such a position Eutychus could easily fall. There are usually no special bed-rooms in eastern houses. The outer doors are closed with a wooden lock, but in some cases the apartments are divided from each other by curtains only. There are no chimneys, but fire is made when required with charcoal in a chafing-dish; or a fire of wood might be made in the open court of the house ( Luke 22:65 ) Some houses in Cairo have an apartment open in front to the court with two or more arches and a railing, and a pillar to support the wall above. It was in a chamber of this size to be found in a palace, that our Lord was being arraigned before the high priest at the time when the denial of him by St. Peter took place. He "turned and looked" on Peter as he stood by the fire in the court, ( Luke 22:56 Luke 22:61 ; John 18:24 ) whilst he himself was in the "hall of judgment." In no point do Oriental domestic habits differ more from European than in the use of the roof. Its flat surface is made useful for various household purposes, as drying corn, hanging up linen, and preparing figs and raisins. The roofs are used as places of recreation in the evening, and often as sleeping-places at night. ( 1 Samuel 9:25 1 Samuel 9:26 ; 2 Samuel 11:2 ; 16:22 ; Job 27:18 ; Proverbs 21:9 ; Daniel 4:29 ) They were also used as places for devotion and even idolatrous worship. ( 2 Kings 23:12 ; Jeremiah 19:13 ; 32:29 ; Zephaniah 1:6 ; Acts 10:9 ) At the time of the feast of tabernacles booths were erected by the Jews on the top of their houses. Protection of the roof by parapets was enjoined by the law. ( 22:8 ) Special apartments were devoted in larger houses to winter and summer uses. ( Jeremiah 36:22 ; Amos 3:15 ) The ivory house of Ahab was probably a palace largely ornamented with inlaid ivory. The circumstance of Samsons pulling down the house by means of the pillars may be explained by the fact of the company being assembled on tiers of balconies above each other, supported by central pillars on the basement; when these were pulled down the whole of the upper floors would fall also. ( Judges 16:26 ) [N] indicates this entry was also found in Nave's Topical Bible[E] indicates this entry was also found in Easton's Bible DictionaryBibliography InformationSmith, William, Dr. "Entry for 'House'". "Smith's Bible Dictionary". . 1901. |
Genentech (RHHBY), deCODE genetics, Inc. (DCGN) Identify Protective Gene Against Alzheimer's, Cognitive Decline 7/12/2012 6:53:46 AM
REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Jul 11, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Results Support Drug Development of BACE1 Inhibitors for Alzheimer's Disease deCODE Genetics, a global leader in analyzing and understanding the human genome, together with their colleagues from the pharmaceutical company Genentech, reported today in the journal Nature the discovery of a variant of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene that confers protection against both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive decline in the elderly. The findings also indicate a linkage between age-related cognitive decline and late-onset forms of AD, the most common cause of dementia. "Our results suggest that late-onset Alzheimer's disease may represent the extreme of more general age-related decline in cognitive function," said study lead author Kari Stefansson, M.D., Dr. Med., CEO of deCODE Genetics. "Also important, these data support certain Alzheimer's disease drug development programs--some of which are already in human clinical trials." Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with the production and accumulation of beta-amyloid peptides produced by cleaving bits off the APP. While several mutant forms of the APP gene have been linked to early-onset, aggressive forms of AD, there is limited evidence supporting a role for mutations in the gene in the more common late-onset form of the disease. In searching for low-frequency variants of the APP gene associated with AD, deCODE scientists found a significant association with a mutation in whole genome sequence data from 1,795 Icelanders. The research team showed that the mutation is significantly more common in the study's elderly control group than in those with AD, suggesting that the mutation confers protection against the disease. The Genentech team then tested these findings using in vitro cellular assays with wild-type APP and APP enriched with A673T, the mutation allele. Importantly, they showed a significantly reduced production of amyloid beta in cells with A673T. "Our genetic data indicate that the mutation is protective against Alzheimer's disease," said Stefansson. "Our findings and the in vitro work done by Genentech also provide a proof of principle for the idea that blocking BACE1 cleavage of APP may protect against Alzheimer's, offering greater confidence to pharmaceutical companies with active BACE1 inhibitor drug development programs." Cognitive Decline in the Elderly To study the association of the protective mutation with general cognitive decline, the research team examined the frequency of the mutation in the original Icelandic control group of those cognitively intact at age 85. The team found an enrichment of the mutation in this group, consistent with its protective effect against AD. Extending this work further, the team investigated cognitive function using a seven-category test in carriers of the mutation and non-carriers in the age range of 80 to 100 years old. The research team found a statistically significant difference between carriers and non-carriers, with the carriers of the mutation having a score indicative of better-conserved cognition. After removing known AD cases, the team again found that carriers had better cognitive function, suggesting that the mutation extends its protective effect to the elderly in general. "The implication of these data is that general cognitive decline and late-onset Alzheimer's disease share biological pathways," said Stefansson. "It also suggests that approaches to treating Alzheimer's may have benefit to those elderly who do not carry the protective mutation, and do not suffer from AD." Alzheimer's Disease Alzheimer's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is the most common form of dementia that affects four to eight percent of the elderly population worldwide. The neuropathological features of AD are the presence of extracellular amyloid plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles in the hippocampus and cortical grey matter of the AD brain. Age-specific prevalence of AD nearly doubles after age 65, leading to a prevalence of greater than 25 percent in those over the age of 90. About deCODE Headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, deCODE genetics is a global leader in analyzing and understanding the human genome. Using its unique expertise and population resources, deCODE has discovered genetic risk factors for dozens of common diseases ranging from cardiovascular disease to cancer. In order to most rapidly realize the value of genetics for human health, deCODE partners with life sciences companies to accelerate their target discovery, validation, and prioritization efforts, yielding improved patient stratification for clinical trials and essential companion diagnostics. In addition, through its CLIA- and CAP-certified laboratory, deCODE offers DNA-based tests for gauging risk and empowering prevention of common diseases. deCODE also licenses its tests, intellectual property, and analytical tools to partner organizations. deCODE's corporate information can be found at www.decode.com with information about our genetic testing services at www.decodehealth.com and www.decodeme.com . SOURCE: deCODE Read at |
Scientists Develop New Cloning Technique That Dramatically Shortens The Search For Genes
A single strand of plant or animal DNA may contain tens of thousands of genes, each programmed to produce a specific protein essential for the growth or survival of the organism. The challenge for geneticists is to isolate individual genes and determine their function – a painstaking process often requiring years of laboratory trial and error. Now an international research team has discovered a technique that dramatically streamlines this process for certain kinds of genes. Developed by scientists at Stanford University and Britain's John Innes Centre, the new procedure could enable scientists to identify specific genes in a matter of months, not years. The technique, known as transcript-based cloning, is described in the March 30 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Read at |
University of Copenhagen Researchers Find a Gene for Obesity 10/4/2013 7:36:04 AM
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen set out on what seemed like a simple task: to find out if overeating is linked to any genetic difference. Four years and 1,200 pigs later (yeah, we'll get to that), they have an answer. Monitoring human eating habits is highly difficult; over a period of years, no human would be willing to have every single item of food they eat be studied and recorded by scientists. So these researchers turned to the pig, which has a very similar gastrointestinal system as well as a similar genomic structure, to find out. Pigs, after all, don't much care whether you're looking at them and taking notes as they eat. |
Bipolar Spirit
Thoughts on mental illness and spirituality
This Was Not Part of the "Package"
Over the last few months, a few people have asked me some form of the following questions: Did you have your bipolar diagnosis when you married your husband?
Did he know that was part of the "package" when marrying you?
My husband and I met when we were 15 and 16 years old. We knew I was sad a lot and that I had really bad anxiety but I did not see a therapist and psychiatrist until I was 19 years old and we were in college. At that time I was diagnosed with only depression and an anxiety disorder so that was all he knew when we got married at 21. At that point I was on an SSRI and doing a bit better but then we moved out of town and I got a lot worse. I went back and forth on medications being treated for depression, not knowing I had bipolar and the SSRI's were triggering mania. High School Graduation, 1996
Many people assume my husband has always been understanding of mental illness and supportive of my treatment but really neither of us understood what was going on and in the early years he still thought mental illness was a choice. He is a left-brained computer programmer and logic makes the most sense to him so having a wife that does not have a hold on reality was hard for him. He did not really read much about mental illness and did not go to doctors appointments with me in the beginning. We fought a lot and were not sure if we would stay together or not. We had many dark times.
We struggled like this for five more years until after our son was born and I was finally diagnosed correctly with bipolar disorder. At that point, after so many years of us struggling, he did start to do more reading and went to a few doctors appointments with me. As we went back and forth with treatment, he got more and more involved in helping me. He has always wanted to understand what I was going through but it is really hard for people who have control over their mind to really get what is happening to their loved one.
Today we still we struggle with treating my illness. (Sometimes It's Hard to Stay Together) Some days one of us is not entirely sure we should still be together. My illness was clearly not part of the "package" Jeff married. And honestly, he is not the same "package" I married either. The whole marriage "package" idea actually really bothers me. No one stays the same forever so thinking that you married a "package" is unrealistic. Both of us understood from the beginning that marriage is not perfect and the one you love will change a lot over the course of your lifetime.
For me, seeing my father go through serious illness and the other challenges my parents had, I knew that people do not stay the same forever and that marriage is hard. Life will throw sickness and many other horrific things at you, but you promised on your wedding/commitment day to get through those things together, in sickness and in health. I think the biggest problem with mental illness is that either the person with the illness does not think they have an illness and/or their partner does not believe it is an illness either. If one or both of you can not accept that this is an illness, then you do not know the correct way to manage it. You blame each other and think that you have a "deal breaker" in your marriage.
Wedding, 2000
None of us really has any idea what we are getting into when we marry/commit to someone. I have no idea why Jeff and I have been able to stay together except that when each one of us thinks about life without the other, it makes us sad. That sounds very simplistic, but it is what keeps us going. And it is not like we have not had times that absolutly would qualify as a "deal breaker" (as Dr. Phil says.) Jeff did not sign on for a wife who is sick, and will be for her whole life, with behaviors that negatively affect him.
We both agree that if either one of us was to hurt the other emotionally or physically and we were not getting help or did not admit we had a problem, that it would be wrong to expect the other person to stay in the relationship. We do believe in each other though. We believe that if either one of us is going through something, that we will take responsibility and get the help we need. The problem with mental illness is that it is extremely hard to treat so you have setbacks and you will not always be well. People with mental illness have high rates of non-compliance, which is not stubbornness or laziness, it is a symptom of the disease so it is not an illness that you treat and never have to deal with again. In order to handle all of this, I encourage couples to go to doctors appointments together. Make sure everyone in the family is physically and emotionally safe and if they are not you may need to be apart until things are more stable but if the person is in treatment that does not mean you need a divorce. You really have to work closely with your doctors to decide the best options are for your family.
Two books that have really helped us are The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman for general relationship help (given to us at a Couples Retreat at John Carroll University) and Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder by Julie Fast.
Our best recommendations to couples are: You HAVE to talk to each other. You have to see your doctor, together. You can't see marriage as a "package" that you bought and which stays the same. Don't have a big ego and either of you blame everything on the other person because both of you will make mistakes over and over again. Marriage/partnership is not easy and couples need help in order to make things work. ALWAYS ask for the help you need, and actually take the help given to you. Blessings,
One of the main issues which comes up in my discussions with other people with mental illness that causes them the most pain and spiritual despair is when family and friends refuse to accept that mental illness is real.
It just seems ridiculous to me to say that an illness well known by the medical field and which we can see on a brain scan is not real. These people who say mental illness is not real always, without fail, say that instead people use mental illness as an excuse not to take care of their life, themselves, and take responsibility for their life. I am always amazed that anyone would think someone would chose to have the difficulties people with mental illness have. No one wants this.
As I talked about this with my husband, he made me realize something, he said "Saying mental illness is not real is just a cop-out." So true. It is just denial. Family and friends who claim their loved one does not have mental illness can not admit to themselves that there is a problem, someone is sick, and they need help. It is their inability to deal with reality that makes them use this cop-out. And frankly, most of these people in denial have their own issues they need to work on and seeing someone else working on their life and trying to get better, is a reminder to them that they can not face the reality of their own life. This fear of theirs takes away their ability to be compassionate towards someone else. If you have someone in your life that believes your illness is not real, I hate to say that you probably will never change their mind. Even if you show them test results, brain scans, and have them talk to doctors. I actually had one person in my life say that I was having my psychiatrist lie for me and say I had mental illness so that I could get away with being irresponsible in my life. So, these people will most likely never understand and it is extremely hurtful to you to have to try and defend yourself all the time. To sit and be made fun of, ridiculed, and shamed because you have an illness. No one would ever do that with someone who had cancer or Multiple Sclerosis and no one should do it to you.
If people are hurting you in this way, you might think that you should ask them, kindly, not to talk about your illness anymore since you can't agree. However, this approach will probably just enrage them further and cause more attacks on you. Try giving them a little bit of information such as "I am working with my therapist on calming my anxiety." Just think of some short answer that does not offend them, gives them little information, but helps redirect or stop the conversation. Think of it as verbal Tai Chi where instead of countering your opponent's force, you deflecting it. You can also only put yourself in safe situations such as seeing them at large events when other people are around or meet them for coffee in public rather than have them over to your house. It's all about not falling into their trap and perpetuating the unhealthy system they are creating. These people in your life are not bad people, they are just doing something that is extremely unkind. It really does not have anything to do with you but with whatever issues they have in their own life. Send them thoughts of loving kindness and move on with your life. One day they may come around, but in the mean time you need to take care of yourself.
Stay strong friends!
Mental illnesses are chemical imbalances or damage in the brain and things like diet and exercise can change the balance of those chemicals or help repair the brain. For instance serotonin is often one of the chemicals that is out of balance, too low in people with depression. Sugar increases serotonin, but then it also produces a crash and creates mood fluctuations and that can create the chemical imbalance of bipolar. Not eating sugar and other simple carbohydrates can help balance serotonin so it does not have extreme highs and lows. Exercise helps in the treatment of ADD, depression, bipolar and more because it effects neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and dopamine. Exercise also helps regulate the amygdala which is one of the parts of our brain affected in PTSD. Also, as Sharon Begley describes in her book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, meditation helps change our brain due to neuroplasticity (the ability for our brains to change, rewire itself.) Meditation has been successful in treatment of mental illness as well because it changes the pathways in your brain, this is especially helpful in PTSD and brain injury. Nothing showed me just how easy it is to change our brain with things like food than an experience with my son.
We noticed my son was having emotional breakdowns. Crying over small things that, while annoying, were not things you would just fall apart for hours over. He is normally a totally happy and smiling kid who listens and is really easy to take care of. We knew something was wrong and we had already been researching diet and it's affect on mental illness for me and my husband has a gluten intolerance. We noticed when we cut out gluten we all felt better, but my son still had these breakdowns so we we started paying more attention to exactly what he was eating. We noticed that when he ate corn, a few hours later, he was a wreck! So, we cut out corn (even corn syrup), and he rarely has these episodes except when we eat out or he is at a friends house. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, corn is snuck into everything especially in the form of corn syrup. Even pre-made hamburger patties have corn in them sometimes so you may think you are just eating meat but you are not. We even noticed during school testing week that on the days our son had a breakfast of protein and carbs he was able to sit and focus longer for the test. On the one day I just gave him fruit and gluten-free pancakes, he had a hard time concentrating and sitting during the test so much so that his teacher asked me if he was feeling ok. I know that if he goes to a party or spends the day at the amusement park and we did not pack food for him, he will be sad, cry easily, and even withdraw to his room for hours. All because of the food he ate. I recommend that all of this be supervised by your doctor and if you do not have a doctor willing to look at things outside of the medicine cabinet, then find a new one. It can be hard. For at least ten years doctors have been telling me "the research shows these things work" but they don't have enough experience to use it in treatment, telling me to experiment on my own. Not helpful! I finally found doctors this year who have enough experience and education on these treatments that they do use them. If
we as patients insist that we want to know ALL of our treatment options, we can make a difference. So I want to raise awareness to my fellow friends with mental illness and let you know that you have many options in your treatment plan. You have the right to insist that you are informed about them and are treated with them. We can demand more testing so that more doctors recognize these treatments as successful. Our lives are worth this fight. Blessings, |
In Libraries, all the information books are put on the shelves according to their subject. Each subject has its own number and this is put on the spine of the book. The books are then put on the shelves in the order of these numbers, starting at 0 and ending at 999.
To help you find the information books that you want, the subjects are listed in the Children's Subject Index. You can find copies next to the children's information books in every library. It is easy to use, just like using an index at the back of a book.
Heres how to use it:
Think of a word that describes the subject that youre looking for, e.g. Victorians.
Look this word up in this Subject Index (if you can't find it, think of a similar word).
Opposite the subject, there will be a number, e.g. Victorians J941.081
Go to the shelves and look for your number on the spine of the book.
Well done, youve found your book!
Some libraries keep all the books about famous people together in a Biography section, rather than with the subject that they are linked to. Ask a member of library staff if they have this section and if they can help you to use it.
Remember, if you cant find a book, than do always ask a member of staff for help. |
Iowa delegation supports normal trade relations with Russia by: desmoinesdem
Fri Dec 07, 2012 at 16:10:00 PM CST
More than 20 years after the USSR collapsed, Congress has finally repealed the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment limiting trade with the Soviet Union and its successor states. The Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal Act of 2012 grants Russian permanent normal trade relations status. It passed the U.S. House by 365 votes to 43 last month and passed the Senate by 92 votes to 4 yesterday. All seven Iowans in Congress voted for this bill, which should increase food and agriculture-related exports to Russia. The Obama administration and several business advocacy groups also supported the measure.
After the jump I've enclosed statements on this bill from Representative Steve King and Senator Chuck Grassley.
Statement from Representative Steve King, November 16 (emphasis in original):
King Votes to Expand Iowa Trade Opportunities in Russia and Moldova
Washington, DC- Congressman Steve King released the following statement after voting to grant Russia and Moldova permanent normal trade relations (PNTR). H.R. 6156, the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal Act, will allow the United States to benefit from Russia and Moldova's recent admittance to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Russia officially joined the WTO on August 22, 2012, and Moldova joined 2001. As a condition of joining the WTO, both countries have agreed to reduce their trade barriers, enforce intellectual property rights, and abide by international trade mediation. By officially removing an outdated legal barrier, H.R. 6156 will allow the United States, and Iowa in particular, to begin taking advantage of increased trade and export opportunities in Russia and Moldova. The legislation also contains provisions intended to address human rights concerns in Russia due to the death of whistleblower Sergei Maginsky in 2009.
"U.S. exports to Russia could double or triple within five years as it reduces its tariffs and trade barriers on goods and services," said King. The vote I cast today was necessary to open up trade opportunities for Iowa companies and ensure that the United States can take full advantage of Russia's and Moldova's membership in the WTO. Farmers and businesses in Iowa and across the country will benefit from the improved trade relations with Russia. This bill was carefully crafted not just to expand economic opportunities here in America, but also to promote the Rule of Law and human rights in Russia, and I hope it receives quick passage in the Senate and is signed into law."
Statement from Senator Chuck Grassley, December 6:
Grassley Votes for Bipartisan Trade Bill to Expand Export Opportunities to Russia, Moldova
WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley said the 92 to 4 Senate vote today for bipartisan legislation to grant permanent normal trade relations - PNTR status - to Russia and Moldova is a step forward, though he urged the Administration to increase and intensify efforts to lower Russian barriers to U.S. agricultural products including beef, pork and poultry.
Grassley has been outspoken about the need for the U.S. government to address Russia's unscientific barriers to agricultural products from the United States.
"The U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture need to keep the pressure on Russia to eliminate safety standards not supported by sound science," Grassley said. "Important opportunities have been missed, including Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization and passage of PNTR. American farmers deserve to be treated fairly by our international trading partners, and trade officials from the Administration need to advocate for them as much as possible going forward."
Agricultural trade between the United States and Russia is significant. The two-way trade was valued at roughly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2012, with American farm exports accounting for 97 percent of the total. Last year, U.S. beef, pork and poultry exports collectively ranked second only to aircraft engines in total U.S. export value to Russia.
The House of Representatives passed PNTR legislation for Russia and Moldova in November. Below is the text of a statement made by Grassley earlier today.
Floor Statement of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
In this day and age there simply is no denying it; ours is a global economy. Gone are the days when businesses relied solely on growing their customer base within our own borders. Ninety-five percent of the world's consumers live outside the United States.
One of the things that will help our economy improve at a faster rate would be to increase trade opportunities overseas for American businesses and farmers. Increased trade helps create jobs, increase incomes, and expand opportunities for innovation. And as we've seen over the course of history, free and fair trade helps all boats rise. That is to say, countries willing to lower their trade barriers and allow fair and competitive trade will see growth in their own economies.
However, history also shows even among nations with good relations, trade disputes will arise. That is why we need a forum to settle international disputes such as the World Trade Organization. The WTO allows American businesses a place to take complaints against unfair trade barriers.
For 19 years Russia has worked towards entry into the WTO. Now they are in the WTO, and I support Russia being in the WTO. As the world's eleventh largest economy with over 140 million citizens, it's obviously an important market for U.S. businesses and farmers looking to expand overseas markets.
Some of Iowa's heavy equipment manufacturers are already exporting millions of dollars of equipment to Russia. Agricultural equipment manufactured in facilities all around Iowa is being used by Russian farmers as they look to increase their agricultural efficiency and productivity. The WTO accession process afforded us an opportunity to address Russian tariffs. In the accession agreement, Russia has agreed to lower its tariffs for these construction and agricultural equipment products. This means increased exports and potentially more American jobs.
By far the largest percentage of Iowa exports to Russia consists of grain, meat, and other agricultural products being produced by Iowa farmers. Russia's accession into the WTO has been an important issue for pork producers, cattlemen, and row-crop farmers. Iowa farmers are some of the best in the world; they are truly helping to feed the world. Expanding opportunities in overseas markets is vital to the future of American agriculture.
Russia has been, and will continue to be an important market for our farmers, but it doesn't come without its challenges. Russia has repeatedly raised barriers to U.S. imports based upon restrictions not supported by sound science. Let's take pork exports as an example. In 2008, U.S. pork sales to Russia totaled over 200,000 metric tons, but since that time, exports have fallen nearly 60 percent due to Russia's reduced import quota and questionable sanitary and phytosanitary, also referred to as SPS, restrictions.
I'm pleased our trade negotiators were able to negotiate a satisfactory tariff rate quota for pork. But the Obama administration has fallen short in its obligation to stand with U.S. farmers on SPS standards. I have communicated time and again what was expected of this administration. In June of 2011, I led a bi-partisan letter with Senator Nelson of Nebraska and 26 other Senators, to Ambassador Kirk requesting his negotiators follow the steps we have taken during consideration of past WTO accessions. When China and Vietnam joined the WTO we used those opportunities to obtain firm SPS commitments from those countries that went beyond the WTO SPS agreements. In particular, we obtained further commitments in the area of meat inspection equivalence. In addition, in June of this year I sent another bi-partisan letter with Senator Nelson and 32 of our Senate colleagues to President Obama, again laying out our request that he stand up for American farmers and demand more of the Russian government on SPS issues.
As we know, this administration didn't use the accession process to fully address these crucial issues. That's why I requested language be put into this bill to require our trade negotiators keep working on these unfair trade barriers and report to Congress on their progress. Our farmers are some of the very best in the world; we cannot allow their products to be discriminated against based on arbitrary and unjustifiable reasons.
In addition to the concerns I have repeatedly raised on SPS issues, there are other issues at stake with Russia. It's a shame we are handling this bill in the lame duck session when time is so limited. This bill should have been debated at a time when the Senate could more fully evaluate the current course of our relationship with Russia. Russia continues to cause challenges in regards to Syria, Iran, and other regions of the world where the U.S. and our allies are trying to do what's right in the name of human dignity and national security. I am concerned with Russia's own human rights issues, and I support the Magnitsky provisions in this legislation.
As Ranking Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, I remain troubled by the lack of progress Russia has made on protecting intellectual property. Furthermore, Russian officials need to step up their efforts in combating cyber crimes. There continues to be a large number of cyber attacks that originate from within Russia's borders.
All that being said, I realize having Russia in the WTO is a positive step. One of the goals of international trade is to build upon the relationship between nations. Having Russia in the WTO fold will hopefully benefit our nations as we work together on so many issues that concern us both. Plus, as I stated earlier, having the WTO forum available will help our businesses and farmers when disputes arise.
I will be voting in favor of this bill. But I want to be crystal clear; this administration needs to do a better job of looking out for U.S. businesses and farmers. I look forward to hearing from our trade negotiators in the not too distant future on their progress in getting Russia to remove the unjustifiable barriers to our agriculture products.
Furthermore, as President Obama looks towards other trade initiatives in the future, let this accession process be a lesson. This process could have been better. The President has called on Congress to pass this legislation for some time. But his lack of consultation with Congress and disregard for concerns raised by myself and other members have only served to delay this whole process. We can't keep approaching trade issues in this fashion. This administration needs to have real and substantive consultations with Congress. Furthermore, when there are opportunities to stand up for American businesses and farmers against unfair trade barriers, such as SPS issues in Russia, the President needs to seize those opportunities. |
PRESENTATION OF YEAR FOR CONSECRATED LIFE: AWAKEN THE WORLD WITH PROPHETIC WITNESS THAT RECALLS THE WITNESS OF YOUR FOUNDERS
In the Press Office of the Holy See, João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, O.F.M., secretary of the same congregation, presented the Year for Consecrated Life 2015. It was called for by Pope Francis at the end of his meeting with 120 superiors general of male Institutes, at the suggestion of the heads of the aforementioned congregation on having heard from many of the consecrated.
“First of all,” Cardinal Bráz de Aviz said, “this Year dedicated to consecrated life has been prepared in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and, more specifically, on the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Conciliar decree on the renewal of consecrated life ‘Perfectae caritatis’. … Because we recognize these 50 years that separate us from the Council as a moment of grace for consecrated life, as marked by the presence of the Spirit that leads us to live even our weaknesses and infidelities as an experience of God’s mercy and love, we want this Year to be an occasion for ‘gratefully remembering’ this recent past. This is the first objective of the Year for Consecrated Life.”
“With a positive look at this time of grace between the Council and today, we want the second objective to be ‘embracing the future with hope’. We are well aware that the present moment is ‘difficult and delicate’ … and that the crisis facing society and the Church herself fully touches upon the consecrated life. But we want to take this crisis not as an antechamber of death but as … an opportunity to grow in depth, and thus in hope, motivated by the certainty that the consecrated life will never disappear from the Church because ‘it was desired by Jesus himself as an irremovable part of his Church’.”
“This hope,” he concluded, “doesn’t spare us—and the consecrated are well aware of this—from ‘living the present passionately’, and this is the third objective for the Year. … It will be an important moment for ‘evangelizing’ our vocation and for bearing witness to the beauty of the ‘sequela Christi’ in the many ways in which our lives are expressed. The consecrated take up the witness that has been left them by their respective founders and foundresses. … They want to ‘awaken the world’ with their prophetic witness, particularly with their presence at the existential margins of poverty and thought, as Pope Francis asked their superiors general.”
For his part, Archbishop Rodríguez Carballo explained the initiatives and events that will take place during the Year for Consecrated Life, which will begin this October to coincide with the anniversary of the promulgation of the Conciliar constitution “Lumen Gentium”.
The Year’s official inauguration is planned with a solemn celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica, possibly presided by the Holy Father, which could take place on 21 November, the World Day ‘Pro orantibus’. Still this November, it would be followed by a plenary assembly of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the theme of which would be “The ‘Novum’ in Consecrated Life beginning from Vatican II”.
Various international events are also planned for Rome, among which would include a meeting of young religious and novices, those who have professed temporary or final vows for less than ten years, a meeting for spiritual directors, an international theological conference on consecrated life dedicated to “Renewal of the Consecrated Life in Light of the Council and Perspectives for the Future”, and an international exhibit on “Consecrated Life: The Gospel in Human History”.
For the conclusion of the Year for Consecrated Life another Concelebration presided by Pope Francis is planned, probably for 21 November 2015, 50 years after the decree “Perfecta caritatis”. Every four months throughout the year, the Dicastery will publish a newsletter on themes related to consecrated life, the first of which will come out on 2 February of next year, entitled “Be Glad” and dedicated to the Magisterium of the Holy Father on consecrated life. In response to the Pope’s wishes, the Antonianum Pontifical University in Rome will host a symposium on the management of economic goods and capital by religious from 8 to 9 March. There will be a series of initiatives planned particularly for contemplative religious, including a world Chain of Prayer among monasteries.
Archbishop Rodríguez Carballo also spoke of several documents that the Dicastery is preparing. To that end, in close collaboration with the Congregation for Bishops and following a mandate by the Holy Father, the document “Mutuae relationes” on the relations between bishops and religious in the Church is being drawn up. Also, always on the mandate of the Pope, the instruction “Verbi Sponsa”, which deals with the autonomy and cloistering of entirely contemplative religious, is being revised. Another document in preparation will deal with the life and the mission of religious, while a fourth one will touch on the question of how consecrated manage goods in order to offer some guidelines and direction in the complex situations that arise in that area.
Finally, during the Year of Consecrated Life, it is hoped that the Holy Father will promulgate a new apostolic constitution on contemplative life in place of “Sponsa Christi”, which was promulgated by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
During this press conference, some key details were released. João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life
“It’s a great time to grow and deepen the faith. Part of this is driven by the hope and the certainty that consecrated life will never disappear from the Church.” Some details are still being sorted out, but the Congregation for Consecrated Life hopes the Pope will initiate it in November 2014 and it will conclude one year later. The goals will include reflecting on the unique role religious men and women have in the Church. Everything from their charisms to their challenges. Among them for example, why some decide to leave their vocation. According to recent data, out of 1,000 religious, about 2.5 leave their vocation. That breaks down to about 13,000 people between 2008 and 2012. João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life
“We need to shatter that misconception. The notion that when one begins their consecrated life, they automatically become perfect. The notion, that for example, a mother, will never be perfect, but a consecrated person will. This is wrong! We should embrace the realities of fraternal life. Another issue we see is that consecrated life has sometimes followed an individualistic pattern.” Each religious institute has its own charism. João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life, believes that dedicating a year to Consecrated Life, will give religious the time and resources to reflect on what their personal vocation and charism is really all about. João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life
“The mistake is to think that a charism is already defined and done with. Well, that mentality is like taking a right away from God. If He has given an institute a certain charism, then He conserves it and only He can end it if He so wishes. But not us…this is one of the errors we see nowadays.” Whatt about cases where founders have started institutes while leading less than exemplary lives? That issue was also raised during the press conference, especially in light of Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ. João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect, Congregation for Consecrated Life
“It’s important to separate the grace of a specific charism from the founder. Sometimes their life coincides with their charism. But we also see cases where the founder does not lead a life that corresponds with the institute’s charism.” The Year of Consecrated Life will include meetings between young religious and the Pope, international prayer chains carried out by cloistered nuns, and also large scale exhibits in Rome. Meeting of Treasurers General
We ask you to help in the success of this Symposium, through the attendance of the Treasurer General of your Institute.
The application form for the Symposium is attached. It should be returned to this Dicastery no later than 5 February 2014, by email to [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by fax to no. +39 06 6988 4526.
The detailed programme of the meeting will be sent out as soon as possible. Simultaneous translation in Italian, English and Spanish will be provided throughout the meeting.
Thanking you for your valued assistance and participation, l take this opportunity to wish you fraternal blessings in the Lord.
Arcibishop Secretary
Congregatio pro Institutis Vitae Consecratae
et Societatibus Vitae Apostolicae
Vatican City, January 1st, 2014
Application form “Wake up the Word”
“Wake up the Word”
Conversation with His Holiness Pope Francis about Consecrated Life
Antonio Spadaro, S.J.
His Holiness Pope Francis has told those in Religious Life to “wake up the world”, according to an article appearing in La Civiltà Cattolica, the Rome-based Jesuit weekly.
Editor Antonio Spadaro, SJ, has written an article recounting the private meeting last November between Pope Francis and the Union of Superiors General of religious men at the end of their 82nd General Assembly.
The 15-page article (available in English at the La Civiltà Cattolica website cited below) documents the views of Pope Francis on consecrated life.
“Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living! It is possible to live differently in this world,” Pope Francis said.
“We are speaking of an eschatological outlook, of the values of the Kingdom incarnated here, on this earth. It is a question of leaving everything to follow the Lord. No, I do not want to say “radical.” Evangelical radicalness is not only for religious: it is demanded of all. But Religious follow the Lord in a special was, in a prophetic way. It is this witness that I expect of you. Religious should be men and women who are able to wake the world up.”
The article also revealed he has asked the Congregation for Religious to revise, Mutuae Relationes, the 1978 Instruction issued by the Congregation for Religious and by the Congregation for Bishops (concerning the relations between bishops and religious in the Church, which His Holiness called “outdated.” |
natural disaster at the mall "Cataclysm" (Summer 1997) by John Campbell presented a balanced picture of issues faced by personal property insurers, but only touched on those facing commercial property insurers. Individual locations of commercial property can exceed $1 billion in insured value, with exposures including both loss of property and potential profits. A loss from one commercial customer can be hundreds of millions of dollars, and equal to a significant share of the insurer's assets. Commercial natural disaster losses are also more variable than personal property losses. The variance is greater from loss to loss, for a given insurer; it is also greater from insurer to insurer, for a given loss. Thus, commercial insurers tend to see far fewer, but far larger, individual claims. Volatility in the commercial market also makes the presence of a naive competitor (one who underprices in order to gain market share) particularly problematic. Commercial insurers attempt to manage these risks by avoiding geographic concentration, purchase of reinsurance capacity, and combining with other insurers in program sharing to handle the largest companies. They also place great emphasis on risk assessment and loss control, and rely more heavily on site inspections than on computer modeling. Arkwright sends an engineer to its commercial properties up to several times yearly to evaluate the site and recommend sprinklers, roof tie-downs, and other preventative measures. It is not uncommon to invest tens of thousands of dollars annually in risk assessment and loss prevention engineering for a specific customer. Peter Kelly Vice President
Arkwright Mutual Insurance Co.
the not-so-lost art of portfolio lending Securitization is the wonderchild of the capital markets, and its undeniable benefits to homeowners, investors, and financial institutions are well described in Jane Katz's article "Getting Secure" (Summer 1997). It should be noted, however, that securitization is not the only way for mortgage lenders to "get secure" and stay that way. Mortgage securitization may be a tool for every lender, but it is certainly not one for every occasion. In quoting William Poorvu, Ms. Katz appropriately alludes to the "cookie-cutter" dynamic of the securitization process. As in the commercial lending that Mr. Poorvu discussed, mortgage lending often requires room for the lender to exercise individual judgment and apply local knowledge. This means portfolio lending. Portfolio lending supports the extension of credit to a wider spectrum of borrowers. Portfolio lenders have more latitude to target specific market segments, such as the emerging immigrant home ownership market, with innovative products tailored to meet "out-of-the-box" financing needs. And banks now have many resources for managing the risks posed by portfolio lending, including Federal Home Loan Bank membership. Access to the Home Loan Bank's credit products supplements the ebb and flow of deposit supply, and helps banks manage interest-rate risk with funding specifically structured to support loan portfolios. Many members of the Home Loan Bank of Boston know that lending outside the conforming loan market is good for business. Even in our high-tech world, the application of local knowledge and sound business judgment will continue to serve the financial marketplace. M. Susan Elliott Executive Vice President
Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston
another view I am puzzled by William J. Barber's assertion, in "FDR's Big Government Legacy" (Summer 1997) that "ironically, the Reagan years can be seen as a vindication of Keynesianism (because of) the large tax reductions and defense spending increases, enacted in 1981..." Well, defense spending increases, sure. But tax reductions? What Reagan got Congress to reduce in 1981 was the individual income tax rates. Did those rate reductions result in Keynesian revenue reductions? Hardly. Individual income tax revenues were $298 billion in 1982, the first year of the three-year 25-percent Reagan rate reductions. In the following recession year, when the rate cuts were only half phased in, those revenues dropped 3 percent, to $289 billion. They have increased every year since, from $298 billion in 1984, to $446 billion in 1989, Reagan's last year in office. That is an average 7-percent annual increase in income tax revenues over the seven-year period. Keynesianism calls for stimulating enterprise through government deficit spending. There were surely large deficits in those Reagan years, but they were caused by Congress passing spending bills larger than Reagan proposed, and Reagan's unwillingness to veto them. The deficits were clearly not caused by income tax rate cuts, because the rate cuts yielded steadily increasing revenues. Deficit spending may have vindicated Keynesianisn. The increase in revenues from Reagan income tax rate cuts vindicated the supply siders. John McClaughry, President Ethan Allen Institute
Concord, Vermont |
Stolen Chihuahuas may have been found
Man suffers multiple injuries in Bridlington
50 stalls set for sensational Easter market
Bridlington’s beach quality improves
Combo therapy manages tinnitus
People with tinnitus have been “advised to listen to the sea to cure ringing in ears”, according to Metro, the free commuters’ newspaper. Its story, which may seem comforting only to sailors and fishermen, is based on a new study that explored how best to help patients with tinnitus, a common distressing condition that causes a constant ringing or other noise in the ears.The yearlong Dutch trial gave adults with tinnitus a standard package of care or a programme which added cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to elements of standard therapy for tinnitus. CBT is a type of therapy that challenges people’s negative assumptions and feelings to help them overcome their worries. Compared with those given usual care, the group receiving specialised treatment reported improved quality of life, and reduced severity and impairment caused by tinnitus.This well-designed study found that using CBT alongside elements of standard therapy can help patients with tinnitus of varying severity. However, the differences in outcomes between the two groups were quite small, and this technique can only help manage tinnitus rather than curing it, as some papers implied. Also, the patients in the study were followed for only 12 months, so it is unclear whether this approach can help in the longer term.Nevertheless, this is a promising step towards more effective management of this troubling condition. Where did the story come from?The study was carried out by researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, the University of Leuven in Belgium, Bristol University and Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. It was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW). The study was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet.Many of the press headlines mentioned that listening to the sound of the sea could help tinnitus, with the Metro claiming this could cure the condition. However, sound therapies that try to neutralise tinnitus using soothing sounds, such as waves or birdsong, are not new, but are part of standard treatments for this condition. Also, the report in the Lancet did not state what kind of sounds were used as therapy. Sound therapy was not the only treatment approach used, but was given as part of a specialised treatment programme delivered by expert health professionals. What kind of research was this?This randomised controlled trial (RCT) compared a multidisciplinary approach for tinnitus that combined standard tinnitus retraining therapy with CBT. CBT is a talking treatment in which patients are taught to combat negative or “catastrophic” thinking.The researchers point out that up to one in five adults will develop tinnitus, a distressing disorder in which people hear buzzing, ringing and other sounds from no external source. Tinnitus can occur in one or both ears, and is usually continuous but can fluctuate. A randomised controlled trial is the best way of assessing the effectiveness of an intervention.There is currently no cure for tinnitus. However, people who have tinnitus may be offered: sound therapy, in which neutral, natural sounds are used to distract them from the condition counselling sessions retraining therapy, in which people are taught to “tune out” their tinnitus CBT The authors of the new study say there is little evidence for any of the treatments offered when given in isolation, that treatment is often fragmented, and people with tinnitus are often told they have to “put up with it”.CBT could potentially help people with tinnitus deal with fears that their tinnitus might be caused by brain damage or might lead to deafness. During CBT, they might learn that the condition is common and that it is not associated with brain damage or deafness. They might also be exposed to the sound in a safe environment, so that it has less of an impact on their daily life. CBT also involves techniques such as applied relaxation and mindfulness training. What did the research involve?Between 2007 and 2011, the researchers recruited 492 Dutch adults who had been diagnosed with tinnitus. The patients had to fulfil several criteria, including having no underlying disease that was causing their tinnitus, no other health issues that precluded their participation, and to have received no treatment for their tinnitus in the five previous years. Some 66% of adults originally screened for the study participated after screening.The patients were assessed at the start of the study for their hearing ability and the severity of their tinnitus. The researchers assessed the degree of severity using established questionnaires, which looked at health-related quality of life, the psychological distress associated with tinnitus and how far it impaired their functioning. Using this information, researchers divided participants into four groups ranked on the severity of their condition.Participants were then randomly assigned one of two forms of treatment. This was carried out using a computer-generated method of randomisation. Neither patients nor researchers knew which treatment participants had been assigned.One group of 247 patients received standard (usual) care for tinnitus. This included audiological checks, counselling, prescription of a hearing aid if indicated, prescription of a “masker” if requested by the patient (a device that generates neutral sounds to distract from the noise of the tinnitus), and counselling from social workers when required. The treatment group (245 patients) received some elements of standard care (such as a masking device and hearing aid if needed), but also received CBT. The CBT included an extensive educational session, sessions with a clinical psychologist and group treatments involving “psychological education” explaining their condition, cognitive restructuring, exposure techniques, stress relief, applied relaxation and movement therapy.In both groups, a stepped approach was taken to care. This is where the level of care provided is based on individual need, with a gradual increase in the intensity of care as required. Step 1 and 2 in both groups were completed by 8 months, and followed by a no-contact period of 4 months before a follow-up assessment at 12 months.The researchers assessed the participants before treatment, and at 3, 8 and 12 months after treatment began. The main outcomes they assessed were: health-related quality of life, as assessed on a 17-item questionnaire which considers aspects including vision, hearing, speech, ambulation, dexterity, emotion, cognition, and pain or other complaints tinnitus severity on the Tinnitus Questionnaire, which consists of 52 items rated on a 3-point scale and assesses the psychological distress caused by tinnitus tinnitus impairment on the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, which is described as a 25-item instrument which assesses tinnitus-related impairment on three domains: functional, emotional and catastrophic They compared outcomes between the two groups using standard statistical methods. What were the basic results?After 12 months, patients in the specialised care group receiving CBT had slightly greater improvement in health-related quality of life compared with those in the usual care group (between-group score difference 0.059, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.025 to 0.094).The results were calculated using a measure called “effect size”, which is a way of quantifying the size of the difference between the two groups. For the difference in quality of life scores between groups, the effect size was calculated to be 0.24. This can be interpreted as a “small” effect. In other words, treatment including CBT gave a small improvement in quality of life compared with usual care.After 12 months, patients in the specialised care group also had reduced tinnitus severity (score reduction compared with the standard care group -8.062 points, 95% CI -10.829 to -5.295) and reduced tinnitus impairment (score reduction compared with the standard care group -7.506 points, 95% CI -10.661 to -4.352).For the differences in severity and impairment scores between groups, the effect size was calculated to be 0.43 and 0.45 respectively. These can be interpreted as a “moderate” effect. In other words, the intervention gave a moderate improvement in tinnitus severity and impairment compared with usual care.The researchers further reported that the specialised treatment seemed effective irrespective of the patients’ initial degree of tinnitus severity, and there were no adverse events.However, the drop-out rate by 12 months was quite high: 86 (35%) patients in the usual care group and 74 (30%) in the specialised care group. How did the researchers interpret the results?The researchers said that specialised treatment of tinnitus based on cognitive behaviour therapy is more effective than standard care. They concluded that “specialised treatment of tinnitus based on cognitive behaviour therapy could be suitable for widespread implementation for patients with tinnitus of varying severity.” ConclusionThis well-designed study found that a multidisciplinary approach which combines elements of standard therapy with a form of talking therapy called CBT can help patients with tinnitus of varying severity.This study has several strengths. It included a relatively large number of patients, reducing the possibility of bias by “masking” which treatment patients received, classifying participants according to the severity of their tinnitus and using highly standardised inter |
'Stokeham - Stoney-Middleton', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 224-229. URL: =51309 Date accessed: 16 April 2014.
Stokeham
Stokeinteignhead (St. Andrew)
Stokenchurch (St. Peter and St. Paul)
Stokenham (St. Barnabas)
Stokesay (St. John the Baptist)
Stokesby (St. Andrew)
Stokesley (St. Peter)
Stonall, Over
Stonar (St. Augustine)
Stondon, Lower
Stondon-Massey.—See Standon-Massey.
Stondon, Upper (All Saints)
Stone (St. John the Baptist)
Stone (St. Mary)
Stone (St. Michael)
Stone-Easton
Stone-Near-Dartford (St. Mary)
Stone-Next-Faversham
Stonebeck, Down
Stonebeck, Upper
Stoneferry
Stonegrave
Stoneham, North (St. Nicholas)
Stoneham, South (St. Mary)
Stonehouse (St. Cyril)
Stonehouse, East (St. George)
Stoneleigh (St. Mary)
Stoneraise, with Brocklebank
Stonesby (St. Peter)
Stonesfield (St. James)
Stoney-Middleton.—See Middleton, Stoney.
StokehamSTOKEHAM, a parish, in the union of East Retford, South-Clay division of the wapentake of Bassetlaw, N. division of the county of Nottingham, 7 miles
(S. E. by E.) from East Retford; containing 49 inhabitants. It comprises by computation an area of 564
acres, of which the surface is undulated, and the soil
clay. The living is annexed, with that of Askham, to
the vicarage of East Drayton: the tithes have been commuted for £120, and the glebe contains 20 acres.Stokeinteignhead (St. Andrew)STOKEINTEIGNHEAD (St. Andrew), a parish, in
the union of Newton-Abbott, hundred of Wonford,
Teignbridge and S. divisions of Devon, 3 miles (S.S.W.)
from Teignmouth; containing 591 inhabitants. The
parish is situated about a mile from the coast, in a deep,
narrow, and thickly-wooded valley, and comprises by
admeasurement 2040 acres. The living is a rectory,
valued in the king's books at £36. 15. 10.; net income,
£467; patron, the Bishop of Exeter: there is a glebehouse, and the glebe contains 40 acres. The church is
a cruciform structure, containing some good screenwork: it anciently belonged to a college for a warden
and several chaplains, established in honour of the
Virgin Mary and St. Andrew, by John de Stanford, in
the reign of Edward III. The manor belonged in the
reign of Henry II. to the family of Fitzpayne, of whom
Sir Robert Fitzpayne sold it to the above John de Stanford, who was made chief baron of the exchequer in
1346. It afterwards passed, by successive female heirs,
to the Brightlys, Cornus, and Speccots; and was held
in later times, in succession, by the families of Scawen,
Nicholls, and Trehawke: John Trehawke, Esq., who
died about 1790, bequeathed it to the Kekewich family.
The lords of the manor had formerly the power of inflicting capital punishment. Fossil remains are frequently discovered, among which are madrepores.Stokenchurch (St. Peter and St. Paul)STOKENCHURCH (St. Peter and St. Paul), a
parish, in the union of Wycombe, hundred of Lewknor, county of Oxford, 7 miles (W. N. W.) from Wycombe; containing 1334 inhabitants. The parish is
situated on the road from London to Oxford, through
Wycombe. The village, which consists only of a few
scattered houses, is on one of the highest points of the
Chiltern hills. The manufacture of common chairs is
carried on to a considerable extent, principally for the
London market. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the
gift of the Lord Chancellor; income, £135. The
church was restored in 1847-8, and has a new east
window of painted glass; it contains monuments to
two members of the Morley family, who distinguished
themselves in the wars of Edward III. and Richard II.
There is a place of worship for Independents. Twelve
children are educated, clothed, and apprenticed for a
rent-charge of £41, the bequest of B. Tipping in the
year 1675.Stokenham (St. Barnabas)STOKENHAM (St. Barnabas), a parish, in the
union of Kingsbridge, hundred of Coleridge, Stanborough and Coleridge, and S. divisions of Devon, 5¼
miles (E. by S.) from Kingsbridge) containing 1619
inhabitants. It comprises 5225 acres, of which 275 are
common or waste. The living is a vicarage, with the
livings of Chivelstone and Sherford annexed, valued in
the king's books at £48. 7. 8½ and in the patronage of
the Crown; net income, £625; impropriator, A. H.
Holdsworth, Esq. The great tithes of Stokenham have
been commuted for £311, and the small for £360; there
is a vicarial glebe of one acre. The church has an
ancient wooden screen, and contains memorials to several
families. The manor of Stokenham-Priory belonged to
Sir Gregory Norton, one of the regicides.Stokesay (St. John the Baptist)STOKESAY (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in
the union of Ludlow, hundred of Munslow, S. division
of Salop, 7 miles (N. W.) from Ludlow, on the road to
Shrewsbury; containing 556 inhabitants. It comprises
about 5000 acres, of which 1250 are in wood; the remainder is arable and pasture in equal portions. The
scenery is very beautiful, the parish lying in a rich vale.
The river Onny passes through. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at
£4. 13. 4.; patron, R. Marston, Esq. The great tithes
have been commuted for £241, and the vicarial for
£350; the glebe contains 5¼ acres, with a house. A
school is partly supported by an endowment of £7. 8.
per annum, and partly by the Earl of Craven.Stokesby (St. Andrew)STOKESBY (St. Andrew), a parish, in the East
and West Flegg incorporation, hundred of East Flegg,
E. division of Norfolk, 2 miles (E.) from Acle, by the
ferry across the Bure; containing, with Herringby, 366
inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the south and
west by the navigable river Bure, and on the north by
the stream Mockfleet: it is chiefly fertile marsh land,
comprising in the whole about 2000 acres. The living is
a rectory, with that of Herringby united, valued in the
king's books at £13. 6. 8., and in the gift of the Rev.
Lucas Worship: the tithes have been commuted for
£522.16., and the glebe contains 46¾ acres. The church
is chiefly in the decorated style, with a square embattled
tower, and contains memorials to the family of Clere.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The poor
have a right of pasturage on twenty acres of marsh
allotted at the inclosure.Stokesley (St. Peter)STOKESLEY (St. Peter), a market-town and
parish, and the head of a
union, in the W. division of
the liberty of Langbaurgh,
N. riding of York; containing, with the townships of
Busby, Easby, and Newby,
2734 inhabitants, of whom
2310 are in Stokesley township, 41 miles (N. by W.)
from York, and 242 (N. by
W.) from London. This
place anciently belonged to the family of Fitz-Richard,
one of whom, in the reign of Henry III., obtained from
that monarch the grant of a weekly market, and of an
annual fair to be held on the eve of the translation of
St. Thomas the Martyr. The manor is now the property of Lieut.-Col. Robert Hildyard, but a large portion
of the land belongs to others. The town is pleasantly
situated on the road from Northallerton to Whitby,
nearly in the centre of the fertile vale of Cleveland, and
consists of one spacious street, extending from east to
west, along the north bank of the river Leven. The
houses are chiefly modern, and of handsome appearance.
Till lately, the inhabitants were partly employed in the
linen manufacture, which was carried on to a considerable extent, and in the spinning of yarn and the manufacture of patent thread, for which an extensive mill
was erected in 1823; this mill has been lately taken
down, and the site converted into a garden. The market is on Saturday: fairs for cattle are held on the
Saturdays immediately before Palm and Trinity Sundays, and on every alternate Saturday between those
periods; statute-fairs are held on the Saturdays next
preceding May-day and Martinmas. Petty-sessions are
held here for the division, on the second and fourth
Saturdays in every month; and the town has been
made a polling-place for the North riding of the county.
The powers of the county debt-court of Stokesley, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of
Stokesley and Guisborough.
Arms.The parish comprises about 5960 acres, of which
1744a. lr. 28p., are in Stokesley township. The lands
are rich, and generally level, forming an extensive plain
adorned with thriving plantations, and enlivened by the
winding streams of the Leven and Tame, which abound
with trout of excellent quality. The manor-house, the
residence of Lieut.-Col. Hildyard, is a handsome mansion pleasantly situated near the church. The living
is a rectory, with the curacy of Westerdale; it is
valued in the king's books at £30. 6. 10½., and is in the
patronage of the Archbishop of York. The tithes of
Stokesley have been commuted for £956, and the glebe
comprises 76 acres; the rector's tithes in Westerdale
have been commuted for £250, and the glebe comprises
11 acres. The church was rebuilt, with the exception of
the tower, in 1771. There are places of worship for
Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans.
The free grammar school was founded by John Preston,
Esq., who in 1814 bequeathed £2000 for its endowment;
the validity of the bequest was disputed by the next of
kin, and the funds consequently accumulated to £4000.
The school-house was rebuilt by the trustees, in 1833,
and the school has been since conducted by a head
master who has a salary of £80, and an under master
who has a salary of £50. It affords gratuitous instruction in the classics, and in writing and arithmetic, to
about twenty-seven boys; and the building, which is
in the early English style of architecture, is well adapted
to its purpose. A national school is supported by subscription. The West Langbaurgh savings' bank was
established here in 1823, and has deposits to the amount
of £17,000, belonging to several charitable societies and
about 600 individuals. There is also a dispensary for
the relief of the sick poor. The union of Stokesley comprises twenty-eight parishes and places, containing a
population of 9046.Stonall, OverSTONALL,OVER, a chapelry district, in the parish
of Shenstone, union of Lichfield, S. division of the
hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford,
6 miles (S. W.) from Lichfield; containing 722 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income,
£100; patron, the Vicar of Shenstone. There is a
parsonage-house.Stonar (St. Augustine)STONAR (St. Augustine), a parish, in the union of
the Isle of Thanet, hundred of Ringslow, or Isle of
Thanet, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent,
¾ of a mile (N. by E.) from Sandwich; containing 52
inhabitants. It is supposed that the site of this place,
in the time of the Romans, was entirely covered with
water. On the sea retiring from Ebbs-fleet, at an early
period, Stonar became a common landing-place, and, in
consequence, a town of considerable importance; in
1090 it had so increased, that the seignory was claimed
by the citizens of London as subject to that port. But
after sustaining repeated injuries from the Danes and
other marauders, as well as from inundations of the sea,
it began about the reign of Richard II. to decay; and
Leland, who wrote in the time of Henry VIII., describes
it as " sometime a pretty town," but then "having only
the ruin of the church, which some people call Old Sandwich." The parish comprises 700 acres. Salt-works
are carried on, the produce of which serves all the purposes of bay-salt. The living is a rectory, valued in the
king's books at £3. 6. 8.; but no presentation has lately
been made.Stondon, LowerSTONDON, LOWER, a hamlet, in the parish of
Shitlington, poor-law union of Ampthill, hundred of
Clifton, county of Bedford, S miles (S. by E.) from
Shefford; containing 137 inhabitants.Stondon-Massey.—See Standon-Massey.STONDON-MASSEY.—See Standon-Massey.Stondon, Upper (All Saints)STONDON, UPPER (All Saints), a parish, in the
union of Biggleswade, hundred of Clifton, county of
Bedford, 2¾ miles (S.) from Shefford; containing 38
inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's
books at £6. 6. 10½.; net income, £125; patrons, J.
and T. Smith, Esqrs. The tithes were commuted for
land and corn-rents in 1820.Stone (St. John the Baptist)STONE (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the
union and hundred of Aylesbury, county of Buckingham, 3 miles (W. S. W.) from Aylesbury; containing
809 inhabitants. It is separated from Waddesdon by
the river Thame, and comprises 2464a. 2r. 26p.,of which
about two-thirds are arable, and the rest pasture. The
manufacture of lace, which was formerly more considerable, is still carried on. The living is a discharged
vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9, and in the
gift of the Astronomical Society; net income, £149: the
tithes were commuted for land and money payments in
1776. The church is partly Norman, and partly in the
early English style. There are two places of worship
for Methodists.StoneSTONE, a chapelry, in the parish, and Upper division of the hundred, of Berkeley, union of Thornbury, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 3 miles
(S. by W.) from Berkeley; containing 296 inhabitants.
The road from Gloucester to Bristol passes through the
village. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income,
£80; patron, the Vicar of Berkeley; appropriators, the
Dean and Chapter of Bristol. The chapel, dedicated to
All Saints, is partly in the early and partly in the later
English style.Stone (St. Mary)STONE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Tenterden, hundred of Oxney, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 6½ miles (S. E.) from Tenterden; containing 467 inhabitants. The parish comprises 3042
acres, of which 150 are in wood. The Grand Military
canal passes through. A fair for pedlery is held on
Holy-Thursday. The living is a vicarage, valued in the
king's books at £8. 14. 4½., and in the gift of the Dean
and Chapter of Canterbury: the great tithes have been
commuted for £263; and the vicarial for £440, with a
glebe of 5½ acres. The church is a spacious and handsome structure.Stone (St. Michael)STONE (St. Michael), a market-town and parish,
and the head of a union, in the N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 7
miles (N. by W.) from Stafford, and 141 (N. W. by N.)
from London; containing 8349 inhabitants, of whom
7437 are in the town. The name is traditionally reported to be derived from a monumental heap of stones
placed, according to the custom of the Saxons, over the
bodies of the princes Wulford and Rufinus, who had
been slain here by their father Wulf here, King of Mercia,
on account of their conversion to Christianity. The
king himself becoming subsequently a convert, founded
a college of secular canons in 670, dedicating it to his
children, in expiation of his crime; and to this institution the town is supposed to owe its origin. The canons
having been expelled during the war with the Danes,
the college fell into the possession of some nuns, who
established themselves here. No mention is made of
it in Domesday book, but it appears to have been
granted by Henry I. to Robert de Stafford, who displaced the nuns, and made it a cell to the monastery of
Kenilworth, which it continued to be until 1260, when
it became independent, with the exception of paying a
small sum annually to that monastery, and an acknowledgment of its patronage. Its revenue was valued, at
the Dissolution, at about £119. The remains adjoin the
churchyard, and consist of one perfect arch and rather
extensive cloisters.The town is situated on the road from London to
Liverpool, and on the eastern bank of the river Trent,
over which is a bridge to Walton. It is paved, and well
supplied with water; and consists of one long street,
with several others branching off. Races are occasionally
held in the neighbourhood, and assemblies sometimes in
the town. The prevailing branch of manufacture is that
of shoes; there are two considerable breweries, and on
a stream which falls into the Trent are four corn-mills.
The Trent and Mersey canal passes through the town,
running parallel for several miles with the river; and the
principal office of the company of proprietors of this
prosperous and important navigation is fixed here. The
market, which is on Tuesday, was, about 70 years since,
a great mart for corn; but it has very much declined,
owing, probably, to the rapidly-increasing population and
additional markets in the neighbouring Potteries. The
fairs are on the Tuesday after Midlent, on Shrove-Tuesday, Whit-Tuesday, and August 5th. Petty-sessions are
held by the county magistrates every fortnight; and two
constables are annually chosen at the court leet of the
lord of the manor. The powers of the county debt-court
of Stone, established in 1847, extend over nearly the
whole of the registration-district of Stone.The parish comprises the townships of Aston with
Burston and Stoke, Darlaston, Hilderstone, Stone, and
part of Beech; the chapelry of Fulford; and the liberties of Kibblestone, Normicott, Stallington, Tittensor,
and Walton. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the
patronage of the Crown; net income, £214. The church
is a modern structure in the later English style, with a
square tower; the altar-piece is a fine painting by Sir
William Beechey of St. Michael binding Satan, and
the church contains a marble monument surmounted by
a bust to the memory of Earl St. Vincent, the celebrated
naval commander, who was born at Meaford, in the
parish, and was buried in the churchyard. The old
church fell down about the middle of the last century,
owing, it is said, to the undermining of one of the pillars
in digging a vault: no interment is allowed to take place
within the walls of the present edifice. An additional
church has been erected within the last few years, which
is in the gift of the Rev. Charles Simeon's Trustees; it
is dedicated to Christ. At Aston, Fulford, and Hilderstone are other incumbencies. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans of the Old and
New Connexions. The free school was founded, and
endowed with a small income, by the Rev. Thomas
Alleyn, in 1558. A bequest of £100 per annum, to ten
widows, charged on the Stone Park estate, is paid by
Earl Granville, though void by the Mortmain act; and
there are some other small charitable endowments. The
poor-law union of Stone comprises ten parishes or places,
and contains a population of 18,837: the workhouse
is a large and handsome brick building near the town.
In a field now allotted to the poor, at a short distance
from the town, the army under the Duke of Cumberland
was encamped in 1745, expecting the Pretender to pass
this way, but he avoided them by taking the route by
Worcester, 2¼ miles (S. E. by E.) from Kidderminster;
containing 469 inhabitants. Stone was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Chaddesley-Corbet; it consists of
2326 acres, and is intersected by the road between Kidderminster and Bromsgrove. The spinning of yarn,
connected with the manufactures of Kidderminster, is
carried on in two mills. The living is a vicarage endowed with the rectorial tithes, in the patronage of the
Crown, and valued in the king's books at £15; net income, £827. The old church, taken down in 1830, was
replaced in 1831-2 by the present structure, and a spire
has since been added by the incumbent, the Rev. John
Peel, who has also presented a beautiful painted window
for the chancel; the cost of both exceeding 400 guineas.
The free school, founded pursuant to the will of the
Rev. Mr. Hill, B.D., is endowed with 24 acres of land,
let for £32 per annum. The parish possesses some land
near Stourbridge, which, containing clay for making firebricks, &c, was let upon a lease of 14 years, and produced upon an average nearly £700 per annum; but the
lease having expired, and the mines having been worked
out, the surface rent is now not more than £40 a year.
This sum, with the dividends of about £5000 three per
cent, stock, is applied to repairing the church, and to
charitable purposes.Stone-EastonSTONE-EASTON, a parish, in the union of Clutton, hundred of Chewton, E. division of Somerset,
14 miles (S. W.) from Bath; containing 430 inhabitants.
It comprises 1374a. 2r. 16p., about 100 acres of which
are arable, and the remainder pasture. The living is annexed with that of Emborrow to the vicarage of Chewton Mendip: the tithes have been commuted for £36
and £84, the former sum payable to the impropriator.Stone-Near-Dartford (St. Mary)STONE-NEAR-DARTFORD (St. Mary), a parish,
in the union of Dartford, hundred of Axton, Dartford, and Wilmington, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone,
W. division of Kent, 2 miles (E. by N.) from Dartford;
containing 751 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on
the north by the Thames, and comprises 3000 acres, of
which 454 are in wood. Stone Castle, to the south of
the Dovor road, is said to be one of the 115 castles which
were preserved entire in accordance with an express
stipulation to that effect between Stephen and prince
Henry. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's
books at £26. 10., and in the gift of the Bishop of
Rochester: the tithes have been commuted for £929;
there is a glebe-house, and the glebe contains 7½ acres.
The church is a peculiarly fine specimen of the later
English style, and contains several ancient stalls, remarkable for the elegance of their workmanship, and the
delicacy of their pillars, which are of crown marble.Stone-Next-FavershamSTONE-NEXT-FAVERSHAM, a parish, in the union
and hundred of Faversham, Upper division of the lathe
of Scray, E. division of Kent, 2½ miles (W. by N.) from
Faversham; containing 86 inhabitants. It comprises
745a. 2r. 4p., of which 362 acres are arable, 293 meadow
and pasture, 50 woodland, 21 in hop plantations, and 16
orchard. The living is a perpetual curacy: there are
but slight remains of the ancient church, which has long
been in ruins.Stonebeck, DownSTONEBECK, DOWN, a township, in the chapelry
of Middlesmoor, parish of Kirkby-Malzeard, union
of Pateley-Bridge, Lower division of the wapentake
of Claro, W. riding of York, 14 miles (W. by S.) from
Ripon; containing 429 inhabitants. It is situated on
the southern side of the valley of the river Nidd, and
comprises 14,710 acres, of which 8650 are common or
moor-land, 5592 meadow and pasture, 286 arable, and
182 wood. A valuable lead-mine is wrought, and the
substratum of the township contains much ironstone,
but it is not worked: there is also a quarry of marble.
John Yorke, Esq., is lord of the manor; and in the
centre of the township is Gowthwaite Hall, the ancient
residence of his family, presenting a venerable appearance, and now inhabited by three families who hold farms
under Mr. Yorke. The impropriate tithes have been
commuted for £54, and the vicarial for £44. A neat
district church was built at Ramsgill in 1842, near the
site of an old chapel, of which the east end is preserved;
the cost of its erection, £686, was raised by subscription,
as was also a fund of £790 for endowment and repairs.
The living is in the gift of the Vicar of Kirkby-Malzeard.
Gowthwaite Hall was the birthplace of William Craven,
D.D., master of St. John's College, Cambridge, an eminent scholar and divine, who died in 1815, aged 84.
At Ramsgill was born Eugene Aram, executed at York,
in 1757, for the murder of Daniel Clarke.Stonebeck, UpperSTONEBECK, UPPER, a township, in the chapelry
of Pateley-Bridge, Lower division of the wapentake of
Claro, W. riding of York, 16 miles (W. by N.) from
Ripon; containing 373 inhabitants. The township includes the village of Middlesmoor, and comprises 14,160
acres, of which 9180 are common or moorland, 4874
meadow and pasture, 91 arable, and 15 wood, the whole
the property of John Yorke, Esq. The surface is boldly
undulated, and the lofty height of Great Whernside
borders on the township. Lead and coal mines are
wrought, employing about 50 persons. The vicarial
tithes have been commuted for £42; and the impropriate for £64. 10., payable to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here is a cavern called Eglin's Hole: when first
discovered, it presented a curious appearance, the roof
being hung with stalactites, which by candlelight had a
very striking effect; but in consequence of its being left
open to the public, the roof has been stripped of these
appendages, and the cave now possesses little attraction.StoneferrySTONEFERRY, a township, in the parish of Sutton,
union of Sculcoates, Middle division of the wapentake
of Holderness, E. riding of York, 1½ mile (N. by E.)
from Hull; containing 237 inhabitants. It occupies the
east bank of the river Hull, and consists of many scattered
farms. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.
Ann Waters, in 1720, bequeathed property for the erection and endowment of almshouses for seven widows or
old maids, who each receive £13 per annum.StonegraveSTONEGRAVE, a parish, in the union of Helmsley,
wapentake of Ryedale, N. riding of York; containing,
with the townships of West Ness, and East Newton
with Laysthorpe, 351 inhabitants, of whom 194 are in
Stonegrave township, 4¾ miles (S. E. by S.) from Helmsley. The township consists of about 900 acres, in equal
portions of arable and pasture; the soil is rich, the surface undulated, and the scenery picturesque, and agreeably interspersed with wood. Stone of good quality is
quarried for building and for burning into lime. The
living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £33. 6. 8.,
and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £495.
The tithes of the townships of Stonegrave and West Ness
were commuted for land and money payments in 1776.
The church, situated on the declivity of a hill, is partly
in the decorated and partly in the later English style,
and has a square tower.Stoneham, North (St. Nicholas)STONEHAM, NORTH (St. Nicholas), a parish, in
the union of South Stoneham, hundred of Mansbridge, Southampton and S. divisions of the county of
Southampton, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Southampton;
containing 871 inhabitants. It comprises 5250 acres,
consisting of about equal portions of arable, pasture, and
woodland. The Itchen navigation and the London and
South-Western railway pass through. The living is a
rectory, valued in the king's books at £21. 9. 7.; net
income, £536; patron, John Fleming, Esq. The church
contains the remains of the celebrated admiral, Lord
Hawke, to whose memory there is a superb monument
of white and variegated marble, bearing the family arms
and appropriate emblems, with a sculptured representation of his victory over the French admiral, Conflans, in
Qniberon bay. Two miles south of the village is an old
mansion which was the residence of Lord Hawke.Stoneham, South (St. Mary)STONEHAM, SOUTH (St. Mary), a parish, and
the head of a union, partly in the county of the town of
Southampton, but chiefly in the hundred of Mansbridge, Southampton and S. divisions of the county of
containing, with the tythings of Allington, Barton, Bittern, Eastley, Pollack, Portswood, and Shamblehurst,
3763 inhabitants. It is intersected by the London and
South-Western railway, and by the river Itchen, which
is navigable from Winchester to its influx into the
Southampton Water. At Wood Mills, blocks and pumps
were formerly manufactured for the supply of the royal
navy; the factory was destroyed by fire some years
since, and there is now a flour-mill upon its site. The
living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12;
net income, £500; patron and appropriator, the Rector
of St. Mary's, Southampton. A district church dedicated
to St. James was lately erected at West End, containing
610 sittings, 380 of which are free; the living was augmented in 1841 to £150 per annum out of the Canonry
and Prebend Suspension Fund. At Portswood is another
incumbency. The poor-law union comprises 9 parishes
or places, and contains a population of 12,692. At
Swathling is a mineral spring.Stonehouse (St. Cyril)STONEHOUSE (St. Cyril), a parish, in the union
of Stroud, Lower division of the hundred of Whitstone, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 3 miles
(W.) from Stroud; containing 2711 inhabitants. The
parish forms a pleasing and fertile vale, situated on the
road from Gloucester to Bath, and intersected by the
river Frome and the Stroudwater canal. It comprises
1520a. 2r. 1p. The surface is in some places varied with
elevations, of which the substratum is limestone; the
soil in other portions is loamy, and favourable to the
growth of apples for cider. The cloth manufacture appears to have been introduced at an early period, as, in
the reign of Henry VIII., a fulling-mill in the parish
formed part of the possessions of the abbey of Gloucester.
During the 17th century, and the greater part of the
18th, the place was celebrated for its scarlet cloth, which
was considered the finest in the kingdom; and its
clothing establishments still rank among the most extensive and flourishing in the district. Here is a station
of the Bristol and Birmingham railway, and the Swindon
line branches off at Stonehouse in a south-eastern direction. Fairs are held on May 1st and October 11th.
The living is a vicarage, endowed with the rectorial tithes,
and valued in the king's books at £22; net income,
£510: it is in the patronage of the Crown. The church,
though much modernised, retains portions of its original
Norman style, of which the north door is a good specimen. At Cain's-Cross is a separate incumbency. There
are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans.
John Elliott and others, in 1774, subscribed £612. 10.
for establishing a free school in the village of Stonehouse,
and another in the hamlet of Ebley; two rooms were
built in 1831, and the income arising from the endowment is £47 per annum.Stonehouse, East (St. George)STONEHOUSE, EAST (St. George), a town and
parish, forming a union of itself, in the borough of
Devonport, and suburbs of Plymouth, Roborough and
S. divisions of Devon; containing 9712 inhabitants.
This place, originally called Hipperston, was in the reign
of Henry III. the property of Joel de Stonehouse, from
whom it derives its present name. It contains several
good streets, lighted with gas, and one of which is paved.
The houses are of neat and respectable appearance, and
the inhabitants are well supplied with water from the
reservoir of the Devonport Water Company in the parish
of Stoke-Damerall, and from a fine stream brought into
the town under an act passed in the 35th of Elizabeth.
A very handsome quadrangle of Grecian architecture,
inclosing the new church of St. Paul, was lately commenced in the south-western part of the town. The
communication with Devonport is by means of a stone
bridge across Stonehouse creek, erected at the joint
expense of the Earl of Mount-Edgcumbe and Sir John
St. Aubyn; the tolls are let, and the income derived
from them is very considerable. Higher up the creek,
to the north, a bridge has been erected affording a passage
to Stoke. On Crimhill Point, which commands, perhaps,
the finest prospect of Mount-Edgcumbe, is the picturesque ruin of a blockhouse erected in the time of Elizabeth, over which is a modern battery occupied by the
Royal Marine Artillery. At a short distance is Eastern
King's battery, commanding the mouth of the Hamoaze:
there is also a fort for the protection of the creek. The
three towns of Stonehouse, Plymouth, and Devonport
are brilliantly lighted from works in this parish, and the
gasometer presents a conspicuous object from the road
between Plymouth and Devonport. In Stonehouse Pool
are convenient quays for merchant vessels; and in addition to the general business arising from the maritime
relations of the town, and from its naval and military
establishments, are some large manufactories for varnish
used in the dockyards, for soap, and tallow. A customary market is held on Wednesday, in a convenient
building in Edgcumbe-street; there are fairs on the first
Wednesday in May, and the second Wednesday in
September.Among the most important public establishments is
the Royal Naval Hospital, for the reception of wounded
seamen and marines, opened in 1762. It is situated on
an eminence near the creek, and comprises ten buildings,
each containing six wards, each ward affording accommodation for about twenty patients, with a chapel, storeroom, operating-room, small-pox ward, and dispensary.
The buildings form a quadrangle, ornamented on three
sides with a piazza; and the entire edifice, with its spacious lawn, is said to occupy an area of twenty-four
acres. The Royal Marine Barracks, on the west shore of
Mill bay, comprise a handsome range of buildings forming an oblong square, and are adapted for the accommodation of about 1000 men. The new Victualling Establishment at Crimhill Point is upon a vast scale; it is
approached through a granite gateway and double colonnade of singular beauty, and the various ranges are
surprisingly magnificent. Among the more remarkable
features of the work are, the removal of 300,000 cubic
yards of limestone rock, and the erection of a granite sea
wall 1500 feet in length, the foundation of which was
laid by means of a diving-bell. The water for the
brewery is supplied at the rate of 350 tuns per day, from
the Plymouth Leat; it first runs into a reservoir capable
of receiving 2000 tuns, and is thence conveyed through
iron pipes into a second basin of 6000 tuns.Stonehouse was formerly a chapelry, in the parish of
St. Andrew, Plymouth. The living is a perpetual curacy;
net income, £197; patron, the Vicar of St. Andrew's;
impropriators, the Corporation of Plymouth. The church
was built when the old chapel was taken down, about
1790, and is a plain edifice containing 1100 sittings.
An additional church in the early English style, with a
tower, was erected in 1831, at an expense of £2899, and
was consecrated, and dedicated to St. Paul, in 1833; it
contains 1000 sittings, of which 460 are free. The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Incumbent
of Stonehouse, A church district has been since formed,
named St. Peter's: the living is in the gift of the Crown
and the Bishop of Exeter, alternately. There are places
of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, and
Knightlow, S. division of the county of Warwick,
4 miles (S.) from Coventry; containing 1371 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Stan-lei, from the
rocky nature of the soil, was in former times distinguished for its abbey, founded in 1154 by Henry II., for
monks of the Cistercian order, who were removed hither
from Radmore, in the county of Stafford. In 1245 the
abbey suffered greatly from an accidental fire, and was
subsequently repaired by Robert de Hockele, the sixteenth abbot, who in 1300 built the gateway tower and
entrance, now remaining entire. The revenue of the
establishment, at the Dissolution, was valued at £178.
2. 5. The parish is crossed by the London and Birmingham railroad, and comprises by admeasurement an
area of about 9700 acres, of which the substratum
abounds with good red-sandstone, though none is quarried: the rateable annual value of the railway property
in the parish is £1500. The village is intersected by
the river Sowe, which, passing under an ancient stone
bridge of eight arches, unites with the Avon about half a
mile beyond. Stoneleigh Abbey, the elegant seat of
Lord Leigh, stands on the site of the monastery, in a
park well stocked with deer, and enriched with a profusion of stately oaks. Of the monastic buildings, the
principal remains are found in the cellars and domestic
offices of the modern mansion, consisting chiefly of
groined arches resting upon massive pillars, and of
details in the latest and most finished period of the
Norman style. A market and a fair, granted to the
monks by Henry II., were formerly held in the village.
The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at
£16. 15. 5., and in the patronage of the Crown; impropriator, Lord Leigh: the great tithes have been commuted for £533, and the small for £470; the glebe of
the vicar consists of 3 acres. The church is a venerable
structure, partly Norman, with a low massive tower,
strengthened by angular buttresses, and surmounted by
another tower of smaller dimensions. Near the altar
are, a splendid monument to Lady Alice Leigh, Duchess
of Dudley, and a recumbent figure of stone which was
recently found in an upright position when digging the
foundation for the handsome mausoleum of the Leigh
family; the figure is supposed to represent Geoffrey de
Muschamp, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield in the
reign of John. A free school was established in 1708,
by Thomas, Lord Leigh, who endowed it with land;
and there are almshouses for five aged men and five
women, founded in 1576 by Dame Alice Leigh, whose
endowment is augmented with a portion of the Duchess
of Dudley's charity at Bidford.Stoneraise, with BrocklebankSTONERAISE, with Brocklebank, a township, in
the parish of Westward, union of Wigton, Allerdale ward below Derwent, W. division of the county of
Cumberland, 2¼ miles (S. S. E.) from Wigton; containing 617 inhabitants, of whom 446 are in Stoneraise.
In the township are the ruins of Old Carlisle, a considerable city, supposed by Horsley to have been the Olenacum
of the Notitia.Stonesby (St. Peter)STONESBY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of
Melton-Mowbray, hundred of Framland, N. division
of the county of Leicester, 7 miles (N. E.) from the
town of Melton-Mowbray; containing 283 inhabitants.
It comprises 1350 acres, of which 600 are arable, 25
woodland, and the remainder pasture. The living is a
discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at
£5. 0. 7½.; net income, £90; patron and impropriator,
R. Norman, Esq. The tithes of the commons were
commuted for land and annual money payments in
1780, under an inclosure act. An allotment of church
land yields £9. 9. per annum.Stonesfield (St. James)STONESFIELD (St. James), a parish, in the union
of Woodstock, hundred of Wootton, county of Oxford, 4 miles (W.) from Woodstock; containing 553
inhabitants. It comprises 938 acres, of which about
738 are arable, and 200 woodland. A large number of
the population are employed in slate-pits. The living is
a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at
£4. 19. 9½.; net income, £139; patron, the Duke of
Marlborough: the tithes were commuted for land and
corn-rents in 1801. There is a place of worship for
Wesleyans. Among the fossil remains of the oolite
limestone formation in the parish, bones of animals of
the opossum genus have been discovered.Stoney-Middleton.—See Middleton, Stoney.STONEY-MIDDLETON.—See Middleton, Stoney.
—And all places having a similar distinguishing prefix will
be found under the proper name. |
The Motown Story
By David Edwards and Mike Callahan
The Motown story is the story of Berry Gordy, Jr., who was born in Detroit Michigan on November
28, 1929. He was the seventh of eight children of Berry Gordy II and Bertha Gordy. His parents had
migrated to Detroit from Milledgeville, Georgia in 1922. His father ran a plastering contracting business
and his mother sold insurance and real estate; they also ran a grocery store and print shop. Berry
Gordy, Jr. dropped out of school after his junior year to become a professional boxer; he decided to get
out of the fight game at about the time the Army drafted him in 1951. During his stint in the Army, he
obtained his high school equivalency degree. In 1953, he married Thelma Coleman and in 1954 his first
child was born, a daughter Hazel Joy. They had two other children, named Berry IV and Terry, but were
divorced in 1959.
When Berry got out of the Army 1953, he opened a jazz-oriented record store called the 3-D Record
Mart that was financed by the Berry family. By 1955, the store had failed and Berry was working on the
Ford automobile assembly line. While working on the line, Berry constantly wrote songs, submitting
them to magazines, contests and singers. His first success as a songwriter came in 1957 when Jackie
Wilson recorded "Reet Petite", a song he, his sister Gwen and Billy Davis (under the pseudonym of
Tyran Carlo) had written. "Reet Petite" became a modest hit and netted Berry $1000 for the song. Over
the next two years he co-wrote four more hits for Wilson, "To Be Loved", "Lonely Teardrops", "That's
Why" and "I'll Be Satisfied". Berry later chose the title To Be Loved for his autobiography. Successful as a songwriter, Berry decided to produce his songs himself. His first production was titled
"Ooh Shucks" by the Five Stars, which was released on George Goldner's Mark X label in 1957. Gordy
had an extraordinary ability to recognize talent. In 1957 at a Detroit talent show, he saw a group the
Miracles and decided to record them. The Miracles consisted of Claudette Rogers, Ronnie White,
Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers and the lead singer William "Smokey" Robinson. Berry's first production for
the Miracles was an answer record to the Silhouettes "Get a Job," titled "Got a Job," which he leased to
Goldner for release on End records. The record got some airplay, but then died a quick death, as did
the Miracles follow-up on End titled "I Cry." In 1958, Berry produced a record by Eddie Holland titled
"You," which was leased to Mercury records. Also that year, Kudo Records issued 4 more Gordy
productions, two of which are significant to the Motown story: the first Marv Johnson release, titled "My
Baby O," and a Brian Holland (Eddie's brother) vocal, titled "Shock". With Smokey Robinson and the
Holland brothers, Berry had discovered three incredible songwriters and producers. Also in 1958, he produced a record by Herman Griffin titled "I Need You" on the H.O.B. label, which is
notable in that it was the first song to be published by Berry's publishing company called Jobete
(pronounced "jo-BET"), named after his three children, Hazel Joy [Jo], Berry IV[Be], and Terry [Te]. "I
Need You" was also the first record to credit the Rayber Voices, background singers named after Berry's
second wife, Raynoma, and himself. Gordy decided to take total control of his songs, so on January 12, 1959, he borrowed $800 from his
family's loan fund to start his own record label, called Tamla. He had originally wanted to call his label
"Tammy," after a Debbie Reynolds film, but that title was already taken. Tamla Records was located at
1719 Gladstone Street in Detroit, and the first release was Marv Johnson's "Come to Me" [Tamla 101]. The song was picked up by United Artists and it became a mid-sized hit. United Artists signed Marv
Johnson to a recording contract and Berry Gordy continued to produce him for that label. In 1959, Marv
Johnson's "You Got What It Takes" became his first production to break into the pop Top 10.
The third Miracles release was issued on a second label Berry formed, called Motown. The record was
called "Bad Girl" and was pressed in minuscule numbers before being leased to Chess records of
Chicago, where it was a moderate hit. In early 1960, Tamla released "Money" by Barrett Strong. Gordy
knew he had a hit, so he leased it to Anna Records who had a distribution agreement with Chess. Anna
Records was a Detroit-based company that was owned by Berry's sisters Anna and Gwen Gordy and
Billy Davis. The label operated from 1958 to 1961, when it was absorbed into Motown. "Money" was a
hit, reaching the #23 position, but more importantly, Barrett Strong joined Motown as a staff songwriter.
He stayed with Motown until 1973.
By the late 1950s, Detroit was perhaps the largest city in the United States that did not have a strong
independent record company. With the establishment of Motown, the local talent had an outlet, and they
starting showing up at the Motown offices. In 1960, a local girl singing group named the Primettes
auditioned for Gordy. He was impressed with the group, but asked them to finish school and then come
back. The Primettes came back to Motown after graduating, and were signed in January 1961. The
group's name was changed to the Supremes, and they had their first release on Tamla in April of 1961. In 1960, Gordy met singer Mary Wells at a club where she sang for him, and he suggested she come to
the office the next day. Berry signed her immediately and released a song she had written called "Bye
Bye Baby" in December of that year. Mary Wells proved to be the first real "star" for the label, with a long
string of pop hits. Berry discovered another singing group called the Distants, who changed their name
to the Temptations, and released their first record on a new subsidiary label called Miracle in 1961. Their
success was not to be as immediate as Mary Wells,' but it would eventually eclipse hers and be far
longer lasting.
Also in 1960, Gordy acquired the contract of a young Washington, DC-based singer named Marvin Gaye
from his brother-in-law, Harvey Fuqua. Harvey was the leader of the Moonglows, who had had several
hits for Chess before making some personnel changes in the late 1950s, and Gaye was a current
member of that group. Gaye's first record was "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" in 1961. He had
his first hit in 1962 with "Stubborn Kind of Fellow." Gaye was another performer whose road to fame was
marked by only moderate success for many years before finally becoming a huge 1970s star.
A common trivia question about Motown is, "What is the name of the first white group to record for
Motown?" The not-often-heard correct answer is "Nick and the Jaguars," a trio from Pontiac, Michigan
featuring drummer Nick Ferro and lead guitarist Marvin Weyer. Nick's dad, Johnny Ferro, brought the
group to Berry Gordy in 1959. They recorded instrumentals "Ich-I-Bon #1"/"Cool and Crazy" at the
Motown studio, and the tunes were released as a single on Tamla 5501 that year, before the normal
55500 Tamla series even got started. The first white vocal group was the Valadiers. This group was recommended to Berry Gordy by his pal
Jackie Wilson. The Valadiers had one very minor hit in "Greetings (This is Uncle Sam)" on the Miracle
label in 1961, and two other releases on the new Gordy subsidiary that was formed in 1962. The song
"Greetings (This is Uncle Sam)" became a bigger hit for the Monitors in 1966 on Motown's subsidiary
label, V.I.P., during the Vietnam war.
Motown producer Robert Bateman discovered the Marvelettes at a talent show at Inkster High School. In August 1961, Bateman and Brian Holland co-produced the Marvelettes' first record, "Please Mr.
Postman," and it became the first of Berry Gordy's records to reach the pop charts' #1 position. During
that same year, "Shop Around" by the Miracles became the first Tamla record to sell a million copies, as
it reached the #2 position.
In 1959, a young blues singer named Martha Reeves met Mickey Stevenson, the Head of the Motown
A&R department, and he hired her as a secretary. When Mary Wells missed a recording session,
Martha called a vocal group she was in, the Del-Phis, to fill in. They recorded "There He Is (At My
Door)," which was released on the Melody subsidiary. The record was a flop, but the group continued to
be used for background vocal work. In 1962, with a new name the Vandellas, they backed Marvin Gaye
on his hit "Stubborn Kind of Fellow". In 1963, production of the group was given over to Brian and Eddie
Holland with their new partner Lamont Dozier. The Holland-Dozier-Holland production of "Come and
Get These Memories" released in early 1963 (as Martha and the Vandellas on the Gordy subsidiary) is
often credited as being the beginning of "The Motown Sound". Ronnie White, a member of the Miracles, arranged for an audition for an eleven year old, blind singer
named Stevland Morris. Gordy was impressed with his talent, and said the boy was a "wonder". Signed
to a Motown contract, Morris, renamed "Little Stevie Wonder," had a live recording from the Regal
theater in Chicago released titled "Fingertips, Part 2" which reached the #1 spot on the pop charts in
1963. [An interesting thing happens on the record near the end, when a band member yells out "What
key, what key?" The band backing Stevie thought he was finished and left the stage, and a second
band was taking their place, when Stevie, responding to the audience applause, came back out for a
short reprise. As he started playing his harmonica, the new band members didn't know what key the
song was in, so in desperation yelled out for it.] The album containing "Fingertips, Part 2" [Tamla 240]
titled 12 Year Old Genius became the first Motown album to reach the number 1 spot on the pop
album charts. Berry Gordy formed a jazz subsidiary called Workshop Jazz in 1962. The formation of the label was not
because Berry thought he could sell many jazz records; the failure of his 3-D Record Mart had shown
him that. He established the label in order to convince the most talented jazz musicians in Detroit to play
on his pop music sessions, and Berry enticed them with promises of album releases on the Workshop
Jazz label. Gordy knew that even the most successful jazz album sales would be minuscule compared
to the numbers he could generate in the popular music field. But Berry kept his promise to the
musicians, and the 11 albums released on the label are some of the rarest albums on any Motown label.
In 1963, Berry met a group that had released their first single in 1954 when they were called the Four
Aims. By 1956, when they released a single on Chess, the group had changed its name to the Four
Tops. Initially, Gordy was going to record them on his Workshop Jazz subsidiary, and an album was
prepared for that label. This album has been the subject of much speculation over the years. Titled
Breaking Though with the Four Tops, it is pictured on an early Motown inner sleeve. Whether the
album was ever released is subject to debate; if it was, it would certainly be the most valuable Motown
collectable in existence. The Four Tops were quickly switched to the Motown label and turned over to
Holland-Dozier-Holland for production. "Baby I Need Your Loving" in August 1964 became their first
chart hit. Any thought of more jazz recordings died with the success of that record. Gordy had established the foundation for the success of Motown for many years to come. With the
Miracles, Four Tops, Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Supremes (still hitless to this point) and the
Temptations, he had 6 of the best vocal groups on record. Added to these groups were solo singers
Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Mary Wells. With himself, Mickey Stevenson, Smokey Robinson, and
Holland-Dozier-Holland, he had proven songwriters and producers who knew how to make popular
record hits. No story about Motown would be complete without talking about the Funk Brothers. They were the core
of backing musicians that played on almost every Motown recording in the 1960s. The bass player was
the incomparable James Jamerson. The drummer was Benny (Papa Zita) Benjamin, who was so good
that Motown had to use two drummers (Richard "Pistol" Allen and Uriel Jones) to replace him when he
died in 1968 of a stroke. Allen and Jones had been with Motown for some time, and in fact on some
songs (Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" for example), all three can be heard. The core
members of the Funk Brothers were about a dozen musicians: Benjamin, Jamerson, Allen, Jones,
guitarist Robert White, keyboardist Earl Van Dyke, trombonist Paul Riser, guitarist Eddie Willis,
bandleader Joe Hunter, guitarist Joe Messina, percussionist Jack Ashford, vibraphonist Jack Brokensha,
percussionist Eddie (Bongo) Brown, and keyboardist Johnny Griffith. In the early '60s, Gordy paid each
of them between twenty five and fifty thousand dollars a year to keep them at the company; they were
Motown's "most valuable players" and the foundation of the distinctive Motown sound.
For many years, Smokey Robinson was the only artist that Gordy would allow to produce his own work. Although it certainly wasn't a hard and fast rule, in general Berry assigned specific artists to specific
producers. Smokey produced Mary Wells, the Temptations and the Miracles. Holland-Dozier-Holland
produced the Four Tops and the Supremes. Mickey Stevenson produced Marvin Gaye and the
Marvelettes. Clarence Paul produced Stevie Wonder. Martha and the Vandellas were produced by both
Mickey Stevenson and Holland-Dozier-Holland. Other Motown producers included Henry Cosby, Harvey
Fuqua, Joe Hunter, Earl Van Dyke, and Johnny Griffith. Berry also produced many of his artists on
occasion. In 1963, Motown had 6 records in the top 10, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Mickey's
Monkey" by the Miracles, "Pride and Joy" by Marvin Gaye, "Fingertips Part 2" by Stevie Wonder, and
"Heat Wave" and "Quicksand" by Martha and the Vandellas .
Technically, Motown progressed through the years by putting new equipment in the hands of the
engineers and producers. Until late 1964, masters were recorded on three tracks. Track one was for
basic rhythm, track two the "sweetening" (strings, brass, etc.), and track three was for the vocals, which
were overdubbed after the instrumental parts had been recorded to everyone's satisfaction. Mixdowns,
whether mono or stereo, were done by the engineers, with the producers having little input at this point.
In autumn, 1964, Motown progressed to eigh |
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Featured ArticleStudy Questions Benefit of Surgery in Some Men with Early-Stage Prostate CancerLong-awaited results from a U.S. clinical trial indicate that, in men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, surgery did not improve survival or decrease the risk of dying from prostate cancer. After 12 years of follow-up, there was no difference in overall or prostate cancer-specific survival between men randomly assigned to radical prostatectomy and those assigned to watchful waiting, observation with palliative treatment if the disease begins to progress.Dr. Timothy Wilt of the Veterans Affairs Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research in Minneapolis, MN, presented the findings from the trial, called PIVOT, at the American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting on May 17.Several researchers cautioned that reaching firm conclusions will have to await publication of the results in a peer-reviewed journal, particularly when it comes to parsing any differences between patient subgroups. And because the trial was substantially smaller than originally planned, it may lack the statistical power to provide confidence in some of the findings, other experts said.The trial began in 1994 and enrolled 731 men 75 years of age or younger who had been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. The majority of the cancers were detected based on a PSA test, and all men in the trial had a life expectancy of at least 10 years.Although overall survival and prostate cancer-specific survival were nearly the same in both groups, Dr. Wilt explained, both outcomes were slightly better in men who received surgery. The absolute differences between the two groups, however, were less than 3 percent.The finding that surgery offered no survival benefit compared with observation was statistically strongest for men with a PSA level of 10 or less or whose cancer was classified as low risk based on factors that included PSA level, Gleason score, and disease stage. Less than 6 percent of these men died of prostate cancer, and men in the watchful waiting group had slightly better (but not statistically significant) overall and prostate cancer-specific survival than men in the surgery group.We have to look carefully at the details of the various studies and try to ferret out which patients should be encouraged to have active surveillance and which should receive definitive treatment.—Dr. J. Erik Busby“We need to do additional analyses, but we feel confident that our results, overall, show no significant difference in all-cause or prostate cancer-specific mortality in all men enrolled,” Dr. Wilt said in an interview. The research team was also confident, that surgery offers no survival benefit for men with low-risk disease or a PSA level of 10 or below, he continued.Pouring through the StudiesThe PIVOT results come on the heels of findings from two other studies of what has been one of the most contentious issues in oncology: whether men with early-stage prostate cancer should undergo some form of definitive treatment, usually surgery or radiation.Earlier this month, results from a similar but smaller clinical trial conducted in three Scandinavian countries found that surgery improved survival in men with early-stage disease. Most of the men in that trial, however, had been diagnosed on the basis of symptoms, not PSA screening, which some experts said made the trial findings less relevant to patients in the United States. Meanwhile, recent findings from an observational study conducted at Johns Hopkins University showed excellent long-term survival in men with very low-risk prostate cancer who were treated with active surveillance, which is more aggressive than watchful waiting and entails regular check-ups and screening for disease progression with PSA tests and prostate biopsies.“We know that we over treat a lot of patients with early-stage prostate cancer,” said Dr. J. Erik Busby of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center. “But we have to look carefully at the details of the various studies and try to ferret out which patients should be encouraged to have active surveillance and which should receive definitive treatment.”For men with low-risk disease and a PSA score below 10, Dr. Peter Albertsen of the University of Connecticut Health Center said he believes the PIVOT trial results “strongly support active surveillance.”“In the past,” he continued, “we would look to operate on patients with a PSA [score of] less than 10.”Surgery did appear to improve survival in some subgroups based on PSA level and tumor-risk category but not those based on patient characteristics (e.g., age, race, other health conditions), Dr. Wilt noted. “But when you look at the different tumor-risk categories, it gets a bit muddier, and we have less confidence in any positive effect,” he cautioned.The strongest case for a benefit from surgery was in men with a PSA score above 10 and, to a lesser extent, in men with high-risk disease, but only for prostate cancer-specific mortality.Moving Forward with CautionThe PIVOT trial was initially designed to enroll 2,000 patients. Of the more than 5,000 men who were approached to participate in the trial, 4,300 declined—most, Dr. Wilt said, because they did not want their treatment determined by randomization. Even so, he stressed, PIVOT is the largest randomized trial ever conducted to compare surgery with watchful waiting.The bottom line is that treatment of early-stage prostate cancer must be individualized.—Dr. Julio Pow-SangThe trial data have to be interpreted cautiously, said Dr. Bhupinder Mann of NCI’s Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. With inadequate sample sizes, the risks of false-positive and false-negative findings increase, he noted. The survival benefit from surgery suggested in the high-risk group, which accounted for 20 percent of the trial population, “is certainly conceivable,” Dr. Mann said, and is consistent with current clinical practices and guidelines. With more patients in the high-risk group, the possibility of demonstrating a benefit from treatment—if a benefit truly existed—would have been higher and more reliable, he added. But because of the study’s size, “it’s hard to have confidence” in either the positive or the negative results.Based on the available data, as long as the men have a life expectancy of 10 years or greater, surgery or radiation would still be the preferred first-line treatment in most men with a PSA level higher than 10 or with high-risk disease, said Dr. Julio Pow-Sang of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, FL.But even in men for whom surgery is not the preferred first-line treatment, the situation is a bit murky. PIVOT and the recent Scandinavian trial compared surgery with watchful waiting, not with active surveillance. Based on the PIVOT results, Dr. Wilt said, “The data support watchful waiting rather than active surveillance or early intervention with surgery for most men with early-stage prostate cancer, particularly for men with PSA values of 10 or less and those with low-risk disease.”In the United States, however, even active surveillance has been a tough sell to urologists and urologic oncologists for their patients with early-stage disease; many of these patients still undergo surgery after diagnosis. Given that backdrop, Drs. Albertsen and Busby agree, U.S. doctors are unlikely to recommend watchful waiting to many patients.“Most of us are a bit nervous with this approach,” Dr. Albertsen said. “We do not yet have confidence that we have not missed higher-grade disease on biopsy.”The bottom line, stressed Dr. Pow-Sang, is that treatment of early-stage prostate cancer must be individualized. “We know that intervention is good in selected men,” he said, “and that other men will do well without any intervention.”—Carmen Phillips
Cancer Research HighlightsCabozantinib Shrinks Tumors and Bone Metastases in Prostate and Other CancersIn a phase II clinical trial, the drug cabozantinib (or XL184) shrank tumors or halted their growth in patients with several types of solid tumors, including ovarian, liver, and prostate cancer. The drug also shrank bone metastases in patients with breast and prostate cancers and melanoma. Dr. Michael Gordon of Pinnacle Oncology Hematology in Scottsdale, AZ, presented the findings at a May 18 press briefing held in advance of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.UPDATE: Deaths from Investigational Drug AnnouncedResearchers reported the deaths of six participants in the randomized discontinuation trial of the experimental agent, cabozantinib, at the 2011 ASCO annual meeting in Chicago. The cabozantinib-related deaths included patients who had breast, lung, ovarian, prostate, or pancreatic cancer and represent approximately 1 percent of the total number of trial participants.Cabozantinib is a targeted therapy that blocks the action of the cell-signaling molecules hepatocyte growth factor receptor (MET) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and may inhibit other signaling molecules as well. MET signaling can contribute to the growth and spread of cancer cells through the body (metastasis), and VEGFR2 plays a role in tumor blood vessel growth.Of the 483 patients that Dr. Gordon and his colleagues enrolled in the trial, 398 were evaluated for tumor response during treatment. The trial employed a design called randomized discontinuation. All of the patients received cabozantinib for 12 weeks. Patients whose disease progressed during the first 12 weeks were removed from the trial, those whose tumors shrank remained on the drug, and those whose disease remained stable were randomly assigned to continue taking cabozantinib or a placebo to determine the drug's true role in stabilizing their disease.The best results were seen in patients with liver, prostate, and ovarian cancer: 22 of 29 patients with liver cancer, 71 of 100 patients with prostate cancer, and 32 of 51 with ovarian cancer experienced either partial tumor shrinkage or stable disease.Fifty-nine out of 68 patients who had bone metastases had their metastases shrink or disappear during the trial. Many of these patients experienced pain relief and a reduction in the need for narcotic pain medication.These results show the benefit of "going after not just one pathway but…going after [an] entire network" of signaling molecules, stated Dr. Mark Kris, ASCO's Cancer Communications Committee chair, who moderated the press briefing.Dr. Gordon explained that the drug's "exceptional activity" in shrinking metastases in patients with prostate cancer and the strong response among ovarian cancer patients led the researchers to expand the study to include 150 patients with each of those cancers in a nonrandomized arm of the trial. Results from those groups will be presented at the ASCO annual meeting next month in Chicago.Also in the Journals: Cabozantinib May Shrink Some Rare Thyroid TumorsIn a phase I trial of cabozantinib, researchers led by Dr. Razelle Kurzrock of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found that the targeted drug can shrink tumors in patients with metastatic medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) or MTC that could not be removed surgically. Results from 37 patients with advanced MTC treated with cabozantinib were published online May 23 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.Of the 35 patients whose tumors could be measured for response to the drug, 10 had tumors that shrank (a partial response). Fifteen of the 37 patients had tumors that remained stable for at least 6 months. Ninety percent of the 85 patients in the trial experienced at least one side effect, though almost half of those side effects were mild.The partial responses seen in 10 of the patients "is remarkable…for a disease with essentially no conventional therapeutic options," wrote Drs. Yariv Houvras and Lori Wirth of Massachusetts General Hospital in an accompanying editorial. A phase III trial testing cabozantinib in patients with MTC is currently under way.End-of-Life Care for Lung Cancer Patients Differs in U.S. and OntarioResearchers looking at the care received by patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the United States and in Ontario, Canada, during their last 5 months of life found large differences between the two countries. For example, patients in the United States were more likely to receive chemotherapy in the months before death, and patients in Ontario were more likely to die in a hospital. Dr. Joan Warren and her colleagues in NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences collaborated with a group of investigators in Ontario to compare end-of-life care for elderly patients. These findings appeared online May 18 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.The researchers used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database and from several linked databases in Ontario, the most populous Canadian province. The study included 13,533 patients from the United States and 8,100 patients from Ontario, all of whom had been diagnosed with NSCLC and died of cancer at age 65 or older between 1999 and 2003.After adjusting for demographic differences in the two populations, the researchers found substantial differences in patterns of care near the end of life. In addition to differences in chemotherapy use and place of death, the researchers found that the majority of U.S. patients used hospice care in the last months of life. No formal hospice programs exist in Ontario, which instead provides palliative care in the home, in outpatient clinics, and in hospitals.For patients in both countries, the use of emergency room services and hospitalization rose near the time of death. But during the last 30 days of life, 12 percent fewer U.S. patients visited an emergency room compared with those in Ontario. And fewer U.S. patients were admitted to the hospital during the last 30 days of life.More than 60 percent of patients in Ontario who were hospitalized during the last month of life received palliative care as an inpatient, with over 80 percent of the hospitalized Ontario patients dying in the hospital. "It appears that most [of these patients] were admitted for supportive care," wrote the authors. About the same percentage of U.S. patients were in hospice during their last month of life, allowing them to die outside of the hospital."Despite relatively high use of community supportive care, the rates of inpatient death are too high in the United States and much too high in Ontario," wrote Dr. David Goodman of the Dartmouth Medical School in an accompanying editorial. But he cautions against expanding enrollment in hospice programs blindly without attention to the wishes of individual patients. Currently, he concluded, patients in both countries "do not yet adequately participate in end-of-life care decisions."Researchers Identify New Way Tumor Cells May Adapt to Stressful ConditionsSome tumor cells may use a protein normally found only in the brain to help them survive and grow under stressful conditions, according to new findings. The protein, an enzyme known as carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1C (CPT1C), enables tumor cells to generate energy using fatty acids instead of glucose, which is the chief energy source for living organisms.An international team of researchers led by Dr. Tak Mak of the University of Toronto published its findings May 15 in Genes & Development. The study suggests that CPT1C could be a new target for cancer therapy.Cells within solid tumors, such as breast, lung, or colon cancers, can survive and grow under conditions that would kill normal cells. Tumor cells gain this survival advantage through alterations in their metabolism, a phenomenon known as metabolic transformation. Researchers have long known of this phenomenon but only recently uncovered evidence that fatty acids might be an energy source for tumor cells."It's like when the pipelines are cut for Middle East oil. You've got to tap all kinds of alternative sources for energy," explained Dr. James Phang of NCI's Center for Cancer Research, who studies cancer cell metabolism but was not involved in the current study.The first hint that CPT1C could play a role in metabolic transformation came when Dr. Mak and his colleagues found that expression of the CPT1C gene was correlated with mouse mammary tumor cells' resistance to the anticancer drug rapamycin. The drug blocks glucose entry into cells and thus creates starvation conditions.The researchers next asked whether CPT1C gene expression is increased in human cancers. They found that in 13 of 16 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the levels of CPT1C messenger RNA (mRNA), which is used to make the CPT1C protein, were notably higher in tumor tissue than in normal lung tissue from the same patient.In further experiments, the researchers showed that depriving tumor cells of nutrients or oxygen led to increased levels of CPT1C mRNA. They also showed that depleting CPT1C protein from human breast and colon cancer cells impaired the cells' ability to grow under low-oxygen and low-glucose conditions. CPT1C depletion also slowed the growth of tumors formed when the cancer cells were transplanted into mice.Taken together, the study authors wrote, the results "suggest that a CPT1C inhibitor, used either…[alone] or in combination with other anticancer agents, may be a promising new avenue of cancer treatment."In an interview, Dr. Mak said the larger implication is that rather than targeting oncogenes to treat cancer—a task that is daunting because of the sheer number of known oncogenes—it may be "time for us to try to exploit therapeutic targets, or combinations of therapeutic targets, that are a result of metabolic adaptation by a cancer cell...because there are fewer ways to rearrange the metabolic pathways of a cancer cell than there are oncogenes."Dr. Phang agreed and noted that targeting CPT1C in particular "is promising as an approach to treating some cancers. But how efficient that could be and under what conditions remains to be seen," he said.
Special ReportHPV and Pap Co-Testing Safely Extend Cervical Cancer Screening IntervalsFor many women, the yearly visit to their gynecologist or primary care physician includes a Pap test to screen for cervical cancer or lesions that are precursors to the disease. A growing body of evidence, however, has shown that for many women, annual cervical screening—particularly if it also includes a test that detects the presence of cancer-causing types of human papillomavirus (HPV)—is unnecessary.Several gynecologic health and oncology groups have recommended 3-year intervals for cervical cancer screening in women age 30 and older who have a normal Pap test and negative HPV test. The recommendations, however, have not been widely implemented in common clinical practice. The HPV test used for cervical cancer screening detects the presence of high-risk HPV types, similar to the papillomavirus pictured above. (Image courtesy of Dr. Benes Trus, NIH Center for Information Technology)Results from a large study of routine clinical practice at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, presented May 18 during a press briefing for the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, provide perhaps the strongest confirmation yet that an annual Pap test is no longer a necessity. In women 30 years of age or older who had a normal Pap test and a negative HPV DNA test result, very few cancers or precancerous changes were detected in the following 3-year period, the study found.“To the extent that there is fear about cancer risk in a 3-year screening interval, our study reassures clinicians and their patients that this interval is safe,” said the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Hormuzd Katki of NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG).The study found that the Pap test did not substantially modify the extremely low cancer risk for HPV-negative women. But for HPV-positive women, the Pap test did help better identify women at high risk of cancer. As such, Dr. Katki said, the findings also “present a strong hypothesis” that the HPV test could be conducted first, and, if it is negative, women could be asked to return in 3 years. If the HPV test is positive, the Pap test could help determine whether a woman should undergo a colposcopy to examine the cervix for signs of cancer.“But we’ll need more study and evaluation of this possibility in routine clinical practice before we can be sure,” he said.A Real-World StudyThe study is particularly important because it comes from a “real-world experience,” said ASCO President Dr. George Sledge during the press briefing. It involved more than 330,000 women in the Northern California region of Kaiser Permanente, a large managed care organization, making it the largest analysis of its kind to date.“This study tells us where we’re going with cancer screening,” he continued, with the practice transitioning from “an ancient technique such as cytopathology to more molecularly based techniques that allow us to actually look at the specific cause of cancer in patients with cervical carcinoma.”The women in the study had voluntarily enrolled in an HPV/Pap co-testing program launched by Kaiser in 2003. Every woman in the program was screened annually. Women with a normal Pap test result and a negative HPV test result had an extremely low 5-year cancer rate, 3.2 cancers per 100,000 women per year. Screening with just the HPV test was nearly as effective, with 3.8 cancers per 100,000 women per year. Risk estimates for women with a normal Pap test alone were nearly double: 7.5 cancers per 100,000 women per year.Compared with a positive Pap test done alone, a single positive HPV test done alone was associated with a greater likelihood of finding cancer or a precancerous lesion after 5 years, meaning that the HPV test allowed for the earlier detection of cervical cancer or precancers.However, Dr. Katki stressed, a positive Pap test did provide important information in women who also had a positive HPV test, increasing the likelihood of finding women with established cancer or the types of cervical lesions most likely to become cancer.Enough to Tip the Balance?Even with clinical guidelines recommending co-testing and longer screening intervals and the continued accumulation of data in support of these recommendations, changing physician behaviors has been very difficult, said Dr. Howard Jones, director of Gynecologic Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, TN. Although there is some evidence to suggest that clinicians have modestly increased their use of HPV testing in concert with the Pap test, studies also indicate that many have been reluctant to stretch screening intervals beyond 1 year.Both the slow uptake of HPV testing and the failure to expand screening intervals can be attributed to several factors, Dr. Jones continued. One of the most prominent reasons for the latter is that many women have come to expect an annual Pap test.Physicians can tell their patients who have negative results on both tests that they don't need to be screened again for cervical cancer for 3 years.—Dr. Howard JonesPhysicians can tell their patients who have negative results on both tests that they don’t need to be screened again for cervical cancer for 3 years, he said, but “when those patients come back the next year, and I tell them we don’t have to do a Pap test, they often say ‘No, I want the test.’” He continued, “As a physician, I can argue with a woman for 10 minutes, but I’ve got 10 more patients to see that morning. Many physicians will just do the test and save the time and frustration.”Physician reluctance to expanding screening intervals has also been linked to fears that women won’t come in for annual check-ups.“The problem that many OB/GYNs [obstetrician/gynecologists] have [with longer intervals] is that many women largely think the only reason to go to a doctor is for a Pap test,” said Dr. Ellen Smith, a gynecologic oncologist with Texas Oncology in Austin. “For many women, that’s the only time they get their blood pressure checked, their weight checked, just get a general physical.”A substantial proportion of women already fail to see a primary care physician or OB/GYN regularly, Dr. Smith continued. “So what will it be like if the [cervical cancer] screening interval is every 3 years?”In the meantime, Dr. Smith stressed, there also needs to be an intense focus on the other side of the coin: ensuring that girls and young women get the HPV vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer in the first place and increasing the number of women who are screened regularly. More than half of women diagnosed with cervical cancer haven’t been screened in the previous 5 years, she said.Because the current HPV vaccines will prevent only about 70 percent of cervical cancers, Dr. Katki stressed, current guidelines recommend that women who are vaccinated should still be screened.On all of these issues, Dr. Jones said, “We really do need to educate the doctors, educate the patients, and keep pushing forward.”—Carmen PhillipsFurther Reading: Cervical Cancer Screening Approach Slowly ShiftingCurrent Cervical Cancer Screening Recommendations The three most commonly cited sets of recommendations for cervical cancer screening were developed by the American Cancer Society (ACS), the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The chart below, adapted from a CDC resource, compares key aspects of all three guidelines.Screening Method & IntervalsACS2002USPSTF2003ACOG2009Conventional cytologyAnnually; every 2–3 years for women age ≥ 30 years with a history of 3 negative cytology tests.* Sexual history should not be used as a rationale for more frequent screening.At least every 3 yearsEvery 2 years from age 21–29 years; every 3 years for women age ≥ 30 years with a history of 3 negative cytology tests.*Liquid-based cytologyEvery 2 years; every 2–3 years for women age ≥ 30 years with a history of 3 negative cytology tests.* Sexual history should not be used as a rationale for more frequent screening.Insufficient evidenceEvery 2 years from age 21–29 years; every 3 years for women age ≥ 30 years with a history of 3 negative cytology tests.*HPV co-test (cytology + HPV test)Not recommended under age 30. Age ≥ 30 years, no more than every 3 years if HPV negative, cytology normal. Sexual history should not be used as a rationale for more frequent screening.Insufficient evidenceAge ≥ 30 years, no more than every 3 years if HPV negative, cytology normal, even with new sexual partners. Not recommended for women younger than 30 years.Primary HPV testingNot FDA approvedNot FDA approvedNot FDA approved* Some exceptions apply (e.g., women who are immunocompromised, have a history of prenatal exposure to the synthetic hormone DES, are HIV positive, have previously been treated for CIN 2 or 3, cancer, etc.)
A Closer LookDespite Early Skepticism, HPV Vaccines Prove EffectiveCervical cancer is the second most deadly cancer in women worldwide. Although incidence has fallen dramatically in the United States and other developed countries, where routine screening measures—most notably the Pap test—are widely available, the disease remains a major public health concern in the developing world. Fortunately, the group of viruses responsible for virtually all cases of cervical cancer has characteristics that make the viruses particularly amenable to vaccine development.The discovery that human papillomaviruses (HPV) are responsible for cervical cancer initiation led long-time collaborators Dr. Douglas Lowy, chief of NCI’s Laboratory of Cellular Oncology (LCO), and Dr. John Schiller, head of the LCO’s Neoplastic Disease Section, to begin studies in the early 1980s to understand how these viruses infect cells. The goal of designing a vaccine to prevent HPV infection and, thus, cancer wasn’t adopted until the early 1990s.“When we started this work,” said Dr. Schiller, “there was no greater optimism for an HPV vaccine than there was for an HIV vaccine. In fact, there was skepticism that it could work at all.” Human papillomaviruses (blue spheres) can initiate infection only at sites where the normal cell layers of the cervical epidermis have been disrupted, exposing the underlying basement membrane. In women who have received the HPV vaccine, this damage stimulates the release of antibodies (black Ys) that bind to the virus and prevent infection. (Image courtesy of Drs. Douglas Lowy and John Schiller, NCI)The researchers’ persistence paid off when, in 2006, Gardasil became the first prophylactic vaccine against HPV to be approved for cervical cancer prevention in females in the United States. Approval for a second vaccine, Cervarix, followed in 2009. Women and girls who complete all three doses of either vaccine before becoming sexually active receive nearly 100 percent protection from infection by select HPV types. The duration of immunity is not known, but it has been shown to last for at least 5 years. Both vaccines protect against infection with HPV-16 and HPV-18, two high-risk, or carcinogenic, HPV types that cause approximately 70 percent of all cervical cancers. Gardasil also protects against infection with HPV-6 and HPV-11, which cause 90 percent of genital warts.“There was a poor track record for developing vaccines against local genital infection,” commented Dr. Lowy, citing the long history of unsuccessful attempts to develop a herpes simplex virus vaccine as an example. “I think the surprise was really how well the HPV vaccine works,” Dr. Lowy continued, “and we now think several different factors account for this very high level of protection.”A Combination of Serendipity and Good ScienceDrs. Schiller and Lowy and their colleagues began their studies by examining the proteins on the surface of the HPV virus, which presumably were responsible for binding to target epithelial cells to initiate an infection.“The best way to make antibodies that will neutralize a virus is to give the body something that looks like the real virus,” explained Dr. Schiller. “We couldn’t give killed or live attenuated HPV because it has oncogenes, so we decided to try to make something that looks like the outer shell of the virus.” The key discovery was that the major HPV surface protein, L1, alone or in combination with the minor surface protein, L2, spontaneously forms noninfectious particles that closely resemble the original virus structure and can induce the body to produce high levels of antibodies that prevent infection of cells in culture.To begin studying the HPV infection process, the researchers incubated the L1 or L1 plus L2 virus-like particles (VLPs) with cells in culture. Both types of VLP were able to attach to the surface of the cells, suggesting that L1 was responsible for this attachment. This realization led the researchers to begin vaccine development with the L1 VLPs. Remarkably, the highly repetitive structure and the spatial arrangement of the L1 VLPs are ideal for activating the immune receptor that controls the production of antibodies, explaining the robust levels of antibodies observed following HPV vaccination.The antibodies produced by intramuscular injection of the HPV vaccine circulate in the blood. Because HPV infections occur on the surface of the cervix, however, it was unclear how these circulating antibodies would come into contact with the virus to prevent infection. Further research into the virus’ life cycle shed light on this apparent conundrum. The need for multiple injections and the vaccines' high cost pose significant barriers to their widespread use, especially for people in the developing world.Using a mouse model, Drs. Schiller and Lowy and their colleagues found that the virus must attach to the basement membrane of the cervix, a layer beneath the epithelial cells, to initiate infection. The basement membrane is exposed only after the cells above it are physically or chemically damaged. This disruption (or “microtrauma”) stimulates the body to release antibodies at the sites of trauma, where the antibodies can then come into contact with the virus.The animal studies also illuminated the mechanism by which HPV infects cervical epithelial cells. Binding of the viral L1 protein to the basement membrane causes the proteins on the viral surface to reorganize, revealing the L2 protein. An enzyme on the basement membrane then clips off a piece of L2, exposing a previously hidden portion of the L1 protein. This L1 domain binds to a receptor on the epithelial cell surface, allowing the virus to enter the cell.“For most viruses, the first step in the viral life cycle is the binding to the cell-surface receptor, whereas papillomaviruses apparently spend several hours on the basement membrane before they bind to the cell surface. This gives the antibodies more opportunities to bind to the virus particle and prevent infection,” Dr. Lowy explained.One other characteristic of HPV that has lent itself well to vaccine development, Dr. Schiller explained, is its double-stranded DNA genome, which makes it difficult for the DNA to accumulate mutations. This prevents the HPV virus from evading the immune system as effectively as viruses that have rapidly evolving single-stranded RNA genomes, like HIV.More Work to Be DoneAlthough the current HPV vaccines are important advances in the prevention of HPV infection and cervical cancer, there is still room for improvement.Gardasil and Cervarix target only a few types of HPV because they were developed using the unique L1 VLPs of those types. To expand the number of HPV types targeted by Gardasil, Merck is adding L1 VLPs of the five types known to cause the most cervical cancers after HPV-16 and HPV-18 to its next-generation vaccine. Other companies are taking a new approach by developing vaccines that use the L2 protein. A portion of L2 appears to trigger the generation of antibodies that will block infection by most known HPV types, not just the type from which the L2 was derived.There are also more practical obstacles to overcome. The need for multiple injections and the vaccines’ high cost pose significant barriers to their widespread use, especially for people in the developing world. “Right now, most of the girls and women getting vaccinated will get screened [for cervical cancer], so they are really pretty low risk; we’re mostly preventing premalignant lesions,” said Dr. Schiller. “The real impact will be if you can get this vaccine to the group of women who aren’t going to get adequately screened. That will be the real payoff for this vaccine.”—Jennifer Crawford
Featured Clinical TrialMetformin to Treat Early-Stage Breast CancerDr. Pamela J. GoodwinName of the TrialPhase III Trial of Metformin versus Placebo in Early-Stage Breast Cancer (CAN-NCIC-MA.32). See the protocol summary.Principal InvestigatorsDrs. Pamela J. Goodwin, Karen Gelmon, Kathleen Pritchard, Timothy Whelan, Lois Shepherd, Jennifer Ligibel, Dawn Hershman, Ingrid Mayer, Timothy Hobday, National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group; and Dr. Priya Rastogi, National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel ProjectWhy This Trial Is Important Patients with early-stage breast cancer are usually treated with surgery to remove the affected breast (mastectomy) or just the tumor and a small amount of surrounding normal tissue (lumpectomy). Post-surgical, or adjuvant, therapy may include local treatment (radiation therapy) and/or systemic treatment (chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or both), depending on the type of surgery received and the clinical features of the tumor, such as its size, grade, and whether it has spread to nearby lymph nodes (lymph node-positive disease). In addition, if the tumor tests positive for overexpression of the HER2 gene, the patient will likely be treated with a drug or biological agent that targets the HER2 protein. Although these treatments are effective in curing many patients with early-stage breast cancer, some patients will experience a relapse, and some will ultimately succumb to their disease. Consequently, doctors are eager to find new treatments for early-stage breast cancer or ways to improve the effectiveness of existing treatments.The drug metformin (Glucophage) has been used for decades to treat people with diabetes. Researchers have found that diabetics taking metformin are less likely to develop cancer or die from the disease than diabetics who do not take metformin. In addition, women with early-stage breast cancer taking metformin for diabetes have higher response rates to presurgical, or neoadjuvant, therapies than diabetic patients not taking metformin or patients without diabetes. Recent results of studies in women with breast cancer who are waiting for surgery have shown that metformin may slow tumor cell growth. These observations have suggested that metformin may be helpful in preventing recurrences in women treated for early-stage breast cancer.In this trial, nondiabetic women or men younger than age 75 who have been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer within the previous 12 months and who have undergone surgery to remove their tumor will be randomly assigned to take metformin or placebo pills twice a day for 5 years. Participants in the trial may also receive adjuvant hormone and/or radiation therapy, but any chemotherapy (adjuvant or neoadjuvant) must have been completed prior to joining the study. Doctors will monitor the study participants to see if metformin improves disease-free survival, overall survival, and a number of other medical, biological, and quality-of-life endpoints.“We think metformin may act against breast cancer through insulin-mediated or insulin-independent mechanisms of action, or both,” said Dr. Goodwin. “First, it may lower insulin levels, thereby reducing signaling through the PI3K [signaling] pathway, which is a growth/proliferation pathway in breast cancer cells. Secondly, independent of insulin, metformin alters metabolism in the mitochondria and turns on the [enzyme] AMP kinase, which then inhibits mTOR, a protein that helps regulate cell division and survival,” she explained.“So, metformin is biologically a very interesting drug, and because it’s been used so widely, its side effects are well known,” Dr. Goodwin added. “In general, it’s a very safe and well-tolerated drug if you avoid its use in patients older than 80 and those with abnormal liver, kidney, or cardiac functions. The most common side effects are mild bloating and diarrhea that usually go away on their own after a few months, but we are starting off at half the dose of metformin for the first 4 weeks to help participants adjust.”For More InformationSee the lists of entry criteria and trial contact information or call the NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237). The toll-free call is confidential.An archive of "Featured Clinical Trial" columns is available at /clinicaltrials/featured.
Community UpdateScientific Meetings through the Lens of Twitter At conferences, Twitter can help drive traffic to poster presentations. (Image courtesy of AACR)When cancer doctors and researchers gather in Chicago this weekend to discuss the latest advances against the disease, people at the meeting and around the world will join a conversation that started on Twitter 2 weeks ago.The discussion began in earnest on May 18, when the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released 4,000 scientific abstracts online ahead of its annual meeting this weekend. People on Twitter began to post short messages, or tweets, about abstracts they found interesting. This sparked more chatter, including, just for fun, a flurry of tweets in Haiku.On Saturday, after much anticipation, the conversation will turn to research results. During the plenary, members of the audience will share findings from the talks on Twitter in real time; these messages, in turn, will prompt people following online to share their views.“One of the most useful things about Twitter at meetings is the real-time feedback from colleagues who come at the talks from different angles,” said Dr. David Kroll of North Carolina Central University. “The additional perspectives can really help you to interpret a talk.”Less Solitary, More EnjoyableBefore social media, these kinds of conversations took place between sessions or over drinks afterward. One’s perception of a presentation can change, however, with the passage of time and additional talks, Dr. Kroll noted. In contrast, Twitter captures information and first impressions in real time.A common criticism of Twitter is that it’s a distraction, and for some users this may be true. Yet, for Dr. Kroll and other researchers, tweeting can enhance the conference experience by making it less solitary and more enjoyable.“Twitter immediately adds value to the information you’re getting from a talk,” he said. “Someone may tweet in the middle of a presentation: ‘The new finding is interesting, but did you know about this other study?’” The tweet would likely include a link to the study.The premise of Twitter is that you “follow” (receive updates from) people whose interests you share. At the Chicago meeting, with more than 30,000 attendees and many concurrent sessions, tweets from people whose opinions you respect could be useful information.“Twitter is particularly effective for large meetings,” said Dr. Brent Stockwell of Columbia University. “There is no way to make every presentation. But you can gain insights into the talks you miss by hearing what other people are saying about those sessions on Twitter.” He added, “It’s sort of like having a few of your friends go to the talk and report back to you.” One of the most useful things about Twitter at meetings is the real-time feedback from colleagues who come at the talks from different angles.—Dr. David KrollBuilding CommunityASCO will be tracking the Twitter traffic during the event and plans to analyze the data, said Dr. Robert Miller of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, who serves on several ASCO committees associated with new media and technology.To make this easier, the society designated an official keyword (or hashtag) that people can attach to conference-related tweets. Messages that include “#ASCO11” can be viewed together on the Web.“We’re interested in seeing how the attendees use the hashtag and whether there are conversations about clinical discussions using Twitter,” said Dr. Miller, who was speaking as an individual and not on behalf of ASCO. “My expectation is that attendees will use Twitter to have a dialogue with one another in real time about the implications of what’s being presented.”Dr. Miller, who will be tweeting from Chicago, added: “I don’t view Twitter as a distraction; I view it as a way to build community.”In recent years, Twitter traffic has increased at another big cancer conference—the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), according to Ron Vitale, the group’s associate director of Web site communications. “Twitter is a great resource before, during, and after the meeting,” he wrote in an e-mail. “There is a thirst for knowledge out there.”While there does not appear to be much published research on Twitter at scientific meetings, a recent study assessed the activity of 260 self-identified physicians on Twitter during a month last year. On the whole, physicians were sharing medical information that could have a positive effect on public health, the researchers found.The authors noted, however, that some of the self-identified physicians seemed to be promoting specific products using unproven health claims. For the public, this finding underscores the importance of knowing which physicians are providing reliable health information on Twitter, said lead author Dr. Katherine Chretien of the Washington, DC, Veterans Affairs Medical Center.Challenges and ConcernsTwitter is still relatively new, and tweeting from meetings is a work in progress.The Twitter feed of a large meeting can be “a mishmash of messages,” particularly if one is not familiar with the topic and doesn’t know the jargon, noted Jody Schoger, a Texas-based writer who blogs and tweets about cancer. Rather than follow a meeting’s hashtag, she prefers to read updates from a few people she regularly follows and trusts.“Twitter updates can be helpful, but they will never replace the electricity of actually being at the meeting,” she added in an e-mail.When it comes to communicating complex science, Twitter’s 140-character limit leaves little room for explanation. In April, as the AACR annual meeting was under way in Florida, Dr. Naoto T. Ueno of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center singlehandedly tried to provide some context.While traveling abroad, Dr. Ueno sent out a series of educational tweets with basic concepts in cancer biology (for example, here and here). The messages may have helped some readers interpret the research advances being reported over Twitter.Dr. Ueno acknowledged, though, that many scientific tweets are flawed. Too often, he said, a message is not understandable or does not contain useful information. For instance, tweets from meetings routinely report that a presenter is now talking about a specific drug.“This is not useful information,” Dr. Ueno wrote in an e-mail. “I would like to know what the [presenter] is saying about it, the take-home message, and where I can find more information.”Some of this information, of course, may eventually emerge over time. For this reason, Dr. Sally Church, a pharmaceutical company consultant who blogs about cancer research, will capture the stream of ASCO tweets and make the compilation publicly available online.Dr. Church will also tweet from presentations, relying, as she often does, on the help of medical oncologists. “Many of the oncologists I chat with on Twitter during meetings are responsive and helpful,” she said. Their tweets, she added, tend to be accurate and precise.“An Honest Discussion about Blogging Policies”When a barrage of tweets appears in real time, it can be difficult to assess the accuracy of individual messages. Yet, as several researchers noted, when many people are tweeting about the same findings at the same time, a consensus emerges and errors become evident. When many people are posting about the same findings at the same time, a consensus emerges and errors become evident.Concerns about the accuracy of tweets may contribute to the reluctance of some presenters to have their work tweeted during meetings, particularly unpublished findings that have not been through peer review. (At some meetings, such as the Biology of Genomes conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, presenters must grant permission to have their talks tweeted.)Presenters may also worry that coverage in a blog or “microblog,” such as Twitter, could limit where the work could be published later, noted a recent editorial in Nature Methods about blogging and microblogging at meetings. But this “seems unlikely because journals do not count talks as prepublication, and unsolicited coverage in blogs also falls under this category,” the authors wrote.Nonetheless, the editorial called for “an honest discussion about blogging policies to ensure that the needs of the scientific community for information are met while addressing a presenter’s concern about premature exposure of sensitive work.”AACR has posted guidelines for the use of social media at meetings, and ASCO has information about social networking opportunities in Chicago. In comparison, Twitter is rarely used at smaller meetings, and host organizations, such as universities, do not always have clear policies on the use of social media, according to Dr. Stockwell.The Serendipity of TwitterAmong the many uses for Twitter at scientific meetings, driving traffic to poster presentations that may otherwise be missed seems to be a clever innovation. After reading an intriguing tweet from a cancer advocate at a recent meeting, Dr. Church investigated. “The poster turned out to be one of the coolest of the day, so I blogged about it,” she recalled.Social media can enable these kinds of unexpected connections. In another example, Scott Hensley, who writes and edits NPR’s health blog Shots, learned a few weeks ago “through the miracle of Twitter” that a prostate cancer meeting was under way across the street from his office building in downtown Washington, DC. The miracle was actually a tweet about the meeting from Dr. Church, who was there. Hensley crossed the street to join her and ended up covering a major study reported that day. On Twitter, meanwhile, people have been talking about this weekend’s meeting in Chicago. The person who started the flurry of Haiku tweets even had one last poem. “Haiku trend slowing/Fun was had, but back to work/Chicago awaits,” tweeted Geoffrey Curtis.—Edward R. WinsteadDisclosure: The writer follows the people mentioned in the article on Twitter and has met several of them at scientific meetings.Follow the NCI Cancer Bulletin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NCIBulletin
FDA UpdateSunitinib Approved to Treat Pancreatic Neuroendocrine TumorsThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved sunitinib (Sutent) to treat patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) that cannot be removed by surgery or that have metastasized. This is the second new drug approval for this disease in a month; the FDA approved everolimus (Afinitor) to treat PNET in early May.The FDA based its approval on the results of a study that showed that patients who received sunitinib lived longer without their disease spreading or worsening than those who received a placebo—a median of 10.2 months compared with 5.4 months.Sunitinib is a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks cell proliferation and tumor blood vessel formation. Commonly reported side effects included diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, high blood pressure, abdominal pain, stomatitis, and neutropenia. The FDA has also approved sunitinib to treat late-stage kidney cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
Cancer.gov UpdateUpdated Tool More Accurately Estimates Breast Cancer Risk for Asian AmericansNCI researchers have updated a model for estimating breast cancer risk so that it is more accurate for Asian and Pacific Islander American (APA) women. The updated Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT) can now better estimate risk for American women who identify themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian, other Pacific Islander, or other Asian. The model is described in a paper published online May 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.Dr. Mitchell H. Gail, of NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, and his colleagues used data from the Asian American Breast Cancer Study (AABCS), combined with data from NCI's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program, to update the model. The resulting algorithm was tested using data from approximately 4,000 APA women in the Women's Health Initiative, a study of health issues among postmenopausal women.Intended for use by health professionals, the BCRAT calculates 5-year and lifetime estimates of a woman's risk of developing invasive breast cancer based on her medical history, reproductive history, and family history of the disease. In the updated model, the weight of individual factors and the calculations used to assess the interactions of multiple factors have been adjusted to more accurately predict the risk of breast cancer for APA women.NCI Recovery Act Web Site Highlights Community-Based Cancer Care and Job Creation The NCI Recovery Act Web site features a new article highlighting how Recovery Act funding is driving science-based cancer care and research in hospitals at the local level. Community cancer centers have an enormous impact on cancer care in the United States, so in 2007 NCI created the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP), a network of 16 community hospitals that deliver an enhanced level of care and support in local settings.Recovery Act funding has enabled the expansion of the NCCCP network to 30 cancer centers in 22 states, creating nearly 300 new jobs in the process. This expansion is allowing NCCCP hospitals to focus additional resources on preventive care and on bringing the latest scientific advances directly to cancer patients where they live.
NotesNCI’s Douglas R. Lowy and John T. Schiller Awarded Sabin Medal Drs. Douglas R. Lowy and John T. Schiller (Photo by R. Baer)The NCI scientists whose discovery provided the technology for commercially developed human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines received the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award from the Sabin Vaccine Institute.Drs. Douglas R. Lowy and John T. Schiller of the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research are the first and second inventors on government-owned patents for HPV vaccines licensed to Merck & Co., Inc., and GlaxoSmithKline. As a direct result of their work, vaccines now exist that prevent infections with high-risk, or cancer-causing, HPV types and with HPV types that cause genital warts.The Sabin Medal is given annually to acknowledge extraordinary contributions made by scientists in the field of vaccine research. The award commemorates Dr. Albert B. Sabin, who developed the oral polio vaccine.Upcoming Cancer Survivors Workshop to Address Stress Management for CaregiversThe third of four telephone workshops in NCI’s annual “Living With, Through, and Beyond Cancer” series will be held June 14 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. EDT. Part III of the series is titled “Stress Management for Caregivers: Taking Care of Yourself Physically and Emotionally.”The free series offers cancer survivors, family members, friends, and health care professionals practical information to help them cope with concerns and issues that arise after treatment ends. The workshops are presented by CancerCare, in collaboration with NCI, LIVESTRONG, the American Cancer Society, the Intercultural Cancer Council, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.Speakers for the June 14 workshop include Dr. Guadalupe Palos, a clinical research manager at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; Dr. David Kissane, chair and attending psychiatrist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and Dr. Laurel Northouse, professor of nursing at the University of Michigan and co-director of the sociobehavior program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.Part IV, “Fear of Recurrence and Late Effects: Living With Uncertainty,” will take place on July 12.These workshops are free; no phone charges apply. To register, visit CancerCare. If you missed part I or II of the series, podcasts are available here and here.NCI Calls for Applications from Cancer Control PractitionersNCI is accepting applications for a new pilot mentorship program as part of the Research to Reality (R2R) online community of practice. The purpose of the program is to help cancer control practitioners develop the knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to identify, adapt, implement, and evaluate evidence-based cancer control and prevention interventions in community or clinical settings.The 12-month mentorship program is designed as a distance-learning opportunity that will link mentees with experienced public health professionals through in-person meetings and training sessions, video conferencing, e-mail, and webinars. With guidance from their mentors and ongoing technical assistance and training from NCI, mentees will work on year-long cancer control and prevention projects relevant to their current jobs.The mentor–mentee teams will also share their work and lessons learned with the R2R online community through discussion forums, cyber-seminars, and other interactive features as a way to extend the program’s reach. The application process is competitive, and a maximum of six mentees will be selected to participate. More information and applications are available on the mentorship page of the R2R Web site. The application deadline is June 30.Spring 2011 NCI CAM News ReleasedNCI’s Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) released the spring 2011 issue of NCI CAM News, a twice-yearly newsletter with information on NCI’s latest complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) activities. The newsletter highlights NCI-sponsored CAM research, resources for researchers such as funding opportunities and grant writing workshops, and upcoming meetings and lectures.Articles in this issue include:New and Improved: The NCI’s Best Case Series Program Now Designated as a ProtocolWhat’s the Deal When We Heal? Exploring the Science of HealingCancer Survivors are More Likely to Use CAM Compared with Non-Cancer SurvivorsWalk this Way: Clinical Center Labyrinth Provides Opportunity for Meditation and ReflectionPast newsletters are available online. |
An examination of the city of Jerusalem from its foundation up to the Byzantine period with particular emphasis on the biblical period, as revealed by archaeology. We will look at the city’s location, at the city of David and Solomon, through to the time of Jesus, and beyond. The use of minutely detailed archaeological drawings will help us to walk the streets of the city in its different periods, and to participate in current debates.
This course will provide an in-depth look at the city of Jerusalem as revealed by archaeology. A holy city for many throughout the world, it was founded 3000 years ago. We look at it from this date to the Byzantine period. Among subjects to be discussed are:
Jerusalem in the land. A geographical, historical and archaeological overview.
The prelude. Melchizideck and Abraham in Jerusalem.
The City of David. New light on Jerusalem’s water system.
The Solomonic Acropolis.
Jerusalem during the time of King Hezzekiah.
Jerusalem from the days of the Return to the Hellenistic period.
Living in Jerusalem in the time of Christ.
The rebuilding of the Temple by Herod the Great.
Dying in Jerrusalem. The necropolis.
Jerusalem in Roman and Byzantine times.
Who is this course for?
Anyone with an interest in the subject. No previous knowledge is assumed.
There will be a mixture of short lectures and discussion, the precise proportion to be determined by the needs of the students enrolled. Also we will discuss case-studies, including visual sources and source criticism. This will encourage the development of knowledge and understanding of the topics and ideas discussed in the course. Intellectual skills will be encouraged through participation in class discussion, reading and coursework.
Coursework and Assessment
Essays or other equivalent written assignments to a total of 1500 words demonstrating an understanding of core elements of the course material.
To award credits we need to have evidence of the knowledge and skills you have gained or improved. Some of this has to be in a form that can be shown to external examiners so that we can be absolutely sure that standards are met across all courses and subjects.
You will not have formal examinations but you may have class tests. You may be asked to write assignments, keep a course journal or put together a portfolio. Our assessments are flexible to suit the course and the student.
The most important element of assessment is that it should enhance your learning. Our methods are designed to increase your confidence and we try very hard to devise ways of assessing you that are enjoyable and suitable for adults with busy lives. |
"What I wouldn't do for a lasso and some crazy glue." -- Lorne, aka Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan
Celebrity Role Models?
In his semi-regular column in Entertainment Weekly, Mark Harris recently wrote an essay on Rihanna. For those of you who haven't turned on a television, opened a newspaper, or turned on a radio recently, she is the pop star who was (allegedly) severely beaten by her pop star boyfriend. What has been making the news most recently, though, is that following this event, she appears to have reconciled with her boyfriend.Many in the media are up in arms about this, noting what a horrible message it sends to young women. They are correct. It is a horrible message to send and one that may reinforce unhealthy behaviors in abusive relationships. But there is also a deeper, if somewhat tangential, issue at play here that Mark Harris identifies. Essentially the question he raises is: why do we automatically assume that Rihanna is or should be a role model for young women in the first place?This is a vital question for anyone interested in the intersection of media and culture. From where do we get the idea that simply because a person (whether actor, singer, or athlete) is known by a lot of people, that he or she should consequently be a role model? Is it because they live in nice houses and make a lot of money so we conclude they owe us something back? Is it an extension of the Peter Parker Syndrome -- that with great power comes great responsibility? Perhaps, if we understand fame as a kind of power, then we can conclude that someone who possesses fame should use that power to edify society rather than degrade it?Be that as it may, it still does not answer the question of why we in the general public make the choice to view celebrities as role models to be imitated. It can't be simply because we see them on a regular basis (on film, televison, in magazines, etc) because there are plenty of people in my daily life that I see on a regular basis that I would never consider treating as a role model for my life. It can't be simply because we admire their skill at their craft. I greatly admire the musical talent of Elvis Presley, but I don't want to imitate his lifestyle. And yet we tend to assume that skill in one area somehow translates into virtue in all areas. Just because a person plays a mean guitar or can pretend to be someone else really well is a silly reason for thinking our children should look to them for guidance in life.Mark Harris writes, "If we really think that being famous now automatically qualifies you as someone whose example should be imitated and followed by young people, then that can only mean we now believe fame in itself represents a form of moral superiority." If that is the case, then God help us all. Maybe instead of attacking celebrities for not living up to the moral standards we set for them, we should look at ourselves and ask why we need them to be a paragon of virtue in the first place. |
Ad Petri CathedramPope John XXIII on truth, unity, and peace in a spirit of charity. by Pope John XXIII | Source: Catholic.net ENCYCLICAL OF POPE JOHN XXIIION TRUTH, UNITY AND PEACE, IN A SPIRIT OF CHARITYJUNE 29, 1959 To the Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See, and to all the Priests and Faithful of the Catholic world. Venerable Brethren and Beloved Sons, Greetings and Apostolic Benediction.1. We who have been elevated despite Our unworthiness to the Chair of Peter have often reflected on the things We saw and heard when Our predecessor passed from this life. Virtually the entire world, regardless of race or creed, mourned his passing. And then when We were summoned to the dignity of Sovereign Pontiff, great numbers of people, although occupied with other things or weighed down with troubles and difficulties, turned their thoughts and affections to us, and placed their hopes and expectations in Us. 2. For these reflections of Ours, We have drawn comfort and instruction. For this experience certainly is clear indication that the Catholic Church is forever young and is indeed a standard raised before the nations.(1) From her come a pervading light and a gentle love which reach all men. 3. Then We revealed Our plans to summon an Ecumenical Council and a Roman Synod, as well as to revise the Code of Canon Law in accordance with present needs and to issue a new Code of Canon Law for the Church of the Oriental Rite. This announcement received widespread approval and bolstered the universal hope that the hearts of men would be stirred to a fuller and deeper recognition of truth, a renewal of Christian morals, and a restoration of unity, harmony, and peace. Truth, Unity, Peace.4. Today as We address Our first Encyclical Letter to the entire Catholic world, Our apostolic office clearly demands that We discuss three objectives�truth, unity, and peace�and indicate how they may be achieved and advanced in a spirit of charity. 5. May the light of the Holy Spirit come upon Us from on high as We write this letter and upon you as you read it. May the grace of God move all men to attain these objectives, which all desire, even though prejudices, great difficulties, and many obstacles stand in the way of their achievement. I6. All the evils which poison men and nations and trouble so many hearts have a single cause and a single source: ignorance of the truth�and at times even more than ignorance, a contempt for truth and a reckless rejection of it. Thus arise all manner of errors, which enter the recesses of men's hearts and the bloodstream of human society as would a plague. These errors turn everything upside down: they menace individuals and society itself. 7. And yet, God gave each of us an intellect capable of attaining natural truth. If we adhere to this truth, we adhere to God Himself, the author of truth, the lawgiver and ruler of our lives. But if we reject this truth, whether out of foolishness, neglect, or malice, we turn our backs on the highest good itself and on the very norm for right living. Revealed Truth8. As We have said, it is possible for us to attain natural truth by virtue of our intellects. But all cannot do this easily; often their efforts will result in a mixture of truth and error. This is particularly the case in matters of religion and sound morals. Moreover, we cannot possibly attain those truths which exceed the capacity of nature and the grasp of reason, unless God enlightens and inspires us. This is why the word of God, "who dwells in light inaccessible,"(2) in His great love took pity on man's plight, "became flesh and dwelt among us,"(3) that He might "enlighten every man who cometh into the world"(4) and lead him not only to full and perfect truth, but to virtue and eternal happiness. All men, therefore, are bound to accept the teaching of the gospel. For if this is rejected, the very foundations of truth, goodness, and civilization are endangered. Truth and Error9. It is clear that We are discussing a serious matter, with which our eternal salvation is very intimately connected. Some men, as the Apostle of the Gentiles warns us, are "ever learning yet never attaining knowledge of the truth." (5) They contend that the human mind can discover no truth that is certain or sure; they reject the truths revealed by God and necessary for our eternal salvation. 10. Such men have strayed pathetically far from the teaching of Christ and the views expressed by the Apostle when he said, "Let us all attain to the unity of the faith and of the deep knowledge of the son of God... that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine devised in the wickedness of men, in craftiness, according to the wiles of error. Rather are we to practice the truth in love, and grow up in all things in him who is the head, Christ. For from him the whole body (being closely joined and knit together through every joint of the system according to the functioning in due measure of each single part) derives its increase to the building up of itself in love."(6) 11. Anyone who consciously and wantonly attacks known truth, who arms himself with falsehood in his speech, his writings, or his conduct in order to attract and win over less learned men and to shape the inexperienced and impressionable minds of the young to his own way of thinking, takes advantage of the inexperience and innocence of others and engages in an altogether despicable business. The Duties of the Press12. In this connection we must urge to careful, exact, and prudent presentation of the truth those especially who, through the books, magazines, and daily newspapers which are so abundant today, have such a great effect on the instruction and development of the minds of men, and especially of the young, and play such a large part in forming their opinions and shaping their characters. These people have a serious duty to disseminate, not lies, error, and obscenity, but only the truth; they are particularly bound to publicize what is conducive to good and virtuous conduct, not to vice. 13. For we see with deep sorrow what Our predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII, lamented: "Lies are boldly insinuated... into weighty tomes and slender volumes, into the transient pages of periodicals and the extravagant advertisements of the theater."(7) We see "books and magazines written to mock virtue and exalt depravity."(8)Modem Media of Communication14. And in this day of ours, as you well know, Venerable Brethren and beloved sons, we also have radio broadcasts, motion pictures, and television (which can enter easily into the home). All of these can provide inspiration and incentive for morality and goodness, even Christian virtue. Unfortunately, however, they can also entice men, especially the young, to loose morality and ignoble behavior, to treacherous error and perilous vice. 15. The weapons of truth, then, must be used in defense against these weapons of evil. We must strive zealously and relentlessly to ward off the impact of this great evil which every day insinuates itself more deeply. 16. We must fight immoral and false literature with literature that is wholesome and sincere. Radio broadcasts, motion pictures, and television shows which make error and vice attractive must be opposed by shows which defend truth and strive to preserve the integrity and safety of morals. Thus these new arts, which can work much evil, will be turned to the well-being and benefit of men, and at the same time will supply worthwhile recreation. Health will come from a source which has often produced only devastating sickness. Indifference to Truth17. Some men, indeed do not attack the truth wilfully, but work in heedless disregard of it. They act as though God had given us intellects for some purpose other than the pursuit and attainment of truth. This mistaken sort of action leads directly to that absurd proposition: one religion is just as good as another, for there is no distinction here between truth and falsehood. "This attitude," to quote Pope Leo again, "is directed to the destruction of all religions, but particularly the Catholic faith, which cannot be placed on a level with other religions without serious injustice, since it alone is true." (9) Moreover, to contend that there is nothing to choose between contradictories and among contraries can lead only to this fatal conclusion: a reluctance to accept any religion either in theory or practice. 18. How can God, who is truth, approve or tolerate the indifference, neglect, and sloth of those who attach no importance to matters on which our eternal salvation depends; who attach no importance to pursuit and attainment of necessary truths, or to the offering of that proper worship which is owed to God alone? 19. So much toil and effort is expended today in mastering and advancing human knowledge that our age glories�and rightly�in the amazing progress it has made in the field of scientific research. But why do we not devote as much energy, ingenuity, and enthusiasm to the sure and safe attainment of that learning which concerns not this earthly, mortal life but the life which lies ahead of us in heaven? Our spirit will rest in peace and joy only when we have reached that truth which is taught in the gospels and which should be reduced to action in our lives. This is a joy which surpasses by far any pleasure which can come from the study of things human or from those marvellous inventions which we use today and are constantly praising to the skies. II20. Once we have attained the truth in its fullness, integrity, and purity, unity should pervade our minds, hearts, and actions. For there is only one cause of discord, disagreement, and dissension: ignorance of the truth, or what is worse, rejection of the truth once it has been sought and found. It may be that the truth is rejected because of the practical advantages which are expected to result from false views; it may be that it is rejected as a result of that perverted blindness which seeks easy and indulgent excuses for vice and immoral behavior. Truth, Peace, Prosperity21. All men, therefore, private citizens as well as government officials, must love the truth sincerely if they are to attain that peace and harmony on which depends all real prosperity, public and private. 22. We especially urge to peace and unity those who hold the reins of government. We who are placed above international controversy have the same affection for the people of all nations. We are led by no earthly advantages, no motives of political dominance, no desires for the things of this life. When we speak of this serious matter Our thoughts can be given a fair hearing and judged impartially by the citizens of every nation. The Brotherhood of Man23. God created men as brothers, not foes. He gave them the earth to be cultivated by their toil and labor. Each and every man is to enjoy the fruits of the earth and receive from it his sustenance and the necessities of life. The various nations are simply communities of men, that is, of brothers. They are to work in brotherly cooperation for the common prosperity of human society, not simply for their own particular goals. A Journey to Immortal Life24. Besides this, our journey through this mortal life should not be regarded as an end in itself, entered upon merely for pleasure. This journey leads beyond the burial of our human flesh to immortal life, to a fatherland which will endure forever. 25. If this teaching, this consoling hope, were taken away from men, there would be no reason for living. Lusts, dissensions, and disputes would erupt from within us. There would be no reasonable check to restrain them. The olive branch of peace would not shine in our thoughts; the firebrands of war would blaze there. Our lot would be cast with beasts, who do not have the use of reason. Ours would be an even worse lot, for we do have the use of reason and by abusing it (which, unfortunately, often happens) we can sink into a state lower than that of beasts. Like Cain, we would commit a terrible crime and stain the earth with our brother's blood. 26. Before all else, then, we must turn our thoughts to sound principles if we wish, as we should, to guide our actions along the path of justice. 27. We are called brothers. We actually are brothers. We share a common destiny in this life and the next. Why, then, do we act as though we are foes and enemies? Why do we envy one another? Why do we stir up hatred? Why do we ready lethal weapons for use against our brothers? 28. There has already been enough warfare among men! Too many youths in the flower of life have shed their blood already! Legions of the dead, all fallen in battle, dwell within this earth of ours. Their stern voices urge us all to return at once to harmony, unity, and a just peace. 29. All men, then, should turn their attention away from those things that divide and separate us, and should consider how they may be joined in mutual and just regard for one another's opinions and possessions. Unity Among Nations30. Only if we desire peace, as we should, instead of war, and only if we all aspire sincerely to fraternal harmony among nations, shall it come to pass that public affairs and public questions are correctly understood and settled to the satisfaction of all. Then shall international conferences seek and reach decisions conducive to the longed-for unity of the whole human family. In the enjoyment of that unity, individual nations will see that their right to liberty is not subject to another's whims but is fully secure. 31. Those who oppress others and strip them of their due liberty can contribute nothing to the attainment of this unity. 32. The mind of Our predecessor, Leo XIII, squares perfectly with this view: "Nothing is better suited than Christian virtue, and especially justice, to check ambition, covetousness, and envy which are the chief causes of war." (10)33. But if men do not pursue this fraternal unity, based on the precepts of justice and nurtured by charity, then human affairs will remain in serious peril. This is why wise men grieve and lament; they are uncertain whether we are heading for sincere, true, and firm peace, or are rushing in complete blindness into the fires of a new and terrible war. 34. We say "in complete blindness," for if�God forbid!�another war should break out, nothing but devastating destruction and total ruin await both victor and vanquished. The monstrous weapons our age has devised will see to that! 35. We ask all men, but particularly rulers of nations, to weigh these considerations prudently and seriously in the presence of God our protector. May they enter with a will upon those paths which will lead to the unity that is so badly needed. This harmonious unity will be restored when hearts are at peace, when the rights of all are guaranteed, and when there has dawned that liberty due everywhere to individual citizens, to the state, and to the Church. Unity in Society36. The harmonious unity which must be sought among peoples and nations also needs ever greater improvement among the various classes of individuals. Otherwise mutual antagonism and conflict can result, as we have already seen. And the next step brings rioting mobs, wanton destruction of property, and sometimes even bloodshed. Meanwhile public and private resources diminish and are stretched to the danger point.37. On this point Pope Leo XIII made apt and appropriate comment: "God has commanded that there be differences of classes in the human community and that these classes, by friendly cooperation, work out a fair and mutual adjustment of their interests.'' (11) For it is quite clear that "as the symmetry of the human frame results from suitable arrangement of the various parts of the body, so in a body politic it is ordained by nature that... the classes should dwell in harmony and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic. Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital. Their mutual agreement will result in the splendor of right order."(12)38. Anyone, therefore, who ventures to deny that there are differences among social classes contradicts the very laws of nature. Indeed, whoever opposes peaceful and necessary cooperation among the social classes is attempting, beyond doubt, to disrupt and divide human society; he menaces and does serious injury to private interests and the public welfare. 39. As Our predecessor, Pius XII wisely said, "In a nation that is worthy of the name, inequalities among the social classes present few or no obstacles to their union in common brotherhood. We refer, of course, to those inequalities which result not from human caprice but from the nature of things�inequalities having to do with intellectual and spiritual growth, with economic facts, with differences in individual circumstances, within, of course, the limits prescribed by justice and mutual charity." (13)40. The various classes of society, as well as groups of individuals, may certainly protect their rights, provided this is done by legal means, not violence, and provided that they do no injustice to the inviolable rights of others. All men are brothers. Their differences, therefore, must be settled by friendly agreement, with brotherly love for one another. Improved Relations Among the Classes41. On this point it should be noted, and this gives rise to hope for a better future, that in some places in recent days relations among the classes have been less bitter and difficult. As Our predecessor, addressing the Catholics of Germany, expressed it: "The terrible disasters of the recent war plunged you into hardship, but produced at least one blessing among the many classes of your population: prejudices and exaggerated ambitions for personal advantage have subsided; the conflicting interests of the classes are nearer to reconciliation. Closer association with one another since the war has done this. Hard times borne together have taught you all a helpful, though bitter, lesson."(14)42. As a matter of fact, the distances which separate the classes of society are shrinking. Since it is no longer a matter merely of "capital" and "labor," the number of classes has multiplied, and all of them are readily accessible to all men. Anyone who is diligent and capable has the opportunity to rise to higher levels of society. As for the condition of those who live by their daily toil, it is consoling to note that recently undertaken improvements in working conditions in factories and other places of employment have done more than give these workers a greater economic value; they have made their lives nobler and more dignified. A Long Way to Go43. But there is still a long way to go. For there is still too much disparity in the possession of material goods, too much reason for hostility among various groups, because of opinions on the right to property (opinions sometimes unsound, sometimes not entirely just) held by those who desire unfair advantages and benefits for themselves. 44. There is also the threat of unemployment, a source of anxiety and unhappiness for many men. And this problem can entail even greater difficulties today, when men are being replaced by all sorts of advanced machines. Of this kind of unemployment, Our predecessor of happy memory, Pius XI, uttered this complaint: "There are," he said, "honest working men almost beyond number who want only an opportunity to earn by honest means that daily bread for which, by divine command, we entreat our Father in heaven. But, instead, they are reduced to idleness and, along with their families, reach the very depths of privation. Their unhappiness touches Our heart; We are constrained to take pity and to repeat the merciful words that came from the heart of our Divine Master when He saw the multitude languishing in hunger: 'I have compassion on the crowd' (Mark 8.2)."(15)45. Indeed, if we long hopefully�as we should�for the realization of this mutual union among the classes of society, then we must do all that we can to bring it about by public and private endeavor and cooperation in courageous undertakings, that all men, even those of the lowest classes, can obtain life's necessities by their toil and by the sweat of their brow, and that they can provide, in an honorable manner and with some degree of sureness, for their future and that of their families. In addition, contemporary progress has made many conveniences an integral part of everyday life; even the poorest citizens may not be excluded from the enjoyment of these advantages. 46. Moreover, we earnestly exhort all those who have responsible positions in the various areas of human endeavor and on whom the lot of the workers and sometimes their very lives depend, not only that they pay the just wages due to the labors of their workers or simply safeguard their rights so far as wages are concerned, but also that they really consider them as men, or rather, as brothers. And so they should see to it that in some suitable way their employees are able to share more and more in the fruits of their labor and come to regard themselves as partners in the entire enterprise. 47. We give this counsel in order that the rights and duties of employers may more and more be harmonized and reconciled with the rights and duties of employees, and that the associations representing the interests of each "will not seem like armies ready to make or repel attacks in such wise as to make the enemy more resolute or to incite counterattack, or like a river which engulfs every obstacle in its course; but like a bridge which joins opposite shores."(16)48. It is very important, however, that moral progress should not lag behind economic progress. Anything else would be unworthy of men, not to say of Christians. If the working classes have an abundance of material goods and enjoy all the benefits of civilization while losing or neglecting those higher goods which pertain to the immortal soul, what does it profit them? Christian Charity49. But all will come out well if the social teaching of the Catholic Church is applied as it should be to the problem. Everyone then must "strive to preserve in himself and to arouse in others, be they of high or low degree, the queen and mistress of all the virtues, charity. The salvation we hope for is to be expected primarily from a great outpouring of charity. We refer to that Christian charity which is a principle synthesizing the entire gospel. That charity is always ready to spend itself in the interest of others and is the surest remedy against worldly pride and immoderate self-esteem. St. Paul the Apostle described the characteristics of this virtue when he said: 'Charity is patient, is kind; is not selfseeking; bears with all things, endures all things; (1 Cor. 13.4-7)."(17)Unity Within the Family50. We have called nations, their rulers, and all classes of society to harmonious unity. Now we sincerely urge families to achieve and strengthen this unity within themselves. 51. For unless peace, unity, and concord are present in domestic society, how can they exist in civil society? 52. This harmonious unity which should exist within the family circle rises from the holiness and indissolubility of Christian marriage. It is the basis of much of the order, progress, and prosperity of civil society. 53. Within the family, the father stands in God's place. He must lead and guide the rest by his authority and the example of his good life. 54. The mother, on the other hand, should form her children firmly and graciously by the mildness of her manner and by her virtue. 55. Together the parents should carefully rear their children, God's most precious gift, to an upright and religious life. 56. Children must honor, obey, and love their parents. They must give their parents not only solace but also concrete assistance if it is needed. 57. The charity which burned in the household at Nazareth should be an inspiration for every family. All the Christian virtues should flourish in the family, unity should thrive, and the example of its virtuous living should shine brightly. 58. We earnestly pray God to prevent any damage to this valuable, beneficial, and necessary union. The Christian family is a sacred institution. If it totters, if the norms which the divine Redeemer laid down for it are rejected or ignored, then the very foundations of the state tremble; civil society stands betrayed and in peril. Everyone suffers.III59. Now we shall discuss a unity which is of particular concern to Us and is closely connected to the pastoral mission which God has entrusted to Us: the unity of the Church.One Fold and One Shepherd60. Everyone realizes, of course, that God our Redeemer founded this society which was to endure to the end of time, for as Christ said, "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world."(18) For this intention He addressed ardent prayers to His Father: "That all may be one, even as thou, Father, in me and I in thee; that they also may be one in Us."(19) Surely this prayer was heard and granted because of His reverent submission.(20) This is a comforting hope; it assures us that someday all the sheep who are not of this fold will want to return to it. Then, in the words of God our Savior, "there shall be one fold and one shepherd."(21) An Ecumenical Council61. This fond hope compelled Us to make public Our intention to hold an Ecumenical Council. Bishops from every part of the world will gather there to discuss serious religious topics. They will consider, in particular, the growth of the Catholic faith, the restoration of sound morals among the Christian flock, and appropriate adaptation of Church discipline to the needs and conditions of our times. 62. This event will be a wonderful spectacle of truth, unity, and charity. For those who behold it but are not one with this Apostolic See, We hope that it will be a gentle invitation to seek and find that unity for which Jesus Christ prayed so ardently to His Father in heaven. Movements Toward Union63. We are already aware, to Our great joy, that m any of the communities that are separated from the See of Blessed Peter have recently shown some inclination toward the Catholic faith and its teachings. They have manifested a high regard for this Apostolic See and an esteem which grows greater from day to day as devotion to truth overcomes earlier misconceptions. 64. We have taken note that almost all those who are adorned with the name of Christian even though separated from Us and from one another have sought to forge bonds of unity by means of many congresses and by establishing councils. This is evidence that they are moved by an intense desire for unity of some kind. A Mark of Christ's Church65. When the Divine Redeemer founded His Church, there is no doubt that He made firm unity its cornerstone and one of its essential attributes. Had He not done this�and it is absurd even to make such a suggestion�He would have founded a transient thing, which in time, at least, would destroy itself. For in just this way have nearly all philosophies risen from among the vagaries of human opinion: one after another, they come into being, they evolve, they are forgotten. But this clearly cannot be the history of a divine teaching authority founded by Jesus Christ, "the way, the truth, and the life."(22)66. But this unity, Venerable Brethren and beloved sons, must be solid, firm and sure, not transient, uncertain, or unstable.(23) Though there is no such unity in other Christian communities, all who look carefully can see that it is present in the Catholic Church. Three Unities67. Indeed, the Catholic Church is set apart and distinguished by these three characteristics: unity of doctrine, unity of organization, unity of worship. This unity is so conspicuous that by it all men can find and recognize the Catholic Church. 68. It is the will of God, the Church's founder, that all the sheep should eventually gather into this one fold, under the guidance of one shepherd. All God's children are summoned to their father's only home, and its cornerstone is Peter. All men should work together like brothers to become part of this single kingdom of God; for the citizens of that kingdom are united in peace and harmony on earth that they might enjoy eternal happiness some day in heaven. Unity of Doctrine69. The Catholic Church teaches the necessity of believing firmly and faithfully all that God has revealed. This revelation is contained in sacred scripture and in the oral and written tradition that has come down through the centuries from the apostolic age and finds expression in the ordinances and definitions of the popes and legitimate Ecumenical Councils. 70. Whenever a man has wandered from this path, the Church has never failed to use her maternal authority to call him again and again to the right road. She knows well that there is no other truth than the one truth she treasures; that there can be no "truths" in contradiction of it. Thus she repeats and bears witness to the words of the Apostle: "For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth."(24)Religious Controversy71. The Catholic Church, of course, leaves many questions open to the discussion of theologians. She does this to the extent that matters are not absolutely certain. Far from jeopardizing the Church's unity, controversies, as a noted English author, John Henry Cardinal Newman, has remarked, can actually pave the way for its attainment. For discussion can lead to fuller and deeper understanding of religious truths; when one idea strikes against another, there may be a spark.(25)72. But the common saying, expressed in various ways and attributed to various authors, must be recalled with approval: in essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity. Unity In Organization73. That there is unity in the administration of the Catholic Church is evident. For as the faithful are subject to their priests, so are priests to their bishops, whom "the Holy Spirit has placed......to rule the Church of God."(26) So, too, every bishop is subject to the Roman pontiff, the successor of Saint Peter, whom Christ called a rock and made the foundation of His Church.(27) It was to Peter that Christ gave in a special way the power to bind and loose on earth,(28) to strengthen his brethren,(29) to feed the entire flock.(30) Unity of Worship74. As for unity of worship, the Catholic Church has had seven sacraments, neither more nor less, from her beginning right down to the present day. Jesus Christ left her these sacraments as a sacred legacy, and she had never ceased to administer them throughout the Catholic world and thus to feed and foster the supernatural life of the faithful. 75. All this is common knowledge, and it is also common knowledge that only one sacrifice is offered in the Church. In this Eucharistic sacrifice Christ Himself, our Salvation and our Redeemer, immolates Himself each day for all of us and mercifully pours out on us the countless riches of His grace. No blood is shed, but the sacrifice is real, just as real as when Christ hung from a cross of Calvary .76. And so Saint Cyprian had good reason to remark: "It would be impossible to set up another altar or to create a new priesthood over and above this one altar and this one priesthood." (31)77. Obviously, of course, this fact does not prevent the presence in the Catholic Church of a variety of approved rites, which simply enhance her beauty. Like a king's daughter, the Church wears robes of rich embroidery.(32)78. All men are to have part in this true unity; and so, when a Catholic priest offers the Eucharistic Sacrifice, he presents our merciful God with a spotless Victim and prays to Him especially "for Thy holy Catholic Church, that it may please Thee to grant her peace, to protect, unite, and govern her throughout the world, together with Thy servant our Pope, and all who truly believe and profess the Catholic and Apostolic faith."(33)An Invitation to Union79. We address Ourselves now to all of you who are separated from this Apostolic See. May this wonderful Spectacle of unity, by which the Catholic Church is set apart and distinguished, as well as the prayers and entreaties with which she begs God for unity, stir your hearts and awaken you to what is really in your best interest. 80. May We, in fond anticipation, address you as sons and brethren? May We hope with a father's love for your return? 81. Once when a terrible schism was rending the seamless garment of the Church, Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria addressed his sons and brethren with words of pastoral zeal. We take pleasure in addressing these same words to you: "Dearly beloved, we have all been invited to heaven. Let each, then, according to his abilities imitate Jesus, our model and the author of our salvation. 82. "Let us embrace that humility of soul which elevates us to great heights, that charity which unites us with God; let us have a genuine faith in revealed mysteries. 83. "Avoid division, shun discord,... encourage charity toward one another. Heed the words of Christ: 'By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.'" (34)84. When We fondly call you to the unity of the Church, please observe that We are not inviting you to a strange home, but to your own, to the abode of your forefathers. Permit Us, then, to long for you all "in the heart of Christ Jesus," (35) and to exhort you all to be mindful of your forefathers who "preached God's word to you; contemplate the happy issue of the life they lived, and imitate their faith." (36)85. There is in paradise a glorious legion of Saints who have passed to heaven from your people. By the example of their lives they seem to summon you to union with this Apostolic See with which your Christian community was beneficially united for so many centuries. You are summoned especially by those Saints who in their writings perpetuated and explained with admirable accuracy the teachings of Jesus Christ. 86. We address, then, as brethren all who are separated from Us, using the words of Saint Augustine: "Whether they wish it or not, they are our brethren. They cease to be our brethren only when they stop saying 'Our Father.'" (37)87. "Let us love God our Lord; let us love His Church. Let us love Him as our father and her as our mother, Him as our master and her as His handmaid. For we are the children of His handmaid. This marriage is based on a deep love. No one can offend one of them and be a friend of the other... What difference does it make that you have not offended your father, if he punishes offenses against your mother?... Therefore, dearly beloved, be all of one mind and remain true to God your father and your mother the Church." (38)A Crusade of Prayer88. We address suppliant prayers to our gracious God, the giver of heavenly light and of all good things, that He safeguard the unity of the Church and extend the fold and kingdom of Christ. We urge all Our brethren in Christ and Our beloved sons to pray fervently for the same intentions. The outcome of the approaching Ecumenical Council will depend more on a crusade of fervent prayer than on human effort and diligent application. And so with loving heart We also invite to this crusade all who are not of this fold but reverence and worship God and strive in good faith to obey His commands. 89. May the divine plea of Christ further and fulfill this hope and these prayers of Ours: "Holy Father, keep in thy name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one even as we are.... Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth.... Yet not for these only do I pray, but for those also who through their word are to believe in me....that they may be perfected in unity..."(39).90. We repeat this prayer, as does the whole Catholic world in union with Us. We are spurred by a burning love for all men, but also by that interior humility which the gospel teaches. For We know the lowliness of him whom God raised to the dignity of the Sovereign Pontificate, not because of Our merits, but according to His mysterious designs. Wherefore, to all Our brethren and sons who are separated from the Chair of Blessed Peter, We say again: "I am . . . Joseph, your brother." (40) Come, "make room for us." (41) We want nothing else, desire nothing else, pray God for nothing else but your salvation, your eternal happiness. The Peace of Christ91. Come! This long-desired unity, fostered and fed by brotherly love, will beget a great peace. This is the peace "which surpasses all understanding," (42) since its birthplace is in heaven. It is the same peace which Christ promised to men of good will through the song of the angels who hovered over His crib; (43) it is the peace He imparted after instituting the Eucharistic Sacrament and Sacrifice: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you." (44) 92. Peace and joy! Yes, joy�because those who are really and effectively joined to the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Catholic Church, share in that life which flows from the divine Head into each part of the Body. Through that life, those who faithfully obey all the precepts and demands of our Redeemer can enjoy even in this mortal life that happiness which is a foretaste and pledge of heaven's eternal happiness. 93. And yet, as long as we are journeying in exile over this earth, our peace and happiness will be imperfect. For such peace is not completely untroubled and serene; it is active, not calm and motionless. In short, this is a peace that is ever at war. It wars with every sort of error, including that which falsely wears the face of truth; it struggles against the enticements of vice, against those enemies of the soul, of whatever description, who can weaken, blemish, or destroy our innocence or Catholic faith. This peace combats hatred, fraud, and discord, which can impair and cripple our faith. 94. This is why our Divine Redeemer left His peace with us, gave His peace to us. 95. The peace, then, which we must seek, which we must strive to achieve with all the means at our disposal, must�as We have said�make no concessions to error, must compromise in no way with proponents of falsehood; it must make no concessions to vice; it must discourage all discord. Those who adhere to this peace must be ready to renounce their own interests and advantages for the sake of truth and justice, according to the words: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice." (45)96. We pray earnestly to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whose Immaculate Heart Our predecessor, Pius XII, consecrated the entire human race. May she seek and obtain from God this harmonious unity, this true, active, and militant peace, on behalf of Our children in Christ and all those who, though separated from Us, cannot help loving truth, unity and peace. IV97. Now We wish to address a few fatherly words specifically to each of the ranks within the Catholic Church. Bishops98. First of all "our heart is wide open to you," (46) Venerable Brethren in the episcopacy of both the Eastern and Western Church. As guides with Us of the Christian people, you have borne the burden of the day's heat. (47) We know your diligence. We know the apostolic zeal with which, in your respective dioceses, you strive to advance, strengthen, and spread the kingdom of God. 99. And We also know your hardships, your sorrows. You grieve that so many of your children are lost, pathetically duped by falsehood; you are confronted by a lack of material means, which sometimes makes impossible a wider spread of Catholicism in your dioceses; and the number of priests at your disposal is in many places inadequate to the mounting demands for their services. 100. But trust in Him from whom comes "every good gift and every perfect gift." (47) Have confidence in Jesus Christ; pray without ceasing to Him, without whom "you can do nothing." (48) By His grace you may each repeat the words of the Apostle, "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me." (49)101. "But may . . . God supply your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus," (50) that you may reap rich harvests and gather rich crops from the fields you have cultivated by your toil and your sweat. The Clergy102. We also address Ourselves with a father's love to the members of the diocesan and religious clergy: those who are your close assistants in your Curia, Venerable Brethren; those who toil in seminaries at a very important work, the formation and education of youths called to the Lord's service; those, finally, who are parish priests in crowded cities, in towns, or in distant and lonely outposts and whose mission today is very difficult, very demanding, and of the utmost importance. 103. We are sure it is unnecessary for us to mention it, but priests should be careful to be always obedient and submissive to their bishop. As Saint Ignatius of Antioch said: "Since you are subject to your bishop as to Jesus Christ,... whatever you do must be done in union with your bishop." (51) "All who belong to God and Jesus Christ are in union with their bishop." (52)104. Priests should also be mindful that they are more than public dignitaries; they are sacred ministers. And so, as they work to bring God's light to the minds of men, to redirect the wills of sinners with heaven's help and with brotherly love, as they work to advance and spread the peace-bringing kingdom of Jesus Christ, they must never think that there is a fixed limit to their time and belongings, their expenditures, or of their personal inconvenience. They must seek God's grace in humble and ceaseless prayer, and they must rely on this grace far more than on their own toil and labor. Religious Men105. We also extend Our paternal best wishes to Our sons in religious orders and congregations. These men have embraced the various states of evangelical perfection and live according to particular rules of their Institutes in obedience to their superiors. We urge them to strive tirelessly and with all their strength for the achievement of the goals their founders have set forth in those rules. They should, in particular, be fervent in prayer and assiduous in works of penance; they should undertake the sound formation and education of the young and assist, so far as they can, those who are beset in any way by want or distress. 106. We know, of course, that due to various conditions many of these beloved sons of Ours are frequently called upon to undertake the pastoral care of the faithful; and this has redounded to the benefit of the Christian name and Christian virtue. Although We are sure they need no such admonition, We again exhort these religious to meet the present-day needs of the people spontaneously and enthusiastically, cooperating zealously and energetically with the efforts of the other clergy. Missionaries107. And now Our thoughts turn to those religious who have left the homes of their ancestors and their beloved countries and have gone to foreign lands where they experience serious inconveniences and overcome all sorts of difficulties. Today, in distant fields, they toil to impart the truth of the gospel and Christian virtue to the people who dwell there, that "the word of the Lord may run and be glorified" among them. (54)108. A tremendous task is entrusted to these missionaries. To fulfill it and expand its scope, all Christians must cooperate by prayer and such contributions as their means permit. There is, perhaps, no undertaking that pleases God more than this one; it is an integral part of the duty all men have to spread the kingdom of God. Ambassadors of Christ109. These heralds of the gospel dedicate and consecrate their lives to God in order that the light of Jesus Christ may enlighten every man who comes into the world, (55) that the grace of God may enter and support every soul, and that all men may be aroused to a life that is good, honorable, and Christian. These men seek not their own interests, but those of Jesus Christ. (56) They have answered with generosity the call of their Divine Redeemer and can apply to themselves the words of the Apostle of the Gentiles: "On behalf of Christ . . . we are acting as ambassadors,'' (57) and "though we walk in the flesh, we do not make war according to the flesh.'' (58) They regard as a second fatherland and love with an active charity the land to which they have come to bring the light of the Gospel's truth. Although they will always have deep affection for their native land and their diocese or religious institute, they regard it as clear and certain that the good of the universal Church must be preferred and they must give it their first and wholehearted service. 110. We wish, therefore, to say that there is a special place in Our heart for these beloved sons, and for all who generously assist them in their fields of labor by teaching catechism or in other ways. Every day We offer humble prayers to God for them and their endeavors. We wish to confirm with Our authority, and with like affection, all that Our predecessors�especially Pius XI (59) and Pius XII (60)�have seen fit to set down on this subject in their Encyclical Letters. Religious Women111. We must also write of those holy virgins who by their vows have consecrated themselves to God that they might serve Him alone and unite themselves closely with their Divine Spouse in mystic nuptials. 112. They may lead hidden lives in cloistered convents or dedicate themselves to the works of the apostolate. In either case, they can pursue their salvation the more easily and happily and also be of pre-eminent assistance in Christian countries and in those lands where the light of the Gospel has not yet shone. 113. How much these holy virgins accomplish! They render extensive and distinguished service which no one else could perform with the same blend of virginal and maternal concern! They do this not in one, but in many fields of endeavor. They attend to the sound formation and education of the young. They teach religion to boys and girls in parochial schools. They tend the sick in hospitals and lead their thoughts to heavenly things. They care for patients in homes for the aged with cheerful and merciful charity and move them in a wonderful and gentle way to a desire for eternal life. in homes for orphans, and for children born out of wedlock they stand in the place of a mother and cherish with a mother's love children who have lost their parents or been abandoned. They care for them, nurse them, and hold them dear. 114. These holy virgins have rendered outstanding services not only to the Catholic Church, to Christian education, to what are called the works of mercy, but to civil society as well. At the same time, they are winning for themselves that imperishable reward which lies ahead in heaven. Catholic Action115. But as you well know, Venerable Brethren and beloved sons, the problems that beset men today�and affect Christianity also�are so vast and varied that priests, religious men, and holy virgins seem now unequal to the task of providing the complete remedy. Priests, religious men, and virgins consecrated to God cannot make contact with every class of person. All paths are not open to them. Many men ignore or avoid them; some, alas, even despise and abhor them. 116. This is a serious matter that has occasioned much sorrow and unhappiness and induces Our predecessors to summon the laity to the ranks of a peaceful militia, Catholic Action. It was their wise intention that the laity should cooperate in the apostolate of the hierarchy. In this way, what the hierarchy could not do under present circumstances, these Catholic men and women would accomplish in a spirit of generosity. They would work, of course, in union with their bishops and in constant obedience to them. 117. Over the years the bishops and priests of lands that are still mission territories have been assisted by laymen of every rank and condition. It gives Us great comfort to recall the projects they have undertaken and carried forward with swift and energetic resolution in order that all men might recognize the truth of Christianity and feel the force and attraction of Christian virtue. The Needs of Our Age118. But vast areas still await their efforts. Great numbers of men have not had the benefit of their shining example and apostolic labor. We think this matter is so serious and important that We intend at some other time to discuss it at greater length. 119. Meanwhile, We are confident that all who serve in the ranks of Catholic Action, or in the many pious associations which flourish in the Church, will pursue this apostolate with very great diligence. The more overwhelming the needs of our age, the greater should be their efforts, concern, industry, and zeal. 120. Let all be of one mind, since�as all know well�in unity there is greater strength. When it is a matter of the cause of the Catholic Church they must be ready to sacrifice personal whims, for nothing is of more value and importance. This should be their attitude, not only in doctrinal matters but also in matters of ecclesiastical and Christian discipline, to which all must submit. 121. The members of Catholic Action must marshal their ranks; they must align themselves beside their bishops and be ready to obey every command. They must advance to ever greater achievements. They must shirk no hardship, shun no inconvenience, that the cause of the Church may be triumphant. 122. But they will accomplish all this as they should only if each of them pays particular attention to his personal formation in Christian wisdom and virtue. They are certainly aware of this fact. For it is obvious that they can impart to others only what, with the help of God's grace, they have won for themselves. 123. These last remarks are meant particularly for the young. They are easily aroused to eager enthusiasm for the highest ideals, but it is most important that they learn prudence, self-restraint, and obedience to authority. We wish to express Our deep gratitude and love for these beloved children of Ours. In them the Church places her hope for the future. We have complete confidence in their industrious and effective service. The Sick and Suffering124. And now We hear voices that fill Us with sorrow. We hear those who are sick in mind or body, afflicted by terrible suffering. We hear those who are so beset by economic hardship that they have no home fit for human habitation and cannot by any effort of their own obtain the necessities of life for themselves or their families. Their cries touch Our heart and move Us to the depths of Our being. 125. We wish first to give the sick, the infirm, and the aged that comfort which comes from heaven. They should remember that we have here no permanent city, but must seek for the city that is to come. (61) They should recall that the sufferings of this life serve to purify the soul; they elevate and ennoble us and can win us eternal joy in heaven. Our Divine Redeemer bore the yoke of the cross to wash away the stains of our sins; to this end He endured abuse, torture, and agonizing pain, all by His free choice. Like Christ, we are all called to light, by way of the cross, for He has told us: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me," (62) and he shall have a treasure unfailing in heaven. (63)126. We have another recommendation also, and We are sure that it will be warmly received. We wish these sufferings of mind and body not only to be steps in the sufferer's ascent to his eternal fatherland, but also to contribute greatly to the expiation of others, to the return to the Church of those who unfortunately are separated from her, and to the long-desired triumph of Christianity. Social Justice127. Those citizens of straitened fortune who are dissatisfied with their very difficult lot in life may be sure that We deeply regret their condition. With respect to social matters: it is Our paternal desire that relations among the various classes come under the guidance, control, and direction of the Christian virtue of justice. We are especially concerned here because the Church's enemies can easily take advantage of any unjust treatment of the lower classes to draw them to their side by false promises and deceptive lies. 128. We ask these dear children of Ours to realize that the Church is not hostile to them or their rights. On the contrary, she cares for them as would a loving mother. She preaches and inculcates a social doctrine and social norms which would eliminate every sort of injustice and produce a better and more equitable distribution of goods, if they were put into practice as they should be. (64) At the same time, she encourages friendly cooperation and mutual assistance among the various classes, so that all men may become in name and in fact not only free citizens of the same society but also brothers within the same family. 129. Anyone who considers without bias the opportunities and advantages which have recently come to the working classes must admit that they are in great part the result of persistent and effective social measures taken by Catholics in accord with the wise directives and repeated exhortations of Our predecessors. The social teachings of Christianity, then, contain sure and sound principles which will make very adequate provision for the rights of the lower classes if those who endeavor to defend these rights only put those principles into practice. False Teachings130. There is never any need, therefore, to turn to proponents of doctrines condemned by the Church; for they only draw men on with false promises and when they obtain control of the state, try boldly and unscrupulously to deprive men of their supreme spiritual goods�the Christian commandments, Christian hope, and Christian faith. Those who adhere to the doctrines these men propose, minimize or eliminate all that our present age and our modern civilization hold dearest: true liberty and the authentic dignity of the human person. Thus they attempt to destroy the bases of Christianity and civilization. 131. All, therefore, who wish to remain Christians must be aware of their serious obligation to avoid those false principles, which Our predecessors�especially Popes Pius XI and Pius XII�have condemned in the past, and which We condemn once again. 132. We know that many of Our children who live in want or great misfortune often protest that the social teachings of Christianity have not yet been fully put into practice. Private citizens, and more particularly public officials, must take steps to see that the Christian social doctrine which Our predecessors have often clearly and wisely taught and decreed, and which we have confirmed, is really given full effect. (65) Although this will have to be done gradually, no time should be wasted. Emigrants and Exiles133. We are also and equally concerned for the lot of those who are forced to leave their native lands because they cannot earn a living there or because of intolerable conditions and religious persecution. They must undergo many inconveniences and hardships when they go from their native land into foreign countries. Oftentimes, in crowded cities and amid the noise of factories, they must lead a life very different from the one they once knew.134. At times, and this is more serious, they find themselves in an environment that is hostile and hurtful to Christian virtue. In such surroundings many are led into serious danger, and step by step turn away from the wholesome way of life and the religious practices which they learned from their elders. Since husbands are often separated from their wives and parents from their children, the bonds and ties that hold them together are stretched thin and serious injury is done to the family. 135. We give Our paternal approval to the competent and effective work of those priests who have become voluntary emigrants out of love for Jesus Christ and in obedience to the instructions and wishes of this Apostolic See. These priests have spared no effort to ascertain and serve, so far as they can, the social and spiritual needs of their flocks. Thus, wherever the emigrant may journey, he sees the Church's love for him and discovers that this love is even more evident and more effective when his need for care and aid is greatest. 136. We have also observed with great pleasure the praiseworthy steps various nations have taken with regard to this important matter. A number of countries have recently adopted a common plan and program to bring this critical problem to a swift and happy conclusion. We trust that these measures will make it possible for emigrants to enter those lands in greater numbers and with greater ease, but we are even more concerned that they provide for the happy reunion of parents and children as a family unit. Once these sound steps are taken, it will certainly be possible to make adequate provision for the needs of the emigrants, in religion, in morals, and in economic matters; and this, in turn, will benefit the countries which receive them. The Church Persecuted137. We have exhorted all Our children in Christ to avoid the deadly errors which threaten to destroy religion and even human society itself. In writing these words Our thoughts have turned to the bishops, priests, and laymen who have been driven into exile or held under restraint or in prison because they have refused to abandon the work entrusted to them as bishops and priests and to forsake their Catholic faith. 138. We do not want to offend anyone. On the contrary, We are ready to forgive all freely and to beg this forgiveness of God. 139. But We are conscious of Our sacred duty to do all that We can to defend the rights of Our sons and brethren. Time and time again, therefore, We have asked that all be granted the lawful freedom to which all, including God's Church, are entitled. Those who support truth, justice, and the real interests of men and nations do not refuse liberty, do not extinguish it, do not suppress it. There is no need for them to act this way. The just prosperity of their citizens can be achieved without violence and without oppressing minds and hearts. A Self-Evident Truth140. There is one truth especially which We think is self-evident: when the sacred rights of God and religion are ignored or infringed upon, the foundations of human society will sooner or later crumble and give way. Our predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII, expressed this truth well: "It follows . . . that law becomes ineffective and all authority is weakened once the sovereign and eternal rule of God, who commands and forbids, is rejected." (66) Cicero expressed the same idea when he wrote, "You, the priests, are protecting Rome with religion more effectively than she is protected with walls." (67)141. As We reflect on these truths, We embrace with deep sorrow each and every one of the faithful who is impeded and restricted in the practice of his religion. They indeed often "suffer persecution for justice' sake," (68) and for the sake of the kingdom of God. We share their sorrows, their hardships, their anxieties. We pray and beseech heaven to grant at length the dawn of a happier day. We earnestly desire all Our brethren in Christ and Our children throughout the world to join Us in this prayer. For thus a chorus of holy entreaties will rise from every nation to our merciful God and win a richer shower of graces for these unfortunate members of the mystical Body of Christ. A Renewal of Christian Life142. But We ask Our beloved children for more than prayers; We wish to see a renewal of Christian life. This, far more than prayer, will win God's mercy for ourselves and our brethren. 143. We wish to repeat to you again the sublime and beautiful words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, "Whatever things are true, whatever of good repute, if there be any virtue, if there be anything worthy of praise, think upon these things." (70) "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." (70) That is to say, "Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience... But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts; unto that peace, indeed, you were called in one body." (71)144. If anyone is so unfortunate as to wander far from his divine Redeemer in sin and iniquity, let him return to Him who is "the way, and the truth, and the life." (72) If anyone is lukewarm, slothful, remiss, or neglectful in the practice of his religion, let him arouse his faith and, by the grace of God, nurture, rekindle, and strengthen his virtue. He who "is just, let him be just still, and he who is holy, let him be hallowed still." (73) This is Our earnest plea. 145. There are many today who need our counsel, good example, and assistance, for their lot in life is unhappy and miserable. Do you all, therefore, within the limits of your abilities and resources, perform the works of mercy, for they are most pleasing to God. The Christian146. If each of you strives to accomplish all this that We have recommended, there will shine forth anew in the Church that which was expressed so wonderfully about Christians in the Epistle to Diognetus: "They are in the flesh, but do not live by the flesh. They dwell on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey valid laws and even go beyond the demands of law in the conduct of - their lives... They are not understood, and yet they are condemned; they are put to death, and yet their life is quickened. They are poor, and yet they make many wealthy. They lack all things, and yet they have all in abundance. They are dishonored, and yet in the midst of dishonor they find honor. Their good name is railed at, and yet is presented as evidence of their justice. They receive rebukes and give blessings in return. They suffer abuse and offer praise. When they conduct themselves like honest men, they are punished like criminals. While they are being punished, they rejoice as though they are being rewarded... To express the matter simply: what the soul is to the body, Christians are to the world." (74)147. Many of these sublime words apply in a special way to those who are members of the "Church of Silence," for whom we are all especially bound to pray to God, as We recently urged in Our addresses to the faithful in Saint Peter's Basilica on Pentecost Sunday (75) and on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (76)148. We anticipate that all of you will achieve this renewal of the Christian life, this holiness and virtue�not only you who remain steadfastly in the unity of the Church, but all you who with love of truth and with a sincere good will are striving to attain it. 149. With all the love of a father, We impart the Apostolic Blessing to each and every one of you, Venerable Brethren and beloved sons. May it be the occasion and forerunner of heaven's blessings. Written in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on the 29th day of June, the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 1959, the first of Our Pontificate. JOHN XXIII NOTES:LATIN TEXT: Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 51 (1959), 497-531. ENGLISH TRANSLATION: The Pope Speaks, 5 (Autumn, 1959), 359-83. REFERENCES: (1) Cf. Isa.11.12. (2) I Tim. 6.16. (3) Sohn 1.14. (4) John 1.9. (5) 2 Tim. 3.7. (6) Eph. 4.13-16. (7) Letter Saepenumero considerantes: Acta Leonis 3 (1883) 262. (8) Letter Exeunte iam anno: Acta Leonis 8 (1888) 396.(9) Encyclical letter Humanum genus: Acta Leonis 4 (1884) 53.(10) Letter Praeclara gratulationis: Acta Leonis 14 (1894) 210.(11) Letter Permoti Nos: Acta Leonis 15 (1895) 259.(12) Encyclical letter Rerum novarum: Acta Leonis 11 (1891) 109. (13) Christmas Message, 1944: Discorsi e radiomessaggi di S.S. Pio XII, v. 6, 239. AAS 37 (1945) 14. (14) Radio address to the 73rd Congress of German Catholics: Discorsi e radiomessaggi di S.S. Pio XII, v. 11, 189. AAS 41 (1949) 460. (15) AAS 23 (1931) 393-94.(16) "Per un solido ordine sociale." Discorsi e radiomessaggi di S S. Pio XII v. 7, 350. (17) Letter Inter graves: Acta Leonis 11 (1891) 143-44.(18) Matt. 28.20.(19) John 17.21.(20) Cf. Heb. 5.7. (21) John 10.16. (22) John 14.6. (23) Cf. the encyclical letter of Pope Pius XI fostering true religious unity, Mortalium animos: AAS 20 (1928) 5 ff. (24) 2 Cor. 13.8.(25) Cf. J.H. Newman, Difficulties of Anglicans, v. 1, 261 ff.(26) Acts 20.28.(27) Cf. Matt. 16.18.(28) Cf. ibid. 16.19.(29) Cf. Luke 22.32.(30) Cf. John 21.15- 17.(31) Letter 43.5: Corp. Vind. III, 2, 594; cf. Letter 40: Migne PL 4.345.(32) Cf. Ps. 44.15.(33) Canon of the Mass. (34) Cf. Hom. in mysticam caenam: PG 77.1027. (35) Phil. 1.8. (36) Heb. 13.7. (37) Saint Augustine In Ps. 32, Enarr. 11, 29: Migne, PL 36.299. (38) Saint Augustine, In Ps. 82, Enarr. II, 14: Migne, PL 37.1140. (39) John 17.11, 17, 20, 21, 23. (40) Gen. 45.4. (41) 2 Cor. 7.2. (42) Phil. 4.7. (43) Cf. Luke 2.14. (44) John 14.27.(45) Matt. 6.33.(46) 2 Cor. 6.11.(47) Cf. Matt. 20.12.(48) James 1.17.(49) John 15.5.(50) Phil. 4.13.(51) Ibid. 4.19.(52) Funk, Patres Apostolici, 1, 243-245; cf. Migne, PG 5.675.(53) Ibid. 1, 267; cf. Migne, PG 5.699.(54) 2 Thess. 3.1.(55) Cf. John 1.9. (56) Cf. Phil. 2.21. (57) 2 Cor. 5.20.(58) 2 Cor. 10.3.(59) Encyclical letter Rerum Ecclesiae: AAS 18 (1926) 65 ff(60) Encyclical letter Evangelii praecones AAS 43 (1951) 497; Encyclical letter Fidei donum AAS 49 (1957) 225 ff. [English tr.: TPS (Winter 1957-58) v. 4, pp. 295-312.](61) Cf. Heb. 13.14.(62) Luke 9.23.(63) Cf. Luke 12.33.(64) Cf. the encyclical letter Ouadragesimo anno: AAS 23 (1931) 196-98.(65) Cf. the allocution of Pius XII to members of Italian Christian trade unions, March 11, 1945: AAS 37 (1945) 71 -72.(66) Letter Exeunte iam anno: Acta Leonis 8 (1888) 398.(67) De Natura Deorum 111, 40.(68) Matt. 5.10.(69) Phil. 4.8. (70) Rom. 13.14.(71) Col. 3.12-15.(72) John 14.6.(73) Apoc. 22.11.(74) Funk, Patres Apostolici, 1, 399-401; cf. Migne, PG 2.1174-75.(75) Cf. AAS 51 (1959) 420 ff.; L'Osservatore Romano May 18-19, 1959. An English translation appears in v. 5 (1959) of TPS, beginning on p. 403.(76) L'Osservatore Romano June 7, 1959. Click Here to Donate Now! |
Question:Answers:If air density were constant with altitude (which is not) AND acceleration of gravity were constant with altitude (which is not) then you would need a column almost 8 kilometers tall to have 101,000 N/m^2 or 1 Atmosphere at sea level.
P = density x acceleration of gravity x altitude
101,000 = 1.29 x 9.81 x altitude
altitude = around 7,981 Kilometers.
The issue is that air density changes with altitude and air pressure too. Same thing happens to acceleration due to gravity.
Considering that:
50% of the atmosphere (mass) is below an altitude of 5.6 km. 90% of the atmosphere (mass) is below an altitude of 16 km. 99.99997% of the atmosphere (mass) is below 100 km.
i would say that MOST of the atmospheric pressure we feel at sea level is MOSTLY due to a column of air (with decreasing density as altitude increases) about 16 kilometers tall. The entire atmosphere contributes to the atmospheric pressure at sea level but there is no clear boundary between our atmosphere and the outer space. For this reason we could assume a reasonable and practical figure like 16 kilometers instead of mentioning the upper part of the Exosphere, which is at about 10,000 kilometers from sea level. Nonetheless, even the small molecules found in the Exosphere exert pressure on us, but their contribution is too small to be considered.Question:my example is if your leaving earth or approaching earth going inside the earth toward its core. than would the acceleration formula change in these two examples?Answers:The strength (or apparent strength) of Earth's gravity varies with latitude, altitude, and local topography and geology. For most purposes the gravitational force is assumed to act in a line directly towards a point at the centre of the Earth, but for very precise work the direction can also vary slightly because the Earth is not a perfectly uniform sphere.
Gravity is weaker at lower latitudes (nearer the equator), for two reasons. The first is that in a rotating non-inertial or accelerated reference frame, as is the case on the surface of the Earth, there appears a 'fictitious' centrifugal force acting in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The gravitational force on a body is partially offset by this centrifugal force, reducing its weight. This effect is smallest at the poles, where the gravitational force and the centrifugal force are orthogonal, and largest at the equator. This effect on its own would result in a range of values of g from 9.789 m s 2 at the equator to 9.832 m s 2 at the poles.
The second reason is that the Earth's equatorial bulge (itself also caused by centrifugal force), causes objects at the equator to be farther from the planet's centre than objects at the poles. Because the force due to gravitational attraction between two bodies (the Earth and the object being weighed) varies inversely with the square of the distance between them, objects at the equator experience a weaker gravitational pull than objects at the poles.
In combination, the equatorial bulge and the effects of centrifugal force mean that sea-level gravitational acceleration increases from about 9.780 m/s at the equator to about 9.832 m/s at the poles, so an object will weigh about 0.5% more at the poles than at the equator.
Gravity decreases with altitude, since greater altitude means greater distance from the Earth's centre. All other things being equal, an increase in altitude from sea level to the top of Mount Everest (8,850 metres) causes a weight decrease of about 0.28%. (An additional factor affecting apparent weight is the decrease in air density at altitude, which lessens an object's buoyancy.) It is a common misconception that astronauts in orbit are weightless because they have flown high enough to "escape" the Earth's gravity. In fact, at an altitude of 250 miles (roughly the height that the Space Shuttle flies) gravity is still nearly 90% as strong as at the Earth's surface, and weightlessness actually occurs because orbiting objects are in free-fall.
If the Earth was of perfectly uniform composition then, during a descent to the centre of the Earth, gravity would decrease linearly with distance, reaching zero at the centre. In reality, the gravitational field peaks within the Earth at the core-mantle boundary where it has a value of 10.7 m/s , because of the marked increase in density at that boundary. |
Barren future for drought-ridden farmers
Des Taylor he finds it hard to see a future there for his children as he battles to feed and water his sheep and cattle
TOUGH TIMES: The drought is forcing local farmers such as Des Taylor to take drastic measures as they wait for the rain to fall. Photo: JUDE KEOGHTweetFacebook of ╳exitDESPITE Des Taylor’s family having lived on his Millthorpe Road property for some 150 years, he finds it hard to see a future there for his children as he battles to feed and water his 1600 sheep and 160 cattle during one of the country’s worst droughts.The drought has taken its toll on Mr Taylor and his wife Mary who somehow still feel optimistic enough to hope for rainfall, no matter what recent experience and weather forecasts tell them.“If we weren’t optimistic we wouldn’t do what we do,” Mr Taylor said.“We’re lucky enough to have quite good bore water but you can’t tell how much of it you’ve got until it stops pumping, then you’re in dire straights.”While the Taylors have around 20 dams on their large property at Shadforth, only a handful have any water in them.“Normally at this time of year springs open up but we don’t know what’s going to happen this year. If it stays dry then everything’s going to die,” Mr Taylor said.“We need rain while the ground’s still warm, we need it by mid-February ideally, but if we get good rain in March it won’t be too bad.”Mr Taylor said he needed to be able to plant feed for the winter months before the soil turned hard and cold.“This side of the mountain things turn so cold, so quickly,” he said.“At the moment stock prices are still holding up but in another month or six weeks stock prices will probably drop and everyone will take their stock to market and it’ll be flooded.”Mr Taylor dreads the thought that he’ll be forced to shoot stock as he did in 1982.“It’s soul-destroying but you do what you’ve got to do,” he said.“Sometimes de-stocking is the only thing you can do ... everything’s a trade-off.”“Everyone asks us why we don’t just sell up and leave but there’s lots of reasons why people do this ... history is a big part of why I’m here. It’s what I’ve always done, it becomes who you are"With so much dependent on getting a decent rainfall, Mr Taylor admits he’s become “less confident about [weather] predictions”.“I think they’re hedging their bets,” he said.While once farmers used to talk about traditional weather patterns, now there was no such thing with many contemplating the impact of climate change, he said.Like many who live on the land, Mr Taylor takes a pragmatic approach to his future.“Everyone’s just carrying on with pills and ointment, we’ve just got to keep going and hope eventually it’s OK,” he said.During tough times many growers are forced to seek a second source of income and often their partner has a job in town.“There are very few people who can maintain their property and family just by farming,” Mr Taylor said.Many property owners are selling off portions of their land to survive.“It’s being done out of necessity, people cash in some land to try and keep going,” he said.“Everyone asks us why we don’t just sell up and leave but there’s lots of reasons why people do this.“History is a big part of why I’m here. It’s what I’ve always done, it becomes who you are.”Yet despite his connection to the land his family’s owned since 1856, Mr Taylor doesn’t want his children to become farmers.“Absolutely not,” he said.“The political will has turned against agriculture and producers keep getting hammered.”Mr Taylor wants more emphasis on the importance of buying Australian products.“Why can’t we have one simple logo that says produced in Australia?” he said.“We need the money to stay in Australia.“We need something to be done at the top level and we need them [government] to stop bending over backwards for the mining sector.” [email protected] SAY: AUSTRALIAN MADE FOOD FOR THOUGHTTweet |
Solo female travel: why it’s a label I support
February 6, 2013 in Life,Philosophy,Travel
TweetEmailWhen I was in college, my undergraduate theme was women’s studies: I took classes in women’s health, women’s literature, the media’s portrayal of women, and the intersection of work and family in women’s lives. It was honestly one of the most valuable educational experiences that I’ve had: I learned more about my body and how it works. I was able to delve into the history of women writers, examine how women’s looks are scrutinized on TV and in magazines, discuss the very real issues of balancing a desire for both a career and motherhood in today’s “equal” workplace.
One of the lessons that resonated the most was how singular our experiences are: I am a woman. I am also white, a third-generation American of European descent, born into the upper middle class and in possession of a college degree. There is literally no way I can fully understand the experience of a man, of a black person, of a person born into a different socioeconomic situation. I can sympathize, I can empathize–but my experience is purely mine, influenced by my experiences, interactions, prejudices.
Solo female travel is suddenly back in the news, after a 33-year-old woman was murdered while traveling alone in Turkey. News coverage prompted an outpouring of comments that seem out of time, out of place in the warm embrace of the “solo female travel” blogging community: that a woman has no business traveling alone, that it’s crazy to travel anywhere in the U.S. or outside of the world for fear of being shot, that a woman’s life loses its value as soon as it leaves this country.
I’m very supportive of solo female travel, both the act and the label. It’s come under discussion (attack?) in the travel blogging community for rallying behind our gender as the sole aspect of our identity worth promoting. But I still think there are many more women than men who are afraid to travel alone, who feel like they need a boyfriend, a friend, a group. Heck, there are still countries that I wouldn’t feel comfortable traveling alone or even with another female–namely, the Middle East and Northern Africa. I don’t think men worry as much about dressing appropriately, not drinking, staying in safe areas of town nearly as much as women do. I don’t think they come under the same level of scrutiny for choosing to go by themselves, instead of waiting for a partner. Being a “solo female traveler” is a label as much as a being a “budget traveler,” a “luxury traveler,” a “couples travel”: it’s a way to identify, to find similar minds, to bond and learn from and examine that shared experience.
When people say that “anyone can travel,” I’m always a little hesitant. I can travel: I’m from a country that allows recreational travel to most countries, a Western power that can grant work visas and study visas and travel visas. Even on minimum wage, I can earn more money in a day than many educated people in third-world countries can in a week. I am eligible for credit cards, for airline miles, for a passport. $50 a day is a reasonable sum for me to save and to spend on travel: it’s an impossible number to a majority of the world’s population.
I suppose this is really just a post to say that I’m grateful. I recognize the luck I’ve had, the opportunities that have been granted to me by no real work on my part. I’ve had the chance to travel, to work and live abroad. Merit scholarships and the financial support of my parents enabled me to graduate college with no debt. If it all comes down to the flip of a coin in the lottery of the world, I’ve been lucky.
But more than that, I’ve been given this incredible confidence: this belief that the world is good and worth exploring. The knowledge that it’s just as much of a risk outside my door as it is outside my country’s borders. That even though I’m a woman, with the experience and emotions and exhilaration of being a woman, I can do this crazy thing called “solo female travel” without feeling as though it’s something to be discounted. Even though I don’t travel as much as I used to and even though I travel with other people more and more: I’m proud of that label, that belief and that courage, and all that it stands for. |
FDA Review of Pancreatic Enzyme Products
In April 2004, a new rule was issued requiring makers of pancreatic enzyme products to get their drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by April 28, 2010.
For enzymes to receive FDA approval, companies must test them in clinical trials in people with pancreatic diseases, which include cystic fibrosis (CF). These clinical trials confirm the safety and effectiveness of the enzymes.
The following will help answer questions you may have about the FDA’s rule and its possible effects on the enzymes you take.
Why did the FDA make this rule?
What if my or my child’s enzyme isn’t approved at this time?
Will I still be able to buy the enzymes that my child or I take now?
What happens if my insurance will not cover a different enzyme?
Why weren't enzymes approved by the FDA before?
Were clinical trials of pancreatic enzymes necessary?
How do I know which enzyme is best for my child or me?
Was the CF Foundation involved in the FDA’s decision?
Why is good nutrition important for people with CF?
Did the CF Foundation's focus on enzymes take away from efforts toward a cure?
The goal of this rule is to make sure that pancreatic enzymes have the right amount of active ingredients to digest food. Inconsistencies in enzyme formulation can cause problems with digestion.
There are several types of enzymes on the market now, which vary in what they contain, how they are made and how many pills must be taken. It is difficult to know the exact amount of active ingredients in the different enzymes.
By conducting clinical trials and requiring FDA approval, the manufacturing process of pancreatic enzymes will be standardized, which ensures the consistency of the capsules from batch to batch. In addition, by having more precise information on these enzymes and how effective they are, doctors are better able to prescribe the right amount of enzymes.
As of April 28, 2010, if a maker has not received FDA approval, its enzyme product is no longer available. Your doctor may need to prescribe a different enzyme product for you. It is important to know that some enzyme makers may get FDA approval for their enzyme AFTER April 28, 2010. If you are concerned, talk to your CF doctor to discuss a plan of action.
The enzymes you or your child currently take should be available while supplies last during the FDA's review of these products.
In the meantime, we continue to look for ways to improve the quality of life for people with CF by testing products to control and lessen the symptoms and complications associated with CF.
For more information, visit the FDA’s Web site. |
The Price of a Cheap SuitCompanies spend millions to assess overseas suppliers. So why are they still missing so many problems?Joseph McCafferty, CFO MagazineAugust 1, 2005
It's 10:00 p.m., and Charlie Kernaghan is driving around the garment district in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It's well past quitting time for the fabric cutters and seamstresses who started work in the factories at 8 o'clock that morning. But the workers aren't coming out of the gray, decaying buildings, even though they have already worked for 14 hours. (A six-day, 60-hour workweek is the maximum allowable under Bangladeshi law.) Soon factory managers roll black crepe paper over the windows to conceal the workers toiling inside. By midnight, as work continues, the temperature hovers in the 90s outside and is even hotter inside the factories, forcing the managers to roll the paper back up. They're convinced that no one could be watching at such a late hour. But Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, an antisweatshop organization based in New York, is there to observe them. "It's easy to see what's going on," he says. "Ask anyone in the neighborhood and they will tell you."
What's going on is that the workers, who are making clothes that will end up on the racks of large U.S. retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are being forced to work extraordinarily long shifts. "If [their employer] is on a deadline, they will work until two or three in the morning and they'll do it for two or three days in a row," explains Kernaghan. Long shifts aren't the only infractions by the apparel factory owners and managers in Bangladesh: "Meager pay, unsanitary working conditions, and forced pregnancy tests (expectant mothers are often fired to avoid maternity pay) are all common practices in the factories," he adds.
No company wants to be associated with such a working environment. Apart from the moral issues inherent in the use of sweatshop labor, the business cost of the kind of exposé Kernaghan can produce — he famously brought TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford to tears and led a crew from "Dateline NBC" to the Bangladesh factory described above — can be substantial. Such exposés can cost billions of dollars in damage to brands, lost customers, and lost market capital from subsequent stock-price declines. Shares of Nike Inc. tumbled through the late 1990s, for example, as a stream of reports emerged about poor working conditions at Nike supplier factories in Vietnam and China, and college students organized boycotts of Nike goods.
But management of this supply-chain issue is, at best, a work in progress. True, in the past decade, scores of large retailers and apparel makers have developed codes of conduct that prohibit inhumane labor practices by the factories that manufacture their goods. The codes cover everything from wages to overtime practices to safe working conditions.
Companies also spend millions each year to monitor their suppliers' factories to make sure that the codes are being enforced. Wal-Mart says that it conducted more than 12,500 audits of supplier factories last year.
The trouble with such audits is that they go only so far. Leading companies like Nike and Gap Inc. have been candid about workplace problems. In its 2004 Corporate Responsibility Report, issued in April, Nike revealed that 27 percent of the 497 factories making Nike apparel scored a C or D, denoting serious code-of-conduct violations. And in Gap's 2004 Social Responsibility Report, president and CEO Paul Pressler noted that the retailer had taken important steps toward safer conditions and better treatment for overseas workers. But he added that "social responsibility issues across the industry remain immensely complex."
Indeed they do. Most companies haven't even developed effective monitoring. Some argue that, at this juncture, what the monitoring process needs is some strict financial discipline. "The activists are pushing for the types of disclosure and reporting that are very familiar to the CFO," says Pietra Rivoli, an associate professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy.
Far-fetched? Not necessarily. Finance chiefs routinely oversee other aspects of supply-chain management and increasingly are charged with protecting the value of corporate brands. Nor, as Rivoli points out, are they exactly strangers to monitoring compliance programs. "They have the most practice with regular audits," she notes.
Coached to Lie
Of course, any finance chief will tell you that audits are only as good as the information they are based on. And therein lies the problem. Sweatshop operators go to great lengths to make sure nobody sees what is going on.
Indeed, as retailers and apparel makers have stepped up their compliance initiatives, factory owners have stepped up their deceptions. One of the biggest issues: many suppliers keep two or more sets of books to help hide overtime and wage violations. In fact, experts say software can be easily purchased in China to help factory owners maintain multiple sets of books. "It's a problem that is gradually increasing," admits Michael Kobori, director of global code of conduct for apparel maker Levi Strauss & Co. Kobori says the company will drop a supplier that is caught cooking the books.
Cheating can be difficult to detect, however. Kernaghan says he visited a factory in Bangladesh where the time cards for the next week were already stamped with the legal amount of hours allowed. He says lots of paperwork is falsified. "There is software they can buy," he says, "that will put just a few errors into the records so that they look clean, but not too perfect."
Interviewing workers is one way to smoke out fraud. In many cases, however, employees are coached to lie. They are told to say that working conditions are great — and are threatened if they tell the truth. Observers say that most workers won't talk openly in the factories for fear of losing their jobs. And "worker interviews are rarely conducted outside the factories," says Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, an antisweatshop group based in Washington, D.C. "It's the weakest part of these audits."
In extreme cases, factory owners set up front operations to fool inspectors. The fake facility may be one building of many the supplier operates, or even a factory owned by another company. "Factories always hide their actual ownerships and relationships," says Gregory Ray, managing director of The Shiny Penny Ltd., a sourcing and supply-chain management advisory firm based in Shanghai.
Complicating the picture, he says, is the fact that buyers sometimes outsource to other buyers, or factories subcontract the order. "An apparel company might have no idea where the products are really coming from," says Ray. "When they visit China, everybody's in collusion to show them a nice, clean showcase factory where all the workers are smiling."
Critics say some inspectors, bent on not uncovering problems, happily buy the ruses. In fact, Anne Lally, a worker advocate and consultant to the not-for-profit Fair Labor Association, claims that some unscrupulous corporations instruct their suppliers on how to cook the books so they can deceive other, more-stringent buyers that contract with the same factory. Why? Corrections at a facility could be costly to everyone, explains Lally. "The truth is expensive," she notes, "because then you might have to fix it."
Still, even the harshest corporate critics admit that U.S. businesses have made some strides in improving conditions for overseas workers. "Child labor is the third rail [for U.S. companies]. On that issue, they have really drawn the line," says Kernaghan. He says it is also rare to see systemic violence, sexual harassment, or forced contraception. "There's more pressure to have control over contract suppliers. If you sell it, or it has your name on it, you're responsible," he adds.
In part, that change can be traced to a meeting in a seventh-floor office in San Francisco in 1991. At the meeting, Levi Strauss's board of directors voted to adopt a code of conduct for suppliers — the first of its kind at a major U.S. corporation. A year later, the company put in place a monitoring system to make sure its suppliers were adhering to the code. Early on, Levi's relied on quality-control inspectors to ensure suppliers were cleaving to the new code. But management quickly learned that the quality-control personnel had no training in spotting workplace violations. "Those initial efforts were very much a learning process," says Kobori.
Today, Levi's employs 20 full-time inspectors to assess conditions in some 400 factories under contract in countries including Mexico, the Dominican Republic, India, China, and Turkey. "We shoot for 100 percent of the direct contractors," says Kobori. The company also requires inspections by Levi's-approved monitors of another 250 suppliers making goods that will be licensed to carry a Levi Strauss or Dockers brand name. The assessors, as Levi's likes to call them, conduct thorough inspections of the facilities, looking for safety and health violations. They also speak to managers and inspect the books and other documentation like time cards and payroll to make sure that overtime and wage rules are being enforced. The company then conducts interviews with the workers. More recently, Levi's assessors have attempted to speak to workers outside the factory. And Levi's is trying to conduct more surprise visits.
Kobori says suppliers are checked out before they can sign on to make goods for Levi's and are inspected at least once a year, more often if problems are found. "Suppliers must remedy [problems] immediately," he adds. "If they don't, we will reduce our orders with them."
Critics applaud Levi's policy of attempting to fix problems rather than parting with offending factories. When companies pull out, factories can go under, leaving workers without jobs. "Our goal is to improve working conditions," says Kobori. "We give suppliers every opportunity to improve."
Not all companies do. For some suppliers in Dhaka, it's easier to shut down a factory and open another one somewhere else. Other overseas suppliers argue that sweatshop factories exist in all countries — even the United States. They also argue that although pay in their facilities may be bad, it is better than nothing.
The Buddy System
Currently, most companies that monitor suppliers do their own audits, a practice that can lead to a fair amount of overlap at individual factories. "It's silly for a factory to get 40 different audits," says Caitlin Morris, compliance director at Nike. Inspectors say it's not unusual to walk into a factory in Bangladesh or China and see five or six different codes on the wall. Sometimes, a fire extinguisher will be constantly moved up and down the wall to satisfy different safety codes from different companies sourcing at the same factory. "The hope is to get to a model where brands are able to work cooperatively," says Morris.
Toward that end, a group of companies, including Nike, Gap, and Patagonia Inc., are working with a handful of worker-rights groups to develop a common set of labor standards, as well as a shared monitoring system. The idea: with agreed-upon standards and best practices, buyers and suppliers can rely on one set of audits. The program, called the Joint Initiative on Corporate Accountability and Workers' Rights, began a pilot program in April in Turkey, a center for apparel manufacturing. If successful, the initiative might eventually lead to the first commonly accepted global labor standards.
Anne Lally, who is currently in Istanbul working on the project for the Fair Labor Association, says the goal is not only to learn where rights groups are duplicating one another's efforts, "but also [to learn] where they are different — and with that knowledge, work more cooperatively in the future." Such cooperation would likely make the monitoring process cheaper. It would also improve the reliability of audits, since the data would come from independent sources — a crucial point for many shareholder-rights groups.
Some companies are already moving to more-independent monitoring. Levi's, for one, works with nongovernmental agencies to improve its overseas monitoring process. Similarly, Nike works with Lally's organization, which monitors about 5 percent of the company's factories independently.
Hiring for-profit, third-party groups to monitor supplier facilities can be more problematic. Some labor advocates charge that such investigators tell buyers what they want to hear to retain their business. They also claim that even well-meaning inspectors can be fooled by creative factory owners.
Indeed, PricewaterhouseCoopers exited the supply-chain monitoring business. One of the problems for audit firms, say observers, is that there is no certification process for individual monitors. "There's no equivalent of a CPA," says Lally. "It's a serious problem, with people out there functioning [as monitors] without any training."
Independent operators can be expensive, too. Ron Martin, compliance director at Lee Jeans maker VF Corp., says that third-party audits can easily cost $1,200 to $1,500 apiece, which can add up, considering VF's 1,500 active contractors. The company relies heavily on its own audits. "We don't want our products to be made in places where people are being treated unethically," says Martin. "We see social compliance in the supply chain as an investment in the brand."
What Will You Pay For?
With some suppliers reluctant to adhere to codes of conduct, a few corporations are looking to see how they can change their own operations. Nike, for example, is working to eradicate some of the causes of abusive employer behavior. One example: the apparel maker recently put together an internal overtime task force to look at ways the company might be unwittingly exacerbating the problem of long shifts. "We are looking at how we can improve our internal business practices to lessen the factors that contribute to excessive overtime," says compliance director Morris.
It's a start, say worker-rights advocates. Still, some believe the real problem is that enforcing supplier codes of conduct runs contrary to other pressures buyers put on factories — namely, price, turnaround time, and quality. Indeed, Kernaghan argues that Wal-Mart puts so much pressure on price that suppliers can't possibly afford to improve conditions. So instead, they lie. "The message is, 'There is 99 percent focus on price, and after that we'll talk about the other stuff,'" he says. Kernaghan claims that one executive from a rival retailer told him flat out, "We're not going to do any more than Wal-Mart does."
Certainly, Wal-Mart is a favorite target of critics who say the retail giant is a laggard in developing effective monitoring. As proof, they point to a lawsuit filed in June by a former Wal-Mart inspector who claims he was fired for refusing to certify supplier factories in Central America. The suit claims that "the factory certification process was designed only to create the impression that Wal-Mart was producing its goods under humane working conditions when, in fact, working conditions at the factories were terrible and violated the rules and regulations of Wal-Mart."
The company denies the allegations, and its management states it is serious about monitoring its contractors. "It's a priority for us," says Rajan Kalamalanathan, director of compliance for Wal-Mart's global procurement division. Executives at the retailer won't reveal how much the company spends on monitoring, but according to Kalamalanathan, "it does cost quite a bit." He says the retailer is shifting to more unannounced inspections — up from 8 percent of all inspections last year to around 20 percent this year. And he disputes accusations that the company's well-documented focus on price forces suppliers to cut corners. Says Kalamalanathan, "When we have suppliers say, 'It's going to cost me,' we say, 'Do it.'"
In the end, wiping out sweatshop labor might cost everybody, including corporations, shareholders, and customers. But easing cost pressures may be the only way to ensure that suppliers can afford to operate safe and profitable factories. "If you are serious about a code of conduct, it's going to cost you a little bit," says the Worker Rights Consortium's Nova. "The good news is, it's not that much. A tremendous amount of good can be done without upsetting the economic calculus."
No-Sweat Equity
While some apparel companies struggle to quiet the controversy surrounding inhumane working conditions, a small group of businesses are taking a different tack. They're making an issue of sweatshop labor.
No Sweat Apparel, for example, which was started by a group of labor-rights activists in Waltham, Massachusetts, trumpets the fact that it is a "sweatshop-free" employer (the company uses only suppliers that are unionized). Likewise, Los Angeles-based American Apparel, the largest garment manufacturer operating within the United States, refuses to use sweatshops. Even Bono, lead singer for Irish rock group U2, is getting into the act. Along with his wife, Ali Hewson, he launched Edun, a sweatshop-free clothing line that will sell at Saks Fifth Avenue.
These companies are striving to do what many retailers cannot: guarantee that their clothes aren't made in sweatshops. No Sweat sources from 14 factories in the United States, Canada, El Salvador, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Before any orders are made, the company insists on an independent audit of the factories. The inspections are done unannounced — and employees are interviewed outside of the workplace. "Since they are union shops, we're very confident in them," says No Sweat's CFO, John Studer "But we do inspections, just to make sure." (COO Anne O'Loughlin visited the Jakarta factory in order to view the working conditions firsthand.) Studer says the workers at the facility in Indonesia get six weeks of paid vacation and free health care. No Sweat shoots for wages at about 20 percent above the minimum wage.
The giant of the sweatshop-free trend, however, is American Apparel. The company employees 3,000 workers and operates 20 retail locations. All the clothes are made at a factory in Los Angeles, where the average worker is paid $12.50 an hour. The company recorded $150 million in sales in 2004, and expects to grow to $250 million this year.
But can socially conscious apparel be profitable? No Sweat's Studer thinks so. The company, which expects to more than double sales to $1.6 million this year, was able to eke out a small profit in only its second year of existence. "We want to show big brands that you can be profitable," says Studer, "and still effect positive social change."
It's not easy. SweatX, an antisweatshop brand launched by a venture-capital fund run by Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry's ice cream fame), closed its doors last year after two years of operating at a loss. |
G8 Declaration of Leaders Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate Change, 2008
StatementG8 Declaration of Leaders Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate Change, 2008 Declaration of Leaders Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate ChangeJuly 9, 2008We, the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States met as the world's major economies in Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan, on 9 July, 2008, and declare as follows:1. Climate change is one of the great global challenges of our time. Conscious of our leadership role in meeting such challenges, we, the leaders of the world's major economies, both developed and developing, commit to combat climate change in accordance with our common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and confront the interlinked challenges of sustainable development, including energy and food security, and human health. We have come together to contribute to efforts under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the global forum for climate negotiations. Our contribution and cooperation are rooted in the objective, provisions, and principles of the Convention.2. We welcome decisions taken by the international community in Bali, including to launch a comprehensive process to enable the full, effective, and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action, now, up to, and beyond 2012, in order to reach an agreed outcome in December 2009. Recognizing the scale and urgency of the challenge, we will continue working together to strengthen implementation of the Convention and to ensure that the agreed outcome maximizes the efforts of all nations and contributes to achieving the ultimate objective in Article 2 of the Convention, which should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.3. The Major Economies Meetings constructively contribute to the Bali process in several ways: * First, our dialogue at political, policy, and technical levels has built confidence among our nations and deepened mutual understanding of the many challenges confronting the world community as we consider next steps under the Convention and continue to mobilize political will to combat global climate change. * Second, without prejudging outcomes or the views of other nations, we believe that the common understandings in this Declaration will help advance the work of the international community so it is possible to reach an agreed outcome by the end of 2009. * Third, recognizing the need for urgent action and the Bali Action Plan's directive for enhanced implementation of the Convention between now and 2012, we commit to taking the actions in paragraph 10 without delay.4. We support a shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions, that assures growth, prosperity, and other aspects of sustainable development, including major efforts towards sustainable consumption and production, all aimed at achieving a low carbon society. Taking account of the science, we recognize that deep cuts in global emissions will be necessary to achieve the Convention's ultimate objective, and that adaptation will play a correspondingly vital role. We believe that it would be desirable for the Parties to adopt in the negotiations under the Convention a long-term global goal for reducing global emissions, taking into account the principle of equity. We urge that serious consideration be given in particular to ambitious IPCC scenarios. Significant progress toward a long-term global goal will be made by increasing financing of the broad deployment of existing technologies and best practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience. However, our ability ultimately to achieve a long-term global goal will also depend on affordable, new, more advanced, and innovative technologies, infrastructure, and practices that transform the way we live, produce and use energy, and manage land.5. Taking into account assessments of science, technology, and economics, we recognize the essential importance of enhanced greenhouse gas mitigation that is ambitious, realistic, and achievable. We will do more ? we will continue to improve our policies and our performance while meeting other priority objectives ? in keeping with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Achieving our long-term global goal requires respective mid-term goals, commitments and actions, to be reflected in the agreed outcome of the Bali Action Plan, taking into account differences in social and economic conditions, energy mix, demographics, and infrastructure among other factors, and the above IPCC scenarios. In this regard, the developed major economies will implement, consistent with international obligations, economy-wide mid-term goals and take corresponding actions in order to achieve absolute emission reductions and, where applicable, first stop the growth of emissions as soon as possible, reflecting comparable efforts among them. At the same time, the developing major economies will pursue, in the context of sustainable development, nationally appropriate mitigation actions, supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity-building, with a view to achieving a deviation from business as usual emissions.6. We recognize that actions to reduce emissions, including from deforestation and forest degradation, and to increase removals by sinks in the land use, land use change, and forestry sector, including cooperation on tackling forest fires, can make a contribution to stabilizing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These actions also reduce climate change impacts and can have significant co-benefits by maintaining multiple economic goods and ecological services. Our nations will continue to cooperate on capacity-building and demonstration activities; on innovative solutions, including financing, to reduce emissions and increase removals by sinks; and on methodological issues. We also stress the need to improve forest-related governance and cooperative actions at all levels.7. We recognize that adaptation is vital to addressing the effects of inevitable climate change and that the adverse impacts of climate change are likely to affect developing countries disproportionately. We will work together in accordance with our Convention commitments to strengthen the ability of developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable ones, to adapt to climate change. This includes the development and dissemination of tools and methodologies to improve vulnerability and adaptation assessments, the integration of climate change adaptation into overall development strategies, increased implementation of adaptation strategies, increased emphasis on adaptation technologies, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability, and consideration of means to stimulate investment and increased availability of financial and technical assistance.8. We affirm the critical role of technology and the need for technological breakthroughs in meeting the interlinked global challenges of energy security and climate change. In the near term, broader deployment of many existing technologies will be vital for both mitigation and adaptation. In particular, energy conservation, energy efficiency, disaster reduction, and water and natural resource management technologies are important. We will promote the uptake and use of such technologies including renewables, cleaner and low-carbon technologies, and, for those of us interested, nuclear power. Technology cooperation with and transfer to developing countries are also vital in this effort, as is promoting capacity building. For the longer term, research, development, demonstration, deployment, and transfer of innovative technologies will be crucial, and we acknowledge the need to enhance our investment and collaboration in these areas. Mindful of the important role of a range of alternative energy technologies, we recognize, in particular, the need for research, development, and large-scale demonstration of and cooperation on carbon capture and storage. We also note the value of technology roadmaps as tools to promote continuous investment and cooperation in clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment.9. We recognize that tackling climate change will require greater mobilization of financial resources, both domestically and internationally. There is an urgent need to scale up financial flows, particularly financial support to developing countries; to create positive incentives for actions; to finance the incremental costs of cleaner and low-carbon technologies; to make more efficient use of funds directed toward climate change; to realize the full potential of appropriate market mechanisms that can provide pricing signals and economic incentives to the private sector; to promote public sector investment; to create enabling environments that promote private investment that is commercially viable; to develop innovative approaches; and to lower costs by creating appropriate incentives for and reducing and eliminating obstacles to technology transfer relevant to both mitigation and adaptation.10. To enable the full, effective, and sustained implementation of the Convention between now and 2012, we will: * Work together on mitigation-related technology cooperation strategies in specific economic sectors, promote the exchange of mitigation information and analysis on sectoral efficiency, the identification of national technology needs and voluntary, action-oriented international cooperation, and consider the role of cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions, consistent with the Convention; * Direct our trade officials responsible for WTO issues to advance with a sense of urgency their discussions on issues relevant to promoting our cooperation on climate change; * Accelerate enhanced action on technology development, transfer, financing, and capacity building to support mitigation and adaptation efforts; * Support implementation of the Nairobi Work Programme on impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change; * Improve significantly energy efficiency, a low-cost way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy security; * Continue to promote actions under the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer for the benefit of the global climate system; and * Intensify our efforts without delay within existing fora to improve effective greenhouse gas measurement. 11. Our nations will continue to work constructively together to promote the success of the Copenhagen climate change conference in 2009. More on... Climate Change, International Organizations and Alliances, Global
IPCC Assessment Report
The main activity of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is to publish regular reports on the state of knowledge about climate... Audio
Countdown to Copenhagen Symposium: Session 3: U.S. Options for Copenhagen (Audio)
Speakers: Michael A. Levi, Frank E. Loy, and Daniel M. PricePresider: Juliet Eilperin
Listen to experts outline some of the options the United States negotiating team could pursue during climate change talks at... Primary Sources
G20 Leaders Statement at Pittsburgh Summit: Acting on our Global Energy and Climate Change Challenges
Climate Change and the Upcoming G-8 Summit [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
Speakers: Michael A. Levi and Sebastian Mallaby |
ZINC NITRATE HEXAHYDRATE
Zn(NO3)26H2O
H.S.CODE
Oral rat LD50: 1190 mg/kg SYNONYMS
Nitric acid, zinc salt
PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
Colorless or white crystals or flakes, Slight nitric acid odor
MELTING POINT 36 C
105 C SPECIFIC GRAVITY SOLUBILITY IN WATER
Appreciable (> 10%) pH
5.1 (5% aqueous solution) VAPOR DENSITY
Stable under ordinary conditions APPLICATIONS
Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate is a white tetragonal crystal; melting point 36.5 C; losing all water moles at 105 C to form anhydrous one; soluble in alcohol and water. It is used in the field of electro-galvanizing, agriculture, rubber Industry, water treatment Industry, explosives and catalysts.
Nitric Acid is a colourless, highly corrosive, poisonous liquid (freezing point : -42° C, boiling point: 83° C) that will react with water or steam to produce heat and toxic, corrosive, and flammable vapors. It is toxic and can cause severe burns. It is an important industrial chemical for the manufacture of fertilizers, dyes, drugs, plastics, and explosives. Nitric acid is prepared commercially by the two-stage oxidation of ammonia (Ostwald process) to nitrogen dioxide. Ammonia gas is successively oxidized to nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide by air or oxygen in the presence of a platinum gauze catalyst, which is then absorbed in water to form nitric acid. The resulting acid-in-water solution (about 50-78% by weight acid) can be dehydrated by distillation with sulfuric acid. It is miscible with water in all proportions. The nitric acid of commerce is typically a solution of 52% to 68% nitric acid in water. More concentrated solutions are available. It forms an azeotrope that has the composition 68% nitric acid and 32% water and that boils at 120.5°C. Solutions containing over 86% nitric acid are commonly called fuming nitric acid; they often have a reddish-brown color from dissolved nitrogen oxides.In aqueous solution it is both a strong acid and a powerful oxidizing agent. Among the many important reactions of nitric acid are: neutralization with ammonia to form ammonium nitrate, used widely in fertilizers and explosives; nitration of glycerol and toluene, forming the explosives nitroglycerin and trinitrotoluene, respectively; preparation of nitrocellulose; and oxidation of metals to the corresponding oxides or nitrates. Many compounds are oxidized by nitric acid. Nonmetallic elements such as carbon, iodine, phosphorus and sulfur are oxidized by concentrated nitric acid to their oxides or oxyacids with the formation of NO2
. Hydrochloric acid, aqueous HCl, is readily oxidized by concentrated nitric acid to chlorine and chlorine dioxide. The action of nitric acid on a metal usually results in reduction of the acid (i.e., a decrease in the oxidation state of the nitrogen). The products of the reaction are determined by the concentration of nitric acid, the metal involved (i.e., its reactivity), and the temperature. In most cases, a mixture of nitrogen oxides, nitrates, and other reduction products is formed. Relatively unreactive metals such as copper, silver, and lead reduce concentrated nitric acid primarily to NO2. The reaction of dilute nitric acid with copper produces NO, while more reactive metals, such as zinc and iron, react with dilute nitic acid to yield N2O. When extremely dilute nitric acid is used, either nitrogen gas or the ammonium ion (NH4+) may be formed. Nitrates, which are salts or esters of nitric acid contains NO3- (nitrate ion), are formed by replacing the hydrogen with a metal (e.g., sodium or potassium) or a radical (e.g., ammonium or ethyl). Some important inorganic nitrates are potassium nitrate (used in explosives, fireworks, matches, and fertilizers, and as a preservative in foods. It is sometimes used in medicine as a diuretic.), sodium nitrate (used in making potassium nitrate, fertilizers, and explosives.), silver nitrate (used in the preparation of silver salts for photography, in chemical analysis, in silver plating, in inks and hair dyes, and to silver mirrors.), and ammonium nitrate (Major uses are in fertilizers and explosives). Calcium nitrate is used in fertilizers; barium and strontium nitrates are used to color fireworks and signal flares; bismuth nitrate is used in making pharmaceuticals. Most nitrates are soluble in water, and a major use of nitric acid is to produce soluble metal nitrates. All nitrates decompose when heated and may do so explosively. The presence of nitrates in the soil is of great importance, since it is from these compounds that plants obtain the nitrogen necessary for their growth. Organic nitrates are esters formed by reaction of nitric acid with the hydroxyl (-OH) group in an alcohol. Nitrocellulose (or cellulose nitrate) is a highly flammable compound formed when cellulose materials are treated with concentrated nitric acid. The extent of the reaction between the cotton and acid can be varied to give a range of compounds, from the highly explosive gun-cotton to the flammable collodion cotton or pyroxilin. These are now used worldwide as propellants in cartridges and other ammunition. Collodion cotton and other less reactive forms of nitrocellulose are used chiefly in lacquers. They also form the basis of one of the earliest plastics, celluloid, made by the action on nitrocellulose of a solution of camphor in ethanol. Guncotton, fully nitrated cellulose, is used for explosives. Nitroglycerin is the nitric acid triester of glycerol and is more correctly called glycerol trinitrate. It is mixed with an absorbent material to form dynamite and is also used as a component of smokeless powder. Guncotton, fully nitrated cellulose is used for explosives. |
Nineteenth Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ministerial Segment
CITES welcomes Viet Nam Prime Minister’s Directive to combat wildlife crime
CITES welcomes UNESCO, UNODC and UNWTO anti-trafficking campaign
CITES publishes quotas for wild caviar from the Caspian Sea For use of the media only;
not an official document.
CITES publishes quotas for wild caviar from the Caspian Sea
Geneva, 3 March 2008 – The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has published the export quotas for caviar and other sturgeon products from the Caspian Sea set by the range States for 2008.
The publication of 2008 quotas at this time follows a change in the system governing the establishment of caviar export quotas from shared stocks of sturgeon species adopted at the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP14) held in The Hague, Netherlands in June 2007.
The quota year for caviar and meat will now run from 1 March until the last day of February in the following year, in order to reflect the fishing and marketing seasons.
In line with a recommendation made at CoP14, the quotas are at or below the levels of 2007. Iran’s caviar quota for Persian sturgeon has been reduced by 1,000 kg as a conservation measure.
“The Secretariat remains very concerned about the state of sturgeon stocks in the Caspian Sea. We will be working with the CITES Animals Committee, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Bank to support the Caspian littoral States in their efforts to maintain a viable fishery for these important species,” said CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers.
Meanwhile, recognizing that sturgeon stocks in the Black Sea/lower Danube River fishery have been seriously depleted, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine have maintained their zero caviar export quotas for 2008.
In the case of the stock shared by China and the Russian Federation in the Heilongjiang/Amur River, the Secretariat is seeking further clarification of information submitted by the States concerned and has not been able to publish a quota at this stage.
Additional background As caviar stocks continued to decline through the 1990s, the Parties to CITES decided to place all sturgeon species that remained unlisted on its Appendix II, a decision that came into effect on 1 April 1998. Since then, all exports of caviar and other sturgeon products have had to comply with strict CITES provisions, including the use of export permits and specific labelling requirements.
In 2001, CITES responded to high levels of poaching and illegal trade in the Caspian Sea by agreeing a temporary ban. Extensive discussions and stronger actions by the range States were required before the annual quotas could be agreed for 2002 to 2005. The Secretariat was unable to publish quotas for 2006.
To have their proposed quotas published, countries with shared sturgeon stocks must agree amongst themselves on catch and export quotas based on scientific surveys of the stocks. They must also adopt a regional conservation strategy, combat illegal fishing and provide details of the scientific data used to establish the catch and export quotas.
The CITES regime requires caviar and other sturgeon products to be sold during the quota year in which it as harvested and processed. Because caviar is also a popular local delicacy in many of these countries, they must also focus on strengthening their controls over domestic trade in sturgeon.
Reduced supplies of caviar from the wild have encouraged many countries to establish aquaculture facilities for sturgeon, but in order to preserve incentives for the conservation of wild sturgeon stocks it is important to maintain a catch of these fish at sustainable levels.
Note to journalists: For more information, please contact David Morgan at +41-22-917-8123 (office) or or Juan-Carlos Vasquez at +41-22-917-8156 or .
Annual Export quotas (in kg) for specimens from shared stocks of sturgeon species
included in Appendix II for 1 March 2008 to 28 February 2009
Acipenser gueldenstaedtii 3 360 kg
20 000 kg
A. nudiventris 0**
A. persicus 0**
A. ruthenus 0**
A. stellatus 3 000 kg
Huso huso 300 kg
** no quota proposed, therefore zero quota to be allocated. |
UN resolution passes, but status quo remains Sunday, December 9, 2012 Tags: Columnists Comments On Nov. 29, the 65th anniversary of the United Nations’ unfulfilled Palestine partition plan, the Palestinians took a symbolic but significant leap forward toward statehood when the UN upgraded their status to non-member observer state and reaffirmed their right to self-determination on the basis of the pre-1967 lines. The UN’s General Assembly passed this historic resolution by a lopsided margin of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions.
The motion, though non-binding, was an embarrassing setback to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, underscoring the strong international consensus that has coalesced around the concept of Palestinian independence and laying bare Israel’s virtual isolation on this combustible issue.
Israel’s vehement rejection of the resolution was supported by only a short list of nations: the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, Panama and a handful of remote South Pacific islands. Countries normally friendly to Israel, such as France, Italy and Costa Rica, backed it, as did powers such as Russia and China and the entire Asian and African bloc. Nations usually close to Israel, ranging from Germany and Poland to Australia and Britain, abstained.
For Israel, this was nothing less than a diplomatic debacle.
The Palestinians rejoiced in their victory, concluding they will be able to legally challenge Israel’s settlement policies at the International Criminal Court. But in the West Bank – one of the territorial components of Palestinian statehood aside from the Gaza Strip – the status quo prevails.
By virtue of the Oslo accords, which divided the West Bank into Area A, Area B and Area C, Israel remains firmly entrenched in at least two of these places.
In Area C, which accounts for almost two-thirds of the West Bank and contains more than 100 Jewish settlements, Israel retains full civil and military control. Israel, in Area B, shares joint security responsibility with the Palestinian Authority. Only in Area A, where major Palestinian towns are found, is the PA fully in charge of its affairs.
Israel also maintains a tight grip on the West Bank through a system of checkpoints, which regulate the flow of people and trade. Palestinian statehood is thus directly dependent on Israel’s goodwill, consent and co-operation.
Before the PA brought its case for statehood to the UN, Israel threatened to rescind economic agreements with the PA and cancel work permits for Palestinian workers employed in Israel. Although Israel did not resort to any of these draconian measures, its response to the resolution was nonetheless punitive.
Israel announced it would withhold $100 million in Palestinian tax revenues. But on a more strategic level, Israel authorized the construction of 3,000 new housing units in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank and disclosed that preliminary zoning and planning preparations would be undertaken in an empty section of the West Bank known as E-1.
The United States – Israel’s chief ally – as well as western European governments condemned the measures as counter-productive, saying they would impair the prospect of enticing the PA back to the negotiating table and achieving a two-state solution. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was equally critical, describing Israel’s plans as a major blow to the attainment of peace.
To its detractors, the E-1 plan is of particular concern because it would partially cut the West Bank into separate entities and block access to eastern Jerusalem from Ramallah and Bethlehem, thereby rendering a contiguous Palestinian state extremely problematic.
This is an issue that goes to the heart of the matter, especially as far as the Palestinians are concerned. Since 2008, when the last substantive talks took place, the PA has refused to resume negotiations unless Israel stops all construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem and recognizes the pre-1967 lines as the basis for future negotiations.
In his speech to the UN on the eve of the passage of last month’s resolution, PA President Mahmoud Abbas expressed a desire to “launch a final serious attempt to achieve peace” based on an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines and a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue. Last May, in a letter to Abbas, Netanyahu rejected these conditions. Netanyahu has set down his own set of pre-conditions for restarting talks: the PA must recognize Israel as a Jewish state, accept Israeli settlement blocks in the West Bank, acquiesce to an Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley and end all claims against Israel.
Netanyahu professes to support the notion of a contiguous Palestinian state, having said last April it should not look like “Swiss cheese.” But by having doubled the portion of the national budget allocated to settlements in the West Bank, as Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz disclosed recently, Netanyahu’s commitment has been called into question.
Three years ago, Israel imposed a 10-month partial settlement freeze in the West Bank, but with the Palestinians demanding a total building moratorium, in line with the Obama administration’s policy, negotiations were not resumed. The United States asked Israel to extend the freeze, but Netanyahu declined.
Almost two weeks before the General Assembly upgraded the Palestinians’ status at the UN, Abbas laid down two potentially important markers. He said he would be prepared to resume talks with Israel once the national aspirations of the Palestinians were recognized by the UN. And in his clearest definition of what future Israeli borders would be acceptable to the PA, he declared, “I believe that the West Bank and Gaza [are] Palestine, and the other parts [are] Israel.”
Commenting on Abbas’ statement, Israeli President Shimon Peres described him as “a real partner for peace.” Netanyahu, however, dismissed Abbas’ formulation, claiming there was “no connection” between his words and deeds.
Cognizant that the peace process is irretrievably bogged down and that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank may well erode its character as a democratic Jewish state, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has suggested that the impasse can be broken with a unilateral Israeli pullout from much of the West Bank, leaving only the settlement blocs in Israel’s hands. By all accounts, Netanyahu does not regard Barak’s proposal seriously.
Recently, the UN released a report suggesting that a two-state solution is imperilled by three overlapping factors: the current stalemate in negotiations, Israel’s continuing presence in the West Bank and the PA’s economic woes.
Yaakov Perry, the former director of the Shin Bet internal intelligence agency, has taken note of the paralysis that ails the peace process, having warned that Israel’s “sit and do nothing policy” in the West Bank is pushing Israel toward a binational state, which, he asserted, “could spell the destruction of the Zionist vision.”
Shaul Mofaz, the leader of Israel’s opposition and a former Israel Defence Forces chief of staff, has spoken to this issue, too, having raised the possibility that the threat of a binational state is far greater than the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran.
Their warnings may well explain why Ehud Olmert, Israel’s former prime minister, went out on a limb and endorsed the PA’s bid for non-member state status at the UN. “The Palestinian request,” he said, “is congruent with the basic concept of the two-state solution.” |
Eilat, Timna, Negev offer a rich history and holiday Peter Rothholz/JNS.org, Friday, January 4, 2013 Tags: Travel Comments The Dan Eilat Hotel [Avishai Teicher/PikiWiki Israel]
When my wife and I planned our recent visit to Eilat, we expected a glorious seaside holiday. Little did we know that we would also walk in the footsteps of the ancient Kenites and Midianites and that we’d also enjoy an encounter with “kibbutzniks” who create exquisite works of art and raise organic foods in the Negev desert.
Moments after our El Al flight touched down at the Eilat airport, we checked into the luxurious Dan Eilat Hotel, located on the Red Sea beach front, in the centre of this thriving resort community. We knew the hotel’s reputation but we were not prepared for the splendour of our room. Like the hotel itself, the room was decorated in hues of pink, turquoise and beige and its furnishings had a distinct art deco look. But the icing on the cake was an enormous terrace complete with hot tub and breathtaking views. We felt as though we had landed on the set of a 1950’s Hollywood Cinemascope spectacular and expected Grace Kelly and Cary Grant to sweep in at any moment.
The point of an Eilat holiday is to relax and enjoy the sunshine and we were hard put to venture forth from our expansive terrace overlooking the Red Sea and the shorelines of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Eilat does have a number of other attractions, however, foremost among them being the Underwater Observatory and Marine Park, which we were told not to miss. There we saw sharks, enormous, ancient turtles and a wide variety of rare fish. The principal attraction of the park, however, is the underwater observatory from which you can see the most amazing reefs and a never-ending parade of exquisite tropical fish. Particularly if you have kids, the marine park is a wonderful place in which to spend an afternoon.
While Eilat has many luxury resort hotels, it also offers simpler accommodations for backpackers and those who come mainly to scuba dive, sail or windsurf.
Located in the desert less than a half-hour’s drive from Eilat is Timna Park, a development of the Jewish National Fund (KKL). The park is a 60-square-kilometre site which combines amazing landscapes with the fascinating 6,000-year-old story of copper mining between the 14th and 12th centuries BCE, from the reign of the Pharaohs Seti I through Ramses V, a time when the Egyptians partnered with the Kenites and Midianites to create the world’s oldest copper mine. You will see remains of the mines, the tools they used as well as remains of ancient dwellings.
Among the highlights of any visit to Timna are unusual rock formations called “Solomon’s Pillars,” the unique “Mushroom Rocks” which are the result of thousands of years of erosion, ancient rock engravings of chariots, figures and animals as well as occasional sightings of ibex (wild mountain goats) and the white-crowned Black Wheatear, a bird which inhabits the cliffs of the Arava. Information is available at
Another half-hour’s drive north will bring you to Neot Semadar a most unusual kibbutz (collective settlement) in the Negev desert. Neot Semadar calls itself “a learning community established in 1989 with the intention of examining basic questions of man’s existence through relationships, action and contemplation.”
While this may sound reminiscent of the communes of an earlier era, the kibbutz is definitely goal-oriented. At its heart is an arts and crafts centre complex with a variety of studios and workshops for ceramics and porcelain, silversmiths, glasswork, silk painting, weaving and handmade paper. We were especially impressed by the exquisite woodwork, including furniture, which is produced there by highly skilled craftsmen.
The emphasis at Neot Semadar is on ecology and esthetics. This is evident in its flowering green oasis of lush gardens and in its expansive, diversified bio-organic farm. Among the crops that have been successfully cultivated, there are grapes for wine, olive groves as well as deciduous fruit trees. The kibbutz also has a herd of goats that provide fresh milk and cheeses. We had a most delightful lunch at “Pundak Neot Semadar” a nearby restaurant operated by members of the kibbutz. With seating in a cozy, air-conditioned, indoor room as well as in the adjacent garden, the restaurant serves light vegetarian meals, cheeses and juices produced on the kibbutz along with homemade cakes and ice cream.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that even though the Southern Negev is surrounded by Gaza on the West and Jordan on the East, and that Eilat is but minutes from the border with Egypt and is a “twin-city” with the Jordanian port of Aqaba, we found the area to be totally peaceful and saw no signs whatever of a military presence. |
Q&A: Shaun McKinnon, veteran water reporter
An Arizona Republic reporter and self-described “water geek” on how to cover western water issues
By Joel Campbell
Since about 1999, the runoff on the Colorado has been below the long-term average more often than it has been either at or above average. So far, that could be an indication of a short-term drought or a longer-term cycle where things may recover. The one fact you can’t deny is that the river was divided up among states at a time [back in 1922] when the Colorado River was running at unusually high levels. We proportioned the water thinking we had a lot more than we have had since then. Even if the Colorado River runs at or below normal, at some point you are going to start running short. There isn’t as much water as we thought.
The only thing that has kept the river states from turning on each other is that the upper basin states of Utah and Colorado, until very recently, have never come close to using their full water allocation from the river. The lower basin states—Nevada, Arizona and California—use pretty much every drop [of their share] now. If the upper basin states want to claim their full share of water it won’t be as easy as once thought. I think that’s why you hear Colorado considering a pipeline and Utah thinking about a pipeline from Lake Powell. They are trying to get a straw in the river before there is not enough to drink from.
How are these issues being covered? What’s missing in the coverage?
Right now the biggest area we need to pay attention to is the effect of drought and climate change. This year it is looking like we are going to see a fairly significant drop on the Colorado. Drought and climate change are probably going to limit the water supply, and if they are, how are the various local water managers going to handle that? The other big one—an issue throughout the West—is going to be the connection between water and energy. That has its own connection to climate change. Most of the power sources that buy electricity in the western states rely on water to some extent, whether it is coal plants that generate power with steam. Here in Arizona, a nuclear power plant requires a significant amount of water.
Water is used to generate electricity and electricity is used to move water around. Because the western states are so wide open, we have to use power to move water around. In Arizona, we have the Central Arizona Project with a 333-mile canal. They essentially had to build a coal-fired power plant to move the water from near Lake Havasu to Phoenix and Tucson. That’s from the Navajo power plant near Page, Arizona. There is a huge debate about whether the pollution from that power plant is becoming too excessive. That goes back to the issues of climate change and how we are going to generate electricity. Already California climate change regulations are requiring the state to divest itself from all coal-fired power plants. So this power plant that moves water around the West is probably going to be in a little bit of trouble of its own.
If power prices go up for whatever reasons—because they have to build new plants or put pollution controls on them—then the price of water is going to go up. If water shortages drive up the price of water, it will drive up the price of power. That connection is going to be critical.
What about some basic stories?
Tell about water use. Most people don’t know: (a) where their water comes from, and; (b) who uses it.
I used to get calls from newcomers asking about the big canals that run through Phoenix and what they were for. I would say, “That’s your water.” People would be stunned. For water reporters, doing those kind of stories could lead to other stories. Maybe farmers are allowed to grow alfalfa where there really isn’t a market for it. It could be golf courses that haven’t switched to using reclaimed water. If you go back to those basic questions, readers won’t be bored—they want to be aware of this. |
EMS students get practical with real ‘ambulance’
Robert McClendon
CLAREMORE — As Rogers State University student Kenneth Brull watched half of an ambulance dangle from the shovel of a backhoe in June, he couldn’t help but feel nervous. After all, squeezing the 3,000-pound cab through a window in the Health Sciences building was his idea.
For years, completing vital in-ambulance training had been an exercise in frustration for Brull and other students in the Emergency Medical Services program. Students had to crowd around an ambulance in the parking lot, exposed to the elements and surrounded by the bustle of daily campus life. Whenever the class needed it, the ambulance itself had to be moved from its regular home in the physical plant vehicle yard to a spot nearer the Medical Sciences building. Last year, Clem Ohman, RSU Emergency Medical Services Coordinator, mentioned the limitations of that setup to Brull. A replica in the classroom, either built from scratch or from a kit available from industry suppliers, would be better, Ohman said, but such simulators can cost upward of $40,000. “With state support for higher education being what it’s been lately, I didn’t think it would ever happen,” Ohman said, and thought nothing else of it.
Brull, however, had a plan. A millwright in the aviation industry with 23 years of experience and an inveterate tinkerer, he looked at the ambulance and then at the windows on the first floor of the Health Sciences building. “I said to myself, ‘I bet I could get the ambulance box through there if I cut it in half.’” Without telling Ohman what he was up to, Brull measured them both. Sure enough, according to his math, it was technically possible to fit the ambulance through the window one half at a time. He told Ohman about his idea.
Ohman said that he was skeptical at first, but he eventually came around. “The ambulance box would be an invaluable tool for our students and a tremendous boon to the program,” he said. “Plus, we would be the only program in eastern Oklahoma to have a real ambulance in the classroom.” Brull took the decommissioned ambulance to his home workshop and, armed with a blowtorch, started slicing the box off of the chassis and the front cab. That alone took a week. During the next 10 months, he continued to chip away at the ambulance job between studying and working full time. “I really just worked on it whenever I could get a few minutes to myself,” Brull said, estimating that he spent more than 100 hours on the project. Finally, moving day came over Father’s Day weekend. It took Brull six hours to get the rig out of his workshop, advancing the giant aluminum cube a few inches at a time, and onto a trailer. Once he made it to campus, the RSU Physical Plant crew lent a hand, though they were skeptical about Brull’s plan. “We thought, ‘now that is a crazy idea,’ “ said Nick Leras, a mainten |
History, art, and nature, combined with a southern temperament! Andalusia, the largest autonomous province of Spain, lies inland of the Costa del Sol, the Costa de la Luz, and the Costa de Almer�a. This is the area of flamenco, bullfights, fiestas, and festivals. It is famous for its lively culture and its wonderful towns, such as Sevilla, Granada, and Cord�ba, and, of course, also for its gorgeous white villages in the hills of the Sierra de Grazalema. There is a special ?Route of the White Villages? here, which runs from Arcos de la Frontera to Ronda.
The scenery is diverse: valleys, olive orchards, rugged sierras, desert areas, and large plains, with the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada offering an impressive contrast. Because of the combination of culture, history, and diverse nature, the area has something for everyone. You could go sunbathing on the long sandy beaches, but you could also practise winter sports in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, the highest mountain range of Spain (about 62km of ski slopes). Many different peoples and times have left an impressive heritage, which is reflected in castles, monasteries, palaces, and churches in Renaissance, Baroque, and Moresque styles. If you are looking for culture and history, don't forget to visit the towns of Sevilla, Granada, and C�rdoba! Here, you could pay a visit to fascinating Moresque buildings, such as the famous Alhambra in Granada, and the Mezquita in C�rdoba, both listed UNESCO World Heritage sites. And you might also enjoy a brimming musical festival or a fiesta...
Andalusia has two national parks, Do�ana (in the coastal area of the Costa de la Luz) and Sierra Nevada, both listed UNESCO World Heritage sites, and there are also many other natural parks and reserves, both in the interior and in the coastal areas.
This area is also very suitable for sports activities. In addition to water sports on the coast, you could also practise winter sports, mountain climbing, canoeing of the river of Guadalquivir, speleology, parapenting, horse riding, and golfing. Do keep in mind, though, that in summer temperatures can become fairly high in this southern area. For more information on the coastal areas of Andalusia, have a look at the region information of the Costa del Sol, the Costa de la Luz, and the Costa de Almer�a. |
Immune Response to Cytomegalovirus
This study will evaluate immune responses against cytomegalovirus (CMV). About 80 percent of adults have been exposed to this virus. CMV typically remains dormant (inactive) in the body, causing no problems. In people with immune suppression, however, the virus can become reactivated and cause life-threatening pneumonia. The knowledge gained from this study may be useful in developing ways to improve immune responses to CMV in stem cell transplant recipients.
Healthy normal volunteers between 18 and 65 years of age who have been exposed to cytomegalovirus are eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with a medical history and blood tests. Those enrolled will provide a 30-milliliter (6-tablespoon) blood sample once a week for 4 weeks and a final sample 2 months later. The blood will be used to design a test to detect immune responses against CMV and determine the differences in these responses among healthy individuals.
Cytomegalovirus Infections
Measurement of Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-Specific T Lymphocytes in CMV-Seropositive Normal Volunteers.
Cytomegalic Inclusion Disease
The NHLBI Stem Cell Allotransplantation Program is researching methods to improve immunity against infectious organisms following allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). We are particularly interested in cytomegalovirus (CMV), which can cause serious problems in patients following transplantation. In the future, we hope to design ways to improve immune responses to CMV in transplant recipients, such as vaccinating transplant donors and/or patients against this virus. In order to characterize the effect of any such intervention on CMV immunity, we first need to better understand CMV immune responses in normal, healthy persons. This involves designing and validating an in vitro assay, which can reliably and consistently detect immune responses against CMV. Furthermore, we hope to define the temporal variability that exists in CMV responses in healthy individuals, which is essential for the design and implementation of all future studies. We plan to collect blood samples from 20 normal volunteers who have been previously exposed to CMV (CMV seropositive individuals). Eligible individuals will be asked to donate blood on five occasions, once a week for four weeks and a fifth time, two months later. Eligible individuals must be 18-65 years of age, otherwise healthy, and seropositive for CMV exposure.
CMV seropositive
Informed consent given
CMV seronegative
Abnormal blood counts (hemoglobin less than 12 g/dl, platelets less than 150,000/ul, absolute neutrophil count less than 1,500/ul, absolute lymphocyte count less than 1,000/ul)
Known history of heart, lung, kidney, liver, or bleeding disorder
Diagnosis of HIV infection
Diagnosis or suspicion of immunodeficiency state
History of intravenous drug use
Currently pregnant |
Keeping The Youth In Our Communities Safe
Teens Often Copycat Others Who Drink and Drive: Study
By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter
If kids have ridden with a drunk driver, they�re more likely to drive while impaired, researchers find.
Want to make sure your teen doesn't drive while intoxicated? You might want to start by making sure he or she doesn't go riding with peers who have been drinking or using drugs. That's the message of a new study that found that older high school students are much more likely to drive under the influence if they've ridden with intoxicated friends.
The level of extra risk appears to be extraordinarily high, said study author Bruce Simons-Morton, a senior investigator with the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "It shouldn't be a surprise that you're more likely to drink and drive if you've been around others who drink and drive and you ride with them," Simons-Morton said. "But it's just wildly associated with the risk of driving while intoxicated." In the big picture, however, drinking and driving among young people has sharply declined in recent years. A 2012 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that drunken driving among teens fell by more than half between 1991 and 2011, with 90 percent of older high school students saying they didn't drink and drive in 2011.
The new study presents a grimmer picture. It's based on several surveys of thousands of high school students in grades 10 to 12, beginning in 2009. Twelve percent to 14 percent said they had driven while intoxicated from drugs or alcohol at least once within the past month. Moreover, 23 percent to 38 percent said they had ridden with a driver who was intoxicated within the past year.
Those who had ridden with intoxicated drivers were especially more likely to drive while intoxicated themselves in their senior years of high school. The study design didn't allow researchers to pinpoint in layperson-friendly terms how much more likely the exposed kids are to drive while intoxicated. It also didn't prove that riding with intoxicated peers directly causes kids to later drive under the influence.
What's going on? "If you're in a peer group where driving while intoxicated is acceptable, then you're going to be exposed to it," Simons-Morton said. "Having that kind of experience is socializing. It makes it OK." Students also were more likely to drive while intoxicated if they had gotten their licenses earlier, although the size of the effect was much smaller than for those who rode with intoxicated drivers. "Part of that is just exposure," Simons-Morton said. "They've been driving more, so their opportunity for driving while intoxicated is greater."
What to do? Delaying licenses for teens is a good idea, Simons-Morton said, but it's more important for parents to keep an eye on how their kids get around town. Are they passengers in cars with intoxicated drivers?
Patricia Cavazos-Rehg, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, agreed with Simons-Morton. She studies intoxicated driving among teens. "Parents should set clear boundaries and consequences for the kids," Cavazos-Rehg said. "The problem of motor vehicle accidents and fatalities among young drivers cannot be overstated. They're the leading cause of death for youth aged 16 to 20, and currently account for more than one in three deaths in this age group. Drinking and driving compounds this risk and should be prevented at all costs." The study appeared online March 17th and in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics. |
Filipinos embrace Hero of the Year, 'pushcart classrooms' for poor By Danielle Berger and Leslie Askew, CNN Taking education to the poorSTORY HIGHLIGHTSEfren Peñaflorida was named CNN Hero of the Year at a Hollywood event in 2009He started a nonprofit organization that educates poor children in the PhilippinesSince being named Hero of the Year, "pushcart classrooms" have spread across the countryPeñaflorida has also become famous; he hosts a TV show that features selfless Filipinos
Cavite City, Philippines (CNN) -- Not many people recognized Efren Peñaflorida as he left the Philippines last fall to attend a Hollywood gala for CNN Heroes. But when Peñaflorida returned from the event as CNN's Hero of the Year, he was greeted by hundreds of screaming fans at the airport in Manila. "The moment we got home, I ... seemed to have become a celebrity," he said. Peñaflorida was honored for creating mobile "pushcart classrooms," carts stocked with books, chalkboards and other supplies, that bring education to poor children in the Philippines. Since 1997, he and more than 12,000 teenage volunteers have taught basic reading and writing skills to more than 1,800 children living on the streets. "The award and the title [are] really significant," said Peñaflorida, 29. "It gave me and my co-volunteers an affirmation that what we are doing is a worthy cause." The plaudits didn't stop there. Back home, parades were arranged in both Manila and Cavite City, where Peñaflorida was born and raised. And then-President Gloria Arroyo conferred him with the Order of Lakandula -- one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a Filipino civilian -- for his dedication to the welfare of society. "I received the medal but shared the honor with my co-volunteers, my mentor and the children we reach out to," he said. "The government heads received an instruction from the president to have the pushcart schools replicated all over the country." Video: CNN Hero of the Year named
With Peñaflorida's consultation, the pushcart classroom model started by his nonprofit organization, Dynamic Teen Company, has been replicated more than 50 times by different organizations and institutions across the Philippines. And according to Peñaflorida, more classrooms are pending as President Benigno Aquino's administration reviews plans to expand the infrastructure of the mobile classroom system. "The duplication of the pushcart school system ... is happening now in different provinces and regions of the country, and we receive numerous letters from other parts of the world," Peñaflorida said. "Filipinos have become more aware of the need for these children to be educated, fed and taken care of. Before, they saw [a pushcart] as a symbol of poverty, but now they see a pushcart as a symbol of hope and education." In Cavite City, construction is nearly complete on the Dynamic Teen Company's new educational center, which is designed to resemble the iconic pushcart. Partially funded by the CNN Heroes grant of $125,000, the educational center will include a computer lab, a library, a health clinic, a kitchen used for feeding programs and a garage to store the pushcarts. "We will call it Care for Poor Children Learning Center, where children will experience having a place to exercise their rights freely and learn life-changing principles," Peñaflorida said. "It is intended to be finished by early next year ... and [it] shall be able to serve hundreds of kids." Peñaflorida says he knows firsthand what these children lack. He spent his childhood in a shanty near a dump site in Cavite City. He founded his organization to provide impoverished children an empowering alternative to gang induction. Before, they saw [a pushcart] as a symbol of poverty, but now they see a pushcart as a symbol of hope and education.--CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida
"They need education to be successful in life," he said. "It's just giving them what others gave to me." Peñaflorida's selflessness has inspired documentaries and TV movies about his life in the Philippines and several other countries, including Japan, Korea, Germany, Spain and Canada. Recently, he was invited to bear the torch at the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. And he can be seen hosting his own search for heroes on the Philippine television show "Ako Mismo" ("I Myself"). The show features people working in the Philippines to better the lives of others. "I was told ... that they came up with this TV show inspired by the speech I gave at the Kodak Theater, that each person has a hidden hero within ... waiting to be unleashed," he said. "Since I was instrumental in the concept, I must live up to the principles I share and help our country find its heroes and probably help our nation heal herself." November 22 will be Efren Peñaflorida Day in Cavite City, but Peñaflorida will likely miss the celebration as he plans to be back in Hollywood honoring this year's CNN Heroes. "They are all awesome," he said. "The works of those 25 souls are so inspiring and truly remarkable. I personally salute them all." The 2010 Top Ten CNN Heroes will be announced Thursday, September 23 at 1 p.m. on CNN.com. At that time, online voting will begin to select the 2010 CNN Hero of the Year. The Hero of the Year will be revealed Thanksgiving night during "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," hosted by Anderson Cooper at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. |
Disney's mouse ears a rite of passage
By Henry Hanks, CNN
Actress Annette Funicello died on Monday at age 70. Before her beach party movie fame, she was one of the original members of TV's "Mickey Mouse Club," and defined the term "Mouseketeer" long before Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake. She definitely made those mouse ears look cool. They've been a symbol of Disney ever since. In her honor, iReporters told us how much those ears, and the world of Disney, mean to their lives.
Allison Dasso of Chicago runs the fan site Walt Dated World, and took her first trip to Walt Disney World at age 4 in 1978. That first time, she didn't bring her mouse ears from home. "I ended up buying a Donald Duck cap with a beak that squeaked. To this day when I look at the pictures, it just doesn't seem right when I see a duck on my head instead of a mouse. It felt like I was cheating on Mickey." She more than made up for it on future trips, wearing her many different mouse ears with pride.
Jen Cook grew up in Northbrook, Illinois, loving Disney and Mickey Mouse. "It was my first stuffed animal and I still have him. He's in rough shape but was always with me ... in the hospital, at college and even now as a parent," she says.
In 2000, Cook had a Disney-themed wedding in Chicago, complete with mouse ears for everyone. "For my husband, he also had a huge love of Disney, and has worked for the company for 15 years now."
The couple's love of Disney, of course, extends to their two children, who both had their first haircut at Walt Disney World.
Amanda Olinger took a trip to Walt Disney World as a high school senior in 2008. It was the park's "Year of a Million Dreams," and Olinger won a special set of ears as part of that campaign. "I was 18 and I had never visited before. When I won those ears, I realized that the magic can happen at any age, and that you are never too old to experience childhood joy."
Photographer and Disneyland annual pass-holder Austen Risolvato just had to capture a friend's son's first visit to the park. "The mouse ears to me are an iconic image. They represent a message to me that nothing is impossible."
Nicole Eisenchenk of Big Pine Key, Florida, sees Disney as a way to relive her childhood. She grew up on Disney and still watches the films. Even at 23, she felt like a kid again on this Walt Disney World trip with her friends.
Jay Callaghan's family went to Walt Disney World in 2009 and returned two years later, with the kids' mouse ears making the return trip. "Somehow they managed to survive the two years in the house with ears taken off," said the Peterborough, Ontario, resident. "We managed to get some shots with them wearing the ears, but by far my favorite shot is the one of them at the Disney All Star Movies Resort while they were all tuckered out from a full day at the Magic Kingdom."
Dana Simone Stovall of Aurora, Illinois, felt truly blessed to take her family on a Disney cruise last year. To her, "Disney and the mouse ears symbolize excellence, perfection and a true commitment to making 'magical' life moments." A bank examiner, Stovall attends the company's Disney Institute ever year. The program teaches "leadership, management excellence, and customer service in the way each one of their (Disney theme park) cast members personify it every day."
Lifelong Disney fan Elizabeth Doda of Meredith, New Hampshire, had high expectations for her 14-month-old son's first mouse ears photo in February. She wanted "the perfect Disney picture of Joey in his Mickey ears with the castle perfectly centered in the background. Well, we got the picture, but Joey wanted to play with the Mickey ears, not wear them." Even so, it made for a great memory.
Kathi Cordsen's 8th birthday was a dream come true. The Fullerton, California, resident got to go to Disneyland all by herself. Years later, in 2005, she acquired these treasured golden mouse ears for Disneyland's 50th anniversary.
Angela Miller of Toledo, Ohio, got this photo of her daughter at the end of a big day at Walt Disney World. It was their family's first trip. "My daughter had a fantastic time and collapsed on our way back to the hotel on our final day," she said.
Annette Funicello was a teen icon of the 1950s and '60s, beginning her career as the most famous member of the original "Mickey Mouse Club."
Aside from paving the way for future Mouseketeer stars like Britney Spears, Keri Russell, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, Funicello made the mouse ears something that every kid wanted to wear, and a symbol of Disney fandom for generations.
Whether they're fans of the movies, the theme parks or both, the lovers of all things Disney trace some of their fondest memories to the moments they were wearing those mouse ears, and in many cases, they've passed this down to their children as a rite of passage. |
A post-Christian Middle East?
By Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland
updated 5:57 PM EDT, Thu August 22, 2013
Christians have been targeted in Egypt, Syria and Libya
Bergen: Egypt's Christians largely supported the coup that overturned Morsy regime
In turn, Christians have been attacked by Islamists over the past week, he says
Bergen: The region has become increasingly hostile to non-Muslims
Now that two millennium-long history could be in danger.
Peter Bergen The attacks seemed to be protests against the brutal military government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood that killed many hundreds of Egyptian Islamists over the past week.
Pope Tawadros II, the leader of Egypt's Christian Copts, met publicly with top military officers as they announced the coup that removed President Mohamed Morsy and his Muslim Brotherhood government from power in early July.
Christians, who make up 10% of the population, and other minorities had complained that a new constitution that had been passed by the Morsy government infringed on their rights.
For some Islamist militants, now it's payback time. According to one report, 52 churches across Egypt were attacked in 24 hours last week. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has counted at least 30 churches attacked, along with other Christian facilities.
After Morsy was removed from power, a mob armed with axes hacked a Christian businessman to death near Luxor in southern Egypt and then continued their rampage in the village of Nagaa Hassan, burning dozens of Christian homes and killing three other Christians.
Today there are more than 10 million Christians in the Middle East and they make up an estimated 5% of the Middle East's population.
A century ago they made up an estimated 20%.
Much of this fall can be attributed to factors such as emigration and the high birth rates of many Arab Muslims, but some of it is also attributable to the increasing marginalization and targeting of Christians; a worrying trend being seen not just in Egypt but also in other Arab countries.
Take Syria. Many Syrian Christians have tacitly supported the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which draws much of its strength from the small Shia Alawite sect and therefore has historically favored and protected Syria's other religious minorities.
As a result, the jihadists who have come to dominate a significant portion of the Syrian rebel movement have supplemented their war against the government with attacks that target Christians. On June 27, a suicide bombing in a Christian area of Damascus killed at least four people.
Al Qaeda-affiliated rebels are suspected of killing an Italian priest who had spent most of his life rehabilitating a monastery north of the Syrian capital of Damascus and who disappeared last month. The Rev. Paolo Dall'Oglio had reportedly been trying to secure the release of several hostages in the custody of an al Qaeda-aligned group.
Meanwhile, in March in Benghazi, Libya, where a militant attack on a U.S. government complex left four Americans dead in September 2012, around 60 Christians were rounded up by extremists and handed over to the government on suspicion of immigrating from Egypt illegally. The militants tortured several of their captives, killing one of them.
That bout of vigilantism followed the arrest in February of four Christians accused of proselytizing to Muslim Libyans.
The consequence of such attacks and harassment has been an exodus of Christians from the region.
Residents of northeastern Syria, where Christians have historically been concentrated, estimate that one-third of the Christians there have fled the country during the past two years.
Similarly in Iraq, since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Christian Iraqi population may have dropped by as much as 50%, according to a CIA assessment.
And despite making up only about 3% of the Iraqi population, Christians accounted for half the Iraqis who fled the country in 2010, about 200,000 people.
Egypt's religious tensions have a longer history than the recent clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Christians. Although then-President Hosni Mubarak kept a tight lid on the country's Islamist extremists, clashes between Muslims and Christians erupted sporadically throughout the '90s.
But since Mubarak's fall, extremist violence against Christians has picked up in Egypt. In early October 2011, Egypt saw its worst instance of sectarian violence in 60 years, when two-dozen Christians died in clashes with the military.
As a result of these kinds of attacks, by one estimate, around 100,000 Christians left Egypt in 2011.
This kind of homogenization has happened before in the Middle East, which boasted a sizable Jewish population in the '50s. But with the creation of the state of Israel and the rise of Arab nationalism and then Islamism, the region has become more hostile to non-Muslims.
Around World War II there were 100,000 Jews in Egypt, a community that had existed in Egypt since the time of the pharaohs.
Now, there are a handful of synagogues operating in Cairo. They are heavily guarded and generally empty as they cater only to the few dozen elderly Jews who are still left in Egypt.
One can only hope that this is not to be the fate of the Christians of the Middle East. |
AdministrationJames P. WillettEdward J. BusuttilKenneth MelgozaRonald J. FreitasScott A. FichtnerMichael J. Mulvihill, Jr.Harold J. Crosby
PROSECUTION UNITSOrganization
Domestic Violence and You
Every 15 Seconds, A Woman Is Beaten...
If you are a victim of domestic violence, you are not alone. About one fourth of all homicides and aggravated assaults are committed by one family member against another.
You have a right not to be battered or assaulted. Remember that physical abuse is a crime, even if the person who hurt you is your spouse, partner, boyfriend/girlfriend or otherwise known to you. It is your right to protect yourself from future violent incidents.
This information has been prepared by the District Attorney's Office of San Joaquin County in order to provide you, as a victim of domestic violence, with accurate information as to how your case will be handled. It is our hope that the information provided will answer your questions and relieve some of your fears. Questions About Domestic Violence
Back to Top Will my abuser go to jail? Our goal is to stop the violence and offer some protection to the victim. Most first‑time misdemeanor domestic violence offenders receive anywhere from no jail time to 15 days in the county jail. The emphasis is placed on having the offender accept responsibility and obtain treatment. For this group of offenders, the court will order them to enroll and complete a batterer’s treatment program. In addition, they are placed on formal probation for three years and ordered not to annoy, harass or strike their victim. If they do not complete the treatment program, disobey the court orders that protect you, or disobey any other terms of probation, the court can sentence them to more time in jail.
If the abuser has prior convictions for domestic violence against you, or if he is currently on probation for a violent crime, the prosecutor will make a request to the court that the defendant serve an amount of time in jail which is appropriate for his record and the crime committed.
When a criminal complaint has been filed against your abuser, he will be ordered to go to court and enter a plea to the charges against him. This first step is called an arraignment. At the arraignment, the judge will offer the defendant a reduction in his sentence if he takes care of the matter without further court appearances. At this stage, the defendant is given an opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty. If the defendant pleads guilty, there will be no jury trial and you will not be required to testify. If the defendant pleads not guilty, he may be appointed an attorney if he cannot afford one, and another court date will be set for a pretrial conference on the case. At the pretrial conference, the defendant will appear with his attorney. By this time, the defendant’s attorney will have had an opportunity to review all of the evidence that the prosecutor will use in court to prove that the defendant committed domestic violence against you. The prosecutor may recommend a particular sentence to the judge in exchange for a guilty plea from the defendant. Generally, the defendant will be given only up to the next court date to decide whether he will take the plea bargain. The defense attorney will talk to the defendant and let him know what sentence the prosecutor will recommend to the judge. A majority of defendants in domestic violence cases change their pleas to guilty prior to the jury trial. This occurs because they now see all of the evidence that the prosecutor has gathered against them and how it will be used to convict them. Additionally, they understand that if the case goes to jury trial and they are found guilty by the jury, the prosecutor will recommend a harsher sentence and the judge will most likely follow that recommendation. It is important for you to know that if the defendant pleads guilty early in the proceedings, there will be NO trial; you will NOT have to testify; and you will NOT receive a subpoena. Even on the day of the trial, the defendant can still change his plea to guilty. This means that even though you receive a subpoena and have to go to court, you will NOT have to testify if your abuser pleads guilty.
Back to Top Will there be any court orders to keep the abuser away? You can request that law enforcement obtain an Emergency Protective Order (EPO) from the on‑call judge when they respond to the scene and there is an immediate and present threat of domestic violence. This order is effective immediately and orders your abuser not to contact you or abuse you. Once a case is filed and if you believe the defendant may harm you in the future, contact the Domestic Violence Unit and request that the prosecutor ask the judge to issue a “Stay Away” Order, This order tells the defendant to stay away from you and not to hurt, threaten, or harass you anymore. If the defendant does not obey the order, he will be told to appear in court again to answer to the judge who made the order. If this happens, the judge can send him back to jail in order to protect you. You should follow-up the judge’s Stay Away Order and the Emergency Protective Order by obtaining a civil Restraining Order. If you need help in obtaining a civil Restraining Order, the Women’s Center and the District Attorney’s Office Victim/Witness Program can assist you. Do not hesitate to call law enforcement if your abuser violates these orders. Persons who violate these orders may be arrested and prosecuted for violations of a court order.
Back to Top Will I have the right to an attorney? No. You do not have to hire an attorney because you are the victim of a crime. When the defendant abused you, a criminal act which violated the laws of the State of California was committed. The prosecutor from the Domestic Violence Unit represents the People of the State of California. The People of the State of California are prosecuting your abuser for violating the law and it was their decision to file the case.
Back to Top My abuser has promised never to be violent with me again. Should I believe this? No matter how sincere the intention, it is very difficult to stop abuse without counseling. Many abusers grew up in violent homes and were themselves abused. Many witnessed their parents physically hurting one another. Violent behavior may be the only way they know to deal with their relationships. Before the pattern of violence in your relationship can be stopped, your abuser must understand the behavior. This is why the Domestic Violence Unit insists that abusers complete a certified batterer’s treatment program. Alcohol and drugs are frequently present during violence, but the reason the person is abusing you is separate from the reason they drink and abuse drugs. The abuse will continue even though sober unless the abuser deals with the reasons for the violence. If your abuser resists the counseling available, chances are the behavior is not going to change. If this abusive behavior does not change, you are in danger!
Violence in the home also causes a great deal of turmoil for children who feel emotional pain such as guilt, shame, and fear even if they themselves are not physically abused.
Children who witness domestic violence are at risk for serious and long-range effects, including depression and low self esteem, which may affect school performance and success in other areas later in life. Tragically, without a great deal of support and without a stop to the violence they witness, these children are likely to repeat the cycle of violence in their relationships as adults, either as batterers or as victims. |
There are 3 main ways to end a marriage or registered domestic partnership in California: divorce, legal separation, and annulment. It is not necessary for both spouses or domestic partners to agree to end the marriage. Either spouse or partner can decide to end the marriage, and the other spouse/partner, even if he or she does not want to get a divorce, cannot stop the process by refusing to participate in the case. If a spouse or domestic partner does not participate in the divorce case, the other spouse/partner will still be able to get a “default” judgment and the divorce will go through. California is a “no fault” divorce state, which means that the spouse or domestic partner that is asking for the divorce does not have to prove that the other spouse or domestic partner did something wrong. To get a no fault divorce, 1 spouse or domestic partner has to state that the couple cannot get along. Legally, this is called “irreconcilable differences.” After you decide how you want to end your marriage or domestic partnership, you need to plan your case ahead of time. Think about how you are going to handle your case. Planning before you start and talking to a lawyer can save you time and money as you go through the court process. And keep in mind that, normally, it does not matter who is the first to file the divorce or separation case. The court does not give any preference to the first person to file or a disadvantage to the person who responds to the case.
If you want to end a registered domestic partnership, domestic partners must also file for dissolution (divorce), legal separation, or annulment to end their relationship. There is a limited exception where domestic partners can end their relationship in a summary process through the Secretary of State if they have been registered for less than five years and they have no children, no real property, very few assets or debts, and a written agreement on dividing their property, in addition to other restrictions. Click to learn more about this shorter process to see if you are eligible to end your domestic partnership that way.
Federal law does not recognize domestic partnerships for most purposes, such as Medicare, immigration law, veterans' benefits, and federal tax laws. Domestic partners may be recognized for some federal purposes, such as Social Security. In addition, domestic partners may not have the same rights if they leave California because other states may not recognize domestic partnerships. Talk to a lawyer if you are ending a domestic partnership and any of these issues may apply to you. You may also want to talk to an accountant who is knowledgeable about these issues. Click for help finding a lawyer.
The family law facilitator or self-help center in your court may be able to help you with the divorce or legal separation process and help you understand what your options are, decide what you want to do, and get started with your paperwork. You can also talk to a lawyer to get legal advice. IMPORTANT! If you are worried about how a divorce or legal separation will affect your immigration status, talk to an immigration lawyer or a family law lawyer with a lot of experience with immigration issues. Immigration law can be very complicated, especially as it relates to divorce. Click for help finding a lawyer.If there is domestic violence in your relationship, make sure you are safe and protected while you go through this court process. Read the domestic violence section of this website for more information. Or call 1-800-799-7233 (TDD: 1-800-787-3224) to find a domestic violence agency in your county. If you or your spouse or domestic partner are currently in the military, special rules apply under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Talk to your family law facilitator, self-help center, or a lawyer. Click for help finding a lawyer. |
If your child's other parent has been abusive to you or your children, it is very important for you to protect yourself and your children, and find a parenting plan that will help you all stay safe. For protection, you can ask the court for a restraining order to protect you and your children. You can ask for custody, visitation (also called "parenting time"), and child support orders at the same time. Read Asking for a Domestic Violence Restraining Order for information and instructions. You may want to talk with a lawyer to find out the best legal way for you to move forward. In most cities and counties in California, there are domestic violence agencies that can provide you legal help with your custody issues. You can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline and ask them for domestic violence organizations in your area. Or click to find a legal aid agency in your area.
Read Custody and Visitation—Basics to learn about the different types of custody and visitation orders a court can make. While you read the information, keep in mind that there are special rules for domestic violence cases. Custody Laws and Domestic Violence
There are laws that deal with custody and visitation rights of parents in cases of domestic violence. First, the judge must decide if there is domestic violence, and if there is, the judge must follow special rules to decide custody of the children.
The judge will treat your case as a domestic violence case if, in the last 5 years: A parent was convicted of domestic violence against the other parent; OR Any court has decided that 1 parent committed domestic violence against the other parent or the children. Usually, when a judge decides that your case is a domestic violence case, the judge CANNOT give custody (joint or sole custody) to the parent who committed domestic violence. But that parent can get parenting time with the children (visitation rights).
A judge CAN give joint or sole custody to the parent who committed domestic violence if the parent who was abusive: Proves to the court that giving joint or sole custody of the children to him or her is in the best interest of the children; Has successfully completed a 52-week batterer intervention program; Has successfully completed substance abuse counseling if the court ordered it; Has successfully completed a parenting class if the court ordered it; Is on probation or parole and has complied with the terms of probation or parole; Has a restraining order against him or her and has followed the orders; and Has NOT committed any further domestic violence. Read the law about child custody in cases of domestic violence.
Talk to a lawyer about how the law will affect your rights to custody and visitation of your children, whether you are the victim of the domestic violence or the one who committed the abuse. Understanding what the law says and how it applies to your situation can be confusing and there are important rights at stake. Click for help finding a lawyer.
Custody Mediation in Cases of Domestic Violence
If you and your children's other parent do not agree on a parenting plan for your children, you will have to go to custody mediation (referred to in some courts that provide recommendations as “child custody recommending counseling”) .
In mediation, a "mediator" (or "child custody recommending counselor") tries to help you and the other parent with making a parenting plan for your children. A parenting plan says who the children live with and who makes important decisions for the children. Read Custody and Visitation Basics to learn about parenting plans and to prepare yourself for mediation. Mediators work for the courts. They help parents make parenting plans that are good for the children. Mediators know how to work with separated couples, and they are trained to understand domestic violence. If you are worried about your safety or your children's safety, tell the mediator. You can ask to speak with the mediator alone. If there is a restraining order in your case or 1 parent is accusing the other of domestic violence, you have a right to meet separately with the mediator. You can also bring a support person with you to mediation and mediation orientation.
The mediator's role The mediator will try to help you make a parenting plan that: Protects you and your children; Says how you and the other parent will make decisions about the children; and Says when the child will be with each parent. Mediators can also help with a "safety plan" for you and your children. They can suggest safe ways to get the children to and from visits with the other parent. Mediators can also tell you about getting help with housing, counseling, or financial problems.
Guidelines for mediation Usually, mediators interview both parties together. BUT in cases where there is domestic violence or a restraining order between the parents, you have the right to meet with the mediator separately from the other parent if you ask. The mediators are trained in the dynamics of domestic violence to protect your safety and any household member. If you have a restraining order, you can bring a support person to your mediation. If you do not have a restraining order but you are afraid of the other parent or intimidated by him or her, you can ask your mediator if a support person can come with you. Some mediators will interview children if it will help the parents to develop a parenting plan that is best for the children. Mediators are trained professionals and know how to interview children without making them choose between their parents or putting them in the middle. Confidentiality of mediation In mediation, what you say to the mediator when the other parent is not present is NOT confidential as far as the other parent goes. The mediator can tell the other parent what you say. In terms of confidentiality beyond you and the other parent, it depends on the rules of the court in your county. In some counties what you say is confidential, and it will stay between you and the mediator and the other parent. The other parent cannot use it in court proceedings. In other counties, mediators make "recommendations" to the judge when the parents do not reach an agreement in mediation. In the report, the mediator may include what you say in mediation. The report is given to you and is sent to the judge and to the other parent and his or her attorney. But it is confidential as far as anyone else goes. If a mediator suspects child abuse, he or she may need to report this to child protective services. To make sure you completely understand the rules in your mediation, ask your mediator to explain the confidentiality/privacy rules.
For your mediation If you have experienced domestic violence: Tell your lawyer, if you have one. Tell your mediator as soon as possible. Tell the person setting up your mediation appointment so that separate sessions (for you and for the other parent) can be set up. Answer all of the judge or mediator's questions about this issue. Remember, you can see the mediator without the other parent AND you can bring a support person with you to your mediation. If a mediator suspects child abuse, he or she may need to report it. (It is a crime for a parent to file a false report of child abuse against the other parent.) Ask your mediator for a list of places that can help you and your children.
Talk to your mediator about parenting plans that include: Supervised visitation; Detailed parenting plans that can help you and the other parent avoid conflict;, and Safe places to drop off or pick up the children. "Supervised visitation" means the children can visit the other parent if another adult is present. Supervised visitation is often a good idea in cases where there is a history or allegations of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, or substance abuse. It is also used when there is a threat that 1 parent may kidnap the child. If you are worried about this, tell your mediator and the judge.
If the judge orders supervised visitations, the court order will specify the time and duration of the visits. Sometimes, the court order will also say who the provider (of the supervised visitation) is to be and where the visits are to take place.
Ask your mediator if there is a "supervised visitation center" where you live. If there is no center in your area, talk with your mediator about other options. Learn more about Supervised Visitation. Effects of Domestic Violence on Children
Domestic violence can have very harmful effects on children. First, when there is domestic violence in the home, children are at greater risk of being abused or neglected.
But even when they are not “directly” abused, children who witness violence and abuse by 1 parent against another can be affected in ways similar to children who are physically abused. Seeing or hearing violence at home can hurt children emotionally, psychologically, and even physically because of the stress they suffer. |
Weird World5 Huge Mistakes Nobody Noticed for a Shockingly Long Time
Evan V. Symon June 11, 2013
Everyone makes mistakes. You misspell a word on an important assignment, you forget to put the gas cap back on before driving home from the Shell station, and Frank Langella agrees to play Skeletor in the Masters of the Universe movie. However, sometimes people make enormous errors that go undetected for decades, centuries, or nearly an entire millennium before anyone picks up on them, despite the fact that they're painfully obvious. We're not sure what exactly the following stories say about mankind, other than that none of us really know what we're doing.
#5. The Spanish Mistake California for an Island for 200 Years
Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons
Yep, for a couple of centuries, maps looked like this:
California's an island. Oregon and half of Canada don't exist. Mapmaking was a little more relaxed on the West Coast.
California is a fairly large landmass, big enough that you'd think no one could ever possibly confuse it with an island. Standard procedure for charting an island presumably includes "drive your boat all the way around the damn thing to make sure it isn't landlocked," and any explorer trying to mark that item off on their California checklist would notice that the Golden State is connected to the entirety of North and South America. Heck, you could stand on the coast looking east with a telescope and figure out that the Pacific Ocean doesn't make another appearance at any point in that direction.
Comstock/Photos.com
Like most creatives, Columbus got lazy in the last stretch.
However, during the early days of the European explorers, nobody bothered to do any of those things, because there were native peoples to rob and murder, and proper cartography simply would've taken too much time. After all, priceless religious artifacts don't melt themselves down into Spanish doubloons. Consequently, California was incorrectly drawn as an independent landmass for over 200 years.
You see, California was first charted in 1533 by Fortun Ximenez, a mutineer who broke off from Hernan Cortes' original Aztec-busting fleet. Ximenez took his stolen ship north along the Pacific coast of Mexico, and wound up landing in Baja. He decided that he and his rebellious shipmates had just discovered the Island of California, despite the fact that there was absolutely no evidence to suggest that the land he'd just stumbled upon was actually an island. Also, the Island of California was a fictional place from a famous Spanish novel, which by definition would make it difficult to locate in a hijacked galleon. At any rate, Ximenez had no time to retract or amend any part of his declaration, because he was promptly killed by natives.
Arthur Preston/Photos.com
"Ooooh, take us ashore near all those friendly looking natives!"
After receiving word from the survivors of Ximenez's crew, Cortes took some ships up to Baja himself and backed up the mutinous lunatic's claim that California was indeed an island separate from the continent they had just beaten the ancient shit out of, most likely because Cortes wanted to establish a new colony he could call dibs on governing.
The Spanish government supported Cortes (as it usually did) and had a ton of maps drawn up with this hilariously flagrant error. As a result, maps all over Europe showed California as an island, including those four random and completely nonexistent lesser islands in between California and the mainland that somebody threw in there for no conceivable reason. Other explorers, such as Juan de Fuca, continued visiting California, but they kept finding inlets they didn't want to travel down. Rather than waste their time doing any actual exploring, they would all simply announce "Yep, it's totally still an island" and go on their merry way.
Georgios Kollidas/Photos.com
Inlets? You must mean the fingers of Satan.
California kept getting copied and pasted into new maps this way for decades, until finally, in 1776, a Spanish explorer named Juan de Anza decided to literally walk from Texas to California to prove everyone wrong and correct the mistake, because it wasn't like there was anything else particularly important going on in North America at the time.
#4. Des Moines Is Accidentally Named After a Native American Poop Joke
Adam Horak/Photos.com
Des Moines, currently the capital of Iowa, takes its name from the nearby Des Moines River, which was christened by the French explorers Marquette and Joliet specifically because they liked how French the name sounded. You see, during their travels, Marquette and Joliet encountered the Peoria tribe and asked them what the name of the river was. The Peoria told them "Moingoana," which kind of sounds like "moines," the French word for "monks." So they took to calling the river "les Moines," which eventually became "Des Moines," which eventually became the capital of Iowa.
Michael Rolands/Photos.com
The problem is, "Moingoana" means "shitface." And nobody bothered to check up on that, ever, at any point. Considering how the colonization of America went down in general, it isn't too surprising that deciphering the meaning behind a Native American phrase wasn't high on anyone's list of priorities, but you'd think somebody would've at least thumbed through a pocket translator before slapping the name on their capital city.
You see, the Peorians misunderstood Marquette and Joliet's question. They thought the two Frenchmen were asking who else lived in the river valley, not the name of the river itself. The Peoria tribe had a good trading relationship with France at that point and didn't want to be replaced by a neighboring tribe, so the Peoria chief cunningly told the two explorers that the only other tribes who lived in the area were total shitfaces.
"Oh man, they're totally buying it! Shut up, shut up, nobody tell them what it really means!"
Despite the fact that by all accounts Marquette understood the Peoria language, he didn't seem to notice, and so the mighty Shitface River flowed through middle America until the 1800s, when the bustling metropolis of Shitface sprang up along its banks. Incredibly, no one properly translated the name until 2003, but by that point it was a little late to change it.
Tomas Sereda/Photos.com
If you've ever studied the skyline of Paris, like maybe during that scene where it gets destroyed by an asteroid in Armageddon, you might have noticed that the central part of the city has virtually no tall buildings. Seems odd for a bustling European metropolis, right? Well, that's because nobody can build much of anything in Paris without the city collapsing into the earth, thanks to a chaotic maze of unmapped tunnels dug underneath it.
Sergey Borisov/Photos.com
If your city's tallest building was built in 1889, there might be something wrong with your city.
Gypsum and limestone had been mined beneath Paris since the 13th century. As the city grew, so did the tunnels, but nobody bothered to keep track of how many were being dug or how far they extended in any particular direction, because civil engineering is more fun that way. A handful of Parisian suburbs were swallowed up by subterranean mine shafts over the next few centuries, and by the 1700s entire sections of Paris were dropping through the ground like the Name of God challenge from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
City officials were appropriately baffled, as none of them had any idea that Paris was essentially sitting on top of a giant ant farm full of unrefined minerals and the skeletons of the poor.
Campola
How many times do you French need to be told? Skulls aren't a sound building material!
King Louis XIV sent some men to investigate why the earth was eating their city, and they discovered that pretty much all of Paris was in danger of collapsing, as it was built atop miles and miles of fragile quarries that, once again, nobody had bothered to keep track of. Improvements to the tunnels were immediately begun, but despite the numerous catastrophes, France continued boring dangerous holes beneath its capital city until the late 1800s.
Urban-Exploration.com
The Arc de Triomphe looks less impressive underground.
The French government finally got wise to the fact that they were essentially digging Paris a giant grave in the 1950s, and since then almost all of the tunnels have been declared off-limits. The city has weight restrictions imposed on buildings to keep from putting too much strain on the threadbare mine shafts beneath them, hence Paris' lack of skyscrapers. However, with sections of the tunnels still regularly collapsing, all it will take is a small tremor or a medium-sized Luc Besson-produced explosion to bury the whole city like S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. |
Port of Departure Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona - An Architect's Heaven
Barcelona is the capital of the Catalonia area of Spain, and Catalan is the predominant language. The story of the region and its dealings with the other parts of Spain is both fractious and fascinatingBarcelona hosts many Mediterranean cruise itineraries and is a brilliant sightseeing destination at either end of a your voyage. The city has many attractions, from wondering at amazing Gaudi buildings to laid-back people watching at a charming Las Ramblas coffee stop, and gives tourists a glimpse the attractive Spanish lifestyle. So it's not surprising that today cruises from Barcelona are more popular than ever.
Barcelona Cruise Ship Terminals
Ships berth at Port Vell. The port has become a tourist attraction of its own right with a big shopping mall with a fun IMAX theater, and Europe's largest aquarium. Port Vell links directly to Las Ramblas, the iconic Barcelona boulevard packed with eateries and street entertainment that feeds right into the center of the city.
The port has 8 cruise terminals at the Barcelona port, split into 3 locations.
Adossat Quay
Terminals A, B, C and D are located at the Adossat Quay and are the greatest distance from the city center. Terminal D is also called Palacruceros. Shuttle buses run from these cruise terminals to the start of Las Ramblas.
World Trade Center Quay 2 terminals are located in the World Trade Center (WTC) pier called North, and South. The East berth provides an overflow area. From these terminals it is an easy stroll to Las Ramblas.
Terminal M, near to the World Trade Center Terminal. This ferry terminal is sometimes employed for cruise ships.
Most of the terminals have cafes and restaurants, and every terminal has a taxi rank.
Cruises From Barcelona
There are a wide range of itineraries for cruises from Barcelona. A favorite is a 7 day circumnavigation around the Western Mediterranean. The Eastern Mediterranean and Greek Islands is another popular choice. Other ideas include heading westwards into the Atlantic to visit the Canary Islands, or travelling to the far eastern Mediterranean to see Egypt and the Holy Land. The more adventurous can even choose itineraries heading through the Suez Canal, towards the Gulf States.
Out And About in Barcelona
It takes even an energetic tourist several days to tour Barcelona, so with only a single day, it'll be a rush. Don't miss well-known spots like La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's iconic church, the medieval, characterful Barrio Gothic district, and the Picasso museum. Finally head up to Montjuic for a vantage point over the whole of the city and the surrounding countryside and ocean.
Barcelona's iconic church was designed by the much celebrated Gaudi. Work began in 1883, and the imaginative building is only now nearing completion. Interesting features are the nativity theme of the frontage, the towers decorated with mosaic work, and huge doors showing faith, hope and charity.
An impressive promenade connecting the sea Port to Placa de Catalunya, the heart of old Barcelona. The street is crowded with cafes, shops, florists, street performers, and Boqueria, a colorful food market. Half way along La Rambla lies the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's gorgeous opera theater. Las Ramblas ends at the Placa de C |
by Erika B. Schlager
CSCE Counsel for International Law
On October 3, the Helsinki Commission held a hearing on "U.S. Policy toward the OSCE." Originally scheduled for September 12, the hearing was postponed after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
This hearing was convened to examine U.S. priorities and human rights concerns in the OSCE region; how the OSCE can serve to advance those goals and address human rights violations; the pros and cons of the institutionalization and bureaucratization of the OSCE and field activities; and the openness and transparency of the Helsinki process.
Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Commissioners Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), and Rep. Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL) heard from four witnesses: A. Elizabeth Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Lorne W. Craner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (who has since been formally appointed by the President as one of the three executive-branch Commissioners), Ambassador Robert Barry, former Head of OSCE Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, and P. Terrence Hopmann, professor of political science at Brown University and research director of the Program on Global Security at the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. Catherine Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the International League for Human Rights, had agreed to participate in the hearing as originally scheduled for September 12, but was unable to attend on October 3.
In her prepared statement, Assistant Secretary Jones described the OSCE as an important tool for advancing U.S. national interests “by promoting democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, arms control and confidence building measures, economic progress, and responsible or sustainable environmental policies.” While portraying the OSCE as “the primary instrument for early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation in [the] region,” she also argued that “it is not the forum for discussion or decision regarding all security issues” – a role implicitly reserved for NATO.
Jones alluded to a possible role for the OSCE in combating terrorism, an issue that will be taken up at the OSCE Ministerial, scheduled for December 3 and 4 in Bucharest. In this connection, Chairman Campbell urged the State Department to pursue an OSCE meeting of Ministers of Justice and Interior as a step toward promoting practical cooperation in fighting corruption and organized crimes, major sources of financing for terrorist groups. Assistant Secretary Craner tackled an issue of key concern to human rights groups: would the war against terrorism erode efforts to promote democracy and human rights, particularly with respect to Central Asian countries that are now key U.S. allies in that war? Craner observed that “[s]ome people have expressed concern that, as a result of the September 11 attack on America, the Administration will abandon human rights. I welcome this hearing today to say boldly and firmly that this is not the case. Human rights and democracy are central to this Administration’s efforts, and are even more essential today than they were before September 11th. They remain in our national interest in promoting a stable and democratic world. We cannot win a war against terrorism by stopping our work on the universal observance of human rights. To do so would be merely to set the stage for a resurgence of terrorism in another generation.”
The testimony of the two expert witnesses, Professor Hopmann and Ambassador Barry, examined the operational side of the OSCE, with particular focus on the field work of the institution. Hopmann, one of a small number of analysts in the United States who has written in depth about the work of the OSCE and who served as a public member on the U.S. Delegation to the OSCE Review Conference in Istanbul in 1999, offered several specific recommendations: 1) enhance the professional qualifications and training of its mission and support staff; 2) strengthen its capacity to mediate serious conflicts that appear to be on the brink of violence or that have become frozen in the aftermath of violence, including making better use of ‘eminent persons’ to assist these efforts; and 3) attract more active support from its major participating States, especially from the United States, to strengthen the OSCE's capacity to intervene early in potentially violent conflicts when diplomacy still has a chance to win out over force.
Ambassador Barry drew on his experience as head of one of the OSCE’s largest missions to address the complex issue of the OSCE’s relations with other international organizations. Barry asserted that OSCE has, at times, “bitten off more than it can chew” and the United States needs to exercise discretion in assigning tasks to the OSCE. When asked specifically to describe the relationship between the OSCE and the Council of Europe, he characterized it as “permanent struggle.” He suggested that the two organizations should not compete with other, but play to their relative strengths: the OSCE, for example, should be dominant in field missions, while the Council of Europe should be given the lead in providing expert advice on legislative drafting.
One area where the OSCE is underutilized is in the area of policing – the focus of a Commission hearing held on September 5, 2001. Barry remarked, “Last month several witnesses testified before the Commission concerning the OSCE role in police training and executive policing. With its requirement of universality, the [United Nations] must call upon police who are unable or unwilling to deal with terrorism or human rights violations at home. We cannot expect them to be much help, for example, in dealing with mujahedin fighters in Bosnia or Macedonia. Therefore I believe the OSCE ought to be the instrument of choice for both police training and executive policing. In order to fill the latter role the OSCE should change its policy on arming executive police. Unarmed international police have no leverage in societies where every taxi driver packs a gun.”
Barry also argued that the United States needs to involve the Russian Federation more closely with OSCE. “Too often in the past,” he said, “we have marginalized Russia by making decisions in NATO and then asking OSCE to implement the decisions. Macedonia is only the most recent example.”
Many of the questions raised by Commissioners focused on institutional issues such as the transparency of the weekly Permanent Council meetings in Vienna, the respective roles of the Chair-in-Office and Secretary General and pressure to enlarge the OSCE’s bureaucracy by establishing new high-level positions to address whatever is, at the moment, topical. State Department witnesses were asked several questions relating to specific countries where human rights issues are of particular concern, including Turkmenistan, a country whose human rights performance is so poor that some have suggested it should be suspended from the OSCE, and Azerbaijan, a country engaged in a significant crackdown against the media. Assistant Secretary Jones argued that, when faced with an absence of political will to implement OSCE human dimension commitments, it is necessary to “persevere” and to hold OSCE participating States accountable for their actions.
Noting that the death penalty is the human rights issue most frequently raised with the United States, Commissioner Cardin asked Assistant Secretary Craner how the United States responds to this criticism and whether the use of capital punishment in the United States impacts our effectiveness. Craner noted that the death penalty in the United States is supported by the majority of Americans, in a democratic system, and that the quality of the U.S. judicial system ensures its fairness. He also argued that it does not affect the credibility of the United States on human rights issues. Professor Hopmann, however, disagreed with this assertion. Based on extensive contacts with European delegates to the OSCE in Vienna, Hopmann observed that Europeans find it difficult to reconcile the U.S. advocacy on human rights issues with a practice Europeans view as a human rights violation.
Chairman Campbell recommended that similar hearings be convened on a periodic basis to update Congress and the American people on the ongoing work of the OSCE and how it advances U.S. interests across the spectrum of the security, economic, and human dimensions. |
THE REFERENDUM IN CHECHNYA
Mr. Speaker, last Sunday, while the world's eyes were focused on the momentous events taking place in Iraq, a constitutional referendum was held in the war-torn region of Chechnya. The referendum was held as part of the Russian Government's attempt to “normalize” the situation in that tortured part of Russia's North Caucasus. For the last ten years, Chechnya has been the scene of a bloody war between armed Chechen rebels and Russian military forces. Hostilities were precipitated in late 1994 when, in the wake of Chechnya's attempt to secede from the Russian Federation, Russian military forces launched a fullscale assault on the Chechen capital of Grozny. There was a restive peace from 1996 until the summer of 1999, when the armed clashes erupted anew. The roots of this conflict go back to Tsarist conquests in the 19th century and Stalin's brutal deportation of the Chechen people to Central Asia during World War II. Unfortunately, certain radical Islamic militant elements linked to international terrorism have become involved on the Chechen side, though the State Department has stressed that not all Chechens are terrorists. Despite Moscow's repeated claims that heavy-handed Russian tactics in Chechnya are part of the war against global terrorism, the situation is far more complex. Many Chechens have taken up arms against what they believe is a repressive colonial power and wish to see Chechnya as an independent state that will be able to make the critical choice regarding the future of its people. As is so frequently the case, the civilian population has suffered terribly from the war. While both sides are guilty of violations of international humanitarian law, the Russian military and special operations units have been responsible for numerous and well-documented instances of gratuitous, brutal and mass violence against the civilian population.
During my years in the leadership of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Commission has conducted eight hearings and briefings on Chechnya. Witnesses, including a nurse who was present in a Chechen town where some of the worst atrocities by Russian forces took place, have described the appalling fate of the civilian population. According to the U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001, “The indiscriminate use of force by government troops in the Chechen conflict resulted in widespread civilian casualties and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of persons, the majority of whom sought refuge in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia. Attempts by government forces to regain control over Chechnya were accompanied by the indiscriminate use of air power and artillery. There were numerous reports of attacks by government forces on civilian targets, including the bombing of schools and residential areas.” The report continues: “Command and control among military and special police units often appeared to be weak, and a climate of lawlessness, corruption, and impunity flourished, which fostered individual acts by government forces of violence and looting against civilians.” Among the examples of such lawlessness and impunity in the Country Reports were “...reports of mass graves and 'dumping grounds' for victims allegedly executed by Russian forces in Chechnya” and “cleansing” operations directed against guerrillas but resulting in deaths and the disappearance of non-combatants. The State Department points out that Chechen forces also committed serious abuses: “According to unconfirmed reports, rebels killed civilians who would not assist them, used civilians as human shields, forced civilians to build fortifications, and prevented refugees from fleeing Chechnya. In several cases, elderly Russian civilians were killed for no apparent reason other than their ethnicity.”
Against this unsettling backdrop, with an estimated 100,000 internally displaced persons living in refugee camps in neighbouring Ingushetia, and under the guns of approximately 80,000 Russian soldiers in Chechnya, the Chechen people have reportedly voted overwhelmingly for the proposed new constitution. Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe that a genuine assessment of the public will would have been determined under such circumstances. I would ask the same question I asked in a Helsinki Commission press release over a month ago: “Are we supposed to believe that this referendum will stabilize Chechnya while armed conflict between the Russian military and Chechen fighters continue to produce death and destruction?'”
The well-respected Russian human rights group, Memorial, has charged that Chechens were pressured to vote with the threat of losing their pensions or humanitarian aid. A joint assessment mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe stated that “no group has been able to campaign officially against the referendum in the mass media or distribute literature arguing against the referendum,” although some opposition opinions were voiced in the media. Incidentally, in the concluding communique of the 1999 Istanbul OSCE Summit, the Russian Government agreed that all sides should seek a political solution to the conflict, and avail themselves of the assistance of the OSCE. This commitment was seriously undermined when the Russian government evicted the OSCE Assistance Mission to Chechnya at the end of last year. Mr. Speaker, the Bush Administration has stated that “...we hope [the referendum] can be the basis for a political solution to that tragic conflict.” I find that rather optimistic. The Russian Government might better instruct its military to stop terrorizing the civilian population, prosecute human rights violators and rebuild Chechnya. Then perhaps it would not have to hold referenda in Chechnya under armed guard.
Commemorating 60th Anniversary of Historic Rescue of 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust |
By Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mrs. SHAHEEN): S.J. Res. 37. A joint resolution calling upon the President to issue a proclamation recognizing the 35th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act ; to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, as Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I am pleased today to introduce, together with fellow Senate Commissioners BROWNBACK, WHITEHOUSE and SHAHEEN, a resolution marking the historic Helsinki Final Act , signed by President Ford and the leaders of thirty-four other nations on August 1, 1975. The Final Act provides a comprehensive framework for advancing security in all its aspects through the military security, economic and human dimensions. For more than three decades, the Final Act and the process it set in motion, have served as an important vehicles for advancing U.S. interests in the expansive OSCE region and beyond. In a very real sense, the Helsinki process was a catalyst that helped usher historic changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In his Berlin speech as candidate, President Obama emphasized that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom--a struggle in which freedom eventually prevailed in bringing down the walls of a divided city, country and continent. The years following the fall of the Berlin Wall have witnessed stunning successes as well as serious setbacks, notably the genocidal war that raged through the Balkans, including the massacre at Srebrenica. The principles reflected in the Final Act have withstood the test of time and proven their enduring value as we seek to address lingering and new challenges. A survey of developments in the OSCE, now comprising 56 participating States, is a reminder of the scale of work that remains: from simmering tensions throughout the Caucasus region and so-called frozen conflicts elsewhere to violations of fundamental freedoms. There are a number of troubling trends in the human dimension: from the harassment, persecution and physical attacks on journalists and human rights defenders to the adoption of restrictive laws aimed at reigning in freedom of religion and other fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and assembly. Other longstanding concerns include the plight of national minorities and Roma as well as other manifestations of discrimination and intolerance, particularly anti-Semitism. The OSCE is uniquely positioned to contribute to efforts to address these and other issues in the military security, economic and human dimensions. Indeed, a large body of common commitments has been agreed to over the years, beginning with the Helsinki Final Act . The challenge remains to translate these words on paper into meaningful action. As parliamentarians, we have a unique role to play in advancing the aims of the Helsinki Final Act and security in all of its aspects, including efforts to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law. This was evident at the just concluded OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Norway, where many human rights and other concerns were voiced by the U.S. delegation and others. Among several initiatives we undertook at the Oslo meeting was a resolution on investigative journalists I introduced as a follow up to a recent Helsinki Commission hearing on ``Threats to Free Media in the OSCE Region.'' As one who has been active in the Helsinki Process for many years and as Commission chairman, I want to underscore the vital role played by NGOs in advancing the aims of the Helsinki Accords. For over three decades the Helsinki Commission has worked closely with NGOs focused on a wide-range of human rights concerns. In closing, I recall the remarks by Soviet human rights defender Dr. Andrei Sakharov made while he and his wife were living in internal banishment in the early 1980's as punishment for standing up to the authorities in defense of fundamental freedoms: ``The Helsinki Accords, like detente as a whole, have meaning only if they are observed fully and by all parties. No country should evade a discussion on its own domestic problems. ..... Nor should a country ignore violations in other participating states. The whole point of the Helsinki Accords is mutual monitoring, not mutual evasion of difficult problems.'' At the Helsinki Commission we take seriously our mandate to uphold the principles enshrined in the Final Act, especially respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Thirty-five years after its signing, the Helsinki Final Act remains an enduring charter for European security in all its aspects. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the joint resolution be printed in the RECORD. Countries |
by Clifford Bond and Robert Hand, Helsinki Commission Staff In early December 2008, Helsinki Commission staff visited Kosovo to review the changing mandates of a wide range of international actors in Kosovo. The visit coincided with the European Union’s deployment of a Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, known as EULEX, which took place successfully but revealed the potential for regional instability. The Commission staff delegation met with a variety of international and local actors in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital. It traveled to the Visoki Decani, a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church where it met with church representatives, and to the nearby town of Peja/Pec where it met with field representatives of the International Civilian Office (ICO) and the OSCE. The delegation also visited both sides of the divided northern city of Mitrovica where it visited displacement camps and the rebuilt neighborhood for the city’s Romani population in addition to other meetings. The International Community Kosovo asserted its independent statehood in February 2008, in the context of the plan put forward by former Finnish President, UN official and Nobel laureate Martti Ahtisaari. In so doing, Kosovo’s leadership pledged to implement the plan in full, which means accepting international supervision and providing decentralized authority and numerous rights and privileges to the Serb and, to a lesser extent, other minority communities. The Ahtisaari plan, however, assumes agreement by all parties, but Serbia, backed by Russia at the United Nations, refuses to accept the loss of what it considers still to be its province. The United States and most European countries have recognized Kosovo’s independence, but a few European Union members remain either reluctant or strongly against doing so, either due to ties with Serbia or fear of separatist movements within their own borders. Spain was frequently singled out as the one country that not only opposes Kosovo’s independence but seems intent on undermining its recognition by others. Combined with the widespread need for consensus decision-making, most of the international community’s field missions must, to one degree or another, act neutrally on questions of status, to the detriment of their effectiveness and the enormous frustration of Kosovar Albanians who desire that Kosovo’s independence be respected. The EULEX deployment brought these differing perspectives to the fore. In order to obtain an EU-wide agreement, a UN blessing and the acquiescence of Belgrade and local Serbs under Belgrade’s control, a compromise effort known as the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s “6-point plan” was put forward that prompted angry protest among the Kosovar Albanian majority and an official rejection from Pristina. Posters throughout the city proclaimed EULEX to be “Made in Serbia”. After several delays and despite continued ambiguity regarding which government was the actual host, the Mission deployed on December 9 throughout Kosovo, not just in areas under Pristina’s control. That the deployment proceeded smoothly and peacefully was viewed as a success, although ambiguities purposefully placed in its mandate to allow both Albanians and Serbs to maintain their positions, as well as the lack of political oversight and coordination among EULEX’s three areas of responsibility (police, courts and customs), likely mean that EULEX will face additional tests of its resolve in the future. For now, the most noteworthy result of the deployment is the anticipated end of inefficient UNMiK operations, which have come to symbolize the holding pattern in which Kosovo has found itself since 1999. The deployment could also signal a more cooperative tone among Kosovo’s Serbs. In northern Mitrovica and contiguous areas bordering Serbia, there are signs that Belgrade may no longer support more militant and corrupt Kosovo Serb leaders. In the enclaves to the south, where the majority of Kosovo Serbs live, there may also be more room for local accommodation and inter-ethnic cooperation, with questions of status put to the side. Following Serbian elections in May that strengthened pro-democratic and pro-European forces in society, Belgrade seems to want at least more transparency and accountability in the “parallel institutions” it has so far financed, and it may try to reduce its subsidies. It also seems to want to avoid violence, especially any violence that could be blamed on the Serb side. It is unclear how far it will push to assert control and responsibility in light of UNMiK’s dwindling role, or whether it will allow EULEX and eventually the ICO to fill the void. Unfortunately, divisions within the European Union almost invite continued Serbian intransigence. Without being given a clear choice between trying to hold onto Kosovo and achieving European integration, the Serbian Government still plays the “Kosovo card,” which garners popular support at home without any apparent repercussions. The situation on the Kosovar Albanian side is a bit clearer. Despite internal political posturing, there is really little difference within this community when it comes to defending Kosovo’s independence. The deliberations that led the EULEX deployment pushed the Kosovo government about as far as it could go. While the achievement of independence has so far made the Ahtisaari plan worth embracing, many of its provisions relating to Serb communities have been no easy sell, especially in the many localities where nationalism and intolerance continue to prevail. When governments of European countries which have recognized Kosovo’s independence nevertheless treat it as something less than an independent and sovereign state, the Kosovars are naturally outraged and increasingly distrustful. This could be countered somewhat by the establishment of embassies in the capitals of those countries who have thus far recognized Kosovo, particularly in Europe, staffed by competent diplomats in order to ensure that the Kosovo point-of-view is made clear to policy-makers. The United States should also counter European diplomatic tendencies to placate traditional regional powers and treat the new states of Europe as second-class states. In the meantime, as those in government may try to adhere to their Ahtisaari commitments, those in opposition have also been able to capitalize on the situation. This poses a challenge to Kosovo’s shaky democratic institutions, which are still very much in transition. Some have expressed concern that the further development of democratic capacities could be thwarted by the need to meet unpopular international demands. While EULEX moves forward and UNMiK winds down, other international players need to find their role. As one analyst commented, the international community has lost the coherence of its structure and has become a confusing maze to local parties. The International Civilian Office is perhaps the most important, yet vulnerable, of the current players. A creation of the Ahtisaari plan, it is by definition not status neutral, and has a relatively strong mandate to supervise post-status Kosovo. Serb opposition to cooperation with the ICO makes this difficult, but the hesitancy of the status-neutral players to cooperate, coordinate and support the ICO will severely weaken its effectiveness to Kosovo’s long-term detriment. The OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the organization’s largest, is facing even more difficult times. Once known for its solid monitoring of events throughout Kosovo and for developing democratic capacity, the early threat of Belgrade and Moscow to close the Mission cast a shadow over its future and a considerable portion of its personnel have moved to the ICO or otherwise left the OSCE in Kosovo. Mission leadership has also been controversial; while this may have stabilized with a new Head of Mission, the OSCE lost some serious ground. Most interlocutors felt that the Mission is a bit oversized, and needs to focus on core areas such as promoting free media, human rights and inter-ethnic dialogue, where the OSCE has genuine expertise and credibility. KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force, seems to be the one constant of the international presence that garners unquestioned respect and seems prepared to handle whatever instability may lie ahead. It is the acknowledged last resort for providing security, but its presence helps ensure a security baseline that will deter provocations and enhance confidence at the local level. KFOR representatives seem confident that lessons were learned from the violence of 2004 and that greater flexibility across lines of operations, more consistent rules for engagement and an unwillingness to let the particulars of status from getting in its way will be effective in keeping the peace in Kosovo. A Need for Dialogue Many of the problems which exist among both the Kosovar Albanian majority and the Kosovo Serb minority could be resolved through greater dialogue, both within Kosovo and between Belgrade and Pristina. There is some effort to achieve this through civic organizations and religious institutions, as well as business contacts. There is also some interaction in technical areas such as regarding missing persons from the 1998-99 conflict, or in the reconstruction of churches and other religious sites damaged or destroyed in the March 2004 riots. Unfortunately, a suitable venue for direct contact between Belgrade and Pristina needs to be found. Pristina is ready, at least in principle, but Belgrade is not. One area where the Kosovo authorities could act more swiftly, without precondition, and likely to their own long-term benefit, is the resolution of outstanding property claims. The resolution of property claims is a major hindrance to the return of displaced persons, and it holds up legal usage of property even when a return is unlikely. In some cases at least, displaced Serbs and others may only wish to get their property back so they can sell it. While there may be solid reasons for wanting to encourage displaced persons to return to Kosovo -- and some efforts to do this were underway in December – ultimately each individual needs only the opportunity to make a free choice. To do this, those with outstanding property claims need to have their cases resolved. The issue of property claims came up repeatedly in meetings, and seems a greater issue than security and freedom of movement at present. Some hope the EULEX deployment could provide a second chance for property restitutions and returns. Both sides, but especially some Kosovo leaders who formerly fought with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), could probably also help facilitate the resolution of more missing persons cases, of which just under 2,000 remain. While there has been success in bringing government representatives and surviving family members together under international auspices, local efforts to help locate grave sites appear to be half-hearted, at best. It is unlikely that progress in this area will enhance community reconciliation efforts in any major way, but a positive signal to do more could lead to a broadening of dialogue on other issues. Ultimately, this remains a humanitarian issue that deserves additional effort no matter what. At present, Kosovo authorities seem committed to implementing the Ahtsaari plan in its entirety. Relevant laws have been passed, and those involved in developing local self-government seem committed to implementation. The real test, of course, will come when the Kosovo Serbs decide to respond and engage and are able to do so without worry of retribution from Belgrade. One local analyst noted that developing the necessary trust between the two sides will be a process, and should be taken one step at a time rather than pushed. The Plight of Roma in the North A continual concern to the Helsinki Commission has been the plight of displaced Roma in northern Mitrovica, most of whom fled their original neighborhood, or mahalla, which was destroyed in 1999. Growing criticism of the conditions in the camps, particularly the health hazards caused by lead contamination, finally convinced the international community in 2005 first to establish a temporary relocation facility that was safer and to make a concentrated effort to rebuild housing where the original mahalla in the south was located. Romani families resisted the move, due to warranted lack of trust in the international community and a lack of awareness of how severe the health threat really was. Local Serbian leaders as well as Romani community leaders living elsewhere in Europe, however, originally also did much to discourage the move, both benefiting from a situation in which successful returns did not take place. Commission staff visited the last of the original camps, Cesmin Lug, as well as the new camp adjacent to it, a former KFOR base known as Osterode. They also visited the original mahalla, which had additional apartment buildings and some private houses constructed since the last Commission visit in May 2007. Despite the availability of housing, residents of the camps continue to resist moving, despite continued concerns about health conditions. Local Serbian leaders, who now want the land where Osterode is located, seem no longer to be discouraging the move, and Roma living abroad likewise seem to have less influence on the situation. Security for Roma in the south, once a concern, seems less so now. Those who remain in the camps seem primarily motivated by a continued distrust of the international community as well as lingering hopes for a better offer. The inability of the local economy to provide income, particularly in the south, also plays a significant role, as does the desire to keep children in Serb-run schools, despite being segregated into separate classes. Meanwhile, there is increasing pressure from foreign governments to prioritize the resettling of Kosovo Roma they intend to deport, rather than those displaced in Kosovo and living in camps. It is clear that, while there has been some progress on this issue, a limited set of additional options will need to be considered to resolve the situation, including the possibility of permanent resettlement in the north. Countries |
Travel Tip: Art and Archaeology in United StatesFrom the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C.
UNITED STATESNEW YORK • Onassis Cultural Center • Ongoing From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000�1100 B.C. presents more than 280 artifacts and works of art from the ancient land of Crete, most of which have never been shown outside Greece.
The show brings to light aspects of Minoan daily life during the second and third millennia B.C., including social structure, communications, bureaucratic organization, religion, and technology. In eleven thematic sections, the exhibition maps chronologically the establishment and great achievements of Minoan culture. Here the viewer can explore the historical and cultural context of this celebrated society and gain insight into its mysteries, such as the legends surrounding the reign of King Minos of Knossos, who commissioned the fabled Labyrinth of Greek mythology. Onassis Cultural Center Web Site |
From the November-10, 2010 issue of Credit Union Times Magazine • Subscribe! Marketing Expert Shares Recipe for Ad Success
By November 10, 2010 • Reprints FISHERS, Ind. -- There is a science to creating an effective credit union ad, and some of the elements might be surprising. At the CU Water Cooler Symposium at FORUM Credit Union, Maya Bourdeau, partner at marketing firm Attune, shared research insights on what slogans, imagery and facts get consumers to consider leaving their bank.
Bourdeau spoke about her experience working with the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues and the Filene Research Institute to develop a print ad campaign for credit unions in California, Nevada and Arizona. The campaign was tested on a sample group comprising 12 people selected to reflect a mix of gender, income level and age. Bourdeau explained that the views of such a diverse group can be extrapolated to determine the views of 100 people.
Several versions of the ad were evaluated against a control group of statewide campaigns, and one particular iteration was found to be most likely to get people to seek more information about credit unions and most likely to be chosen as their favorite ad.
It carries the slogan, "Credit Unions-For People. Not Profit," displays a simple word equation explaining that better rates plus lower fees equal big savings, informs viewers they can save $200 a year on average and directs them to factsaboutcreditunions.com, a website set up for the campaign. The ad features a black and white image of a woman turned away from the viewer with a colorful stream of numbers wrapping around her and leading her forward.
Each component of the ad was carefully chosen based on insights gleaned from the reactions of the sample group. Bourdeau found that a simple slogan free of complex concepts such as ownership works best in a print ad. She said that research and development firm Eureka Ranch learned by tracking the success of 900 products that there is a 70% greater chance of success if the ad can be understood by a 10-year-old. If consumers aren't familiar with the vocabulary in an ad, Bourdeau said, they will assume it isn't meant for them or that the company is trying to hide something.
Additionally, focusing on one number in an ad increases its efficacy by 50%. However, some numbers work better than others. According to Bourdeau, a statement like "Credit unions save their members $7 billion a year" is not as powerful as giving the average savings per individual because people want to know how they will personally benefit. Likewise, if your ad states that your CU offers 10,000 more free ATMs, consumers will wonder how many of them are actually located in their neighborhood.
The name of the website printed on your ad can be another important element of its success. Bourdeau said the informational website touted by the most effective version of the leagues' ad was more appealing to consumers than a website where they could look up a CU in their area because they didn't feel ready to take that step yet. The black and white image helped to differentiate the ad from the typical financial institution campaign and fit in with people's perceptions that things are a little tough right now. However, the multicolored ribbon of numbers gave the impression that there is some hope.
The woman in the ad, whose back is to the viewer, was found to be more relatable than a figure whose face can be seen clearly because it's harder to identify with someone if the focus is on their age and gender, which might differ from the viewer's. Her pose as she walks with her arms outstretched also resonated with viewers because it matches the idea that personal finance is a balancing act while also a evoking carefree feeling. Additionally, Bourdeau said casual clothing, like the woman's t-shirt and jeans, and a natural setting, like the wooded path in the ad, are more appealing to the target consumer than posh attire and luxurious locales.
One thing consumers never find appealing is being told they are wrong. Bourdeau said people tend to value what they already have, so current bank customers will still feel some attachment to their financial institution even if they aren't completely happy with it. Therefore, messages like "Leave your bank" can be perceived as a personal attack.
Bourdeau also said credit unions should not engage in bank bashing because negativity is not the right tone for CUs and doesn't match the industry brand. She recommended that credit unions instead compare themselves favorably to banks and pointed out that you don't even have to mention banks to do so, as demonstrated by the "For People. Not Profits," slogan that came out on top among the sample group. |
ExxonMobil CEO Defends Manmade Global Warming, Says Humans are Able to Adapt
Tiffany Kaiser - June 29, 2012 6:01 PM
He also addressed fears associated with drilling techniques and oil dependency
ExxonMobil's CEO defended oil and gas drilling by saying that climate change is something humans can adapt to.
Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO, said issues like climate change, energy dependence and oil/gas drilling are blown out of proportion. He blames a lazy press, illiterate public and fear-mongering advocacy groups for the bad light placed on the oil industry.
Climate change is a controversial topic that has been subjected to much debate. Tillerson said that fossil fuels may cause global warming, but argued that humans can easily adapt to the warmer climate. More specifically, he said that humans can adapt to rising sea levels and climate changes because he doubts the validity of climate modeling, which predicts the magnitude of impact associated with climate change.
"We have spent our entire existence adapting," said Tillerson. "We'll adapt. It's an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution."
Others, however, disagree with Tillerson's assessment. Andrew Weaver, chairman of climate modeling and analysis at Canada's University of Victoria, said that adapting to climate change would be much harder than just preventing it in the first place.
In addition, adapting to climate change could be much more expensive than preventing it. According to Steve Coll, author of "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," adapting to climate change would require moving entire cities. A better alternative would be legislation that slows the process of global warming.
An example of such a measure is the proposed fuel standards for 2017-2025, which will require automakers to create vehicles capable of 54.5 MPG by 2025. The effort aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen the country's dependency on foreign oil. These standards will cost the auto industry $157.3 billion and add an extra $2,000 to the sticker price of new autos, but it will save consumers $1.7 trillion at the gas pump.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will finalize the fuel efficiency standards by the end of July 2012. Such measures could hit ExxonMobil's wallet with less gas used.
Tillerson also addressed the topic of consequences related to oil/gas drilling techniques, saying that drilling will always present possible risks like spills and accidents. But he mentioned that such risks are manageable and worth the end result, which is the energy provided.
Tillerson also said that drilling in shale formations doesn't pose life-threatening risks to those living nearby. However, drilling mixes millions of gallons of water with sand and chemicals that creates drilling wastewater. If this water is not treated, it can contaminate drinking water through cracked drilling pipes.
Tillerson also mentioned his problem with views on oil dependency. He said that there will always be access to oil, and that it doesn't matter where the U.S. gets oil because it is priced globally. Tillerson added that the U.S. only receiving oil from North America would still increase gas prices in the U.S. because it would cause a "disruption" in the Middle East. Source: The Hook Comments Threshold -1
quote: After all, public companies like ExxonMobil are not under any such governance as Fiduciary Duty -- right? I don't understand. If the board and shareholders are happy with the CEO's pay (afterall they approved it), then what's your point? Did the CEO get paid an amount the shareholders and the board didn't approve? How did this CEO actually collect an unapproved paycheck? Parent
My point is that the board and shareholders are being stupid -- at best (and this is far from the only exhibit demonstrating the case.)And yes, the market can indeed be stupid, inefficient, corrupt, and utterly irrational. I hope you won't force me to dredge up the innumerable examples from the last, oh, 15 years of financial headlines to prove that point. Or from the past few months, for that matter...My main point here is that stupidity and corruption will continue and even escalate, in a climate where everyone either ignores it or acquiesces to it.Personally, I have no problem with calling it as I see it at every opportunity. Not that I'm going to change the world by posting rants in some little forum. But at least I personally won't be actively contributing to the problem of malignant neglect, thank you very much. Parent
quote: Feudal Society was based around the Land, called a Fief, which was held by the Nobility, because of the favor of their King. Is the supply of high-quality land unlimited or limited (particularly around major metropolises where people tend to congregate)? What happens in a society with exponentially widening income and wealth disparities between the gilded oligarchy and the plebes? The gilded oligarchy eventually winds up owning all of the valuable land, and all of the productive assets. The plebes wind up renting property and buying services from the elite. The owners get ever wealthier. The renters asymptotically approach the status of household slaves. The stable end-state of this evolution is Feudalism by any other name (even if not originally established by a King's edict.) quote: A free market society would not have lords, or kings, or fiefs. In the United States, the society was firmly on that exact trajectory during the early 20th century (the so-called Gilded Age.) It was averted by vigorous federal monopoly- and trust-busting efforts, strong organized labor movements, and eventually government-driven wealth redistribution and public utilities/infrastructure investments (the New Deal). For a few decades, America had a growing Middle Class, and prospered. But then economic "liberalization" began, the income/wealth gaps started to blow out, and the middle class started to shrink, even as personal, corporate, and national debts escalated exponentially. That's still going on even today. Left on that trajectory, we'll find ourselves back to the good-old days before long, and beyond.But not much farther beyond, I suspect. Societies eventually reach a point when the 99% finally realizes it has been transfixed by a fictional "dream" even while being serially raped by the "captains of industry" for decades on end. Then things can turn real ugly, real fast for the financial elites -- even up to the sort of extremes that Russia experienced in the first 2 decades of last century...Personally, I'd rather not have my country go through such duress. But maybe it's inevitable... Parent
quote: I'm sure nobody in their right mind would accept such a gift. Far better to receive $0 instead. An ironclad argument, if ever I've encountered one. Nice to see you trying to incorporate sarcasm into your responses...bonus points for having the sarcasm be true when levied against your own comments. quote: Let's do the math another way. By saving $22,200,000 per year, in 10 years the company accumulates an extra $220,000,000 in cash. It can either sit on it earning interest, or re-invest it to grow the business. Either way, shareholders win (ironically, are CEOs also usually among the major shareholders -- so really that's a win-win.) Really man, why AREN'T you on the cover of Forbes. Dishing out financial wisdom like this for free?! I feel so lucky to be able to share the same thread with a genius like you!You hear that, Exxon? Stop paying your CEO and instead put his salary in the bank and let it collect 0.3% interest per year. Ignore the fact that in 2011 the rate of inflation for the US Dollar was 3% and so far in 2012 it is up to 1.7% - SIT on that money. That's the smart play here. quote: Let me ask you a question in turn: why do YOU hate Freedom? Why do you pine for a comeback of Feudalism? Look at this guy go. He took your question and instead of answering it, he asked it back to you. That's a hallmark of intelligent debate.Feudalism is coming back, friends. Start saving your money because wealth isn't going to trickle down.What idiot actually expect wealth to "trickle down"? If you want to get rich DO IT and stop expecting someone else to do it for you. You obviously can't...and between this and your other comments I think you've managed to answer my question: What's holding you back from making $25 million? You're just too damm stupid. Parent
quote: Even just sitting on that money is a smarter investment than simply gifting it to some overpaid douche bag at the top of the pyramid. Of course, smarter managers would try to invest or reinvest as a first priority, or at least if no good investment opportunities are evident, share the company's profits more evenly across the company's work force and/or shareholders. Yeah man, losing 2.7% per year and accomplishing nothing is smarter than reinvesting it or paying it to someone who will use it to fund other projects.People who earn $25 million or more per year tend to be much more productive members of society since their money is always doing something, something like creating decent jobs and opportunities for people. You don't get to that kind of level without taking risks, unless you're born into it...but even if you start out on top, being on top isn't the hard part - it's staying there that is the real challenge.The pool of people qualified to run a company like ExxonMobil isn't exactly overflowing and the pay reflects that. Your notion that pay should simply be "profit divided by number of employees" is purely asinine - employees are assets and assets have a "market value". The market value of a "hard working floor sweeper" is lower than that of a somewhat-lazy but efficient software coder. That's why people earn what they're worth.Nothing should ever be given away to someone in business. If you want to get a head you make the necessary connections and take the right steps to get there...but you and people like you, who just want to whine that it's not fair, really should consider relocating to Sweden - the ultimate welfare state. quote: As opposed to lobbing wife-beater insinuations That really has no context at all in this discussion...but if I was as dumb as you are I'd probably be living in a trailer with a wife I beat after I get mad that I lost the daily lottery again.Oh, did this just get too real for you? I hope I didn't hit too close to home. quote: One such idiot's name was Ronald Reagan. One Richard Cheney was another such idiot of notable prominence, up to quite recently even. Trickle down economics doesn't work because poor people are poor due to them being fck1ing morons, not because a lack of availability of money. They are given opportunity after opportunity to better themselves, but they do not because they are not much more evolved than the chimps you see at the zoo.Also, it would be bad for democrats if the poverty level dropped below 10% because they'd lose the majority of their voter base and risk being ousted from government altogether...that's why democrats are often happy to keep these social parasites on the welfare treadmill at the expense of anyone who works or runs a business - aka not you. quote: Yes, that must be it.OTOH, in my experience the higher you move up a corporate hierarchy, the more you find yourself competing against unscrupulous manipulators and ladder climbers who have no problem lying, cheating, and stepping on the necks of their colleagues if it gets them up to the next rung. I will never be one of those people. I'm not sufficiently sociopathic... And I'm just fine with that.How about you? You don't know what you are capable of if you don't try. You're already comfortable spreading lies about the state of our planet and the fraudulent science pushing their eco-terror agenda on a public forum...are you mad that you're not getting paid for it?The sweet irony here is that your likely champions and heroes, greenpeace, those whale humpers, obama...all earn millions of dollars by duping people like you into becoming one of their acolytes.A coin may have two sides but it only has one value. Parent |
Tweet One of the most interesting of the known Mars meteorites. It is named after Lafayette, Indiana, where it was identified as a meteorite in 1931 by O. Farrington having sat for years unrecognized in a Purdue University geological collection. The exact location and date of its fall are not known. However, the Lafayette meteorite is a nakhlite – one of the varieties of SNC meteorite – very similar to the Nakhla meteorite, which fell in Egypt in 1911. In fact, it has been suggested that the Lafayette meteorite may have been mislabeled and be part of the Nakhla fall. It weighs 800 grams (about 2 lb) and is shaped like a truncated cone that measures between four and five centimeters (about 2 in.) across. Most Mars meteorites show clear signs of having been exposed to moisture and salty water before they were ejected from the martian surface. In the case of the Lafayette specimen, enough weathered minerals are present that it has been possible to put a fairly precise date on when the water exposure took place – 670 million years ago. It contains the most water (0.387%), in the form of hydrated salts, of any martian meteorite. More interestingly, its composition was enriched in heavy water, as measured when the rock was step-wise heated. The mineral olivine, which generally does not survive unmodified for long when water is present, was also found to be the most altered of all the iron-rich minerals in the sample. When examined in thin sections, the meteor showed rusty-red grains surrounded by black veins, sometimes called a fibrous structure. Taken together, the evidence showed that the Lafayette meteorite had formed initially as an iron-rich, volcanic rock, and had then been exposed to water. Around 700 million years ago some saline began to seep into it, changing its mineral content. About 11 million years ago, the fragment was ejected from Mars as debris from an impact and then landed on Earth about 2,900 years ago. In 2000, scientists concluded that the salts identified in the Lafayette alteration (based mainly on the mineral iddingsite) formed by fractional evaporation of an acid brine on Mars. This result is particularly intriguing in light of evidence gathered by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity that sulfur-rich brines once soaked the spacecraft's landing site. Related categories |
DeansTalk - business management education
Dean Zeger Degraeve of Melbourne Business School (MBS) - Meet the Dean (FT)
Financial Times, 28 January 2013, Della Bradshaw
Zeger Degraeve does not hang around. It is little more than a year since the quietly spoken Belgian left Europe for Australia to become dean of Melbourne Business School (MBS), but in that time he has certainly proven his credentials as a decision-making guru.
He has revamped the MBA and executive MBA programmes, increased the faculty of the business school by 20 per cent and resolved the long-standing governance conflict that divided the University of Melbourne and MBS.
in Dean, Della Bradshaw, Financial Times, Video | Permalink
| | Dean Geoffrey Garrett of the Australian School of Business in the media
ASB Dean in the news
Read about the thoughts and opinions of the Dean of the Australian School of Business in the media.
in Dean | Permalink
| | Thursday, 06 June 2013
Taking the reins as a business school dean - Deloitte’s University Relations Program interviewed 20 business school deans
Business school deans have an expansive and complex role—yet many newly minted deans discover that the experiences they acquire while climbing the ranks of academia or industry do not adequately prepare them for their new responsibilities.
In 2012, Deloitte’s University Relations Program interviewed 20 business school deans about their transition experiences and piloted a transition lab to help them frame critical priorities, evaluate their organizations, and develop a strategy to advance their agenda while remaining mindful of their myriad stakeholders. In an attempt to help business school deans effectively transition into their new roles, this paper synthesizes key findings from our interviews, our labs, and related experiences on executive transitions and business school strategy.
| | Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Dean Soumitra Dutta, (Johnson) to speak at OECD forum, Paris 28/29 May
www.oecd.org/forum/programme
Watch the live webcast
Panel - Learning to Listen
Soumitra Dutta, Dean, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, United States
| | Monday, 27 May 2013
Wallace E. Carroll School of Management Dean Andy Boynton, in Forbes
Fail. Change. Love. And Other Advice To New Grads, 5/20/2013
It’s no secret that recent crops of college graduates have been more risk averse than some of their predecessors. They’re more likely, for instance, to go for the job they could get rather than the one they want. And who could blame them? The uncertain economy hasn’t given young people much room to explore their passions and try out different ways of working, different ways of being a professional.
As the dean of a management school (Wikipedia), I give students a few parting words as they prepare to walk onto the commencement stage—and into the real world. in Dean | Permalink
| | Friday, 19 April 2013
After 7 years leading one of the world's elite B-schools, Dean Thomas Robertson will be calling it quits to teach
After 7 years leading one of the world's elite B-schools, Thomas Robertson @wharton will be calling it quits to teach ow.ly/kaoCE
— louislavelle (@louislavelle) 17 avril 2013
| | Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Deans Elaine Eisenman, Kai Peters: AACSB Annual Meeting (ICAM 2013): Building Your School’s Brand Through Executive Education
www.aacsb.edu/icam2013/
GlobalEd blog, April 16, 2013
At the AACSB ICAM 2013 Conference, Elaine Eisenman, Dean of Babson College, and Kai Peters, Chief Executive of Ashridge Business School, set out some of the main issues in executive education today. Peters described the period as being one of the“most Schumpeterian times for executive education” and business schools in general. The presentation entitled “The Ideal, the Real, and the Deal” first dealt with some of the key misconceptions concerning education...
in Dean, Executive Education | Permalink
| | Sunday, 14 April 2013
"Creating rounded managers for a global society" - Dean Santiago Iniguez - University World News
Santiago Iñiguez, 23 March 2013, University World News
There is no magic formula for turning somebody into a consummate manager. Good managers are made over time, based on the systematic exercise of good habits and routines, and through the accumulated experience of their sector and their relationships. To reach the heights of management excellence requires discipline and hard work. It is not achieved simply through the passage of time.
Nevertheless, universities and business schools can help lay the foundations for this process by providing a more integrated and rounded education to current and future managers.
The extreme specialisation developed in universities in the past has been criticised because of its undesirable consequence, namely ‘silo syndrome’, whereby academics deal only with colleagues in their subject and students gain only narrow perspectives on practical and theoretical knowledge.
Universities can combat this by restoring the value of the humanities in the tradition of American liberal arts colleges. Making the humanities a core part of all degrees will cement the learning experience and develop open-minded and well-rounded graduates.
I also believe that good management is not just about implementing good managerial techniques. It is about leading people, understanding collective behaviour and developing a strategic vision.
These managerial skills are genuinely related to the humanities, which is why I support the integration of different management disciplines within the context of the social sciences and the humanities.
Our experience at IE University shows that including humanities courses in management programmes enhances the whole learning experience. We have introduced subjects and sessions dedicated to the humanities in all programmes, from the bachelor in business to the MBA programme and executive education.
Ours is a two-pronged goal. On the one hand we hope to include management studies within the broad spectrum of the social and human sciences, with the aim of highlighting the inter-connectedness of the models, concepts and theories of a range of disciplines, thus leading to a better understanding of the social role of business.
The aim is also to create well-rounded managers – enlightened and cultivated directors who have a working knowledge of the arts and history of their own and other cultures, thus better enabling them to lead multicultural teams.
We believe that studying history enables directors to take better business decisions based on an understanding of the experiences of the past. Similarly, an understanding of the history of art can strengthen students' powers of observation and perception, which in turn enables them to take more reflective or considered decisions, thereby offering a counterbalance to the action-oriented approach of most directors.
In addition to revisiting the role of humanities in management programmes, we need to find new ways of identifying talent that go beyond conventional forms of intelligence.
One of our biggest challenges for the future is to come up with alternative ways of identifying diverse talent, and consequently developing the means to bring out the best in students. This will significantly expand the pool of potential applicants to business schools and other higher education institutions while helping these centres identify the candidates that are right for them.
Moreover, we need to develop new teaching methodologies and approaches to learning that bring out the entrepreneurial and innovation skills of management students, along with their interpersonal and leadership skills.
This is without doubt the next major challenge with regard to teaching in business schools, and in order to meet it we will have to work closely with educationists and psychologists. Such an approach will also have a tremendous impact on our students and on management in general.
First, it will amplify the pool and profile of potential applicants to business school programmes, attracting those entrepreneurial candidates who were previously reluctant to start along or quick to exit the academic path. But second, and most importantly, it will make management programmes become transformational experiences suited to each student's specific form of intelligence.
Opening up the curriculum to the humanities while developing new teaching methods for identifying individual aptitudes presents promising new horizons. I believe that the changes outlined here are essential not only for the future relevance of business schools, but also for business graduates who look forward to becoming entrepreneurs or to joining the current challenging jobs market.
* Santiago Iñiguez is president at IE University and dean of the IE Business School in Madrid. His last book, The Learning Curve: How business schools are re-inventing education (Palgrave, 2011), explains the changes being undertaken in the sector worldwide. This article is based on a presentation he gave at the “Going Global” conference earlier this month.
in Dean, Santiago Iniguez | Permalink
An Interview With Dean Roger Martin (Rotman bschool) - The Motley Fool
The Motley Fool/DailyFinance, Mar 28th 2013
In the interview below, we chat with Roger Martin, strategy expert and dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
We touch on a number of subjects in this interesting interview, including Bill Ackman, innovation, corporate responsibility, executive compensation, and how to pick out great companies. Martin is the coauthor of Playing to Win, a new book focusing on strategy written with former Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley. A full transcript follows the video....
Brendan Byrnes: Hi, I'm Brendan Byrnes and I'm joined today by Roger Martin. Roger is the coauthor of Playing to Win, and also the dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Thanks again, it's good to see you.
Roger Martin: It's good to be back.
| | Tuesday, 02 April 2013
Dean Roger Martin(Rotman) & Prof Alison Kemper(York) - Get to know your planetary boundaries
19 March 2013, Guardian Sustainable Blog
Get to know your planetary boundaries
Our planet's boundaries are environmental lines such as ozone depletion, ocean acidification and climate change that we cannot safely cross if we want human life to survive on earth
The planetary boundaries concept refers to nine limits to human impact on the life of the planet. When transgressed, these limits will trigger a cascade of ill effects, putting human life and civilization in peril and irreversibly altering the viability of habitats for virtually every species on Earth. By remaining within these limits, life can go forward.The Stockholm Resilience Group, a group of academics based at Stockholm University, has quantified the levels at which decline in various processes and systems accelerates precipitously and dangerously: these include climate change, biodiversity loss, bio-geochemical change, ocean acidification, conversion of wilderness to cropland, freshwater consumption and ozone depletion...
Alison Kemper teaches management at York University in Toronto, Canada, and has worked with the Michael Lee-Chin Institute for Corporate Citizenship since 2005Roger Martin is dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and is academic director of the school's Mich |
3,000-year old Hebrew inscription deciphered
December 31, 2013, 5:25 PM (IDT)
A few characters on a 3,000-year-old earthenware jug, which was unearthed at the Ophel near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount , have stumped archaeologists until now. Prof. Gershon Galil of Haifa University has deciphered it. He says the inscription, unearthed in a dig led by Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University, may be the oldest Hebrew text discovered to date. It attests to Jerusalem in the tenth century BCE – apparently in the reign Solomon - having an administration which collected taxes, recruited labor and saw to their needs. The text he said was penned in the oldest form of written Hebrew by a competent writer and confirmed the presence of ancient Israelites in Jerusalem in accordance with the Biblical record. |
A new study suggests that people carrying their body fat in their backside and thighs enjoy some extra protection against diabetes, heart disease and other health problems associated with obesity.
Fat that settles around the thighs and buttocks may be better for you than a tummy tire, experts say. In fact, a new review of the data on the subject suggests it may even help protect your health.
"It is the protective role of lower body, that is gluteofemoral fat, that is striking," wrote a team of British researchers. "The protective properties of the lower-body fat depot have been confirmed in many studies conducted in subjects with a wide range of age, BMI and co-morbidities," they added.
In contrast, people with more tummy fat relative to lower-body fat -- often measured by waist-to-hip ratio -- are at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other conditions related to obesity.
In fact, this measurement is even more predictive of heart disease than body mass index (BMI) alone, according to researchers at the University of Oxford, UK.
"The authors have summarized a robust literature trying to defend the fact that if you put fat downstairs, particularly if you're a woman, there are potentially some health benefits," said Dr. Robert Eckel, an obesity expert and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.
The purpose of fat in general is to store energy for later use, a function more helpful in prehistoric times when feast-or-famine conditions reigned than in the current couch-potato, potato-chip era.
Typically, the "spare tire" of fat around the tummy can accumulate more easily than hind-quarters (gluteofemoral) fat, but as dieters know, it can also be metabolized away more quickly than fat around the bottom. On the other hand, fat settling around the derriere may be healthier than abdominal fat, because it helps lower levels of immune-system cells called cytokines, which promote inflammation, the experts said.
Inflammation is a major factor implicated in many diseases, particularly heart disease.
So while lower-body fat is harder to put on and take off, it doesn't release harmful cytokines, the researchers concluded.
Healthy people who are thick around the backside -- and these tend to be women -- also tend to have lower cholesterol, lower blood glucose levels and increased leptin levels than people who pack on weight around the abdomen, the British reviewers contend. Leptin is a hormone involved in regulating energy intake and expenditure.
Interestingly, buttocks fat in females more easily comes off only when the demand for energy is high, such as when breast-feeding.
Younger women are at a lower risk for heart disease than men until they reach menopause. And it's during this mid-life transition that women's body fat distribution tilts the other direction, the researchers noted.
In men, fat gravitates towards the center because the "male hormone" testosterone inhibits activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), an enzyme that plays a role in breaking down fat in the thigh.
But not everyone agrees with the notion that wide waists are harbingers of future heart disease, while big bottoms are comparatively harmless.
"The whole issue is very complex. We know that central adiposity [fat gain] is not good and that waist circumference is a predictor of cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Vasudevan A. Raghavan, assistant professor of internal medicine at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and director of cardiometabolic and lipid clinic services at Scott & White Hospital in Temple. "We can hardly make the point that gluteofemoral fat is not without harm. At best, we know there's an association between gluteofemoral fat and overall favorable cardiovascular indices."
The best any individual can do is strive to have a normal body mass index and avoid excessive stomach fat, Raghavan advised. |
Print Email Font ResizeLocal NewsMines creates on-campus community to engineer a well-rounded studentBy Anthony CottonThe Denver PostPosted:
09/24/2012 07:28:31 AM MDTFrom left, Christine Birkholz, Lindsey Smith and Josh Stanley study in the Colorado School of Mines' new Marquez Hall in the shadow of South Table Mountain. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)GOLDEN — When Travis Wokasch was considering colleges, he got a piece of advice from a teacher's son, who had gone to the Colorado School of Mines.Go to Mines."He was the only kid from my school who had ever gone there," said Wokasch, who came to Golden from Cottonwood, Ariz. "He said I'd be able to get a job right away and make a really good salary." "And that's the No. 1 thing the school preaches to people when they visit: the future," Wokasch said.The only catch, the alum warned him, was the four years it would take to reach it. He told Wokasch to expect to work hard to find friends and social opportunities outside the classroom and lab.A new pedestrian area called Maple Plaza is designed to create more of a campus feeling for the Colorado School of Mines, which is working to foster a more holistic experience for students at the academically demanding school in Golden. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)"It was difficult," said Wokasch, who is now a grad student at Mines. "It's not driven socially like other college campuses."Late last week, Wokasch chatted about his undergrad experience in a first-floor lounge of Maple Hall, a dorm that opened last year. On the same floor, members of the Visual and Performing Arts theme house meet. A level up, 36 residents of the Venture and Adventure Leadership house bunk.
The improved housing and house-level programming for students — there are also Service and Social Justice and Women in Engineering themes — are part of Mines' effort to create what one school official calls "the more well-rounded engineer.""It's a more holistic experience," said Mines director of housing and resident life Brent Waller. "We have all these engineers taking math and science and technology. Sometimes we forget they had all these great experiences in high school where they were in bands and soccer teams and football teams and had all these other interests. That's all we're saying now: Continue pursuing those interests."When a Mines student graduates, the odds are that he or she will be employed quickly and make an impressive salary.A diploma from Mines is worth $63,400, better than the $54,100 earned by a Harvard grad, according to PayScale, which tracks median starting salaries for graduates.But in speaking with corporate recruiters and others in the industry, school officials reached the jarring conclusion that a sterling education didn't automatically translate to having a successful career."Sometimes engineers have to learn to talk without using decimal places," Mines president M.W. Scoggins said. "When our students graduate, sooner or later, they're going to be on a project team that's probably more diverse than they ever imagined, in terms of people from different countries and backgrounds and cultural perspectives."We want to provide opportunities on campus to help them develop those softer skills."A year ago, Mines began requiring freshmen to live on campus. That caused the campus housing occupancy rate to reach 104 percent, and with that has come challenges. But it has also helped encourage community in a way that was missing when Wokasch was an undergrad."It would have been nice when I was here," he said. "I have a lot of friends who live off campus, and they say that it's like a five-star hotel over here now. We're all going, 'Where was all of this before?' " |
02/25/2013 10:29:07 AM MSTAbused woman hiding in dark. (Rudyanto Wijaya, Jupiter Images)Related StoriesFeb 24:Violence against women: By the numbersThe first time Leanna was raped, she was 14 — a secret she kept for 30 years.
Adding to decades of shame, guilt and devastated self-esteem, Leanna was often paralyzed by flashbacks, nightmares and anxiety attacks. In 1980, she also experienced domestic abuse.
But a few years ago, the Denver woman started making positive changes in her life, including seeing a therapist, and dealing with substance abuse issues.
Then, in April 2008, Leanna was held hostage, raped and nearly murdered. Lying in a hospital emergency room, she started to regress: If she could just avoid her friends, cover her bruises, no one would know — or be able to judge her.( | )
"I felt like I was dying inside," she says. "My next thought was: I can't do this. When I leave here, if it takes throwing myself off a building or into a river, I'm out of here. I cannot do this again."
In Colorado, one in four women — and one in 17 men — are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, according to the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA). Domestic violence is equally prevalent here : Nearly half of all murders in Colorado are committed by an intimate partner.
If those numbers seem surprisingly high, consider that violence against women is largely a silent epidemic: For example, 54 percent of rapes go unreported, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). It's because of that silence that we need a strong and unwavering national voice to speak up for victims who are unable to speak out for themselves.
And yet, for the first time in 18 years, Congress let the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) expire in 2012. Although the Senate reauthorized VAWA last week in a bipartisan 78-22 vote, it still faces obstacles from House Republicans. Among the objections to reauthorization are new provisions to strengthen services for other marginalized populations, including immigrant, Native American, and LGBT victims of violent crimes.
VAWA helps fund services to aid victims of crimes like sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking, and to hold offenders accountable. The act is primarily about safety, not just for victims, but for entire communities as well.
First passed in 1994, VAWA was easily reauthorized in 2000 and 2005. Last year's failed renewal came amid a series of offensive comments from Republicans minimizing the crime of rape and perpetuating the same cultural attitudes of judgment and disbelief that keep victims silent in the first place.
"It really just adds to a culture and a climate in which perpetrators can continue to reoffend," says Karen Moldovan, program manager for CCASA.
It's already challenging for victims to come forward and access support, says Moldovan. Sexual assault survivors are six times more likely to develop post-traumatic stress syndrome, and four times more likely to commit suicide, according to RAINN.
One of the best ways to reduce long-term trauma is for victims to feel believed and supported at their first disclosure of the crime, Moldovan says.
Looking back, Leanna says she owes her life to the power of belief — and to funding from VAWA.
As she lay in her hospital bed, two volunteers from Denver's Rape Assistance and Awareness Program (RAAP), which receives VAWA funds, visited. They told Leanna that what happened wasn't her fault, that there was help, and that it was possible to heal.
"Hearing that was unbelievably powerful," she says.
Leanna credits VAWA for her survival: "They had the ability to reach out and find me, because I wouldn't have been capable of finding them."
One in four U.S. women experiences domestic violence, a crime that's not about anger management, but power and control. It rarely starts with a punch, says Jeneen Klippel, director of development for Gateway Battered Women's Services in Aurora, which also receives VAWA funds. Instead, abusers gradually isolate partners from friends and financial resources.
"It's an insidious slow process of them slowly controlling you, and taking away your self esteem," Klippel says. "Before you know it, you're in an abyss."
And leaving is not that easy. Victims are often threatened with violence, not only to themselves, but to their children, pets, extended families, and even co-workers as well.
And they have no guarantee of safety.
"We have to be honest with them," says Klippel. "A restraining order's a piece of paper. A bullet, a knife, a fist, will all go through that paper."
Sandy, from Aurora, endured an 18-year marriage of extreme physical and emotional violence, thinking she was doing the right thing by staying, to give her kids financial stability, before finally seeking help from Gateway in 1992.
Even 21 years later, "I am always aware and on my guard for the safety of myself and my children," she says. "The scars never go away."
Since 1994, VAWA has made a difference: Domestic violence reporting increased 51 percent, while the number of women killed by intimate partners dropped 34 percent, according to the CDC.
In Colorado, VAWA helps fund rape crisis centers, transitional housing, campus safety programs, prevention, legal advocacy, and training for law enforcement and medical providers. The need for funds continues: Sixty percent of rape crisis centers nationwide have waiting lists for sexual assault counseling, Moldovan says. For Colorado's rural communities, VAWA funds a traveling program that teaches local emergency rooms best practices in collecting rape kits. Yet in Denver, 44 percent of the rape kits collected since 2008 haven't been tested, according to news reports.
Concern over a national backlog of some 400,000 untested rape kits led U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet to introduce the bipartisan Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting (SAFER) Act last May, which was included in the VAWA. "I've heard from people who have had the invasive procedure of a rape test kit, but whose kit was never tested by anybody," the Colorado Democrat said in a phone interview. "That's outrageous."
The SAFER Act repurposes existing grant funds for backlogs to require that 75 percent of those funds be used to test rape kits, instead of the 40 percent previously allocated. It also provides funds for local audits of rape kits in law enforcement storage facilities.
In Boulder, Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA) is using VAWA funding to serve developmentally disabled rape victims. About 83 percent of disabled women experience sexual assault, and 49 percent of those victims experience 10 or more abusive incidents in a lifetime, says Lora Blakeslee Atkinson, MESA executive director.
MESA, the only rape crisis center in Boulder and Broomfield counties, has provided services to 35,000 survivors. Without VAWA, says Blakeslee Atkinson, "Where would all those survivors have gone?"
One of the most critical uses of VAWA funds is for youth prevention programs, like Denver's Conflict Center, which teaches healthy dating and acceptable relationship behaviors to local high school students. "Prevention is a very important piece," adds Bennet. "I think it's important that we give communities and schools the tools they need to have these kinds of conversations."
A good place to start is with reauthorizing VAWA.
"This is about saving people's lives," says Klippel. "Any individual living with violence is one too many." |
Detroit lotus sangha
About our founder:
Si Mo
Founder of Detroit Lotus Sangha
In January 2007, Si Mo started the Detroit Lotus Sangha, the first group practicing Thich Nhat Hanh’s style of Zen Buddhism in the metro area. Mr. Mo has practiced Thay’s teachings for over thirty years. (“Thay,” pronounced “tie,” is Vietnamese for “teacher” and is used as an informal title for Buddhist teachers.) Mr. Mo’s story highlights the power of Zen to help practitioners transform both everyday difficulties and the intense suffering brought about by war.
Like Thay, Mr. Mo is a native of Vietnam. As a young man, he lived in Saigon, the South’s capital during the Vietnam War. By the early 1970’s, he was reading Thay’s books but was unable to talk with others or practice with a sangha. Thay’s 1967 book, Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire, was banned because it was a manifesto for peace. People caught with it were often arrested and risked torture. Despite these restrictions, Mr. Mo read it and other books Thay wrote, while he meditated and practiced on his own. Mr. Mo was still in Saigon when it fell to Ho Chi Minh’s forces in 1975. During this time, his heart suffered for many people who were imprisoned in re-education camps, suffered forced labor, inadequate food, and harsh living conditions, as well as the intermittent threat of injury and death from abusive guards who shot prisoners at will. Like many southerners facing such conditions, Mr. Mo left Vietnam in a small boat not meant for long-distance travel. Many of these people, known in the media at the time as boat people, died in their flight from a repressive regime, their crafts capsizing in rough seas or taken by pirates seeking the refugees’ belongings. The boat people sought ports in Southeast Asia, often hoping eventually to reach the U.S or another free country.
In October 1980, Mr. Mo led a group of 22 people across the Pacific, traveling over 200 miles southwest from Vietnam toward Malaysia. The group was on the ocean for seventeen days. After one day, the engine broke, and the boat just drifted across the sea. On the second day, the group met a big storm. On the third day, the group was running out of water and food and growing desperate. On the fifth day, Mr. Mo ordered the group to row the boat. It took eleven days to finally be rescued by an oil company. Mr. Mo chained himself to the boat, telling his companions that he would go down with the craft if it sank. Nearly thirty years later, Mr. Mo says he doesn’t know how he and the others spent twelve hours a day under the hot sun without food and water yet still generated the energy to keep rowing. When people touch the edge of death, he says, sometimes they find such reserves. Inspired by his leadership, the group lost only one young man, who leapt from the boat while hallucinating from thirst. All of the remaining 21 people, including Mr. Mo and his wife, survived and reached Malaysia, where Mr. Mo spent three months in a refugee camp. Eventually, with the help of the North Hills Christian Reformed Church in Michigan, he came to the north suburbs of Detroit.
Once in the U.S., he kept practicing Zen, following Thay’s teachings. In doing so, he transformed the pain and anger that had grown in him as he witnessed deaths, ongoing bombing, and continuous risk to his family members’ lives and his own. Mr. Mo describes how his practice transformed his relationships. He stresses accepting circumstances and others’ responses—even anger, attacks, and aggression—with compassion and equanimity. Practicing Thay’s methods for controlling our own speech, actions, and mind during such encounters can transform them, he explains. Conflict occurs when we try to change others, rather than accepting them. Yet, he insists, we must practice for ourselves first. In doing so, we generate compassion and understanding, without counting on achieving anything within the relationship. There is no goal. By focusing on the practice itself, rather than on achieving a goal, Mr. Mo has brought harmony into his relationships with his wife and six children, with his colleagues at work, and with others in his community. While he practices Zen, his wife practices Roman Catholicism, and they deeply respect one another’s spiritual commitments.
Mr. Mo is deeply involved in the Vietnamese community in metro Detroit, working to bring healing to the many people still suffering from spiritual and other wounds inflicted by the Vietnam War. His commitments in this community include leading a sangha for Vietnamese speakers, as well as other spiritual endeavors with Vietnamese Buddhists and Roman Catholics; the transmission of Vietnamese arts and culture through youth programming; and extensive work in youth mentoring, with a focus on character building and cultural heritage. Although these commitments do not allow him time to participate regularly in Detroit Lotus Sangha’s meetings, he supports the group and visits when he can.
Mr. Mo stresses how lucky people living in the U.S. are to have legal protections of religious freedom and ready access to books and ideas. As his life story suggests, connection with sangha deepens and supports one’s own practice. We at Detroit Lotus Sangha are deeply grateful for his guidance and support, as well as for the rich insights into the dharma that he has so generously shared with us. The full story of his journey from Vietnam to the U.S. is told in Vietnamese in Mr. Mo’s book, Seventeen Days Across the Pacific Ocean. Funds are being raised to translate the book into English. All profits from the sale of this book go toward the Unified Buddhist Church for children in Vietnam. North Hills Christian Reformed Church |
Angulimala. Was he a real historical figure?
by frank k » Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:54 pm thread on the chronology and authenticity of pali suttas =29&t=16610&start=0My main interest in this subject is, was the Angulimala sutta a real sutta? Or was it an exaggerated version of a real historical character?Is it possible the whole story was completely fabricated?I'm wondering about the chronology of the sutta, as well as if in the vinaya and other text there are corroborating evidence that Angulimala actually existed. One would think if a killer who successfully killed 999 people and attempted to kill a samma sambuddha, there would be some interesting to say about it in the vinaya, as well as stories of how Angulimala interacted with his fellow monastics, etc.The wiki article gives a good overview and an interesting quoteRichard F. Gombrich, in his paper Who was Angulimala?, has postulated that the story of Angulimala may represent an encounter between the Buddha and a follower of an early form of Saivite or Shakti tantra. Gombrich reaches this conclusion on the basis of a number of inconsistencies in the sutta text that indicate possible corruption (particularly the failure of the verses in the Theragatha to conform to accepted Pāli metrical schemes), and the fairly weak explanations for Angulimala's behaviour provided by the commentators. He notes that there are several other references in the early Pāli canon that seem to indicate the presence of devotees of Siva, Kali, and other divinities associated with sanguinary tantric practices, and that Angulimala's behaviour would not be inconsistent with certain violent practices that were observed in India by Thuggee-like transgressive cults into recent times. However the fact that Thuggee itself was an army of ex-soldiers of the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad, who were Muslims, as documented by Sleeman et al., detracts from Gombrich's claim. If Gombrich's thesis could be conclusively proven, it would establish the Angulimala Sutta as likely being the earliest known documentation of tantric practices in South Asia, about which very little is known before the 7th century CE.
Re: Angulimala. Was he a real historical figure?
by tiltbillings » Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:00 pm frank k wrote:My main interest in this subject is, was the Angulimala sutta a real sutta? What would a fake sutta be?Or was it an exaggerated version of a real historical character?Is it possible the whole story was completely fabricated?Both are possible, but there is no way to know with any certainty this way or that.
by LonesomeYogurt » Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:02 pm If you can, it's worth tracking down Gombrich's essay on the subject. He makes a pretty compelling argument, in my mind - but as Tilt said, it's probably impossible to make a certain case one way or the other.
by David N. Snyder » Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:12 pm If I recall correctly, the 999 victims figure is only in the Commentaries, not the Sutta?The Sutta mentions his killings without a specific number, I think. Angulimala = garland of fingersWhy didn't he just amputate the fingers and collect them that way? Some mafia members have their little fingers amputated apparently to show discipline, devotion to the organization; so it could be done without killing the victim.
by convivium » Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:14 pm For that matter, he could have collected the fingers from a charnel ground. Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it.
by pilgrim » Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:19 am convivium wrote:For that matter, he could have collected the fingers from a charnel ground. From what I remember reading, his intention was to take lives. The fingers was only to help him keep count of the number.
by convivium » Sat Mar 23, 2013 2:49 am i did an essay comparing him to frankenstein in junior college and got an A. i should know Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it.
by Bhikkhu Pesala » Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:14 pm frank k wrote:One would think if a killer who successfully killed 999 people and attempted to kill a samma sambuddha, there would be some interesting to say about it in the vinaya, as well as stories of how Angulimala interacted with his fellow monastics, etc.The Vinaya does say something about him. After he was ordained, people complained about it, so the Buddha made a rule prohibiting the ordination of criminals who had been announced as wanted by the authorities. Aṅgulimāla did not live long after his ordination. The Aṅgulimāla Sutta (Paritta) is well known, but there's not much else said about him. King Pasenadi offered to provide his requisites.The story of Tambadāṭhika is no less remarkable. |
My first sitting, or, "why can't I feel my left leg?"
by Beneath the Wheel » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:05 pm I attended the first course in a six-week "meditation for beginners" yesterday. I've done some reading about meditation on my own but I'm usually more inclined to do things as part of a course or program rather than by myself, so I temporarily shelved my copy of "Mindfulness in Plain English" and sat for the first time yesterday evening. It was a really pleasant environment with a group based around the Thai Forest Tradition, which I am already somewhat drawn to, so I was very comfortable and eager to get started. After some basic instruction, we did two 15 minute sessions of guided meditation, focusing on the breath. It was quite an experience to be sitting silently in a room with around 40 other beginners. I settled into what I think was a decent Burmese posture, and after around 8 minutes my left leg was almost entirely numb. I'm not sure if my knee was off the mat a bit, or if I just need to stretch more, but even after I noted the sensation and returned to the breath, the discomfort become so great that I had to shift around slightly. This kind of jarred me out of focus a bit. The next session I tried half-lotus to try and alleviate some of the stress on that knee, and it seemed to help a bit. I still felt tingles toward the end of the session but not quite as intense. I think the most surprising thing was how forcefully my mind tried to wander. I could barely make it past 2 breath-cycles before I'd find myself thinking about work, moving to a new apartment, and "I wonder if I can make it to the gym after this session and get a run in before it gets too late....oh, I wonder if you can do walking meditation on a treadmill? I'll have to ask later." No, return to the breath. I'm just assuming this attention gets easier as time goes on, but I really wasn't prepared for how strongly I'd have to struggle with my attention-craving mind. Well, I just wanted to share that. Anyone have any advice for my poor legs? I'm really looking forward to next week.
Re: My first sitting, or, "why can't I feel my left leg?"
by bodom » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:12 pm ...so I temporarily shelved my copy of "Mindfulness in Plain English"...Instead of "shelving" one of the very best meditation manuals for beginners available, (though I understand why you did) you should have read this short section on how to deal with this problem:Legs Going To SleepIt is very common for beginners to have their legs fall asleep or go numb during meditation. They are simply not accustomed to the cross-legged posture. Some people get very anxious about this. They feel they must get up and move around. A few are completely convinced that they will get gangrene from lack of circulation. Numbness in the leg is nothing to worry about. it is caused by nerve-pinch, not by lack of circulation. You can't damage the tissues of your legs by sitting. So relax. When your legs fall asleep in meditation, just mindfully observe the phenomenon. Examine what it feels like. It may be sort of uncomfortable, but it is not painful unless you tense up. Just stay calm and watch it. It does not matter if your legs go numb and stay that way for the whole period. After you have meditated for some time, that numbness gradually will disappear. Your body simply adjusts to daily practice. Then you can sit for very long sessions with no numbness whatever. The heart of the path is SO simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are. That is all I do in my own practice. Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing. Of course, there are dozens of meditation techniques to develop samadhi and many kinds of vipassana. But it all comes back to this - just let it all be. Step over here where it is cool, out of the battle. - Ajahn Chah
by Beneath the Wheel » Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:08 pm Thanks for the feedback. When I said I shelved "Mindfulness", I meant that in a very temporary sense. I tend to accumulate books and read, but never "do". I'll certainly go back to it for more information now that I've spent a little time on the cushion.
by Goofaholix » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:22 am Beneath the Wheel wrote:I'm just assuming this attention gets easier as time goes on, but I really wasn't prepared for how strongly I'd have to struggle with my attention-craving mind.This is the first "wake up call" everyone has when they start meditation, before this most people don't realise how out of control their mind is. It means you are doing it right, yes it improves over time, but it is a major part of the cause of the sense of unease in our lives so it won't disappear overnight.Beneath the Wheel wrote:Well, I just wanted to share that. Anyone have any advice for my poor legs? I'm really looking forward to next week.If you can sit in Burmese posture with knees on the ground and back straight you are doing very well. I've found when I lose feeling in my leg it's due to one of two things, either the cushion is too hard, or the trousers I am wearing are not loose enough, jeans for example.
"Whenever we feel that we are definitely right, so much so that we refuse to open up to anything or anybody else, right there we are wrong. It becomes wrong view. When suffering arises, where does it arise from? The cause is wrong view, the fruit of that being suffering. If it was right view it wouldn't cause suffering." - Ajahn Chah"Remember you dont meditate to get anything, but to get rid of things. We do it, not with desire, but with letting go. If you want anything, you wont find it." - Ajahn Chah
Posts: 1710Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:49 amLocation: New Zealand
by daverupa » Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:46 am Meditation benches are delightful, and can prevent leg pain for those unaccustomed to bare floor seating.
by Dan74 » Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:12 am Yoga can be very helpful (like the butterfly stretch =gqPmI__5g2k). The hips have got to open up, so I am told, but after 8 years, my right foot still goes completely numb...
by beeblebrox » Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:14 pm I think the only thing I'd be concerned about is knee. If you feel a pain in it, you really should let it out, and then try again after it feels OK again. Do this as often as you have to, try to find a better position each time. There's really no good reason to try stick with something that will lead to an injury. I'm not talking about the soreness after you've sat for a long time, which I think is OK, but a twist in the knee that is caused by inflexibility in the hip... which would be noticeable fairly immediately if it's a serious twist, or after a few minutes for a more subtle twist. Never try to force your knees like this, or they'll end up ruined eventually.Also, if the numbness becomes too uncomfortable, and your attention becomes agitated, I think it's really OK to just let it out. If you can't focus, I think that kinda defeats the purpose. |
Abstract: Caloric restriction is associated with a reduction in body weight and temperature, as well as a reduction in trabecular bone volume and paradoxically an increase in adipocytes within the bone marrow. The nature of these adipocytes is uncertain, although there is emerging evidence of a direct relationship between bone remodeling and brown adipocytes. For example, in heterotrophic ossification, brown adipocytes set up a hypoxic gradient that leads to vascular invasion, chondrocyte differentiation, and subsequent bone formation. Additionally, deletion of retinoblastoma protein in an osteosarcoma model leads to increased hibernoma (brown fat tumor). Brown adipose tissue (BAT) becomes senescent with age at a time when thermoregulation is altered, bone loss becomes apparent, and sympathetic activity increases. Interestingly, heart rate is an unexpected but good predictor of fracture risk in elderly individuals, pointing to a key role for the sympathetic nervous system in senile osteoporosis. Hence the possibility exists that BAT could play an indirect role in age-related bone loss. However, evidence of an indirect effect from thermogenic dysfunction on bone loss is currently limited. Here, we present current evidence for a relationship between brown adipose tissue and bone as well as provide novel insights into the effects of thermoregulation on bone mineral density.Introduction Homeostasis is the process by which an organism maintains life through regulation of biological processes, including balancing energy expenditure and energy intake. Organisms have evolved mechanisms of trading energy-consuming processes for others that may increase their chances of survival. For example, when the body is responding to stress, the sympathetic nervous system shuts down certain processes like digestion and prepares the body for “fight or flight” by elevating heart rate and mobilizing energy. Therefore, it is essential to consider evolutionary adaptations when investigating the relationship between tissues and their homeostatic responses. Bone is a dynamic tissue that not only provides structure and stability, but also serves as a sink for calcium and a physical compartment for hematopoiesis and stem cell recruitment.
The skeleton constantly remodels itself such that every ten years humans generate a new skeleton. This occurs because there is coupling of bone remodeling in a three month cycle whereby bone resorption (by osteoclasts) is coupled to bone formation (by osteoblasts). Activation of these remodeling cycles occurs in response to physical and hormonal signals and requires a significant amount of energy. Hence it is not surprising that bone has emerged as an endocrine organ tied to fuel homeostasis. For example studies have shown that leptin, an adipokine released by fat cells and a sensor for fuel status, activates hypothalamic signals that regulate not only appetite and reproductive status, but also bone turnover and temperature (Barnes et al., 2010). Similarly it is now apparent from recent work that insulin signaling in osteoblasts increases osteoclast recruitment, which in turn releases uncarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) into the circulation (Ferron et al., 2010; Fulzele et al., 2010). In a feed-forward mechanism, ucOC then promotes insulin sensitivity in adipose tissue and increases pancreatic β-cell insulin production and secretion (Clemens and Karsenty, 2010). Thus, bone is not only important in regulation of calcium levels and providing physical structure, but it is also an endocrine organ regulating energy homeostasis (Clemens and Karsenty, 2010; Lee et al., 2007).
Bone remodeling can uncouple during physiologic and pathologic conditions. For example, in the former as peak bone mass is acquired during adolescence, formation exceeds resorption and there is a net gain in bone. Similarly, during lactation, when calcium needs are enhanced and energy demands are immense, resorption far exceeds formation. In both of these homeostatic processes, a new steady state returns such that resorption and formation become recoupled and bone mass is restored. On the other hand, pathologic uncoupled bone remodeling leads to a loss of bone mineral density as resorption exceeds formation. The end result is a state of osteoporosis in which bone micro-architecture is altered leading to enhanced skeletal fragility. Bone loss can be dramatic during states of calcium deficiency, nutritional deficiencies, skeletal unloading, (e.g., bed rest or micro gravity), menopause in women, or advancing age in both men and women (Syed and Hoey, 2010). However in the latter, it is now clear that bone loss actually starts early after peak bone acquisition and continues its slow but inexorable process long before other signs of aging are apparent. An unresolved question is not whether loss of bone during these states is tied to energy status but rather what mechanisms are operative that tie remodeling status to fuel economy.
A wide variety of animal models have been employed to address this question. The hibernating black bear is a provocative model in which energy intake rises dramatically during the fall season leading to increased body weight, enhanced leptin production and greater bone turnover (Donahue et al., 2006; McGee-Lawrence et al., 2009). High calorie intake initiates hibernation which in turn leads to reduced energy demands associated with relative immobility. However, skeletal loss does not occur and bone remodeling remains coupled albeit at a lower set point in response to lower energy requirements. However, bears are not ideal experimental models for many reasons. Hence, most investigators have focused on rodents, and in particular mice. For example, we know that In C57BL/6 mice, the most common laboratory strain, that peak bone mass is acquired in the trabecular compartment by 6 weeks of age, and in the cortical compartment by 6 months. Not surprisingly, and similar to humans, trabecular bone loss begins, albeit slowly, as early as 6 weeks of age, as resorption increases while formation remains relatively stable (Glatt et al., 2007; Syed and Hoey, 2010). In most strains of mice, lactation of multiple pups leads to a state of uncoupled remodeling with excess bone resorption over formation. However, like humans, the remodeling state is re-calibrated post lactation, and bone mass is restored to a new steady state.
As noted, a fundamental question in bone biology relates to the relationship of bone turnover to energy status. During aging in humans, catabolic activities are enhanced, and there is evidence that sympathetic tone increases. Within the bone marrow space, osteoblast number decreases, resorption increases, and there is gradual replacement of bone cell precursors with adipocytes. A similar aging phenotype occurs in mice, with the osteogenic potential of isolated bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) markedly decreasing with age (Zhang et al., 2008). Ultimately, there is a loss of osteoblast number and function with age which occurs in tandem with a gain of marrow adipocytes and enhanced expression of PPARγ, a critical factor for fat cell differentiation and energy storage (Lazarenko et al., 2007). This reciprocal relationship has also been observed in other models of secondary osteoporosis including anorexia nervosa, immobility, and type 1 diabetes (Botolin et al., 2005; Bredella et al., 2009; Das et al., 1975; Devlin et al., 2010). Marrow adiposity can also be induced with the PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone in mice, and this results in reduced osteoblast differentiation and subsequent bone loss. Thus adiposity has been suggested to be an important contributor to age-related changes in bone (Ali et al., 2005; Lazarenko et al., 2007). Because adipocytes and osteoblasts are derived from the same progenitors [mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)], promotion of the adipocyte lineage could occur at the expense of the osteoblast lineage. Additionally, adipocytes could have direct deleterious effects on bone through secretion of adipokines and pro-inflammatory cytokines that can impair osteoblastogenesis and promote osteoclastogenesis (Magni et al., 2010; Pino et al., 2010).
Adipocytes in the bone marrow may provide important clues as to the relationship between energy sufficiency and bone remodeling. For example, bone marrow fat cells often respond to physiologic changes differently from those in other white adipose depots. In type 1 diabetes, marrow fat is markedly increased despite a reduction in total fat mass (Botolin et al., 2005). In anorexia nervosa in humans and calorie deprivation in rodents, subcutaneous fat almost totally disappears while marrow adiposity becomes pronounced. These scenarios share a common feature; i.e., loss of substrate availability. On the other hand, with high fat feeding in mice, or obesity in humans, there are few marrow adipocytes. |
Technology Levels
There seem to be four broad categories into which civilisations fall in the Trek universe. That is of course something of a simplification, but it will do for our purposes. The categories are : Phase 1 Pre-space flight civilisations. These would range from stone age societies through to those at a technology level roughly equal to Earth's early twentieth century, such as the "Romans" in TOS's "Bread and Circuses".. Phase 2 Early space flight civilisations. These are capable of simple space flight, but not warp travel. Examples would be the Valakians from Enterprise's "Dear Doctor", or the Malcorians from TNG's "First Contact". (the episode, not the movie). Phase 3 More mature space flight civilisations, with warp drive and interstellar colonies. Humanity would be crossing into this phase in "Star Trek : First Contact"; the Federation and other major Alpha Quadrant players would also be in this phase, as would species such as the Dominon and Borg. Phase 4 The super-aliens. These have acquired the ability to manipulate matter and space in ways not apparent to more lowly species. Examples would include the Organians, the Douwd, and ultimately the Q. The simplest model of how a species would progress in Star Trek is to begin as a stone age culture, progress to using metal tools, machines, etc., then develop space flight, eventually invented warp drive and became the sort of multi-planet culture which the Federation or Klingons are, then eventually become a super-species. The super-aliens in Trek don't seem to be technology users at all - rather, it appears that at some point most species undergo a radical single-generation mutation which gives them extraordinary powers to manipulate matter, space and even time. Yet this doesn't seem to happen to a species until it has passed through the other phases - that is, we don't ever see stone age primitives suddenly changing into super-aliens the way that we see spacefaring species like that in TNG's "Transfigurations" do. This change is usually - and wrongly - labeled as evolution, and apparently the writers are saying that intelligent species pass through the other phases as a natural progression toward the God-like status of the super-aliens. Once a species has crossed this barrier it seems that further progress is limited to increasing the level of these abilities, with the Q apparently representing the ultimate development of life in the Trek universe. Looking back at Human history, we first started tool-using some 2 million years ago. Phase 2 is vastly smaller - we moved into it in 1957 when Sputnik I was launched and on the Trek timeline we moved on into Phase 3 in 2063 with the launch of the Phoenix. Even if we say that the warp-5 capable NX class represents the first "true" Human warp ship, the whole of phase 2 still lasts less than 200 years. How long Phase 3 lasts appears to be quite variable. As mentioned earlier, we saw a species undergoing the change in TNG's "Transfigurations". Those aliens didn't seem to be all that far ahead of the Federation, certainly no more than a century or so. On the other hand the Borg have been developing for "thousands of centuries", while the Voth species seen in Voyager have been in Phase 2 / 3 for approximately sixty five million of years. We know that as of the TNG era Humans have remained Phase 3 two or three centuries, again depending on where you draw the 2/3 boundary. We don't seem all that close to becoming super-aliens - we have seen Humans from many centuries in the future who don't seem different from those of the present day, so the change is certainly not imminent. But looking at the rate of technological advance typical amongst Humans, it's hard to believe that we're still going to be in Phase 3 in, say, another ten thousand years. Phase 4 has the most questionable span of all. It seems to be open-ended, i.e. once you have crossed the barrier to being a super-alien, you stay that way essentially forever. We know that the Q have been around for some billions of years at least, and there is no real reason why a super-alien should not continue to exist literally forever. So while there is a lot of guesswork here, it seems that a species should spend a large chunk of time in Phase 1, virtually none in Phase 2, stay in Phase 3 for a while, and then stay in Phase 4 for the longest time of all. If every species followed this path then the number of species in each phase would be directly proportional to the average time a species spends in each phase. This would mean that almost every species you would meet would be either a super-alien or a stone age primitive. Very few would be warp capable societies such as the Federation, whilst almost none at all would be Phase 2 civilisations capable of space flight but not warp. This is a little simplistic, though, because not every species will make a progression through all phases and end up as a super-alien. Some will become extinct along the way, either wiping themselves out through warfare or ecological mismanagement, or being wiped out by others. Some will also be extinguished by natural disasters. Once more, we can only guess about how common this type of thing is. Judging from Earth's history, natural disasters capable of wiping out large sections of life on a planet seem to be quite rare, one every few tens of millions of years or so, but Earth may not be typical. The planet Jupiter has swept up a lot of the asteroidal debris left over from the formation of our system, making impacts on Earth far less common than they would otherwise be. Systems with an inhabited planet without such a handy gas giant nearby might suffer impacts every million years or less. Civilisations on these worlds might never have time to make it out of Phase 1, if indeed they could evolve at all. We have also heard of some species in Trek becoming extinct when their star went supernova. This must surely count as the ultimate natural disaster, but it would only come at the end of the star's life and this should, for a normal star, leave some billions of years for a civilisation to evolve and develop. Certainly our own sun's ultimate death is so far away (about four or five billion years) that we should have plenty of time for our 'evolution' to run its course in the meantime. If it is hard to pin down how likely a species is to suffer a catastrophic natural disaster, acts of war are even more difficult to judge. We can say with reasonable certainty that no Phase 1 species should be able to wipe itself out in a war - the kind of world-wide weaponry and culture required just don't exist until Phase 2. Once in Phase 2 a culture would by definition have the means to deliver weapons to any part of its planet, and should certainly have the technology to manufacture warheads with the yield to destroy cities en masse. At this point wars which could completely wipe out the civilisation become possible, and indeed even easy once biological weapons become widespread. This is, of course, the point at which Humanity stands right about now. In Phase 3 the likely hood of destroying yourself would fall significantly. Although the weapons grow in power to a point where destroying a even a whole planetary surface is relatively easy, the spreading out of your population base to thousands of planets along with the large number of warp driven ships available ensure that even a massive war will always leave some survivors. One only needs to look at the El Aurians for a perfect example - even faced with the overwhelming might of the Borg, there were survivors who escaped and subsequently flourished. Guinan confidently predicted that in a worst case scenario Humanity could do the same. A similar argument applies to natural disasters - as of the 24th century rendering Humans extinct would take a disaster which could quickly destroy a large section of our galaxy, something which is unlikely in the extreme. Only deliberate action on the part of a Q-like entity could render a serious Phase 3 society extinct. If we can only generalise as to how vulnerable a society is to extinction at each stage, we can say with certainty that this does happen in Star Trek, and that the effects would be to lower the number of Phase 2, 3 and 4 civilisations as compared to Phase 1. If anything this should mean that even fewer of the aliens we see in Trek should be in Phases 2 and 3, while Phase 4 aliens should be rarer but still very common. Obviously, this is not the case. In fact most of the civilisations we meet in Trek are within a few decades one way or the other of the the Federation. The real reason for this is dramatic necessity. Writers can tell a far wider variety of stories if they are dealing with alien species similar to the heroes than they can dealing with either a stone age or a super-advanced alien. But we don't deal in reality here... In fact, though, the apparent commonness of Phase 3 aliens can be explained fairly easily. It's not that the Phase 1s and 4s aren't out there in large numbers, but rather that Starfleet would rarely interact with either of them. In the TOS episode "Bread and Circuses" we get a description of the Prime Directive as it applies to a primitive civilisation : Spock : "Then the prime directive is in full force Captain." Kirk : "No identification of self or mission. No interference with the social development of said planet." McCoy : "No references to space or the fact that there are other worlds or more advanced civilizations..." With these restrictions in place, there would be very little for Starfleet to do on such a world. We know that the Federation plants research teams on primitive planets to observe the locals, especially as they begin to move into space, but that seems to be about it. So you would expect a Starfleet ship to stop at such a planet only rarely. At the other end of the scale, most Phase 4 civilisations seem to be pretty wary of interacting with us. The Douwd, the Organians and the Metrones all declined to reveal themselves to Humans until the Humans forced their hand in some way. The Traveler said that his people found Humanity too boring to visit until recently. In fact, of all the super-aliens we have seen only the Q seems to take any active interest in us, and even then it's only one of those. Given their abilities, it's certain that the Federation isn't going to be able to interact with any super-alien who doesn't want to talk, so it's little wonder that such contacts are rarely seen. So we are left with a situation in which the Phase 1 and 4 aliens are the commonest in the Galaxy, but are the most rarely visited, while the Phase 2 and 3 civilisations are the rarest, but most commonly visited. And between the Phase 2 and Phase 3 aliens, the Phase 3 are going to be by far the more common. So we end up with a situation in which most species the Federation interacts with are going to be space faring warp drive civilisations - which is what we do indeed see on the show. While we can make a good case to explain why most species that we see are in Phase 3, this only goes part way toward answering why those species are, in general, so exactly alike. We have already said that Phase 3 could cover tens of thousands of years; certainly it covers everything from at least the NX class Enterprise all the way up to Borg cubes and Voth city ships, or even up to the likes of the Dyson sphere builders from TNG's "Relics" who would be formidable indeed. Yet if you look at civilisations like the Federation, Romulans, Klingons, Ferengi, Breen or Cardassians, it is clear that their technology is restricted to a very narrow range indeed - certainly they are within a few decades of one another. And most other civilisations which we meet are within this same narrow band. How is this possible? Again, the real reason is dramatic. Even a few decades worth of technological advantage would make one species all but unbeatably superior to another. If such species were around on a regular basis, it would be hard to stop the show from revolving around them rather than the Federation. When the Borg / Dominion / whoever invade the Alpha Quadrant, how could you not have the biggest, most advanced species around get involved in that? However, as I said earlier I don't deal in reality. We need a Trek reason why there are few if any radically advanced Phase 3 civilisations around. One possibility is that they have been wiped out. Assume that some terrible invader swept through the alpha quadrant; that the destruction was complete enough and long enough ago that few records survive about them. If we peg this as being say about a couple of thousand years ago, then we could speculate that the attackers left primitives such as Humanity pretty much alone, but eliminated all the major space faring species of the time. In the aftermath a new crop of civilisations grew up, all starting at roughly the same place. This would go a long way toward evening out large technological differences amongst the alpha quadrant powers. It would still be unlikely that everybody would still be within a couple of decades of one another by the 24th century purely by random chance, but it's a little more believable than having the same thing happen after tens of thousands of years. Besides, trading between different species would tend to level out small technology differences anyway. The obvious choice for this terrible invader might seem to be the Borg, but in fact they seem to have been victims of exactly this kind of attack themselves. In Best of Both Worlds, Guinan says that the Borg have been evolving their biological / technological mix for "thousands of centuries". Yet in the Voyager episode "Dragon's Teeth", Gaul says that the Borg were a very primitive species who nobody worried much about only a thousand years ago. This implies that the Borg underwent some sort of catastrophe somewhere in their history, and only began to recover about a thousand years ago. If this catastrophe was an attack - and it would almost have to be, since we have already established that any Phase 3 civilisation is all but immune to natural disasters - then the attacker would have to be extremely powerful to be able to smash the Borg down to almost nothing. Such an attacker should be able to wipe out Federation-style civilisations with ease. Whilst we have to jump through a few hoops to explain the similarities in the technological levels of the major powers in Star Trek, I hope I've shown that it's not all that farfetched. The idea that the Federation is only likely to interact with other Phase 3 species is based on a mix of canon and simple common sense. Explaining why all Phase 3 powers are similar does need some speculation, but even that ties in nicely with some canon history. |
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Headache
Status: Strong Research Support
Description When a stressor is perceived, the human body adjusts by having its autonomic nervous systeminitiate changes in muscle tension, heart rate, blood blow, brainwave patterns, and other neurochemical responses. While such a response can be helpful in the short run, chronic adjustments like this can be hard on the body producing secondary unwanted symptoms. The relaxation response is a method of calming the body�s physiological response to stress. It is a learned behavioral strategy where through skill and practice, the individual takes conscious control over his/her own body�s physiological response to stressors. There are a number of methods for teaching the relaxation response including progressive muscle relaxation, visual imagery, and mindfulness meditation. Biofeedback modalities support the learning of the relaxation response through the use of electrodes placed over muscles (e.g. EMG-assisted relaxation) which then provides immediate feedback to individuals regarding the success of their attempts to alter muscle tension. Related biofeedback techniques can be used to monitor bloodflow and sweating responses (i.e. other indicators of physiological arousal). In multi-component CBT for chronic headache, cognitive coping skills for pain are taught in addition to the relaxation response so as to provide the individual several skills for managing headache pain. The combination of cognitive therapy with the relaxation response has been shown to produce more headache relief than relaxation alone for tension headache. For vascular headache (e.g migraine) the value of adding the cognitive therapy to the relaxation response is less clear. |
Kidney infection, Urinary tract infection – pyelonephritis
Introduction to pyelonephritis:
Possible scarring of the kidneys is an important reason to recognize, treat, and, when possible, to prevent urinary tract infections. Scarring can lead to serious kidney problems years down the road.
What is pyelonephritis?
Urinary tract infections can occur in the bladder (cystitis) or in the kidney (pyelonephritis). Stool bacteria are the most likely to cause urinary tract infections. Usually these bacteria come up through the urinary tract from the outside. Sometimes bacteria in the bloodstream settle into the kidney, causing an infection.
Viruses such as adenovirus can also cause urinary tract infections.
Who gets pyelonephritis?
In boys, urinary tract infections are most common in the first year of life. Uncircumcised boys are much more likely to have these infections than circumcised boys. After the first year or two of life, girls are far more likely to have urinary tract infections than boys. In girls, the peak time occurs during toilet training.
Children with vesicoureteral reflux, or other urinary tract problems, are more likely to have pyelonephritis. Constipation, pinworms, labial adhesions, and neurologic problems, such as spina bifida, are among the other factors that can lead to these infections.
What are the symptoms of pyelonephritis?
Classic symptoms of pyelonephritis include fever, flank pain, and/ or vomiting. Diarrhea is sometimes present as well. Young babies with pyelonephritis may be irritable, jaundiced, and feeding poorly.
Is pyelonephritis contagious?
Pyelonephritis is not directly contagious, although the bacteria in stool that can lead to pyelonephritis can be spread by touch.
How long does pyelonephritis last?
Pyelonephritis may last until treated. Once appropriate treatment is begun, improvement is often rapid. The infection is generally cleared within 2 weeks or less.
How is pyelonephritis diagnosed?
An infection of the urinary tract is generally diagnosed with a urine culture. The location of the infection in the urinary tract is usually determined based on the history and the physical examination. If the diagnosis is not clear, imaging studies such as a renal scan can solve the puzzle.
How is pyelonephritis treated?
Antibiotics are used to treat pyelonephritis. Prompt and adequate treatment is important. Depending on the child’s age and ability to tolerate medications by mouth, the antibiotics may be given either orally or intravenously.
How can pyelonephritis be prevented?
Avoiding wiping from back to front and avoiding tight-fitting underwear can prevent some urinary tract infections.
Children who have had pyelonephritis once (and most young children who have had any urinary tract infection) should have imaging studies of the urinary tract to identify specific ways to prevent further infections. Depending on the situation, preventive antibiotics or even surgery might be wise. |
How to Praise Your Kids
I get a lot of calls from people who say, “I can’t do anything because I don’t have self-esteem.” My usual response: “b.s.” I don’t wake up every day and tell myself, “Oh my gosh, I love you.” It’s when I’ve done something that requires guts, sacrifice, or was extremely valuable to me that I’m proud of myself. Ever since the 60s, there has been a lot of psychobabble surrounding self-esteem. People who buy into the “self-esteem movement” figure that the best way to combat low-esteem in kids is to artificially pump them up by saying things like, “You’re wonderful,” and, “That’s the most beautiful piece of art I’ve ever seen.” However, this “person praise” does nothing to actually give them higher self-esteem. You’re only blowing smoke and treating them like animals (“You’re such a good boy/girl” is something I say to my dogs). Instead, praise should be directed at a child’s effort. For example, tell them, “Wow. You really worked hard on that!” This is what is called “process praise” – you’re commenting on their diligence and persistence. According to a study from the University of Chicago, kids are more likely to prefer challenging tasks and believe that intelligence and personality can improve with effort than youngsters who simply hear praise directed at them personally. It sends the message that effort and actions are the sources of success and your approval. If you’re impressed by their effort, kids will put in more effort. If you just say, “You’re very good at this,” that’s it – they stay at that level. They won’t try harder because they figure that they have already reached the pinnacle. By praising the process, actions, and strategies (e.g. “I’m impressed that you did your best and worked hard to stick with it”), kids try to do better and better to impress you and themselves. And what happens when they impress themselves? Their self-esteem goes up. The bottom line: You can’t give your kids self-esteem. They have to earn it in their own minds. Otherwise, you’re just handing them praise balloons and turning them into narcissists. |
How to Minimize Losses through Managerial Economics
By Robert J. Graham from Managerial Economics For Dummies
Unfortunately, it isn’t always the case that the firm’s profit is positive. Nevertheless, firms may continue producing in the short run in order to minimize losses. It’s important to remember that firms who shut down in the short run still have production costs — total fixed cost can’t be changed.
Thus, if a firm loses less money than total fixed cost by producing in the short run, the firm should continue production in order to minimize losses.
The illustration shows a situation where a firm minimizes losses by producing in the short run. The profit-maximizing quantity of output is still determined by equating marginal revenue and marginal cost. The firm produces the profit-maximizing quantity of output q0 at that point.
However, because price is less than average total cost at q0, the firm loses money. Its loss per unit equals price minus average total cost. This loss per unit is represented by the double-headed arrow.
If instead of producing q0 the firm shuts down, it loses total fixed cost. Total fixed cost equals average fixed cost multiplied by the quantity of output, and average fixed cost equals average total cost minus average variable cost. Thus, the difference between average total cost, ATC0, and average variable cost, AVC0, represents the fixed cost per unit at q0.
This difference between average total cost and average variable cost is clearly larger than the difference between price and average total cost. Thus, shutting down and losing your fixed costs is a greater loss than occurs if you produce q0.
Assume the market-determined price for your good is $6.80. Therefore, your total revenue equals
Marginal revenue equals the derivative of total revenue taken with respect to quantity or
If your total cost function is
Marginal cost equals
In order to determine the profit-maximizing quantity of output, you simply set marginal revenue or price equal to marginal cost and solve for q.
Set marginal revenue equal to marginal cost.
Solve for q.
Use either a calculator or the quadratic formula.
The profit maximizing quantity of output is 1,200 units.
Determine the average total cost equation.
Average total cost equals total cost divided by the quantity of output.
Substitute the profit-maximizing quantity of 1,200 for q to determine average total cost.
Calculate profit per unit.
or profit per unit equals –$3.4875.
Determine total profit by multiplying profit per unit by the profit-maximizing quantity of output.
or total profit equals –$4,185. Your firm is losing $4,185. But note that if you immediately shut down, your losses equal total fixed cost, which is $5,625. Losing $4,185 is a bad situation, but losing $5,625 is even worse. Continuing production makes the best of a bad situation. |
The Venting Thread!
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:51 am Post subject: "I'm going to stop calling you a 'white man', and I'm going to ask that you stop calling me a 'black man'. I don't say -leans to the side- Hey, I know this white man Mike Wallace..."
"Hey, I know this white man Mike Wallace..." When you offer it like THAT, it's pretty clear that racism hasn't progressed in the United States in 100 years. And in other countries it has a touch of presence as well. The government in charge of making laws about racism is out of touch with the reality of the citizens. People are bound together by skills, by income, by location, by profession, by employment, or by religion/creed/belief/etc. Classification based on someone's skin color is as ridiculous today as it was 150 years ago. It's ignorant of the reality of our generation, and that is that people of all skin colors, ethnicities, and ancestries are in low income situations. There are whites on food stamps. There are whites on welfare. There isn't a "privileged skin color". Families who have had money maintain their wealth. We're never taught how to make and save money in school.
People in the grocery store I work at think that putting $5 in the lottery every time they go grocery shopping is a viable savings plan.
Education is the key to any culture's success, and right now the United States is happy to turn a blind eye to the low income citizens. Instead of educating our children on the importance of placing their money in savings - even at the expense of fun in the moment, we're tied up in court cases about the legality of teaching science versus religion in science class. Instead of teaching our youth that the glamour of a Hollywood antihero ends when they die at the end of the movie, we have an entire industry marginalizing women and talking about carrying around guns - or at least wearing designer clothes and ten thousand dollars in jewelry.
Race? The only race that exists is the rat race, and everybody's in it. Whites, blacks, latinos, native americans, every single person in this country is bound up by the same false idea. The same idea that if they keep throwing money at impossible odds, someday they'll hit it big. I know a man who spends $25 per week on the lottery. Go over that math.
$25 * 52 = $1300/yr.
If he had stopped playing the lottery when his first child was born, he could have paid $25,000 of their college tuition without considering any annual yields on savings accounts. And he is by no means unintelligent, but he is the first generation in his family (and as yet the only person in his family) to graduate college. He was raised thinking the payoff would come.
If we, collectively, stopped trying to see the differences in people based on race, then I think we'd quickly see that there weren't very many to begin with. I've never, not once, seen any study indicating that the baseline for a person's capability to succeed in the modern world is in any way related to their skin color. And certainly none of those baselines based on race would compare in even the slightest way to people afflicted with mental deficits, handicaps, or injuries. No racial background would inhibit a person as greatly as would a person with one limb missing, or having lost oxygen to the brain for even five minutes. Race is a ridiculous notion.
*fumes off in some other direction*
Entitlement mentality. *grumble mumble*
There exists no such physical boundary nor reproductive difficulty in humans. Ergo, biologically, racism is at best a baseless classification, and at worst an attempt at societal control._________________. Dubbed "Usagi" by AsA .
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:44 pm Post subject: Well ancient people did, and in fact in the slavery days there were opinions - 'scientifically proven' - to that effect.
But it's not actually true. Makes you wonder what other cultural assumptions we have which are equally unfounded, but we're convinced are true._________________Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:13 am Post subject: Asa wrote: But it's not actually true. Makes you wonder what other cultural assumptions we have which are equally unfounded, but we're convinced are true. Quite a few, if ethnocentricity is any type of marker. Granted, a lot of that is just lingering prejudice, plain and simple--but a lot of people still take it for fact. And then there are misconceptions. Particularly psychologically speaking. It's not necessarily that those with misconceptions are wrong about something psychological; it's just that there's not really any empirical evidence to support . . . well, anything, actually. I know that commercials for anti-depressants spread misconceptions, certainly. "Depression" is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain--that's more of a result. Depression also isn't an actual diagnosis--just a symptom. That's more of an omission of certain facts and theories, though, than anything else. >>;;; *hider her soap box in a corner before she can stand on it*
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:41 am Post subject: Species is more a rule of thumb system than anything else. Ring species: Creatures of type B (a breeding group among themselves) can breed with creatures of type C and A (also breeding groups among themselves) which can't breed with their opposing type. What do you do? Define them all as separate species - despite the fact they're not reproductively issolated? OR define them all as one species - despite the fact that if enough of type B dies off C and A will be different species all of a sudden.
Species is not really a coherent definition. Not unless you stop at the top of the paper to go 'And by species I mean....' You can do the same with time too. When does a species stop being similar enough to its past state in order to constitute a new species? When they stop being able to breed together? Well that doesn't happen all of a sudden....
The world doesn't actually break down into isolated breeding groups. Neither temporally or in terms of physical location. Provided the egg and the sperm have compatible acrosome and zona pellucida enzymes fertilisation will occur. It doesn't mean the foetus will be viable, that depends on whether there are a similar enough size, number, homology of chromosomes, but it will happen.
Personally I don't find the concept useful anyway. Does it have big teeth? Yes. Does it swim the same as that thing over there? No. Well it's something else then. You just group by the feature relevant to your inquiry._________________Never forget, We stroll along the roof of hell Gazing at flowers. - Issa
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:10 am Post subject: Well, you could always just refer to the genus, instead of the species--which is probably a little bit more accurate in defining boundaries, anyways, since it includes all animals of a similar genetic pattern.
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:19 am Post subject: Going back to the original rant; I applied. In the section where it asked about a disability I put down my social anxiety problem. It's been holding me back for years, now I might be able to get something good out of it._________________Britland as dubbed by AsA
Devil's advocate: What will you say if they ask, "How can you work in a museum if you're socially anxious?"_________________Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 1:29 pm Post subject: Asa wrote: Now that was smart! Good thinking.
Devil's advocate: What will you say if they ask, "How can you work in a museum if you're socially anxious?" I've thought about that and so far I have three responses.
1) If they're going to aim this internship at disabled people then they have to be prepared to allow for special circumstances.
2) My one-to-one interactions have improved a lot, it's group speaking that I have most issues with now.
WrenJoined: 22 Apr 2008Posts: 797Location: In my head, wondering how so many manage to step outside theirs.
Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:40 pm Post subject: This...is going to become a rant, I fear.
Affirmative action may or may not be outdated. I am addressing this point here in an attempt to divorce my following argument from affirmative action, because that's an argument on its own. As in, I'm sure I could write a book on it.
The best way to end racism would be for everyone to stop talking about race. However, there are prejudiced people in our immediate environment. Pretending they are not racist--or acting as if they don't exist, which is pretty much the same thing on a large scale--is not going to help anything.
Additionally, humans tend to look for patterns. A person might be racist and still be a perfectly good person--as long as that person recognizes and adjusts for the irrationality racism introduces. I literally have trouble recognizing race and so will use a tangentially related example. For instance, I feel uncomfortable around overweight people, and tend to find them more annoying than underweight/healthy people. I recognize this about myself, and so can adjust for it when making any decision.
Is racism bad? Yes. But I don't think it's ever going to simply go away. I make snap judgments based on eye-color, hair-styling, choice in clothing, voice, etc. The only way for me to not be prejudiced in my actions is to accept that I can have these feelings and still make my own choices independently.
Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:17 pm Post subject: I wasn't going to post this here, despite being fairly proud of the writing, but now it seems apt. I've recently been involved in a few threads on Facebook that pit Religion and Sexuality against one another. Specifically, Christianity against the LGBT community. While this isn't exactly the topic of racism, the core argument itself remains fundamentally the same, and the points made remain as valid for any topic.
In essence, if you don't care to read, by affirming "race" as a difference, and by accepting that "race" is a difference, we are making it a difference. To buy in to a stereotype that a given set of [eople act a certain way because other, completely separate people that share base physical traits act a certain way does a disservice to the group, as well as the individual. Additionally it could be argued that putting these traits from the group onto the individual does a disservice to one's self.
Skin color was one of the things I was most proud to overcome my prejudice against, and now base more of my snap judgment on how a person conducts themselves than anything else. What sort of posture they have, eye contact, facial expression, clothing style and condition, and so on. Then again, I've never been mugged, robbed, beaten, or stabbed by a black. Only by whites. I've never been cheated on by a black. Again, only whites. I suppose I had to, at some point, realize my prejudice was only supported by what I saw on television. And that seemed a poor support for condemning an entire group of people based on one physical trait alone.
Why is making fun if Christians more acceptable than making fun of Homosexuals, or Jews, or anyone? Because there are more of them? That seems a rather disturbing argument, to me. The only way that seems valid is if you anticipate so deeply wounding one that you would need another, and that means that larger groups would have more "another"s to provide you with. That's the argument at its most base, that there are enough people to "soak" the damage you're causing.
You're not actually causing any less damage. You're just causing damage to more people.
To touch on the argument that it's "okay" to make "light jokes" about a certain group, or that people in those groups are accepting of those jokes, let me say that this does a disservice to that group, and that person. By telling these jokes, you reinforce stereotypes. "Oh, I have no fashion sense, but it's okay because I have gay friends!" Yes, let's all have a laugh. Gay people obviously have more fashion sense, everyone knows this, don't they? So, what about the gay who has no fashion sense? Are they somehow 'less' gay? Or are they less of a gay? Are they more acceptable in society? No, certainly not, they're still gay. Only they're now not a part of "the gay" as a stereotype. You've created not only one minority, but two. You've attacked not one group, but every individual in it who may be unique.
I think that handles both the "larger groups" and "balance of rudeness" ideas to my satisfaction. Now, on to the "Why do liberals feel this way?" (as the most liberal guy my uncle knows, I guess I'm qualified).
The truth? Christianity is the opposing side, it epitomizes all of the things that most liberals are taught (notice: TAUGHT) to believe are wrong with the world. Closed minded, bigoted, hate-filled, and totally unwilling to see any change that does not agree with their narrow minded view of how the world should be.
...you know what is so jarringly familiar about that statement? I've heard it used to describe two groups. Liberals, and Conservatives. Conservatives, and Liberals. And it's generally true and false in equal measure.
Most Christians I know have no problem with gay people, specifically. They are cordial to them, they can communicate with them peacefully, they can even share work space with them. Some may try and explain their view that homosexuality is wrong, but most who do are actually trying to help the person.
Likewise, most LGBT I know don't have any problem with Christians. Some ARE Christians. They tend to treat them with respect, they're easily able to talk to them, and likewise are more than able, and willing, to share work space with them. Some may make offers to hang out or include the Christian in activities they enjoy, much as the Christian tries to share their beliefs in kind.
So what's the issue? What, I wonder, is the problem? IS there a problem? Yes, there is. The "right or wrong" mentality that seems to permeate the United States these days. On BOTH sides of the political spectrum, moral standing, and so on. The idea that one side MUST be right, and one side MUST be wrong. It is patently ridiculous, and intellectually degrading to be told that something is fully and wholly evil. There are no such things, just as there are no fully and wholly good things in the world.
The truth is that everything lies on a gradient. What is offensive to some (Zombie Jesus Day, Gay Fashion jokes) is completely okay to others. But every time a person makes that joke, they cement a bit further that it's okay to marginalize and make slight of a group of people. The only solution, the only way to make the world "okay", is to understand that people are going to be different from you. Even the person next to you in your FAVORITE group of people in the WHOLE WORLD is different from you. They have different taste in music, in cars, in clothes, in people, in weather, in television channels, whether they like a hard or soft bed, loose or tight shoes, t-shirts or button-up shirts, boxers or briefs, jeans or khakis, books or ebooks, water or tea.
The list goes on. Marginalizing someone because of one of these differences makes about as much sense as yelling at the sky for being blue. People are they way they are. Making fun of that? You may as well call the planet lumpy, the ocean wet, and space cold._________________. Dubbed "Usagi" by AsA .
So much of it depends on context and body language that you can claim, in essence, that someone just misread you.
Now obviously you can do this in a negative way - some incredibly off-colour joke - I don't know and I don't want to know because it's all disgusting � the joke as an attack; but equally you can do it in a good way. Jokes as a far more complex signal:
'I'm uncomfortable with this, I don't quite understand this, I may be amenable to learning more about this, I kind of like you but don't want to come out and signal it in public, I think some third party representation we're talking about is silly.' Or whatever. You can talk about illegal activities as a joke, feel people out to see where and when or if they laugh and where they look before and afterwards and.... whether if you include a bit of information that's slightly out of kilter and laugh at it others pause the right amount of time before laughing too or whether they know enough to get it right away or.... You've got to model what you think other people know in order to make sense of jokes and a lot of that depends on stuff they're not going to be saying aloud.
'Gay people obviously have more fashion sense, everyone knows this, don't they?'
But in a way that last bit is the joke. If you honestly DID think that gay people all had good fashion sense, 'Oh, I have no fashion sense, but it's okay because I have gay friends!' wouldn't be funny. It's like when you go, 'You shouldn't do that, because it's wrong.' And everyone breaks down laughing, but the joke is that you're aware of the fact that right and wrong are not simple criteria, that you don't just reduce them to little 'X is wrong' sentences.
Just as telling someone to get lost with a laugh is utterly different from hissing at someone to get lost! the exploration of humour's interaction with stereotypes is, I think, far more complex than simply making fun of someone or the written expression of a joke. Written language can be an incredibly shallow medium in some ways.
Tl/dr: Language games are very complex requiring you to make guesses at the intentions and knowledge of others, and you can't assume it's an attack just because it's in the form of a stereotype referencing joke. Sometimes people are doing it because they're nervous and the stereotype is something they can hide behind, sometimes they're doing it because they're feeling you out for something, sometimes they just think that the stereotype is ridiculous....
Do I think not talking about race will make it go away? Kinda. I think not obsessing about it will make it go away. You've still got to have them involved in contexts that communicate they're equals. Certainly all this parades and days and so on is a bit silly - draws attention to the idea that they're not equal. You don't need to do that sort of stuff with people who you think are equals. =p_________________Never forget, We stroll along the roof of hell Gazing at flowers. - Issa |
A Physicists Labour In War And Peace
By E Walter Kellermann
This book is of interest to historians of science and to scientists as well as to the general reader. Historians will be interested in the author's 'revealing view' of the British pre war university system, the establishment of Theoretical Physics as a new discipline in Britain and his commitment to preserve science during the funding battles of the Thatcher years. Physicists will find a clear introduction to the research into one of the greatest puzzles in astrophysics namely the enormous energies created in our cosmos manifested by [ Auger's discovery ] of the 'Grandes Gerbes', the showers of particles currently incident on the earth now investigated by a major international cooperation. The book. is 'a great combination of autobiography and history of the sciences during a long and exciting period of History' (Stefan Sienell, Atistrian Academy of Sciences), 'A very, important source of reference' (Professor John Dainton, Liverpool University). 'The book has authority and relevance' (Jeff Hughes, Manchester University), 'Perceptive assessments of contemporary events' (Geoffrey Cantor, Professor of the History of Science, Leeds University). His research in Edinburgh with the future Nobel Laureate Max Born, one of the giants of Theoretical Physics, led to a breakthrough in solid-state physics. In Manchester he worked with Patrick Blackett, also a future Nobel Laureate, measuring 'Extensive Air Showers'. These are sprays of particles, which fall on the earth generated by nuclear particles from the cosmos. Later in Leeds he was one of the initiators of the National British Air Shower Experiment. - He writes about some of the famous scientists he has met, and also of his disappointments which are often the fate of a working scientist. Reviews From Cern Counter Book Shelf Kellermann's account makes fascinating reading, describing the aspirations and frustrations of a physicist who was not centre stage, but moved among a cast of famous names. These included not only Born and Blackett, but also Klaus Fuchs, best known as a spy. The book also presents a revealing view of the British university system, with some alarming examples of racism, in particular in the 1930s and 1940s when departments were keen to keep down the number of refugees. Christine Sutton, CERN. These intelligently written memoirs (Professor Geoffrey Cantor, University of Leeds) offer perceptive assessments of contemporary events and of many of the scientists and politicians Kellermann encountered. The Leitmotiv during Kellermannss later years was his research on cosmic ray extensive air showers. The non-specialist will find a clear account of how these showers, caused by enormously energetic particles from the cosmos are clues to its understanding, an account leading right up to the present state of the art. |
Fig. 2. Relationships between community structure and function can be affected by environmental changes, such as climate. In some systems, a shift to an alternative state can yield community structure changes that lead to a shift in ecosystem functions (a), but guided transition aims to guide the shift in community structure in such a way that some desired ecosystem functions can be maintained through the transition (b). |
Cinti, A., J. N. Duberstein, E. Torreblanca, and M. Moreno-B�ez. 2014. Overfishing drivers and opportunities for recovery in small-scale fisheries of the Midriff Islands Region, Gulf of California, Mexico: the roles of land and sea institutions in fisheries sustainability. Ecology and Society 19(1):15.
Research, part of a special feature on Cooperation, Local Communities, and Marine Social-Ecological Systems: New Findings from Latin AmericaOverfishing Drivers and Opportunities for Recovery in Small-Scale Fisheries of the Midriff Islands Region, Gulf of California, Mexico: the Roles of Land and Sea Institutions in Fisheries Sustainability
Ana Cinti 1,2, Jennifer N. Duberstein 1, Esteban Torreblanca 3 and Marcia Moreno-B�ez 1
1School of Natural Resources and the Environment, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona, 2Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT-CONICET), 3Pronatura Noroeste, A.C.
Socio-Biophysical Attributes of Fisheries in Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino
Small and isolated vs. big and connected
Overfished resources despite high productivity
Institutional Attributes of Fisheries in Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino
Government agencies and tools for fisheries management
Formal rules and rules-in-use in Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino
Enabling Conditions for Sustainability and Self-Organization
Institutions play an important role in shaping individual incentives in complex social-ecological systems, by encouraging or discouraging resource overuse. In the Gulf of California, Mexico, there is widespread evidence of declines in small-scale fishery stocks, largely attributed to policy failures. We investigated formal and informal rules-in-use regulating access and resource use by small-scale fishers in the two most important fishing communities of the Midriff Islands region in the Gulf of California, which share several target species and fishing grounds. The Midriff Islands region is a highly productive area where sustainable use of fisheries resources has been elusive. Our study aimed to inform policy by providing information on how management and conservation policies perform in this unique environment. In addition, we contrast attributes of the enabling conditions for sustainability on the commons in an effort to better understand why these communities, albeit showing several contrasting attributes of the above conditions, have not developed sustainable fishing practices. We take a novel, comprehensive institutional approach that includes formal and informal institutions, incorporating links between land (i.e., communal land rights) and sea institutions (i.e., fisheries and conservation policies) and their effects on stewardship of fishery resources, a theme that is practically unaddressed in the literature. Insufficient government support in provision of secure rights, enforcement and sanctioning, and recognition and incorporation of local arrangements and capacities for management arose as important needs to address in both cases. We highlight the critical role of higher levels of governance, that when disconnected from local practices, realities, and needs, can be a major impediment to achieving sustainability in small-scale fisheries, even in cases where several facilitating conditions are met.RESUMEN
Resumen: Las instituciones desempe�an un papel importante en la determinaci�n de los incentivos individuales en sistemas socio-ecol�gicos complejos, alentando o desalentando la sobreexplotaci�n. En el Golfo de California, M�xico, existe amplia evidencia de una marcada disminuci�n en la abundancia de recursos pesqueros de peque�a escala o artesanales, atribuida a fracasos en las pol�ticas de manejo. Este trabajo investiga las reglas formales e informales en uso para regular acceso y uso de recursos por parte de pescadores artesanales en las dos comunidades pesqueras m�s importantes de la Regi�n de las Grandes Islas, Golfo de California. A pesar de su elevada productividad biol�gica, el uso sustentable de los recursos marinos en esta regi�n ha sido dif�cil de alcanzar. Este trabajo proporcionamo informaci�n para optimizar el desempe�o de los instrumentos de manejo y conservaci�n de recursos marinos presentes en este ambiente �nico. Adem�s, contrastamos los atributos de las condiciones que facilitan la sustentabilidad en el uso de recursos de uso com�n, para comprender mejor por qu� estas comunidades no han logrado incorporar de manera duradera pr�cticas de pesca sustentables, a pesar de presentar, en el caso particular de una de ellas, varias condiciones propicias. Adoptamos un enfoque institucional novedoso e integral que incluye instituciones formales e informales, e incorpora los v�nculos entre reglas relativas a la tenencia de la tierra (ej. derechos de uso comunales) y del �mbito marino (de pesca y conservaci�n), y sus efectos sobre el cuidado de los recursos marinos, un t�pico pr�cticamente sin abordar en la literatura. Surgen como limitantes importantes en ambos casos, un apoyo gubernamental insuficiente tanto en la provisi�n de derechos de pesca seguros como en la fiscalizaci�n y la aplicaci�n de sanciones, y la falta de reconocimiento e incorporaci�n de arreglos institucionales y capacidades de manejo locales en instancias formales de decisi�n. Resaltamos el papel fundamental que cumplen los niveles de gobernanza m�s elevados, los que al estar desvinculados de las pr�cticas, realidades y necesidades locales, pueden obstaculizar de manera significativa el alcance de la sustentabilidad en pesquer�as artesanales, incluso cuando varias condiciones favorables est�n presentes.
Current common pool resource[1] theory suggests that given a set of ecological, physical, social, and institutional constraints, people consider the costs and benefits of various behaviors and act according to perceived incentives (Ostrom 1990, Ostrom et al. 2002). Institutions are the rules that people develop to specify “dos and don’ts” related to a particular situation, such as who has access to a resource, what can be harvested, and who participates in key decisions (Ostrom et al. 2002). Rules play an important role in shaping individual incentives in complex social-ecological systems, thus encouraging or discouraging resource overuse (Ostrom 2007). They may comprise a combination of formal, written rules, that are often established by governments, and locally crafted rules—usually unwritten—that are developed by resource users. Rules that are actually used in field settings are called rules-in-use; they may differ substantially from formal laws and are not easily observable. This can lead to erroneous assumptions if managers believe that rules-in-use and formal rules are the same, or that formal rules are the only institutions in place (Ostrom 1992, Ensminger 1996). Studying how rules-in-use, especially those related to access and resource use, affect harvesting behavior is critical for the sustainability of fisheries and other common pool resources. The Gulf of California, Mexico (Fig. 1) is characterized by exceptionally high levels of primary productivity and biodiversity and outstanding economic and social significance (Carvajal et al. 2004). Fishing, both large scale and small scale, is a predominant economic activity throughout the region. It generates over 50,000 jobs involving approximately 26,000 vessels, of which approximately 25,000 are small-scale boats (Cisneros-Mata 2010). Widespread evidence of declining marine resources in the Gulf of California is largely attributed to policy failures (Alcalá 2003, Greenberg 2006). Recently, however, significant legislative changes, including a new fisheries law, have attempted to address these declines (Diario Oficial de la Federación 2007a). The goal of our study was to investigate formal and informal rules-in-use that regulate access and resource use by small-scale fishers, and the effects of the rules on fisheries sustainability. The study occurred in Bahía de Los Ángeles on the Baja California peninsula, State of Baja California, and in Bahía de Kino in continental Mexico, State of Sonora, both located in the Midriff Islands region (Fig. 1). The Midriff Islands region is an archipelago of 45 islands and islets with a high degree of biological diversity and endemism; it is a highly productive region where sustainable use of fisheries resources has been elusive. Our study aimed to inform policy by providing information on how management and conservation policies perform in this unique environment, in the two most important fishing communities of the area, which share several target species and fishing grounds. In addition, we contrasted attributes of the enabling conditions for sustainability on the commons (Agrawal 2001) in an effort to better understand why these communities, albeit showing several contrasting attributes of the above conditions, have not developed sustainable fishing practices. Our study took a novel, comprehensive approach that includes formal and informal institutions, incorporating links between land (i.e., communal land rights) and sea institutions (i.e., fisheries and conservation policies) and their effects on stewardship of fishery resources, a theme that is practically unaddressed in the literature. Addressing this link is important because land and sea institutions may interact to create unanticipated rules-in-use, which may either help or hinder sustainable use of fishery resources. Studies on the commons need to deal with multiple levels of governance and external drivers of change (e.g., impact of government policies and markets) (Agrawal 2001, Berkes 2006). This research is an effort to address this demand by focusing on multiple levels of governance (e.g., land vs. sea institutions; external vs. local governance) and local effects of government policies as external drivers of change. METHODS
We used the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD) (Ostrom 1990) together with Ostrom’s classification of rules (Ostrom 1999) to identify potentially relevant variables to explore (institutional, biophysical, and social) and to design data-collection instruments. We obtained information on formal and informal arrangements that regulate access and resource use by examining legal documents, using semistructured and structured interviews, and by participant observation (Hay 2005, Bernard 2006). Legal documents included fisheries and environmental legislation, documents of formalized groups of fishers (e.g., cooperatives), and official information (e.g., fishing permits issued, statistics). We conducted semistructured interviews with key informants of formalized groups of fishers (typically fishing cooperatives in Bahía de Kino, and Sociedades de Producción Rural[2] in Bahía de Los Ángeles) in order to gather information about internal organization and past and present occurrence of informal fishery arrangements. We also conducted semistructured interviews with key informants from federal agencies about local implementation of management/conservation tools and regulations, enforcement, and access issues. Finally, we conducted structured interviews with captains of small-scale boats. Captains are generally the most experienced and knowledgeable fishers on the boat and tend to make the decisions about fishing (Moreno et al. 2005a). Structured interviews included: demographic information about respondents (age, sex, place of birth); employment (history of fishing, method of fishing, species targeted, sources of income); organization (membership in formal groups, reasons for joining the group); access to fishing and commercialization of resources (ownership of fishing permits and equipment, autonomy to finance fishing trips, buyers of catch); and perceptions of performance of existing policy tools and regulations. We assessed perceptions through open-ended questions and a set of statements with a five-point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree). Due to the high number of fishing groups in Bahía de Kino, we added a section to the structured interview for gathering additional information about fishery-related informal arrangements. For Bahía de Los Ángeles, due to the community’s communal land tenure history, we conducted additional semistructured interviews with key informants to explore perceptions of the link between the presence of communal land tenure and the sense of use-rights over fishing grounds.
We conducted research in Bahía de Kino from April to August 2007, focusing on the small-scale fisheries sector of commercial divers (Table 1). In Bahía de Los Ángeles, field work took place from mid November to mid December 2008 (Table 1). The small size of Bahía de Los Ángeles allowed us to extend the study to include gillnets and trap fishing, as well as diving. We collected information about fishing zones through a rapid appraisal (Beebe 1995) conducted in 2005–2006 in 17 fishing communities of the Gulf of California (see Moreno-Báez et al. 2010 for methodology details). We obtained additional social and biophysical information through literature review.
Small and isolated vs. big and connected Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino are both rural fishing coastal communities in the Gulf of California (Fig. 1). Bahía de Los Ángeles is a small, isolated community of approximately 500 inhabitants, located over 500 km from any major cities. In contrast, Bahía de Kino is a much larger community of approximately 5000 inhabitants, situated only 100 km from the state capital (Hermosillo). In both cases, the closest major cities are primary destinations of local marine resources prior to redistribution to other regional, national, and international markets (primarily the US and Asia). Bahía de Los Ángeles is a remote location with low influxes of new settlers, where most of the population comprises relatives of the families that were first permanently established in the area (Danemann and Ezcurra 2007). In contrast, Bahía de Kino has received several immigration pulses of people displaced from other coastal communities or from different parts of Mexico, resulting in a more dynamic and heterogeneous population (Doode 2001; Moreno et al. 2005a). Historically (1930s–present) both communities have been highly dependent on marine resources for their livelihoods (Moreno et al. 2005a, Danemann and Ezcurra 2007). In Bahía de Kino, fishing represented approximately 46% of the local GDP in 2000 (Moreno et al. 2005a) (data not available for Bahía de Los Ángeles). Our structured interviews indicate that 71% of respondents relied solely on fishing for their income, compared to 60% in Bahía de Los Ángeles. In Bahía de Los Ángeles small-scale fisheries are substantially smaller than in Bahía de Kino, with approximately 70 fishers and 37 boats (Avendaño-Ceceña et al. 2009), and three main fishing methods (main target species in parentheses): gillnets (flounder, Paralichthys californicus; sharks Mustelus spp., Galeorhinus spp.); traps (octopus, Octopus spp; reef fishes, mainly Paralabrax spp.); and hookah diving (octopus; sea cucumber, Istiotichopus fuscus; clams, several species) (Valdez and Torreblanca 2008). Bahía de Kino, in contrast, has approximately 800 fishers and 200 boats actively involved in small-scale fisheries (Comunidad y Biodiversidad, unpublished data). Approximately 80 boats were active in commercial diving in 2007, targeting primarily pen shells (mainly Atrina spp.), octopus, and reef fishes (groupers and snappers) (see Cinti et al. 2010a for more detail). Sea cucumber is an important and highly priced fishery for Bahía de Kino divers, though clandestine; the agency governing permits has granted no authorizations for the species in Bahía de Kino. In Bahía de Los Ángeles, in contrast, some users have been granted authorizations for sea cucumber since 2005. Overfished resources despite high productivity
In spite of the outstanding biological productivity of the Midriff Islands region (Álvarez-Borrego 2007), many Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino target species have experienced similar boom and bust cycles, starting with totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) in the 1910s and 1920s; shark species in the 1930s; and sea turtles in the 1950s (e.g., Chelonia spp.). Researchers recently detected declines in target species production in both communities. In Bahía de Los Ángeles, Valdez and Torreblanca (2008) suggested a deterioration of local fisheries, with alarming declines (e.g., sea cucumber, sharks, sand bass). Assessments of sea cucumber stocks in Baja California State in 2010 indicate that the fishery is near collapse (Calderón-Aguilera and Herrero-Perezrul 2011). In spite of this, Bahía de Los Ángeles fishers have a fairly small range (Danemann and Ezcurra 2007), suggesting that they still find it profitable to operate nearby the community (Fig. 2). Interestingly, although it is difficult to access Bahía de Los Ángeles by land, Bahía de Los Ángeles fishing grounds are relatively easy to get to by sea (the minimum linear distance between the Sonoran coast and Bahía de Los Ángeles is 87 km) (Valdez and Torreblanca 2008). Bahía de Los Ángeles fishing grounds are frequently visited by small-scale fishers from Sonora (Bahía de Kino, Guaymas, Puerto Libertad) and the Pacific side of the peninsula (e.g., Guerrero Negro) (Fig. 1) (Danemann and Ezcurra 2007), placing even more pressure on the region’s resources. In Bahía de Kino, most target species are overfished (Moreno et al. 2005a, Cinti et al. 2010a). Three decades ago local fishers worked primarily in the waters surrounding Bahía de Kino (Fernández 2003). High immigration and increasing demand for marine resources have resulted in decreasing resource abundance (Moreno et al. 2005b). Currently, local fishers, particularly divers, are regionally known for being highly migratory, using areas as far away as Puerto Peñasco to the north (Cudney-Bueno and Basurto 2009), states south of Sonora (Cinti et al. 2010a), and Ángel de la Guarda Island and the gulf coast of the Baja California Peninsula to the west (Fig. 2) (Moreno et al. 2005b). Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino thus have overlapping fishing zones, particularly among divers and gillnet fishers (Fig. 2), who encroach Bahía de Los Ángeles’ locally perceived “territory” but not vice versa. INSTITUTIONAL ATTRIBUTES OF FISHERIES IN BAH�A DE LOS �NGELES AND BAH�A DE KINO Government agencies and tools for fisheries management
Regulation of commercial uses of marine species in Mexico is shared between a set of federal agencies within the fisheries side of government and another set of agencies under the environmental side (Fig. 3). The main tools to regulate access and resource use of marine species include: (a) fishing licenses and concessions; (b) single or multispecies management plans and fishery ordinance plans (programas de ordenamiento pesquero); (c) predios (“Predios Federales Sujetos a Manejo para la Conservación y Aprovechamiento Sustentable de Vida Silvestre”, Federal Polygons for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wildlife), which are granted for species listed under special protection (listed in the NOM 059-SEMARNAT (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales) (Diario Oficial de la Federación 1994)); and (d) marine protected areas (MPAs) (Fig. 3). Herein we describe fishing licenses, predios, and MPAs because they are the most commonly found management tools in the study area. Fishing licenses may be granted to juridical persons (e.g., fishing co-ops, companies) or individuals for a period of 2 to 5 years and are renewable and nontransferable. In order to become a license holder, proof of ownership of fishing equipment (boat and gear) is required; active participation as crew member is not a requisite. The license specifies the species or group of species to be harvested within a broadly specified region. Access to the species and region is generally not exclusive (several license holders may have access to the same species and region), but there are exceptions. In the state of Baja California, for example, licenses for benthic organisms are issued without spatial overlap to avoid conflict (SAGARPA, personal communication). A license holder is allowed to hold several licenses and several boats per license. A boat that belongs to a license holder can be registered on more than one license (i.e., the same boat may fish several species). Each license specifies the number of boats and technical specifications of the fishing equipment (boat, motor, gear) authorized to harvest the species. Only license holders can legally land and declare the catch at regional fisheries offices and provide legal invoices (facturas) for the product. Facturas certify legal ownership of the harvest and are necessary to sell and transport the catch to regional or international markets. Predios may be granted to juridical persons or individuals for a period of one year. They are renewable upon compliance with regulations and are transferable (Diario Oficial de la Federación 2000). Exclusivity over the permitted species and area does not extend to other species, which can be harvested by others. Grantees must comply with a regional management plan that includes a harvest season and a quota. The latter is based on annual assessments conducted by a research institute, university, NGO, or private consultant, which may or may not involve participation of fishers. Results are reported to a Technical Committee, which advises SEMARNAT (Fig. 3) on quotas and license renewals. A committee is created for each authorized resource or group of resources and for a state or a region within a state. Committees may comprise government agencies (federal, state, or municipal), academic institutions, NGOs, fishers’ organizations, industry, and/or other private stakeholders. The most common type of MPA in the study area is the Biosphere Reserve. It is a multiple-use MPA for which zones with different degrees of protection are delimited; typically there are one or more core zones with higher levels of protection where conservation, education, and research activities are often permitted, and a buffer zone where extractive activities may be allowed. In Mexico, protected area legislation allows for community participation and grants preferential access to community members who live adjacent to the Biosphere Reserve. For example, commercial activities within the buffer zone of Biosphere Reserves can be performed only by the communities who inhabited the area when the MPA is decreed or with their participation (Art. 48, Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente (LGEEPA)). In addition, once an approved management plan is in place, administration of a protected area can be delegated by SEMARNAT to state, municipal, or federal governments; ejidos[3]; agrarian communities[3]; indigenous communities[3]; social groups; and organizations, companies, and other interested juridical and natural persons through formal agreements, provided that they abide by the current laws and management plan (Art. 67, LGEEPA). In addition to the above, other regulatory instruments for resource use exist in the study area (norms by species, the National Fisheries Chart [see Cinti et al 2010a]); they are not described here because they minimally affect the main target species of Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino. Formal rules and rules-in-use in Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bah�a de Kino
In Bahía de Los Ángeles a number of tools coexist. Fishing licenses, the most widespread, are issued for fish and invertebrate species (under Comisión Nacional de Acuacultura y Pesca (CONAPESCA), Fig. 3). Predios exist for sea cucumber (under DGVS). Finally, the Bahía de los Ángeles, Canales de Ballenas y de Salsipuedes Biosphere Reserve extends over the full range of local fishers’ fishing grounds (under Comision Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP)). In Bahía de Kino, licenses are almost the only tool granted to access marine resources. In addition, the Isla San Pedro Mártir Biosphere Reserve covers only a small portion of local fishers’ fishing grounds. Our work in Bahía de Kino did not focus on this MPA. Authorities’ presence and enforcement ability
The presence of fisheries and environmental authorities differs between the two communities, but the enforcement outcomes are similar—virtually none. In Bahía de Los Ángeles the presence of authorities in charge of regulation and enforcement is not permanent, except for CONANP, which is in charge of MPA administration. This absence makes it difficult for local fishers to submit applications to request or renew licenses and predios or to submit catch declarations. It also hinders agencies’ ability to provide support to fishers. Interview results suggest that environmental inspectors visited the community only once or twice in 2008. Information about the arrival of fisheries or environmental inspectors often filters into the community in advance of the visit, giving fishers time to adjust activities and make enforcement ineffective. CONANP can inform enforcement agencies when fishery-related infractions are detected but it has no actual enforcement authority. Although Bahía de Kino has a regional fisheries office with at least one environmental inspector, one or two fisheries inspectors as permanent staff, and permanent CONANP staff in the community, their enforcement capability is limited given the large size of the area and the broad range of activities to oversee (Cinti et al. 2010b). “Increased support from fisheries authorities” (especially for local presence and enforcement) was among the top four answers of respondents in both communities when members were asked what changes were needed to improve the condition of local fishery resources (Table 2). More than half of respondents in both communities disagreed with the idea that fisheries authorities have had an important role in preventing the depletion of fishery resources. In addition, more than 80% of respondents in both communities agreed that implementation and enforcement of regulations by local authorities were needed to improve fisheries.
Tools for fisheries management
Fishing licenses Table 3 shows the licenses granted in 2008–2009 for all fishing sectors in Bahía de Los Ángeles, and in 2007–2008 for four primary target species of commercial diving in Bahía de Kino (the only available in official statistics). In Bahía de Los Ángeles, octopus and bony and cartilaginous fishes had the highest number of authorized boats, coincident with the salience of these resources for local fishers, while in Bahía de Kino octopus and pen shells were the target species for the bulk of authorized boats. Access to fishery resources in both communities was concentrated in a few license holders (Table 3) (mostly nonfishers). Of these, only some actively used their permits (in bold in Table 3). In Bahía de Los Ángeles, the majority of license holders resided in major cities (e.g., Ensenada, Tijuana) and did not fish locally. They are generally perceived as illegitimate “outsiders”. They use their licenses to shelter catch bought and/or extracted in other regions and declare it as if caught in Bahía de Los Ángeles, or sell invoices to legitimize the commercialization of products caught without a license (Danemann and Ezcurra 2007). Of the 20 Bahía de Los Ángeles license holders in 2008–2009, only six (four individuals and two Sociedades de Producción Rural, in bold in Table 3) live in Bahía de Los Ángeles and actively received and commercialized nearly the entire harvest of local fishers. They are generally seen as legitimate members of the community by local fishers.
In Bahía de Kino, most license holders operated and resided in the community, but in addition to harvesting local resources, they often commercialized products harvested in other communities’ jurisdictions, such as Bahía de Los Ángeles. This was due to the high mobility of local divers, who travel long distances to find profitable harvests, as well as the high mobility of local license holders, who buy products from fishers from other communities. Most Bahía de Kino license holders were absentee operators and were generally perceived as a separate, powerful group that often acts against fishers’ interests. Compared to Bahía de Kino, Bahía de Los Ángeles had a higher percentage of fishers who sell their catch using their own licenses: 37% of Bahía de Los Ángeles respondents compared to none in Bahía de Kino. Bahía de Los Ángeles fishers were also more in control of the capture and commercialization of their harvest than Bahía de Kino fishers: 60% of Bahía de Los Ángeles respondents owned their fishing equipment compared to 24% in Bahía de Kino; 20% of Bahía de Los Ángeles respondents relied on others (license holders or buyers without license) to cover the cost of fishing trips, compared to 91% in Bahía de Kino (fishers are generally forced to sell the catch to the trip funder). In both communities, granting fishing permits to local fishers instead of absentee license holders and easing the requirements for locals to access licenses were primary concerns of fishers (Question 1, Table 2). The number of boats authorized to each license holder in both communities is rarely respected (irrespective of the species in question) and license holders generally launder illegal catches from local, unpermitted fishers. This practice is common throughout the Gulf of California (Bourillón 2002, Moreno et al. 2005a). Predios
Beginning in 2005, in Baja California, predios were granted for extraction of sea cucumber and almeja pismo (Tivela stultorum) (Avendaño-Ceceña 2007). By 2008–2009, approximately 15 predios had authorized sea cucumber extraction in the state (source: SEMARNAT). Fig. 4 shows the coastal extension of predios (complete polygon coordinates were unavailable) granted inside the Bahía de los Ángeles, Canales de Ballenas y de Salsipuedes Biosphere Reserve and the corresponding quotas per predio holder (PH), totaling 600 tonnes of sea cucumber authorized for extraction inside the Biosphere Reserve during 2008-2009. Only four predio holders actively received sea cucumber from Bahía de Los Ángeles fishers during the study period (indicated in bold in legend of Fig. 4). One corresponded to a Sociedad de Producción Rural of fishers who harvest sea cucumber and are perceived by local fishers as legitimate; the rest were individual predio holders perceived as illegitimate—an 80-year-old mother of local fishers and a married couple (with one predio each) living 500 km away who bought sea cucumber from local fishers. There is low compliance with predio boundaries and quotas around Bahía de Los Ángeles, and the resource is severely depleted (Calderón-Aguilera and Herrero-Perezrul 2011). As the only legal way to exploit protected species, predios are used to launder illegal catches, as is often the case for fisheries managed under licenses (Bourillón 2002, Cinti et al. 2010a). The fishing sector does not participate in the state sea cucumber committee (Avendaño-Ceceña 2007) and although many of the predios are located inside an MPA, resources for enforcement are limited.
MPAs
The Bahía de los Ángeles, Canales de Ballenas y de Salsipuedes Biosphere Reserve was formally established in June 2007 (Diario Oficial de la Federación 2007b), comprising approximately 385,000 ha. It has the dual purpose of preserving ecological values and enhancing fishery productivity and extends over the full range of local fishers’ fishing grounds (Fig. 2). Preferred access to commercial activities (fishing, recreation) inside the buffer zone of the reserve must be granted to the members of the community or communities adjacent to the reserve (Art. 10, Diario Oficial de la Federación 2007b). At the time of our study, the development of the management plan had not begun (it started in early 2009) and there were no fishery restrictions in place except for six small core-zones, which did not include important fishing areas and forbade extractive uses. Results from interviews suggest that fishing activities continued as if no reserve had been established. We asked fishers from Bahía de Los Ángeles whether the reserve had benefitted them and in what ways; if the reserve was detrimental to them and in what ways; and what their decision would be if they were to be given the choice to create a reserve again (see Table 2). Most respondents stated that the reserve has been neither beneficial nor detrimental. Forty-seven percent would still support the creation of a reserve; safeguarding local resources was the most frequent reason expressed, but many also commented that enforcement was necessary. Thirty percent stated that if given the choice again, they would decide against a reserve due to concerns about unwanted restrictions. Ten percent said it would not make any difference to them whether or not there was a reserve. At the time of our study, lack of enforcement and lack of definition of access rights were critical weaknesses of this MPA. To date, preferential access rights for local fishers are still pending and an increased and stable presence of fisheries and environmental inspectors is still lacking (E. Torreblanca, personal observation). Fishers’ formal organization
In Bahía de Los Ángeles, the three Sociedad de Producción Rural with fishing licenses were constituted almost entirely by fishers. Most had some indication of incipient cooperative behavior, except for one that functioned as an individual license holder, with one or two absentee operator members in control of the group while the rest worked as independent fishers, selling their catch to the Sociedades de Producción Rural without receiving additional benefits.
Communal sense of use-rights and defense of “own” territory from outsiders
In Bahía de Los Ángeles, the presence of a coastal “ejido” (a system of communal land tenure) generates a strong “sense of use-rights” among community members over the fishing grounds within ejido limits, as if land rights have been informally extended to include the adjacent sea. The sea territory within ejido limits—from Punta La Asamblea to Estero San Rafael (Fig. 1)—is considered part of the community and is where members fish (Fig. 2), disregarding the spatial boundaries of existing formal management tools. For example, fish species’ licenses are generally granted for large geographic areas (some are valid for the entire Gulf of California), with the requisite that the catch be landed in Bahía de Los Ángeles, whereas benthic species licenses and predios include relatively small areas located “inside” ejido borders. In Bahía de Los Ángeles it is locally accepted that as long as you belong to the community, you are allowed to fish anywhere within ejidal limits.
Ejido Ganadero, Turístico y Pétreo Tierra y Libertad (or Ejido Tierra y Libertad) (Fig. 1) was founded in Bahía de Los Ángeles in 1970; it consisted of 62 members (Vargas et al. 2007), most of whom were dedicated to fishing. Today, it consists of about 90 members, with approximately 90% dedicated to fishery-related activities and/or tourism and 10% to cattle ranching (F. Smith and A. Reséndiz, personal communication). Interviews suggest that this communal, informal sense of use-rights among Bahía de Los Ángeles residents (not just ejido members) over the adjacent sea started to emerge when the ejido and the Sociedad Cooperativa de Producción Pesquera Ejidal Canal de Ballenas, or SCPPECB, were formed. The SCPPECB was the first fishing cooperative in Bahía de Los Ángeles and was founded in 1970, following the foundation of the ejido. The SCPPECB facilitated access to fishing licenses for legal harvesting of sea turtle, which were available only to formal groups (I. Verdugo, personal communication). When ejidos were established in the area, adjacent ejidos started to claim the fishing grounds within their own ejidal limits; each ejido’s boundaries were generally respected without the need for external intervention (F. Smith, personal communication). The relationship between neighboring ejidos has been relatively good over time and crossing boundaries was mutually accepted. It was not until the past 10 to 15 years, with the arrival of boats from distant communities on the Sonoran coast and the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula, that Bahía de Los Ángeles residents started to enforce ejidal limits more vigorously. The influx of boats from distant communities is considered an intrusion by Bahía de Los Ángeles residents, which increased demand for support from fisheries authorities, including formal requests by ejido leaders to expel outsiders. In Bahía de Los Ángeles, the community organizes to discourage outsiders, generally without authorities’ intervention. The remoteness of Bahía de Los Ángeles makes it relatively easy for residents to use simple strategies like agreeing not to sell or provide drinking water to outsiders. Local fishers generally reject not only the intrusion of boats but also the arrival of fishers from distant communities looking for an opportunity to work in local boats.
In Bahía de Kino, although there is no ejido, residents also tend to reject the intrusion of boats from other communities. Local fishers consider their territory to generally coincide with the jurisdiction of fishing licenses, approximately from Puerto Libertad to Estero Tastiota (Fig. 1), irrespective of whether fishers hold a license. The exception is the Infiernillo Channel, which is recognized as Seri territory (Basurto 2005). Access to local fishing grounds by outsiders, especially from southern Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit, generates strong conflicts (Cinti et al. 2010a). Local fishers and community members react by organizing protests or blocking the paved road into town. This occurs regardless of the fact that local divers encroach on other communities’ territories. Fishers are, however, generally willing to accept fishers from outside the community if they work as crew members on local boats.
Generally, neither Bahía de Los Ángeles nor Bahía de Kino fishers enforce the individual boundaries of the licenses or predios they hold or work under, but they do care about and defend the area that they perceive as belonging to their community as a whole. A large percentage of respondents in both communities agreed that only locals should be allowed to fish in local fishing grounds; an appreciably higher percentage felt this way in Bahía de Los Ángeles versus Bahía de Kino (87% and 64%, respectively, Table 2). ENABLING CONDITIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND SELF-ORGANIZATION
To illustrate similarities and differences between communities, we used the list of critical enabling conditions for sustainability on the commons (Agrawal 2001) and a set of contextual variables that affect the probability of users developing or changing rules (Ostrom 2007) (Table 4). The comparison is descriptive (no ranking system), but is based on an expert knowledge of the area by the research team. While fishers in neither Bahía de Los Ángeles nor Bahía de Kino have successfully organized to develop institutions for sustainable use of marine resources, Bahía de Los Ángeles shows many of the critical enabling conditions for sustainability on the commons and self-governance (Table 4), most notably: a smaller size of users and resources; more clearly defined group and resource boundaries; greater ease of enforcement of rules due to community isolation, small user group size, and lower cost exclusion technology; higher level of shared norms, homogeneity of identities and interests, and locally devised rules (ejido institutions playing a key role); and lower levels of articulation with external markets. Despite differences in the type of policy tools governing these two fishing communities, both show similar insufficiencies with regards to support received from the government in provision of secure rights, enforcement and sanctioning, and recognition and incorporation of local arrangements and capacities for management. These issues relate to the local effects of higher levels of governance and can be considered, following Agrawal (2001) and Berkes (2006), as factors of the external environment. In light of the distinctive attributes of the two communities, Bahía de Los Ángeles shows a higher potential for achieving sustainability of resource use and for local users to participate in self-governance in the short- to midterm than Bahía de Kino. DISCUSSION
Both communities have unsecure tenure rights, poor or null participation of fishers in decision and rule making, a lack of government recognition of local fishery arrangements, and a lack of government support for enforcement, all of which are critical for fisheries sustainability.
Security of tenure rights is a condition recurrently observed in long-enduring common pool resource institutions, as stated in Ostrom’s design principle 7, minimal recognition of rights to organize (Ostrom 1990): “ . . . the rights of users to devise their own institutions are not challenged by external government authorities, and users have long-term tenure rights to the resource” [emphasis added].
Security of tenure rights has gained particular attention in the case of fisheries in recent decades (Christy 2000, Charles 2002, FAO 2002, Hilborn 2005). In small-scale fisheries, the conventional approach to fisheries management (top-down, assessment-dependent systems, reliant on external enforcement) has been generally ineffective (Mahon 1997, Berkes et al. 2001). Management approaches are shifting towards participatory systems reliant on incentives, where the provision of long-term use rights in a variety of forms (see Orensanz et al. 2013 for examples from Latin American benthic small-scale fisheries) is thought to be a necessary step for incentivizing responsible use (Hilborn et al. 2005, Orensanz et al. 2005). In our case studies, neither community (as of 2012) has long-term use rights to the resources, not only because fishing authorizations are not held by fishers in most cases and access rights to MPAs are loosely defined, but also because current policy tools (licenses, in particular) are loose access regimes (Orensanz et al. 2013) which do not provide exclusivity of use in the long term. Institutional mechanisms for strengthening tenure security for fishers should be pursued in both communities and security of tenure should probably receive an explicit mention as a separate enabling condition for sustainability.
Lack of involvement of fishers in management and policy decisions, as well as lack of government recognition of informal fishery arrangements, can be improved with implementation of incentive systems for long-term use rights. This generally implies devolution of management authority and increased autonomy at the local level. “Participation in the creation and modification of rules by those affected by management regimes” (Ostrom’s design principle 3 (Ostrom 1990)) and “government recognition of the rights of users to devise their own rules” (Ostrom's design principle 7 (Ostrom 1990) and Agrawal’s condition 30 (Agrawal 2001)) are recurrently observed in long-enduring common pool resource institutions. Local participation and autonomy may provide management regimes with the necessary flexibility and adaptability to adjust to local and external conditions (Berkes et al. 2003) and increase rule legitimacy for those involved in creating them (likely increasing compliance), as opposed to rules externally imposed. Management regimes should also be flexible enough to consider informal tenure arrangements (Johannes 1978, Berkes 2006, Orensanz et al. 2013). Even though Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino fishers who are members of formalized groups do have some level of autonomy for devising internal rules, participation in management decisions and rule making is practically null. Tenure insecurity from highly informal fishing practices greatly contributes to this issue. In addition, informal fishery arrangements (including those related to ejido land rights) have not been recognized nor incorporated into management and conservation strategies by the government in either community.
The third issue we highlight is the lack (or inefficiency) of supporting external sanctioning institutions (Agrawal’s condition 31 (Agrawal 2001)) that results in de facto open access. There is general agreement that rules must be enforced in some manner to achieve robust governance (Ostrom 1990); the presence of local monitoring of harvesting behavior is characteristic of most long-surviving resource regimes (design principle 4). External support for enforcement is also critical to help protect local institutions and incentivize compliance (Christy 2000, Berkes 2006). Although both Bahía de Los Ángeles and Bahía de Kino have some informal sanctioning processes against outsiders, these are not sufficient. Bahía de Kino is generally an open access system. In Bahía de Los Ángeles, although simple strategies have been effective in limiting outsider entry in areas close to town, areas located farther away, like Ángel de la Guarda Island, are difficult to control without external support. Despite recent efforts to improve enforcement through an interinstitutional enforcement committee (with fisheries and environmental authorities) and a community enforcement team, increased and stable presence of inspectors is still lacking. The set of issues described above is related to the lack or inefficiency of cross-scale governance (Berkes 2006) or nested enterprises (Ostrom’s design principle 8 (Ostrom 1990) and Agrawal’s condition 33 (Agrawal 2001)), where higher and local levels of governance do not effectively complement each other to prevent overuse. Results of comparative studies in small-scale fisheries clearly demonstrate that the above factors facilitate sustainability. Orensanz et al. (2005) compared three management regimes of benthic small-scale fisheries in South America and suggested management prescriptions such as the promotion of systems that provide long-term use rights; the promotion of participation of fishers and other stakeholders, managers, and scientists in joint discussions of management issues; and capitalizing on fishers’ knowledge. Cinner et al. (2012) studied the occurrence of Ostrom’s design principles in 20 long-enduring and dynamic small-scale fisheries systems in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Mexico and highlighted three trends: most cases had clearly defined resource boundaries and membership, all cases had flexibility and autonomy in making and changing rules, and most cases lacked cross-scale linkages with higher levels of governance, suggesting that they may lack the institutional embeddedness required to confront some common pool resource challenges (Cinner et al. 2012). Orensanz et al. (2013) studied the performance of 20 management regimes of benthic small-scale fisheries in Latin America and suggested as the most salient lessons “the need to attend to the multiple aspects of sustainability (biological, social, economical, institutional) when a system is implemented, providing for flexibility and adaptiveness, creating ambits for interaction among stakeholders, and counting on transparent and effective support from the state regarding enforcement, legislation and courts.”
There are many factors that account for fisheries sustainability, and those we emphasized in this study are not the only important aspects to consider. Nonetheless, the factors we highlighted here arise as important needs to address in order to achieve long-term sustainability.
Studies that address the links between land and sea institutions and their effects on stewardship of fishery resources (freshwater or marine) are practically unaddressed in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, only two published articles have addressed links between land institutions and their effects on some aspect of fishery resource use or management (freshwater or marine). Basurto (2006) documented that the communal ownership of the land by the Seri, an indigenous group by the east Gulf of California coast, gives them more authority to determine with whom they will conduct business, providing more bargaining power at the moment of commercializing their harvests. Arce-Ibarra and Charles (2008) working in freshwater fisheries inside ejidos of Quintana Roo, Mexico, found that resources within these ejidos can be considered open access. Protection of fishery resources from people wanting to access them is weak; the authors suggest that this might be due to the secondary role of fishing as a source of income for these communities. The present study presents for first time a case where ejidos have a strong effect on how the members of a community perceive and defend their rights to access the marine resources located adjacent to their communal land but formally outside the boundaries. In Bahía de Los Ángeles, land institutions have perhaps stronger impacts on decisions affecting fishery resource use than rules specifically created to manage fisheries, likely due to the salience of fishing for Bahía de Los Ángeles residents. This underscores the importance of fully understanding local rules-in-use when designing management strategies and developing laws and regulations.
Our study investigated formal and informal rules-in-use regulating access and resource use by small-scale fishers in the two most important fishing communities of the Midriff Islands region, Gulf of California, Mexico, which is an area of exceptional value for fisheries and conservation. In both cases, insufficient support from the government in provision of secure rights, enforcement and sanctioning, and recognition and incorporation of local arrangements and capacities for management arose as important needs to address. In order to achieve long-term sustainability of fishery resources in the region, it is critical to consider formal and informal rules-in-use, as well as mechanisms for management and enforcement and their interactions at multiple levels (for example, land vs. sea institutions, higher level vs. local level governance). Understanding these intricate interactions, including how fishers perceive and defend their territory, may help managers devise strategies for management and enforcement that make sense to resource users, thus leading to improved opportunities for the long-term conservation of fishery resources.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis study was made possible by contributions from the Wallace Research Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation through a grant to the PANGAS Project at The University of Arizona. We would like to express our gratitude to the fishers, license holders, and other community members who kindly participated in this research; to the personnel of CONAPESCA in Bah�a de Kino (Sonora), the personnel of CONAPESCA and SEMARNAT in Ensenada (Baja California), and the personnel of CONANP in Bah�a de los �ngeles (Baja California) for collaborating and providing information; to C�sar Moreno, Mario Rojo, and Jorge Torre from COBI, and Amy Hudson Weaver from Niparaj�, for their support and guidance during fieldwork in Bah�a de Kino; and to Gustavo Danemann from Pronatura Noroeste for his support during fieldwork in Bah�a de los �ngeles; to William Shaw, Edella Schlager, Richard Cudney-Bueno, Thomas Sheridan, and Tad Pfister for their invaluable guidance during this research. We are thankful to two anonymous reviewers for their time and valuable insights and observations. Special thanks to Jos� (Lobo) Orensanz for reviewing the manuscript. Informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. This paper represents the views of the authors and not necessarily those of their institutions and funders. This is a scientific contribution of the PANGAS Project, www.pangas.arizona.edu.
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Vargas, M. A., F. Ochoa, and G. D. Danemann. 2007. Tenencia de la tierra y conservación de tierras privadas. Pages 679-693 in G. D. Danemann and E. Ezcurra, editors. Bahía de los Ángeles: Recursos Naturales y Comunidad, Línea Base 2007. Pronatura Noroeste A.C., Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Instituto Nacional de Ecología, San Diego Natural History Museum.
[1] Common pool resources are ones for which exclusion from the resource is costly and one person’s use subtracts from what is available to others (Ostrom et al. 2002).
[2] Sociedades de Producción Rural are a special type of formal organization commonly found in rural industry, service, and production activities, including fisheries.
[3] Ejidos, agrarian communities, and indigenous communities are different juridical forms of communal land tenure (see Sánchez-Luna 1995). |
State and Local Education Agencies “Like” Social Media
Throw out the word “mimeograph” to high school students today and you’re likely to receive a classroom full of puzzled looks. How educators and schools transmit information in and out of the classroom has rapidly evolved in a relatively short amount of time. Mimeographed assignments and fliers have now given way to interactive and engaging electronic and social communication.
Mimeograph machine. Photo courtesy of the Oregon State Library.
A recent questionnaire by the Reform Support Network shows that state and local education agencies are increasingly using social media as a tool to engage with and inform parents, students, teachers and the entire community.
According to the survey, local education agencies are adopting well-known tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, with 96 percent of respondents stating that parents were their key targeted audience.
For more information on the survey, including how state and local education agencies measure results and deal with implementation challenges, read the Reform Support Network’s report entitled “Measurable Success, Growing Adoption, Vast Potential: Social Media Use Among State and Local Education Agencies.”
To see how the U.S. Department of Education uses social media, check out our listing of official social media sites.
The Stakeholder Communications and Engagement Community of Practice is developing and presenting a series of webinars to help state and local education agencies communicate with and engage stakeholders in education reform initiatives – see past webinars here, and register for the June 26th webinar here. |
Superintendent Monthly: July 2011
Superintendent Monthly is a regular e-newsletter for superintendents and district staff that provides updates from Dr. Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education.
Message from Dr. Meléndez As some of you may have heard, I recently accepted a position as superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District in my home state of California. While I'm absolutely thrilled to return to the field, I leave the Department of Education with mixed emotions, as I truly enjoyed this opportunity to affect education policy at the national level and to bring voices from the field into the work of the Department. During my time as assistant secretary, it was so important for me to focus our work on supporting you and helping to build the capacity of states, districts, and schools. Moving forward, I know that the Secretary is commited to continuing this work on supporting grantees and maintaining our focus on improving teaching and learning in our classrooms. In my new role as superintendent in Santa Ana, I will oversee a district with a student population of about 58,000 students. The district also serves a high percentage of low-income, Latino, and English language learner populations. My last day at the Department will be August 5. At this time, Michael Yudin, who currently serves as a deputy assistant secretary, will step in as acting assistant secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Michael is an incredible leader who will do a wonderful job in this time of transition, and I know that he is excited to work with all of you. It's been my absolute honor to serve as assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education on behalf of the superintendent community. I can't tell you how excited I am to return to a school district and work with students, families, communities, and school and district staff. I am grateful for the support that I received from the superintendent community throughout my tenure here, and I look forward to continuing our dialogue as we continue our work on behalf of children across the country.
Title I Allocations
To aid in some key calculations, the Department has published Fiscal Year 2011 Title I allocations by school district. Under No Child Left Behind, districts must spend up to 20% of their Title I, Part A allocation to cover school choice-related transportation costs and pay for supplemental educational services. Districts have some discretion to determine the allocation of funds between transportation and supplemental services, but all districts must spend at least a quarter (5%) of the 20% “reservation” on each activity if there is demand for both. Further, for supplemental services, districts are required to pay the lesser of the actual cost or an amount equal to the district’s Title I, Part A allocation divided by poor students in the district, as determined by estimates produced by the Census Bureau. Learn more: .
School Turnarounds
Introducing the School Turnaround Learning Community
OESE recently launched the School Turnaround Learning Community (STLC), an online community of practice for state, district, and school leaders implementing school turnarounds. The STLC provides one-stop access to resources on school turnaround, and it promotes and facilitates sharing across states and districts to deepen learning on the issue over time. Available resources on the STLC include research-based practices and practical examples from states, districts, and schools inventing on-the-ground solutions. The STLC also facilitates regular activities such as training, discussions, and Q&A sessions with experts on school turnaround implementation. Learn more and join the community: .
Investing in Innovation Program
On June 3, the Department of Education kicked-off the 2011 Investing in Innovation (i3) grant competition to continue support for evidence-based practices in education. This second round of i3 makes $150 million available to individual school districts, consortia of districts, and non-profit organizations in partnership with districts or groups of schools. Three absolute priorities remain from last year’s grant competition: supporting effective teachers and principals, implementing high standards and quality assessments, and turning around persistently low-performing schools. For this year’s competition, the Department has included two new absolute priorities focusing on achievement and high school graduation rates in rural schools and promoting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Deadline to Apply: August 2, 2011 Type of Grant: Discretionary/Competitive Who May Apply: Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and non-profit organizations Learn More:
On July 6, the Department released the application for the next phase of the Promise Neighborhoods program, including a second round of planning grants and new implementation grants, totaling $30 million. At the core of Promise Neighborhoods is a focus on improving education outcomes from cradle to career, as well and family and community support outcomes that include health, safety, community stability, family and community support of learning, and access to learning technology. Nonprofits, institutions of higher education and Indian tribes are eligible to apply for the $30 million fund to develop or execute plans that will improve educational and developmental outcomes for students in distressed neighborhoods. Deadline to Apply: September 6, 2011 Type of Grant: Discretionary/Competitive Who May Apply: Nonprofits, institutes of higher education, and Indian tribes Learn More:
In the wake of new cheating allegations in districts, the Washington Post convened a roundtable on how best to approach teacher incentives in the education system, featuring opinion pieces by Secretary Duncan, Duke University behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely, Harvard Graduate School of Education professor Howard Gardner, and Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein. Below are some excerpts from the Secretary’s submission: “Recent news reports of widespread or suspected cheating on standardized tests in several school districts around the country have been taken by some as evidence that we must reduce reliance on testing to measure student growth and achievement. Others have gone even farther, claiming that cheating is an inevitable consequence of ‘high-stakes testing’ and that we should abandon testing altogether. To be sure, there are lessons to be learned from these jarring incidents, but the existence of cheating says nothing about the merits of testing. Instead, cheating reflects a willingness to lie at children’s expense to avoid accountability -- an approach I reject entirely.” Learn more: .
Supportive School Discipline Initiative
On July 21, Secretary Duncan joined Attorney General Eric Holder to announce the launch of the Supportive School Discipline Initiative, a collaborative project between the two agencies that will address the “school-to-prison pipeline” and the disciplinary policies and practices that can push students out of school and into the justice system. The initiative aims to support good discipline practices to foster safe and productive learning environments in all classrooms. To implement the initiative, the agencies will coordinate with other organizations in the non-profit and philanthropic communities who are working to help ensure students succeed by dealing with inappropriate school discipline. Learn more: http://1.usa.gov/nbkBhn.
Early Learning Grants
On July 1, the Obama Administration published proposed competition criteria for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) and invited public input through Monday, July 11, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The proposal outlines draft requirements, priorities, selection criteria, and definitions, in accordance with the program’s stated purpose: to improve the quality of early childhood programs in order to close the achievement gap for high-need children. Proposed criteria ask applicants to approve a common set of standards for children and early learning and development programs, promote high-level outcomes, implement high-quality, accountable programs, and support a strong early childhood education workforce. Learn more: http://1.usa.gov/jIa1Nw.
The Department released several college affordability and transparency lists as part of its effort to help students make informed decisions about their choice for higher education. “The lists are a helpful tool for students and families as they determine what college or university is the best fit for them,” said Secretary Duncan. “We hope this information will encourage schools to continue their efforts to make the cost of college more transparent so students make informed decisions and aren’t saddled with unmanageable debts.” The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 called for these lists to be created by July 1 of this year. Under the requirements, six lists will be created. Three lists will focus on tuition and fees, while three lists will look at the institution’s “average net price,” which is the average price of attendance that is paid by full-time students after grants and scholarships are accounted for. Each list is broken out into nine different sectors, to allow students to compare costs at similar types of institutions. In addition, users can look up information on the prices of career and technical programs. Learn more: http://collegecost.ed.gov/.
Civil Rights Data Collection
The Department recently released Part 1 of a two-part biennial survey: the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). The survey covers approximately 7,000 school districts and over 72,000 schools and has been enhanced and made further accessible through improved data collection, additional data indicators, and publicly accessible online tools for analysis. The data provides parents, educators, and policymakers with critical information to assist them in identifying inequalities and targeting solutions to close the persistent achievement gap in America. Part 2 of the CRDC is expected to be released this fall. It will include the numbers of students passing Algebra I, taking AP tests, and passing AP tests, expanded discipline data, data on restraint and seclusion, retention data by grade, teacher absenteeism data, school funding data, and data on incidents of harassment and bullying. State and national projections, based on the sample data collected, will also be available before the end of the year. Learn more: .
Summer Seminars at Six
Starting July 14 and continuing every other Thursday through August 25, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET, the Department is hosting “Summer Seminars at Six,” a four-part summer information series for teachers. The seminars are designed to share information about education policy that will help educators to be engaged and participate in policy discussions at the federal, state, and local level. Led by teachers working at the Department, along with other agency staff, there will be opportunities for questions and conversations in person and online. Learn more: http://1.usa.gov/nztsAh.
School Support and Rural Programs
Student Achievement and School Accountability |
Organic Dry Navy Beans - 1 pound box Buy Online
Eden Organic Dry Navy Beans are organically grown by Michigan family farmers we know and trust. They are pure and nourishing because they're grown in vital living soil, free of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and chemical fertilizers for decades. Eden Organic Dry Navy Beans are packaged in boxes made from recycled and recyclable paperboard, one of the most environmentally friendly packages available. According to the 100 percent Recycled Paperboard Alliance (RPA100.com), "Fourteen trees are saved for each ton of paperboard converted to 100 percent recycled paperboard. Trees are critical to the sequestration of CO2 (a greenhouse gas) in North America. For each ton of paperboard converted to 100 percent recycled paperboard, an equal amount of recovered fiber has been diverted from municipal landfills. Production of 100 percent recycled paperboard uses 50 percent less energy compared to virgin grades of paperboard, thus significantly reducing the greenhouse gases released into the environment."
Navy beans Phaseolus vulgaris are related to great northern, kidney, pinto, and black beans. They are the smallest of the common beans and often called pearl haricot, small white beans, or pea beans. After pintos they are the second most popular bean in America. Michigan grown navy beans are the most popular and sought after. They got their name because they were a staple food of the U.S. Navy in the early part of the 20th century. In Washington, D.C. navy bean soup has been served in the Senate Restaurant every day for nearly 100 years. One story of the origin of Senate Bean Soup says that Senator Fred Thomas Dubois of Idaho, who served in the Senate from 1901 to 1907 and sat as chairman of the committee that supervised the Senate Restaurant, gaveled through a resolution requiring the soup to be on the menu every day. Another story attributes the soup mandate to Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota who expressed his fondness for it in 1903. According to the FDA, "Low fat diets rich in fruits and vegetables (foods that are low in fat and may contain dietary fiber, Vitamin A, or Vitamin C) may reduce the risk of some types of cancer, a disease associated with many factors." Also, "Diets low in sodium may reduce the risk of hypertension or high blood pressure, a disease with many factors." Eden Organic Navy Beans are low fat, cholesterol free, naturally very low sodium, and fiber rich providing 48 percent daily value (DV) per serving. They are rich in iron, thiamin B1, magnesium, and manganese. A good source of protein, potassium, folate B9, vitamin B6, and zinc.
Beans are an important source of two essential amino acids not found in many cereal grains, lysine and threonine. Whole grains complement beans and together deliver complete protein. Enjoying a variety of beans with whole grain is a solid step toward a healthy life.
Place 3 cups water per each 1 cup of soaked beans in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil, boil uncovered for about 10 minutes, skim off and discard any foam that rises to the top. Your favorite vegetables and spices can be added at this point if desired. In addition we recommend adding a one inch strip of Eden Kombu sea vegetable for each cup of dried beans to help soften and accentuate flavor. Do not add salt until 80 percent done. Salt added at the beginning of cooking prevents beans from fully softening. Reduce the flame, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, adding more water just to cover if needed. When 80 per cent done, season with about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Eden Sea Salt. Cover and simmer for several more minutes or until tender. |
Noise ReductionSubject description: by averaging an FFT
I created an interesting noise reducer for my ChucK Show microphone/guitar controller program. It works by taking the FFT of the input signal, averaging each harmonic individually, and then taking the IFFT of that averaged spectrum. It works pretty well as you can hear in the attached sample. I'm sure it's not a new technique, but anyway I like it. Les
NoiseReductoin.mp3
example of noise reduction
_________________"Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
Joined: Jul 03, 2009Posts: 23Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:14 am Post subject:
What do you mean by "averaging each harmonic individually"? An FFT gives the (complex) amplitude for single frequencies in a period of time. How do you average them? Across multiple time frames?
Like this: Code: //
// vocal noise remover
fun void remove_noise () {
1024 => fft.size;
Windowing.hann(fft.size()) => fft.window;
complex s[fft.size()/2];
complex avg[fft.size()/2];
float alpha;
if (button_mute.state()) {
fft.upchuck();
fft.spectrum(s);
slider_alpha.value() => alpha;
for (int i; i<(fft.size()/2); i++) {
alpha * avg[i] + (1-alpha) * s[i] => avg[i];
ifft.transform(avg);
(fft.size()/2)::samp => now;
100::ms => now;
spork ~ remove_noise(); I have found that an alpha value of 0.5 works fairly well. Lower and you get more noise, higher and you get more artifacts. I'm told that this method is used in an audio file editing program, I forget which one. Try it, it works! Les_________________"Let's make noise for peace." - KijjazLast edited by Inventor on Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:21 am; edited 2 times in total
I don't get that code at all. Did you make sure to uncheck html?
I have serious doubts about that "for" loop, for a start....
What are you averaging? Averaging in time? In frequency?_________________Kassen
Kassen wrote: I don't get that code at all. Did you make sure to uncheck html?
What are you averaging? Averaging in time? In frequency? Yes, I forgot to disable HTML - I fixed it. The less than sign in a for loop looks like HTML to the forum software, as I'm sure you've noticed. I am averaging in time. It's just a low-pass filter done with complex vector addition. You take a fraction of the running average, add in one minus that fraction of the new sample, and then add them and put them into the running average. This is done for each bin of the FFT. I seem to recall that you previously mentioned familiarity with this type of averaging, Kassen, you told me it's a low-pass filter before IIRC. Les_________________"Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
That's no low-pass filter, at least not a normal one (in the time domain). I think that if you feed it a pure sine wave of any frequency, it will come out identical (in the long run, not in the first iterations of the process, let's say the first second or so). This thing is a low-pass filter for changes in the amplitude of each frequency band.
Say you have a sine wave at 440Hz plus some noise, then the spectrum will show an almost constant amplitude at 440Hz but a varying one at all other frequencies (in particular the higher ones), e.g. 0.01, -0.004, 0.007, -0.009, etc. Then these values get low-pass filtered, so you end up with your original sine wave, but less noise.
Doesn't work for all signals, though. This thing needs several iterations of constant amplitudes to adapt, so if you feed it drums, it will take soften the attack.
If I understand it properly, that is Back to top
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:19 am Post subject:
I think you are right, TGV, it's a bit like a filter on the analysis signal. We could even have higher order fiters on that, even highpass filters that would only let through the difference in signal, that might give some very unusual effects, I should experiment with it._________________Kassen
TGV wrote: That's no low-pass filter, at least not a normal one (in the time domain). I think that if you feed it a pure sine wave of any frequency, it will come out identical (in the long run, not in the first iterations of the process, let's say the first second or so). This thing is a low-pass filter for changes in the amplitude of each frequency band. Yes, averaging a series of numbers is a low pass filter. I think that's what Inventor said. He didn't say this was a low pass in the time domain, he said it is an adaptive noise reducer, which it is. Quite a good idea, IMHO._________________--Howard
I listened to the noise reduced ChucK Show. Great show, Les. Anyway, the noise reducer really removes a lot of noise and the voices sound much better than on previous shows. Still, there is some whine caused I think from some power main harmonics. Your adaptive filter won't get rid of those constant signals because they are seen as valid inputs signals. You could get rid of the whine with a fixed equalizer, but an adaptive one would be more fun and useful. What happens if you differentiate the frequency domain coefficients as well?_________________--Howard
What Howard says is even more true than might be apparent. That's because two weeks ago I switched microphones from the Emac's mic which is good for a computer mic to a homemade mic / guitar amp in a little black box, and boy is that mic noisy! All the noise was disguised somewhat last week by the hippy trippy vocoder, so last night's show was really the first clean-channel broadcast with the new mic and the noise reducer. What I mean to say by this is that not only is the new setup quieter, it's also working with an even noisier input than we've had in the past. So yes to what Howard says, only even more so. The whine is there at an averaging constant of 0.5, and gets noticeably louder at higher values. The mic is running off of a 9V battery, so I wonder if the whine is actually from the eMac's cooling fan which is near the mic physically, or if it is actually some kind of mathematical artifact. I just don't know really. Truth be told, I invent or reinvent things like this all the time but I often lack the theoretical knowledge to fully understand how things work. I guess that's why I was speaking kind of analogously when I called it a low pass filter. To be precise it's a low pass filter applied in the frequency domain, which is a rather strange thing to do - but hey it works! Anyway thanks for the comments all, I appreciate the observations. This kind of stuff is part of what makes my music hobby so much fun! Cheers, Les_________________"Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
Here, attached is a complete self-contained noise reducer test program for anyoone who wishes to experiment with this technique. It adds noise to the microphone input and then alternates every five seconds between "adc + noise => dac" and "adc + noise => NR => dac". The difference is quite noticeable. There are three parameters at the top of the file that you can adjust to test things out, and you can increase the order of the "filter" by duplicating the filter averaging line inside the for loop. Enjoy! Les
NoiseReducer1.ck
Noise Reducer Test Program
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:54 pm Post subject:
I'm now thinking about the differentiation comments that Kassen and mosc made. If there is some whine that is constant, like power supply harmonics, then a differentiator should remove them because they are not changing in time. So it might be good to do both - first reduce the noise with averaging, then reduce the constant terms with some sort of differentiation. I wonder if simply subtracting the new samples would do this?_________________"Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
You could use the same technique other noise cancellers use: finger printing. Take a piece of audio without meaningful signal, and subtract its spectrum from your recording. It's not quite as simple as I describe (you need the two signals to be in phase), but that will take care of some noise and the whine, hum, etc. Here is a description how CEDAR's (rather expensive) software does it:
Kewl, neat idea TGV. I may give that a try. Thanks for the suggestion. Les_________________"Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
Finger printing is a rather static technique. There is a training sequence of some sort, either silence or a know signal. As the channel changes you have to retrain. This technique is used in modems and other analog telecommunication circuits. Inventor's technique is. on the other hand, truly adaptive._________________--Howard
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:13 am Post subject:
Under normal circumstances, noise, whine, and hum are "static": it's the circuitry and microphones that generate it, and they don't change (at least not perceptibly). The adaptive technique has an advantage: you don't need a finger print, but it has problems with transients (feed it a snare or kick and you'll see) and it cannot take out whine and hum, since their harmonic amplitudes are almost constant over time. That's why I suggested it.
Anyway, there is no reason to use just one of them. You could use the finger-print technique on the end signal, and adaptive filtering on the mike, or something like that.
mosc wrote: Still, there is some whine caused I think from some power main harmonics. Your adaptive filter won't get rid of those constant signals because they are seen as valid inputs signals. You could get rid of the whine with a fixed equalizer, but an adaptive one would be more fun and useful. What happens if you differentiate the frequency domain coefficients as well? Call me lazy but in that case I'd first try sorting out the ground/mains situation before breaking out the DSP. Typically that takes less time and you save on headroom and sound quality._________________Kassen
In this case, as a listener, to me it seems that the airconditioner and a computer fan are the main sources of noise ... which would be something in favor of an adaptive technique. I must say that I dont quite understand what happens in the code, but it does filter noise and it doesn't give too many artifacts ... so not bad at all I'd say._________________Jan |
Dig for victory: Monty Don interview (text and video)
Leo Hickman, The Guardian
Monty Don's doctors want him to take it easy. He wants to convert British gardeners to growing their own food, and import networking skills from al-Qaida
... Newbie gardeners need all the hope and advice they can get, and Don, a contender for the title of "Britain's best-loved gardener", has been dishing out lashings of both for 15 years, in print and on television. But earlier this year he fell silent owing to a minor stroke - another notch on his life's long list of maladies including childhood bone marrow cancer, depression and peritonitis.
As a result of the stroke, he stepped down as the main presenter of the BBC's Gardeners' World in April and postponed taking up his role as the new president of the Soil Association.
... he sees the brief of his new role as being a high-profile campaigner arguing for a wholesale change to the global food system. He intends to start doing this by rousing Britain's 11 million gardeners into growing as much of their own food as they can.
A revival of the "dig for victory" ethos offers, he says, many environmental, health and economic benefits, not least at a time when sales of organic food have, as reported in the Guardian yesterday, fallen by a fifth since February due to the collective tightening of belts. "We need to use our horticultural skills - which are second to none in the world - to grow food," he says. "It's really important to get people aware of just how tenuous our food supply really is."
... Don sees himself helping to nurture networks of community gardeners who exchange seeds, labour, tools and time in order to grow food - in part inspired by al-Qaida. "This terrifying, disastrous evil has actually usurped and upset the whole system. It makes you ask: what were they doing right? Well, they just bypassed, they stepped aside, they're just not there. You need to join together, not delegate ... to a government body."
Don's huge distrust of politicians is much evident. "My experience of working with government has not been fruitful, I have to say. I'm not aligned to any party, although, like many people, I feel very disillusioned by the current government, but don't feel very hopeful over any alternative. Power is not the right bit of kit to do this job. It's about going after the hearts and minds. ..
(30 August 2008)
Russia’s Collective Farms: Hot Capitalist Property Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times
PODLESNY, Russia - The fields around this little farming enclave are among the most fertile on earth. But like tens of million of acres of land in this country, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they literally went to seed.
Now that may be changing. A decade after capitalism transformed Russian industry, an agricultural revolution is stirring the countryside, shaking up village life and sweeping aside the collective farms that resisted earlier reform efforts and remain the dominant form of agriculture.
The change is being driven by soaring global food prices (the price of wheat alone rose 77 percent last year) and a new reform allowing foreigners to own agricultural land. Together, they have created a land rush in rural Russia.
“Where else do you have such an abundance of land?” Samir Suleymanov, the World Bank’s director for Russia, asked in an interview.
As a result, the business of buying and reforming collective farms is suddenly and improbably very profitable, attracting hedge fund managers, Russian oligarchs, Swedish portfolio investors and even a descendant of White Russian émigré nobility.
Earlier reformers envisioned the collective farms eventually breaking up into family farms. But the new business model rests on a belief that Russia’s long, painful history of collectivization is destined to end in large corporate factory farms.
China raises, extends fertiliser export duties
Edmund Klamann, Reuters
China will raise export duties on nitrogenous fertilisers to 150 percent by the end of the year to curb outflows, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, as the country seeks to control agricultural costs.
The increase, which will also apply to synthetic ammonia, will be in effect from Sept. 1 until Dec. 31, while a 100 percent duty on other fertilisers will be extended for an extra two months to Dec. 31, the report said.
China, the world's largest fertiliser market, slapped an extra 100 percent duty on fertiliser exports in April, with effect to Sept. 30, lifting tariffs as high as 135 percent for some products such as urea to keep more production at home.
The duties tightened supply further in the global market.
Raj Patel At Kepler's (bookstore)
Raj Patel told stories about the mystery ingredients in our food. Lecithin, which he mentions in his book "Stuffed and Starved", is an emulsifier in many of our processed foods. It is made from soy and responsible for 40,000 slaves and deforestation in Brazil. And we thought it was cattle that was bringing down the forest, but no it is the humble soy bean which has become Brazil's largest export due to world demand.
He explained how the global market began in 1880 when the British replaced feudalism in India with a market system and paid labor. In the feudal system labor was exploited for free, but they were fed by those exploiting them. In the free market labor is exploited with "slave wages" and no one has to be responsible for feeding anyone. Since then, instead of a famine every 120 years, there is one every four years, but there is always enough food to export to countries and people who can afford to buy it. Markets basically created poor people, or rather people who cannot afford to buy food, but Mr. Patel did not point this out because he is not about getting rid of the money system altogether, he is about eradicating poverty.
Mr. Patel was very good at explaining concepts and has an educated British accent to go with his presentation. He's also quite funny in that droll way. World Bank policies, he described as being much like the scene in the movie Time Bandits with John Cleese as Robin Hood, with us upper class accent, giving people the fabulous gifts stolen from Napoleon, but then the same recipients are punched in the nose by a thug standing next to him. Thus the free market brings fabulous wealth that the poor cannot use and then they are bloodied by it.
He is fond of concepts and liked to tell stories so if you don't already know the big picture you have to string it all together yourself.
I like his perspective that our lifestlye has made our food absurd, but we don't know it because our speeded up life has made convenience food and soda pop, eaten while driving, seem reasonable. |
From: Sylvia Westall -Reuters
Published September 11, 2007 02:35 PM
Top polluters to discuss hard climate goals
Replacing Kyoto With Something Better Will Take Time, Germans SaySeptember 10, 2007 09:24 AM
Climate talks will test U.S. resolveSeptember 7, 2007 06:31 AM
Japan to propose new climate forum with U.S., ChinaNovember 29, 2007 04:12 AM
U.S. Objects to Key Points at Climate Change Meeting, German Official SaysMarch 19, 2007 12:00 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) - Twenty of the world's top polluting nations have agreed to discuss binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Germany's environment minister said on Tuesday.
Sigmar Gabriel told a news conference during climate talks in Berlin that all involved, including the United States, had shown willingness to discuss targets proposed by the United Nations special envoy on climate change.
"We agreed...that unequivocally the central task for Bali will be to discuss...these measures," Gabriel said, referring to U.N. climate talks scheduled for Bali, Indonesia, in December.
U.N. climate envoy Ricardo Lagos told the Berlin meeting of energy and environment ministers that developed countries should aim to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2020 and 60 percent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
Industrializing countries like India and China currently outside the Kyoto Protocol would have a separate target of achieving 30 percent greater energy efficiency by 2020.
ADVERTISEMENT The proposals will form the basis for the Bali meeting where ministers hope to discuss a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting harmful emissions. The Protocol expires in 2012.
U.S. President George W. Bush has so far refused to sign up to numerical targets before rising powers like China and India make similar pledges.
Ahead of the Bali conference, Bush has called a meeting of major emitting countries in Washington for September 27-28 to work out future cuts. It remains unclear how that meeting will fit into the broader U.N. efforts.
Gabriel reiterated that the U.S. climate talks must not attempt to distract nations from Bali but have to be "under the umbrella of the United Nations."
He also said that the United States, like India and China, was under pressure and would eventually have to agree to binding goals that can be verified. Washington could not, he said, ignore "the elephant in the room."
The 2-day Berlin talks, which included representatives from the Group of Eight club of industrialized nations (G8), China and India, confirmed that the new climate deal should be decided by the end of 2009 as it would take about two years to ratify.
Gabriel said the Berlin talks were "the starting point for the dialogue marathon in Bali." |
What effect did the industrial revolution have on gender roles at home/workplace?
In general, the coming of the Industrial Revolution led to a situation in which women became more subjugated to men and were allowed to have less contact with the public sphere. The idea about gender roles that arose from the Industrial Revolution is sometimes called the idea of “separate spheres.”
Before the Industrial Revolution, most work occurred at home and everyone in the family worked together as a unit. There was very little distinction, if any, between work and home or between economic activity and non-economic activity. For this reason, women were seen as part of the economic unit and had a role that was not too dissimilar to that played by men.
As the Industrial Revolution progressed, this changed. Work came to be something that was performed away from home. The ideal was that women would not work outside the home. They would stay home and perform work that was not paid. This meant that there came to be the sense that women belonged at home and outside the economic sphere while men belonged outside the home in the economic world. Join to answer this question |
College football players can cry (a little) if they want to
Expressing emotions may give players mental edge, research finds
WASHINGTON � While there's no crying in baseball, as Tom Hanks' character famously proclaimed in "A League of Their Own," crying in college football might not be a bad thing, at least in the eyes of one's teammates.
Although college football players feel pressure to conform to some male stereotypes, players who display physical affection toward their teammates are happier, according to new research. The findings were reported in a special section of Psychology of Men & Masculinity, published by the American Psychological Association.
"Overall, college football players who strive to be stronger and are emotionally expressive are more likely to have a mental edge on and off the field," said psychologist Jesse Steinfeldt, PhD, of Indiana University-Bloomington, who co-authored each article in the special section.
In one experiment, 150 college football players with an average age of 19 were randomly assigned to four groups to read different vignettes about "Jack" -- a football player who cries after a football game. In the vignettes, Jack either sobs or tears up after his team loses or wins. The players in the experiment were mostly white and played for one of two teams, one from the NCAA Division II and the other at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics level.
Those who read about Jack tearing up after losing thought his behavior was appropriate, but drew the line at his sobbing. The players also said they were more likely to tear up than sob if they were in Jack's situation. Players who read vignettes in which Jack sobs after losing a game said his reaction was more typical among football players than the players who read that Jack sobs after his team won the game. "In 2009, the news media disparaged University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow for crying on the sidelines after losing a big game, even labeling him Tim 'Tearbow,'" said psychologist Y. Joel Wong, PhD, the study's lead author. "However, the college football players in our study who believed Jack's crying was appropriate had higher self-esteem. In contrast, players who believed Jack's crying was inappropriate yet felt they would likely cry in Jack's situation had lower self-esteem." In another experiment at the same colleges, researchers surveyed 153 football players, also mostly white and with an average age of 19. The researchers asked the players if they felt pressured to act a certain way because society expects men to be powerful and competitive, and to show little emotion and affection in front of other men. Other studies have shown that this type of pressure to conform can lead to poor self-esteem and disruptive behavior. The researchers also asked the players about their overall life satisfaction and how they expressed emotions on and off the field. The study found players do feel pressure to conform to these gender roles. But players who were never affectionate toward their teammates were less satisfied with life. In another study of 197 mostly white college football players from three NCAA Division II level schools, the drive to be muscular meant more risk taking, less emotion and a stronger work ethic. But wanting to be more muscular was not related to the players' desire to win or a tendency to be physically violent. For most, the primary reason they wanted to be muscular was so they could perform better on the field and avoid injuries. A secondary reason was so they could appear more "manly," with a better physical appearance and sex appeal. "These guys have to be physically stronger for athletic performance and to reduce injury," said Steinfeldt. "Yet they also acknowledged some masculine stereotype pressures, and previous research has shown that can have a negative impact on a player's psyche." ###
Dr. Jesse Steinfeldt can be contacted at [email protected] or (812) 856-8331. |
University of Tennessee Team receives NSF support to study toxic water in China
2 researchers will be working on an international team funded by 2 new National Science Foundation awards to resolve the ecosystem balance in the lake; Their work could help safeguard America's water supply
This shows blue-green alga blooms in Lake Taihu.
More than 12 million Chinese rely on Lake Taihu for drinking water but about 20 years ago the once pristine lake turned pea green. It had become overrun with toxic blue-green algae which can damage the liver, intestines and nervous system.
Two researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will be working on an international team funded by two new National Science Foundation awards totaling $2.5 million to resolve the ecosystem balance in the lake. Their work could help safeguard America's water supply. "China provides a unique opportunity to test ideas and management efforts in highly polluted and nutrient enriched lakes that we predict we will see in North America in the coming decades," said Jennifer DeBruyn, an assistant professor in the Department for Biosystems Engineering and Soil Sciences. DeBruyn and Steven Wilhelm, professor of microbiology, will team with an international group of researchers and students to combine molecular biology, ecological analysis and environmental remediation. Their goal is to create mathematical models of how ecosystems function based on quantitative data generated by state-of-the-art molecular biological techniques. They will then provide an informed strategy to Chinese government officials. "Over the past three decades, industrial effluents, farm runoff, and sewage have besieged Lake Taihu, pushing its ecosystem critically out of balance," said Wilhelm. "In the summer, when lake surface temperatures heat up, blue-green algae blooms with a vengeance."
Just as the saying goes "it takes a village to raise a child," Wilhelm says a toxic algal bloom has many parents. The researchers will examine all the organisms that could be contributing to the blooms, including looking at what they are consuming and the waste products they are creating for a comprehensive picture of how the blooms are created. "We will literally be counting the activity of genes in different organisms and then seeing how that influences the environment," Wilhelm said. "We will be doing a number of projects such as measuring how fast cells assimilate nutrients, while other students will be quantifying the expressing of genes associated with these processes."
In the end, they will have a science-based strategy to guide Chinese provincial and central government officials in bringing and maintaining Lake Taihu below the toxic algae threshold. That strategy will be transferrable to similar lakes worldwide. The research is supported by the NSF's INSPIRE and Dimensions in Biodiversity programs. Both awards are over four years. Under the INSPIRE program, the researchers will examine how different chemical forms of nutrients interact with climate change to control which populations of algae proliferate in lake systems. They will collaborate with professors Hans Paerl of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Gregory Boyer from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. |
Testing CATS in space: Laser technology to debut on space station
Roughly the size of a refrigerator, CATS will use the same two laser wavelengths on NASA's CALIPSO mission, 1064 and 532 nanometers, and it will incorporate a third laser wavelength...
While felines in space may be what you're thinking, the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is a much more helpful accompaniment planned for the International Space Station. CATS will study the distribution of aerosols, the tiny particles that make up haze, dust, air pollutants, and smoke.
When Iceland's Eyjafjallaj�kull volcano erupted nearly four years ago, for example, officials grounded flights in Europe because particles contained within its massive plume could damage aircraft engines, resulting in potentially deadly consequences for passengers. NASA couldn't dispatch aircraft-borne instruments for the very same reasons European officials had grounded commercial aircraft. When the next volcano erupts, NASA will have a new tool in orbit that can monitor the spread of particles in Earth's atmosphere from its space-based perch.
This Earth remote sensing instrument is scheduled to launch to the space station in September 2014 as a demonstration project. Its sensors will help researchers determine for the first time what state-of-the-art, three-wavelength laser technology can do from space to measure tiny airborne particles-also known as aerosols-in Earth's atmosphere.
Developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center scientist Matt McGill, and his team, CATS will be able to see the character as well as vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols in a whole new light. When CATS begins operations from its docking port on the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), the refrigerator-sized sensor will continue measuring atmospheric aerosols using the same two-laser wavelengths as NASA's Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission - the 1064 and 532 nanometer wavelengths.
Third Wavelength Added
What makes CATS stand out is the addition of a third laser wavelength at 355 nanometers. This will deliver more detailed information and could help scientists differentiate between the types of particles in the atmosphere. CATS is also equipped with extremely sensitive detectors capable of counting individual photons, delivering better resolution and finer-scale details.
By reflecting sunlight into space, clouds help regulate the Earth's climate. This image was taken from aboard the International Space Station, which is where the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) will...
"You get better data quality because you make fewer assumptions, and you get, presumably, a more accurate determination of what kind of particles you're seeing in the atmosphere," said McGill.
While CALIPSO can deliver 20 pulses of laser per second, using, as McGill described it, a whopping 110 milliJoules of energy in each of those pulses, CATS will fire 5,000 laser pulses per second, with only about 1 milliJoule for each pulse. The greatly simplified CATS power and thermal requirements are a huge plus for space-borne applications.
Earth Science from the Space Station
Knowing where aerosols are located in the atmosphere - such as smoke from forest fires, dust blowing off vast deserts, and plumes from erupting volcanoes - is often critically important. These particles can affect weather, climate, biogeochemistry, airplane safety, and human health.
The station travels in a precessing orbit, which means that instead of passing over the same spot at the same time, its orbit moves. The station's ground track moves westward along each of 16 daily tracks as it travels, with ground track repeats every three days. As a result, CATS will provide good coverage of what's happening over primary population centers.
In addition, the station passes over and along many of the primary aerosol-transport paths within Earth's atmosphere. One of Earth's primary transport routes for airborne pollutants is from Asia. Particles are transported by circulation cells in Earth's atmosphere over Japan, northward up just under Alaska, and then down towards the West Coast of the United States, making a big, inverted "U" shape. Another atmospheric circulation cell moves aerosols from western Canada eastward and then southward, over the Great Lakes and the East Coast.
Because smoke-darkened skies over cities and communities can pose health risks to populations, especially to the medically vulnerable, the ability to track those aerosols and deliver warnings is critical. Long-term data also can reveal the shifts in global climate - whether changes are occurring in cloud cover or whether the level of pollutants is increasing or decreasing - over time and geographic location.
In 2010, Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted, creating an expansive ash cloud that disrupted air traffic throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) could improve the ability...
The demonstration flight also is technologically important, using the space station as a test bed. The third laser is in the ultraviolet wavelength, just outside the visible range. Though it adds an advanced capability, particularly when coupled with the new detectors, scientists believe it is susceptible to contamination. "If you get contamination on any of your outgoing optics, they can self-destruct, and then your system's dead," McGill said. "You end up with very limited instrument lifetime."
Combating this risk to instruments is part of the CATS mission, showing how the equipment will fare in the space environment over time. "[The space station] is a good, relatively low-cost, quick way to do that," said McGill. "In our current budget-constrained environment, we need to use what we already have, such as the [station], to do more with less."
If the CATS instrument succeeds and operates well in space, it can be scaled up to be a stand-alone satellite payload or 'free-flier' mission. "One of the most exciting things for me has been the opportunity to develop a small, low-cost, quick-turnaround payload for the [space station], a pathfinder project representing what's possible for future technology investigations," said McGill. "We did this using a small team, a streamlined process, and a build-to-cost mentality � and we proved it can be done."
NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet. |
Draft drum a symbol of Chenago�s Civil War past By: Julian Kappel, Sun Staff Writer Published: August 11th, 2011
NORWICH � This year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, one of the bloodiest and most brutal chapters in our nation�s history. To commemorate these tragic times that tore our country asunder and subsequently paved the way for the great nation of which we are now a part, the Chenango County Historical Society and the Chenango County Council of the Arts have planned a Civil War Commemorative Weekend, Aug. 25-27. In the spirit of the civil war, we at The Evening Sun present the first of a series of articles about a few of the items and locations around Chenango County that were specifically relevant to the Union war effort and the men and women who served.
It was March, 1863, and President Lincoln had just signed into law an act for �enrolling and calling the National Forces.� T |
Take Action and Beat Allergies This Season - How does stress affect allergies?
Stress is the body's response to conflict or situations, both internal and external that interferes with the normal balance in life. Virtually all of the body's systems, including the digestive system, cardiovascular system, nervous system, and immune system, make adjustments in response to stress. When feeling anxious or stressed, your body releases numerous hormones and other chemicals, including histamine. Histamine is a powerful chemical that can lead to allergy-like symptoms. Stress does not cause allergies, but it can make an existing reaction worse by increasing the level of histamine in the bloodstream.
Take Action and Beat Allergies This Season - What are the possible triggers for my hay fever? Can I take steps to avoid them?
If you have hay fever, it may not take long for your nose to "sniff out" the general source of the problem – whether it's trees blooming in spring, grass being mown in summer, or ragweed and mold flying in the fall.Although it's easier said than done, avoid these triggers as much as possible. For instance, try to stay inside when pollen counts are highest. That's typically between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If your symptoms are really severe, stay inside with windows closed and use air conditioning, if needed. Also:Keep your car windows closed.Don't hang clothing out to dry.Track pollen counts by checking local newspapers or web sites such as that of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology.
Take Action and Beat Allergies This Season - Can allergies be cured?
Allergies cannot be cured, but the symptoms they cause can be treated and controlled. This may require making changes in your environment or behavior to avoid or reduce exposure to certain allergens. Medication also may help relieve the symptoms of an allergic reaction. Even with allergy treatment, the body's immune system may continue to react when exposed to allergens. In some cases, however, children may outgrow their allergies, particularly those to food.Immunotherapy, or allergy shots, is not a cure. Rather, the shots are a way to significantly lessen the symptoms caused by exposure to specific substances. |
Home > Family Vacation Ideas > 15 Best Historic U.S. Sites for Kids 15 Best Historic U.S. Sites for Kids
Today's studies quickly become yesterday's test results. Students learn material, take a test and move to the next subject matter, leaving little room for U.S. history to make a true impression on children. Yet, history is so vital to a child's education; after all, as the old adage goes, if we don't know our history, we're bound to repeat it. Consider taking your youngsters to one of these historical sites, where they'll not only learn about America's history, but they'll also become a part of it.
Written by Karon WarrenWashington D.C.Our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., is the prime location for learning about our national government and how it functions. At the U.S. Capitol, children can see how our senators and congressmen craft bills that are voted into law, or visit the U.S. Supreme Court, where visitors may watch the justices hear and vote on cases with national implications.
However, this district also is a treasure trove of American history. At the National Archives and Records Administration, visitors can see the original documents that formed the basis for the American government: the Charters of Freedom, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.
The Smithsonian Institution alone covers more topics than you can digest in a single visit: American history, American Indian history, air and space, arts and industries. The material is so vast it fills 19 museums and galleries, as well as the National Zoological Park.
Then there are the memorials and monuments that commemorate many of our great leaders, along with the many men and women that gave their lives in service to our country. Many of these attractions are located along the National Mall, although several more are spread throughout the city. And, of course, there's the White House, where the president lives and conducts business.
Of special note: Although not based in U.S. history, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum should be included on every family's itinerary. At this museum, kids will get a deeper understanding of the persecution and murder of the Jewish people in Europe before and during World War II.
Recommended Hotel: JW Marriott Washington D.C.Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg, VirginiaSee where the United States of America got its start at Jamestown, America's first permanent English colony, settled in 1607. At the Jamestown Settlement Museum, you can see how these earliest residents developed their community with such re-created settings as a Powhatan Indian village, 1607 English ships and a 1610 colonial fort. Nearby at the Yorktown Victory Center, families can see where the British surrendered to American and French forces to effectively end the Revolutionary War, which set the stage for the official formation of the United States of America. This museum showcases life during these times through an open-air exhibit walkway as well as many indoor exhibition galleries.
In neighboring Colonial Williamsburg, visitors can explore a re-created 18th-century town complete with original buildings, homes, shops and public buildings encompassing more than 300 acres. Not only can you see how daily life during this era was conducted, but you also can learn the stories behind the political movement that led to the fight for independence from England.
Recommended Hotel: Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel & SuitesPhiladelphiaLike Washington, D.C., Philadelphia is home to numerous historic sites and attractions that played a role in American history. For instance, there is Carpenters' Hall, the meeting place of the First Continental Congress, or Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were brought to life. Then there is Pennsylvania Hospital, the country's first hospital, which was co-founded by Benjamin Franklin. The Liberty Bell Center is home to the iconic symbol of freedom for America. And who doesn't want to see the U.S. Mint, where pocket change and commemorative coins are made?
A great starting point is the Independence Visitor Center, where you can get a comprehensive overview of the city's culture and history. To aid you in navigating the city's attractions, consider the AudioWalk and Tour, a 74-minute narrated walking tour of the city's historic sites and parts of Society Hill.
Recommended Hotel: Hotel Palomar PhiladelphiaPearl HarborOn Dec. 7, 1941, America experienced a horrific attack on home soil when Japan bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded, with 350 aircraft destroyed or damaged. All eight battleships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or badly damaged. The next day, Congress declared war on Japan, and three days later, on December 11th, Congress declared war on Germany. The United States was now involved in World War II.
Located on the island of Oahu, the Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum and Visitor Center is part of the Pacific Historic Parks, although the USS Arizona is managed by the National Park Service. The memorial is constructed over the remains of the sunken battleship, which is also the final resting place for much of its crewmen killed during the attack. Visitors can tour the site by purchasing tickets at the visitor center, where they also can see a 23-minute film documenting the attack. In addition, an audio tour is available to guide you through the visitor center and surrounding area.
Seeing this site and hearing the survivors' first-person accounts of this life-altering event are something both children and |
RFC 6086 - Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INFO Method and Pac
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INFO Method and Package Framework
This document defines a method, INFO, for the Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP), and an Info Package mechanism. This document
obsoletes RFC 2976. For backward compatibility, this document also
specifies a "legacy" mode of usage of the INFO method that is
compatible with the usage previously defined in RFC 2976, referred to
as "legacy INFO Usage" in this document.
11.2. Registration of the Info-Package Header Field ............24
11.3. Registration of the Recv-Info Header Field ...............24
11.4. Creation of the Info Packages Registry ...................25
11.5. Registration of the Info-Package Content-Disposition .....25
11.6. SIP Response Code 469 Registration .......................26
12. Examples ......................................................26
12.1. Indication of Willingness to Receive INFO Requests
for Info Packages ........................................26
12.1.1. Initial INVITE Request ............................26
12.1.2. Target Refresh ....................................27
12.2. INFO Request Associated with Info Package ................28
12.2.1. Single Payload ....................................28
12.2.2. Multipart INFO ....................................28
13. Security Considerations .......................................30
Appendix A. Acknowledgements .....................................35
Protocol (SIP) [RFC3261].
The purpose of the INFO message is to carry application level
information between endpoints, using the SIP dialog signaling path.
Note that the INFO method is not used to update characteristics of a
SIP dialog or session, but to allow the applications that use the SIP
session to exchange information (which might update the state of
those applications).
Use of the INFO method does not constitute a separate dialog usage.
INFO messages are always part of, and share the fate of, an invite
dialog usage [RFC5057]. INFO messages cannot be sent as part of
other dialog usages, or outside an existing dialog.
This document also defines an Info Package mechanism. An Info
Package specification defines the content and semantics of the
information carried in an INFO message associated with the Info
Package. The Info Package mechanism also provides a way for user
agents (UAs) to indicate for which Info Packages they are willing to
receive INFO requests, and which Info Package a specific INFO request
is associated with.
A UA uses the Recv-Info header field, on a per-dialog basis, to
indicate for which Info Packages it is willing to receive INFO
requests. A UA can indicate an initial set of Info Packages during
dialog establishment and can indicate a new set during the lifetime
of the invite dialog usage.
NOTE: A UA can use an empty Recv-Info header field (a header field
without a value) to indicate that it is not willing to receive
INFO requests for any Info Package, while still informing other
UAs that it supports the Info Package mechanism.
When a UA sends an INFO request, it uses the Info-Package header
field to indicate which Info Package is associated with the request.
One particular INFO request can only be associated with a single Info
1.1. Conventions Used in This Document
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].
2. Motivation
A number of applications, standardized and proprietary, make use of
the INFO method as it was previously defined in RFC 2976 [RFC2976],
here referred to as "legacy INFO usage". These include but are not
limited to the following:
o RFC 3372 [RFC3372] specifies the encapsulation of ISDN User Part
(ISUP) in SIP message bodies. ITU-T and the Third Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP) have specified similar procedures.
o [ECMA-355] specifies the encapsulation of "QSIG" in SIP message
o RFC 5022 [RFC5022] specifies how INFO is used as a transport
mechanism by the Media Server Control Markup Language (MSCML)
protocol. MSCML uses an option-tag in the Require header field to
ensure that the receiver understands the INFO content.
mechanism by the Media Server Markup Language (MSML) protocol.
o Companies have been using INFO messages in order to request fast
video update. Currently, a standardized mechanism, based on the
Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP), has been specified in
RFC 5168 [RFC5168].
o Companies have been using INFO messages in order to transport
Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) tones. All mechanisms are
proprietary and have not been standardized.
Some legacy INFO usages are also recognized as being shortcuts to
more appropriate and flexible mechanisms.
Furthermore, RFC 2976 did not define mechanisms that would enable a
SIP UA to indicate (1) the types of applications and contexts in
which the UA supports the INFO method or (2) the types of
applications and contexts with which a specific INFO message is
associated.
Because legacy INFO usages do not have associated Info Packages, it
is not possible to use the Recv-Info and Info-Package header fields
with legacy INFO usages. That is, a UA cannot use the Recv-Info
header field to indicate for which legacy INFO usages it is willing
to receive INFO requests, and a UA cannot use the Info-Package header
field to indicate with which legacy INFO usage an INFO request is
Due to the problems described above, legacy INFO usages often require
static configuration to indicate the types of applications and
contexts for which the UAs support the INFO method, and the way they
handle application information transported in INFO messages. This
has caused interoperability problems in the industry.
To overcome these problems, the SIP Working Group has spent
significant discussion time over many years coming to agreement on
whether it was more appropriate to fix INFO (by defining a
registration mechanism for the ways in which it was used) or to
deprecate it altogether (with the usage described in RFC 3398
[RFC3398] being grandfathered as the sole legitimate usage).
Although it required substantial consensus building and concessions
by those more inclined to completely deprecate INFO, the eventual
direction of the working group was to publish a framework for
registration of Info Packages as defined in this specification.
3. Applicability and Backward Compatibility
Protocol (SIP) [RFC3261], and an Info Package mechanism. This
document obsoletes RFC 2976 [RFC2976]. For backward compatibility,
this document also specifies a "legacy" mode of usage of the INFO
method that is compatible with the usage previously defined in
RFC 2976, here referred to as "legacy INFO Usage".
For backward compatibility purposes, this document does not deprecate
legacy INFO usages, and does not mandate users to define Info
Packages for such usages. However:
1. A UA MUST NOT insert an Info-Package header field in a legacy
INFO request (as described in Section 4.2.1, an INFO request |
FUTURE TEACHERS
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BECOMING A TEACHER? Then consider taking appropriate mathematics courses as part of your undergraduate degree. There are and will be jobs for future teachers who are qualified to teach mathematics.
(This information was compiled by the Mathematics Teacher Education Task Force in April 2001. For the most up to date information, check with the Faculty of Education of your choice.) In Ontario the majority of future teachers complete a Consecutive teacher education Program. This means that they will complete an undergraduate BA, or BSc, etc., degree and then apply to one of the ten Faculties of Education to do a BEd degree. Some of the Faculties of Education collaborate with other Faculties to offer a Concurrent teacher education Program in which future teachers complete a BSc, or BA, etc., degree concurrently with a BEd degree. In other words students in a Concurrent Program are registered in two Faculties at the same time. Depending on the university, students are admitted into Concurrent Programs either immediately after high school or after completing one or two years of university. In Ontario a teacher completing a BEd degree will, if successful, be granted a teaching certificate at either the P/J (Primary/Junior - teaching qualification for teaching Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6), J/I (Junior/Intermediate - teaching qualification for teaching Grades 4 to 10), or I/S (Intermediate/Senior - teaching qualification for teaching Grades 8 to OAC) levels or divisions. The information that follows has been selected for anyone interested in becoming a teacher, whether you are now in high school or in university. If you are seriously considering becoming a teacher at any level we urge you to consider taking appropriate mathematics courses as part of your education. Ontario has a real and projected shortage of mathematics teachers at all levels. Projections show that Ontario is preparing only 44% of the number of secondary school mathematics teachers that will be required in the next five to ten years. |
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES
June 15-27, 2009 Summer School June 28-July 3, 2009 Conference in Geometric Representation Theory and Extended Affine Lie Algebras
at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Course Abstracts
Week 1: Joel Kamnitzer (University of Toronto)
Introduction to geometric representation theory
As an introduction to geometric representation theory, I will present three different constructions of the irreducible representations of GL_n. All three constructions involve the geometry of the flag variety and related varieties. We will begin with the most ``classical'' construction -- the Borel-Weil theorem, which constructs representations as sections of line bundles on the flag variety. Next, we will consider Ginzburg's construction of representations using the homology of partial Springer fibres. Finally, we will look at the geometric Satake correspondence, where we realize representations using the intersection homology of orbit closures in the affine Grassmannian. All our constructions generalize to all complex reductive groups, but we will focus on GL_n in order to simplify the notation and to make the geometry more transparent. It would be helpful if the participants know the representation theory of GL_n (classification of representations by highest weight) and some of the geometry of the flag variety, but these topics will be reviewed during the course.
Seaok-Jin Kang (Seoul National University)
Introduction to quantum groups and crystals
In this course, we will give an introduction to the theory of quantum groups and crystal bases. We will start with the basic theory of Kac-Moody algebras and their quantum deformation. We then move on to the crystal basis theory including tensor product rule, abstract crystals and global bases. As an illustration, the crystal bases for quantum general linear algebras will be realized as the crystals consisting of semistandard Young tableaux. Our main objective is to study the perfect crystals for quantum affine algebras. Using the fundamental crystal isomorphism theorem, we will give realizations of irreducible highest weight crystals in terms of Kyoto paths. Finally, we will discuss combinatorics of Young walls. The Young walls consist of colored blocks with various shapes and can be regarded as generalizations of Young diagrams. The irreducible highest weight crystals for classical quantum affine algebras will be realized as the affine crystals consisting of reduced Young walls.
Prerequisites: I will define and review Kac-Moody algebras and their representation theory. I will assume that students are familiar with the materials in the 1st year graduate algebra course, e.g. rings, modules, tensor product, but no more than that.
Erhard Neher (University of Ottawa)
Affine, toroidal and extended affine Lie algebras
The course will give an introduction to generalizations of affine Lie algebras. The focus will be on extended affine Lie algebras, whose structure theory will be presented: root systems, construction of extended affine Lie algebras in terms of generalized loop algebras, the so-called Lie tori. To illustrate the general theory we will present many examples, like toroidal algebras and extended affine Lie algebras associated to quantum tori and multiloop algebras.
Prerequisites: Basic theory of simple finite-dimensional Lie algebras. Some understanding of affine Lie algebras will be helpful, but not
required. WEEK 2: Weiqiang Wang (University of Virginia)
Nilpotent orbits and W algebras
In recent years, the (finite) W algebras associated to a simple Lie algebra $g$ and a nilpotent element of $g$ (which can be traced back to Kostant and Lynch) have been studied intensively by many people from different viewpoints including Premet, Skryabin, Brundan, Kleshchev, Gan, Ginzburg, an others. This mini-course is aimed at non-experts with a good background on basic Lie theory. We shall present some basic constructions, connections, and applications of finite W algebras over the complex field, with particular focus on type A, such
-- various equivalent definitions of W algebras.
-- independence of W algebras on good gradings.
-- Yangians and W algebras.
-- equivalence between module category of W algebras and Whittaker category of g-modules.
-- higher level Schur duality between W algebras and cyclotomic Hecke algebras
-- (if time permits), generalizations of W algebras to the affine, super, modular settings, etc.
Alistair Savage (University of Ottawa)
Geometric realizations of crystals This course will follow up on and combine ideas presented in the first week courses by Kang and Kamnitzer. In particular, Kamnitzer will discuss various varieties used in geometric realizations of representations of certain Lie algebras. In this course, we will see how one can use these varieties to obtain geometric realizations of the crystals (which are combinatorial objects) associated to these representations and introduced in the course by Kang. A typical construction will see the vertex set of a crystal appearing as the set of irreducible components of certain varieties, with the crystal operators being realized as natural geometric operations.
Vyjayanthi Chari (UC Riverside)
Representation theory of affine and toroidal Lie algebras
The plan of lectures is as follows.
Lecture 1: Representations of finite--dimensional simple Lie algerbas, the Harishchandra homomorphism, central characters. Lecture 2. Positive level representations of affine Lie algebras. Lectures 3 and 4. Level zero representations of affine Lie algebras. Lecture 5. The higher dimensional case. |
BLFR Joins Major Entities Like Boeing, NASA, and Peugeot who use 3D printing to Process Metal Components
BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) is exploring additive or 3D manufacturing techniques for the production of its proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bits. The process is expected to expand engineering capabilities and dramatically reduce costs.
Joining the likes of major entities such as Boeing, NASA and Peugeot who have successfully begun incorporating 3D processes to manufacture metal components, BLFR is positioning itself to begin integrating 3D technology into the production of its proprietary PDC drill bit. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is a proven technology currently being used to produce a wide variety of objects from consumer products to automotive parts. It is a process by which three-dimensional objects in a diversity of shapes are manufactured using digital models. Metallic, plastic, ceramic or composite materials can be employed using this process, which involves building the required object by adding successive layers of material to achieve the desired shape. 3D Printing Industry Expected to Grow to $6 Billion by 2017; $10.8 Billion by 2012
"Today, industrial additive systems are producing high grade metal parts with properties that match or exceed the properties of cast metal parts. In the future, we expect to see a greater variety of metal alloys available. " - Terry Wohlers, Leading Authority on 3D Printing
“The United States sits on some of the largest deposits of shale natural gas in the world. Gas reserves in the United States make the country the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.”
BLFR is THE FUTURE
OF DRILLING
Drilling reports from BlueFire’s customers indicate an average savings of three to four days on certain wells, which translated into a savings of up to $60,000 to $70,000 per well. These savings more than double when you consider the fact that one BLFR bit can potentially last several times longer than their competitor’s bits.
"We have had surprising results using the BlueFire drill bits. In fact, wells in which we were using 4-5 bits per well; we now use only one BlueFire bit." - BlueFire Customer
Permian Basin Exceeds $2.5 Billion Monthly Production Revenue
According to the Energy Research Department of Raymond James & Associates, Inc., the Permian Basin, one of the nation's most prolific conventional basins, is ready to begin another ramp-up in both investment and development.
Based upon current energy prices, the Permian Basin's million barrels per day production represents $2.5 billion to $3 billion a month in production revenue. Realizing the financial impact and magnitude of this sector of the energy industry, BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) has recently established a local business presence in the area to allow greater accessibility to the company's proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bit technology. BlueFire Equipment Corporation Chairman and CEO William A. Blackwell said, "BlueFire's mission is to provide high performance technology to drill wells more efficiently and economically." He added, "With the financial impact of oil production in this area, BlueFire is committed to ensuring operators can obtain the superior equipment they need along with responsive customer service." BlueFire's PDC drill bits are expected to become a sought-after commodity in the Permian Basin for their higher rates of penetration (ROP) and longer bit runs in hard rock formations and shales such as those found in the area. This proprietary bit may provide much faster and longer drilling without the need to stop and pull the entire drill pipe out of the well to replace a spent drill bit. According to recent findings, some wells can be drilled using a BlueFire bit without a single bit change, potentially saving considerable time and money for the driller. Last month, BlueFire announced it is working with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an additional drilling tool patent.
BLFR | CHANGING THE GAME!
The United States is at a crossroads. Oil is over $90 a barrel and natural gas is near a ten year low.
Recent advances in geological exploration and extraction techniques have revealed that the USA is sitting on some of the largest reserves of natural gas in the world. Due to recent technological paradigm shifts, the domestic oil and gas industry is booming and BLFR’s innovative technology is poised to meet this explosive growth.
Developments in Iran and Syria have spread geopolitical strife throughout much of the Middle East. But, despite these times of uncertainty, there seems to be a general consensus among analysts; inflation and global demand for oil is in the forecast.
If history is any indicator of times to come, this will follow with oil and gas prices skyrocketing! BLFR will be there to supply the inevitable demand for oil and gas equipment. With this newfound supply comes a surge of exploration and production companies that are competing to profit! BLFR is anticipating explosive growth in this field and is prepared to supply the needs of domestic oilfield operators as well as those abroad. At BLFR, they are developing solutions that will benefit customers as well as investors.
"Nationwide, oil and gas contributed nearly $238 billion to the U.S. economy in 2012. Oil and gas production currently supports more than 1.7 million U.S. jobs, and is projected to support nearly 3 million jobs by 2020."
The diamond teeth of drill bits are commonly known as PDC cutters. The runtimes of these diamond bits are usually determined by the limiting factors of pressure and friction. Drilling fluids are used to reduce the exposure of the bit to these harsh stratum conditions. Conventional bit designs have traditionally relied on two or three nozzles to aim the drilling fluid towards the bottom of the hole. The fluid then washes mud past the PDC cutters, in effect cleansing and cooling the point of contact. BLFR has improved upon this design by optimizing the thermodynamics and placement of nozzles on the bit. BLFR's patented design aligns the jets directly onto the cutter face. The result is a potentially higher ROP and increased run time of the bit. This could translate in to huge savings for operators and big gains for investors.
BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) reported today its 3D printing initiative is well underway for the production of its proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bits. Once in place, the process is expected to expand engineering capabilities and dramatically reduce costs. >>
BlueFire Equipment Corporation Files Patent with USPTO
New technology may unlock significant reserves - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) revealed today that it has filed a provisional patent application for its proprietary offshore production technology at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The filing is currently under review by a USPTO examiner. >>
BlueFire's 3D Research and Development Initiative Underway
Drill bit innovator joins leading edge industries using 3D manufacturing systems - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB:BLFR) revealed the formation of its 3D or additive manufacturing initiative for the production of its proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bits. >>
BlueFire Increases Competitive Advantage With 3D Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing of BlueFire drill bits holds prospect of industry paradigm shift - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) announced today it is exploring additive or 3D manufacturing techniques for the production of its proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bits. The process is expected to expand engineering capabilities and dramatically reduce costs. >>
Drilling Results Expand BlueFire's Opportunities in Powder River Basin
Rates of penetration exceeding expectations - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) announces drilling rates of penetration (ROP) in excess of 200 feet per hour in Powder River Basin, demonstrating excellent performance. The company's proprietary bit has already drilled over a mile, reaching a terminal depth of 7,800 feet at the Campbell County, Wyoming location. >>
Offshore Drilling Boom Fuels Opportunity for BlueFire
BlueFire preparing to develop advanced offshore production equipment - As reported by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), offshore drilling is booming in the Gulf of Mexico. In part this is due to the development of new technologies that reduce operational costs and risks, and new reservoir discoveries with high production wells. >>
BlueFire Attorney Finalizing Patent Application
Offshore production equipment design adds to BlueFire's intellectual property - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB:BLFR) announced today that its patent attorney is reviewing and finalizing a provisional patent application for its proprietary offshore production equipment. The new equipment design is yet another platform in BlueFire's growing portfolio of intellectual property, and is being filed as a direct result of recent meetings with an oil major regarding technology development. >>
BlueFire Establishes Research Lab in Houston Area
New facility to further energize research and development activities - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) disclosed today that it has established its new research lab. The high-tech space consists of a fully equipped lab for its dynamic research and development component, and will house BlueFire's corporate headquarters. >>
Russian Physicist Anatoli Borissov Rejoins BlueFire Team
Drill bit potentially lasts several times longer than conventional equipment - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) announced today that Dr. Anatoli Borissov will rejoin the company's team as its chief operating officer. >>
BlueFire technology expected to attract operators seeking superior performance - According to the Energy Research Department of Raymond James & Associates, Inc., the Permian Basin, one of the nation's most prolific conventional basins, is ready to begin another ramp-up in both investment and development. >>
Permian Basin Drillers Respond Favorably to BlueFire Products
Proprietary PDC drilling technology well received during CEO visit - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) announced today that its CEO William Blackwell has recently returned from a successful series of meetings in the Midland, Texas area. Blackwell met with prospective clients that were pleased to learn more about BlueFire's proprietary drill bit technology and indicated high interest in the company's products. >>
Company presence expected to generate substantial business in the region - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) announced today that it has signed an agreement with Midland, Texas agent Tom Willis to serve as its representative in the Permian Basin. Willis will facilitate a local business presence for BlueFire, allowing greater collaboration with customers in the region. He will make BlueFire's proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bit technology more accessible to drillers operating in the area and engage the company in other transactions for equipment and services. >>
Midland has always been an oil town, and now it is experiencing a resurgence of growth and prosperity - BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) announced today that it has commenced talks with exploration and production companies in the Midland, Texas, area regarding its proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bit technology. >>
BlueFire Set to Compete in U.S. Oil and Gas Resurgence
As the new U.S. oil boom continues to unfold, BlueFire Equipment Corporation (OTCQB: BLFR) announced today that its proprietary polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) drill bit technology is poised to be part of the technological advances driving the resurgence in oil and gas exploration. >>
Patented Bit Design
BlueFire (BLFR) has developed a patented bit design that could revolutionize the industry!
Cleaner & Cooler
BLFR's bits run cleaner and cooler resulting in higher rates of penetration and longer run times.
Reduced Drilling Costs
BLFR's drilling technology saves time and offers huge cost savings to operators.
PATENTED TECHNOLOGY
BLFR has patented a technology that could revolutionize the drilling industry!
BLFR’s engineers have spearheaded years of research and development into a groundbreaking design that results in a higher Rate of Penetration (ROP) and lower costs associated with drilling for hydrocarbons.
BLFR offers an economical solution for oil and gas companies with a new technology designed to reduce drilling costs.
This disruptive technology has already outperformed the competition in both field and laboratory settings. These studies have been evidenced by empirical data that illustrates the cost saving benefits of BLFR bits versus the competition.
Advances such as hydraulic fracturing are leading to record production that may outstrip refinery capacity within 18 months to three years, said Benjamin Salisbury, a senior energy policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. in Arlington, Virginia. Net petroleum imports now account for about 40 percent of demand, down from 60 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department research unit. “We have the capability here in the United States, in North America, to make OPEC NOPEC.”
All information on featured companies is provided by the companies profiled, or is available from public sources and FinancialDigest.info makes no representations, warranties or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the disclosure by the profiled companies. FinancialDigest.info, nor any of its affiliates are registered investment advisers or a broker dealers. FinancialDigest.info has been advised that the investments in companies profiled are considered to be high risk and use of the information provided is at the investor’s sole risk. FinancialDigest.info has also been advised that the purchase of such high-risk securities may result in the loss of some or all of the investment. Investors should not rely solely on the information presented. Rather, investors should use the information provided by the profiled companies as a starting point for doing additional independent research on the profiled companies in order to allow the investor to form his or her own opinion regarding investing in the profiled companies. Factual statements made by the profiled companies are made as of the date stated and are subject to change without notice. Investing in micro-cap securities is highly speculative and carries an extremely high degree of risk. It is possible that an investor’s entire investment may be lost or impaired due to the speculative nature of the companies profiled. FinancialDigest.info makes no recommendation that the securities of the companies profiled should be purchased, sold or held by individuals or entities that learn of the profiled companies through FinancialDigest.info. |
We are indebted to Winston Nunn for making this picture possible Our Church History
The Christian Church of Glasgow has always adjusted its house of worship to the advancing times. Faith and fellowship has sufficed in solving all problems and surviving all changes in the 167 years since our founding fathers erected their first structure of primitive logs and puncheon floor to the spacious edifice of brick, glass and steel we gratefully enjoy today.
The earliest documented evidence of our beginning is provided by Mrs. Fred Ganter from her family papers. She has preserved a letter dated May 10, 1831 from Alexander Campbell to her ancestor, George W. Trabue, asking, “Are the reports true concerning your church I have seen in The Chronicle?”
This report probably refers to the Glasgow Baptist Church, established in 1818, of which Elder Trabue was a charter member. Minutes of the Green River Baptist Association reveal that as early as 1830, the Baptists were expelling Reformers who had been swayed by the teachings of Alexander Campbell. In 1831 and 1832, the Association seated the the minority group from the Glasgow Baptist Church indicating that the majority group was in disfavor.
These were the years of unyielding division and separation among the older churches as their members flocked to Campbell. Thus, these recorded facts provide the evidence that 1830 to 1832 were the years that members of other churches, notably the Baptists, united with Campbellism to form the First Christian Church of Glasgow. Prior to that time, first organization meetings were held in the homes. It is also a recorded fact that there was an established church here when Campbell came to meet with them in 1835.
THE LITTLE LOG CHURCH
Somewhere along the Milestones of Time, our early church records and with them memory of our first church were lost. Dr. R.H. Grinstead, the oldest and only historian of our church, wrote of this church in a 1900 article in the Glasgow Times. Elder Grinstead relates: “This first church was located on the corner of Green and Wayne Streets. It was one story and built of varied size logs, both knotty and smooth. A door swung on wooden hinges, both creaky and wheezy. A window faced a pond that extended from Wayne Street to the Odd Fellows Building. It served as both meeting house and school, (as Campbellites were barred from the churches of the sects).
The benches were made of the very softest white oak logs that could be found. They were split, with the soft side up, so that adults and children could sit on them in as much comfort as possible. Legs were attached, but no backs. In school, my feet swung six inches from the puncheon floor. There was the eternal “Mind your books”, as teacher struck the table with a hickory sprout.
On Sundays, every member of every family was present. It was a day recognized primarily to break bread. Preaching was a secondary consideration, since regular pastors were seldom to be had. Watts hymns were used and there were the soul-stirring meetings of Campbell, Creath, Stone, Steel and Mulkey.
This humble church was evidently built for Rev. John Newton Mulkey, son of the founder of Old Mulkey Meeting House in Monroe County about 1830. No deed has been found, but the Eubanks owned practically that whole block at that time. If not torn away, when our adjoining second church was completed, it possibly became the Emmett Williams Wagon and Blacksmith Shop, for the site was sold to Williams in 1878 by Rev. Mulkey, and part of the purchase price was “a good two horse wagon, with spring seat and brake”.
THE BRICK CHURCH
During the Civil War, services were held every Sunday. We stood between battle lines, as sometimes Confederates and sometimes Federal troops occupied the town. Notable ministers of this era included Isaac Reneau, a brilliant speaker who rode horseback from Tennessee to fill appointments once a month. He also established many of the Cumberland County churches. He remained in charge several intervals, but there was only occasional preaching until Rev. Creel located here in 1863. Joseph Callahan had been called as regular pastor in the 1850′s, but his term was cut short by his death here in 1856. A native of Georgia, he had previously served the Franklin, Ky. church.
In 1865, Elder Caleb W. Sewell was called as pastor and organized the second church-sponsored school. It was widely acclaimed as one of the best in the state. Called the Male and Female Academy, it was the first to teach boys and girls together. Subjects included spelling, reading, penmanship, literature, natural and moral science, music, French, Latin and Greek. Unfortunately, in 1866, Rev. Sewell was called to another church and his school quickly declined. His daughter married Charles Weaver, then Mayor of Louisville. she was killed in a wreck of one of the first automobiles placed on the market. This church burned, shortly after it was sold to the Methodists, in 1902.
Ministers serving during the 1880′s and 1890′s were: Wallace Tharpe, ______ Campbell, J.W. Masters, R.H. Crossfield, W.E. Ellis and William Baker who lives in memory as “The Peace Maker”. He was a vital force in making the church whole again, after its division of that era.
Elder W.L. Porter, our second historian, wrote of our second church. Possibly inspired by the visit of Alexander Campbell in 1835, the site adjoined the log church, on Green Street, and was completed in 1837, on a lot donated by James Eubank and his wife. It was about 60 by 40 feet, on a site that rose 15 feet above the street level. There was a front platform, 15 feet wide, with steps extending the width of the church as an approach.
There were two front doors, the right one for men and the left one for women, who seated themselves on their respective sides. The floor was elevated toward the rear, where colored members entered from a door on the north side. The pulpit was centered between the doors, with the cupola and belfry overhead. The bell that hung in the belfry was reserved for the third church and called the faithful to prayer for 120 years.
This building was occupied without a break for 65 years. It had neither baptistry nor instrumental music, but the congregational singing was very superior. The ordinance of Baptism was in the creek at the “Bush” hole (South Fork Creek just south of the bridge on East Main). This writer, together with Col. J.E. Evans and W.E. Taylor were baptised there in the summer of 1858 by Rev. Jesse Smith, an evangelist. There was not always a minister but never was there a cessation of morning worship. Elders B. Mills Crenshaw and George W. Trabue would conduct services consisting of singing and prayer, which also followed administration of The Lords Supper and communion.
THE COLUMBIA AVENUE CHURCH
There were questions that troubled all denominations and our church was no exception. Slavery was the first serious one. Slave owners, after the most wealthy and influential members, were subjected to censorship and disfavor as imposed in church discipline, which involved the question of authority of the Elders. Bitter sentiments rooted in these questions continued among members, after the Civil War and climaxed in 1889 and 1890. About 44 members who favored open trial by the full membership rather than by the Elders, withdrew themselves to establish a second Christian Church in 1891. They bought a lot on Columbia Avenue from Meredith Reynolds, where they built their church, called the Columbia Avenue or Second Christian Church.
In this group, there were many music loving attendants with outstanding talent. They installed a small organ and Dr. L.E. Williams, a brother of their pastor, Lawrence Williams, devoted much time and his fine talent to developing a superior choir that was an added spiritual inspiration to the members. This church soon became as large as its parent church. Its pastors included: William F. Rogers, Charles E. Powell, William E. Stanley (father of former Governor Owsley Stanley), Robert Boatman and Robert Graham Frank.
THE REUNITED CHURCH ON THE SQUARE
The journal of Elder S.T. Purcell, our third historian, relates the changes in religious trends as we approached the 20th century. Both branches of the church were flourishing but the old ties of faith and love were not forgotten, Neither felt quite whole. The respective pastors, Baker and Williams, between whom there was also a deep tie of love and respect, had the needed qualities of leadership under the circumstances. With Baker taking the initiative, they soon succeeded in reuniting the two bodies, almost unanimously.
Official Boards and leaders of both churches met and combined. Agreement was harmoniously reached to sell both churches and build a new one large enough to accommodate the combined membership. The lot on the public square was purchased from George H. Walton in 1900. A disastrous fire that destroyed a third of the square delayed building the better part of that year, but plans were completed.
During the interim of building, services were conducted alternately in the two former churches. When one church could no longer accommodate the swelling membership, the little organ was moved into the courthouse, where they met for a time, and where a great revival was held with J’H.O. Smith as evangelist, his parents having been former members of the old church.
Meanwhile, the Columbia Avenue site had been sold to the Knights of Pythias in 1903 and the Green Street site to the Methodists in 1902. A few years later it burned, and the Methodists rebuilt on the site.
Our fourth historian, Elder W.P. Combs, carried forward the records of our progress on the square. the Building Committee selected included Dr. S.T. Purcell, Chairman, W.P. Coombs, Secretary, W.L. Porter, Joe W. Smith, J.F. Walker, W.C. Turner, Dr. Joe S. Leech, R.L. Paull and L.F. Ganter. A sufficient amount was subscribed to justify letting the contract to L.W. Jones, with Mrs. M.J. Button and W.H. Jones as sureties.
The beautiful stained glass windows were all memorial gifts and were recorded in permanent appreciation.
The few members representing the very conservative element who could not reconcile themselves to the liberal movement of the majority, especially regarding music and missions, found spiritual satisfaction in joining the Church of Christ, which represented the conservative wing of Campbellism teachings, and was recognized as a distinct union in Glasgow when they bought from W. Comer the old Methodist church on Main Street opposite the Plaza Theater in 1905. They removed to the old church site on Green Street in 1913, purchased from the Methodists who had completed a new building on their present site.
Movement for the Sunday School Building was started by Rev. Roy H. Biser in 1923 and became the fulfilled goal of Rev. T.H. Alderson who followed him in 1926. Under Alderson, the Vacation Bible School was organized and a report of his entire ministry was placed on file. In 1928, a Church Directory was also started.
Our church was without a constitution or by-laws until 1964, rules having been set up whenever occasion called for them. A committee with J.B. Galloway as chairman, wrote our first constitution and by-laws, and on December 13th of that year, the church adopted it.
The complete list of pastors for the church on the square is as follows: William M. Baker, James E. Payne, Obed W. Darnold, Joseph D. Watters, Phillip F. King, Harvey Baker Smith, W.K. Clemons, Ernest W. Elliott, T. Hassel Bowen, Roy H. Biser, T.H. Alderson, Kenneth McCorkle, T.F. Reavis (Interim), Paul C. Duncan, T.H. Alderson (Interim) and R. Henry Campbell.
THE CHURCH HIGH ON A HILL
It was in May 1945, that a dedicated member dropped a $500.00 check in the collection plate, marked “For building expenses”. At the time, her intent did not extend beyond a fund for any building contingency that might arise. That check was placed in a special building fund and the ensuing 23 years saw us work and give, nourishing that fund beginning until it grew to make this church possible.
Almost eight acres of land were purchased on the north Jackson Highway from Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm McComas on March 30, 1959. Dr. Paul S. York was chairman of the Church Board at that time. It was not until October 2, 1966, on World Wide Communion Day, under the leadership of Gov. Louie B. Nunn, Board Chairman, that ground breaking ceremonies were held, after serious deliberation on the type building the majority wanted and perfection of the plans by architects Dixon Rapp and Edwin A. Keeble, Associates. The Board of Church Extension of The Christian Church was also consulted in an advisory capacity.
Thru all the seasons, work progressed steadily and the next momentous date was “Moving Sunday”, March 31, 1968. Sixty-six steadfast years of worship on the square were concluded after informal farewell talks, Bible School and communion. Then every member joined in gathering up our possessions along with our memories and our faith, to transfer to the new church. Cars of the movers formed an unbroken line extending from the old site to the new, a solemn, tremulous journey.
There, the morning service continued with the door unlocking ceremony. Dr. Rex Hayes, chairman of the Building Committee, presented the keys to Dr. Fred Ganter, chairman of the Board, through the construction and moving days. He then turned them over to Garnet Nance, chairman of the Property Committee, who opened the doors of the sanctuary for members to be seated for the choir singing and sermon.
On the following Palm Sunday, April 7th, the first full service was held, beginning with the choir’s anthem, “Open The Gates of the Temple”. Fifteen new members were received, with baptismal services held for them in the afternoon. |
College Inn Turkey Broth (32 oz)
Brand: College Inn Manufactured by: College Inn Allergens:
Turkey Broth, Salt, Dextrose, Yeast Extract Autolyzed, Water, Flavor(s) Natural, Turkey Fat, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybean(s), Salt) , Egg(s) Yolks, Whey Cultured (Milk) Ingredient Color Key:
Contains Wheat, Milk, Soy, And Egg Ingredients. Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 cup
Total Calories 40Total Calories from Fat 0
Ingredient InformationTurkey BrothA A A Turkey is a large, widely domesticated North American bird with white plumage and a bare, wattled head and neck. The name turkey was originally applied to an African bird now known as the guinea fowl, which was believed to have originated in Turkey. When the Europeans came upon the American turkey, they thought it was the same bird as the African guinea fowl, and so gave it the name turkey, although the two species are quite distinct. Turkey is low in fat and high in protein. It is an inexpensive source of iron, zinc, phosphorus, potassium and B vitamins. Did you ever wonder why the breast and wings of chickens and turkeys have white meat while the legs and thighs are dark? The explanation is a physiological one involving the function of muscles, which gives some insight into humans as well as animals. The dark coloration is not due to the amount of blood in muscles but rather to a specific muscle type and it's ability to store oxygen.
Americans typically consume 4,000-8,000 mg each day, well above their daily needs. A goal for moderation for all adults, (including pregnancy and lactation) is approximately 2,400 mg of sodium per day.Ingredient InformationDextroseA A A Also called corn sugar and grape sugar, dextrose is a naturally occurring form of GLUCOSE.
GLUCOSE: The most common form of this sugar is dextroglucose, a naturally occurring form commonly referred to as DEXTROSE (also called corn sugar and grape sugar). This form of glucose has many sources including grape juice, certain vegetables and honey. It has about half the sweetening power of regular sugar. Because it doesn't crystallize easily, it's used to make commercial candies and frostings, as well as in baked goods, soft drinks and other processed foods. Corn syrup is a form of glucose made from cornstarch.Ingredient InformationYeast Extract AutolyzedA A A Yeast Extract Autolyzed
Bottled Water: Some types of bottled water are not subject to the same regulations as tap water. These are regulated as food products, and their regulations are largely related to sanitary food handling and processing practices. Bottled water manufacturers will provide a detailed report on the quality of their product to consumers who call to request it.Ingredient InformationFlavor(s) NaturalA A A Flavor(s) Natural
Ingredient InformationTurkey FatA A A Turkey is a large, widely domesticated North American bird with white plumage and a bare, wattled head and neck. The name turkey was originally applied to an African bird now known as the guinea fowl, which was believed to have originated in Turkey. When the Europeans came upon the American turkey, they thought it was the same bird as the African guinea fowl, and so gave it the name turkey, although the two species are quite distinct. Turkey is low in fat and high in protein. It is an inexpensive source of iron, zinc, phosphorus, potassium and B vitamins. Did you ever wonder why the breast and wings of chickens and turkeys have white meat while the legs and thighs are dark? The explanation is a physiological one involving the function of muscles, which gives some insight into humans as well as animals. The dark coloration is not due to the amount of blood in muscles but rather to a specific muscle type and it's ability to store oxygen.
Ingredient InformationWaterWater is the most abundant nutrient in our body and plays an important transmission function in every body cell and tissue. Sixty percent of our body weight is water. The fact that you can live without food for a long period of time, even months, but live only for a few days without water is true. Under normal conditions, the body releases about one quart of water daily. Therefore, replacement to equal the losses is very important for survival.
Ingredient InformationSoybean(s)There are over 1,000 varieties of this nutritious LEGUME, ranging in size from as small as a pea to as large as a cherry. Soybean pods, which are covered with a fine tawny to gray fuzz, range in color from tan to black. The beans themselves come in various combinations of red, yellow, green, brown and black. Their flavor is generally quite bland, which may explain why they weren't embraced by Western cultures until their nutritive value was discovered. Unlike other legumes, the soybean is low in carbohydrates and high in protein and desirable oil. Because they're inexpensive and nutrition-packed, soybeans are used to produce a wide variety of products
Americans typically consume 4,000-8,000 mg each day, well above their daily needs. A goal for moderation for all adults, (including pregnancy and lactation) is approximately 2,400 mg of sodium per day.Ingredient InformationSoy SauceA A A Soy Sauce
The addition of soy sauce into food involves the consumer ingesting monosodium glutamate (MSG) as well. The process of fermenting soy when producing soy sauce breaks down the soy into its components. Soy protein is one of them, releasing free gultamic acid into the soy sauce, also known as MSG. Most types of soy sauce, organic or low sodium, must ferment the soybeans to produce the rich, meaty flavor. Naturally brewed soy sauce is controversial on whether it contains MSG or not. Using traditional Japanese methods, the soy bean is fermented using lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. Chemically produced soy sauce has a weaker aroma and flavor, compensating the lack of flavor with MSG. The effects of consumption of too much high-sodium soy sauce can also lead to hyper-tension which involves increased heart rate and high blood pressure. |
Food-based supplement delivery system Title: Food-based supplement delivery system.Abstract: A cookie or other food product which is designed to deliver a larger dose of cinnamon to a human user without significant introduction of food items detrimental to cinnamon's expected medicinal action and without an unpleasant taste sensation. The cookie is designed to be chewed as opposed to swallowed and the flavoring of the cinnamon is intended to enhance the cookie as opposed to the flavoring of the cinnamon being covered up or concealed by other flavorings. ...
A cookie or other food product which is designed to deliver a larger dose of cinnamon to a human user without significant introduction of food items detrimental to cinnamon's expected medicinal action and without an unpleasant taste sensation. The cookie is designed to be chewed as opposed to swallowed and the flavoring of the cinnamon is intended to enhance the cookie as opposed to the flavoring of the cinnamon being covered up or concealed by other flavorings.
This disclosure relates to the field of delivery mechanisms for supplements, such as nutritional supplements or other materials thought to have medicinal value, which delivery mechanisms comprise placing the supplement in a food-based substrate which is designed to enhance the supplement.
It is an old adage in medicine that the only difference between a medicine and a poison is in the amount consumed. Recent medical science continues to confirm this general proposition. Certain materials when consumed in relatively small quantities are “medicinal” while consumption in larger quantities can be detrimental (e.g. red wine). Alternatively, certain materials which are commonly present in food (e.g. vitamins) when provided in significantly greater quantities than is normally present in food can provide increased health benefits.
One such material where the latter appears to be true is cinnamon. Cinnamon is believed to act as an appetite suppressant as well as providing other health benefits when taken in a sufficient dose. Cinnamon is also currently used in a variety of food items such as cereals, breads, candies, and cookies as a flavoring. However, the inclusion of cinnamon in these foods as a flavoring is in a relatively small dose. While there may be some limited health benefit from ingestion of this cinnamon, flavoring, and not health benefits, is the primary purpose of its inclusion in these products and in most the percentage of cinnamon is insufficient to provide for any meaningful benefit without undue consumption of the food item.
As one ready example, the consumption of cinnamon is believed to have appetite suppressant effects and assist in controlling blood sugar if consumed in amounts above 1 gram per dose. However, a foodstuff using cinnamon as a flavoring generally includes only a small percentage of cinnamon and also includes a relatively large amount of fats, sugars and other undesirable food elements which would counteract the nutritional benefit as an appetite suppressant and increase blood sugar by adding additional sugar to the diet. Consumption of such foodstuffs to gain the benefit of an appetite suppressant would therefore be generally contraindicated. Therefore, these products do not serve as an effective method for cinnamon delivery.
There has recently been a push to provide for supplements in a more consumable as opposed to medicational form. Children's chewable vitamins are a basic example of these which have existed for many years. Specifically, they have provided the supplement (in this case a vitamin supplement) in a form which is designed to be eaten and has an acceptable taste as opposed to simply being swallowed. This form is still, however, in many respects medicational. The product is not really a consumable “food” but is simply a tablet in a chewable form that then has an artificial flavoring added to cover the taste of the supplements.
The taste and consumption profile of these chewable tablets does not try to provide for a desirable consumption experience, but to disguise the “medicational” nature of the supplement in a form that is still essentially a tablet. Because of this, strong tasting artificial flavorings are commonly used and the structure is usually selected to provide for a minimal eating experience. In effect, the vitamins are simply made chewable to make them capable of being eaten by an individual who is likely going to be taste adverse to the straight supplement and is unable (or unwilling to attempt) to safely swallow a standard tablet.
Outside of chewable vitamin, a number of supplements have also tried to use food substrates as carriers. Many of these utilize placing the supplement into chocolate or into something that is effectively candy (e.g. a “gummy bear”). While this can make the supplement a desirable treat or snack and increase willingness to consume the supplement, in many cases the food support is detrimental to the user. In the case of such candies, the benefit of taking the supplement may be present, but consumption of these may have other negative effects (such as introduction of a large amount of refined sugar, fat, or caffeine).
Cinnamon and a number of other supplements (such as but not limited to ginger), can also have other significant problems in being used with the above food delivery systems. For one, they have very strong tastes and therefore when provided in a chewable form, the taste can overwhelm any flavoring designed to cover them up or provide for an unpleasant interactive taste. Further, cinnamon, in particular, has a benefit of having effects related directly to food consumption and digestion. This benefit is lost if the cinnamon is provided with too significant a food substance because the carrier, in effect, counteracts some or all of the cinnamon's benefit. Therefore, including cinnamon in a solid chocolate, high fat, or high carbohydrate carrier could, in fact, provide little to no benefit or even be detrimental to the desired purpose of taking cinnamon in the first place.
For these and other reasons there are described herein systems and methods for providing a nutritional supplement, specifically a supplement which is itself a desirable food product and does not introduce significant calories or other materials which could counteract the benefit of the supplement. The food product is generally designed to utilize the natural flavor of the supplement to enhance the food as opposed to trying to cover it and providing for a pleasant eating experience to allow for the supplement to act not only as a supplement, but also as a food substitute. There is also described herein a food product produced by such methods and systems.
In an embodiment of the invention, the resultant product balances the cinnamon ingredient with other ingredients so as to make the oral chewing and swallowing of a relatively large amount of cinnamon a pleasing experience, while at the same time minimizing in the food product materials which would serve to counteract the cinnamon's benefit to the consumer. Specifically, the food carrier is designed to be relatively low calorie while still tasting pleasant and providing an enjoyable eating experience. The food product provides a medicinal dose of cinnamon, while providing a sufficiently tasteful and complementary food product to the cinnamon taste along with keeping the detrimental health impact (that is total calories of consumption as well as consumption of negative food products such as fats and refined carbohydrates) of the food product to an acceptable low.
Though direct cinnamon taste may be diluted via the chew process, there are significant other utilitarian benefits of actually chewing and tasting a physical product in one's mouth versus bypassing this process by swallowing a capsule or tablet whole. Food products of the invention also possess enough bulk that parts of the product is swallowed without chewing action being present on each bit of cinnamon providing for consumption of a greater quantity without necessarily a corresponding increase in taste sensation.
Described herein, among other things is a composition of matter comprising: about 0.5 grams to about 3 grams of cinnamon per 20 grams of total matter by weight; precooked grain; and a low-glycemic sugar or mostly low-glycemic sugar.
In an embodiment of the composition the precooked grain comprises wheat such as, but not limited to, crushed shredded wheat or crushed wheat flakes.
In an embodiment of the composition the precooked grain comprises dehydrated cooked rice.
In other embodiments of the composition the cinnamon comprises Ceylon cinnamon, cassia cinnamon, or any combination of the two.
In embodiment of the composition, the low-glycemic sugar comprises honey, such as, but not limited to, agave honey and/or comprises sugar alcohol such as, but not limited to, xylitol and/or erythritol.
In an embodiment, the composition also comprises, molasses, bee honey, additional dry sweetener, ground ginger root, sea salt, vanilla extract, vanilla powder, nutmeg, cloves, and/or brown sugar.
There is also described herein a method of obtaining cinnamon by a human consumer the method comprising: providing a food substance comprising at least 2.5% by weight of cinnamon, having a human user consume the food substance by chewing the food substance.
There is also described herein a food substance for providing a medicinal dose of cinnamon wherein the cinnamon provide for an integral part of the flavoring of the food substance, the food substance comprising: at least 2.5% by weight of cinnamon; pre cooked grain; and a low-glycemic sugar; wherein the food substance has a weight of between about 10 to about 18 grams.
In embodiment of the food substance, the low-glycemic sugar comprises a sugar alcohol and/or a honey such as, but not limited to, agave honey.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)
To-date consumers lack a cinnamon consumption option for the purposes of consuming cinnamon in quantities thought to be medicinal in a form that is palate pleasing (in terms of taste), interesting (i.e. in terms of a chew process), aromatic (i.e. in terms of a pleasing smell), convenient in terms of ease of quick use, ease of maintaining freshness for long periods and ease of daily availability in terms of keeping cinnamon on one's body for later consumption during the day. This can be especially true since cinnamon consumption during or after a meal is believed to be beneficial and is the recommended timing for cinnamon capsule consumption by many manufacturers. People consume many of their meals away from home or in other settings where adding cinnamon to the food/beverage they are consuming would require significant extra effort and likely provide for unpleasant taste interaction.
Because of this, in its preferred form, the food substance is a ready-made, easy-to-carry, delivery method/product—other than cinnamon capsules/tablets which lack some of the consumer satisfying “eating characteristics” since they are swallowed whole. Attempting to chew such tablets or capsules generally produces an undesirable dry, bitter, and tart taste and chew process and would generally be actively discouraged.
This disclosure will discuss a product which is generally referred to as a cinnamon supplement food product and a process and method for producing such a food product. The product is generally designed for consumption by humans and can be provided in a convenient to carry and consume ready-to-eat food substance incorporating a typical medicinal dose of cinnamon and having positive palate ratings in terms of taste and chewing sensations relative to other ready-to-consume medicinal cinnamon modalities. The food substance is also designed to not significantly negate the positive effects of cinnamon consumption, nor include any significant amount of ingredients known to be deleterious to good health if consumed in abundance, such as, but not limited to, fat, sugar, carbohydrates and sodium. In this way, the food product is designed to provide for health benefits for increased cinnamon consumption without introducing major deleterious health effects from consumption of the food substance.
It should be recognized that certain terms within this disclosure are intended to have certain meaning and are used specifically. This disclosure will discuss the cinnamon being provided as part of a foodstuff, food substrate, food product, food substance, or food. The term “food” is used herein to indicate that the cinnamon carrier is intended to be chewed and tasted, as opposed to being swallowed whole (in the manner of a tablet) or drunk A food will generally be chewed and therefore ground into smaller pieces in the act of chewing, before being swallowed. This will also result in the food being tasted when it is chewed by an ordinary human user Further, a food goes beyond a simple product which is just designed to be chewed. The product is designed to act as a food substitute having pleasant taste, chewing characteristics, and sufficient mass to feel satisfying to a human user, so as to potentially work as an alternative to a less healthy snack or dessert.
This one gram may be provided in a single food substrate or may be provided on multiple substrates which are intended to act as a single “consumable dose.” For example, the about 1 gram may be provided in a single food substrate bar, or may be provided across two substrate pieces, which, in combination, have similar weight to the bar. Generally, a serving of food substance will be an amount of between 16 and 35 grams, more preferably about 20-28 grams and still more preferably about 24 grams. This amount is generally about the normal serving size for packaged cookies or similar foods. Therefore it would be generally preferred for a single gram of cinnamon be provided in every 16-35 grams of food substance. It should be recognized, however, that the concept of a consumable dose does not require that that specific consumable dose be consumed in any sitting or over any time period. For that reason the ratio of about 1 gram of cinnamon may be present in every 16-35 grams of food substance, regardless of the amount of food substance which is to be consumed at any one time, in any time period, or in any one form as provided to a consumer.
As should be apparent from the above, a consumable dose refers to the amount of food substrate that the user is intended to consume in a single instance. As the food substrate provided herein is designed, in an embodiment, to act as a dessert substitute, the food substrate will generally be in the form of two small biscuits, cookies, or bars which are intended to be consumed together and therefore comprise a consumable dose. Further, the food substrate, in this way, can act as a substitute for alternative desserts and be consumed immediately following a meal (as is often recommended to gain medicinal effect from cinnamon). The use of multiple pieces in the single serving is preferred as it can make the consumption a longer task and the food substance to appear more substantial than if it was in a single piece. Further, the cookie form can provide for desirable substitution of the supplement and food substance for a food which generally has minimal health benefits.
In an alternative embodiment, the food substance can be assembled, but then be crumbled, crushed, or powdered and added to other food items (such as, but not limited to, acting as a topping for yogurt or salad) to provide for the same ration of cinnamon to food substance ingredients. This method is generally not preferred at this time due to the potential introduction of extra calories form the underlying consumable on which the food substance is placed. However, for consumption of the product for certain individuals it may be desirable and provides for an alternative manner of consumption of the product.
The food item, as contemplated in an embodiment, comprises a cooked biscuit or “cookie” that is designed to provide for a medicinal dose of cinnamon, while at the same time avoiding the inclusion of undesirable food elements such as excess fat, excess simple carbohydrates, or unnecessary calories. It is further desired that the cookie be designed to be shelf stable under standard conditions for a relatively long period of time. In this way the term “cookie” is a bit of a misnomer because the food substance described herein does not include many of the hallmark ingredients of a cookie. However, as the food substance is designed to be eaten after a meal or as a satisfying snack, which can be used to curb future hunger and improve blood sugar load, reference to a dessert item such as a cookie is logical.
The cookie will generally include a medicinal amount of cinnamon Generally, the amount will be selected to have about between 0.5 and about 1.5 grams of cinnamon per cookie with the idea of providing at least 1 gram of cinnamon in every consumable dose with a consumable dose comprising one to three cookies. Again, the preferred ratio of cinnamon is about 1 gram to about 16 to about 35 grams of food substance.
The cinnamon included may be any combination of available cinnamons but it is preferred that the resultant cinnamon comprise about 50% or more Ceylon cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon has a generally milder taste than more common cassia cinnamon. By keeping the percentage of Ceylon cinnamon higher, the resultant taste is often more pleasant. However, cassia cinnamon is generally significantly cheaper to produce and may include unique health benefits not present in Ceylon cinnamon. Therefore, the two may be intermixed to provide for a more cost effective production scheme, a different supplement profile, and a slightly different taste. Further, it should be recognized that while use of a mixture of cinnamons is preferred, it is by no means required and the cookie may be made with 100% cassia or 100% Ceylon cinnamon or with any other cinnamon or combination of cinnamons which may or may not include either of the above.
The food substrate into which the cinnamon is added will generally include a number of other ingredients. As the substance is designed to be a food which is eaten as a dessert substitute, it is desirable for the substance to be able to provide a 16-35 gram serving size common in desserts.
In order to provide mass and texture, the food substrate will generally include various grains which are generally crushed or pulverized. The exact size of the resultant particulate material is not specifically required, but in a preferred embodiment the grains will generally be larger than about 0.5 mm in major dimension (about the size of a grain of salt) and smaller than about 7 mm in major dimension (about the size of a grain of rice). However, at least a portion of the grain is preferably a flour and often a gluten free flour (such as a bean flour) because it is believed that inclusion of such a material can assist with the binding. Use of a gluten free flour is generally preferred as it can result in a stiffer and chewier product. Flours will generally have a grain size smaller than crushed particulate grains, but that is by no means required or necessary. It is also generally preferred that fat free flours be used.
In an embodiment, it is preferred that the grain mix include mostly or exclusively grains which are cooked prior to addition to the food substrate mixture as this can improve shelf life and texture. Precooked flours may be used, however, in one embodiment, other precooked grains and grain mixtures (such as cereals) may be crushed and utilized. In an embodiment, the principle grain will be wheat since it generally is shelf stable once cooked however grains such as oats, corn, rice, barley, millet, flax, hemp, or other grains may be included or substituted. Further, it is generally preferred that a mixture of grains and/or grain forms be used and not a singular grain form alone. Use of a single grain can result in the product having an undesirable texture which is more uniform and lacks distinctiveness and which provides a less pleasant eating experience than if a variety of grain forms are used.
In an embodiment, the same grain can be used in multiple forms. Specifically, wheat can be partially supplied in a shredded or ribbon form (such as in shredded wheat cereals) which is crushed after cooking and partially in flake (molded) form (such as in crushed Wheaties™ and Weetabix™ cereals) which is crushed after cooking. These can be combined as the forms generally have different textures.
In a still further embodiment, the cookie includes precooked dehydrated rice as a further grain. This type of product is commonly sold as Minute Rice™ or Instant Rice™ and comprises rice which has been cooked and then dehydrated. The rice is generally not rehydrated prior to being placed in the mixture but is placed in dry form where it provides a slightly chewy texture.
There will generally also include a binder and sweetener. So as to avoid refined white sugar and the attendant caloric and glycemic load, it is preferred that low-glycemic sugars be used. In an embodiment, these include sugar alcohols (or polyols) such as xylitol, erythritol, or sorbitol be utilized. In another embodiment, low glycemic sugars such as honeys (e.g. Agave Honey) may be used as a lox glycemic sugar. These low glycemic sugars are generally used in combination. It should be recognized that it is not necessary for the resultant food to be low glycemic, but it is generally preferred that excess or unnecessary glycemic load is avoided.
Sugar alcohols are generally preferred to be included (either alone or in combination) since they are generally considered to have little to no effect on blood sugar or insulin levels. As such, their inclusion provides for sweeteners and therefore improved taste without serving to increase blood sugar and therefore potentially cancel out the expected benefit of blood sugar regulation from the cinnamon intake.
In an embodiment, the sugar alcohols are provided crystallized as dry sweeteners. However, they may be used in liquid form in an embodiment. In an embodiment, liquid sweeteners such as honey and molasses also act as a binder. In alternative embodiments, the dry sweetener may be removed and additional wet sweetener may be used or vice versa. Further, other sugar alcohols or sugars may be added in a liquid or crystallized form.
The honey is preferably a combination of agave and bee honey although other honeys or combinations of honey may be used. Agave honey and many similar sweeteners are desirable to be used as they also provide for a relatively low glycemic load and therefore may be considered low-glycemic sugars. Alternative sweeteners such as Agave or other honeys alone or in combination with sugar alcohols are often preferred as consumption of large quantities of sugar alcohol has been known to cause diarrhea and gas. Therefore, it is preferable that the product have less than 15% sugar alcohol by mass and more preferable that it have less than 10% sugar alcohol by mass.
The binders are generally preferred to be heat activated and serve to alter their structure once exposed to heat. These are often sugars which can change crystalline structure after being heated. The food substance will generally not use binders that work best at room temperature since those are often insufficient to create a desirable resultant texture.
As contemplated above, some of the sweeteners will comprise liquids and some solids. It is generally preferred that about 25% to about 40% of the total ingredients (by mass) comprise liquids to provide for a resultant product which is moldable. In an embodiment, it is preferred that about 34% of the materials be liquid with the rest being solid. This is generally believed to be a lower percentage of liquids than is common in many cookie mixtures which results in a mixed dough which is more crumbly until being heated.
As is understood by those in the art, materials which lack sufficient liquid may not suitably bind, even when exposed to heat, which can result in the cookie being overly crumbly, therefore reducing the liquids to below 25% is generally undesired. At the same time, increasing the percentage of “wet” ingredients (that is, ingredients including water) is generally undesirable as it makes the resulting product also lack structure. It is generally desirable, to maintain a relatively low glycemic load and enhance the effectiveness of the cinnamon, that the food substance comprise less than about 25% sugar with less than about 10% sugar alcohol with around 20-40% of the sugar being sugar alcohols.
In addition to the above, a number of flavoring ingredients may also be included to provide for improved flavoring. As should be apparent, the principle flavoring is the cinnamon itself and therefore additional flavorings are generally provided which complement the flavor of cinnamon. As opposed to the cinnamon, however, these are not added in medicinal dose quantities and are provided solely for flavoring. Generally, there will be at least 6 times the amount of cinnamon included as there would be of any such flavoring. Some flavorings which can be used are vanilla extract, vanilla powder, nutmeg, cloves, salt, brown sugar, ginger, chocolate, mint, or any combination of these. However, none of these are required to be included.
The resultant product is generally produced in an embodiment in the following manner as shown by the flowchart of FIG. 1. Initially, cereals and other dry products are crushed to provide for particles of desired size (101) as discussed above. As discussed above, most if not all of the grain ingredients will be precooked prior to this step.
Cinnamon is also generally crushed or ground into a fine powder form in step (103) as is standard for ground cinnamon. However, it is preferred that the cinnamon be ground non-uniformly allowing for larger pieces to be present. In this way the flavor may be decreased across the food as a whole when compared to using finely ground cinnamon. However, larger pieces may also provide for a distinctive taste sensation when the person actually crushes one of the larger pieces by the chewing action. It is believed this can provide for unique taste without making the cinnamon taste overly strong. Once the dry products are all at an acceptable size, they are mixed together with other dry ingredients including the dry sweeteners and any dry flavorings which are being included.
Liquid materials are mixed together in step (105) along with uncooked gluten-free flour but not the other dry ingredients. However, in an alternative embodiment, the flour may be added to the dry ingredients as may some of the slight dry ingredients such as the flavorings. Adding these to the liquid mixture can assist in making sure they are more evenly distributed throughout the resulting mixture. It may be necessary to heat the liquid mixture (107) at this stage to provide for a sufficient fluid state to allow for intermixing with dry ingredients although, depending on the exact ingredients used, this may not be necessary. The liquid materials should have a generally fluidic state prior to continuing.
The dry materials are then added to the liquid materials in step (109) to form a generally uniformly dispersed mixture. The mixing may be performed at room temperature or slight heat may be added to maintain a fluidic viscosity to allow the material to be stirred relatively easily and form a fairly uniform dispersed mixture.
The mixture is then molded into a desired shape and size in step (111). As discussed above, it is generally preferred that the food substrate be formed into cookies or biscuits with two of such comprising an intended serving. Such formation can be based simply on making sure that the desired amount of cinnamon is expected to be present in each subdivision of the mixture So, for example, if the mixture includes 10 grams of cinnamon uniformly distributed, one would expect that the mixture would be formed into 20 cookies so as to have about 0.5 grams of cinnamon per cookie. However, other methods may be used as is understood by those of ordinary skill. Ingredients are generally selected so as to provide each resultant cookie (which includes about 0.5 grams of cinnamon) to have a total weight of about 10-24 grams at precooked levels, generally around 10-18 grams, and preferably around 12 grams. Therefore, the cinnamon comprises around 2.5% or more of the total weight of the cookie, an amount far exceeding what is traditionally used as a flavoring. Each cookie will generally comprise about 5 grams or less in sugar, with the remaining composition comprising mostly grains with relatively trace amounts of flavorings and incidental materials (such as residual water).
Shape of the cookies is irrelevant and any conventional shape may be used. In an embodiment they may be formed into flat rounds or half domes which are standard cookie shapes. However, in alternative embodiments they may be formed into bars. In a still further embodiment, to assist with mechanical packaging, the mixture may be baked in a generally continuous flat sheet which is cut into desired shapes after baking.
It should be recognized that in an embodiment, the cookies may be formed under significant pressure. In an embodiment, the pressure is sufficient to provide for binding of the mixture together and the baking step may be eliminated completely. This is generally not preferred, however, and generally the pressure is simply sufficient to provide for the mixture to have a sufficiently rigid structure to survive transfer to the baking process without breaking apart.
Once the mixture is arranged in the desired form for baking, it is generally baked in step (113) if baking is desirable for binding. As the raw ingredients do not include any which generally must be cooked to provide for elimination of potentially harmful bacteria (such as eggs) assuming sufficient cleanliness is maintained in the assembly process, the principle purpose of baking is to activate binders by the application of heat. For this reason the baking process may be insufficient to sterilize the products or to “cook” any ingredients.
In an embodiment, the heating is at relatively low temperature, such as between 150 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit, more preferable around 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Heating occurs for around 5-30 minutes, more preferably about 5-15 minutes, and more preferably about 10 minutes at about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The resultant cookie in this cooking scheme has a moister texture while still having a relatively stiff exterior to provide for strength and binding and to inhibit breakage in transport and crumbling when being handled. However, in alternative embodiments a wide variety of baking values can be used ranging from about 30 minutes at about 150 degrees to about 5 minutes at about 300 degrees. In still further alternative embodiments, the mixture may be heated at much higher temperatures (e.g. those above 400 degrees Fahrenheit) for much shorter periods of time. The exact cooking time and temperature depends on the desired resultant texture with lower temperatures generally providing a moister product and higher temperatures providing a crispier product. Further, if the food substance is designed to be crumbled, it may be baked longer to allow for a drier product more easily crumbled either mechanically or by hand.
Once baking is complete, cookies are generally allowed to sit and cool at about standard room temperature and humidity to allow them to absorb environmental moisture for about 12-48 hours (115). As opposed to many traditional cookies, where being served above room temperature can enhance texture by weakening binders (making them “soft” or “gooey”), These cookies generally appear to benefit from being allowed to stabilize at room temperature and humidity. Alternatively, similar resultant exposure under different environmental conditions may be provided to have the same result. The cookies are then generally packaged in airtight containers, possibly with nitrogen gas being infused in packaging, to inhibit any spoilage and provide protection for transportation.
While airtight packaging is desired, it should be recognized that the preferred ingredients used are generally only minimally responsive to spoiling and rancidity even without refrigeration or other preservation. Cinnamon itself also can serve to act as a preservative for the cookies. Therefore, airtight packaging is mostly preferred to prevent outside contamination from being introduced to the cookie, to provide for enhanced shelf life, to provide ruggedness for transportation, and to improve product appearance.
While the invention has been disclosed in connection with certain preferred embodiments, this should not be taken as a limitation to all of the provided details. Modifications and variations of the described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and other embodiments should be understood to be encompassed in the present disclosure as would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.
1. A composition of matter comprising:
about 0.5 grams to about 3 grams of cinnamon per 20 grams of total matter by weight;
precooked grain; and
a low-glycemic sugar.
2. The composition of claim 1 wherein said precooked grain comprises wheat.
3. The composition of claim 2 wherein said wheat includes crushed shredded wheat.
4. The composition of claim 2 wherein said wheat includes crushed wheat flakes.
5. The composition of claim 2 wherein said precooked grain comprises dehydrated cooked rice.
6. The composition of claim 1 wherein said cinnamon comprises Ceylon cinnamon.
7. The composition of claim 6 wherein said cinnamon also comprises cassia cinnamon.
8. The composition of claim 7 wherein said cinnamon comprises Ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon in an approximately equal ratio.
9. The composition of claim 1 wherein said cinnamon comprises cassia cinnamon.
10. The composition of claim 1 further comprising molasses.
11. The composition of claim 1 wherein said low-glycemic sugar comprises agave honey.
12. The composition of claim 1 further comprising bee honey.
13. The composition of claim 1 further comprising an additional dry sweetener.
14. The composition of claim 1 wherein said low-glycemic sugar comprises sugar alcohol.
15. The composition of claim 14 wherein said sugar alcohol comprises at least one of sugar alcohols selected from the group consisting of xylitol and erythritol.
16. The composition of claim 1 further comprising at least one flavoring selected from the group consisting of: ground ginger root, sea salt, vanilla extract, vanilla powder, nutmeg, cloves, and brown sugar.
17. A method of obtaining cinnamon by a human consumer the method comprising:
providing a food substance comprising at least 2.5% by weight of cinnamon;
having a human user consume said food substance by chewing said food substance.
18. A food substance for providing a medicinal dose of cinnamon wherein the cinnamon provide for an integral part of the flavoring of the food substance, the food substance comprising:
at least 2.5% by weight of cinnamon;
pre cooked grain; and
a low-glycemic sugar;
wherein said food substance has a weight of between about 10 to about 18 grams.
19. The food substance of claim 18 wherein said low-glycemic sugar comprises a sugar alcohol.
Patent InfoApplication # US 20100151108 A1Publish Date 06/17/2010 Document # 12337371 File Date 12/17/2008 USPTO Class 426625 Other USPTO Classes 426618 International Class / Drawings 2 Cinnamon |
Action Plan: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
660 FW 1, Wetlands Policy and Action Plan FWM#: 157 (replaces FWM 145, 6/9/94) Date: September 1, 1994 Series: Wetlands Part 660: Wetlands Conservation
Originating Office: Division of
Habitat Conservation 1.1 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to provide guidance
on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) wetlands policy and action
plan. 1.2 Wetlands Action Plan (WAP). A. Despite protection efforts by government agencies and private
organizations, significant wetland losses are still occurring. The WAP was
developed in response to the Presidential goal of No Net Loss of wetlands. The
objectives of the WAP are to consolidate, better coordinate, and improve
Service wetlands conservation programs to contribute to the goal of No Net Loss
of wetlands. The WAP draws upon existing legislative authorities, regulations,
and directives and identifies strategies the Service will pursue toward this
goal. The WAP proposes solutions to many of the problems related to current
Federal wetlands programs contributing to wetland losses. The WAP also outlines
new opportunities to conserve wetlands. B. The WAP is published as "Wetlands: Meeting the President's
Challenge" (1990) and was issued as National Policy Issuance #91-01,
effective November 28, 1990. Copies are available from the Division of Habitat
Conservation. 1.3 Implementation. A. No Net Loss of wetlands is to be achieved through a three pronged
approach; each prong being equally important to achieving the goal. The WAP
emphasizes achieving the No Net Loss goal through a coordinated effort with
other bureaus within the Department of the Interior, and in cooperation with
other agencies, States, Tribes, local governments, and private organizations
and individuals. The three prongs are: (1) Wetlands protection; (2) Wetlands restoration, enhancement, and management; and (3) Wetlands research, information, and education. B. Efforts to achieve No Net Loss of wetlands are to be integrated
into all existing and future Service programs at the Field Office, Regional
Office, and Headquarters levels. 1.4 Authorities. The Service will use existing policies,
programs, and authorities to implement the WAP. A. Some of the existing authorities that mandate major wetlands
conservation efforts to the Service include: (1) 16 U.S.C. 668dd-668ee, National Wildlife Refuge System
Administration Act of 1966; (2) P.L. 99-645, 16 U.S.C. 3931 (as amended by P.L. 102-440),
Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986 (as amended by the Wild Exotic Bird
Conservation Act of 1992); (3) 16 U.S.C. 661-666(e) as amended, Fish and Wildlife Coordination
Act of 1934; (4) 16 U.S.C. 715-715d, Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929; (5) P.L. 101-233, 16 U.S.C. 4401-4412, North American Wetlands
Conservation Act of 1989; (6) P.L. 101-233, North American Waterfowl Conservation Act of 1989; (7) 16 U.S.C. 3951 et seq., Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection,
and Restoration Act of 1990. B. The Service will also use existing authorities that establish
cooperative roles between the Service and other Federal agencies for wetland
conservation purposes. Some of these authorities are: (1) 33 U.S.C. 1251-1387, Clean Water Act of 1977, as amended; (2) P.L. 101-624, 16 U.S.C. 3801-3845, Food Security Act of 1985 (as
amended by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990); (3) 90 Stat. 2921, Water Resources Development Act of 1976. 1.5 Responsibilities. A. Headquarters. The Assistant Director - Ecological Services
is responsible for developing wetlands policy. The Division of Habitat
Conservation is responsible for developing guidance to further meet the goals
under No Net Loss. In addition, the Division is responsible for modifying the
WAP to reflect new policy directives or programs, and for maintaining and
distributing copies. B. Regional and Field Offices. Both the Regional and Field
Offices are responsible for aggressively implementing all authorities and
programs, in order to maximize the wetlands protected and restored, and to
contribute to the public's understanding of the importance of wetlands. 1.6 Definitions. A. No Net Loss means that wetland losses must be offset by wetland
gains in terms of actual acreage and, to the extent possible, ecosystem
function. B. Wetlands are defined by the Service according to the
wetland classification system developed by Cowardin et al. (See 660 FW 2, Wetlands
Classification for further details on Cowardin et al.). For regulatory
purposes, wetlands in the WAP are delineated on non-agricultural lands
according to the 1987 "Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation
Manual" which provides a technical identification for use in programs of
the Service, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation
Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Wetlands on agricultural lands are delineated for regulatory
purposes in accordance with the procedures in the third edition (1994) of the
Soil Conservation Service's National Food Security Act Manual. For additional information regarding this policy, contact the National |
3D perspective of new
bathymetry data collected
in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf
and Timor Sea.
© Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia recently participated in a month-long seabed mapping survey in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and Timor Sea off the coast of the Northern Territory. The survey aboard the Australian Institute of Marine Science's research vessel RV Solander was the third survey undertaken as part of a partnership agreement with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, with the aim of improving our understanding of Australia's marine environment in northern Australia.
This latest seabed mapping survey follows an initial survey to the region in 2009. It addressed specific research questions posed by Australia's offshore oil and gas industry regarding the distribution of unique and sensitive seabed habitats, and potential natural geo-hazards such as the location of natural petroleum seeps.
Initial findings reveal the shallow carbonate banks are covered by rich sponge and coral gardens, and the deeper channels contain muddy sands that support a diverse mix of species living within the seabed sediment; some of which are new to science. Final reporting of the scientific outcomes of the survey will be completed by June 2011.
Representatives from the Australian Hydrographic Service, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the Geological Survey of Canada also participated in the survey making it a truly collaborative effort. |
Home » Overview of archives about New Netherland Overview of archives about New Netherland
The Dutch presence in North America spans the period 1609-1664. The colony known as New Netherland was established in 1624. The Republic of the United Netherlands officially renounced their claims to the province at the Treaty of Breda. Archives about this period are kept in different countries:Archives in the NetherlandsThe Nationaal Archief has very little information on the period of Dutch colonisation in North America. This is mainly due to the fact that a large part of the archives was sold by the Old West India company in 1821 as waste paper. What remained of the archives was badly destroyed in a fire in 1844. In the Netherlands today, the Amsterdam municipal archives have much more information about New Netherland than does the Nationaal Archief.Archives in the United StatesA relatively larger number of sources have been preserved in the United States for this period, particularly in the New York State Archives and the New York State Library in Albany. A large number of these documents have been published in publications that can be found in the Nationaal Archief and which are listed below.Archives in Europe concerning New York StateIn the middle of the nineteenth century, J. Brodhead was commissioned by the New York State to research all European sources relating to New York and publish them in his ‘Documents relative to the Colonial History of New York procured in Holland, England and France.’How do I proceed?Archives in the United States:Many documents from the archives in the USA have been published in the following volumes, which are available at the Nationaal Archief:The Records of New Amsterdam from 1653 to 1674 (NA call number 59 F 2)New York Historical Manuscripts Dutch (vols. 1–4: NA call number 60 B 26, vols. 5-7: NA call number 172 A 38/39/40)The latter series continues as ‘New Netherland Documents’ (vol. 17: NA call number 178 A 13)Yearbook of the Holland Society of New York, 1902Passengers to New Netherland, 1654-1664, pp. 1-37, ed. A.J.F. van LaerDocuments relating to New Netherland 1624-1626 in the E. Huntington Library (NA call number 196 D 21)Archives in the Nationaal ArchiefIn the first two volumes of the publication ‘Documents relative to the Colonial History of New York procured in Holland, England and France’ (vols. 1-2: NA call number 57 H 23), Brodhead gives an almost complete overview of all documents held in the Netherlands, with the exception of Dutch West India Company documents. In this overview all documents have been registered and translated, which means that it provides the best access to the records that can be found at the Nationaal Archief, the archives of the States-General, the States of Holland and the Council of State.You can also consult the following archives at the Nationaal Archief:Archives of the Old West India Company (catalogue reference 1.05.01.01)The resolutions and registries of outgoing correspondence of the Heeren XIX; the Amsterdam Chamber and the Zeeland Chamber sometimes contain information relating to New Netherland. The resolutions are far from complete, however. Some of them are in other collections.Heeren XIX Resolutions: 1623-1624 (inventory number 1), December 1645 – 4 May 1646 (inventory number 2*), 1647-1648; 1653-1654 (with indexes, inventory number 3), 1651-1654 (with appendices, inventory number 5); 1656-1659 (with retro-acts 1650-1655, in States-General archives, catalogue reference 1.01.07, 12564.42), 1660-1665 (with appendices, inventory number 6). Letter-books of outgoing letters 1629-1657 (inventory numbers 8-10)Amsterdam Chamber: Resolutions 1635-1636 (inventory numbers 14-16)Zeeland Chamber: Resolutions 1626 - 31 May 1646, (inventory numbers 20-26), 1650 - March 1652 (Acquisitions Collect |
Commission, sorority remember Coretta
The King Celebration Community Choir sings throughout the “Remembering Coretta” observance. Front, from left, are Takiyah Tuggerson, vice president of the Iota Lambda chapter of Alapha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. at the University of Florida, and keynote speaker Chelsea Slater, also a member of the UF sorority.
Coretta Scott King, beloved wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a civil rights leader who dedicated her life to maintaining her husband's legacy, was honored and remembered with prayer, music, praise dancing and a tribute by her Gainesville sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Lorena Silva, a member of the Iota Lambda chapter of Alapha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. at the University of Florida, presided over the program, "Remembering Coretta," an observance held in conjunction with the King Celebration 2013 and sponsored by the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Florida. It was held last Tuesday at New Macedonia Baptist Church."Coretta was the heart and soul of the civil rights movement," said keynote speaker Chelsea Slater, also a member of the UF chapter. "Coretta was selfless, putting others' well-being ahead of hers. She didn't neglect the struggle and maintained her husband's commitment to economic justice."Coretta Scott King, who died at age 79 on Jan. 30, 2006, was born on April 27, 1927, in Marion, Ala. She worked side-by-side with her husband, and after his death, continued to fight for civil rights. The invocation and benediction were delivered by the Rev. Willie Caison, pastor of New Macedonia, and Andranique Boone, a member of the King Commission Board of Directors, recognized elected and appointed officials.In her welcome and occasion, Florida Bridgewater-Alford, president and CEO of the Twenty Pearls Foundation, the chairtable and educational arm of the Gainesville alumnae chapter of the sorority, said Coretta was a beautiful woman of substance who stood by her husband's side. "Her love, truth and courage to do what's right should be our path in this long journey," said Bridgewater-Alford. "The struggle continues. Unfortunately, the struggle is a never-ending process." The King Celebration Community Choir sang throughout the program. Tributes in dance were provided by Mikayla Suggs and Mya McGraw of the Mount Moriah Baptist Church Dance Ministry and Philissa Baskin of New Macedonia. Courtney Gilmore and Yasmine Small, members of the UF chapter, sang a duet, "For You I Will" by Monica, and Victoria McNeil, also of the UF chapter, recited "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, the famous national poet and author. Lamont Wallace, a ninth-grader at Gainesville High School and the winner of the 2013 Oratorical Contest high school division, read his essay, "Where we are today." Wallace closed with the words from "the old Negro spiritual," "Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, We are free at last!," which also are the last lines of King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered 50 years ago during the "March on Washington" in the nation's capital. In his closing remarks, Rodney J. Long, founder and president of the King Commission, said Coretta Scott King spoke against all forms of racism and discrimination "like those directed to Arabs and Muslims."He said Coretta Scott King gave every inch of all she had to make sure King's dream of equality for all would become a reality. "When we speak of King, we remember behind or in front of a great man is a great woman," said Long.
Commission, sorority remember CorettaBy Aida MallardAlpha Kappa Alpha Sorority sisters from the Gainesville Alumnae and UF chapters sing a song during the tribute to Coretta Scott King.Gainesville.comJanuary 30, 2013 2:38 PM<p>Coretta Scott King, beloved wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a civil rights leader who dedicated her life to maintaining her husband's legacy, was honored and remembered with prayer, music, praise dancing and a tribute by her Gainesville sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. </p><p>Lorena Silva, a member of the Iota Lambda chapter of Alapha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. at the University of Florida, presided over the program, "Remembering Coretta," an observance held in conjunction with the King Celebration 2013 and sponsored by the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Florida. It was held last Tuesday at New Macedonia Baptist Church.</p><p>"Coretta was the heart and soul of the civil rights movement," said keynote speaker Chelsea Slater, also a member of the UF chapter. "Coretta was selfless, putting others' well-being ahead of hers. She didn't neglect the struggle and maintained her husband's commitment to economic justice."</p><p>Coretta Scott King, who died at age 79 on Jan. 30, 2006, was born on April 27, 1927, in Marion, Ala. She worked side-by-side with her husband, and after his death, continued to fight for civil rights. </p><p>The invocation and benediction were delivered by the Rev. Willie Caison, pastor of New Macedonia, and Andranique Boone, a member of the King Commission Board of Directors, recognized elected and appointed officials.</p><p>In her welcome and occasion, Florida Bridgewater-Alford, president and CEO of the Twenty Pearls Foundation, the chairtable and educational arm of the Gainesville alumnae chapter of the sorority, said Coretta was a beautiful woman of substance who stood by her husband's side. "Her love, truth and courage to do what's right should be our path in this long journey," said Bridgewater-Alford. "The struggle continues. Unfortunately, the struggle is a never-ending process." </p><p>The King Celebration Community Choir sang throughout the program. Tributes in dance were provided by Mikayla Suggs and Mya McGraw of the Mount Moriah Baptist Church Dance Ministry and Philissa Baskin of New Macedonia. Courtney Gilmore and Yasmine Small, members of the UF chapter, sang a duet, "For You I Will" by Monica, and Victoria McNeil, also of the UF chapter, recited "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, the famous national poet and author. </p><p>Lamont Wallace, a ninth-grader at Gainesville High School and the winner of the 2013 Oratorical Contest high school division, read his essay, "Where we are today." Wallace closed with the words from "the old Negro spiritual," "Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, We are free at last!," which also are the last lines of King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered 50 years ago during the "March on Washington" in the nation's capital. </p><p>In his closing remarks, Rodney J. Long, founder and president of the King Commission, said Coretta Scott King spoke against all forms of racism and discrimination "like those directed to Arabs and Muslims."</p><p>He said Coretta Scott King gave every inch of all she had to make sure King's dream of equality for all would become a reality. "When we speak of King, we remember behind or in front of a great man is a great woman," said Long.</p>Copyright 2014 Gainesville.com - All rights reserved. Restricted use only. |
Fear Of The Unknown, Part 2
In the first part of this series we tried to identify and define three (of many possible) abstract forms of incomplete information (knowledge) packaging – the unknown, the vague and the uncanny – and three common subsets of the subject of information – about image, about presence and about imminence.
The point of this breakdown is that it lets us look at horror from an MDA point-of-view and take advantage of the Mechanics and Dynamics of horror with more control over the resulting Aesthetics, without having to only work on the Aesthetics directly.
This second part will try to study a few examples of each crossover from the previous picture and also include their relationships with the known and the nature of things.
The known is the sufficient and supposedly correct information about something (not all the information, just sufficient information). The nature is a common package of archetypical information that helps the informee complete (against the vague) and filter (against the uncanny) bits of information, using that archetype to turn the otherwise unknown into known.
Another parallel information subject concept will also be introduced here, the intention, which's not part of the table even though it's relevant in Horror and Suspense because I found it hard (the shame) to qualify it independently from the other three aspects and packaging forms because it works more like a Dynamic while the others are Mechanics (i.e. it's a resulting effect instead of being one of the building-blocks). That's because, while intention exists as a real thing, its virtualization in the informee's mind is a product of his own judgment (feel free to contest that).
Intention, in the case of Reality (things that exist or happen in the Real world) and Fiction (things that are made up), is commonly introduced as an unknown, vague or uncanny packaging: there's always the possibility of a hidden agenda or ulterior motive, always. But in Virtuality (where Fiction meets Reality) it is usually delivered into a known packaging (which is a mold we want to break here): assuming there are enemies, who the enemies are is almost always clear to the player and, if not, it's considered a failure of conveyance in Game Design, supposing Trial and Error is the only way to find out what the intentions of Virtual agents (from Gameplay) or Fictional characters (from Writing) are.
For this article's consideration (it should be its own article but we'll need it here, so here are some of the very basics of it) let's assume the Player is both a Character and a set of Mechanics that exist simultaneously in the Real, Virtual and Fictional worlds in a Video-Game story (story as in sequence of events, not plot/writing). Even if there's an authored avatar in the game, it's only the Fictional layer of the character, and the player still fills the Real and Virtual slots of the player-character construct. Hereafter we'll be calling the Mechanics created by the systems designer by Game-Mechanics and the Mechanics that naturally exist in the human players by Player-Mechanics. Player-Mechanics exist before a game is created and remain after the game-session is over. Without a player there's no game, therefore there's no game without Player-Mechanics, nor Game-Mechanics that aren't affected by Player-Mechanics.
Also for this article's consideration (yet another subject for an entire article), let's keep in mind that the Player is a Character that fits under at least these two storytelling tropes: Medium Awareness and Genre Savvy. One upside of the Medium Awareness is that being aware of the unknown is possible because players know that a Horror Video-Game will have the unknown in it. One downside is that the player knows a Horror Video-Game will try to scare her and when he doesn't know is when it's the scariest even more so when it's unintentionally.
If I show you a dog in the alley, assuming it's an event under Reality's (or realistic Fiction) rules, I'm giving you the known image and known presence of the dog. From the known image you have enough information that you will use to extrapolate the nature, size and potential threat of the dog, but it can't yet give you the intentions of the dog (unless they are telegraphed by it's behavior or body language towards you).
If I make you hear howling down the alley, you have the known presence but unknown image and vague nature. It might be a dog, or it might be a wolf, or even a werewolf. You might be able to tell based on the pitch and loudness of the howl that it can mean a wolf or a dog and it's size and age, but that's assuming I, as the creator of the moment, understand those matters as much as you do, and that I intended to use the correct and seemingly logical kind of howl for the moment. Maybe your character is under the effects of drugs or lowered sanity and I got a dog to sound as a wolf to reflect how scared and paranoid you are and whatnot, which means you're receiving wrong information from your character's senses and mind. Or maybe you're even hearing things in your head, which turns it into an unknown or uncanny presence.
If I show you the shadow of the dog projected on a wall in the alley, I'm giving you a vague image and known presence (even if imprecise in space, there is a dog, you're just not sure where exactly) of the dog, which gives you information on it's vague nature by lack of further details (maybe it's a dog, or a wolf, or a coyote, or a fox... are there hyenas here?). If the shadow never moves, then it could be a statue or a pile of trash that makes the shadow look like a dog, so it has a vague presence (maybe there is a dog, maybe not). If the shadow disappears improbably fast as you briefly blink or look away, then it's leads to a conundrum between a vague presence (did it enter a hole or just got away from the light or got behind something?) or an uncanny presence (was there really a shadow or am I going crazy?), and reinforces it's vague nature (what other animal could make that shadow and move away so fast?) or switches it into an uncanny nature (no animal is that fast, so is it really an animal or is it some kind of haunting or demon?), and puts it's intentions into vague territory (did it hid because it smelled my scent? did it run away or is it sneaking up on me now?).
That's a lot to process very quickly I know, but it's the basis that will help understanding the rest of the article and its examples.
Now enough of dogs (or not) and alleys. Let's get to horror!
Unknown Image
As previously observed, the word "unknown" is often used interchangeably with "unseen" when talking about Horror Video-Games, which points to the subset of unknownness of not having information about the looks of the subject: the unknown image. From that interpretation we could say that what Lovecraft meant to say in his famous quotation was that the things we fear most, are the things we don't know how they look.
While it's a leap of logic depending how you look at it, when looking at it from the fact he was a writer and specifically the author of The Colour Out of Space, which's a very convincing practical proof of the the quotation we're using as a basis here, it seems like one fitting definition for starters. In a story told by words you're never sure of what something looks like (image) without a very technical and precise description, or a straight naming of what the subject is (nature). The writer can put the terrors right in the face of the POV characters and still not let the reader know exactly what it is, letting his imagination float about to create a terrific atmosphere even with something as simple as a dog in an alley.
Jumping from Literature to Video-Games, it makes sense for a medium that heavily uses the participant's vision as it's primary avenue of conveying information, that the first thought to cross our minds is that the unknown must be that of which we haven't received graphic information from. When a Video-Game puts the player through a long start of not having a glimpse of whatever it is the player is supposed to fear – which often involves making use of sound effects and poltergeist-scripts to keep a sense of event density in the Virtual universe – unknown image is the primary form of unknownness (lack of information) the designer is making use of.
This is one tool that's mostly effective to the unspoiled player (just as everything else, possibly, but even game designers can feel really immersed in a Video-Game world eventually), which makes Game Designers working on sequels very likely to lose it as a tool from their belts given the genre of the IP. Another characteristic of using the unknown image device is the way it builds up expectations. While it can make the beginning and bulk of the experience intriguing and exciting, it does so at the risk of having a disappointing conclusion that doesn't meet such expectations.
However, both the effectiveness of the mystery (unknown image) and of the reveal moment (known image) might have less to do with the imagery itself than we first assume, and more to do with the amount of information a visualization of the subject conveys. Being a species that relies so much on the vision to collect information about the world (and being most Video-Games as we know them now a visual-heavy art form) we're often quick to come to conclusions once we put our eyes upon something. It's just human nature (Player-Mechanics).
Visual information is commonly considered by our brains to be of high value ("a picture is worth a thousand words"), so once enough of it is received (when we have a clear look at something) we tend to assume that we already know enough (the known not all information, but sufficient information) about a subject. That's why players tend to lose all the sense of fear of something once they finally get to see it, even if the extrapolated assumptions about the nature of the threat are mistaken (it's still known even if it's wrong).
The weakness of this tool is that it can only be used once for each threat acknowledged by the player as a new entity. Once the threat is fully seen, it can't be unseen.
Excerpt from A Colour Out Of Space, by H.P. Lovecraft (SPOILER):
Then a cloud of darker depth passed over the moon, and the silhouette of clutching branches faded out momentarily. At this there was a general cry; muffled with awe, but husky and almost identical from every throat. For the terror had not faded with the silhouette, and in a fearsome instant of deeper darkness the watchers saw wriggling at that tree top height a thousand tiny points of faint and unhallowed radiance, tipping each bough like the fire of St. Elmo or the flames that come down on the apostles' heads at Pentecost. It was a monstrous constellation of unnatural light, like a glutted swarm of corpse-fed fireflies dancing hellish sarabands over an accursed marsh, and its colour was that same nameless intrusion which Ammi had come to recognize and dread. All the while the shaft of phosphorescence from the well was getting brighter and brighter, bringing to the minds of the huddled men, a sense of doom and abnormality which far outraced any image their conscious minds could form.
Lovecraft inspires dread in the reader without ever giving clear description of the subjects imagery, and constantly hinting that maybe it has one, but nobody that has seen it will ever be able to describe it because their minds will never accept what their eyes laid upon.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the water level (SPOILER):
The water monster doesn't have an image, it allows Grip and co. to explore the best of it's known presence (uncanny if you think it's in the protagonist's insane mind only) and known imminence (you can see it's speed, slowing coming close to you, this can be a lot scarier than unknown imminence jump-scares if done right).
Vague Image
The designer can deliver the information in bits and turn the unknown image into vague image by showing only parts of the subject at a time before the full disclosure, in an attempt to raise more questions than answer (remember that the unknown must be acknowledged to be feared, as noted in the first part of these series) with each deliver. This is a very commonly used tactic in Horror and Suspense movies, novels and graphic novels. By using this tool, the information packing follows the path: unknown image becomes vague image, and then becomes known image.
The vague, as previously noted, is the incomplete information about the subject, which is not just as little as unknown but neither enough so the nature can be identified and then used to fill the gaps accurately (unless we're transitioning into uncanny, but it comes later). In the case of vague image, it means the player has only got access to partial information about the looks of the subject, which in turn causes her to have different ideas about the nature of the threat, leading to a wide range of possibilities in her mind (hence "vague").
The vague is a pacing tool. It makes the unknown more interesting with it's positive space (information disclosed) and delays the reveal of known by creating mystery with it's negative space (information withheld) to keep the audience's brain stimulated all the while the piece makes the transition from unknown into known. Being so, it's hard (not impossible, nothing is impossible) to successfully make a horror piece without making use of the vague. The entire Suspense genre is based around the vague and the Mystery genre also makes heavy usage of it (and heavy usage of the uncanny too).
A common form of vague image used in the Horror genre, specially in graphic media, is to show (or describe the visualization of) small parts of the subject with a close-up (using the limits of the screen as an occlusion tool), using light and shadow in a way that only part of the subject can be seen in the shot, or using in-scene occlusion of objects (walls, grids, vegetation...) to make only the desired part of the subject visible. Very often it's teeth, tail, wings or eyes – things that make non-human nature clear to the audience. It's a horizontal slicing of the vague as you can say that from the POV of different layers of information, the detail becomes known in itself, but we're treating the subject as a whole, so the whole is vague when only details are known and they're not enough to extrapolate and access the archetypical nature of the whole.
Example of vague image by detail disclosure:
With close-ups (screen-limits obscurity) and the cage's bars (in-scene obscurity), Spielberg gives the audience only bits of the subject's image, allowing known image of the details to compose the vague image of the whole. Suspense is the main use of the tool.
A different usage of the know image is the vertical blending of the image of the whole, where instead of disclosing clear information about details to the informee, we give vague information about the whole. This is very often done by using blurry imagery, shadows or silhouettes.
Shyamalan teases the audience with Suspense and ties it up with a jump-scare, then reloads the fictional tape to show the imagery in a more confident manner, without jumpy sound effects and sudden pop-ins this time around, using the uniformly vague image to keep the audience in a state of uncertainty about the alien's image (vague) and presence (uncanny, as it could still be a fake tape at this point).
But there's also another very notable way of achieving the same result, one that's more present in Video-Games than anything else, with a track record of being present for a long time and be fading out lately: low fidelity graphics.
As the graphical technologies used in real-time rendering evolve and open more possibilities for designers to increase graphical detail about everything, less and less detail is left for the player's mind to fill. Also, image doesn't exist in a vacuum. The more graphics information the informee receives, the more information the informee receives and the more information he can extrapolate. The more information the informee has, the more power she has. Pixel sprites, limited color palettes, low resolution textures, stuttery framerates. The eternal unknown.
One doesn't have to dig far into the Internet to find multiple players talking about how 'games where scarier when graphics were less advanced. That's a side effect of it not being possible to fully disclosure information about the terrors earlier Horror Video-Games presented players with. When the time came to finally let the player know what was it he was facing, the amount of information was still not enough to let the player have assurance about what exactly he was facing.
Think of this as a game design magic: you take a percentage of the graphical information away and in turn, the player's mind fill it with more than what was taken out. It's more than just curiosity about the parts of the subject that are not shown, it's the addition of details and aspects that wouldn't even be possible to describe, all created in the player's mind. When 100% of information is given, there's nothing more that can be added unless you bring in a twist saying that part of that information is wrong (the uncanny) so you can rewrite it. But what if we cut 5% and in return, the player fills it with enough possibilities that turn the remaining 95% into 150% of the original total? Well, that's exactly it: magic! Profit!
Examples of vague image by low fidelity graphics:
Silent Hill 2, fan-made AMV (SPOILERS):
The quality of the polygon detail and texture resolution and contrast makes already disturbing imagery to acquire a further surreal and nightmarish aspect, distancing the player's mind from thoughts of making comparisons with reality and filling the gap with his personal fears.
Lone Survivor (Trailer):
Pixel graphics allows the players to fill in details about the vague image creatures and to have uncanny image impressions about a perceived creepy smile in the character's face.
Another form of low fidelity graphics is low color fidelity. Low color fidelity was very common in earlier graphical generations of Video-Games by usage of color palettes.
Nothing new about early Video-Games having color limitations, but as far as graphical art forms go, Video-Games are not the only one to face graphical limitations due to technology or budget thresholds. Two other media are good sources of study on the subject: film and graphic novels. The interesting thing about them is that the limitations common of each are abstractly the same (limited information in the color sub-layer of image) but they're different in detail.
First let's talk about film. For a long while, films have been black-and-white. Monochrome/Duotone is a more powerful limitation of graphical information than other forms of color palettes encountered in Video-Games from previous generations, which means the negative space created by it's usage is increased in comparison. A simple lack of color can heighten the sense of unknown to very high levels.
Examples of incomplete visual information (vague image) by Monochrome/Duotone, in Video-Games:
Let's Play of 1916 Der Unbekannt Krieg (HUGE SPOILERS! The 'game is free, small, and can be played on the browser. Please play it instead if you haven't already. It's totally worth it):
Monochrome and Film Grain are used to increase believability of simple graphics
by letting the player fill the gaps. Powerful tools to increase immersion.
Announcement Trailer for Outlast:
Outlast keenly makes use of greenish Duotone to create uniform vague image,
by having the player use the camera's night-vision to see in dark places.
Here's a personal tip: go and get any Horror Video-Game you have, or even any Horror, Mystery or Suspense movie, and play it with your TV, monitor or GPU saturation (sometimes "digital vibrance" or just "color") set all the way down to zero – optionally, set bright slightly down and contrast slightly up.
If it's just a Mystery or Suspense film instead of Horror, or if it's only marginally scary for a Horror 'game, it's an even better subject for this experiment. I won't describe how it affects immersion and negative space. Go and try it by yourself. I play all my Horror 'games in monochrome now. It's worth it, trust me.
And if you develop or publish Horror 'games, here's a request: please consider giving us graphical options to play your games in Monochrome.
In the case of graphics novels (and manga, I'm considering them together here), it's usually limitations in budget (of both printing and artist's time) that cause them to keep a limited number of CMYK channels and halftone spectrum (not all color percentages print well and if artists mostly work by hand or with limited time, chances are they won't go into much gradient accuracy, using other artistic techniques for shading and texturing).
The example I'll use here are the same examples I'll use in the next point; please wait a little longer.
At some point, the information about the image of the subject might become completely known, and depending of how this is dealt with and what that image is, the informee will be able to use this amount of information to complete the big picture. Information is power.
It's not to say that the known cannot be scary too, it can and should be strived for. The known image can be specially scary when the other information packaging forms are also in the state of known. You know what it is, where it is, and when it's coming. It's a confident design and it's like confidence in anything else: hit or miss.
The advantage of the unknown is that the informee's brain will always be extrapolating information and bringing to the table things of specific horrific value to each person in question. This makes it easier to work with and gain time. The climax of a horror story might inevitably come to a point where everything is known, yet it's supposed to be the most frightening and disturbing moment.
Now one way to keep a bit of unknownness in the moment of reveal is using the uniform vague image tools previously mentioned (low resolution, monochrome, etc), but that's a bit of cheating. Of course using everything we can is good, but trying to separate these aspects is important to not just rely on tools and avoid the importance of having an ultimately great backstory and horrifying subject of information to begin with. Only then we should start using these tools to present and withhold information in interesting ways.
As examples of Horror in this case (and the case of monochrome graphic novels), I'll recommend the work of my favorite manga and Horror author: Junji Ito (the original manga before the movie adaptations), specially Uzumaki, Mimi No Kaidan and Gyo (and the short The Enigma Of Amigara Fault). He's a genius of exploring multiple scary possibilities a story can have and also coming up with awesome creative stuff, everything we're studying here basically doesn't apply to him, when you think you saw and know everything, there's always more. It's obligatory to anybody working with Horror. No spoilers here, go read his work.
Uncanny Image
Remember I said that for fear of the unknown to exist, the informee must be aware that important information is lacking? Making the informee aware of his lack of knowledge is what the uncanny excels at. But it doesn't stop at that, there's a very valuable characteristic of the uncanny: it can dial the known back into unknown. Because of that, many ways of using the uncanny can be interpreted as "plot twists", but those are not the only ways it can be employed.
Note of that the uncanny is based on time, even if you introduce two conflicting pieces of information at once, the receiver will first take one, then make conclusion, then take the other bit and experience the challenge of the previously taken conclusions. Mori's robots don't look both human and not human at once; they look like robots and the suddenly seem to be human and have life, and then again they don't. The information never feels right. Back and forth.
It's not necessarily a one-way path for the brain to take, as you can remain continuously challenging the same conclusions back and forth between two possibilities, but you also can just go once and remain with the uncertainty created by the first challenge and work from there. In the case of Horror art works, the point of start can be the known (this is awesome, right? the known is not the end yet, the horror can always come back).
The usage of the uncanny image is very common in Japanese horror. Little girls in white clothes down the corridor, women walking on the street at night, the human figure is always present in horror stories. You know what they look like, but are they what they seem by their looks to be? That's what the uncanny is: the presence of conflicting information. It looks like a little girl, but it's not one, in turn it can potentially be absolutely anything and, most importantly, we know that.
Examples of uncanny image:
Excerpt from Chapter 3 of Dracula, by Bram Stoker (SPOILERS): As I leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a story below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone-mullioned, and though weatherworn, was still complete. But it was evidently many a day since the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework, and looked carefully out.
What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had some many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over the dreadful abyss, face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow, but I kept looking, and it could be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall. What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature, is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me. I am in fear, in awful fear, and there is no escape for me. I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of.
Not an art-horror work so I won't analyze it as one, but see for yourself...
This concludes Part 2. It seems it always gets bigger and I end up slicing it into more and more parts, but presence and imminence are smaller and will fit a hopefully final Part 3. The horror is almost over, I swear! See you in Part 3. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_M._Pierce
Walter Marcus Pierce (May 30, 1861 – March 27, 1954) was an American politician, a Democrat, who served as the 17th Governor of Oregon and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Oregon's 2nd congressional district. A native of Illinois, he served in the Oregon State Senate before the governorship, and again after leaving the U.S. House. Pierce is also the namesake of the United States Supreme Court case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters on compulsory public education. Early life
Pierce was born to Charles M. and Charlotte L. (née Clapp) Pierce, Jacksonian Democrat farmers in Morris, Illinois on May 30, 1861. At the age of 17, he began teaching school despite having only a secondary education.
In 1883, motivated by both his recent diagnosis of tuberculosis and the idea of Manifest Destiny as propounded by Horace Greeley, Pierce moved west. After arriving in Portland, Oregon in June 1883, he was not able to find work. After a period during which he worked the wheat fields of Walla Walla, Washington, he earned enough money to finally settle in Milton, Oregon in Umatilla County. There he returned to a career in education and established a successful farm.
As an educator, Pierce was drawn into local politics. He became well known for his pro-temperance views, and regularly spoke out against saloons selling alcohol to his students. In 1887, he married one of his students, Clara R. Rudio, who died during childbirth only three years later. The child was named after her mother. He married Clara's sister Laura in 1893. They had five children: Loyd, Lucile, Helen, Edith and Lorraine. Laura died of cancer in 1925. Pierce's third wife was Cornelia Marvin, the Oregon State Librarian, whom he married in 1928.
From 1886 until 1890, Pierce served as superintendent of Umatilla County public schools. From 1890 until 1894, he served as Umatilla county clerk, and earned enough money from land transactions to further his education. He then returned to Illinois with his family to attend Northwestern University, earning his Bachelors of Law degree in 1896.
Early political career
After graduation, the Pierce family returned to Oregon, where Walter set up a successful law firm in Pendleton. From 1896 to 1906, he managed a power company, speculated in land, and became one of the state's most renowned Hereford cattle breeders. He was again elected county clerk and served 1899 to 1903.
Pierce won a seat in the Oregon State Senate in 1902. In his first term, he unsuccessfully attempted to win passage of prohibition legislation, while successfully winning passage of a state subsidy of $6 per child for education. He was defeated at the polls for reelection, and retired from politics for a decade beginning in 1906.
Pierce won the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in 1912, but lost to Harry Lane in the general election. In 1916, he was reelected to the state senate. In 1918, Pierce ran, unsuccessfully, as a progressive Democrat against incumbent Governor James Withycombe. In the next election, in 1920, he lost his senate seat by only twenty-seven votes.
Governorship
In 1922, Pierce ran a successful campaign for governor against incumbent Ben W. Olcott. At the time, the Ku Klux Klan was growing in influence and power across the state, and had drafted the overtly anti-Catholic and anti-semitic Compulsory School Act, a bill to require all school-age children to attend public schools. Governor Olcott defiantly refused to work with the Klan in any way. Pierce tacitly accepted the Klan's endorsement and lent his support to the school bill.
As governor, Pierce was at odds with a Republican-dominated legislature. His administration was able to continue the road-building policies of the previous two administrations, but could not win passage of a state income tax or assessed value license fees for automobiles. He attempted to gain support from progressive Republicans on issues of prison reform, reforestation, and hydroelectric development, but divided the state Democratic Party by endorsing Robert M. La Follette for President in 1924. The Ku Klux Klan, which had endorsed him only a few years earlier, began an unsuccessful recall effort.
In the 1926 elections, Republican I. L. Patterson defeated Pierce. Upon leaving the Governor's office, Pierce returned to his ranch in Grande Ronde, Oregon.
The Compulsory Education Act was later struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States in its 1925 Pierce v. Society of Sisters decision, on the grounds that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In 1928, Pierce ran unsuccessfully for the 2nd Congressional District seat. He declined to run for a second term as governor in 1930, but tried once more for Congress in 1932. He was elected amid excitement over the landslide presidential election victory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Pierce would become a staunch supporter of FDR's New Deal, serving in Congress until his electoral defeat in 1942.
One of the oldest politicians in Oregon history, Pierce retired from politics at age 81. He and his wife Cornelia retired to Eola, Oregon. Pierce and his wife both became involved in the anti-Japanese movement during World War II, in response to a concern on the part of local residents about the success of Japanese truckers in certain areas of Oregon.
Pierce died on March 27, 1954, near Salem, Oregon, at the age of 92 and was interred at the Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum in Salem. His third wife Cornelia died on February 12, 1957. |
The Two Biggest Denials in Political Geography
Denial is a hard thing to understand. Some issues are controversial and therefore up to heated debate; however, some topics in geography cause a impassioned denial of facts on the ground. Here are two major denials in political geography that can cause one to pause looking for consistent logic which politics denies.
The Republic of China Not on Some Maps
It is interesting to see if maps show Taiwan, in reality the Republic of China, as an independent country or not. Microsoft's Bing does not, Yahoo Maps does, Google Maps does, and National Geographic has a weird hybrid answer of giving Taiwan the labels of an independent country while having it be the same color as the People's Republic of China. The United Nations does not recognize the Republic of China as a legitimate government while the United States and many other countries officially deny Taiwan being policatlly separate from Beijing's People's Republic of China while allowing open business and government ties between themselves and the Republic of China.
The problem lies with both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China laying claim to each other's territory. The Republic of China does not claim Taiwan is independent but instead claims control of all of China with Taiwan being its temporary base. Before the 1970s international opinion was in favor of the Republic of China but since then the balance has been in the Communist's People's Republic favor ever since. Now only a handful of Pacific island states, Latin American countries, and the Vatican recognize the Republic of China as the legal ruler of all of China.
Strangely there is an Asian counter part to two government laying claim to each other. Both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) claim to be the sole government of a Korean state streaching from the Yalu River in the north to the Korean Strait in the south. These two states have long been treated as two separate countries by most other countries in maps and diplomacy. However, I have seen maps from the height of the Cold War showing Germany as one country with a dotted line between East and West (both the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany claimed each one was the sole valid state for all of Germany) and I also saw the dotted line dividing Vietnam in many maps during the Vietnam War. What separates the Koreas from the cartographic rules which favored the Germanys and Vietnams is beyond me.
Tel Aviv: Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel
I once watched a news report on the revolution in Egypt. The reporter ended her report by saying Egypt was waiting for a response from Tel Aviv. She meant Egypt was waiting for a response from the Israeli government but the government of Israel has not be seated in Tel Aviv since 1949. The reason for this weird statement is because no country, including the United States, recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The reason for this is complex. An old English-language Soviet atlas I have states Jerusalem is not Israel's capital because Jerusalem was not given to the Jewish state by the United Nations in it's proposal for a Jewish and a Palestinian state. The argument currently has shifted to most states not recognize Israel's control of the eastern half of Jersualem (itself occupied by Jordan during the late 1940s) or the 1980 law which formally united both halves of Jerusalem and formally declared a (re-)united Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The latter argument ignores Israel moving the capital to Jerusalem in 1949 and west Jerusalem being in the pre-1967 borders of Israel. While the CIA World Factbook is accurate in saying Jerusalem is the capital while giving a caveat, Canada's "Factsheet" leaves the capital line blank. Strangely though all major western maps show Jerusalem as Israel's capital despite not one country (zero!) officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
One somewhat troubling thing that I've noticed: China seems to make the majority of globes nowadays, and if you go globe shopping you are likely to discover that most globes reflect China's wacky view of its borders, including its ownership of Taiwan and the Spratly Islands.
Also, here in Japan, Taiwan is NEVER shown as an independent state on maps. The reason, as far as I can tell, is that the Japanese education ministry won't accept maps in textbooks which contradict Japanese foreign policy, and mapmakers are too lazy to make separate maps for school and non-school publication.
Joe Jones, Interesting on Japanese maps and the government-private map maker relationship.
I've seen European maps with Tel-Aviv as Israel's capital, which is very odd, as even if you want to deny that Jerusalem is the capital, that doesn't make Tel-Aviv the capital any more than Haifa or Eilat.Perhaps the weirdest thing I've seen is a Chinese Internet map that, following the custom of old Soviet maps, shows Israel's borders as that proposed in the 1947 UN partition plan that was rejected by the Arabs.Of course, that's not the only legal fiction on maps. There are plenty of de facto independent countries that may not appear on maps, such as Kosovo (NG has it marked off from Serbia with a dotted line but doesn't show a capital or put it in a different country), Somaliland, Northern Cyprus and Transnistria.
Really cool post.Here's my understanding of the "two Koreas/Chinas/Germanies/Vietnam" situation. It might be way off.The Korean War was terrifying for both superpowers, because it revealed that local clients could profoundly interfer with the Superpower's priorities, profoundly set back Soviet interests in China (the militarization of Manchuria essentially pre-empted existing Soviet plans for a future Manchurian SSR), while in the US the uniformed head of operations openly challenged the authority of the President. Bad mojo all around.Following this, the US and USSR both attempted to act like conservative empires, 'splitting the difference' where possible to disempower their clients and give themselves maximize room for maneuver.With the Germanies this was complicated by the special status of Berlin, but both were admitted to the UN. The Koreas, likewise, were both admitted, inspite of the state of war between the two.With the Chinas, the situation was complicated by the willingness of both local clients to cooperate with each other to disempower their patrons. Chiang and Mao used intermediaries to arrange shelling on each other's territory that guaranteed that each could constantly resupply their positions (either "winning" the battle would lead to a collapse of patronage for both!). My understanding was that Vietnam was a decolonization procedure that went array. Most of the third world ended up under generally thuggish nationalist groups (the FLN, etc.). The Vietnamese Communist Party originated as local branch of the KMT/CCP United Front, however, and had a seriousness of organization and ideology largely absent elsewhere. If a FLN-like group had defeated the french instead of Ho, I think the situation would not have escalated as it did.
Most countries have their embassy in Tel Aviv which might explain why they refer to it as the capital instead of Eilat or Haifa.
There was a comment in the most recent issue of The Economist about map censorship. They did a feature on India and Pakistan and included a map of the region. On the next page they had a special "note to Indian readers" which said that the map would probably be torn or blacked out from copies sold in India since it didn't match the official view on national borders, and that Indian readers could go online to see it. |
Dr. George Sheehan
died four days short of his 75th birthday on November 1, 1993.
He used to say humans come with a 75-year warranty, but it was
not age with which he was concerned. It was life in the present.
"Don't be concerned if running or exercise will add years
to your life," he would say, "be concerned with adding
life to your years." He liked to quote William James, who
said, "The strenuous life tastes better."
Sheehan lived a strenuous life. He renewed his life at the age
of 45 and turned it inside out. He returned to his body, and to
running, and he shared with his readers all of his experiences
in this new world of exercise and play, of sweat and competition,
of physical, mental and spiritual challenge. He
was born in Brooklyn in 1918, the oldest of a doctor's 14 children.
An outstanding student, he was also a track star at Manhattan
College. He became a cardiologist like his father. After medical
school he served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World
War II as a doctor on the battleship USS Daly. Just before leaving
for active service he married "the most beautiful woman on
the Jersey Shore," Mary Jane Fleming, and together they subsequently
raised a dozen children.
success and security in the suburbs were not enough for him. He
became "bored" with medicine, with getting "bombed
out" every weekend, with falling asleep in front of the TV.
He went back to reading philosophy. He read The Greeks, Emerson,
Thoreau, Ortega, and James. Then he read Ireneus, one of the early
church fathers, who wrote, "The glory of God is man fully
functioning." George Sheehan knew he wasn't fully functioning.
He started to run.
began in his back yard (26 loops to a mile) and then became something
of an oddity in Rumson, NJ running along the river road during
his lunch hour wearing his white long-johns and a ski mask. His
new life had begun and its message was soon clear-"Man at
any age is still the marvel of the universe." Five years
later, he ran a 4:47 mile, which was the world's first sub-five-minute
time by a 50-year-old.
began writing a weekly column in the local paper. In short time,
the running world was listening. This self-described loner from
Red Bank, NJ became one of the most sought out experts on health
and fitness. And his door was always open.
continued the column for twenty five years. Many of these years
were served as the medical editor for Runner's World magazine.
He wrote eight books and lectured around the world. "Listen
to your body," was his slogan. "We are each an experiment
of one." One critic referred to his talks as "the running
community's equivalent of a Bruce Springsteen concert, though
listening to him was more like taking off with John Coltrane on
some improvised solo." Dr.
Sheehan was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1986. By the time
it was discovered it had spread to his bones. For seven years
he lived with the cancer, and "made every day count."
He was a runner to the core and he would not let the cancer change
that. He ran until his legs could no longer carry him. Through
it all, he remained true to himself, continuing to write about
his experiences. This time it wasn't about running, it was about
dying. Going the Distance was his last book. It was published
shortly after his death.
Sheehan never stopped searching for the truths of his life. "We
are all unique, never-to-be-repeated events," he said. His
goal was to be the best George Sheehan possible. He was fond of
quoting Robert Frost's line, "I am no longer concerned with
good and evil. What concerns me is whether my offering will be |
Students in Journalism Education will be prepared to practice journalism as well as to teach it on the high school level. Students interested in teaching journalism will leave furnished with the skills necessary to be successful in secondary education settings.
The wide range of courses in the major includes exposure to all kinds of journalistic and professional writing, creative writing, and ethics. Also required are 33 hours of professional education courses, including student teaching.
Course Requirements for B.A. Journalism Education
Course Requirements for B.S. Journalism Education
Examples of courses in this major:
JOU 2140 Newspaper Journalism
Instruction and practice in writing for newspapers, including current news, features, sports, government, editorials, etc. Includes practical experience writing for the campus and local newspapers.
JOU 3130 Editing
Instruction and practice in the preparation of copy for publication, including copy editing, proofreading, style, headline writing , picture cropping, typography, legal considerations, and page layout and design for newspapers, magazines, and other media.
COM 2170 Communication Ethics/Theories
This course explores moral reasoning and practice in the communication field as well as the major theoretical approaches to communication. Case studies will be used to examine truth telling, business pressures, deception, fairness, privacy, social justice, and the relationship between ethics, theories and practice. Applications in advertising, the entertainment industry, politics, and the church.
The individuals who will challenge you to learn:
Terry White, M.A., Ed.D.
Part-Time Instructor of Journalism
[email protected]
B.M.E., Grace College; M.M.E., Indiana University; Ph.D A.B.D., University of Iowa; M.A., Indiana Wesleyan University; Ed.D., Indiana Wesleyan University.
Dr. White has extensive experience in journalism. He was founder, editor, or publisher of two magazines and three newspapers and publisher of BMH Books. He is former president of the Evangelical Press Association (EPA) and was honored by the EPA and the National Association of Evangelicals with top awards for contribution to Christian journalism. He has recently authored a book on the centennial history of Winona Lake, Winona at 100: Third Wave Rising.
Paulette Sauders, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Chair, Languages, Literature, and Communication Department; Professor, English
[email protected]
B.A. in English Education, Grace College; M.A. in English, St. Francis College; Ph.D. in Literature, Composition, and Journalism, Ball State University
Dr. Sauders joined the faculty of Grace College in 1965. Her main areas of expertise in literature are in C.S. Lewis, Shakespeare, and drama of all eras. She takes students every fall to Stratford, Canada, to see the plays at the Shakespeare Festival. She also takes students each spring break to England, visiting London, Oxford, Windsor, Stratford, Bath, Stonehenge/Salisbury, and Wales. She has presented papers at Taylor University's C.S. Lewis & Friends monthly meetings,as well as at their biennial C.S. Lewis & Friends Colloquium. She advises the school newspaper, the Sounding Board, and does editing work both for Grace College and for outside organizations and individuals.
Laurinda A. Owen, B.S., M.A.
Dean, School of Education, Associate Professor of Education
[email protected]
Prof. Owen joined the Grace faculty in 2001 after 17 years teaching elementary education in the public school system. In 2010 she was appointed Dean of the School of Education, but continues to teach all levels of education students. She was recognized for her hands-on, practical, applied, and innovative teaching with Grace College's Alva J. McClain Excellence in Teaching award in 2004. She is currently completing a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education through Walden University. Prof. Owen is actively involved in her community by participating in groups such as Drama Mamas at Warsaw Community High School (the theater booster club) and local scholarship committees. Her family attends Warsaw Community Church, where she is a storyteller for the 4-year old room, serves on the Thread Team, and volunteers as a barista in the coffee shop. Prof. Owen lives in Winona Lake with her husband, Randy. They have four children -- two who have already graduated from Grace. Careers
Candidates who have completed one of the listed major programs, were approved by the Teacher Education Committee, and have met all state regulations are eligible to receive the standard instructional license from the state of Indiana.
Directs and coordinates activities of writers engaged in preparing creative, technical, scientific, medical, or other material for publication. Analyzes developments in specific fields to determine need for revisions, corrections, and changes in previously published works.
Collect and analyze information about newsworthy events to write stories for publication. Gather and verify factual information through interviews, observation, and research.
Develop and implement global strategies that enhance advertising revenue. Find new sources to generate growth and profit through online media products. Prepare complete monthly and/or quarterly reports and sales forecasts. |
Roslind Varghese Brown. Tunisia. New York, London, Sydney: Marshall Cavendish, 1998. 128 pp. $35.64 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7614-0690-7.
All is Well in Tunisia--We Hope
Upon first leafing through this generously illustrated introduction to Tunisia, a recent addition to the Cultures of the World series of the Marshall Cavendish imprint of Times Books International, an adult reader cannot help but think of the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. The tone is the same. Or perhaps a better if more derogatory point of comparison would be that of the "TVB"--tout va bien (all is going well)--summing-up by worldly-wise readers of the news as reported by El Moudjahid, the FLN party newspaper in Algeria; the point being that Algeria aside, even Tunisia has problems at which this book only hints. Of course, it is intended for junior high school students in the United States in the hope that it will open their minds to foreign countries and cultures. Possibly a "TVB" approach is what is best for that age group, even though this reviewer has some doubts.
The 128 pages of this book include chapters on "Geography," "History, "Government," and the "Economy"; on the Tunisian people, specifically their "Lifestyle," "Religion," and "Language"; and on the "Arts," "Leisure" activities, "Festivals," and "Food." It also includes a "Map of Tunisia," a page of "Quick Notes" on Tunisia, a one-page "Glossary" of terms, a "Bibliography" listing only six entries, and finally, an "Index." A fairly straightforward expository text is amply supplemented by fifteen text boxes and 114 illustrations of various sizes (including one on the cover and another on the title page), most of them in colour.
The text boxes are a mixed lot that amplify points raised in the text. One of these (p. 47) traces legal evolution in Tunisia from sharia and rabbinical courts to the 1957 Code of Personal Status. Another (p. 53) briefly describes how the olive agro-industry took off in the early years of this century.
A striking black-and-white photograph (on p. 37) portrays a very small, strange looking French naval vessel, a steam aviso, hardly larger than a small yacht, moored in the French naval base at Bizerte in the early years of the French Protectorate. The picture would suggest that French naval power at the time was insignificant or that Bizerte never counted as much for the French, as did Mers-el-Kebir in Algeria or Toulon in France, as major bases for their Navy. Or does this illustration represent author Roslind Varghese Brown's attempt at an anti-colonial joke? Other than the works listed in the "Bibliography," no photography or illustration credits are listed at all, an unfortunate omission. It would be useful to know the source(s) of the illustrations, or is the reader to assume that they have all been derived from Tunisia in Pictures (Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1992), one of six items listed in the "Bibliography."
Brown devotes short paragraphs to other epochs in Tunisian history: Roman rule, the Vandals, the Byzantine reconquest, and successive Muslim dynasties following the initial Arab conquest in 670 by Uqba ibn Nafi--Umayyads, Abbasids, Aghlabids, Fatimids, Zirids, Almohads, Hafsids, conquest and rule by the Ottoman Empire after 1574, and finally, the Mamluk Husseinid Dynasty in 1705 that lasted until 1957. Here the author confuses Khair al din, an initiator of direct Ottoman rule in the Maghreb, known as Barbarossa to the Europeans of the early sixteenth century, with the twelfth century Hohenstauffen German Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-1190), who began the style, "Holy Roman Empire." The author's descriptions of the circumstances under which Tunisia became a French protectorate between 1881 and 1883 are overly brief, and she confuses the results of the Congress of 1878 that concluded the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 with the Berlin Conference on African Affairs (November 1884-February 1885), the latter, not the former, being popularly perceived as the Conference by which "the European powers divided Africa among themselves" (p. 36). True, the earlier Conference did facilitate eventual French entry into Tunisia as a kind of quid pro quo for the British leasing of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire, and Tunisia did come under French rule before the second Berlin Conference was held.
The author chronicles the major steps towards the regained independence of Tunisia on 20 March 1956 (through revocation of the Marsa Convention of 1883 and the Bardo Treaty of 1881) under the leadership of (then) Prime Minister Habib Bourguiba and his Neo-Destour Party. Again, however, she is a bit doubtful about her facts, for on an earlier page (p. 23) she states that "Tunisia became a self-governing country on July 25, 1957." It was on the latter date that Bourguiba deposed the last Bey of Tunis, ending the Husseinid Dynasty, and had himself proclaimed President of Tunisia.
Fortunately, there is more to this book than history. There is a good deal of accurate contemporary description, for instance, that of the careful tightrope walk in which the government must engage as it arbitrates between the need and the national policy to modernize and the demands of Islamic traditionalists. It also presents the high points of the language policy of independent Tunisia (French versus Arabic, and within Arabic, classical Arabic versus literary Arabic versus dialectical Arabic). The chapter on religion in Tunisia, particularly on the fundamentals of Islam, as well as those dealing with the arts, leisure time activities, and festivals are particularly good even if they suggest inspiration by the Office National du Tourisme Tunisien (ONTT).
The author could have said and portrayed a little more under the rubric of transportation than she did. Although she mentions the existence of a railway network 2,250 kilometers long serving two-thirds of Tunisia, she fails to provide any pictures of trains, and yet some of the Tunisian train sets, particularly those operating between Tunis and Sfax, are impressively modern. She should also have indicated the railway lines and the principal roads on the map of Tunisia that she provides on page 122. Also, good photographs of the Central Station in downtown Tunis and of the main terminal of El Aouina Airport outside Tunis would have been of value.
The chapter on Tunisian cooking is very informative and in a way courageous for citing a traditional dish, Maarcassini, made from wild boar, forbidden to Muslims (but eaten discreetly by members of the Tunisian elite and by visitors from Europe and North America). The author provides a text box (p. 121) giving a detailed recipe for Harrissa, spicy tomato paste that is used as a condiment in many North African dishes. Given that this substance is available commercially throughout Europe and North America (the best known brand, Harrissa du Cap Bon, being sold in tubes like tooth paste), it would have been more useful if Brown had given a recipe for something that cannot be bought ready made, like chorba (soup of various kinds), odja (eggs scrambled with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and slices of merguez sausages), couscous, or tadjine (a pastry made with chopped meat and eggs), the ingredients for which are easily available in Europe and in North America.
The strength of this book is clearly its illustrations, yet even here one would have liked Brown to help relatively young and unsophisticated readers read behind the gloss. A picture on page 67 shows an outdoor cafe the customers of which are exclusively young males. She could have explained that there was a time that ended in the early 1980s when numbers of young women could be found, unaccompanied, sitting in the cafes of Tunis. This feminine presence was striking, particularly to visitors from neighbouring Algeria. Now the scene is much as it is portrayed in this illustration, and commentators speak, in the case of the cafes of Tunis, of how Tunisian women have lost the battle of the cafes. This lost battle is the direct result of the rural exodus that has filled Tunis and other Tunisian cities with poor and relatively unwesternized (unfrenchified) persons among whom traditional views of the role and place of women in a Muslim society prevail. Given that Tunisia has had a strong state-supported birth control program^H^Hme since 1964 and that abortion has been legalized (facts that are acknowledged on pp. 47 and 76), Brown should have included a photograph of the front facade of a birth control clinic in a large town showing the name and purpose of the establishment in large letters, in Arabic and in French, over the front door.
Another illustration that could have benefited from more careful explanation is that of the so-called Bourguiba family mausoleum in Monastir (p. 48). The building is obviously beautiful, very expensive, and constructed in a neo-Moorish style; however, contrary to what the caption says, former President, Habib Bourguiba, is not yet entombed in it. He is alive but not in the best of health. The author might have pointed out, however, that Bourguiba (originally Habib Abu Ruqayba) came from a very poor family that could certainly not have afforded a family mausoleum. The building portrayed came much later, a "gift" of the Tunisian state.
Finally, a rather peculiar photograph (on p. 79) of a newly wed Tunisian couple includes in it a boy of around seven with the explanation that he is a "family member." Although the child may be the brother of the bridegroom or the bride or even the son of one of them by a previous marriage, the photograph suggests a very late shotgun marriage.
As with any American book of this type, the author cannot avoid being more-or-less politically correct. The term gender is used in one spot where sex would have been more appropriate; craftsmen are systematically called craftspeople, and the author elicits some embarrassment at use of the term Berber, for fear that it might have a pejorative origin (p. 65). Likewise she informs the reader that Africans in Tunisia (a founding member of the Organization for African Unity) constitute a "minority group," a statement that would surprise the majority population of Berbers-more-or-less-Arabized who think of themselves as Africans, specifically North Africans, or as Maghrebins, and who know that their Berber ancestors were the original human inhabitants of North Africa. Because the author prefers not to designate the minority group in question as "Black" or as "Negro" Africans, that indeed they are, she ends up implying that the vast majority of the population of Tunisia is non-African. Finally, a beautiful view of the Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis includes the explanation that it was recently renamed Avenue 7 Novembre to commemorate Bourguiba's ouster. The caption should also have mentioned that the avenue in question was originally named Avenue Jules Ferry after the French Prime Minister who imposed French protectorate status on Tunisia. After all, Brown does concede that the part of Tunis in which this Avenue is located was built by the French on land reclaimed from the sea during the protectorate period.
What can one really say about this book? Certainly it fulfills the parameters of the series of which it is a part. It gives a superficial, if colourful, introduction to Tunisia, suitable for American middle or junior high school students for whom the factual errors indicated above will not be that important. One hopes that the intended readers will look at the pictures, skim the text, and read other, more substantive, books about Tunisia. |
In 2000, the New York State Legislature changed the Public Health Law to authorize a demonstration program to expand access to sterile hypodermic needles and syringes. This is a public health measure to prevent blood borne diseases, most notably HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and hepatitis C. ESAP became effective January 1, 2001 and as of the summer of 2009, became a permanent program.
What the Regulations Say
What to do if you have Questions Concerning ESAP
Licensed pharmacies, health care facilities, and health care practitioners who can otherwise prescribe hypodermic needles or syringes may register with the New York State Department of Health to sell or furnish up to 10 hypodermic needles or syringes to persons 18 years of age or older.
Persons who are age 18 years or older may legally obtain and possess hypodermic needles and syringes through ESAP- without a medical prescription.
Pharmacies may not advertise availability of hypodermic needles or syringes without a prescription and they must keep them in a manner that makes them available only to pharmacy staff (i.e., not openly available to customers).
Registered providers must cooperate in a program to assure safe disposal of used hypodermic needles or syringes.
Hypodermic needles and syringes provided through ESAP are accompanied by a safety insert explaining proper use, risk of blood borne diseases, proper disposal, dangers of injection drug use, how to access drug treatment as well as information about HIV/AIDS.
An independent evaluation conducted in consultation with the New York State AIDS Advisory Council, was submitted to the Governor and the Legislature on January 15, 2003. It assessed the impact of ESAP on needle and syringe sharing, substance abuse, pharmacy practice, criminal activity, accidental needle sticks among law enforcement, sanitation and other personnel, syringe disposal, and various methods of education on safe use and proper disposal.
The New York State Department of Health was responsible for developing regulations to implement ESAP.
The regulations amended Part 80 of Title 10 (Health) NYCRR, pursuant to Section 3381 of the Public Health Law. A new section of Part 80, Section 80.137 established ESAP.
The regulations elaborated on the legislation as follows:
Eligible providers must register with the NYSDOH to sell, furnish, or accept for disposal hypodermic needles and/or syringes. Pharmacies, clinics, and health care practitioners that wish to accept household sharps under ESAP will have to register for this program component. Hospitals are already required to accept household sharps. Providers that accept needles and syringes for disposal must comply with state and local laws regarding the disposal of regulated medical waste.
Registration is limited to providers in good standing. It requires completion of a registration that includes: information regarding the provider; an attestation that the provider will abide by applicable laws and regulations; an explanation of how the provider will participate in safe disposal; and an authorized signature.
Registered providers must notify the NYSDOH of any changes to the registration information, including notification to withdraw from the program.
Registration information may be included in a resource directory or registry for use by consumers and providers.
Registration may be suspended for a period up to one year, upon the finding of a violation of Section 80.137 or when the provider is found to be no longer in good standing.
Individuals age 18 or older may legally obtain and possess hypodermic syringes and needles obtained pursuant to this regulation. |
The bulb of Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus, Linné.Nat. Ord.—Amaryllidaceae.COMMON NAME: Daffodil.
Botanical Source and History.—This is a perennial, bulbous plant, native of the central and northern parts of Europe, and a common plant in moist woods in England. It is often cultivated in this country, especially the form with double flowers, and is among the first of spring flowers. The bulb is globular, white internally, and has a blackish coat. The leaves are all radical, linear, and about a foot long. The scape, which is a little longer than the leaves, is erect, and bears a large, terminal, nearly nodding flower of a yellow color. The flower is inclosed in bud in a membranous spathe, which splits lengthwise when the flower expands, and remains persistent at the base. The perianth has a funnel-form tube and six acute segments, about an inch long; near the mouth of the tube is borne a large bell-shape cup, about the length of the perianth segments, and with a crisped, 6-lobed margin. The stamens are 6, attached to the perianth tube, and included in the flower. The pistil consists of a 3-celled, inferior ovary, a slender style, and a 3-lobed stigma. The seeds are numerous.
Narcissus poeticus, Linné, Poet's narcissus, is an allied species, native of central Europe, and naturalized in many places in England; it is one of the most common of spring flowers in cultivation in this country. The ovate bulb has a brown skin, and possesses medicinal properties similar to the bulbs of N. Pseudo-Narcissus. The perianth segments are spreading, and of a pure white color. The cup is very short, and has a crenate, crimson margin.
Narcissus Jonquilla, Linné.—Jonquil has a scape bearing from 2 to 5 fragrant, yellow flowers.
Chemical Composition.—M. Jourdan has described a white, deliquescent, active principle, possessing emetic properties, which he named "narcitine," and M. Caventou obtained from the flowers an odorous, yellow coloring matter, which he termed "narcissine." From the bulbs, Mr. A. W. Gerrard (Pharm. Jour. Trans., 1877, Vol. VIII, p. 214) obtained a small amount of a neutral crystalline body, and a non-crystalline alkaloid, somewhat analogous to atropine, to which the name pseudo-narcissine has been given. The flowers of the jonquil yielded Robiquet, by extraction with ether, a volatile, butyraceous, yellow oil, very fragrant, from which jonquil camphor crystallized out, upon cooling, in the form of yellowish, warty crystals, volatile by heat. Louis Robechek found the bulbs of Narcissus orientalis (Chinese lily) to contain 0.02 per cent of an alkaloid, and 0.2 per cent of a glucosid; furthermore, resin, pectin, sugar (3 per cent), mucilage (9.5) per cent), ash (3 per cent), etc. (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893, p. 369).
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—The flowers and bulbs of this plant are the parts that have been employed, and the recent, wild plant appears to possess more active properties than the cultivated. Internally, in large doses, it is an active and even dangerous article, occasioning severe emeto-catharsis and gastro-intestinal inflammations, and its local application to the surface of ulcers and wounds is stated to occasion similar results, and, in addition thereto, serious depressing effects upon the nerve centers. The alkaloid from the bulb is a mydriatic, and, in many respects, resembles atropine in action. As a medicine, narcissus is rarely employed in this country, but is said to possess emetic, cathartic, antispasmodic, and narcotic properties. It has been used in epilepsy, in hysteria, and other spasmodic affections. Laennec employed it with success in pertussis, and other European practitioners have accorded to it an efficient action in intermittent fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, worms, etc. It has likewise been found of prompt benefit in severe catarrh. The cases for narcissus are those exhibiting epileptoid movements of the muscles, in chorea, in rheumatism, showing muscular contractions, and in cerebral diseases, with dull eyes and dilated pupils. A tincture of the bulbs by maceration in 98 per cent alcohol, may be given in doses of 1/4 drop to 10 drops. Dose of dried flowers or bulbs, in powder, from 10 to 60 grains; from 1 to 3 grains of the aqueous extract provokes vomiting. A syrup, ethereal oil, and acetous tincture have also been employed.
King's American Dispensatory, 1898, was written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. ‹ Nabalus.—Lion's Foot. |
Advances in Preventive Medicine
Review Article Sexual Health and Men Who Have Sex with Men in Vietnam: An Integrated Approach to Preventive Health Care
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